HAPPY NEW YEAR!

GOOD MORNING ALL!
I hope that everyone had a splendid New Years last evening. I hope that you celebrated it with family and friends.
It's time to put the old aside and begin anew. All the possibilities of things to come! My wish for you is to be healthy, happy and prosperous. May All You've Wished For Come True.....
and now for something to ponder throughout the day and for the rest of the year...
"If you like what the past can do, just think what tomorrow will do....Don't Stop Believing" (Fleetwood Mac).

Where shall we begin...hhhmmmmmm.
I think I shall begin with the festivities. Our neighbors invited us for dinner last night. Around 11 or 12 I saw Barry out back building a fire.....That's noon, not midnight. He built it up and stoked it, got it nice and hot (all the while Pixie is barking at him like a fool). Then suddenly there was a big pot over top of the flames. Hhhhmmmm, I wonder what he's cooking. It cooked all day while he babysat it.

open fire roast

 Turns out it was a deer roast. It was yummy. Lots of vegetables. I was very impressed. I'm not a big venison eater. But this was very good, very tender and not at all 'gamey'. Amy made two loaves of bread to go with it, which was tasty all by itself. Ate entirely too much. Had margaritas too! Only had one, before we ate, because I knew I would be driving to the Gold Nugget Drop. My daughter did my wife's makeup while we were waiting for the roast to finish.....she's really good with the makeup.

And for dessert...I made (yes, I bake too) a double layered white cake with vanilla frosting and three fruit marmalade. While this was not one of my 'fancier' cakes (I can do all the piping and roses, my mother's doing) it was very tasty and perfectly acceptable as a dessert cake. :)

a layer of 3 fruit marmalade(a whole jar)

quick and simple vanilla frosting

After dinner we sat by the fire for a while. I was glad Barry made the fire....it got cold really fast after the sun went down. I had to run home and get our coats....it was so nice when we came over that we didn't bring them. 

Around 9:30 we all packed up in the car and went to the Gold Nugget Drop in Villa Rica. There were quite a few people there - they said that this was the largest crowd they've had since the start of the Mill two years ago. This was also the inaugural Gold Nugget Drop. So I can now say that I was at the first drop of this big ugly rock. LOL. There was a band called 7 Sharp 9. They were very good. They did a lot of cover tunes as well as some of their own.  

Around 11:50 they started all the hoopla about the count down and people moved to get a better view of the big fake gold rock (Gold Nugget). We counted down 3...2...1 - Happy New Year! There were fireworks - which I will have to admit were 100% better than the show that was put on for July 4th. People danced around and hollered and screamed, hugged and kissed. I'm glad we went. Of course by this time my feet and hands were frozen solid. It was 38-40 degrees, which wasn't bad at first, but we were sitting on a brick wall which didn't help. We hung around and listened to the band until about 12:30 and then left. It was nice, cause everyone was pretty much gone by then, so traffic was a breeze. 

sevensharpnine (bad picture, i know)

the Gold Nugget

I got some more work done on Harley too. He's coming along wonderfully. Just a couple more minor additions and he will be ready...

Harley's new face

In a couple of weeks my daughter, Jenifer, will be going back to California. I miss her already! She's excited to be going back. She finished her schooling, now she's going after her license. It's going to be weird not having her around the house (again). 

And on the Big Arse Front....Carma took a couple pics for me. It's coming along slowly but I can definately see the difference. What do think? Will I ever be 'skinny'? Not likely, but hopefully more so than now. :) 

Just gotta keep at it

the before (the after from  the last time)

the after (now) goofy face and all :)

I noticed my Kale yesterday when I had the dogs out....I'm not sure if it likes the cold (or should I say cold, hot, cold, hot) or if the poor thing is just confused. Either way, it looks really good. I really like the dark purples of the leaves. :)

two of the Kale out along side of my house. pretty aren't they?

It appears that I have a new follower too! Hi Le Coffre D'Emile! Welcome to my blog. I love the 'old tyme' look of your blog!

Oh hell! I almost forgot......

Usually before I do a post I look at the blogs I follow to see what's going on and who's doing what....

well, my last post I did backwards, I posted then read the others. Stupid move, I discovered after the fact that Ms. Susie did a wonderful little post about me (you can see it here). I was very touched (that's what my friends say too). Then I saw the picture of Lord Cucurbita....I was blown away that Susie had put him on her tree. After the excitement settled a bit...it dawned on me.....Wow, that must be a huge tree, cause he is not tiny. He's 12 inches seated. Susie - I want to see a photo of the whole tree. My curiosity is running wild now. My mother used to get giant trees (floor to ceiling, 18 foot ceilings). Thanks for the post Susie, I really appreciate it! 

Lord Cucurbita in the tree.

I so stole this from Susie's blog!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and a fantastic year! 

Be Good, Be Safe and most of all Be Happy!!

TTFN