It's Wednesday already!

Wow this staycation is zooming right along. I've been sleeping in and knitting for myself. I got a good hour plus in on the Frost Flowers Stole yesterday before I had to have a nap. I also have been putting in a few hours on the new Wii games I got for Christmas. The Sports Resort is so much fun plus Mr. M bought me a Rayman's Raving Rabids game, which is just silliness but fun to play with a group. Maybe we can do that New Year's Eve. I'm just having a few people over for dinner - nothing fancy and at least we don't have to babysit, like we did last year.

Besides knitting on the stole I started another trellis hat so that I can give the other one to my friend who looks much better in oranges than I do. I hadn't realized that the Kureyon I used for that hat did have so much orange but that's the beauty of it. It's always a surprise. The colorway I'm using now has greens and ... well we'll have to see what else. It looks like blues but there always seems to be some sort of brown in there no matter how closely you look at the swatches.

With all this extra, luxurious sleeping I've been doing I've been having some crazy dreams. Much better than nightmares. Those come with stress and I am stress free!

Staycation Day 1

Ah ... I can see that I still need to work on blogging with my iPhone. The picture of my airport cocktail did not come through. I guess I need to send it with messaging rather than email if I want a picture attached.

ANYway ....my sister and I had a wonderful wonderful time together. Time goes too quickly when we're together yapping and shopping and visiting with the boys. Her boyfriend is building a new back lot for Disney and we got to go to the office and see the plans and models. Very cool. But before we knew it Tuesday evening rolled around and we headed for the airport. It had been blowing quite a bit all day but I checked and the flight was listed as on time, so away we went. She got me to the airport in plenty of time, which was good since they were asking for volunteers to take a later flights. Come to find out that later meant the 26th because there were no seats available until then in any airport around the LA area. This was Tuesday night the 22nd, and I was sitting in the airport bar when I got a text from Alaska Airlines saying the plane was delayed until 7:45, having been originally scheduled to go out at 6:50pm. Well to make a very long story a bit shorter, our plane from Seattle couldn't land in Burbank and so it went to LAX and rather than strand us all there we were put on various shuttles and busses and shipped to LAX where a plane was waiting for us. I got home around 12:30 am. Ghastly.

I had been feverishly knitting while with Kelli and got most everything done. Wednesday and Thursday were spent wrapping. We had a family party on Christmas Eve and another party with friends so it was very festive. Thankfully our Christmas dinner was not scheduled until later so I got a somewhat less than hectic Christmas day. Santa was good to me - brought me a new Wii game, the Wii Sports Resort. It is SO much fun. My right arm is sore from playing it. I particularly like the sword games.

The weather has been mild and sunny and so yesterday I got out into the garden and raked up the last of the leaves and I'm glad I did because it is supposed to be raining later this week. I need to get my picture taken for my passport application. I had to do an entire new one for this name change since it had been more than a year. Perhaps tomorrow I'll go out and get a decent picture taken. The last one was hideous!

Also I have just a few more inches to go on Sophia's scarf (not finished for Christmas although the hat was) and then I am going to knit for myself exclusively for a while. I can maybe even put in time on the Frost Flower stole!

And now to browse the yarn sales on line. yeah ....

One last trip to the mall

My sister and I are having a great time! Today we finish up the shopping. The sunshine is much appreciated even though it is not so "seasonal" as Seattle.

I have managed some decent knitting time but it gets cut a bit short since it is always prudent to put the needles aside when the second champagne cork pops. This is experience talking.

