Saturday, December 31

NYE 2022

We have reached the end of 2022.  Two years we've endured our new reality with Covid and stuff pertaining to Covid.  Life was so much easier in the 1990's and 2000's.  Life now is dumb, annoying, expensive and people are getting stupider.

We got up, made some French toast, sausage, cut up some bananas and poured some chocolate milk.  I prepared three plates, turned on some bowl games and then got ready to go into Rainier to drop off the recycle and fill up some water jugs. 

I threw on some clothes, stuffed the recycle into several bags, tossed them into the back of the Escape, made sure I had everything and drove out to Rainier.  I got to the recycle and was very disappointed that the cardboard area was closed.  I really hate that people have no clue what corrugated cardboard is.  They stuff paper in there thinking that it's cardboard.  Pop boxes, cereal boxes and stuff like that is NOT cardboard, it's paper!  Plus, they can't read either.  They don't break down their cardboard boxes so more can fit in the bin.  I wanted to punch people in the face!  I hate taking recycle home with me...I shouldn't have to because of dumb people. 

I drove over to Mom and Dad's house to fill up water jugs and visit for a bit.  I also paid Mom some money for my phone and part of the trip we took to the east coast in October/November.  We hung out a bit, talked about random things and how we were going to celebrate the new year.  I told them we were going over to Nicole and Del's house for baked potato bar and to play some games with friends.  Mom said they were going to stay up, say happy 2023 and then go to bed.  Haha.  I noticed no one had decorated the tree yet and it was after Christmas.  Mom said it's hard to because Kirby takes all the ornaments off the tree. Haha.  What a turd cat.  I loaded up the Escape with the water jugs and told them I had to make another stop in Rainier before heading home.

I drove over to Bob and Bev's house to deliver their Christmas present that I've had in my car for about a month.  I just could not find the time to drive into Rainier to drop it off before Christmas.  I knocked on the door and Bev answered the door.  Of course, Bob was outside doing something.  He just can't relax.  I gave Bev their present, she opened it and saw it was an ornament for the tree.  I had seen it several weeks ago while shopping and thought it was the perfect ornament for their tree and she found perfect place for it on the Christmas tree.

We sat at the table and chatted for about an hour about random things.  She gave me some fish to take home and Bob gave me a couple bags of chips that he gets from one of his bowling buddies.  I had to go get ready for New Years Eve at Nicole and Del's house.  I thanked them for the goodies, and I drove home. 

I got home, saw that Wade was bad, showered really quick, dried my hair, got our food we were supposed to bring together (we bought cheese and made chili the night before for our baked potato bar) and headed out.  My friend, Alicia, was out of town spending the holidays with her family in Sunnyside, so I've been checking in on her dogs.  We stopped by her place first before we went to Nicole and Del's. 

I made sure we were the first ones to Nicole and Del's house so we could get that coveted front yard parking spot on the street.  It makes it easier to bring stuff in and we weren't forced to parallel park.  We grabbed what we needed and headed into the house.  I told Nicole I couldn't find gluten free chili mix so I bought a gluten free can of chili just for her.  She was delighted.  

We helped get the kitchen oriented so it would be easier to navigate once everyone got there and the food was ready.  Ben and I got comfortable and visited a little bit before Nicole's mom, Barb, and stepdad, Darren, arrived.  They got all situated, engaged in some conversation and we all waited for Lindsay, Justin and Wes to arrive so we could eat.

The arrived shortly after texting us that they were on their way.  They were still late but not super late.  They brought in all of their stuff and took Wes upstairs to get him situated for bed in one of the extra rooms.  They came down and we dug into our fabulous potato bar. I only like cheese chili and bacon bits on mine.  We all sat around the mega table, ate and carried on.  It was fun seeing everyone again.  It's been a while.  

We cleaned up and Nicole brought some games down.  We decided since we had six people Code Words, Puns Against Anarchy and Jack Box would be our games we compete at.  I haven't played Code Words since before Covid.  We split into two teams and played two different games three rounds each so everyone would get a turn giving clues and guessing. 

Puns Against Anarchy was a new game we've never played.  It was set up like Cards Against Humanity and Apples to Apples.  You have a judge and people trying to get the judge to guess their card. Basically, you would get a card that gave the topic and the people playing would have to alter the card to fit the topic.  Say if the topic was food.  You picked a card that said, "House of Cards" or "Post Malone, or "Another One Bites the Dust." You would have to change one part about them, "House of Carbs" or "Toast Malone" or Another One Bites the Crust."  Then the judge would pick the best one and that person would win the card.  There were a ton of good puns and lots of laughing. 

"Duck, duck, OUCH!"

Then we decided to play Jack Box before we brought in the new year.  Del got it all set up on the TV, we got our phones logged in and played a few games that I've never played before.  I've always enjoyed the drawing games.  

As 2023 drew near, we got all of our NYE traditions together.  We made our marzipan pigs, got them baked up, counted out 12 grapes, wrote down our wishes on a small piece of paper and set those aside until it got closer to midnight. 

Nicole made sure to tell us what order we were going to do everything in.  As the clock struck midnight, we:

Stepped on the right foot, ate 12 grapes, lit our wish on fire, threw it in our champagne and drank it, at our marzipan pig, ate black eyed peas and depending on what color your underwear was, is what kind of luck you'd get in the new year.  All of us had our significant others with us so of course we smooched each other at midnight.  I didn't have any fireworks that year, so we didn't do those like we have in the past.


We stayed for a little bit longer and played a couple more Jack Box games, gathered up our stuff, thanked them for hosting and went home around 1:30.  We unloaded the Escape, put everything away, got ready for bed and passed out around 2ish.

Happy 2023 everyone!

Next Adventure:  Seattle Kraken vs. New York Islanders

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