Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know it's late, but with the kids (and The Professor) home from school, there was no discernible schedule 'round these parts, and many things (cleaning, laundry, blogging) fell by the wayside. The holidays were a success, everyone seemed happy with their gifts, and as the kids get older, the presents are getting smaller, so everything was able to fit into our apartment without too much effort.

While many things didn't get done, many others did. We saw the last sunset of the year at the local bird sanctuary on a beautiful, snowy, and very cold New Year's Eve.

The kids went to their grandparents' house for a sleepover, so The Professor and I got a little crazy. Yes, we went to car dealerships and drove not only a Smart Car but a Prius as well - really, really fun. I've been admiring Smart Cars on the road for quite a while now, and as The Professor has already mentioned, I have a bad case of Prius envy. When I (hopefully) get a teaching job next year, we will need a second car, so planner that I am, we have started looking at our options. Neither of these is a reasonable choice for us (the Smart Car has only 2 seats, and the Prius is a lot pricier than other cars its size) but they were really fun to drive. The Smart Car always makes me giggle when I see one, and you can make a u-turn in almost 1 lane, but driving it definitely reminds one more of a golf cart than an actual car. So, now I've gotten these out of my system, and can concentrate on actual possibilities.

A few other things got done, including some knitting (the second rainbow sock is also done, and currently being worn to Kindergarten today):


We tracked deer at the Nature Conservancy:

We saw about 13 of them - it's unbelievable that in such a populated area these enormous animals are able to silently survive, and I baked meringues:

The kids saw these at Trader Joe's and wanted to try them, so I tried out the new cookbook that they got me for Christmas, and cooked up a batch. They came out just like they were supposed to (as opposed to the very unpleasant cauliflower soup I made a couple of days ago) and the kids like them. The Professor is not a huge fan, but as they have no fat and only a little sugar, they are a good option for my post-holiday puffiness.

Now the lovely vacation is over; the kids are back at school (though I refused to sub today - the thought of subbing for a classroom of children that have been on Christmas vacation for almost 2 weeks while consuming large amounts of sugar could not be less appealing), and I have flute students coming this afternoon so began the process of cleaning some of the grosser sections of the apartment. Back to reality, but luckily I like my real life a whole lot.