My intentions last night when I went to bed was to spend a day painting and I don't mean painting walls... I had planned on covering two canvases today. This morning I woke up and to be quite honest I think the over-indulgences of Christmas have finally caught up with me. I feel like a racked moose. Yesterday was a day of over eating and over partying... today I suffer. So I put my feet up and did nothing... I want to say that again.... nothing.... What a fine thing it is when you can say that you have done absolutely nothing... (I really want to say it again but I won't because sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing)... nothing... (OK so I whispered!)
For weeks now I have been planning my nudes for our bedroom.... along with my poem... I was going to start painting it but chickened out along with not feeling up to it. That doesn't mean that I've chickened out on painting the nudes just that I've chickened out on painting them without doing a little more planning. I ordered the canvases a few weeks back and I've had them stored in my bedroom ever since they got here. They are perfect. Two nudes. One Male... one female. Somewhat abstract but not enough that you don't know what it is. I have been downloading nudes from the internet all day... not bad nudes but nude paintings that are not in the slightest disgusting (though I do have to say that I hit on some really bad nude websites that I could only handle for milliseconds before I felt that it was just too much for me... euck!) Anyway, I've been looking at all those nudes with the idea of pushing the ideas that I already have and taking it one step further... now I'm ready to start the preliminary drawings. That's tomorrow's job. I also am starting to get the spinning itch again. I'm seeing my wheel collecting dust and every fibre (no pun intended) in my body says treadle, wool, silk, cotton..... and the buffalo of Level 4 calls me regularly... so that will be soon.
Wow this is a two day post.... I started last night and got so tired that I just couldn't think... so here it is next day and we have spent the morning watching Pacific which is an HBO miniseries on the 2nd World War in the Pacific region... very good, (I'd recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach because they pull no punches with the gore)... We watched Band Of Brothers last year which was the first miniseries on the 2nd World war. We will watch one or two installments each day till school starts again.
But since it is 1 p.m. and I'm still in my pjs I guess I should have at it and get to my painting. Naked women and men here I come.... ; } (that's my kooky face).
I'll try for another story about New Year's tomorrow... last installment on Stories for the Holidays.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Another Christmas Story All About The Jolly Guy Himself
Once upon a time.... there was a little girl who became known in later years as Frankie to some, and Ye Olde Batt to others. (OK, so now you know that this story is about me.)
This little girl was on the verge of becoming a young lady, but was fighting it as hard as she could.... she still believed that there was a Santa... well sort of... she was really not sure whether there was a Santa Claus or not... but she really really wished there was.
Several times she asked her mother if Santa would come this year and each time her mother would say, "Oh yes, of course, Santa always comes to good girls!" Her mother wasn't getting it. She was hoping that her mother would give her a definitive answer but she was too scared to come right out and ask.
All the week before Christmas, when school closed for the holidays, the little girl was very excited... Christmas was the best. But then she got to thinking about her Santa Claus dilemma and her excitement would wane a little... would he come or not. Maybe if she stopped believing in Santa then he wouldn't come anymore. Finally, she went to her older sister and asked her if she thought that Santa would be there that year. Her older sister just ignored her, which she did on a regular basis anyway.
A few days before Christmas, her Father came home with a brand new stereo. It was the best Christmas gift ever. They had never had a new stereo before... just an old record player. But lots of people were getting new stereos.... and it even had an 8 track player!!! (Now that dates me doesn't it!) The very first 8 track they bought and played on that stereo was a Christmas one.... and it always had a special feeling to hear those Christmas songs ever after. With such a smashingly awesome Christmas gift, that came a few days before Christmas,.... it could only mean that Christmas that year was going to be the best ever..... if she could only believe in Santa, that is....
Christmas Eve day came and the little girl got ready to go out to her Aunt's and Uncle's homes to go visiting like they always did. They were visiting her third Uncle's house around about midnight, when someone yelled to come and look out the window. She flew to the window with all the others and there driving down the street was a truck with Santa in the back..... the little girl listened to everyone getting excited. Her Aunts and Uncles were telling the little cousins that the Jolly Old Guy would soon be there for sure. A short while later her mother and father bundled them all up and drove home to their own quiet house.
The little girl was getting into her pajamas when her mother came into her bedroom to tell her that she had better hurry because Santa would be there soon. Her mother tucked her into her bed and gave her a kiss and turned out the light. The little girl lay there thinking about the man she had seen at her Uncle's house, in the back of the truck because that was certainly what he had been... just a man... not Santa at all. Santa would be way more magical than what she had seen. Santa was special... that was for sure... while the man in the back of the truck was just sad.... he didn't have anything magical about him at all. As a matter of a fact, the little girl thought that he might have been drunk. But if she didn't believe in Santa then she had the feeling, in her heart, that something horrible would happen. Like something inside of her would die away and she would never get it back. So the little girl made up her mind that she would believe, and that was that.... she would put the whole thing out of her mind and believe with all her heart.
Next thing the little girl knew she was waking up and it was the middle of the night and she had to go to the bathroom and pee really badly. She lay there a few minutes trying to decide on what to do next. Should she get up and go pee or would that scare Santa away.... Maybe Santa wouldn't come if she were out of bed roaming around the house. This was a serious dilemma because she had never woken up before on Christmas Eve and needed to pee in the middle of the night. It was only 3 a.m. and her mother and father, not to mention her older sister, would never want her to get up at this hour in the morning. Finally she decided that she would hold her pee and not go to the bathroom. 3 hours till 6 a.m. would not be dreadful. She could manage that!
That lasted about ten minutes before she decided, if she didn't go to pee she would burst.
Now her problem was how to get to the bathroom without anyone hearing her and especially Santa (if he were in the house) since he must have special hearing if he was magical.... would he hear her if she got up and moved around? Very slowly she began to slide out of bed an inch at a time. Santa was so magical that, if he was in the house, then he might even hear her blankets being thrown back... so she moved like a slug inching along a little by little. By the time she was in a standing position it had taken her ten whole minutes and she still had to get down the hall to the toilet. I won't bore you at this point with her creeping technique but suffice it to say that she was on the verge of having her bladder move out in disgust with the amount of fluid it was expected to hold, by the time she got to where she needed to be. It was while she was sitting on the well,... you know, when it dawned on her that Santa might already have been there and gone again... and that she could probably go and have a peak to see whether or not there were any gifts under the Christmas tree. Again she moved very slowly down the hall.... just in case! By the time she was ready to peak into the living room, where the tree was standing, it was well past 4 a.m.
At the end of the hallway, there was a turn to the right to go into the kitchen and a turn to the left to go into the living room. She was ready to peak to the left and so she leaned very slowly to the left and stopped dead in her tracks. All the breath went out of her chest. There bending over their brand new stereo was Santa himself and he was just as she had always imagined him. She stood up so fast that she almost gave herself a bad case of whiplash. Scurrying back the way she came, she dove into her bedroom and under the covers before you could say 'Rudolph'. There she lay, with the blankets up to her nose, and eyes as wide as saucers. She could hardly breathe and the adrenaline was raging through her body so that she could have wrestled an elephant and not missed a beat. Santa had been there and he had been the real one because you could see right through him. He wasn't like a drunk old man in the back of a truck he was real... he was real... he was really real....!!!!
It took several more years, before TV and all the other normal things in this life managed to wipe that belief out of her mind. But she never... ever forgot that image of that surreal Santa bending over the new stereo having a good look at it. And in her heart Santa always was as real as snow flakes, he was as real as a horse dancing in the snow on Christmas morning. He was as real as tears on a mother's face when her heart is breaking as she tells her children that she bought their gifts for them and that it had never been Santa Claus.
May you always have the belief of a child in your heart this Christmas and always.
This little girl was on the verge of becoming a young lady, but was fighting it as hard as she could.... she still believed that there was a Santa... well sort of... she was really not sure whether there was a Santa Claus or not... but she really really wished there was.
Several times she asked her mother if Santa would come this year and each time her mother would say, "Oh yes, of course, Santa always comes to good girls!" Her mother wasn't getting it. She was hoping that her mother would give her a definitive answer but she was too scared to come right out and ask.
All the week before Christmas, when school closed for the holidays, the little girl was very excited... Christmas was the best. But then she got to thinking about her Santa Claus dilemma and her excitement would wane a little... would he come or not. Maybe if she stopped believing in Santa then he wouldn't come anymore. Finally, she went to her older sister and asked her if she thought that Santa would be there that year. Her older sister just ignored her, which she did on a regular basis anyway.
A few days before Christmas, her Father came home with a brand new stereo. It was the best Christmas gift ever. They had never had a new stereo before... just an old record player. But lots of people were getting new stereos.... and it even had an 8 track player!!! (Now that dates me doesn't it!) The very first 8 track they bought and played on that stereo was a Christmas one.... and it always had a special feeling to hear those Christmas songs ever after. With such a smashingly awesome Christmas gift, that came a few days before Christmas,.... it could only mean that Christmas that year was going to be the best ever..... if she could only believe in Santa, that is....
Christmas Eve day came and the little girl got ready to go out to her Aunt's and Uncle's homes to go visiting like they always did. They were visiting her third Uncle's house around about midnight, when someone yelled to come and look out the window. She flew to the window with all the others and there driving down the street was a truck with Santa in the back..... the little girl listened to everyone getting excited. Her Aunts and Uncles were telling the little cousins that the Jolly Old Guy would soon be there for sure. A short while later her mother and father bundled them all up and drove home to their own quiet house.
The little girl was getting into her pajamas when her mother came into her bedroom to tell her that she had better hurry because Santa would be there soon. Her mother tucked her into her bed and gave her a kiss and turned out the light. The little girl lay there thinking about the man she had seen at her Uncle's house, in the back of the truck because that was certainly what he had been... just a man... not Santa at all. Santa would be way more magical than what she had seen. Santa was special... that was for sure... while the man in the back of the truck was just sad.... he didn't have anything magical about him at all. As a matter of a fact, the little girl thought that he might have been drunk. But if she didn't believe in Santa then she had the feeling, in her heart, that something horrible would happen. Like something inside of her would die away and she would never get it back. So the little girl made up her mind that she would believe, and that was that.... she would put the whole thing out of her mind and believe with all her heart.
Next thing the little girl knew she was waking up and it was the middle of the night and she had to go to the bathroom and pee really badly. She lay there a few minutes trying to decide on what to do next. Should she get up and go pee or would that scare Santa away.... Maybe Santa wouldn't come if she were out of bed roaming around the house. This was a serious dilemma because she had never woken up before on Christmas Eve and needed to pee in the middle of the night. It was only 3 a.m. and her mother and father, not to mention her older sister, would never want her to get up at this hour in the morning. Finally she decided that she would hold her pee and not go to the bathroom. 3 hours till 6 a.m. would not be dreadful. She could manage that!
That lasted about ten minutes before she decided, if she didn't go to pee she would burst.
