Tick tock tick tock

Vacation count down.  There are quite a few little details I need to handle this morning and early afternoon, then I'm going to button up this operation and head out.  I'm stopping for a manicure and pedicure and then it's home to pack.  Saturday early afternoon we fly to Houston and then spend the night in Galveston.  I've never been to Texas and have always wanted to visit.  Well, not entirely true.  I did have a layover in Houston airport once a long time ago after some business meeting in Virginia.  I didn't see anything except the bar so I don't think it counts as a true visit.  We will be spending the night in Galveston and then heading for the ship first thing when we check out.  I want to get on as soon as we can so we don't miss too much of the playoff game.  And when we get back from the cruise we'll have some time before we have to head to the airport to explore Galveston a little bit.  I hope the weather is decent.  They are predicting a thunder storm on the day we leave.  It is January after all.

I'm going to miss my dog.  I know that sounds silly but it would sound sillier if it was a cat I was missing, so .... for whatever that's worth.   The house sitter just LOVES Tinkerbell and she's thrilled to spend all the time with her that she wants.  She is Mr. M's bookkeeper and she comes twice a month but has to work and therefore doesn't get as much cuddle time with my dog as she would like.  I am entirely 100% confident that she will take as good care of her as I do, and also I know she'll take care of my house and not have parties or use my Jacuzzi tub, or order pay-per-view movies or drink all the good whiskey.  She is, in a word, perfect.

I did take some time last night and swatch the linen.  I found a pattern that I like for a camisole.  It was in an Interweave magazine but I found it searching on Ravelry.  I believe I put it out of my head the first time I saw the pattern because the yarn they used is just plain ugly.  In a beautiful plain linen the top is going to be perfect.  I also cataloged my circular needles with a new iPhone app.  Because I have so many WIPs going now my Denise set is being all used and I need a size 7 24".  I'm actually going to have to buy one, which is incredible considering the ridiculous amount of circular needles I already own.  My knitting goal, when I'm back from vacation and facing the rest of this long and dark winter, is to finish up some of my projects!  No more starts until I finish some things. 

Blogs will be sparse on vacation.  I am going to relax.  No, really I am.  I am!!

My little Scrabble buddy

One of my favorite games to play on my iPhone is Scrabble and I do so nearly every day.  The latest update has a feature I just love called The Teacher.  If you turn it on it will show you the best word you could have played with your tiles after you make your word.  The Teacher is an animated tile that will grin if you play a word that earns as many points as the best word, or smiles if you're close.  However, it has a third expression -- a little moue of disappointment -- when you slack off.  Sometimes I find myself talking back to it.  I do learn new words though.

It is pouring rain today.  It woke me in the night, it was raining so hard.  I rather like laying in bed and listening to the rain if I don't have to get up in the morning.  Sometimes it makes me feel a bit melancholy though.  I sure am ready for some sunshine.

Tinkerbell is getting a bath tonight and then I've got to swatch that linen.  I am thinking of making a tank or a T-shirt so I guess I'd better find a pattern I like first and then go for gauge.  I guess I could always make another Sizzle. 

A very sloppy mess

Sometimes the weatherman gets it right.  It did start snowing last night and it stuck.  It also warmed up during the night so the snow turned to rain.  When I got up it was raining steadily and the snow had turned to slush.  Sloppy, dirty slush.  Wet, cold slush.  I had been considering taking the bus - biking is completely out of the question and I don't like to drive in the snow.  But since it is not going to freeze anytime soon and it is a terrible walk to the bus stop, especially in slippery weather, I drove in and didn't have any troubles.  Other people further north are pretty much stuck in their neighborhoods unless they want to shovel their driveways or put chains on to get to the closest arterial.  Neither of those are good options.  It will melt fast enough.

I had a very constructive day at home yesterday.  I had just enough work to keep it interesting and enough down time so that I was able to clean up my desk.  Then in the evening I started sorting through clothes to pick what I want to take on the cruise this weekend.  I pretty  much have it down.  Now I just have to figure out how to make it all fit in the suitcase.  What?  Get a bigger one and then I wouldn't have to worry about it?  Well what's the fun in that??  Plus I bought Mr. M a great huge suitcase and he never fills his up, so I use it as an overflow.  Or I could use my rolling duffle.  I might just do that.

Not my iPhone!!!!

Every night when I got to bed I turn my iPhone to silent and put it on the charger alarm clock on my bedside table.  When I wake up I take it from the holder and check my email while I'm still horizontal.  Or if I have insomnia and I want to play games or read email .... the point is that I pick it up off the charger and it comes to life.  Well, this morning I woke up at 5.  Since I am working from home today I wasn't too upset about waking so early since I can sleep until 8 when I work from home.  But oddly when I picked it up it didn't come to life.  Nor did it come to life when I pressed the on switch.  Five o'clock in the morning is perhaps not the best time to troubleshoot an iPhone so I put it back where it had been and fell back asleep, only to start the process over again at about 7:45.  But then I had an "aha" moment.  The reboot!  Thankfully that worked because I just really didn't want to have to buy a new iPhone now.  Not with the second generation 4Gs coming out this summer.  I can wait for that.  Or the iPad.  Hmmmm ... well not an issue now.

