Two Good Omens to Kick Off the New Year!

Val's 2020 is off to a good start. Of course I drove to town for my 44 oz Diet Coke on New Year's Day. I figure people have to work anyway, might as well give them my continued business. I had a good scratcher to cash in, too, but that's a story for another day.

When I came back out to T-Hoe, something special caught my eye! Yes, it WAS a penny. That's also a story for another day.

Back home, I got a call from Hick that my niece, Niecy, had contacted him about her Christmas gift, which was a special flashlight that projected disco-y balls of color onto the ceiling. Seems that her daughter, Babe, had a friend over to play, and the disco flashlight got broken! She was wanting to know where Hick got it. Lucky for Niecy, she went straight to the horse's mouth (or other end), because Hick had gotten a bunch of them together at the auction. He took one by her house that afternoon and gave it to her, even though she'd offered to pay.

While I was cooking supper in the kitchen, Hick chose to have a long-distance conversation from the La-Z-Boy. He'd found out that Babe's friend had not only broken the disco flashlight, but had MALICIOUSLY done so! She had picked it up, and thrown it on the floor, seemingly because she didn't want Babe to have it. Babe was distraught over the loss of her play-pretty. Thus the search for a replacement. Hick said that he also heard that my sister the ex-mayor's wife (Niecy's mom and Babe's grandma) was extremely not okay with the situation. At least Hick remedied the loss, so everyone could move on. Except, perhaps, the breaker, who might or might not have faced justice from her own parents.

Anyhoo...by the end of the story, I was sitting on the short couch in proper conversational distance with Hick. I was cutting out fast-food coupons for him, because he's all about saving a buck on his weekday lunches while he's out.

All at once, Hick exclaimed, "LOOK WHAT'S HERE FOR YOU!"

Yes. Up on the wall above his La-Z-Boy was a LADYBUG! First one of the New Year! Hick tried to get a picture for me, but his angle or his phone or his skills were bad! He jumped out of the way for me so I could hobble three feet to take my own picture.

The reason for the rush was that the ladybug was heading...you guessed it...towards the heat return vent! I told Hick,

"Oh, no! I've become my mom! I'm going to have ladybugs living in my vents, like she had in her ceiling!"

Well. It's only ONE. So far.

Yes. I'd say I had a very good start for 2020. Must be the luck of the black-eyed peas that I ordered Hick to pick up for me in town this morning. Which were warming on the stove for supper.