Now her problem was how to get to the bathroom without anyone hearing her and especially Santa (if he were in the house) since he must have special hearing if he was magical.... would he hear her if she got up and moved around? Very slowly she began to slide out of bed an inch at a time. Santa was so magical that, if he was in the house, then he might even hear her blankets being thrown back... so she moved like a slug inching along a little by little. By the time she was in a standing position it had taken her ten whole minutes and she still had to get down the hall to the toilet. I won't bore you at this point with her creeping technique but suffice it to say that she was on the verge of having her bladder move out in disgust with the amount of fluid it was expected to hold, by the time she got to where she needed to be. It was while she was sitting on the well,... you know, when it dawned on her that Santa might already have been there and gone again... and that she could probably go and have a peak to see whether or not there were any gifts under the Christmas tree. Again she moved very slowly down the hall.... just in case! By the time she was ready to peak into the living room, where the tree was standing, it was well past 4 a.m.
At the end of the hallway, there was a turn to the right to go into the kitchen and a turn to the left to go into the living room. She was ready to peak to the left and so she leaned very slowly to the left and stopped dead in her tracks. All the breath went out of her chest. There bending over their brand new stereo was Santa himself and he was just as she had always imagined him. She stood up so fast that she almost gave herself a bad case of whiplash. Scurrying back the way she came, she dove into her bedroom and under the covers before you could say 'Rudolph'. There she lay, with the blankets up to her nose, and eyes as wide as saucers. She could hardly breathe and the adrenaline was raging through her body so that she could have wrestled an elephant and not missed a beat. Santa had been there and he had been the real one because you could see right through him. He wasn't like a drunk old man in the back of a truck he was real... he was real... he was really real....!!!!
It took several more years, before TV and all the other normal things in this life managed to wipe that belief out of her mind. But she never... ever forgot that image of that surreal Santa bending over the new stereo having a good look at it. And in her heart Santa always was as real as snow flakes, he was as real as a horse dancing in the snow on Christmas morning. He was as real as tears on a mother's face when her heart is breaking as she tells her children that she bought their gifts for them and that it had never been Santa Claus.
May you always have the belief of a child in your heart this Christmas and always.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas And My Annual Poem
A Nichols Family Christmas
How did it happen, Christmas day again, and the turkey is being roasted,
I thought I’d write a little poem about things of which can be boasted.
It’s been a full and busy year of that you can be sure,
But tomorrow is Boxing day and then things quiet to a roar.
We’ll sit around till 3 o'clock in our pj's and our gowns.
And relax with our feet up with nary a single frown.
We’ve shopped, and thought, and figured out, we’ve wrapped, and taped, bowed…
Last time we had a chance to look, outside the window it snowed.
But simple pleasures are the feature of this day forward’s menu,
So now I get a chance to write about our year and send you,
A poem of such great caliber I’m sure you will agree,
That the Nichols clan really got a wonderful treasure in me! (My ego is not bloated at all… is it : )
The year has been so very full, I’m not sure what to say,
The farm has taken all our time with not much time for play.
We had a summer so dreadfully dry the ground was parched for rain,
And every day we’d watch the sky and the sun, we would disdain.
Hay became a serious problem we had to go far a field,
To find enough to feed the stock, and strike some very hard deals.
But August came and lucky enough a farmer came our way
And let us know that he was willing to sell us some bales of hay.
We reduced the number but you know sheep, they breed like little rabbits,
So in the spring we’ll start again with lambs with sucking habits.
And the moms will need their quota of feed in order to nurse their lambs,
So pray for rain, we’ll need it sure, perhaps we should raise hams!
The girls are ladies, they’re growing up. High school is their bane,
But still they are A+ students, I think it is a feign.
They both outstrip me in height you know, it’s quite a serious shock,
To look up and see the faces of those who once could not even talk.
One rides horses, the other draws, they really do us proud,
But sometimes I have to tell the truth, I wish they weren’t so loud.
They play their music on iPod docks and listen all the time,
A quieter habit is what they need, something better like mime!
No boyfriends yet that I know of, I think the boys are shy,
But that’s OK cause the longer it goes I’m happy I can’t deny.
And he and I are getting on, we’re starting to feel our years,
His knees creak, my back aches, and we both need glasses to peer.
I look at him, he looks at me, where have those years all gone,
“Into the past, my dear,” he says. “Our wrinkles we have won.”
But we’re not so old yet, you know, we still giggle and laugh,
We simply won’t give up our youth, we’ll follow a daring path.
And do the things we like to do like camping, in the wild,
We’ll paddle the canoe whenever we can through weather cold or mild.
And every year Christmas comes, joy and hope to renew,
We wish you all a Merry Christmas in everything you do.
Best wishes for 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
As Promised.. Another Christmas Story
Oh Christmas Tree... Oh Christmas Tree... Oh Christmas Tree?! When Will You Stand In Verdant Beauty
Once upon a time there was a sweet couple who were young and just married one year when Christmas rolled around. They had a two seater convertible and were living on an Indian reservation after moving from their home the year before. They were trying to prepare for a wonderful Christmas knowing that even though it was their first Christmas together they would spend it far from their family who they missed dreadfully. They couldn't buy a Christmas tree since the nearest place to buy a Christmas tree was an hour's drive away over treacherous roads.... and how in the world would they fit a real Christmas tree on the roof of their soft top car.... it just wouldn't work.... So the young couple decided to walk down through the bush surrounding their house and find their Christmas tree. It didn't take them long to find a small tree about 7 feet high because they didn't want to have to carry a large tree home through the thick brush.... (smart move)! When they got the tree home it was very small and sadly lacking anything like thick branches... but they decorated it all the same and were content in their Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
The next year they scouted out the bush in the fall of the year looking for a nicer Christmas tree and when they found it the marked it and knew that they would go back for it later when Christmas rolled around.When they finally were ready to go and cut their tree.... they walked to the spot where the tree was with their saw and began to cut it. When they cut it down the tree was a little bigger and heavier than they felt they could carry. It was a lovely tree... the best tree they had ever seen, so they didn't want to cut any of it off to make it lighter. Teapot thought that he could stuff it in the trunk of their two seater convertible and slide it through the ski holder and be able to drive it home if they could just get it to the road. So they lugged and they carried and then Teapot ran home and got the car while the good wife stayed and kept their Christmas tree safe. (You never know when there my be marauding Christmas trees thieves roaming through the -35 degree northern Canadian forest!) When Teapot got there with their car, the good wife was almost frozen... but they stuffed the tree into the back of the car and though there was more length of tree sticking out the back end of the car than there was car, they proceeded to drive home. It only took a few feet of driving for Teapot to notice that there was very little traction on the front wheels. The tree was so heavy and so big that it was lifting the front wheels of the car off the road.... since the car was a front wheel drive this couldn't be good.... so driving very slowly and with the good wife sitting on the hood of the car, Teapot drove home with the large tree sticking out of the back end of the car.... It was as they were driving along at 20 kms an hour that they noticed that the native people who were their neighbours were watching them in surprise and awe.... Who in the world would ever do such a thing.... they were laughing behind their hands and pointing with their chins (native people believe that pointing with their fingers is rude... at least the ones we lived with did!) Soon, teapot and the good wife got home with the prized tree and discovered right away that the tree was just not going to fit into their home so when they finished trimming off what they needed to in order to get the colossal thing in the house.... it looked like sh--, so Teapot went to the school and got the tree that he had had for his class room and they used that instead.
The next year they had a new vehicle.... it had a hard top so they went to the nearest town and bought a tree from the Christmas tree farm... They picked out a lovely Christmas tree... and the nice gentlemen opened it up so that they could look at it's shape and then he put a tree protector bag made of plastic (it was a big garbage bag basically) over the tree and they loaded it on their vehicle and headed off home. When they got home, they carefully onloaded the tree and brought it into the house and stood it up... Oh no! The plastic bag had flapped in the wind so much on the way home that there was not one pin on one side of the tree. But they stood it up with a sigh and decorated it all the same.
The following year they decided to go back to cutting their own Christmas tree. But instead they decided to cut two.... just in case. They got the two trees home and then decided that one was better than the other but there was a big hole in the branches so Teapot got out his saw and drill and started to manufacture the perfect tree. They decorated the tree including the branches that Teapot had added from the other tree... and then the tossed what was left of the extra tree out under their bird feeder for the birds in which they could hide away from the cat. The added branches turned red earlier than all the rest but for the first time they had a pretty nice Christmas tree.
And so it came to pass that the happy little family.... (by now they had two daughters and had become not just a young couple but a happy little family) set in motion in those first four years of celebrating Christmas, a tradition of terrible Christmas tree experiences.... The best one went like this....
Many years later, Christmas tree hunting season was here at last and the happy little family got in their truck and drove to a place where the right size tree grows. They got out of the truck and walked about twenty feet down through the trees and realized that it was going to be difficult getting a tree this year because there was so much snow on the ground. The good wife had a very bad back that year and slogging through the snow was just not going to happen so she went back to sit in the truck while the husband and two daughters walked further and further into the bush. After they disappeared she pulled out the thermos of hot chocolate and took out her knitting needles and began to knit. Time passed, and the good wife knit more and more. Soon she began to notice that it was starting to get dark and so she looked up in the hopes of seeing Teapot and the Daughters coming back with a tree in tow. It was blowing and snowing and very cold.... hmmm.... what could be keeping them? Time kept passing and it was getting darker and later and still they didn't come. Finally it was really getting dark and she saw in the distance all three coming with Teapot in the back towing a tree through the snow. The good wife was so relieved that she decided to get out of the truck and take some pictures of them tracking through the snow. Click went the camera.... and clickety click click it went. Suddenly she felt something odd happening with the bottom of her jeans.... she looked down and there trying to climb up her boot to the bottom of her pants and to the nice warm leg beneath, was a wee mouse that was thinking that a nice pants leg might be a good home for Christmas...! The good wife jumped and as the wee mouse ran frantically trying to get to the nice safe pants leg the good wife began to do the most interesting dance that you can imagine..... Off in the distance, the Daughters and Teapot saw that there was something very wrong with the good wife and so they tried to get there to help the good wife because she was obviously going off her rocker... ! When they ran up to her they saw that she was indeed frantically trying to get something off her leg..... or was it her foot... She was jumping around so crazily that they weren't quite sure what was happening.... In short order, one of the Daughters saw something small and furry fall to the ground and disappear into a mouse hole and it was then they they figured out what was wrong with the good wife..... She dove into the truck and swore she was getting an artificial tree and never going looking for a real tree again. Everybody laughed at her and when she calmed down a few days later she began to see the humour in the situation and began to laugh about it too.... but still she swore that she would never have another real tree as long as she lived.
It took the good wife three long years but finally.... finally she convinced Teapot and her Daughters that an artificial tree that could be taken out of a box and set up in 7 minutes was the best tree option of all...
And so it came to pass.....
Merry Christmas... and may your Tannenbaum be as simple as ours is....
