7 Kids, 1 cat, Mom, and Dad

So far so good or Nice to win.

I played in our monthly poker tourney last night and took second place, out of 19 players, and won $115! That brings my winnings, since Christmas Day, to $275. :)

Dinner tonight or Using my new pot again.

I decided to try a recipe that is in a little pamphlet enclosed with the pot that Good Friend and his wife gave to me for Christmas.

The recipe is Short Ribs in Barolo and it is by Mario Batali. It is in the oven now and will be ready in 1.5 hours; the house smells great. One thing that I noticed with a few of the recipes was that they referenced an ingredient that was the result of a recipe in one of his cookbooks. LOL

The recipe I just made called for a 'basic tomato sauce' found on pg. 71 of his Molto Italiano cookbook. I bought some tomato sauce with italian herbs in the store this afternoon and I'm thinking that's good enough.

I'm going to make some smashed potatoes, a salad, and enjoy the dinner with the rest of the Barolo that is left in the bottle.

Wow! What a yummy dinner! I really wanted to have the leftover Barolo with my meal but knew I had to take Youngest Daughter to Son's house for a sleep-over and went with a glass of milk instead.

All the Daughters joined me to drop off Youngest and then the rest of us went into Portsmouth and got some desserts to take home with us because they wanted to play Monopoly.

I utterly crushed and otherwise defeated them in the game. Such was Oldest Daughter's desire to have both Boardwalk and Park Place that she traded me St. James for Park place and gave us both monopolies. The difference was that I had enough cash to put on three houses and shortly after that hotels.

We all laughed and had fun when they weren't landing on my hotels and having to mortgage their properties. LOLOLOLOL

The outlaws or Things that drive me crazy.

Good Friend at Everyday News recently posted something about her outlaws and that made me think of what happened on Christmas Day at the outlaw dinner.

We all had a great time that day. Multiple families got together to share food, the house was full of kids, and everyone was exchanging gifts. We even fit in a birthday celebration for my nephew who's birthday is on that day.

After that was all done some guys, and a woman or two, sat down to play some Texas Holdem in the game room.

At some point during the game Oldest Daughter came into the room to say goodbye because she was going over to Boyfriend's parent's home to visit with them too.

As she got ready to leave Wicked Evil Sister-in-law stopped her and asked, "Are you leaving because they're playing poker?"

To her, there is nothing more evil than the fact we play that game at all. She's used to controlling everything and for us to play a game that excludes her (gambling is evil) really bothers her. She assumes that it must bother everyone else too.

OD said she just rolled her eyes and didn't even answer her after she asked that question.

And on the poker front...I played again last night and won $100! That puts me up $160 for Christmas week. :)

First kiss or Talk about slow motion!

Beautiful Wife and I had been dating for a couple of weeks as in going to the dining commons together and sitting around for hours talking with each other. I really liked her and wanted to kiss her but the time never seemed right.

Also, I had been told by several guys that she was a good girl and that moves in that direction by others had been rebuffed and they had been led off-campus and summarily executed. Ok, the execution part wasn't true but the thought of leaning into to kiss her and having her tell me to never show my face again at her dorm was a daunting prospect.

So there we sat on the couch in the common room of the all girl dorm. It was 'after-hours' and male guest were no longer welcome to be in any of the dorm rooms. We talked, and chatted, moving closer on the couch and holding hands...and talked...moving closer...leaning in...until our foreheads were practically touching...before I turned my head and kissed her.

And, she didn't ask me to stop...and she didn't ask me to never show my face again, and execution was most certainly out of the question.

Most popular or They want to be canned.

Each of the cats got a can of wet food this year for Christmas. Each can is large enough for them to share and that way their dining pleasure got spread out over a few days.

Each trip to the kitchen for anything is accompanied by Storm's hopeful little purrs and whines as he dances around my feet hoping to hear the sniiiick of a pull-top lid being removed.

When I do reach for a can and peel back the metal lid that sound is accompanied by the patter of little feet as the other cats converge on the kitchen and wait for me to spoon some food onto each of their plates.

So love can be bought, for around two dollars a can.

Really Handsome or Is he dating yet?

We went to a Christmas Party at one of the outlaw's homes yesterday. Everyone, from both sides of their family, was there and enjoying lots of food and drink.

We played a poker tourney with 10 people and I won $60 after taking second place.

One of my sis-in-law's took me aside to let me know that her sister saw my picture and mentioned that she thought I'm good looking and wondered if I was dating. Thankfully, sis-in-law knows that she's not even my type and told her that I wouldn't be interested. Whew!

