Knit'nat

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

...I am, once again, at work. 

Hi, how are ya?

I hope everybody had a good holiday, be it Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or just a celebration of the winter solstice. 

Us?  Well, it was very low key.  I did finish wrapping the gifts (but not until 1 or so) and then put them downstairs while the DH, who promised to stay up and help, fell asleep.  The boys were tricksters getting us up in the morning.  Instead of their usual hollering upstairs to see if we're awake, they took DH's phone, recorded themselves singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", set it as an alarm tone, tiptoed up the steps and placed it on the nightstand and waited for it to ring.  They were apparently waiting at the bottom of the steps because when it started to go off, all we heard was giggling from them.  Yes, very cute and very funny and very creative, and we just loved it.

The big gifts went over like hotcakes, Matthew's being a bike and Robert's being a Nikon Coolpix camera, but the things that went over REALLY well were the Power Tour electric guitars, which have a DVD and actually teach you something about guitar.  Matthew has progressed to lesson 6 and Robert is at lesson 4, and I spend more time than usual wearing my iPod headphones. 

Speaking of gifts, I want you to see what my Secret Pal sent me!

I actually received this yarn a couple of weeks ago.  It is the Stary Night secret pal 13 colorway yarn from Zarzuela's Fibers.  I absolutely love the color and the sheen of this yarn.  I think it wants to grow up to be arm warmers. 

On Saturday, the postman brought another surprise from my Secret Pal:

Hmm...what's in the box?

A sparkly card...

A bag of Christmas candy (all mint-themed)...

Ghirardelli hot chocolate mix and a gingerbread man notepad! Thank you so much secret pal (aka Holybobbles!).  Everything is yummy and I am tickled pink with delight!  I have already been into the hot chocolate mix and it is wonderful. 

Remember the Birthday Cowl I've been promising you pictures of?

  Thank you to our intrepid models, Frozen Rhododendron Bush and Matthew.

Pattern:  Birthday Cowl by Novamade.

Yarn:  Autumn House Farms Finnean's, wild berries (or some such name) colorway

Yardage:  The whole skein

Mods:  I added more purl rows at the end so I didn't have as much of the yarn leftover - probably added 1 or 2 more rows.  I can't remember now, as I knit this back in November!

Work on the Norwegian Woods shawl continues, and I must take an updated picture.  I am about halfway through the 2nd repeat of the 2nd chart.  I think it may be time to think about the beads that need to be added to the edging (but probably not quite yet). 

Also on the needles:  spiraling socks continue to grow (same colorway as Christina's footies).  I tried to reverse the spiral but that was met with doom, so I am now tinking back about 8 rows of knitting.  The leftovers hat (I don't know how else to describe it) also continues to grow, and I wish I had it here at work so I could knit a stitch or three when nobody was looking.  I haven't touched the Goddess Anniversary Knitalong Shawl in a long time, and really need to get back to working on that cobwebby thing.  Maybe it will be done in time for next winter. 

Last night, we ventured to Best Buy in Cranberry Twp. to do a little gift card/holiday cash spending.  The line was long.  There were 3 registers operating, but only one would take cash.  We don't have a credit card, I didn't want to use my debit card, and needed to pay cash.  Apparently Best Buy isn't excited about cash, because we were in line for 20 minutes. 

I went back to the gym today.  Attendance has been spotty over the last few weeks.   I stepped on the scale and had gained a pound.  I did the usual 30 minutes on the elliptical and then some resistance training.  I think I need to change the music on my iPod, as I'm skipping quite a few songs looking for something more upbeat.  Any suggestions?

I think that's all I have to say today.  Tune in tomorrow...who knows what may happen!

'Twas the Day Before Christmas...

I have been trying to write a Clement Clark Moore-esque poem for this post, but failing miserably at it...so I just have the following prattle to give.

It is the day before Christmas and I am at work.  I have stocking stuffers to purchase (going after work is closed) and that is it.  We don't really have a sit-down dinner to fuss with tomorrow, we just nosh through the day, so there will be little to actually cook tomorrow.  Tonight I'll put together some dip and things.  We have crackers, we have vegetables, we have meat and cheese.  We're going to our neighbors for her soiree around 8 or so, and will grab some nibbles there.   

Gifts are not wrapped yet.  What am I thinking!  I should have wrapped on Sunday, but instead was very (very) lazy -- I barely even knit.  I did do some housecleaning and spent some (okay, a lot) of time playing the New Supermario Brothers game on my son's Nintendo DS.  So tonight I will be trying very hard to get things wrapped and down under the tree by morning.