Once upon a time there was a sweet couple who were young and just married one year when Christmas rolled around. They had a two seater convertible and were living on an Indian reservation after moving from their home the year before. They were trying to prepare for a wonderful Christmas knowing that even though it was their first Christmas together they would spend it far from their family who they missed dreadfully. They couldn't buy a Christmas tree since the nearest place to buy a Christmas tree was an hour's drive away over treacherous roads.... and how in the world would they fit a real Christmas tree on the roof of their soft top car.... it just wouldn't work.... So the young couple decided to walk down through the bush surrounding their house and find their Christmas tree. It didn't take them long to find a small tree about 7 feet high because they didn't want to have to carry a large tree home through the thick brush.... (smart move)! When they got the tree home it was very small and sadly lacking anything like thick branches... but they decorated it all the same and were content in their Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
The next year they scouted out the bush in the fall of the year looking for a nicer Christmas tree and when they found it the marked it and knew that they would go back for it later when Christmas rolled around.When they finally were ready to go and cut their tree.... they walked to the spot where the tree was with their saw and began to cut it. When they cut it down the tree was a little bigger and heavier than they felt they could carry. It was a lovely tree... the best tree they had ever seen, so they didn't want to cut any of it off to make it lighter. Teapot thought that he could stuff it in the trunk of their two seater convertible and slide it through the ski holder and be able to drive it home if they could just get it to the road. So they lugged and they carried and then Teapot ran home and got the car while the good wife stayed and kept their Christmas tree safe. (You never know when there my be marauding Christmas trees thieves roaming through the -35 degree northern Canadian forest!) When Teapot got there with their car, the good wife was almost frozen... but they stuffed the tree into the back of the car and though there was more length of tree sticking out the back end of the car than there was car, they proceeded to drive home. It only took a few feet of driving for Teapot to notice that there was very little traction on the front wheels. The tree was so heavy and so big that it was lifting the front wheels of the car off the road.... since the car was a front wheel drive this couldn't be good.... so driving very slowly and with the good wife sitting on the hood of the car, Teapot drove home with the large tree sticking out of the back end of the car.... It was as they were driving along at 20 kms an hour that they noticed that the native people who were their neighbours were watching them in surprise and awe.... Who in the world would ever do such a thing.... they were laughing behind their hands and pointing with their chins (native people believe that pointing with their fingers is rude... at least the ones we lived with did!) Soon, teapot and the good wife got home with the prized tree and discovered right away that the tree was just not going to fit into their home so when they finished trimming off what they needed to in order to get the colossal thing in the house.... it looked like sh--, so Teapot went to the school and got the tree that he had had for his class room and they used that instead.
The next year they had a new vehicle.... it had a hard top so they went to the nearest town and bought a tree from the Christmas tree farm... They picked out a lovely Christmas tree... and the nice gentlemen opened it up so that they could look at it's shape and then he put a tree protector bag made of plastic (it was a big garbage bag basically) over the tree and they loaded it on their vehicle and headed off home. When they got home, they carefully onloaded the tree and brought it into the house and stood it up... Oh no! The plastic bag had flapped in the wind so much on the way home that there was not one pin on one side of the tree. But they stood it up with a sigh and decorated it all the same.
The following year they decided to go back to cutting their own Christmas tree. But instead they decided to cut two.... just in case. They got the two trees home and then decided that one was better than the other but there was a big hole in the branches so Teapot got out his saw and drill and started to manufacture the perfect tree. They decorated the tree including the branches that Teapot had added from the other tree... and then the tossed what was left of the extra tree out under their bird feeder for the birds in which they could hide away from the cat. The added branches turned red earlier than all the rest but for the first time they had a pretty nice Christmas tree.
And so it came to pass that the happy little family.... (by now they had two daughters and had become not just a young couple but a happy little family) set in motion in those first four years of celebrating Christmas, a tradition of terrible Christmas tree experiences.... The best one went like this....
Many years later, Christmas tree hunting season was here at last and the happy little family got in their truck and drove to a place where the right size tree grows. They got out of the truck and walked about twenty feet down through the trees and realized that it was going to be difficult getting a tree this year because there was so much snow on the ground. The good wife had a very bad back that year and slogging through the snow was just not going to happen so she went back to sit in the truck while the husband and two daughters walked further and further into the bush. After they disappeared she pulled out the thermos of hot chocolate and took out her knitting needles and began to knit. Time passed, and the good wife knit more and more. Soon she began to notice that it was starting to get dark and so she looked up in the hopes of seeing Teapot and the Daughters coming back with a tree in tow. It was blowing and snowing and very cold.... hmmm.... what could be keeping them? Time kept passing and it was getting darker and later and still they didn't come. Finally it was really getting dark and she saw in the distance all three coming with Teapot in the back towing a tree through the snow. The good wife was so relieved that she decided to get out of the truck and take some pictures of them tracking through the snow. Click went the camera.... and clickety click click it went. Suddenly she felt something odd happening with the bottom of her jeans.... she looked down and there trying to climb up her boot to the bottom of her pants and to the nice warm leg beneath, was a wee mouse that was thinking that a nice pants leg might be a good home for Christmas...! The good wife jumped and as the wee mouse ran frantically trying to get to the nice safe pants leg the good wife began to do the most interesting dance that you can imagine..... Off in the distance, the Daughters and Teapot saw that there was something very wrong with the good wife and so they tried to get there to help the good wife because she was obviously going off her rocker... ! When they ran up to her they saw that she was indeed frantically trying to get something off her leg..... or was it her foot... She was jumping around so crazily that they weren't quite sure what was happening.... In short order, one of the Daughters saw something small and furry fall to the ground and disappear into a mouse hole and it was then they they figured out what was wrong with the good wife..... She dove into the truck and swore she was getting an artificial tree and never going looking for a real tree again. Everybody laughed at her and when she calmed down a few days later she began to see the humour in the situation and began to laugh about it too.... but still she swore that she would never have another real tree as long as she lived.
It took the good wife three long years but finally.... finally she convinced Teapot and her Daughters that an artificial tree that could be taken out of a box and set up in 7 minutes was the best tree option of all...
And so it came to pass.....
Merry Christmas... and may your Tannenbaum be as simple as ours is....
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Blessed, Blessed Light
Well, Solstice has come and gone and while the rest of the world celebrated it yesterday.... I'm a little strange. I actually don't celebrate Solstice.... I celebrate the day after Solstice and today is the day after Solstice. You see... when everyone else is celebrating the shortest day of the year I actually can't wait till it's over... then, I start celebrating the day after because we've gained just a few precious moments of daylight.
Do y'all remember last year? I started watching the daylight and I really did find that it does help to know that each day there is just a few more precious moments of daylight and you can watch that sun growing as it comes closer and closer, higher and higher, warmer and warmer, and brighter and brighter. Oh happy day! The sunrise today for my area is at 9:35 a.m. and the sunset is at 16:29 p.m. so as of this day I will have a new little gadget up in the corner of my blog main page that has the Sunset and Sunrise and I usually follow it till the spring Equinox. So you can follow it with me too... if you want to.
Now for the promised Christmas Story.
A Lesson In Christmas Shopping
Once upon a time there was a very foolish woman. She decided to let her husband do all the Christmas stocking stuffer shopping for the two Daughters as well as all the candy and goodies that go into the stocking of herself andTeapot I mean, her husband (yes... she sent him shopping for himself.... but it's really not mean because he liked/s to pick out chocolate and treats for himself and she had other goodies for his stocking that were not treats and would make nice surprises for him.) Many times before, when they were down to the wire on time one or the other of them had gone shopping for the sweets that would make their debut in the magical stockings on Christmas morning and it had been really good because the good wife could get done everything that she needed to do and the husband didn't have to go shopping with his Daughters and watch her/them try on many different pairs of jeans only to have to pay for them in the end (and not $148.00 either!)
The good wife trusted that her husband could do this small task because he had done it before and really done a good job with it and also it was a fairly simple job... She had also given him the task of buying groceries... he had also done a good job with that in the past. He set out his way and she set out her way with the two Daughters. The shopping for the most part went really well for the good wife... (except for the jean shopping... see previous post for further details... and one crochety old fart who could be a contender for the Scrooge of the year award)! They arrived home that night, tired but satisfied that they had gotten everything they needed and would not need to go shopping anymore this side of Christmas.
The husband brought in the groceries and the good wife put them away and in the meantime there was much sneakiness and craftiness trying to get bags in from the vehicle and hidden in the house without eyes getting glimps of things that shouldn't be seen until Christmas morning.
Later, after the Daughters were nestled all snug in their beds with sugarplums bouncing around off the inside of their minds the good wife and her husband sat in the living room to have a peak at all the things that would make their way into the stockings. (Yup, the good wife saw all that she would be opening on Christmas morning too...) It was while the good wife was waiting for the husband to return from upstairs where he had hidden all the Christmas stocking treasures that she realized that there were several important items missing from the grocery list and she thought that perhaps her husband may have forgotten them... (sigh)!
The husband entered the living room with one grocery bag and one bag from another store and that was it. She looked at him in confusion and said, "Well, where's the rest of it?'
Teapot (ahh... whose kidding who... we all know the story is about this clan!): What do you mean where's the rest of it.
Frankie: Ummm the rest of the stocking stuffers.
Teapot: Are you kidding? This is it.
Frankie: For one stocking right?
Teapot: Uhh! No? This is what I got.
The colour was once again draining from the good wife's face....
Frankie: You do realize that one grocery bag is what it takes to fill one stocking right?!
Teapot: Uh...no!
They looked through the things that he had purchased and realized that they would be making another trip to town... there was just no way that they had enough to fill all four stockings even if they stretched things it would be like they had all been bad for Santa....
Then the good wife thought she had better check her banking account and noticed that there was a lot more money there than there should be.... hmmm!
Frankie: Dear, how much money did you spend on groceries?
Teapot: $@$% (I won't say how much he actually spent but suffice it to say that it was a whole lot less than what the good wife had planned on spending for groceries).
In dismay the good wife realized that husbands should be given strict shopping lists for Christmas groceries and that Christmas groceries are not like any other grocery shopping expedition at all but in the eyes of men 'shopping is shopping' no matter what time of the year it is!
They are now going to brave the stores once again... early tomorrow morning... for stocking stuffers and the rest of the groceries that will be needed for the open house/anniversary party they are throwing on the 28th.... (yes... our anniversary is in the midts of this crazy season!)
I think I need to go lie down again... (sigh)!
Do y'all remember last year? I started watching the daylight and I really did find that it does help to know that each day there is just a few more precious moments of daylight and you can watch that sun growing as it comes closer and closer, higher and higher, warmer and warmer, and brighter and brighter. Oh happy day! The sunrise today for my area is at 9:35 a.m. and the sunset is at 16:29 p.m. so as of this day I will have a new little gadget up in the corner of my blog main page that has the Sunset and Sunrise and I usually follow it till the spring Equinox. So you can follow it with me too... if you want to.
Now for the promised Christmas Story.
A Lesson In Christmas Shopping
Once upon a time there was a very foolish woman. She decided to let her husband do all the Christmas stocking stuffer shopping for the two Daughters as well as all the candy and goodies that go into the stocking of herself and
The good wife trusted that her husband could do this small task because he had done it before and really done a good job with it and also it was a fairly simple job... She had also given him the task of buying groceries... he had also done a good job with that in the past. He set out his way and she set out her way with the two Daughters. The shopping for the most part went really well for the good wife... (except for the jean shopping... see previous post for further details... and one crochety old fart who could be a contender for the Scrooge of the year award)! They arrived home that night, tired but satisfied that they had gotten everything they needed and would not need to go shopping anymore this side of Christmas.
The husband brought in the groceries and the good wife put them away and in the meantime there was much sneakiness and craftiness trying to get bags in from the vehicle and hidden in the house without eyes getting glimps of things that shouldn't be seen until Christmas morning.
