Holiday Goodness

Here are some holiday pics! Enjoy!

Lengthy Holiday Update

Ah the silence, that’s the silence of boredom. Not with you, of course, but of my boring life. I am now in the countdown to finals. (First one is on Tuesday the 11th, ask me if I’m ready. No, don’t ask.) This is what I like to call my cranky time, the time where I’m snappy and miserable and not much fun to around. It is also around this time that my laugh acquires a little undertone of mania. Of course, let’s not forget that it is not just me who is going through finals at this time, but also Ry. Ry has his own particular crabbiness at this time too, and together we’re like…like…like that bomb in the school in the Die Hard movie with Jeremy Iron, where once the two liquids mix any little thing can detonate it…that’s what we’re like during finals. Ry gets super worked up and then wants to tell me about his outlines and how much he has done and all of that. Meanwhile, I work full time and go to class at night and can only take so much time from work for preparation of my finals, so I always feel like I am way behind when I hear where Ry is at in his studying. Now I know we all study in different ways, but hearing him be so self-satisfied about where he is in his outlines is like eating half of a filet mingon in front of a homeless person and then giving the remainder of the filet to your dog. Not cool. (Then again, during this period of time I am a cranky, shrewish, witch; more likely to rip your face off than look at you, so I guess it evens out.)

In other news, however, we got ourselves a tacky tree this year, we had a choice between white & silver. I’ve always wanted silver but I let Ry pick and he picked white, it’s cool though because it’s got sparklies on it anyway. We got it at Target for $24.99, it came packaged in a clear plastic tube, and nothing says class like a clear plastic tube. It’s pre-lit and about four feet tall, we also got a star to go on the top, which is so supremely tacky and cheap that it didn’t even have a way to affix it to the top of the tree! I ended up wrapping the tip of the tree on top it and then wrapping the cord tight around the tip of the tree, underneath the star. I actually really love it. It’s so kitsch and tacky that it’s awesome. In fact I think my goal will be to start collecting really schlocky ornaments to decorate to hang on it, it will be my Christmas kitsch. So the POINT is that since neither of us will be home for Christmas there’s no point in buying a Christmas tree stand and a tree if we can even enjoy it, but a tacky white plastic tree is the perfect way to decorate and we can put it up every year that we don’t have a real tree. (And some years that we do!)

That’s my holiday update, that and I’ve been inspired by blogs that I read and some friends to try and give, make and buy at least a few handmade gifts this year. Hopefully I’ll plan better for Christmas next year so that the majority of my gifts will be handmade. I will probably not post again until after finals or I receive my Mitten Swap package, whichever comes first, but I will be responding to e-mails and comments, so keep in touch!

p.s. Thanks to my mitten swap partner for her words of encouragement. That means a lot to me. Thank you.

Thanksgiving and Mittens

Well, this Thanksgiving Ry and I had the pleasure of hosting the big meal at our place. Ry's parents went to Colorado for Thanksgiving to be with his sister, so we invited some friends who couldn't go home and see their parents for Thanksgiving and voila! Thanksgiving at our place! Ry and I made the Turkey, mashed potatoes, appetizers, and pies. Our friends J & M made the dressing, sweet potatoes and brought bread and pumpkin pie; and our friend C made a traditional English trifle. We had so much fun! The food was wonderful and I made bacon turkey
with maple flavored bacon on top and pear gravy. YUMMY! Ry and I and all of our wonderful friends had a great time, and it made Ry's first Thanksgiving away from his parents very special.

In further news, I finished one mitten for my swap partner, and am diligently working on the second one. It's turning out nicely, although it's a tad snug to put it on, but once on, it's absolutely perfect! Here's a picture of my progress:
I am really enjoying this project!

Well, I hope all your projects are going well, and that your Thanksgiving was full of much love, joy and fond memories.

Gramma

So, a couple of weeks ago my Gramma felt a Lump. She went to the doctor, and he scheduled her for a biopsy. Last week she was diagnosed with breast cancer. it sent my world into a tailspin. Now, my Gramma is one strong lady, but I just kept thinking about my Grampa all alone. It broke my heart, they've been married since they were about 18, right out of high school, they became grownups together. I can't imagine losing someone that important to me. Well yesterday Gramma had surgery to see if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Grampa sent out a family e-mail last night, apparently after ten hours in the hospital she got a pass. No cancer in the lymph nodes. She'll be starting an aggressive radiation treatment next week, and we'll see from there what will happen next. So go hug your mom, sister, aunt, cousin, gramma, and friends and be thankful that you have them, because you never know what is going to happen next and where the next Lump will be.

Mystery Swap Package Goodness!

I received my Mystery Swap package the other day and Barbara really did a wonderful job. The theme she chose was "Coffee To Get Through School And Knitting". Included were coffee bean stitch markers, a coffee cozy, coffee yarn hand dyed by Barbara, chocolate, Caribou Coffee which donates money to the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer foundation, highlighters and tags for my textbooks. It is really a wonderful package and I can't wait to get started on the sock pattern she gave me for the yarn. Anyway, without further ado here are some pictures of the package!

Happy Halloween (Belated)

Halloween rundown:

We had 3 bags of candy + 2 dogs in costumes (pics to follow)+ One eager-to-hand-out-candy female

result? NO trick-or-treaters. None.

But we did have these:


(And candy, scary movies and beer. Yum!)

Secret mitten

Well, as promised, I cast-on last night for the revamped mitten. MUCH better. Not only are the colors working together in a more cohesive way, but I was able to get the tubular cast on correct in only two tries this time! woo-hoo! Now I just need to hustle my butt and try to get it finished by next Wednesday. Why Wednesday? Because then I can cast on for the other one and hopefully get the pair done in two-ish weeks, so I can work on all the other projects in my little queue!