Whoohoo, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to YOU, too!  I'll trust that everyone had a merry Christmas and of course, Santa was good to you.  I know this because ALL my friends are wonderful people that deserve all the best and to have all their dreams come true.  I hope everyone that wants to be is gainfully & securely employed, and I truly pray for peace on earth and a speedy economic recovery. 

We went to a pre-New Year's square dance, and, guess what, Robert Kennedy?  The caller (Joe Saltel) knew you!!  He lives down here in the valley all year 'round, but he travels throughout the country (the world, actually) most of the summer.  We've started taking his Advanced funshop/workshop, and when we heard he was having a dance, we decided we'd attend.  We mentioned it to a couple of other couples with whom we dance Plus, and they decided they'd attend, too, and they brought a third couple. So, altogether we brought our own square to the dance and had a blast!  And how many squares were there all total?  Would you believe FORTY THREE!!?? yup, that's 43!!  The dance was held at one of the local RV parks and Joe provided refreshments, noisemakers, flower leis, hats and door prizes.  About 9:30, he even fed us a great dinner!!!  BBQ here is beef brisket in a tomatoe-y sauce, as opposed to pork in vinegar, like Lexington's, but, gosh, it was GOOD!!  There was a scavenger hunt, even, and when he asked for a wallet calendar, well, of course we could provide a wallet and ourselves!!  yup, won a gold dollar coin for that!  A good time was had by all!!

The next night, the real New Year's eve, we went to another dance by another caller and had fun there, too, but only 7 squares in that one, and not quite the proficiency level of Joe's crowd.  Since we celebrated the countdown at 11 pm, we were able to be off the roads and home by 11:30, at which time we called our former neighbors.  Silly me, I thought we were gonna be 30 minutes EARLY, but they were waiting by the phone for our call.  I had forgotten that we are an hour behind all our friends on the east coast, and they'd ALREADY celebrated!!!  I think being around all these older folks is beginning to rub off, OIKS!!  After exchanging pleasantries, we grabbed our bottle of sparkly (non-alcoholic) and our neighbors & trucked on over to Jack & Di's camper.  They decided Georgia was too cold for them last winter, so they're spending the winter in the site behind ours.  They had Tivo'd the NYC ball-drop, so we just watched it all over again at our midnight, then we watched all the fireworks around the park.  They're legal here in TX, and apparently, there are enough brave fools around willing to risk life & limb to provide us a spectacular show, all without having to go anywhere or pay anything!!  All in all, a very pleasant way to ring in the new year.

The people wintering next to us have a little, fuzzy 8 month old puppy, and he's just adorable.  Smart as a whip, too.  His mama's been working with him and he already knows commands:  sit, come, sit pretty, dance, down.  I even got him to stay and not eat the cookie until I told him it was OK.  She's kind enough to share him with me, and you should have seen him playing in our camper last night.  He bit the stuffing right out of Eyeore (shades of Ginger, Destructo-Dawg) in about 5 minutes!!  After he tired of that, he just stretched out on my lap and immediately zonked out.  Was nice having a warm fuzzy again, but Jose is still not convinced we need one of our very own. 

Don't think I ever told the whole story on my serger - remember, Jose found one on eBay and won the auction, but when the machine arrived, it didn't work.  Couldn't even raise the needles!!!!  And the plastic housing was all askew.  Well, after duking it out with the seller for over 30 days, and finally, filing a claim with PayPal, we got the charge reversed, but I was still out a serger!!  Well, he kept working online & email until he found a brand spanking NEW one, with a warranty!  Funny, it was in FL, not far from where we wintered last year.  They shipped it out, lickety split, and it arrived, all in one piece, and best of all, WORKING.  Well, lemme just tell you......working a serger is HARD.  And FRUSTRATING!  I spent quite some time trying to make it sew properly, and after a couple hours, finally gave up & called Cathy from Georgia.  SHE was kind enough to step me thru the threading and settings, and lo & behold, it sewed PERFECTLY as desired & designed.  After I did the necessary stitches & seams, I tried to change it back, oh, that would have been funny if it hadn't been so pathetic.  I felt about as smart as a box o'rocks.  This time, I didn't wait the full two hours, but instead, called Cathy back at the 1 hour mark.  Bless her little pea-pickin' heart - she walked me thru the thread for THIS stitch, found my error, and then I was able to sew once again.  WHEW!  And, just a couple days ago, daggumed if I didn't thread it for coverstitch, then back to overlock, ALL BY MYSELF.  In LESS than an hour!! 

Sooooo, as I write, we are at 42 degrees; we hear it's TWELVE in Branson, in the 30's in Clemmons and Venice (FL) and Rockport (TX).  Sooooo, who's the dummy now, Carl????  Yes, it's cold & wet here, but at least it's NOT WHITE!!  I think we're in for a short (4-6 hr) freeze tonight & tomorrow, but then on Sunday, we're supposed to go back up to 70.  We are very lucky to be able to live where it's warm, and there's some discussion about moving to where it's even WARMER.  Might have to join the ex-pats down in Venezuela & Costa Rica to find the really warm spots!!  Sure hope y'all are well equipped and able to withstand whatever Mother Nature has in store for you!!  Well, it's time to do our sweepstakes entries and then get ready for bed.  Y'all have a good night, and try to stay warm & dry!!  God Bless!