Later, after the Daughters were nestled all snug in their beds with sugarplums bouncing around off the inside of their minds the good wife and her husband sat in the living room to have a peak at all the things that would make their way into the stockings. (Yup, the good wife saw all that she would be opening on Christmas morning too...) It was while the good wife was waiting for the husband to return from upstairs where he had hidden all the Christmas stocking treasures that she realized that there were several important items missing from the grocery list and she thought that perhaps her husband may have forgotten them... (sigh)!
The husband entered the living room with one grocery bag and one bag from another store and that was it. She looked at him in confusion and said, "Well, where's the rest of it?'
Teapot (ahh... whose kidding who... we all know the story is about this clan!): What do you mean where's the rest of it.
Frankie: Ummm the rest of the stocking stuffers.
Teapot: Are you kidding? This is it.
Frankie: For one stocking right?
Teapot: Uhh! No? This is what I got.
The colour was once again draining from the good wife's face....
Frankie: You do realize that one grocery bag is what it takes to fill one stocking right?!
Teapot: Uh...no!
They looked through the things that he had purchased and realized that they would be making another trip to town... there was just no way that they had enough to fill all four stockings even if they stretched things it would be like they had all been bad for Santa....
Then the good wife thought she had better check her banking account and noticed that there was a lot more money there than there should be.... hmmm!
Frankie: Dear, how much money did you spend on groceries?
Teapot: $@$% (I won't say how much he actually spent but suffice it to say that it was a whole lot less than what the good wife had planned on spending for groceries).
In dismay the good wife realized that husbands should be given strict shopping lists for Christmas groceries and that Christmas groceries are not like any other grocery shopping expedition at all but in the eyes of men 'shopping is shopping' no matter what time of the year it is!
They are now going to brave the stores once again... early tomorrow morning... for stocking stuffers and the rest of the groceries that will be needed for the open house/anniversary party they are throwing on the 28th.... (yes... our anniversary is in the midts of this crazy season!)
I think I need to go lie down again... (sigh)!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Week Of Christmas Stories.... Maybe..... Starting With The Last Post
Once upon a time there was an old hag.... (I just looked at my reflection in the black window here by the computer... it wasn't a pretty sight!)... who had two lovely Daughters that she wanted to give the world to.
One Christmas she decided to buy the Daughter #2 a pair of jeans because she needed them and because she loved her Daughter #2 very much indeed and that is what the Daughter #2 wanted most in all the world for Christmas. (The Daughter #2 had a lot of trouble buying jeans because she was/is so tall... )The old hag mother tried getting nice jeans from the Sears catalogue but had no luck. So the old hag mother took her daughter to a jean store in the nearest mall in the hopes of finding a very nice pair of jeans. The store that she took the daughter to was known as having jeans that were popular with all the coolest kids in town...
Now the old hag mother had not been shopping in the store in question for several years because most of the jeans in the store were barely muff dusters. But she thought that she might find something for the daughter that was cool but at the same time not quite so revealing. They walked into the store together hopeful that all would go well and that the daughter would be leaving the store in a short while with the said desired jeans. Thedumb mother I mean the old hag mother had bought jeans there before and she had thought that they charged outrageous prices at between $60 to $80 dollars, but that Daughter #2 was worth it. The Daughter #1 and Teapot had gone to purchase tickets to the theatre for the matinee knowing that the Daughter #2 and the old hag mother had a full 45 minutes to purchase the jeans.
The Daughter #2 was happily going through the jeans on the racks and picking out several pairs to try on when the old hag mother found the perfect pair. She handed them to the Daughter #2 to go and try on...
While the Daughter #2 was trying on the jeans, the old hag mother was looking at pretty tops that the Daughter might like as well. A few moments later, the Daughter #2 came out of the change room with the jeans on and a new top as well.... and looked just smashing. By this time they were getting down on time and knew that they would have to meet Teapot and the Daughter #1 at the theatre in about 10 minutes. The Daughter #2 went back into the change room and took off the jeans and the top and handed them to her mother along with another top and said that the price was 2 for 1..... hmmm.
The Daughter #2 was getting her own clothes on when the old hag mother walked over to the lineup by the cash registers to pay for their purchases.... there were a few in the line ahead of her.... and there wasn't much time left. The person ahead of her stepped up to the counter after a few minutes and the good wife was getting panicky in line...... (I bet you're wondering why I switched from old hag mother to good wife....) The Daughter #2 was now standing just off to the right of the line up with a white strained look on her face because she really wanted to see the movie. Just as the good wife was thinking I'm going to have to hide this pile of clothes in a spot somewhere until after the movie, the cashier finished with the person ahead. By now, the good wife and the Daughter #2 were late.... by about 5 minutes and the movie would be starting any minute now. Very quickly the good wife threw the clothes on the counter and fished around in her purse for her debit card.... meanwhile the cashier was entering all pertinent information.... she turned and told the total to the good wife and the good wife, hearing her, passed her the card.... in a matter of minutes the good wife completed the transaction and took the bag and the receipt and headed off at a run up the mall to the theatre..... but the Daughter #2 was worried .... her mother had a funny white pinched look on her face.... there was something really wrong with her mother. After a few seconds, her mother was slowing down and not walking as fast... she looked like she was going to be sick.... so she asked her mother if she was ok.
The good wife/ good mother was having an aneurysm.... (don't panic... not really.... it just felt like it)!
She said to her daughter, "I just spent $200.78 on two tops at $14.50 each which means that there's something wrong with the price of the jeans..... I'll have to look at the receipt and figure out what just happened... she must have charged me twice for the jeans... we'll have to go back..." Seeing the stricken look on the daughter's face she said, "it can wait till after the movie..... " Meanwhile they were still speeding down the hall of the mall toward the theatres..... but as they went along the good mother kept mumbling to herself.... things like... "it can't be" and "there must be some mistake" and " I couldn't be that naive could I" and "they wouldn't do that really"..... until finally the good mother stopped in her tracks and just stared at the receipt that she still gripped in her white, tight fist... and there before her eyes was the price of the jeans...... $148.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Holy #%#$$%&%$ a moly. That can't be real?" she squawked. People all around were looking at her strangely....
She thought she was dieing as the shock sunk in that she had just been taken by a bunch of cheating b---ards!
After a few seconds the Daughter #2 took her by the arm and dragged her along down the hall. She could see her father in the distance and knew that he would make everything alright.
Meanwhile the good wife was trying to get a hold of herself and when she saw the Teapot she said in an undertone, "I have something horrible to tell you.....!"
He turned to her and saw that it was a serious matter right away by the horrid look on her face. She realized that others were looking on, and trying to be the loving, happy family that they usually are.... (ok, so like everyone else on the face of the planet... we have our problems too!) she smiled and said, "I need to sit down... lets just go into the movie and I will tell you in there."
In the dark she relayed to the Teapot the price of the jeans that she had just purchased and so they looked at the price tag on the jeans to make sure that she hadn't been charged twice..... and yes, they were $148.00. ACCCKK! Teapot was now in the grips of an aneurysm. The first thing out of his mouth is, "You have to take them back.....!" And the good wife, being a good wife, kept her head and replied very politely that she was not a moron and that she knew this.
In the dark while Reepicheep was defending his honour, the good wife came to terms with the problem she found herself in. She had been blinded by time... she hadn't looked at the purchase price of the jeans, she had been lulled into stupidity by the passing of time and thinking that knobs that set prices are money grubbing sh-t...well you get my drift... Daughter #2 was whispered to and made aware that she could not keep the perfect jeans because they were highly overpriced pieces of cotton sewn together in some third world sweat shop for about five dollars and then bejewelled with a 1960's bejeweler and sold to dimwitted mothers too stupid to look at prices.
The jeans went back, of course.... and we bought Daughter #2 a lovely purple (her favorite colour) blouse and a lovely pair of black floaty dress pants and a necklace to match the blouse... an outfit that makes her look like she is a very tall, slim and beautiful model, at a much more reasonable price at a much more reasonable store.... and never again will we shop at Bootlegger (oops... I shouldn't have said that).... because they are abunch of money grubbing smuck heads for trying to sell cotton denim (bejeweled or not) at anything nearing the price we almost paid....
Buyer Beware.... Merry Christmas.
Shopping sucks the big one!!!
One Christmas she decided to buy the Daughter #2 a pair of jeans because she needed them and because she loved her Daughter #2 very much indeed and that is what the Daughter #2 wanted most in all the world for Christmas. (The Daughter #2 had a lot of trouble buying jeans because she was/is so tall... )The old hag mother tried getting nice jeans from the Sears catalogue but had no luck. So the old hag mother took her daughter to a jean store in the nearest mall in the hopes of finding a very nice pair of jeans. The store that she took the daughter to was known as having jeans that were popular with all the coolest kids in town...
Now the old hag mother had not been shopping in the store in question for several years because most of the jeans in the store were barely muff dusters. But she thought that she might find something for the daughter that was cool but at the same time not quite so revealing. They walked into the store together hopeful that all would go well and that the daughter would be leaving the store in a short while with the said desired jeans. The
The Daughter #2 was happily going through the jeans on the racks and picking out several pairs to try on when the old hag mother found the perfect pair. She handed them to the Daughter #2 to go and try on...
While the Daughter #2 was trying on the jeans, the old hag mother was looking at pretty tops that the Daughter might like as well. A few moments later, the Daughter #2 came out of the change room with the jeans on and a new top as well.... and looked just smashing. By this time they were getting down on time and knew that they would have to meet Teapot and the Daughter #1 at the theatre in about 10 minutes. The Daughter #2 went back into the change room and took off the jeans and the top and handed them to her mother along with another top and said that the price was 2 for 1..... hmmm.
The Daughter #2 was getting her own clothes on when the old hag mother walked over to the lineup by the cash registers to pay for their purchases.... there were a few in the line ahead of her.... and there wasn't much time left. The person ahead of her stepped up to the counter after a few minutes and the good wife was getting panicky in line...... (I bet you're wondering why I switched from old hag mother to good wife....) The Daughter #2 was now standing just off to the right of the line up with a white strained look on her face because she really wanted to see the movie. Just as the good wife was thinking I'm going to have to hide this pile of clothes in a spot somewhere until after the movie, the cashier finished with the person ahead. By now, the good wife and the Daughter #2 were late.... by about 5 minutes and the movie would be starting any minute now. Very quickly the good wife threw the clothes on the counter and fished around in her purse for her debit card.... meanwhile the cashier was entering all pertinent information.... she turned and told the total to the good wife and the good wife, hearing her, passed her the card.... in a matter of minutes the good wife completed the transaction and took the bag and the receipt and headed off at a run up the mall to the theatre..... but the Daughter #2 was worried .... her mother had a funny white pinched look on her face.... there was something really wrong with her mother. After a few seconds, her mother was slowing down and not walking as fast... she looked like she was going to be sick.... so she asked her mother if she was ok.
The good wife/ good mother was having an aneurysm.... (don't panic... not really.... it just felt like it)!
