A Good Question! And Happy New Year, Everybody!

I just woke up. It is, by my computer’s clock, 1:41am on the first day of a new decade. And I am awake (barely) after 4.5 hours of sleep. My phone is charged, my typing fingers are ready to roll, and all the rest of you have just gone to bed after welcoming in the allegorical kid-in-diapers with champagne, smooching, or [in a show of reckless daring] full-fat milk.

There is a text on my cell phone from Firstborn: So why am I spending New Years with NintendoMan & you’re not here? I almost texted her back, until I realized that she was probably somewhere on the continuum between kissing her hubby goodnight and easing into that first round of REM time.

But it’s a good question. I woke at 3:00 yesterday morning. Unlike the rest of my office, I did not leave at 4:00, because the powers-that-be forgot to ask Corporate to shut down our phones an hour early. I might have ingested something that I am mildly allergic to while dining at the country club [more on that, later], because mid-afternoon my ankles broke out in hives while I was sitting at switchboard.

I walked out of the office at 5:05 and made my usual pre-drive trip down the hall for a pit stop. I pressed the elevator button to go down to the parking level, then realized that I did not remember having set the lock for the front door to our suite. After arming the alarm. So I walked over to the front door, wiggled it discreetly, and trudged back down the hall and into our suite, triggering the alarm. Walked 3/4 of the way around our suite to the front desk, locked the door, walked back, reset the alarm, checked out with building security and informed them that the alarm which had just gone off in our suite, was me.

Drove up the ramp from the parking garage to find the streets wet, the temperature dropping, and myself suddenly bone-weary. I did not want to go home, bake two sets of treats, drive through what I suspected could turn into freezing rain, and dodge drunks. So I called BestFriend and told her I was opting for home and an early bedtime. And then I called Brother Sushi and told him I was bypassing the dance as well, and to please give my excuses to anyone who cared.

I don’t know: staying up for 22 hours straight and driving for 125 miles, more or less, after work? It just didn’t seem like a Real Good Time to me. So I grabbed dinner from Panda Express, ate it, brushed my teeth, and was in bed a little after 8:30.

...OK, I’m officially happy now. Just spent half an hour or so chatting with NintendoMan through the wonders of modern technology. [And I’ve woven in the ends on BittyBit’s scarf.] He will be entertaining at her birthday party tomorrow. Which was way sooner than I had expected to see him, because both of us have stuff going on at church this weekend...

So I didn’t entirely miss him for New Year’s, and the year has begun as I hope for it to go on. Now I can contemplate the next knitting project, which I think will involve replicating this



[borrowed from Fourthborn] as a sweater-vest. The epaulets will be easy enough to replicate, and I think I can imply the piping along the seams by using a twisted knit stitch.



This would probably be as good a time as any to tell you about yesterday’s lunch. Our table was in a corner, looking out over the 18th hole. The ceiling was way up there. The room was still decorated for Christmas. There was a doorman. I could hear the Tab Choir warbling The Hallelujah Chorus overhead as we finished our lunch.

I could so be a rich girl. I had a ham-and-Brie sandwich, no doubt fried in butter made from the milk of cows stabled just off-site, cows with golden collars and platinum cowbells. A generous cup of berries smothered in whipped cream and generously sprinkled with cinnamon. A side Caesar salad with a tissue-paper-thin crouton of baguette kissed with Parmesan and then toasted gently.

Foodie heaven. Three of our party were golfers. There were stories. My other friend loves to be in the great outdoors. Me? I could have cheerfully turned my chair toward the window and spent the afternoon sitting and knitting, looking up occasionally to watch the squirrels chase each other up and down the trees, or sitting by the fireside near the foyer.

It’s now officially morning. [I went back to bed for a little nap.] Birds are singing outside the front window. The fireplace is humming merrily. So, my friends, am I.