Happy Anniversary to Me and Happy New Year to You!

On January 1, 2009, I wrote my first entry for Chickens in the Basement. Excluding vacations and kidney stones, I've been rather faithful about posting! I can't believe how much a part of my life this has become. Things happen and I grab my camera and start composing my posting in my head! Sometimes, things happen too fast and I have too many postings going on in my head and I just can't get them all out!! Anyway, thank you for reading and making comments and becoming friends I haven't met!

Me!

Last night, we welcomed 2010 with some of our neighbors. It was more fun than I've had in a while! Our hosts spent at least the entire day preparing fabulous food. We played a fun game called Wise or Otherwise. You get a partial quote with its origin then you write down the ending you think it should have. Well, don't you know my mind wanted to hang out in the gutter!

Thanks Amazon for the sample game card!

My favorite question of the evening was from Jamaica. "If you can't catch it..." I wanted to write "you don't need to wear a condom!" But, I couldn't use that quote because there were 5 teenage boys who don't need to view me as the trash-talking-condom lady! Although, it would have embarrassed the crap out of my boys and kept them on their toes! The real quote goes "If you can't catch it, you can't have it." I like mine way better!

The Neighborhood Crew!

The boys played Polish Ping Pong. Whenever you lost, you had to turn your back to your opponent and allow them a slam shot to your back. If you lost 3 times in a row, you had to take your shirt off for the slam shots! My youngest, Rick, was an observer. He takes after his Mama! He's no fool when it comes to pain. Will, however...he must take after his Daddy!

The Parents

So, if you want a good group shot from the party, it is best to take it before you shoot off the fireworks. On a cold and drizzly night, the smoke does not dissipate quickly! After WOO HOOing in the New Year, we went back to the game and played until 2:00 A freaking M.

Wealth and Health

At lunch time, I had to wake up my testosterone driven family so we could go next door to Terri's for our New Years Day dose of collards and black-eyed peas. The more collards you eat, the more money will come your way during the year. The more black-eyed peas you eat, the healthier you will be this year. Man, I'm going to be rich AND healthy, although probably not very skinny! What traditional food do our Northern kin eat for the New Year?

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Instead of resolutions, I'm going to give you a list of THINGS I WANT TO DO THIS YEAR. Since I really want these things, I'm more likely to do them!

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1. Figure out a weekend this spring, a location in the southeast filled with lots of fabo thrift stores, yummy places to eat, and maybe some historical sites to visit and invite my blogger buddies to meet me there. I would love to meet you guys in person!

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2. Get Riley Dog back in shape so he can walk in a straight line. Currently, he walks like a very badly aligned car...his rear swings way to the right!

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3. Create a beautiful garden in my cemetery!

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4. Make it through the entire year without a single visit from the Stony Hill Fire Department unless they are fundraising. I'll whip out my checkbook and empty the bank account!

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Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy New Year!

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Much Love,

Anna