I also wanted to show you some long overdue pictures today, but I left the card reader at home, the one here doesn't read SD cards, and therefore I cannot show you pictures of the lovely yarn from my secret pal (that is a WAY overdue pic and thank you) and the Birthday Cowl being modeled by Matthew.

Everybody, please, no matter what holiday you celebrate, ENJOY IT.  We celebrate Christmas, not for the religious connotations but it is what we were brought up celebrating and we are bringing our kids up to celebrate it.  I'm looking forward to spending the day with my family close by, enjoying their company while I knit and cook and eat things that I know I shouldn't.  :) 

And One More Thing:

Arrr! We know the friendly pirates in your life will love our Scallywag Sloop Tree House. Your child can imagine sailing the seven seas, or being shipwrecked on a desert island with our amazing pirate ship tree house. Scallywag Sloop Tree House #282996    Home or Business delivery: $26,999.00   Friends, I know people with HOUSES that cost less than that.

In the Category of "Ew":

Burger King has a new fragrance.

And someone PLEASE douse me with acid to burn this image from my mind:

Under the Category of "She Must Be Nuts"

Suspect Peterson says he's engaged to marry

Let's see: 

• Technically, he's still married because they haven't found Stacy's body yet.
• He's implicated in the disappearance of Stacy (she's been missing over a year) but no charges have been filed (due to lack of a corpus delecti, I assume). 
• He's also a suspect in the death of his THIRD wife, Kathleen (found dead in a bathtub, with bloody contusions to the back of her head).
• He physically abused Wife #2.
• He habitually dates women half his age, and dates while still married (reason for the divorce from Wife #1 - infidelity on his part).

Yet he's engaged?  I'm sorry, but who the hell?  What the ---- is she, stupid??!  Can she not see the flashing neon sign and hear the loud computer voice that says DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!??

(Sorry...I have issues with this sort of thing.)

Christmas Meme (filched, of course)

Swiped from Knit'n'NASCAR...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  It depends.  I'm more of a wrapping paper person, especially when I find one I love (this year it's the Santa Claus is Coming to Town paper, scored at Target).  I'll use gift bags, though, if I have something awkwardly shaped. 

2. Real tree or Artificial? Again, it depends.  Last year, real tree.  This year, artificial.  Thank goodness we had more than one artificial because a certain clumsy 15 year old stepped on the base of the "regular" artificial tree and it's no longer upright. 

3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever the mood strikes.  I've had the tree upstairs for a couple of days now -- but it wasn't decorated (thankfully, because I don't know how it would have survived the klutz incident). 

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually around the 7th of January.

5. Do you like eggnog?  I love eggnog.  I even make my own. 

6. Favorite gift received as a child?  One year I got a banjo.  I wanted lessons, too, but I only got the banjo and the how-to-play books.  One year I got a huge box for all the Barbie clothes I had.  I think my favorite gift would be the taffy machine that I got once (followed immediately by me trying to make taffy unsupervised, and winding up with it in my hair, on my face and nightgown, etc.).  I'm not sure that my mom would agree that was the best gift she ever gave me, though.   

7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband.  He changes his mind about a gazillion times before he finally settles on what he wants.  I always try to buy him something "off list," too, but apparently he's disappointed when I do that.  Which is sad, because I try to put a lot of thought into those off-list gifts. 

8. Easiest person to buy for?  My mom.  I just get her something I know she wouldn't buy on her own -- like 400 thread count sheets or really expensive bath towels. 

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  No.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?  Mail (when I get them out in a timely manner).

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Vacuum bags from my ex husband.  Oh, and a toilet brush from a neighbor lady (she was trying to fill my hope chest). 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  The Year Without a Santa Claus - who doesn't love the Heat Miser??!  The Santa Clause - Too funny.  The sequels aren't as good but the first one was great.  And of course, It's a Wonderful Life (which I've only sat through twice, but I like it).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?   I try to start by Thanksgiving, but that doesn't always happen.  Sometimes we have to wait for Christmas bonus time, which sucks.  This year, I spent about $30 a week on Christmas, starting about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. 

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Nope.  Not saying that I wouldn't, though.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?  Nut roll.  Good nut roll, mind you.  And fudge.  I cannot resist fudge. 

16. Lights on the tree? Yes

17. Favorite Christmas song?  Anything from the John Denver & the Muppets Christmas album, or anything from "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown."  I love the Vince Guiraldi Trio.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Homebodies.  Christmas is for the kids; if they are with us, we stay home.  The rule is stay in your PJ's as long as you want, eat cookies for breakfast (there is brunch later), and play with your stuff.  If the boys are with their dad, then Bill and I will have a lazy breakfast, watch movies or play video games (or he'll play games and I'll knit), and we'll see a movie later in the day.  We've also gone to visit friends.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?  Won a contest doing it in under 5 seconds once.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  One on Christmas eve, the rest on Christmas morning.  

