New Year's Eve

Up late, around 8:30, but did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. I didn't get ready for the day right away, though, because there were severe thunderstorm, and even tornado warnings, in our part of the state. I'm not keen on being caught in the shower when a thunderstorm crops up.



Mother and Sis came over mid-morning. Sis had planned to leave on her one-and-a-half hour trip home right after breakfast, but was unwilling to risk traveling in nasty weather. So she hung around until around 11:30.



When they arrived at my house, I was busying myself making a gift bow from a seed catalog wrapper. The heavy paper wrapper features several photos of vegetables and flowers, and it made a very colorful bow. I learned the bow-making method at the crafts extravaganza that Mother, a couple of our scrapbook club members, and I attended back in November. The bow turned out pretty nice, and will be appropriate to use on a gift for a gardener.



After Sis left, and we were confident that there would be no storms in our area, I showered and dressed.



Afterward, I uploaded snapshots of last night's New Year's Eve eve party to a social network. Then I helped Mother choose another jigsaw puzzle. While she worked on the puzzle, I stitched and pressed the hems of the brown slacks that Sis had pinned up for me yesterday.



I wore the slacks with a sparkly rust colored jacket to a New Year's Eve party at a local restaurant later. The party also gave me a chance to wear the necklace and earrings, and the pashima shawl, that Hubbie's daughters gave me for my birthday.



The restaurant sponsored a choice of dinner and music in the wine room, or dinner and dancing in the restaurant dining room. These began at 8:30 p.m., with reservations, but we weren't interested in eating a heavy meal at that hour, so we opted for hot spinach dip, and salsa dip and chips, and glasses of wine, instead.



We know the members of the band who entertained in the dining room, as well as the keyboard entertainer in the wine room. The one in the wine room is a member of the local community theater, and one of the band members in the dining room is a popular local guitarist...the same one who entertained us at the home medical Christmas party at the country club earlier this month.



Since we didn't plan to dine at the restaurant, Mother joined us for a supper of leftover spaghetti, green beans, and cottage cheese. She went home right after supper.

Later, Hubbie and I dressed to go to the party. We arrived just before 9 p.m. We were seated at a small table with a young couple whom we did not know, but I learned that the young man lives between our town and a small adjacent town, and his date lives about three hours away.

Not once during the evening did they dance, and in fact I never saw then talk to one another. The young woman spent most of her time playing with her cell phone. At one point, I asked her if she was enjoying the band, and she shrugged and said, "They're OK." I guess they weren't up to her high standards, whatever those might be.

Our table was located near the bar, as well as the kitchen entrance, so waitresses had to squeeze between our chairs and the bar stools. But I liked our location, because lots of folks we know had to pass by us on their way to the bathrooms, or to leave, and they stopped by to visit with us.

Also, the table was located near the stage where the band was performing, so we didn't have to weave our way through tables and chairs to get to the dance floor. Hubbie is not one to fast dance, so we only hit the dance floor for the slow ones. But we enjoyed watching the other gyrating dancers, some of which were absolute exhibitionists, especially one very fat guy. Apparently, he is popular with the crowd, though, because they cheered him on, and he often had three women dance partners at a time.

An older couple that we know (they are around our age) danced nearly every dance. The wife of this couple is one of our town's "interesting characters." She dresses in very flamboyant tight clothing, wears a ton of makeup, and "big" blond hair. We can't decide what effect she's trying to achieve, but she tends to look like an aging hooker. She's a very friendly lady...just odd. Whenever I'm around her, she always acts like I'm her long-lost best friend.

As the evening wore on, I could tell that her husband was getting very tired, but he wasn't about to give up, even when he nearly lost his footing and went down face first on the dance floor. I guess he was trying to seem as strong and virile as a 20-year-old. Instead, he just looked exhausted.

During the band's break, we went downstairs to the wine room to listen to the keyboard entertainer. Unfortunately, the wine room is under construction, and though there are tables and chairs there, and a bar with stools, the walls and ceiling are unfinished, making the acoustics horrible. We stayed only a few minutes before returning to our table.

Around 11:30 p.m., while Hubbie and I were on the dance floor, I noticed six cops enter the room. They stayed near the entrance until the band finished the number, and then the house lights came up, and the cops trooped through the dining room, and downstairs, carding young adults as they went. Apparently, everyone was of legal age, because they soon went on their way.

I wondered if they'd be staked out somewhere to stop people for Breathalyzer tests as they left the restaurant, but when we left around 11:45, they were nowhere in sight. In fact, there were very few cars on the road as we traveled home. Very quiet night.

We got home just at midnight, and decided to watch our favorite college basketball team play to a win (I'd recorded it on DVR). So we didn't get to bed until around 2 a.m.