It seems we have a new neighbor. I haven’t met him yet, and Lin apparently sucks at gathering information when meeting someone, so all I know at the moment is … it’s a guy, he smokes, and he owns an older late-70′s or early-80′s blue and silver van. How is it possible to talk to someone over the fence for 15 minutes and not find out everything about them?! I guess we’ll have to wait until I meet him for the gossiping to begin!

Since I don’t have anything gossipy to say about the new neighbor yet, how about I fill you in on the last few days of my life.

We were supposed to go to Mom’s on Sunday for our Xmas get together, but the weather was nasty early in the day, and Mom got a late start heading home. We put off going to see her until Monday, so she wouldn’t feel rushed to get home and would have a chance to rest up after the drive home. In the end, this worked out great. I thought it was silly for her to drive home and us to go see her all on the same day.

So we went to see her Monday. The first thing we did was eat, because that’s always the first thing we do. And the second thing. And the third thing. Always lots of eating! Then I set up her new keyboard and mouse, which she loved immediately, and gave her that print of mine I framed last week. This was followed by the usual coffee drinking and gossiping for a couple of hours during which Lin played his guitar and went to wash the truck. See, I knew if I put off washing the truck long enough, someone would do it for me. ;)

Finally, we got around to opening presents. I told her not to bother, since she’s tossing some money into the hat for the new stove, but you know she can’t help herself. She got Lin a nice new shirt, a pen and pencil set, and some other little gadgets/tools. She got me a set of three jewelry pliers (finally, I don’t have to use Lin’s manly tools for delicate work), an awesome little clip-on flashlight, a notebook with the cutest little cat on the front, a pair of jeans, and some glass beads I’d been crazy about. Oh, and there were more handmade Xmas ornaments from everyone in the family, and the traditional date loaf from Rodney.

Then there was more eating and gossip, this time with little crystal glasses full of Manischewitz and baked goods. Lin was giving us grief about it being the wine of little old Jewish women who sit around gossiping. I’ll admit, sometimes, stereotypes are true. Also, if you have never had Manischewitz before, all I can tell you is that it’s quite possibly the most sickeningly sweet wine on the planet. One little crystal glass is usually enough for me. Tastes like a combination of watered down grape jelly and pancake syrup. I am not kidding.

After a bit more chit-chat, it was getting late so we had to go. Mom loaded us up with baked goods and foodstuffs, as she always does. The drive home was hellish. Loads of traffic the whole way, and then we got to Austin during rush hour, which is always so much fun. But … we finally made it home, had leftover roast for dinner, and passed out for a good night’s sleep.

Yesterday was uneventful in the usual mundane ways. I went grocery shopping and did housework while Lin lounged around the house being a bum on vacation. Shrimp were on sale, so we had a big shrimp dinner while trying to catch up on all the shows we have recorded on the cable box. We have the entire seasons of Heroes and Sanctuary to watch. We watched a bunch of Sanctuary last night, and if I have my way, we’ll just delete all the Heroes. I lost interest in the show and really don’t care enough to watch the entire season. I’m not even all that crazy about Sanctuary. I just want some free space on the DVR so I can record stuff again^†!

Nothing much planned today. Lin’s snoozing on the couch, the cats are running wild, there’s a pile of dishes from last night needing to be done, and piles of laundry that should have been done on Sunday. Looks like another day of housework, cat herding, and annoying vacationing husband for me. Though I may slip away in a few hours and run to the craft store to get a few jewelry making supplies. I’ve had this necklace idea bouncing around in my head for a while, and now I have the tools to make it … so I want to make it NOW!

And so that’s all the really dull stuff that’s been going on in my somewhat dull existence. I guess the biggest news around here right now is that we do have a new neighbor, and I know nothing at all about him! I’ll be fixing that soon enough! :lol:

1. † Current favorite shows at Casa de Orb are Chuck and Leverage. Chuck is kind of silly, but it’s funny, so I like it, and Leverage is just plain awesome. [↩]