You have to forgive me for this.

Before I dive into the main topic of this post I want to mention that Sam got home from Houston on Saturday morning exactly as I predicted ... FIVE HOURS EARLY. Apparently he woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t feel like going to back to bed, so he packed, checked out and drove home. At 8:15 when he called to let me know he was only 20 minutes away I was still asleep and didn’t pick up the phone, so he called twice more back-to-back. By the time I finally put on my glasses to check caller ID Sam was barely 45 seconds away from opening the garage door. I made lox and bagels to celebrate. At the moment he’s conked out in the family room with a bag of pistachio nuts watching Gone With the Wind. It’s good to have him home.

At last, here’s what I wanted to write about tonight.

To the lucky winners of our New Year Giveaway, I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN YOU. All of your prizes were packaged 10 days ago and ready to mail with really cute shipping labels, but nobody here has been able to take them to the post office. Fortunately, I’m prepared with a variety of lame excuses excellent explanations, which I’ll share with you right now.

1. The Weather. During the last week and a half we’ve had two ice storms and five inches of snow. Dallas was paralyzed and we never left the house. Even my favorite Chinese restaurant stopped making deliveries.
2. The Business Trip. Just as our weather started to improve earlier in the week Sam wound up in Houston for five days. While he was away I didn’t go to the post office due to ...
3. My Left Hand. Carpal tunnel, remember? I can’t open a car door or hold a steering wheel. The only thing I can do without help is write blog posts and WHINE, and I’m damn good at both of them.

Sam promises that your packages will be shipped on Monday, which means y’all should have your prizes by the end of the week except maybe Hailey in Canada, but don’t quote me on that. I don’t know for sure if mail to Canada takes longer or not.

Incidentally, if anybody wants to go out for lunch with us today please send an email and let me know. I’m thinking about Saltgrass Steak House in Rockwall (see below). We love their Texas cheesesteak sandwiches. Plus they have really excellent ketchup.

It’s time for Goodbye Mr. Chips now on TCM. Thank you for reading this.