Riffday: dinner's at 6

For some reason that I could no longer remember about noon on Sunday, we invited six neighborhood families over for the Super Bowl (24 total, I think-- I never really stopped to count).  I have not watched a single football game this year, but the Super Bowl is a good time to entertain because nobody expects you to be fancy.  It ended up being really fun, but we had enough food for three times that many people.  We'll be eating leftovers all week.  Muffalettas, red beans and rice, and carrot cake--not to mention a cooler full of beer and pop.  My amazing niece was somewhere in the crowd of kids that ran in and surrounded Beyonce's stage during the half-time show, but we didn't see her. 

The roads around our house are covered with the usual ice and packed snow, making it difficult to walk outside.  So I'm back on the treadmill again.  I can manage 25-30 minutes with music, but my internist really wants me to go 45.  that requires entertainment.  I finished the audiobook I was listening to last week (it was OK, not good enough to recommend), so I started poking around for a new idea.

I've been an Amazon Prime member for years-- the fee ($79/year) paid for itself by the end of a single semester because of shipping all my textbooks, so it was a no-brainer.  I knew Prime members could watch videos for free, but I'd never bothered to figure it out.  So today I decided I would see what I could find.  I kept hearing about the Gilmore Girls a few years ago, but that is $2 per episode even if you're a prime member.  So I went to the "most popular" section, skipped over Downton Abbey since we are already watching that, and tried out "Fringe."  In the first five mintues, there were already zombie like creatures with skin falling off and worse (I won't go into detail in case you're eating lunch).  Not my thing.

So then I went to Sherlock (the TV series, not the movie).  Oh, my.  In three minutes I was intrigued (love Martin Freeman).  By the time I got to "Freak's here, I'm sending him in," I was in love.  The pilot is two hours long, so I'm not done with it yet, but I'm actually excited to get back on the treadmill tomorrow.  Win.

This afternoon I have to start going through all our 2012 financial records.  Since most of our accounts are accessible online, I just let the statements pile up all year.  I can find out what I need to know online, but I'm not quite ready to give up having paper copies around.  So every year I sit down one afternoon in early February and sort the whole mess.  Kind of a dumb system, I know, but it's been working for us for several years now.  It takes 2-3 hours, which I figure is probably about the same amount of time it would take if I did it in 15-20 minute increments every month-- and this way I get it all over with in one afternoon.  Don't judge me.

And that's everything I can think of.  Y'all have a great day.