Preflight

Aaahhhhhhh



Shelley

Sleep walking

That's what I feel like this morning. The fall that I took on Monday continues to plague me with new aches and pains. Yesterday my back got into the act and I can't lift my right leg without intense pain. This I found out when I was walking downstairs to knitting yesterday at noon. I couldn't rest it however because I had a hair appointment, then dashed home and got the dish ready for the party, changed my clothes while it was baking and off we went. We got home at a decent hour and I got out my heating pad and managed to fall asleep a short while after 10. Unfortunately Tink had some sort of gastrointestinal thing going on. I could hear her tummy gurgling and she needed to go out so she woke me up at 12:45. I took her downstairs and let her out for a while, back up we went and I probably just fell asleep when she woke me again. This time it was 1:45 and she needed to out again. Same routine, back up in bed and once again she woke me up! I know she really needed to go eat grass because I could hear that poor little tummy. That time I got back to bed a little after 3 am. Mr. M's alarm was set to go off at 3:45. He left the house at 5 and so I did manage to sleep a bit between 5 and 6:30, but I am just wiped out! I have so much left to do before I leave. So I'd better get on it!!

I am beyond tired

Exhausted. Worn out. Knackered. All those things. I don't know how long the radio was playing this morning before I woke up enough to hit the snooze button and I kept on hitting it until Mr. M's alarm went off at 7 am!! I won't be able to relax until I get through the security line at the airport on Friday and sit down for my pre-flight cocktail.

I stopped on my way home last night and got some ribbon and paper and boxes and started wrapping gifts when I got home. I wanted to make sure I had a good start on it before I leave or I'll never be able to finish up before Christmas. And while I cooked dinner I also got a start on the dish I need to make for our department party tonight. And then after dinner I worked on the latest hat, this one with a deep reversible cable brim. I am about 15 rows in, but realized last night that something had gone terribly wrong. I either added some stitches or lost some .... whatever I did the cables aren't matching up so I'm going to have to rip it all out and start over! I can do it at noon knitting today. If I can stay awake.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about going to visit my sister? Her boyfriend came home with tons of wine yesterday, because I'm visiting. Kelli was counting -- 14 bottles of champagne in the rack and one in the fridge. She told me not to bring any champagne. I had gotten six bottles of Nicolas Feuillate and was going to bring one down but I guess I'll just save it.

Finally! Some good football news.

Since the Seahawks are a total bust this season, the Huskies have provided the only bright spots in my sports world lately. Jake Locker has decided to return for his senior year. That is HUGE news. As well as the Huskies did this year under the new coach and with Jake healthy, they are going to be quite a team next year. As for the Seahawks --- who knows what's going to happen there. The general manager is gone. Mike Holmgren is being interviewed by the Browns. It sure would be nice if he managed the Seahawks. A perfect fit. I haven't been reading the sports page lately, so I wonder what is up with that. There were rumors going around after the other manager was fired that Mike Holmgren was being considered.

Boy am I ever sore today from my fall yesterday morning. In odd little places, besides my behind. My neck - I guess I must have really clenched up when I fell. My shoulder a little bit too. Again, I am very very grateful that I didn't really hurt myself.

It has really warmed up, although there was snow in the north this morning. I'd be happy if it stayed like this for the rest of the winter. It's perfect biking weather actually. Just misting a bit, and not too cold. Too bad I have to drive in the rest of the week.

Thank goodness for the padded backside

The weather has warmed up. Not by much but it's above freezing, for a welcome change. On Sunday it even snowed a bit in the morning, but it didn't stick. It had gotten down below freezing last night however and therefore it was too slick to ride my bike, so it was public transportation once again (although the LAST time this year). Mr. M cautioned me that the driveway was very very icy and slick so I said I'd be careful and walk across the lawn. There are 3 flagstone steps onto the lawn and then another 4 or 5 down from the edge of the lawn to the roadway. What I didn't take into account is that the flagstones might be slick. I took one step and my feet went out from underneath me and I landed smack on my bottom! It was jarring. Thankfully I seem to have escaped serious injury. My right arm is a bit sore, so I guess I must instinctively put my hand out to keep from landing too hard. It was hard enough though. I went back into the house to collect myself and then got an escort to the street. I made it to the bus stop okay but even though I had started out early, having to collect myself meant that I didn't catch the early bus as I was intending to do. Unfortunately there was something going on because the usual one didn't arrive and the following bus on the schedule was a smaller than usual bus, which meant I had to stand all the way in and half way there the bus quit stopping for additional passengers because we were packed in there like sardines. Like I said - LAST TIME. Unless it freezes again, I am back on the bike when vacation is over.

