Damn, Allyson, I'm sorry. Suddenly thinking having lunch out as a New Year's highlight is not the worst, although still a bit boring. I did have ravioli like they make in Cyprus, though. It was good.

I hope 2008 is the year you get relief.

Still in the ER, should be out soon with some more anti-emetics. Got a nice doc this time.

I have managed to sort some of my advanced directive stuff, though, even in principle.

I'm having a better day than Allyson, sadly, which sucks. Sorry to hear it. Families and holidays are such a good idea. Too often flawed in their implementations. I hope the emotions subside and you get back to why you were so eager to go home in the first place. Because you were, and it was a delight to see.

I am so terribly sad to see that they're feeding your nephew's brain. So sorry.

I had some champagne sparkling wine at midnight, which, despite the fact that *I* bought it and carefully read the description, was WAY too sweet for me. (Nowhere on the label did it say "asti," "sec," "demi-sec," or "extra dry." Although it also didn't say "brut," either.)

Tep, my sistah! I was looking for the nummy sparkling Reisling I had a couple of years ago, and the guy at the wine store said they didn't have any Reisling but pointed me towards this other German sparkler that he said would be similar, and...it wasn't. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't at ALL to my taste - way too sweet and buttery. All the wrong kind of Reislingy flavors. I like my sparkling wines to be sparkly.

We had people over for brunch and I made these baked eggs and we drank pomegranate mimosas made with an Italian sparkling red. So pretty.

Oh, and I discovered that a bottle brush is that perfect tool for cleaning champagne flutes I've been missing all these years. I should have had a baby ages ago.

Allyson, I'm very sorry to hear that about your nephew. That type of close minded bigoted parroting is what happened to my now 18 year old niece and it just breaks my heart to think about it.

We had people over for brunch and I made these baked eggs and we drank pomegranate mimosas made with an Italian sparkling red. So pretty.

Clicked on that. Epicurious tells me by name that they are sending it to my Facebook profile. Um... do I like that being automatic? And how the heck did that happen?

So, I'm watching Jesus Camp, which is kind of terrifying, but the Ted Haggard parts are AWESOME.

You just keep being the voice of sanity, dear. Call it everytime in a way palatable to his wee age. Get him parrotting you. And go grab some play dough. SMASH.

I know how the car issue is. This past trip home we suddenly only had one car, and while I survived it, it would have been best if there were two running cars. We had to schedule trips and I had to be patient in explaining that I can't, in fact, shop with other people. I can accompany them. I'm happy to! But because my mode of shopping when I actually want to buy is tortuous, I can't do it with others present. I'm too conscious how tortuous it is.

I am way way too enamoured of the roomba. And disgusted. I mean, I just vacuumed sunday, with the good vacuum, which did pick up a lot. And there is still more! Mostly can hair. My cats really shed. I didn't realize how much until compared with my parents', including a fluffly longhair. I could pick her up without getting totally coated. That is so not true of my guys.

What do you get when you have 8 degrees Fahrenheit and 25 mph wind gusts?

Me walking from my car into work this morning. I felt my lungs flinch.

But we've reached our high temp of 23. And I've lived in this state too long when I think, "Huh, 23, that's not too bad."

Happy New Year.

Had dinner in VA with friends last night and a nice two-day visit with one of my aunts; am now back in Del. Work tomorrow.

I missed the Natter turnover. Ah, well.

Oh, and welcome, ebc.

Speaking of uncomfortable family stuff, one day I basically spent THE WHOLE DAY with my parents. And then a neighbor came over. I had no downtime whatsoever. So then we go out to dinner (at which point, I'm wanting to hide under a bed and trying desperately to be civil and yet not blank.) We order our drinks and when the waitress came back with them: "I'd like a really LARGE margarita,please." Out of the blue, as until it came out of my mouth, I hadn't planned on ordering one. My parent just look at me and my mom starts to laugh. I mutter something about "too much people" and my dad starts laughing. I don't know if it was the booze or just the end of the need to even pretend to fake it, but I suddenly was much better off.

Anyway, now every single relative my mother talked to that week (and that would be every sister, brother, in laws, cousins and family friends) now knows that story. I'm the family misanthrope. Public knowledge.