She said to her daughter, "I just spent $200.78 on two tops at $14.50 each which means that there's something wrong with the price of the jeans..... I'll have to look at the receipt and figure out what just happened... she must have charged me twice for the jeans... we'll have to go back..." Seeing the stricken look on the daughter's face she said, "it can wait till after the movie..... " Meanwhile they were still speeding down the hall of the mall toward the theatres..... but as they went along the good mother kept mumbling to herself.... things like... "it can't be" and "there must be some mistake" and " I couldn't be that naive could I" and "they wouldn't do that really"..... until finally the good mother stopped in her tracks and just stared at the receipt that she still gripped in her white, tight fist... and there before her eyes was the price of the jeans...... $148.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Holy #%#$$%&%$ a moly. That can't be real?" she squawked. People all around were looking at her strangely....
She thought she was dieing as the shock sunk in that she had just been taken by a bunch of cheating b---ards!
After a few seconds the Daughter #2 took her by the arm and dragged her along down the hall. She could see her father in the distance and knew that he would make everything alright.
Meanwhile the good wife was trying to get a hold of herself and when she saw the Teapot she said in an undertone, "I have something horrible to tell you.....!"
He turned to her and saw that it was a serious matter right away by the horrid look on her face. She realized that others were looking on, and trying to be the loving, happy family that they usually are.... (ok, so like everyone else on the face of the planet... we have our problems too!) she smiled and said, "I need to sit down... lets just go into the movie and I will tell you in there."
In the dark she relayed to the Teapot the price of the jeans that she had just purchased and so they looked at the price tag on the jeans to make sure that she hadn't been charged twice..... and yes, they were $148.00. ACCCKK! Teapot was now in the grips of an aneurysm. The first thing out of his mouth is, "You have to take them back.....!" And the good wife, being a good wife, kept her head and replied very politely that she was not a moron and that she knew this.
In the dark while Reepicheep was defending his honour, the good wife came to terms with the problem she found herself in. She had been blinded by time... she hadn't looked at the purchase price of the jeans, she had been lulled into stupidity by the passing of time and thinking that knobs that set prices are money grubbing sh-t...well you get my drift... Daughter #2 was whispered to and made aware that she could not keep the perfect jeans because they were highly overpriced pieces of cotton sewn together in some third world sweat shop for about five dollars and then bejewelled with a 1960's bejeweler and sold to dimwitted mothers too stupid to look at prices.
The jeans went back, of course.... and we bought Daughter #2 a lovely purple (her favorite colour) blouse and a lovely pair of black floaty dress pants and a necklace to match the blouse... an outfit that makes her look like she is a very tall, slim and beautiful model, at a much more reasonable price at a much more reasonable store.... and never again will we shop at Bootlegger (oops... I shouldn't have said that).... because they are abunch of money grubbing smuck heads for trying to sell cotton denim (bejeweled or not) at anything nearing the price we almost paid....
Buyer Beware.... Merry Christmas.
Shopping sucks the big one!!!
Monday, December 20, 2010
A Little Story About A Christmas Stocking....Or 4
Once upon a time there was a poor dear boy who started dating a lovely young lady, (I was quite lovely in those days... I wonder what happened)! When Christmas rolled around everyone had a stocking that they hung up to be filled by the jolly old man except for he dear boy. So the lovely young lady decided that this wasn't right and that the dear boy needed a stocking of his own. At first she was going to buy a pair of rubber boots and paint one but this just didn't seem right because it would be hard to pack away between Christmases, so she went to the fabric store and bought some lovely red satin material and made the dear boy a stocking. However, everyone had stockings with their names on it. The dear boy's stocking looked so plain that she just couldn't bare it, so she went to work decorating it.... and it turned out to be really nice. Everyone was jealous of the dear boys stocking. So after Christmas the lovely young lady married the dear boy and moved away from all the jealous people taking the prized stocking with them.
This is what that stocking looks like....
The next year when Christmas rolled around the lovely young lady realized that she had left her stocking behind... a dilema. She went to the fabric store again and bought some more fabric like the material she had bought for Teapot's stocking the year before and made a stocking for herself. It looked like this...
All went well for a few years.... but the lovely young lady was having a baby and the baby was to be born just before Christmas. Now the new baby would need a stocking too... She went to the fabric store and bought some more fabric but it was a little different from the fabric that she had bought for herself and the dear boy. But she persevered and came up with a new stocking, all decorated for the new baby....
The baby turned out to be a little girl and she was very happy with her magical stocking.
It wasn't long before the happy little family found out that there would be another wee baby coming and the lovely young lady decided that once again she would need to make a stocking for the newest baby... Christmas came and went and she didn't make a stocking but then spring came and the baby was born and all thoughts of magical stockings went right out of the lovely young lady's head. Suddenly the Christmas season was there and the lovely young lady was caught with her proverbial pants down. Here it was Christmas Eve and Santa would soon be here.... no fabric stores were open.... She felt terrible... but she had remembered that somewhere in her box of fabric there was a piece of satin that she had bought when Daughter #1 was born... would it be enough?! She whipped down to the basement of the new house they were living in and rummaged around in the box of fabric that she had dragged right across the country and that the dear boy had been ticked off to move... and there it was, the lovely piece of red satin... But she was worried... would there be enough. She tried the pattern for the stocking up against it and it wouldn't work. She was almost in tears. She thought that maybe she should give up her stocking for the new baby. Then the dear boy came along and saw her dilemma. They turned the stocking pattern this way and that way, and finally realized that if they turned it a certain way they could get the two halves but the front half would have a big hole in it. Well they were just about to give up when suddenly the lovely young lady got a brilliant idea! She could cut out the pattern with the big hole in the front and she would decorate it in such a way that she would cover the hole with the decorations.... Aaah! what a relief it was to have such a good idea.
She went to work straight away and when she was finished she had the perfect stocking for Daughter #2 that looked like this.....
And so it came to pass, that the magical stockings produced many delicious and funny things from them over the years at Christmas time and the whole little family was very happy.
Then one year the lovely young lady (who was starting to look like an old hag) and the dear young boy (who had absolutely no resemblance to a fresh faced youth any longer) decided once again to move to a new home... The new home was everything they ever wanted and so they moved. There was only one problem with their new house. It was small. But they had a huge shed where they could store all their Christmas decorations and Christmas things. So they took all the Christmas boxes into the shed to be stored till the following Christmas which was still a few months away.
Christmas rolled around and the young family took their Christmas storage boxes into the house and began to unpack all the fun things at Christmas time, that bring back memories and put a smile on everyone's face. At the bottom of the box stored, in tissue paper, were the magical stockings. The dear wife opened them up.... To hers, and everyone elses horror, they discovered that a mouse had chewed through the box and started eating Daughter #1's magical stocking. There was a great big hole in the stocking (and little black nasties stuck to it that we won't talk about)! Daughter #1 was devastated because her magical stocking was ruined. The mother said she would make a new one but the Daughter was so devastated that she would not have her stocking... the stocking that she had had since she was born, that the good mother said she would find a way to fix it up.
The good mother looked at the wrecked thing and wondered what in the world she could do with it.... Well the first thing she did was put on some rubber gloves and picked off all the little black nasties that were still stuck to it. Then she promptly put it in the hot water wash cycle of her washing machine and washed the hell out of it. Then she had a good look at what was left, since some of the decorations were in a sad state. And so she began. She sewed on new beads. She sewed on new stars. She repainted Daughter #1's real name on it. When the good mother had finished all that, she could not think how to fix the chewed hole. She darned it but it just looked terrible. She decided to decorate over the darned hole as if it had never been there just like she had done on the Daughter #2's stocking when she didn't have enough material. But with what could she decorate the hole?! Meanwhile the pet kitty was playing on the floor with a toy mouse that the good wife had gotten at the pet store and it suddenly dawned on her how to fix the hole.
She had more mice like the one the kitty was playing with... why not have a mouse living in Daughter#1's stocking?! She cut the mouse in half and glued the front half coming out the front of the mouse hole in the stocking. Then she glued a little candy cane to his front paws (that he, no doubt, has stolen from Santa, cheeky little blighter!) Then she glued the back half as if is coming out the back hole on the back of the stocking. The yellow felt is the door to his little mouse hole. The good wife was very happy with the result and so was Daughter #1! (Sorry to those who are not mouse friendly for this part of the story)!
And so it came to pass that now everyone in the happy little family remembers the year that the mouse chewed a hole through Daughter #1's stocking.... and the little white mouse lives as a reminder of all the good memories that the little family has shared at Christmas over the years.
Merry Christmas to you all from the happy little family including our little white mouse. And may you have many happy Christmas memories too!!
This is what that stocking looks like....
It wasn't long before the happy little family found out that there would be another wee baby coming and the lovely young lady decided that once again she would need to make a stocking for the newest baby... Christmas came and went and she didn't make a stocking but then spring came and the baby was born and all thoughts of magical stockings went right out of the lovely young lady's head. Suddenly the Christmas season was there and the lovely young lady was caught with her proverbial pants down. Here it was Christmas Eve and Santa would soon be here.... no fabric stores were open.... She felt terrible... but she had remembered that somewhere in her box of fabric there was a piece of satin that she had bought when Daughter #1 was born... would it be enough?! She whipped down to the basement of the new house they were living in and rummaged around in the box of fabric that she had dragged right across the country and that the dear boy had been ticked off to move... and there it was, the lovely piece of red satin... But she was worried... would there be enough. She tried the pattern for the stocking up against it and it wouldn't work. She was almost in tears. She thought that maybe she should give up her stocking for the new baby. Then the dear boy came along and saw her dilemma. They turned the stocking pattern this way and that way, and finally realized that if they turned it a certain way they could get the two halves but the front half would have a big hole in it. Well they were just about to give up when suddenly the lovely young lady got a brilliant idea! She could cut out the pattern with the big hole in the front and she would decorate it in such a way that she would cover the hole with the decorations.... Aaah! what a relief it was to have such a good idea.
She went to work straight away and when she was finished she had the perfect stocking for Daughter #2 that looked like this.....
And so it came to pass, that the magical stockings produced many delicious and funny things from them over the years at Christmas time and the whole little family was very happy.
Then one year the lovely young lady (who was starting to look like an old hag) and the dear young boy (who had absolutely no resemblance to a fresh faced youth any longer) decided once again to move to a new home... The new home was everything they ever wanted and so they moved. There was only one problem with their new house. It was small. But they had a huge shed where they could store all their Christmas decorations and Christmas things. So they took all the Christmas boxes into the shed to be stored till the following Christmas which was still a few months away.
Christmas rolled around and the young family took their Christmas storage boxes into the house and began to unpack all the fun things at Christmas time, that bring back memories and put a smile on everyone's face. At the bottom of the box stored, in tissue paper, were the magical stockings. The dear wife opened them up.... To hers, and everyone elses horror, they discovered that a mouse had chewed through the box and started eating Daughter #1's magical stocking. There was a great big hole in the stocking (and little black nasties stuck to it that we won't talk about)! Daughter #1 was devastated because her magical stocking was ruined. The mother said she would make a new one but the Daughter was so devastated that she would not have her stocking... the stocking that she had had since she was born, that the good mother said she would find a way to fix it up.