It was a busy busy weekend. Friday I was just beat when I got home, so we went out for sushi and then watched a silly movie. I slept like a log and slept in on Saturday. Ahhh it was so nice! First on the agenda Saturday was the tree. Unfortunately, Mr. M was in some sort of mood and pronounced the second tree we looked at to be the one. It wasn't until we got it in the stand that it became evident that the tree had some serious issues. Think of a banana - it is very arched. I got it decorated while he was off at his shop and when he got back I had him turn it and push it into the corner so that when you walk into the room it doesn't look bent. But when I am sitting in my comfy chair it is painfully obvious. Ah well .... it's up and done and looks pretty.

Saturday night was a good rehearsal. Doug wants us to be ready to work in early March. We should be able to do that. We've got plenty of material, we just need to get it in shape.

Yesterday was another full day -- shopping, grooming, cards and of course plenty of knitting. Friday night I finished up my sister's cashmere set and worked on the last tassel hat. And yesterday I made a hat for Sophie. Tonight I shall start the matching scarf. Then it's just as many boy beanies as I can get done, I guess.

I woke up early early -- must have been about 4 am -- sorting through all I have to get done this week before I take off. Logistics. It's almost sorted. It's going to be a great week.

I made a Christmas miracle

One of my very oldest friends is not the best at gift buying and he has always come to me for advice about it. His wife knows that and so as long as they've been married she drops "hints" from time to time and I pass them on. Well, she wants for Christmas a certain designer accessory that happens to be one of the hottest accessories this Christmas season. As far as I could find, not a store in the greater Seattle area had one. I contacted the NY headquarters through the web site and they informed me that the item was not sold on line and I had to find a store. I started looking for store locations and that's when I found that we don't have one of them in Washington, so I went to California. I called the LA store yesterday and managed to get the LAST one of these. The woman at the store was so sweet and offered to UPS it up here for $5! Wow. My friend's wife thinks that he's going to have to back order it so she's going to be super surprised on Christmas morning. And I get a bottle of champagne for my trouble. Win win win win.

One more week and I'll be on my way to California! My sister called me last night. She's so excited about me coming down and I am too! I finished up her cashmere cowl last night. I won't be able to wrap her gifts because I'm taking them in my luggage, but I am all done with her now and need to concentrate on a couple of other last minute things. I started the last (I hope) tassel hat last night and then this weekend need to do Sophia's hat and at least start on the scarf. I am going to be SO busy next week, I don't know when I'll have time to knit.

Tomorrow we're going to get our tree and I'll need to get the cards done, if not tonight then tomorrow before rehearsal. On Sunday I've got to set aside some time to wrap the gifts that I already have so that when I get home on the night of the 22nd I don't have to a huge backlog of things to do. It's going to be bad enough getting ready for Christmas. But oh, I wouldn't miss visiting my sister and nephews for anything!!

Still freakishly cold - 18 degrees this morning when I got up. It is supposed to warm up considerably and maybe snow on Sunday. boooooo

Getting into the holiday spirit

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and went shopping. I have been wanting to go to Costco just to look around. In other words, I didn't have anything in mind present-wise, but I wanted to look and I absolutely cannot stand to go on the weekends. It's just too crammed full of humanity for me. Anyway, I had a great time! I founds lots of gifts and even a few things for myself, like a wonderful running/bike top and some slippers and 2 dozen red roses (*very* Christmas-y). Since I'm going to be in California for 4 days I'm going to do my shopping for my nephews down there so I don't have to bring it with me, but I got well over half of the gifts for people up here taken care of yesterday! I need to get organized though. I have to finish Kelli's cowl, which I can do tonight. Then I have one more striped tassel hat to make and a hat and scarf out of chunky yarn. That will fulfill the gift knitting and if I happen to have more time after finishing those things then that'll be bonus. I think I'm in pretty good shape, actually.