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?  It gets more commercial every year.  Bigger sales starting sooner, holiday decorations up before Thanksgiving, or out at the stores at the end of August.  The one-upmanship, the piss-poor attitudes, and (unfortunately) the Salvation Army ringers at every single store - I feel guilty not putting something in every single time.  Some of the ringers just stand and ring, and don't greet you.  There's one girl that's at the WalMart in Butler occasionally, and she is just a hoot - she doesn't have a radio (like so many of them do), but she sings Christmas carols and dances around and I will put money in the pot when I see her, because she, to me, embodies the spirit of Christmas -- happy, jolly, and trying to make those around her happy, too. 

22. Favorite ornament theme or color?  Totally eclectic.  I have Hallmark ornaments right next to gold painted macaroni ornaments. 

23. What do you want for Christmas this year?  Nothing materialistic.

24. Angel on the tree top or a star? How about a bow?

25. Favorite Christmas dinner?  My favorite dinner is a laid-back, relaxed, no fuss dinner.  I make a bunch of different foods and we just nosh as the mood fits.  Ham, homemade buns or bread for sandwiches, lots of different "picky food" - crackers and cheese, spinach dip, hummos and veggies. 

 

Just so you know...

...I went to the gym today, did 1/2 hour on the elliptical and then did 3 resistance machines.

No, I'm not sore.  I was actually surprised that I wasn't gasping for breath on the elliptical. 

A Little Belated Birthday Gift

So my birthday was 3 weeks ago, and although I received gifts from knitter friends, I didn't receive anything from my husband (who claims he figured I would just buy what I wanted anyway).  So today, I went and bought what I wanted anyway:

 

Mine's red, though.

Does this mean that I'll be posting pics more often?  Probably not.  It takes an SD card and sometimes I just don't have the card reader handy. 

Does it mean I'll post clearer, better pictures?  I hope so!

What does it mean for the other camera that I have?

No telling. I might just keep them both because that one has some cool features, too.

In other news:

In the category of I can't believe my kid said that:

We're driving down the road today and there's a big nativity display.  Matthew says "Wow, I thought those were real Muslims back there" (after we passed it).

In the category of Knitting:

I was silly enough to think I could knit lace while at knit night.  Whatever was I thinking?  I wound up tinking back two rows (when you have 290+ stitches, that's a lot of tinking) and then drew up a missed yarn over from 2 rows down, then continued on my merry way.  This was a lot better than I had originally thought (I thought I was going to lose about 4 rows of knitting). 

In the category of Coveting:

Yarntini is starting a sock club.  Signups are tomorrow. 

In the category of Christmas:

I have one major gift left to buy (for a small child) and then there are the stocking stuffers and little things.  Bill always wants something for his Jeep - frankly, he changes his mind about 100 times before Christmas actually gets here, so I'm tempted to just give him cash or a gift card for 4 Wheel Drive Hardware. 

In the category of Annoying:

I ordered something from Walmart.com, got a notification that it was out of stock and I could cancel my order.  I found the same something at the Walmart in Kittanning, so I want to cancel the walmart.com order.  When I dial the 800 number they provided, I'm told I can't cancel the order after it was placed.  I also don't have an option to talk to a live person under the category of "returns" or "cancellations" - so I'm waiting for someone under the "billing questions" menu to answer the phone.  I have a wait time of over 5 minutes..during which time I get to hear country music and (every 30 seconds) a voice telling me that a walmart associate is providing the same great service I will receive to another customer right now, plus a friendly reminder that I can place my order at walmart.com or I can call 1-800-Walmart to find the store nearest me.  Oops, now we're listening to Tequila.

In the category of Exercise:

I haven't been to the gym in a week.  I've been feeling under the weather and when the alarm rings at 4:30, it's just easier to hit the snooze and snuggle back under the covers.  This practice must change this week.  My skinny pants are still fitting, I'm still eating well (other than caramel...someone please take the caramel away) and I just need to get back in the swing of things. 

In the category of Cooking:

I am responsible for putting together the Christmas menu for our family Christmas.  This year is particularly challenging because my stepfather has been diagnosed with celiac disease, which means no wheat gluten allowed.  There goes the pasta and the bread. 

In the category of Work:

I applied for another job last week, and am scouring the want ads for anything that sounds appealing. 

I guess that's all I have to talk about!