The good mother looked at the wrecked thing and wondered what in the world she could do with it.... Well the first thing she did was put on some rubber gloves and picked off all the little black nasties that were still stuck to it. Then she promptly put it in the hot water wash cycle of her washing machine and washed the hell out of it. Then she had a good look at what was left, since some of the decorations were in a sad state. And so she began. She sewed on new beads. She sewed on new stars. She repainted Daughter #1's real name on it. When the good mother had finished all that, she could not think how to fix the chewed hole. She darned it but it just looked terrible. She decided to decorate over the darned hole as if it had never been there just like she had done on the Daughter #2's stocking when she didn't have enough material. But with what could she decorate the hole?! Meanwhile the pet kitty was playing on the floor with a toy mouse that the good wife had gotten at the pet store and it suddenly dawned on her how to fix the hole.
She had more mice like the one the kitty was playing with... why not have a mouse living in Daughter#1's stocking?! She cut the mouse in half and glued the front half coming out the front of the mouse hole in the stocking. Then she glued a little candy cane to his front paws (that he, no doubt, has stolen from Santa, cheeky little blighter!) Then she glued the back half as if is coming out the back hole on the back of the stocking. The yellow felt is the door to his little mouse hole. The good wife was very happy with the result and so was Daughter #1! (Sorry to those who are not mouse friendly for this part of the story)!
And so it came to pass that now everyone in the happy little family remembers the year that the mouse chewed a hole through Daughter #1's stocking.... and the little white mouse lives as a reminder of all the good memories that the little family has shared at Christmas over the years.
Merry Christmas to you all from the happy little family including our little white mouse. And may you have many happy Christmas memories too!!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Holly Green, The Ivy Green, The Prettiest Picture I've Ever Seen
It's up and decorated.... yeah....
I went to town today for a party and I got all fancied up for it... dressed to the nines, make up and all. I never do that you know. But it was loads of fun with good friends and good food and fun gifts. I got homemade soap... and a little bag made from organic cotton... hand spun and all.... it was cool. I was also given a book and some fruit cake and some green tomato chutney.... my goodness it was Santa had landed in my lap.
The roads were gross. Slippery... lots of snow.... and blowing snow, so as a result, bad visibility... again there has been a bad accident that claimed the life of someone we know in recent days. A young woman died after hitting an oncoming transport truck she left her husband with a 2 year old child... it just wrenches my heart to... well, I'm sure you understand... Every time Teapot and I go on the road this time of the year I worry. So I'm glad to be home tonight safe and sound.
We hope your pre Christmas decorating is filled with happiness.... and always stay safe... if the roads are slippery don't go... it is not worth it to take your life in your hands.
The roads were gross. Slippery... lots of snow.... and blowing snow, so as a result, bad visibility... again there has been a bad accident that claimed the life of someone we know in recent days. A young woman died after hitting an oncoming transport truck she left her husband with a 2 year old child... it just wrenches my heart to... well, I'm sure you understand... Every time Teapot and I go on the road this time of the year I worry. So I'm glad to be home tonight safe and sound.
We hope your pre Christmas decorating is filled with happiness.... and always stay safe... if the roads are slippery don't go... it is not worth it to take your life in your hands.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Movie Night And Other Stuff
Daughter #1 decided to postpone her party tonight till a time in January when she is feeling better. She has been sick all week with a sore throat and a head cold and is finally feeling better but thought better of having a bunch of girls over and staying awake until 3 a.m. after such a short time since she has been feeling better. As a result we do not have a bunch of hyper teens here in the house this evening. we have decorating the new tree off and on since I put it up yesterday.... (more about that later). But as a result Teapot and I decided to have fun watching movies as we usually do on Friday night. tonight choice was the Karate Kid (the new version) and The Expendables. We have not watched the Karate Kid yet. Teapot and the Daughters are watching the end of the Expendables..... I am not. It is a violent disgusting movie and quite frankly they are watching it against my better judgment. It is not worth my time. I can take some pretty bad violence in movie.... I did watch Kill Bill, and enjoyed it but this is just bad. I think it is a little too realistic. So here I sit ignoring the shooting and loud explosions in the background. But ignore it I will.
Christmas continues in disarray at the Nicholsville farm. The tree.... aah yes, the tree. Teapot picked it up yesterday and I am quite pleased. 7 minutes from the time it came through the door till it was standing in the corner of my living room seems like an awfully good set up time to me. We have named our tree AElfred (the AE is that Saxon thing). It is a non-assuming tree and quite polite standing there in the corner and already it grows on me.... I am happy to embrace plastic when it looks this good. Teapot surprised me today by coming home with a bit of green.... real green. We have a wreath a real one and I'll be honest... the green makes it more like the Christmases of old. At least a tree didn't have to die... it just got pruned. Teapot was in Victoria last week and I was so disappointed when he said that he could have picked Holly for us and brought it home.... this too would have been a treat... but the wreath makes up for it anyway. One year we had a real sprig of Mistletoe.... and that was nice too. See, these are the kind of treats that are real Christmas gifts.
The garlands are on the railings of the stairwell and the lights are up.... tomorrow there will be the rest of the decorations going up and I will be glad when it is done. Glomitts are coming along nicely and I expect that there will be a scarf started on Sunday.... all is well in Christmas land.... and Murphy and is crew of errant elves (dressed as dust bunnies) have been fed a turkey dinner laced with poppy seeds and unfortunately for them and fortunately for me.... they are out of commission till next year... at least I hope so!
Christmas continues in disarray at the Nicholsville farm. The tree.... aah yes, the tree. Teapot picked it up yesterday and I am quite pleased. 7 minutes from the time it came through the door till it was standing in the corner of my living room seems like an awfully good set up time to me. We have named our tree AElfred (the AE is that Saxon thing). It is a non-assuming tree and quite polite standing there in the corner and already it grows on me.... I am happy to embrace plastic when it looks this good. Teapot surprised me today by coming home with a bit of green.... real green. We have a wreath a real one and I'll be honest... the green makes it more like the Christmases of old. At least a tree didn't have to die... it just got pruned. Teapot was in Victoria last week and I was so disappointed when he said that he could have picked Holly for us and brought it home.... this too would have been a treat... but the wreath makes up for it anyway. One year we had a real sprig of Mistletoe.... and that was nice too. See, these are the kind of treats that are real Christmas gifts.
The garlands are on the railings of the stairwell and the lights are up.... tomorrow there will be the rest of the decorations going up and I will be glad when it is done. Glomitts are coming along nicely and I expect that there will be a scarf started on Sunday.... all is well in Christmas land.... and Murphy and is crew of errant elves (dressed as dust bunnies) have been fed a turkey dinner laced with poppy seeds and unfortunately for them and fortunately for me.... they are out of commission till next year... at least I hope so!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
There Are No Christmas Elves.... It's Just Murphy And His Crowd, Incognito
Murphy is at it again. I sat down last night with my Christmas list and realized that I had forgotten a whole family. This means that I have nine days to knit a pair of Glomitts, a scarf, and weave an afghan! It's a good job I went to lie down last night because I almost fell down when I realized that. So today I started the fifth pair of Glomitts. These are for a boy of 14 years of age. He is a shooter with the JCRs (Junior Canadian Rangers) and he shoots in the championships for the DAR (Daisy Air Rifle) competition. A pair of shooting mittens... this is good. His younger sister is getting a scarf and the wool is in the dye pot as I write. As for the Afghan.... I think I'm going to have an aneurysm.
The Christmas village shelves are now on the floor of the sun room and the Sears outlet has called to say that they don't have room for our tree and could we come pick it up because they are sick of stepping over it! (Sheesh! They only got it this morning). Our Sears outlet is very small. Teapot is going to go and pick it up. (Not the Sears outlet but the tree.) I'm knitting furiously on the Glomitts and forgetting my Cat Bourdhi socks for the time being, (what happened to that miracle?) See what I mean.... Murphy and his crowd of non-elves have moved in and are operating from under the china cabinet in the form of benign dust bunnies.... I knew I should have gotten rid of them weeks ago!
The Christmas village shelves are now on the floor of the sun room and the Sears outlet has called to say that they don't have room for our tree and could we come pick it up because they are sick of stepping over it! (Sheesh! They only got it this morning). Our Sears outlet is very small. Teapot is going to go and pick it up. (Not the Sears outlet but the tree.) I'm knitting furiously on the Glomitts and forgetting my Cat Bourdhi socks for the time being, (what happened to that miracle?) See what I mean.... Murphy and his crowd of non-elves have moved in and are operating from under the china cabinet in the form of benign dust bunnies.... I knew I should have gotten rid of them weeks ago!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Blogging Has Been Sporadic At Best...
I'm not really sure what is happening with me these days. I've been so down right busy that I don't know my head from my a-- ... well, you get the idea. I finally finished the third pair of Glomitts and got them parceled up and sent off for Christmas along with three other parcels. I'm now finished with getting everything ready to go in the mail... most of it will be late, I have been informed at the post office, so once again I did not beat the clock. I blame it on the fundraiser that called for donations two weeks ago, which took one of my very first pair of Glomitts. (It certainly wasn't my fault when I decided to knit a scarf with not enough silk was it?!)
Speaking of silk... I have decided that everyone on my Christmas list is getting silk socks for Christmas next year. I began knitting on my Cat Bourdhi socks today and I managed to get the toe done with out buggering anything up.... I'm still a long way from being finished but I think they will be ok. This is the inaugural pair of knitted socks using the Cat Bourdhi method and if the rest goes as well as the toe did then the knitting gods are on my side. (Cat Bourdhi... you rock!) My socks are going to be for me! Now there's a miracle in the making!
My socks are being knit with a space dyed Rideau Arcott (that's wool for you non-spinner types) 2 ply yarn that I spun back in level 1 and have been waiting for the right opportunity to use. This is it. The only thing that I am not so pleased with is the fact that I should be using a set of 3.5 mm dpns (double pointed needles for you non-knitters), and I am using a 2.75 mm set... the knitting is coming out very tight. It will make for a very warm pair of socks, with very little stretch. But I'm ok with that since it might add a little durability to them.
While I feel very relieved that my Glomitt marathon is over I still have two pairs to knit before the 27th. I have a little lee way since the couple that I am knitting them for have gone for a short vacation to the states to visit relatives and won't be back until the 27th.
Christmas is turning out to be the normal fiasco... I thought I had Christmas covered this year with the right gifts gotten or ordered in plenty of time for the big day. But once again the Christmas gods (I wonder if they have anything to do with you know who... I think they are all related to Murphy) have gotten together to play their nasty little Christmas tricks on me... I had decided to order nice gifts from a store that both Teapot and I love in the United States.... and I did so on the 30th of November... I just got notification today that they had shipped my order.....!? " Oh thanks for sending it 10 days before Christmas so that I get it in plenty of time for the big day..." (are you hearing sarcasm in my voice.....?) Yup, even if there are no more snow falls and the weather doesn't hold anything up, even if some ruddy customs officer who hasn't had enough eggnog gets his hands on it, even if it traveled day and night IT WILL BE A MIRACLE IF I GET IT IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. This means that I have one ruddy little gift for Teapot to put under the tree. While everyone else will have tons. (Well maybe not tons.....)Whaaaah! I want to give Teapot nice things for Christmas! It also means that I will have to find the time and the inclination for another long and arduous trip over the snow covered roads to get to the nearest store to find something equally nice to give him so that I don't feel bad for him on Christmas morning opening cards with pictures of the things that he will receive sometime in the future. (It's all about me you know.....) : )
Teapot really is part saint.... (don't laugh mother-in-law). This same kind of Murphy-finger-in-the-pie fiasco happened a few years ago when I stupidly put all my eggs into one basket and ordered a bunch of stuff from Cabelas and they never called to say that half of the stuff I ordered was on back order.... we were receiving Christmas gifts every few months in the mail until June... (I kid you not!)