Next week is going to be SO busy. I am going to have to be super organized. I think it's going to call for lists and lists and more lists. As long as it doesn't snow, things should run smoothly. It is 15 degrees this morning but still forecasting a warming up tomorrow. Unfortunately it is also forecasting some precipitation on Sunday. Fingers crossed it's not snow!

Woooohooo!

Looks like I get a reprieve! The son isn't going to be arriving until the 18th - when I will be on a plane or even actually touched down in sunny California. Great! He and his dad can have a nice piggy weekend and they'll have Monday and Tuesday to make sure the house is picked up before I get home Tuesday night. Ahhhhhhh .....

Christmas knitting is getting a little frantic. I have to finish the cashmere cowl -- I finished one ball of yarn and have brought it to noon knitting so I can get some opinions on how big it should be. My nephew wants me to knit a scarf and hat for Sophia, and I've got one more tassel hat to do for the little girls. I'm going to use the left overs from Kelli's coat to make Sophie's hat and scarf because it's chunky yarn and it'll go quickly. Plus I can try out the reversible cable technique I read about. I have tons of bits and bobs to make a stripey tassel hat, which should be nice. I am coming to regret the crochet striped scarf I made. It's just too stiff. I should have used a larger hook. I am going to wash and block it and hope it softens up. If not it'll go to a man.

Cold again this morning. I drove in and saw on the sign at University Village that it was 15 degrees. Thank goodness it's dry. Oh but SO dry. It just sucks the moisture out of my skin by the end of the day. And when I run- even worse. Today is a run day. I am looking forward to it. It's nice and sunny even though it's cold.

Talking about jumping into winter

And it's not even officially winter yet!! Another very VERY cold morning. The temperature at my house read 19 degrees this morning so no riding for me. It is forecast to warm up by Friday. Until then I am riding the bus or driving. Today was another bus day since I have no errands to run and I ran yesterday. Yes! I ran! It wasn't very fast or far, but 30 minutes solid. I bundled up and while I did cough a little bit yesterday evening, I feel just fine today so I must be cured. Hoorah!!

I found out Mr. M's son is having his last final Thursday and will descent upon us Friday for yet another 3 weeks. Heaven help me. I pulled out a sweater from the closet in the guest bedroom this morning and found an empty, molding juice bottle on top of my sweaters. Oh ... yes, there is a waste basket in the room. No, this isn't an adolescent I'm talking about but a man about to turn 24 years old this week. I guess I'm going to have to bring out the house rules again and go over them AGAIN when he gets here.

I don't mean to sound like the quintessential evil step-mother but really I have ZERO privacy. Yes, this is a big house, and yes he has his own bathroom. But the guest bedroom is directly across the hall from the master suite and I have to make sure I'm dressed whenever I walk between my dressing room and the master, when I am used to just walking around in whatever stage of undressing I am in. And I like my quiet. And I like to know when I put something down it's going to be there and not ... oh, I don't know ... under the bed in the guest room. Oh well ..... what can I do?

I started a cowl for my sister last night out of the same cashmere I used for her mitts. It is going to be nice. She's in NYC for a couple days. I'll bet she could use it now.

The big chill

Good lord -- the outdoor temperature at my house this morning was 18 degrees! According to the weather folks there is cold air from the north trapped and that's what's causing this deep freeze. Whatever the reason it is just plain too cold for me to ride, no matter that it's nice and sunny and dry. The wind chill going from my house down to the lake is brutal, even with a mask. No thank you. I learned my lesson last year. I do not like arriving at work in tears from pain. Oh ... well I don't like arriving at work in tears from anything ... of course not.

