It's gonna be a fun year!

Floyd's resolution for 2008 is to have fun. He told us in the morning and boy did he mean it. All day, January 1, 2008, Floyd played ball, harassed the other dogs, played outside and just in general had fun. And if we were not partaking in his fun (we were playing scrabble and not paying attention to Floyd), he would make those cute gremlin noises that I keep meaning to record for ya'll. I think I am going to copy Floyd's resolution. Fun it is for 2008.

Steve and I relaxed quite a bit. I had all of these things I wanted to get done, but instead we watched Out of Africa, which took over two and a half hours. If you have not seen it, I would highly recommend it. If for nothing else, just to watch in amazement the beauty of Meryl Streep. She is just so captivating. It made me set my 20th goal of the year, being to try to take better care of myself. I eat fairly healthy, but I have not exercised in a long time. You know, and maybe try to style my hair once a month, instead of throwing it up in a knotted mass on the back of my head.

After the movie, I was going to paint a picture, clean out the spare bedroom in order to make it my dressing room, because we do not have even near enough closet space anywhere in this house. It is a 3 bedroom house with 3 tinsy tiny closets. Steve's t-shirts would take up the 3 closets alone.
Instead of doing all of that, Steve and I went to the Schnuck, got some foodstuffs and made this bread which is from one of my favorite bloggers to read, and this soup. For the bread, I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. I think I undercooked it. Or, the olive oil is just too dense for bread. I always try to replace veggie oil with olive oil when recipes call for it, just to see if it works, and because it is healthier. The only thing I changed on the soup, was I added some spices and used shredded cheddar instead of processed cheese. It was delicious! Both are fabulous recipes. The link is not working for the soup, but it is from allrecipes.com and here are the instructions:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons margarine
* 1 cup chopped celery
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
* 3 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
* 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
* 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
* 1 (2.5 ounce) package country style gravy mix
* 2 cups milk
* 1 cup shredded Mexican-style processed cheese food

DIRECTIONS

1. In large saucepan, melt margarine over medium high heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Add potatoes; cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in corn and chiles; return to boiling. Dissolve gravy mix in milk; stir into boiling mixture. Add cheese; cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted.


So, yes it is a new year, and I love the new year. For whatever reason I get inspired to be better, to do better, to do more, to enjoy what I am doing. I wish you and your loved ones a great new year and hope that all of your hopes, visions and dreams come true.

New Year's Eve was a little crazy. We went to a place called the White Flag Gallery. It was interesting to say the very least. It was a Communist themed party. They had an electric bull, which I did ride. They had beards and mustaches on the walls for the party people to wear, they roasted a pig, and had a Gorbachev birthmark tattoo booth. I am more of a quiet type of new years person, but Steve loves to go out. I am hoping that next year he will be ready to have friends over for a nice dinner and to play board game. Fat chance, but a girl can dream.