Teapot bore it all really well and when I told him today, that I had just received an email saying in effect that his Christmas gifts wouldn't be here until likely a few days after Christmas he just grinned and said, "Christmas in June again?!" What bugs me most is that I ordered from this crowd (L.L. Bean) because I've never had trouble before with them and this order contains stuff for my parents as well. Argh! Meanwhile I have a bunch of teenagers coming over on Friday night for a sleep over and the Christmas decorations have not made it to the places that they are supposed to be. (As a matter of a fact they are strewn from the Christmas closet to the living room.) 10 days from now this whole thing will be over and once again I'm down to the wire.
No wonder I can't get my head around blogging..... I think I'll go lie down!
Speaking of silk... I have decided that everyone on my Christmas list is getting silk socks for Christmas next year. I began knitting on my Cat Bourdhi socks today and I managed to get the toe done with out buggering anything up.... I'm still a long way from being finished but I think they will be ok. This is the inaugural pair of knitted socks using the Cat Bourdhi method and if the rest goes as well as the toe did then the knitting gods are on my side. (Cat Bourdhi... you rock!) My socks are going to be for me! Now there's a miracle in the making!
My socks are being knit with a space dyed Rideau Arcott (that's wool for you non-spinner types) 2 ply yarn that I spun back in level 1 and have been waiting for the right opportunity to use. This is it. The only thing that I am not so pleased with is the fact that I should be using a set of 3.5 mm dpns (double pointed needles for you non-knitters), and I am using a 2.75 mm set... the knitting is coming out very tight. It will make for a very warm pair of socks, with very little stretch. But I'm ok with that since it might add a little durability to them.
While I feel very relieved that my Glomitt marathon is over I still have two pairs to knit before the 27th. I have a little lee way since the couple that I am knitting them for have gone for a short vacation to the states to visit relatives and won't be back until the 27th.
Christmas is turning out to be the normal fiasco... I thought I had Christmas covered this year with the right gifts gotten or ordered in plenty of time for the big day. But once again the Christmas gods (I wonder if they have anything to do with you know who... I think they are all related to Murphy) have gotten together to play their nasty little Christmas tricks on me... I had decided to order nice gifts from a store that both Teapot and I love in the United States.... and I did so on the 30th of November... I just got notification today that they had shipped my order.....!? " Oh thanks for sending it 10 days before Christmas so that I get it in plenty of time for the big day..." (are you hearing sarcasm in my voice.....?) Yup, even if there are no more snow falls and the weather doesn't hold anything up, even if some ruddy customs officer who hasn't had enough eggnog gets his hands on it, even if it traveled day and night IT WILL BE A MIRACLE IF I GET IT IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. This means that I have one ruddy little gift for Teapot to put under the tree. While everyone else will have tons. (Well maybe not tons.....)Whaaaah! I want to give Teapot nice things for Christmas! It also means that I will have to find the time and the inclination for another long and arduous trip over the snow covered roads to get to the nearest store to find something equally nice to give him so that I don't feel bad for him on Christmas morning opening cards with pictures of the things that he will receive sometime in the future. (It's all about me you know.....) : )
Teapot really is part saint.... (don't laugh mother-in-law). This same kind of Murphy-finger-in-the-pie fiasco happened a few years ago when I stupidly put all my eggs into one basket and ordered a bunch of stuff from Cabelas and they never called to say that half of the stuff I ordered was on back order.... we were receiving Christmas gifts every few months in the mail until June... (I kid you not!)
Teapot bore it all really well and when I told him today, that I had just received an email saying in effect that his Christmas gifts wouldn't be here until likely a few days after Christmas he just grinned and said, "Christmas in June again?!" What bugs me most is that I ordered from this crowd (L.L. Bean) because I've never had trouble before with them and this order contains stuff for my parents as well. Argh! Meanwhile I have a bunch of teenagers coming over on Friday night for a sleep over and the Christmas decorations have not made it to the places that they are supposed to be. (As a matter of a fact they are strewn from the Christmas closet to the living room.) 10 days from now this whole thing will be over and once again I'm down to the wire.
No wonder I can't get my head around blogging..... I think I'll go lie down!
Monday, December 13, 2010
I Got An Awesome Hat!!!!
My Secret Santa just sent me an awesome hat... It is warm. It is soft. It is cozy. It is everything a hat should be and I love it. It looks great on me....... and best of all I love it because it is fun.
See for yourself.....
Still I liked the Pope best.... or Henry the 8th....
What do you think.... probably that I belong in the mental...
See for yourself.....
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| Great hat! |
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| I could wear it this way. |
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| I could wear it that way! |
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| Well... Maybe not! |
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| This would keep my ears warm?!!! |
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| Henry The 8th...... ? |
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| Maybe if I were the Pope?!! |
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| Henry the 8th with a little height! |
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| What about Mohawk style?!!! |
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| What about bust a gut style?!!! |
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| What about fisherman style..... no eh?! |
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| What about fancy with a roll... ? |
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| In the Too Cool method... I could be a rapper... no... I guess your right. |
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| I look like a duck..... but I could probably carry this look off!!! Quack... |
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| Oh what fun.... I could look like I have a hot water bottle on my head.... |
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| I need to go pee!!!! |
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| Perhaps this is best.... |
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| Yup this is the way to wear it..... |
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| Hey... this isn't bad either.... |
What do you think.... probably that I belong in the mental...
Still Knitting...Blah!
I'm must say that you can overdose on knitting after a while...I have two pairs of Glomitts finished and a scarf that I am working on... here are a couple of pictures...
I'm sorry for the quality of pictures (and please don't look at the mess of knitting in the background) but it has been really hard to get a good photo with the computer camera and Teapot won't be home till this afternoon with his camera... maybe I can show better pictures tomorrow.
I am also a part of Canspin and am taking part in the Secret Santa gift exchange so I have made a book mark for my gifty person and I've dyed some Wensleydale fibre for socks and also blended a wool, alpaca, nylon (sparkly stuff) blend for her as well. I'm also gathering together the stuff needed for a friend who lives in New Brunswick to whom I'm send some wool and sari silk blended fibre... I hope they all like these gifts... tomorrow is the last day to get them in the mail and actually get the gifts there in time for Christmas so I am down to the wire.... and working like a fiend... Teapot is home today and I will barely have time to lift my head when he gets here. But that's what its like this time of the year.... yes?!
After this spurt of energy I will have to get back to the Christmas decorating... Oh and by the way I actually followed through and bought an artificial Christmas tree.... Yes... we are totally embracing the fakeness of the Christmas season and buying a plastic tree.... euuuw! But it can't be helped I will not kill another tree to put lights on it. I just can't do it!
It is a balmy -19 this morning and clear for the first time in three days. We have had snow falling for the last little while and last night was our community light up and Santa Claus parade. We didn't get out to it with my back hurting and then Daughter #1 has a flu... we stayed home.... but we were wishing we could be there. This morning I drove Daughter #2 to school as she had missed the bus and on the way we saw one of the floats.... it was quite spectacular. In the not too distant future I am going to take some pictures of he town square.... it is quite lovely with lights all through the park and the tourist information chalet is decorated to resemble Santa's workshop so you can go right up to the windows and look in on an awesome display. Our town does a lovely job of decorating actually... I'm very proud that HH has such good Christmas spirit... Every year we have a Santa Skate at the arena, the Santa Claus parade and town square light up, not to mention the Christmas craft fair and Santa shuffle, (that's where anyone who wants to can get together in the town square and walk the town to look at the lights of all the houses... usually spontaneous caroling happens along the way... it's quite neat.)
But meanwhile the knitting languishes and I should be working.... I hope you are all getting ready for Christmas with a smile on your face and the sound of silver bells in your heart....
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| Slightly blue grey... |
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| Slightly green grey |
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| Knitting from Silk Hankies. |
I am also a part of Canspin and am taking part in the Secret Santa gift exchange so I have made a book mark for my gifty person and I've dyed some Wensleydale fibre for socks and also blended a wool, alpaca, nylon (sparkly stuff) blend for her as well. I'm also gathering together the stuff needed for a friend who lives in New Brunswick to whom I'm send some wool and sari silk blended fibre... I hope they all like these gifts... tomorrow is the last day to get them in the mail and actually get the gifts there in time for Christmas so I am down to the wire.... and working like a fiend... Teapot is home today and I will barely have time to lift my head when he gets here. But that's what its like this time of the year.... yes?!
After this spurt of energy I will have to get back to the Christmas decorating... Oh and by the way I actually followed through and bought an artificial Christmas tree.... Yes... we are totally embracing the fakeness of the Christmas season and buying a plastic tree.... euuuw! But it can't be helped I will not kill another tree to put lights on it. I just can't do it!
It is a balmy -19 this morning and clear for the first time in three days. We have had snow falling for the last little while and last night was our community light up and Santa Claus parade. We didn't get out to it with my back hurting and then Daughter #1 has a flu... we stayed home.... but we were wishing we could be there. This morning I drove Daughter #2 to school as she had missed the bus and on the way we saw one of the floats.... it was quite spectacular. In the not too distant future I am going to take some pictures of he town square.... it is quite lovely with lights all through the park and the tourist information chalet is decorated to resemble Santa's workshop so you can go right up to the windows and look in on an awesome display. Our town does a lovely job of decorating actually... I'm very proud that HH has such good Christmas spirit... Every year we have a Santa Skate at the arena, the Santa Claus parade and town square light up, not to mention the Christmas craft fair and Santa shuffle, (that's where anyone who wants to can get together in the town square and walk the town to look at the lights of all the houses... usually spontaneous caroling happens along the way... it's quite neat.)
But meanwhile the knitting languishes and I should be working.... I hope you are all getting ready for Christmas with a smile on your face and the sound of silver bells in your heart....
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Knit, Knit, Knit.... Again!
I have done pretty much nothing but knit for the last four days. I am finished two pairs of Glomitts and now working on the third pair. My back has been depressingly nasty for two days again.... which does not make me happy. Of all times to have my back go out on me. It would be while Teapot is away. The girls have been awesome helping with all things that require any effort, except that now Daughter #1 has a sore throat and temperature. Fate it seems would have us understand how important Teapot is to the smooth running of this household. I get it.... really I do!
Other than knitting there is not much going on that is worth blogging about. So this will be a short post... (I wouldn't want you all to think that I was dead.. ; )
I am beginning to watch the time of the years and the sunrise and sunset times. Winter Solstice is almost here and I am looking forward to the increase in daylight hours. The sun barely rises above the horizon now and shines directly n my eyes as I work here at the computer.... that is when the sun is out. Today we are having another dump of snow and I am happy for that considering that this is the major form of precipitation that we will have all year. The more snow now, the better it will be in the spring by way of moisture content in the ground.
Christmas decorating and preparations continue at high speed around here. One thing every day goes up with out fail. Since I started the decorating this year later than usual, (I usually begin decorating on the first day of Advent but the contractor was here and I wasn't able to start) I am far behind schedule. If my back is feeling better tomorrow then there will be several things go up in an attempt to catch up with the Advent Christmas decorating.