It was a pretty average weekend. Mr. M was busy and out of my hair, so I had plenty of time to work on Christmas gifts, watch silly TV and rehearse. I am amassing quite a pile of as yet unassigned gifts. As of last night I have 4 neck warmer hats, 2 tassel hats, and two scarves. The cashmere mitts, finished on Friday night, are going to be for my sister. I've also decided to make a cowl to match the mitts in a slightly bigger needle size. I'll do the 4x1 ribs around using maybe a size 8 needle and when it's done I'll crochet the picot edging on top and bottom. I guess that means I should also put in a few cable rows so they'll echo more closely the pattern of the Fetching mitts.

I bought some lights for the little Nobel fir in the front garden and put them on yesterday afternoon. Blue. They look nice. Mr. M still has to put up the lights on the eaves but he's pretty busy this week so it'll most likely have to wait until next week. I guess that's when we'll get the tree as well since I'm leaving on the 18th to go down to visit my sister for a few days. I want to have all the decorating done before I leave so I don't come home to some hideous decorating scheme Mr. M might dream up.

Looking forward to a nice run this afternoon. My cough is almost all gone. At rehearsal on Saturday I got a little hoarse after a couple hours, but no real coughing fits. Fingers crossed I am cured!!

Finally

I got back on the bike today! Finally!! It was cold this morning - 31 degrees - but clear and beautiful so I togged up, put a scarf on my face to protect from the wind chill and set out. I've been here for an hour now and still my legs are a bit cold, but otherwise I feel great! No ache in the chest. No coughing. Gosh, maybe I'm well.

I didn't run yesterday because of knitting but Tinkerbell got a nice long walk when I got home. I have to steel myself and get back out there and run. I believe that since I was so sick for the last ... what ... month? ... I was training, that I should feel like I have wings on my feet when I get back out there. I think I'll sign up for the 5K on February 13 - the day before we leave to go on our cruise. Maybe I can beat my time from last year. Believe it or not, that is the last race I ran! The Love 'em or Leave 'em last February. I was going to run in March but a) it was snowing and b) I'd had a cold. Ah well ...

I did finish up the cashmere mitts last night and instead of starting on a beret to match I pulled out some other yarn and started on another hat with tassels. It's great TV knitting and I was watching some recorded stuff and didn't want to mess with an unknown pattern.

It's pretty nice today, but since it's still clear it's cold. There was ice on some of the puddles next to the trail this morning. I sure hope we don't get another winter like last year.

Maybe not across the universe ...

but pretty far away --- I want to send happy birthday wishes and thoughts out there and hope they stick. Tu me manques.

You should have seen the moon yesterday! It is dark when I leave work and because I'm still working up to biking and running -- maybe going to have a run today, actually -- I drove in and so on my way to the parking garage I looked up and actually gasped. You know how sometimes the full moon is just so big and bright. That's how it was last night. It's very clear here these past couple days so it was extremely bright. And in the morning it was still hanging there in the sky. Just gorgeous!

Clear skies of course means that it's colder. Because Mr. M had to leave before 7:30 and won't be home until nearly midnight, that means that Tink will be alone all day until I get home. I just couldn't ride my bike in today and leave her for that extra hour or so. Plus it was frosty! I need to get another pair of glove liners since the ones I used last year got worn through a few of the fingers. I do believe it's going to cloud up here soon though and that will warm it up a bit.

I walked for over an hour yesterday at lunchtime and felt pretty good! Not much coughing at all. And my shortness of breath is all but gone. I mean ... for a while there I couldn't even climb the stairs in my house without stopping at the top, panting. It was pretty scary. I'd guess by the end of the week I'll be 100%. And I can't wait. I am SO tired of being sick.

I got the second cashmere mitt cast on and half way knit last night. Hopefully I'll get them all finished up between noon knitting and this evening. The cashmere is knitting up beautifully. I may do a couple more.