HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

   HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
   It's 2020 already and the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the same!  I started in the '50's, enjoyed the '60's, and '70's, endured the '80's and '90's, got my mojo back in the '00's and made it thru the '10's.  Don't know what to expect from the '20's but whatever it is, I'm ready for it!  Like a cartoon I saw on FB yesterday, 2020 was the setting for the Jetson's so where's their space car?  (or the robot maid?)
    I decided to watch the Rose Bowl Parade on TV yesterday morning but didn't watch long.  It didn't seem as exciting as it use to be.  The bands were as big...and loud...as usual but the few floats I did see didn't impress me like they use to.  I left the TV on and went to help Jeff in the kitchen.  Ed was coming over for supper and Jeff was doing a 1-pot meal but he wasn't using the crockpot.  Instead he was using the dutch oven that is part of the set of enamel-coated cast iron cookware that Sherry gave us for Christmas.  And instead of a pot roast, the meat was chicken.  (The veggies stayed the same: medium and mild peppers, carrots, mushrooms, onion, potatoes.) He's been trying different seasoning mixes, too.  Yesterday it was a Thai skillet casserole but he had more meat and veggies than the packet called for so he put in a can of cream of chicken soup and half a can of whole milk.  My contributions to the meal were brown-and-serve dinner rolls and a sugar-free pudding cheesecake.  I thought the cheesecake was a little bland so I put out a jar of Maggie's strawberry jam.  The guys seemed to think that made the dessert!  Everyone had 2 slices!  And the main course disappeared, too, along with the dinner rolls!
   After supper Ed and I sat and talked over coffee as usual while Jeff went to take a nap.  Then Fanny, our big dog, got sick under the kitchen table and I had to call Jeff for help! The Head School Custodian in him came thru like a flash and suddenly there was kitty litter (that we keep and use for icy stairs outside) on the mess.  He had it swept up in no time and headed back to finish his snooze, telling me to 'mop the floor'.  When Ed and I got back to the table for a 2nd cup of coffee we got talking about our high school, college and life experiences. He was surprised his mother hadn't told my mom some of those stories but she never did. I explained why while not keeping my Hodgkin's Disease a secret, I chose not to talk about it a lot at the time. (I had 2 very good friends being treated for breast cancer at the same time.  I saw what they were going thru, how they were being mutilated and how it effected them and how my treatment was effecting me.  I had only 1 surgery...a biopsy.  They had multiple surgeries.  They had reoccurring malignancies and I didn't.  I felt they needed all the good thoughts and prayers that might have come my way if I had been more open.  In fact, I wish they had had my oncologist, Tom Ryan!)  Anyway, 2 pots of coffee later, we had solved the problems of being only children with older parents and maybe got to know each other better.  Ed is 8 years younger than me, l of 2 of the younger grandchildren, I am the middle grandchild and the rest of our cousins were all at least 15 years older than me.  Most of the cousins we grew up with were the children of our cousins!  We even called cousins 'aunt' and 'uncle' because that's what they called our parents!  Talk about a large Italian family!!
   Fanny recovered enough to eat a bowl of dry dog food later last night and she slept thru the night.  I don't know what she got into outside that could have made her that sick but she is the one noted for picking up stuff left by other critters!  She spends a lot of time grooming her feet so she could have walked thru something, too, and ingested enough of it while cleaning herself.  Sometimes dogs are as much bother as babies.
    Since I finished Jeff's Christmas socks on New Year's Eve I didn't have anything on the needles to work on yesterday.  I got the notice Tuesday that 'My' sock yarn should be delivered Friday-tomorrow and I don't know if I want to start something else before then or just wait and start MY socks.  I guess I'll make a couple of cotton washcloths til then.  We need some new ones!!