Once in a Blue Moon

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow...
gave the lustre of midday to objects below...

In case you didn't notice, we've had quite the full moon the past few nights. And it's not just any moon, it's the legendary blue moon!

According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But if you've seen it, you know it's not actually blue. That's just a name it acquired in some Farmer's Almanac back in the early part of the last century. Since then, we say something unusual happens "once in a blue moon." Blue moons, I discovered through some research, actually do occur about every 32 months. However, the chance of them happening on New Year's Eve are more like once every 19 years.

So blue or not, we had to enjoy part of our New Year's Eve out in the hot tub with friends -- under the light of the blue moon. Just to say we did it, you know.

It was partly cloudy that night, but last night, on New Year's, it was so clear out, it was almost like daylight -- just like the Night Before Christmas story mentions -- casting shadows of pine trees and branches on the snow in our front yard. It was so cool, I had to at least attempt to capture it with the camera. It turned out pretty good.

I'm starting to think it's an omen, though. Occasionally, about once in a blue moon actually, Carter beats us at a game. Between yesterday and today, he won Monopoly, Mexican Train dominoes and a card game. Crazy. I, in turn, kicked hubby's butt in cards today. Which happens more often than once in a blue moon (but not too much more).

Just to be clear, though. Blue moons do happen far more often than hell freezes over. So I don't think my Vikings will be winning any Super Bowl this year. But if the blue changes to a tinge of purple, we may have a chance!

The Sweetest Thing

Today is Sweetest Day. Sweetest what? Yeah, I know. It's totally a Hallmark holiday... created so people spend their money on more cards just to say the same thing they do on Valentine's Day -- and hopefully every day in between.

Don't know too many people who actually "observe" it, but for some reason hubby and I always have. Well, he has. I don't always remember.

My biggest excuse, and I do have one, is that I have usually been off on my sisters weekend on Sweetest Day weekend. I'd come back from that to a special gift from him and all I have to offer him is a hug and maybe leftover chocolate (but c'mon, there's rarely chocolate left after a Wild Women's Weekend). This year WWW was in September so I actually remembered this romantic non-holiday.

I actually got a card ahead of time and a new book about the 1975 World Series (with hubby's Reds) that he is very excited to read. I didn't even bother with chocolate.

What did I get? I'll tell you.

This morning was our turn to put in our 2 hours in the concessions stand for soccer. I am almost always the one who does concessions -- mainly because I sign Carter up for the sports but sometimes because Jim is coaching or assisting.

Today we wake up and it's something like 32 or 33 degrees out. My sweet, sweet, sweet hubby says he'll go work the concession stand this time. I can just stay in the warm bed. What a gift! Seriously, it wasn't a whole lot warmer at game time (noon) so I knew it was a chilly morning for him. What a sweetie!

We enjoyed some time with our other sweetheart, too. We watched Carter make 2 goals today in a tough 4-3 loss against the best team. Later, the 3 of us played Monopoly on our special edition Vikings board. Now that's sweet. But wait, it gets better. Those 2 were so sweet, they actually let me win for the first time ever. Trust me, that's probably their story but I'm here to tell you I honestly kicked some butt today!

Tonight Carter has a friend sleeping over so I don't expect they'll be any more romance happening. But we gotta spread it out you know. Valentine's is still 4 months away.

Monopoly

One of the gifts I got for Sweetest Day last weekend (and you can guess who picked this out) was a Monopoly game. But this isn't just any Monopoly game. This one could only be appreciated in the Austin household -- at least around these parts.

It's a special edition Vikings Monopoly game where street names have been replaced with names of legendary players like Fran Tarkenton and Cris Carter, "Downs" are used instead of Railroads and cards are customized for the football theme.

The three of us finally got time today to play. I better mention Daddy won -- he was the only one with a monopoly (though I had both "utilities" and Carter had 3 of the 4 downs). We didn't have a prayer when we landed on Daddy's row of luxury suites, costing us a thousand bucks a crack. Yikes. We mutually forfeited before he had the pleasure of stripping us of all our belongings!

Win or lose, it felt good to have family time. Talk about a monopoly. We've had so many things monopolizing our time of late, that this was the first Saturday we did not have to be somewhere. No football. No out-of-town meetings. No nothing. It was great!

I found it was just about as productive as I needed it to be. I got some housework done, some laundry, too, and most importantly, I finished a scrapbook (the 2006 family album -- which makes it my 12th completed book. Whoo-hoo!). So that was my day.

I only left the house for a walk in the brisk wind. So no makeup. No hairspray. Just a relaxed look on my face. Oh, and that big loser "L" in the middle of my forehead! (Thanks, Daddy!)