Yesterday was a close-the-year-up day, almost ritual... write tax-deductible checks to charities and our universities, renew professional society memberships, pay the overdue car registration. Meanwhile,
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patgreene gathered up all of our bedspreads and blankets and comforters and pillows and spent three hours in front of large-capacity washers at the laundromat, cleaning all of the household bed stuff at once.
Kevin has a spider robot kit, a present from his grandparents. I've built research robots, mostly things like single-arm manipulators to mimic large space structures. But with a robotics background,
of course Dad will put your robot together, Kevin! He's a professional, after all... heh. Lots of tiny look-alike plastic injection-molded parts, and plans and drawings printed in light brown ink. Tiny 3mm nuts and bolts.
Worse than assembling Bionicles. Two hours later, I'm only about a third of the way through and have two subassemblies finished before it is time to get ready to go out for the evening.
Pat was stressed from laundry and shopping, but looked good in an outfit she'd gotten a year earlier (and never worn). And knitting seemed to gradually calm her.
I discovered that my satin-trimmed trousers and white dinner jacket were still at the cleaners... what could I do? I decided that since Wine and Song wasn't a formal dress-up party, I'd go "semi-formal" -- but I'd do so by *averaging* my accoutrements, making a virtue out of necessity. So I went formal on top -- white tie, top hat, winged collar, shirt studs -- and casual below the waist (black jeans and white sneakers ;).
It seemed well-received... I noticed more flirtatious attention than I was used to getting (wink). Even a few unexpected cuddles or kisses. Well worth the effort ;). When midnight arrived in the Eastern and Central timezones, I called
geekchick and then later Nancy to wish each sweetie a happy new year. And I was happy to see
danaeris before she moves back to Canada next week, to visit with
tenacious_snail in passing, to kiss
patgreene at midnight, and to talk and hang out with lots of friends there. And
thats_ms_dragon makes *excellent* mudslides...
And I noticed James and A. scrunched together sitting in a recliner, watching a video with the other kids, trying studiously to look like they just happened to be sitting there, surreptitiously holding hands when they thought no adults were nearby... it was cute, especially the transparent there's-nothing-going-on-here-run-along pretense (chuckle).