I'm also glad that she took me aside to ask and didn't make it a topic of conversation with all the outlaws.

Merry Christmas or First Eve then Day

Christmas Eve was a nice, low-key event for us this year. The daughters were all home, one with her boyfriend, and my Sainted Mother joined us too.

I made home-made eggnog using Alton Brown's recipe. I opted for the raw egg version and we're all alive and kicking today.

I received a Mario Batali cooking pot from Good Friend and His Beautiful Wife as well as a book titled "Braise, A Journey Through International Cuisine." I decided to jump right into the braising world and made "Chicken Wings with Pancetta, Bell Peppers, and Muscat Raisins."

It definitely was a bit more work than a Rachael Ray recipe but everyone really liked how the chicken came out. I can't wait to try some more recipes!

One other great gift was given to me by my children. They gave me a pair of sterling silver Tiffany cufflinks! Good thing I have a French cuff shirt!

Sometimes you need to cry or Holiday blues?

I've been fighting a cold and taking medicines so maybe I'm feeling more vulnerable and out of sorts. I head the song that was used in a slideshow for Mary's funeral and it brought a flood of tears and emotion. I was home alone so I indulged myself and let myself feel the loss. I felt better after I was done.

This link will lead you to the mpeg-4 I created from the DVD that the church made for us from photos and music that I gave to them. I tried to find photos that showed Mary healthy and sick, and with each family member.

How did I survive or Keeping my neck warm

For the first time...in a long time, I own a couple of scarves and wear one all the time when I leave the house. I don't always have it wrapped all the way around my neck, but when the wind blows it sure does feel good when I do.

I used to wear a scarf when I shoveled snow but never thought about it as an accessory for everyday use.

Going back or Not what I planned.

I was originally scheduled for a meeting in Brattleboro, VT today. The meeting's location got changed at the last minute to Keene, NH.

I didn't really think about the location, other than it was closer than VT, until I started driving into the city. I saw the places that we discussed marriage, kids, and building a life together and the memories nearly overwhelmed my mind.

We had barely known each other for a couple of weeks when we went to buy a baby shower gift for a friend of Mary's that was expecting her first baby. We walked over the railroad trestle to the K-Mart that was behind Keene State College.

As we walked around the store we started to talk about kids and marriage. It wasn't until after I got back to my dorm room that I started thinking about the conversation. We talked like we were planning on being married and having children together. A future planned, that ultimately would come true, before we'd even shared our first kiss.

So...it was those thoughts that went through my mind as I drove through Keene.

It was my turn or I couldn't really look.

I put up the last few ornaments on our tree. The girls had saved them for me to do. I have the wise men (beautiful glass ornaments from Hallmark), and three angel teddy bears with one of them in a stocking with my name on it.

But I didn't want to look too closely at the tree. I didn't want to see the ornament from our first year together or any of the other special ones that were a witness to our many years as friends, lovers, spouses...

So the girls decorated the tree, and put things up because they were in the ornament box...but only me and the ghost of Christmases Past knows why each one is there.

O' Christmas Tree or Finally decorated

Someone took down our tree and boxed up all the lights and decorations last year. When it came time to decorate this year I couldn't find the lights for the tree in any of the usual places. I finally gave up, short of a full-scale assault on the attic, and bought some new ones.

I really like these lights since they are only red, blue, and green. They also have a little control box that lets you change how they look in terms of winking off and on or moving in little patterns.

I put on the lights and then the girls got out all the ornaments and decorated the rest of the tree. And now all the containers have to be put away until it is time to take it all down again.

Oh dear or Fun movie, nothing like the book.

Son, Youngest Daughter, Middle Daughter, and I all went to dinner and then to see Eragon.

Well, me and MD LOVED the book. Read it multiple times, listened to it on my iPod, talked about it, and couldn't wait for the movie to hit the screen.

The movie is so loosely based on the book as to almost be laughable. That being said, we still enjoyed the movie. But...man...if only the movie had even made a stab at being true to the book, how much better would it have been.

And whirred when it stood still or What is that noise?

I walked out to my car today and heard...something. I live a stone's throw away from a horse farm and they have chickens there too. I've also seen quail, turkeys and the occasional goose in the area so wondered if it might be one of them because it definitely sounded like a bird or birds was in some sort of distress.

I listened a little closer and realized the noise was coming from the neighbor's front yard. They have a lighted snow man that tips its hat on the end of a mechanical arm. It was the whir of that motor and the squeak of the arm that was making the ungodly noise.

