Happy New Year!

I just realized that this blog (set to Malawi time) will appear on Jan. 2 in Malawi, though I'm actually writing it at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 1 in the U.S. I just wanted to wish my 3-5 faithful readers (along with the much more numerous less-than-faithful readers) a very happy new year!!

My sisters and nephews just left our house on Dec. 30, and it feels like we're having 'empty nest syndrome' now. The house is so quiet, and our youngest cat Homer doesn't know what to do without my nephews here to play with him. We had a great time together, and I was so glad to have at least most of my immediate family here with me during my visit home.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to do the sledding trip we'd hoped to do, as the rain we had the weekend before Christmas virtually melted all the snow that had accumulated since late November. Ironically, on the day my sisters left, a new storm came through and dumped about 5-6 inches on us that evening. Luckily, neither sister's trip was affected, which was truly remarkable as both of them had to travel home through the dreaded 'Snowbelt' (Great Lakes region of the northern midwest for the Malawian readers). My younger sister Heather had a flight to Milwaukee with a connection in Detroit, while my older sister Greta and my nephews traveled by car to the Chicago area. Somehow, they both managed to travel outside the path of the storm...Whew!

Since we'd stayed up late (playing 'Buzztime' trivia ;-) Dec. 29, and all were up early for a 6 a.m. departure (for me, to get my little sis to the Syracuse airport 2 hours away, and for Greta to get on the road as early as possible for her 10-hour drive), I was pretty wiped out on Dec. 30. I spent most of the day laying around the house. Yesterday was similar-- we only left to rent some movies for our New Years' Eve celebration, consisting of beer 'n Sukiyaki (ya, same as the Christmas meal--love the stuff), followed by red wine n chocolate, then capped off with spumante-style champaigne at midnight... oops. I wasn't feeling so well after that. (Ya, beer before liquor... duh--Cheesehead girl should know better...).

So, as a result of last night's foolish drinking mistake, I was also feeling a bit out of it today. In the meantime, I just realized that I have a lot to do to prepare for my return to Malawi this Saturday (Jan. 5), so I've resolved to get myself back to Malawi-time (i.e. early to bed, early to rise...). Among other things, I need to sell my car and start figuring out my taxes. AAHH!! Wish me luck!! I hope your New Year has started out on a better foot than mine! Tiwonana!