Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Time to wrap this year up. Dale and I went to the downtown Lifetime this morning to do weights. This is something I’d like to be better about in the New Year.
Went to The Howe for lunch. I had an Old Fashioned. Hoping to cut down on calories and booze in the New Year. I haven’t been bad about those things this year but I could be better.
After lunch we stopped at Lund's to pick up makings for dinner. We’re having Mike and Charisse over tonight and Dale wants to make his awesome oven baked spaghetti.
Mike and Charisse arrived at about 5:45. They each brought some house shoes to wear inside instead of their boots. Mike showed us some slip-on lace-less sneakers he got as an assignment from a student years ago. The assignment was to make a craft related to a piece of literature and this particular student painted a different character from the story on each shoe along with some quotations from the book. I wasn’t familiar with the story but the shoes sure looked cool.
I showed them my craft of Peeps and sugar in a clear jar. I made it last year with the Christmas tree peep and this year I added the gingerbread man peep. This is about as craftsy as I get.
Mike and I stepped outside to shelter in the garage while we each smoked an Oliva. It was nice to catch up as I haven’t seen him for a couple months.
After cigars Mike and I joined Dale and Charisse inside for appetizers. Charisse brought some smoked salmon from Ingebretsen’s which we had on crackers. It was delicious. Spaghetti for dinner and chocolate bundt cake and ice cream for dessert. It was nice to just sit around and talk. We didn't make it until midnight but we made it to 10:30. Not bad for people growing older.
[Added New Year's Day] Dale wrote the following on his blog: "We had one of Joe's high school friends and his wife over for NYE last night. It's become kind of a tradition to spend New Year's Eve with them and we absolutely enjoy their company. They're the kind of people who make you comfortable just being yourself. We talk about anything and everything. Since we hosted this year, I made a Brian Lagerstrom spaghetti dish that was several steps above your standard spaghetti dish and I had to say it was bangin'. Super deep flavor in the sauce and with a real kick. We just sat around the table the whole evening and before we knew it it was 10:30 and well past everyone's bed time. I haven't made it to midnight in several years, but we almost made it to 11:00 (Central time) so actually did make it to the eastern time zone's new years anyway."