I'm just glad that I can't hear it when I go up to bed or I think it would creep me out.

Did you hear or Let me tell you who died.

I ran into a guy today at one of my customer appointments that used to work for the same company that I did six years ago. We have mutual friends and so after a brief conversation about how everyone is doing he then filled me in on everyone that's died.

One guy hit a deer while driving his motorcycle, went over the bars, and landed in the other lane in front of a car. The other guy had a heart attack. And, what's really weird...is that I'm not surprised for either one of them.

But still...I could have done without the body count and just hashed over what we're both doing for work now and nebulous plans to get together some time in the future.

It's been a hard day's night or Want to do some dog sleeping.

I keep thinking that work will eventually slow down what with the holidays and all...but that hasn't happened. I've been out of the office a lot and when I come back after a day of appointments and travel I still have work email that needs my attention when I get home.

I do have GoodLink service for my Treo so I can get my email on my phone during the day. But, I can't do designs, pull reports, or any of the other tasks that can be part of my day using my Treo.

So, I get home after being gone all day, for work, and have to sit down for a while, and work.

But, I love my job and I think I'm lucky to have it so this is more light-hearted griping than anything else.

I'm on the crazy train or One ticket for the Polar Express

We watched the Polar Express movie last night. Middle and Youngest Daughters had seen it before but it was my first time.

I loved the story and the animation was really cool too. I like how they made Santa's voice all loud and boomy and that he signed his letters, "Mr. C."

More than anything, I love that the girls started shouting that they could hear the bells...and they're 14 & 17 years old.

My heart grew a couple of sizes last night after they did that.

Got down the decorations or What next?

I went up into the attic last night and handed down all the Christmas decoration boxes to the girls.

Of course, the hard part, emotionally, for me is opening each box, going through the items, and then placing them around the home.

The good news is that the girls don't mind doing it and are looking forward to the whole process. I'll still be the one that puts the lights on the tree, but I think I'm done after that.

Well, I do make tea, snacks, and do their chores while they help me so it is a win-win for everyone.

Another night photo or Focus Shmocus

We got snow or Winter is in the air.

I took some pictures of the decorations in the yard last night but they came out blurry since I'm holding the camera instead of doing something sensible like put it on a tripod.

The snowy picture is from today. We only got an inch, or so, of snow but we had freezing rain first so the roads were pretty slippery this morning. The snow has stopped and the wind is blowing hard and is cold.

Blurry Santa Train

Snowy Santa

Infusing vodka or A flavor experiment.

Good Friend is always trying something new in the mixed drink world and I got inspired enough by his latest efforts to try something on my own.

When over his house the other day I was trying to add mint to a drink without getting debris (from muddling it) or not much flavor (by putting some leaves in the martini shaker).

I decided to make a mint infusion. I put some sprigs of fresh mint in the bottom of a container and covered them with vodka. I also chopped up some fresh mango and started a separate container for that.

It is amazing how little liquid is actually in a vodka bottle when you use it like that rather than in a drink. I thought I'd have plenty of vodka for a few tries but instead went through one bottle with the two experiments I have going now.

It is a 3-4 day wait for the mint and around a week for the mango. The mango was pretty ripe and juicy so I'm going to check on it before then.

Another good deed or When flirting goes bad.

So, I flirted at a party about a month and a half ago. The woman in question has asked me at subsequent office visits to visit her at home and help her with her computer, and she'll 'make me dinner.' I've been busy enough with work that I stopped thinking about that and hoped that it all would sort of...I dunno...go away?

Anyway, I stopped in the dentist's office today because they mentioned about three weeks ago that they couldn't print from one of the stations and would I please check it out when I had time.

Turns out it was 'the' woman's computer and it printed fine after being told that she had to pick the printer when she printed. When I showed up she took a while to come out front and her hair looked like it had been slicked down...and then when we went into the room with the computer she sprayed some breath freshener in her mouth and applied lipstick!

It was all I could do to not run screaming from the building.

Decorating the house or Christmas time this year!

Here's what the front yard looks like now.

If you want to borrow some money or Take a number.

I won $3.40 playing poker today!

Well, why not or NaBloPoMo is done

NaBloPoMo is over but I decided to post again today anyway. :)

We're supposed to get a lot of wind and rain, as well as a precipitous drop in temperature over the next couple of days. There's a forecast of snow by Monday too!

It is still in the 60s around here, which is unseasonably warm, but I'm not going to complain since it is saving me a lot of money in heating oil.