But always.... always in the background is the need to keep knitting.... and so I must get back to it... hopefully there will be more interesting things to write about soon..
Other than knitting there is not much going on that is worth blogging about. So this will be a short post... (I wouldn't want you all to think that I was dead.. ; )
I am beginning to watch the time of the years and the sunrise and sunset times. Winter Solstice is almost here and I am looking forward to the increase in daylight hours. The sun barely rises above the horizon now and shines directly n my eyes as I work here at the computer.... that is when the sun is out. Today we are having another dump of snow and I am happy for that considering that this is the major form of precipitation that we will have all year. The more snow now, the better it will be in the spring by way of moisture content in the ground.
Christmas decorating and preparations continue at high speed around here. One thing every day goes up with out fail. Since I started the decorating this year later than usual, (I usually begin decorating on the first day of Advent but the contractor was here and I wasn't able to start) I am far behind schedule. If my back is feeling better tomorrow then there will be several things go up in an attempt to catch up with the Advent Christmas decorating.
But always.... always in the background is the need to keep knitting.... and so I must get back to it... hopefully there will be more interesting things to write about soon..
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Knit, Knit, Knit
That is pretty much what I have been doing all day today. I'm knitted out. My hands are curled up so that I don't think I'll ever be able to uncurl them again...
Teapot and Daughter #1 have gone to a Christmas party.... the first of a few I expect. I will have my first Christmas party this Saturday coming. But I have to drive for a whole hour and a half in order to get there and I am not looking forward to the drive to the party. I will be driving over switchbacks which I have done many times before but I really am not looking forward to. I'm thinking that if the weather is either bit questionable at all I will not go. (Sorry guys!) But hopefully it will be sunny and lovely with no snow on the roads at all.
My leg is healing and though the scrapes are quite ugly to look at the area around never really came out in a bruise. I am surprised that my leg is doing so well considering the amount of pain that I was having after the fact. It is tender if I press on it but generally speaking I have had much worse injuries.... so I am hoping it will blow off pretty quickly.
I have been worrying about Christmas because as usual I am down to the last two weeks before Christmas and I still have tons to do. Most of the gifts have been purchased.... some are ready to be sent in the mail. But I feel like I am nowhere near being finished. I am feeling that I have things to do that I am not thinking about and on Christmas eve I will suddenly remember something that I need to do and then panic. I am even having nightmares about it. Christmas is just not supposed to be this way.... is it?!!
Already in just two days we are seeing a major difference in the amount of heat that is being retained in this house since the new paneling went on the interior walls of the dining/office/sun room. The room looks awesome. I'm very happy.
These pictures just don't do it justice at all. It looks really good and not at all cluttered. which it did before. Most of my junk is out and I have convinced Teapot that I need a studio.... a real studio. A space where my junk can go and not be in our living space. He says not this year but we will look into it very soon. I will be glad to get the flooring finished and I will be glad to get the tiles on the ceiling. And best of all is that Teapot just came to me and asked if I had noticed the difference in how warm it is since the paneling has gone up.... and when I said that I had... he said that he was going to finish our bathroom over the Christmas break.... I think I might fall down in shock...
It will be good to get it all done. Including the knitting.... which I need to get back to it I'm going to have the parcel finished and in the mail in time for Christmas....
Oh my aching wrist....
Teapot and Daughter #1 have gone to a Christmas party.... the first of a few I expect. I will have my first Christmas party this Saturday coming. But I have to drive for a whole hour and a half in order to get there and I am not looking forward to the drive to the party. I will be driving over switchbacks which I have done many times before but I really am not looking forward to. I'm thinking that if the weather is either bit questionable at all I will not go. (Sorry guys!) But hopefully it will be sunny and lovely with no snow on the roads at all.
My leg is healing and though the scrapes are quite ugly to look at the area around never really came out in a bruise. I am surprised that my leg is doing so well considering the amount of pain that I was having after the fact. It is tender if I press on it but generally speaking I have had much worse injuries.... so I am hoping it will blow off pretty quickly.
I have been worrying about Christmas because as usual I am down to the last two weeks before Christmas and I still have tons to do. Most of the gifts have been purchased.... some are ready to be sent in the mail. But I feel like I am nowhere near being finished. I am feeling that I have things to do that I am not thinking about and on Christmas eve I will suddenly remember something that I need to do and then panic. I am even having nightmares about it. Christmas is just not supposed to be this way.... is it?!!
Already in just two days we are seeing a major difference in the amount of heat that is being retained in this house since the new paneling went on the interior walls of the dining/office/sun room. The room looks awesome. I'm very happy.
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| Dining table at the end so that food can be passed through from the kitchen.... I love the paneling. The table is waiting for a top. |
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| Our Christmas wreath with the new paneling on the wall behind and look at that brand new light switch. |
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| The only tuck tape to be seen is above my head where the ceiling has the strapping but not the new tiles... that will come after Christmas. |
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| The floor has a new covering of sub-flooring which is great because now it is the same level as the sub-flooring in the living room. |
It will be good to get it all done. Including the knitting.... which I need to get back to it I'm going to have the parcel finished and in the mail in time for Christmas....
Oh my aching wrist....
Monday, December 6, 2010
Glomitts
I have been getting a lot of hits for my Glomitts pattern. I never realized that there would be lots of people out there looking for patterns for shooting mittens but obviously there are...
I felt that perhaps I should try to perfect the Glomitts pattern and post it in a more permanent place so I have posted it on one of my pages to the right... I have also included the changes to the pattern and I think that it makes for a better mitten.
You can check it out if you are interested. Just click on the picture to the right with the heading Free patterns.
I felt that perhaps I should try to perfect the Glomitts pattern and post it in a more permanent place so I have posted it on one of my pages to the right... I have also included the changes to the pattern and I think that it makes for a better mitten.
You can check it out if you are interested. Just click on the picture to the right with the heading Free patterns.
Down The Hole
Stupid, stupid, stupid.... that's me.
The contractor is done till after Christmas and while the sun room is not totally finished it is much more livable than it was.
Problem: I should be on my way to church... my plan was to go to church this morning and all the Sundays of Advent (that's the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas for the non-believers). I fell in a hole and I am prevented from enjoying the Advent season of light.... my leg looks like this.....
I expect that it will look very black and blue in a few hours. Yup, the contractor is gone but living in a construction zone still sucks. I fell through a hole in the floor where a furnace vent used to be. It is in a high traffic area and it had been patched so that we could put our flooring right over it and it would not be an issue. It is an issue. Mostly because after a year and a half we are still no closer to having the flooring down than we were when we first started. But if I get out of this with nothing more than a bruised leg then I will be a very lucky lady indeed.... (I could end up in a straight jacket yet!) This is the hole down through which I fell.....
Nasty bleepin' #@%#^%^&*&*)&!!!
That was yesterday...
This is now Monday morning....
The sun room/dining room/office is looking awesome. I can't show you any pictures though because the battery just died in Teapot's camera and now that we are down to one camera I don't have a back up
to take the pictures. The ceiling has strapping and is ready for the tiles as I get them done. The floor has an extra layer of sub-flooring and the walls are done. The contractor even managed to get some of the trim boards up. Yeah! As a result of all this... I am now able to start thinking about Christmas decorating. I brought down the pinecone wreath this morning and though the living room still looks like a tornado blew through,.... (there's still piles of stuff around everywhere).... give me a few days and I'll have the place spit spot for Christmas.
Well we have finally bitten down on the bullet and decided on the purchase of an artificial tree for Christmas. I just hate the thought that because of us there is another Pine tree going to be killed because we want pretty lights in our home. (I am a tree hugger you know!) I just couldn't bare the thought of it any longer. I am embracing the fakeness of Christmas and going totally plastic. PVC all the way!! But every day I look out my window and see the planet struggling to breath with dead Pine trees from the infestation of Pine beetles and dryness all summer long to the point that it is really hard to get hay to feed our animals and I think about another Christmas tree being cut and standing in my living room and I think... I just can't do it.... I feel too guilty sitting on Christmas morning opening gifts with a dead tree at my side. Horrible thought indeed! Instead of red, white, green, silver and gold I feel like the house should be draped in black and grey.... maybe that's why Christmas has made me not to happy in the last few years.... maybe I'm just anguishing over trees dieing left, right, and centre. Anyway, it will definitely be red, white, green, silver and gold around here this year.
Ah, I see that it has turned 7:30 a.m. and I had better go call the house for it is a school day and they need to be arrising.... Teapot was up till 3:00 a.m. trying to finish online report cards and having great difficulty with the stupid online report cards system that makes life miserable for the 13,000 + teachers in B.C. as they all try to access the same website at one time.... we have the stupidest educations system in the world.... really. Ass a result he is getting a few extra minutes of sleep this morning... well earned I believe.
Today is Daughter 31's birthday... but more about that tomorrow.
I'm off to cook eggs and toast....
The contractor is done till after Christmas and while the sun room is not totally finished it is much more livable than it was.
Problem: I should be on my way to church... my plan was to go to church this morning and all the Sundays of Advent (that's the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas for the non-believers). I fell in a hole and I am prevented from enjoying the Advent season of light.... my leg looks like this.....
That was yesterday...
This is now Monday morning....
The sun room/dining room/office is looking awesome. I can't show you any pictures though because the battery just died in Teapot's camera and now that we are down to one camera I don't have a back up
to take the pictures. The ceiling has strapping and is ready for the tiles as I get them done. The floor has an extra layer of sub-flooring and the walls are done. The contractor even managed to get some of the trim boards up. Yeah! As a result of all this... I am now able to start thinking about Christmas decorating. I brought down the pinecone wreath this morning and though the living room still looks like a tornado blew through,.... (there's still piles of stuff around everywhere).... give me a few days and I'll have the place spit spot for Christmas.
Well we have finally bitten down on the bullet and decided on the purchase of an artificial tree for Christmas. I just hate the thought that because of us there is another Pine tree going to be killed because we want pretty lights in our home. (I am a tree hugger you know!) I just couldn't bare the thought of it any longer. I am embracing the fakeness of Christmas and going totally plastic. PVC all the way!! But every day I look out my window and see the planet struggling to breath with dead Pine trees from the infestation of Pine beetles and dryness all summer long to the point that it is really hard to get hay to feed our animals and I think about another Christmas tree being cut and standing in my living room and I think... I just can't do it.... I feel too guilty sitting on Christmas morning opening gifts with a dead tree at my side. Horrible thought indeed! Instead of red, white, green, silver and gold I feel like the house should be draped in black and grey.... maybe that's why Christmas has made me not to happy in the last few years.... maybe I'm just anguishing over trees dieing left, right, and centre. Anyway, it will definitely be red, white, green, silver and gold around here this year.
Ah, I see that it has turned 7:30 a.m. and I had better go call the house for it is a school day and they need to be arrising.... Teapot was up till 3:00 a.m. trying to finish online report cards and having great difficulty with the stupid online report cards system that makes life miserable for the 13,000 + teachers in B.C. as they all try to access the same website at one time.... we have the stupidest educations system in the world.... really. Ass a result he is getting a few extra minutes of sleep this morning... well earned I believe.
Today is Daughter 31's birthday... but more about that tomorrow.
I'm off to cook eggs and toast....
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