Happy 2015!

Happy 2015! Since Rich and I didn’t have to work on New Year’s Eve, we decided to meet for lunch at Bellitalia, which his iPhone autocorrected to “bell italics.” I understand that is one of the dangers of smart phones, but I wouldn’t know – my phone is as dumb as they come. At least it doesn’t correct my texts. In the evening Travalon and I went with some old friends of his to dinner at a place in Fond du Lac, then we went back to his friends’ house and watched their 10-year-old daughter (the ring bearer at our wedding) and her friend compete in a dance game using the Wii. The mom and I danced two dances, and to my surprise I got a really good score and beat her both times. Who knew I was a good dancer? It was so much fun! Then we went to another couple’s house and played a card game called Salad, because there are seven rounds (like a seven-layer salad). Each round you get points for something different, like the first round is just for winning tricks, the second round is for winning hearts in your tricks, the third round is for winning queens, etc… but the kicker is that you win by having the lowest number of points. It takes a long time to play, so we were up until 2:30 in the morning.

Yesterday we woke up late and watched the Outback Bowl. We fully expected Auburn to decimate the Badgers after their terrible showing against Ohio State, but this was a different team that showed up, and they played hard and actually won in overtime. It was very exciting. I even cried a little when they won, I was so happy, but I also cried when the ball dropped on TV and it was officially 2015, and also on Christmas Eve when we sang “Silent Night,” which is not even my favorite carol. I’ve just been easily moved lately. Travalon and I drove back to Madtown as fast as we could to get to 4 pm Mass at the hospital with Father Cueve-Man, but we barely had time to get there. Somehow we made it just before Mass began. It was a small crowd, maybe three other people, and Father asked me to read. I used to always go to daily Mass there when I worked up at the hospital, and he often asked me to read. 

After Mass Travalon and I went to the open house at my OTHER choir director’s place. He always makes a ton of different desserts and invites people over. We saw lots of people we knew, like Lute Player and her husband, Mr. N’Awlins, the single B-Boy, Cecil Markovitch, and of course Rich and Kathbert. Then we had a quiet evening at home, and Travalon watched the Alabama – Ohio State game. He was rooting for Alabama, more because he likes southern teams than to get back at Ohio State for crushing the Badgers, but can you believe the Buckeyes beat the Crimson Tide? This is just their year. We would have lost to them anyway, but did it have to be 0-59? Other than that, it was a good season for the Badgers, although Travalon is sick of them playing so many of what he calls “cupcake teams.” Agreed – they should play mostly their opponents in the Big Ten, which has how many members now? Fourteen? College football is just getting ridiculous in so many ways.

Famous Hat