Happy New Year, All!!

I hope all of you enjoyed your New Years festivities. We did, we usually get together with our friend from our small group at church. Everyone came over last night as we ate, and drank (coke and water) and played games. Namely we played Nertz. So, this is the same thing as Pounce in my family, practically a right of passage. It's like Confirmation to be in the Lutheran family. You must learn how to play Pounce to be in the Walker family (or Slavik family, really). The only difference (that makes a difference) is that they play in teams. Each deck is manned by TWO people. I didn't pay enough attention to how they actually play with two people but it does make it faster because instead of one pair of eyes keeping an eye on your flipping pile, your pounce pile and the piles in the middle, you have TWO pairs of eyes and TWO pairs of hands. Makes it a bit easier. I won the first two rounds, but the game was won by a different team. That's okay, I came in second, all by my lonesome. Then we all went outside in the rain and set off fireworks, which are completely illegal, but that's alright. Everyone else came out to see them, too.
No pics for today, but I thought I'd share a website that I've been reading. She's got a lot of cooking, and ranch-isms (she lives on a ranch), and she homeschools her littles (4 of them). I found out about it from my past neighbor who moved to Fort Campbell a few months ago and then happened upon it from my photography forum (the big one). She's got the whole story how she and her husband met and fell in love, a whirlwind story. I'm not a big romance person, mainly because I don't find too much in this world romantic. But their story is romantic. I was glued to my laptop for three days just reading. I found a lot of parallels between their story and mine and Chuck's (you'll have to read it yourself). Here is the link. It's good. And if you're a fast reader, it will take you no time. Just a bit of clicking because they're all different links.
But I'm reading through some of her past posts since 2006 and there is one that is hilarious. It's a story of when she was a child. I'll just post it here.

One day when I was four, my mom began to notice a foul odor whenever I was around. She gave me a bath; I still smelled. She switched shampoos and soaps and gave me more baths. Still smelled. It got worse every day.

A week later, my mom became very concerned. Starting at my toes, she sniffed every inch of my little body until she located the problem area. The stench was coming—strangely—from my nostrils. (Smells are supposed to go in, not come out, after all.)

A visit to the doctor later that day revealed the cause. There was a large mass in my nasal cavity. One by one, with his needle-nose tweezers, he carefully began extracting brightly colored, pea-size tumors from deep inside my nose.

The tissue was examined and the diagnosis made. It seems that several weeks earlier, I had systematically rolled no fewer than fifteen Fruit Stripe gum wrappers into tight little balls and had stuck them in my nose for safe keeping. I’d gotten sidetracked and forgot all about them, apparently. Over time, the gum wrappers had rotted and taken on quite a stink. The doctor was at a loss for words. My mom was aghast.

I have no lasting effects from the Fruit Stripe ordeal. I smell just fine now. And I’ve had a life completely free of nasal stuffiness, allergies, and other sinus maladies. Perhaps this is a therapy the homeopathic crowd might consider?

Hilarious.