In the mail...

So lately, the mailman has been bringing lots of Christmas cards. We've heard from people that we only hear from this time of year and people we see every few days. I also sent cards to people we only hear from once a year and people we see all the time. Today, there was nothing...

Except this:
Well, I didn't order anything. So I opened it.
OOH! A Present!
From my secret pal. And it says Merry Christmas!
What? You didn't really think I would wait until tomorrow, did you?
Thank you, Secret Pal! Now the trick is to wait until the 1st to start reading it!

Knitty Scrooge

I don't Christmas knit, but why is it that the closer it gets to Christmas, the more I think of things that would be perfect for people? I don't think of things to knit for my kids or my husband. Instead I think of how perfect this item would be for that random person I never see. Or how cute my cousin would look in that pattern. That is why I do not Christmas knit. If I knit that really cute hat for one random relative, then I'd have to do one for all of the random relatives. Knitting overload! But sometimes I wish I was a faster knitter. Then maybe I could be a Christmas knitter. By the way, do you think it's too late to order some Mmmmalibrigo worsted and knit Hokiehubby a hat for Christmas?

SP 13 question

Am I doing any holiday knitting?

Nope. Not one thing. Nada. Nil. Zip. Zero.

I'm just not ready for the pressure. Also, I'm a selfish knitter. I've only given away some washcloths, a couple of garter stitch scarves, 3 baby blankets and a baby layette.
I have a couple of in-laws who would like to receive hand-knits, but they want big things like sweaters and beaded lace stoles. I'm afraid that knitting for Christmas would set a precedent that would require me to knit for more people and I'm just not ready for that. I don't do well with deadlines, as evidences by the fact that my very first sock swap partner received her socks over a year late (sorry about that!). Sadly, none of my swaps have made it out on time, but SP 13 will be a change for me! You'll be getting your package before the end, honest!

In the meantime, I'm plugging away on my malibrigo nutkins. I frogged the short row heel and replaced it with a heel flap. Normally I don't mind the challenge of a new technique, but I really need these to be happy socks, and they weren't until I frogged. Knitting is to be a stress reducer, not inducer! When it's not fun, I don't want to do it. Back to some household chores so I can knit again!

Here's a dull post for you

Today's ToDo List: aka How I'm Trying to Get It Together So I Can Find My Mind
-take dinner out of freezer
-eat breakfast/take vitamins/drink more COFFEE!
-get ready for hokiekiddos to get up-drink and breakfast
-Bible study
-Melaleuca order
-straighten kitchen after Hokiehubby made dinner for kids last night and left it a mess again (I did more than straighten: it looks really good in there)
-throw out 15 things (I'm not sure how many things I threw out, but it's a lot)
-call Victory House to schedule a pickup for the stuff that is too good to throw away
-get together stuff for Victory House pickup
-clean bathrooms (not too bad, just need maintenance)
-at least one load of laundry
-gather paperwork for worldchangers program
-apply for YMCA Open Doors
-decide who the kids are shopping for at Frosty's Shop
-put timer on computer so I stop sitting here wasting time.
-frog short row heel and do a heel flap like I know I like

I'll let you know if I find my mind in all this mess.

Any entry is better than no entry, right? Maybe?

Okay, so I was on a roll for a while there, blogging very frequently. Not so much lately. We went to Pennsylvania the 5th-7th to see Thomas the Tank Engine. He comes to the Strasburg Rail Road 3 times a year: June, September, and one weekend in December. We've always gone on a weekday in September because we've never had to worry about missing school. It's wonderful then. The December event was lovely, but I much prefer Lancaster County on the weekdays when there is a Thomas event. Hokiehubby's mother, sister and two boys, aunt, and very pregnant cousin and her boy came from Pittsburgh to spend the weekend with us.

We visited the town of Hershey on Friday and picked up about 8 pounds of kisses. We took the factory tour ride and got to make gears full of kisses. The making was free, the gears were not. Saturday was our Thomas ride. A little tip to save stress: don't forget your tickets at home! For some reason, will-call was not available when I ordered our tickets. I always use will-call so I don't have to worry about tickets when packing. It all worked out okay, and we were all safely aboard when Thomas departed the station at 10:45. That evening, we drove out to BFE to visit the Christmas Village. It would have been very lovely if my cousin hadn't been 38 weeks pregnant and ready to pop! A story for another day, perhaps. Sunday, we had lunch with our Pa family and sent them west while we headed southeast to home. Hokiehubby had picked up a brochure in the hotel for a little railroad that I can't even remember the name of. It was only about 15 minutes from where we were, and we could be there in time to catch a ride with Santa Claus before coming home. It was a fun little trip for the four of us.

Since then, I have just been in a funk. I don't know what exactly is going on. I know I love Christmas for all the beauty everywhere and the time we spend with our families. I really don't like the gift thing. I feel like there is too much focus on spending money on people, and stuff shouldn't matter so much! I hate combining all this material crap with the birth of Jesus the Christchild. That's where the focus should be, and now that I am responsible for two small souls I just can't seem to get excited about gift-giving. Another separate issue is I think I'm coming down with a baby bug. Everywhere around me are women who have just burst or who will burst soon. I am still wishy washy on expanding our family, especially right now with our hokiehouse being so small and the money not exactly overflowing. But, it wasn't really the "right time" with either of the other hokiekiddos, so why am I so concerned about timing? I think a bigger issue at this point is that if we have one more, we will want to have another one to make things even. We have two beautiful and healthy children and I am always a high-risk pregnancy, so why risk it?

Plink!

There's a special kind of music that happens in the kitchen. You take a giant pot and fill it with water. Then you wait for it to boil. Soon, you fill little glass jars with something yummy. You place the jars into the pot to boil for a little while. When you take them out of the pot, you set them on the counter to cool. That's when the magic music starts.

Plink.........plink........plink..plink......plink.....plink.

The magic music is short. If you aren't listening, you won't hear it. It's the wonderful sound of little jars of applebutter sealing on the counter as they cool. You know you did it right. Those little jars of yummy-ness will be ready for Christmas presents.


PS: when I grow up and become a real blogger, I will have my camera on hand to take wonderfully artistic pictures of the musical instruments.

And I Promptly Lost It

The mojo is gone. I went into denial. I started thinking that the Hokiesock was a little big. I said, nah. It's fine. Yeah. It wasn't. It was just large enough that it would have slipped right on down into my shoes. Frogged.

On the plus side, I wound my Malabrigo. I hope to start new socks tomorrow after I get some other things taken care of. I'm hoping the loss of mojo is simply from the gorgeous Malabrigo staring me in the face.