I’ve flat out done nothing for the past two days but sleep and watch cartoons.

In fact, after changing the sheets, de-ornamenting the tree, cleaning the kitchen (new faucet, new lights – another story), and doing two loads of laundry, I’m back in the bed. Previously, I was enjoying Heathcliff and Marmaduke…but have viewed such gems as the Smurfs, the Snorks (ugh), Tom and Jerry (hooray), Scooby Doo (new and old and still yucky), Duck Dodgers (yippee), The Jetsons (eh), Popeye (always good), the one with the Bears Yogi and BooBoo….now I’m watching some junk called the Hillbilly Bears.

The light set I put in when I remodeled the kitchen died. It’s one of those weird ass track lights where the wiring is run through the track, and then the lights screw on a particular way in order to make the electrical connection. Because it’s the kind that turns and winds in a serpentine fashion (if you chose), the track is in sections, and joined by some kind of plug/claspy thing.

Well, one of mine broke. You could, in fact, see the sparks jump from one part to the other…and irritatingly enough, only one light worked.

A trip to Lowe’s revealed that they don’t sell “parts” for this light. A quick visit to the manufacturer’s website revealed that they don’t either.

This necessitated the purchase of a new light.

In fact, in looking at lights, I found one that I liked better, and it was $100 less.

Dad was kind enough to put it in. It only required two more trips to Home Depot, three hours, and more swearing than a Thai sailor’s convention. But no throwing – a vast improvement.

Mr. Manners was then kind enough to put in my new faucet – I have a ginormous double sink, but at the time the only faucet I could find with a dark finish that wasn’t a gagillion dollars was one for a bar (didn’t register that fact at the time). Now I have a HUGE faucet, and the head comes off, with the hose inside the head. Wooohooo!

My ceiling in the hallway still leaks from the plumbing job…like the seal isn’t right. And all the rain we’ve had since Christmas has magically sprung a leak in the downstairs auxiliary bathroom ceiling.

And the gutter is falling off the front – my bad…never reconnected it to the post after project post rebuild. As soon as it dries out, it’s off to the roof!

Anyway, another Christmas has come and gone. Certain parties of the family seemed rather tense on Christmas Eve – I understand that some folks had a bad afternoon prior dealing with a parent or two, and I’m sorry I didn’t have more time to spend with everyone. As usual, I was running around like the proverbial chicken. None of the pictures we took with my camera are worth a shit – it REALLY doesn’t like low light pictures. Miss Ames took some good ones – where they at????

Sissy, Missy, Mom and Dad all left for the various points of origin on Friday morning. A quiet and peaceful night was had, and there was much rejoicing.

There are no big plans for New Years – I’m not a New Years kind of person. It is, after all, just another day, another year. It’s not like it’s a global night of epiphany.

Reading The Economist today, one of whose lead stories is about the rise of poker as a “sport”. I love poker – Hold Em the best. It got me thinking that poker is truly a democratic sport. Any idiot can play poker – you don’t even have to be good, or have good hands – you can bluff, and bluster, and win your way into a pot. You don’t have to be smart, or educated, or rich to play - and win. And you can make money. Capitalism at it’s finest.