I have a couple of pieces of business to take care of here at the computer this morning, then I'm going to run a couple of errands before lunchtime and before the predicted snow.  I'm not too worried about the snow.  It is supposed to be well above freezing for the rest of the week.

As for the game last Saturday:  Seismic Activity Registered at Stadium after Seattle Seahawks Win
I read a little something about this yesterday and told the chairman, who is my best football buddy at work, and he thought I was pulling his leg.  This morning is was front page news. 

A stunner!!

What an absolutely amazing football game on Saturday.  The Seahawks, 11 point underdogs, managed to beat the defending Super Bowl champions, the Saints.  It was just crazy!  And not a single one of the football analysts that I watch predicted this incredible upset.  They beat them, fair and square and by a darned good margin as well.   Next Saturday they play the Bears in Chicago.  Unfortunately we'll be traveling that day but I am hoping I can catch the second half once we land in Houston.  Only if they're winning of course.  I won't go out of my way to watch them lose.  I've seen enough of that.

Because the game was played on Saturday it felt like I was getting an extra day off.  It wasn't a very relaxing weekend though because I had so many errands and chores to do, getting ready for vacation.  The weather cooperated, thankfully.  No snow although I did see a few flakes on the way to work today.  I hope it's a really ugly week.  That'll make it all the nicer to get on the boat.

Saturday I finished up the bodice portion of my latest project and started on the front and back.  I was skeptical about the bodice and tried it on after I bound off.  It fits and I think the reason for the funny looking armholes is that the sleeves themselves are kind of weird.  I am kind of regretting this.  I don't know that I will actually wear it.  Should I frog it now or complete it and see how it looks then?  One more decision I can't seem to make.  The first being what project should I bring on my trip?  I know it's going to be something with the linen but that's as far as I got.

The voices in my head

At lunchtime yesterday I took a long walk in the stormy weather and finished up "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand".  I so enjoyed that book and the ending was very sweet.   Major Pettigrew's voice is stuck in my head, making observations and generally amusing me.  I shall let him stay for a while.

For Christmas my nephew gave me the CD version of David Sedaris' "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" and my friend McG gave me an autographed copy of the hardcover.  I put it on my iPhone a few days ago and listened to a couple of the stories on the way to work today.  Boy -- the stories are all over the map, just like his other stories, except the characters are animals.  What a mind that guy has. 

I did want to bike in but the weather, while not particularly cold, is windy and wet and oh so very very dark.  It just doesn't seems safe or fun at all to ride.  Now that my cold is gone, finally, I can get out at lunchtime and walk or jog, which I did yesterday and shall do again today.  It might not be as good exercise as biking back and forth from home, but it is something.

I'm still slogging away at the bodice of the Tepoztlan top.  I decided to just follow the pattern and assume that it's correct.  The few other people that made it didn't say anything about the bodice being written incorrectly so I'm going to have to follow my instincts.

As for a project for the trip -- I still haven't decided on anything.  I have a stack of books on my bedside table and I'm going to bring a couple along and do some reading rather than listening.  I know I will go nuts if I don't have something to do with my hands but I surely don't have to be busy all the time.  It's vacation after all.  Since the Tepoztlan top is being made with a cotton blend yarn and the knitting is very plain, maybe I'll just bring that, depending upon room in my suitcase.  Since I'll be bringing only summer clothes I should have plenty of space.  Well ... I've got a week to toss this ball back and forth, don't I?

Snow showers still predicted for tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.  Go Hawks!

The "S" word

That would be snow.  It's not snowing now and in fact it's not even cold.  But we are expecting a change and if not snow, it will at least be rainy and blowing and just plain icky.  And this is good why?  Well, the Seahawks won their division Sunday and so this weekend is the first playoff game against the New Orleans Saints.  Not only do the Saints have to travel 2,000 miles and play in Quest Field, which is the loudest stadium, but they would be at a further disadvantage if the weather was bad, coming from such a warm place.  So all over the radio this morning people were talking about snow.  I hope it does snow and I hope all next week is just miserable and wet and gloomy because I'll be getting on a plane on the 15th and heading to paradise and that would be just that much nicer if I were leaving behind snow as well as gloom.  Speaking of gloom -- yesterday was so dark all day that it was like twilight. 

I need to figure out a project to take with me on vacation.  And it has to be silk or cotton or linen ... something definitely NON-fuzzy.  Maybe I won't even pick it up but I would feel naked if I didn't have a knitting project with me.  Since we have a balcony stateroom this time and two entire days at sea before our first port, I can envision myself sitting on that beautiful balcony maybe listening to a good book or some jazz and knitting.  I do have a beautiful linen yarn that I bought a while ago thinking I'd maybe make another skirt or a top.  It's a lovely color - I'd say mushroom.  Not at all my typical colors but lovely really and I think it would make a great top with some kind of flowing sleeve to show off the drape.  I'll have to get on Ravelry and see what I can come up with.  I can't remember the yardage but I'll bet if I go to Elann's web site I can look up the order and figure it out.

The case of the disappearing nickel

I decided last night that it would be prudent to take the bus this morning rather than bike in since it was surely going to be raining and miserable and I am just getting over a cold.   I managed to pop out of bed after only one bonk of the snooze bar and decided what to wear while I was in the shower (as opposed to standing in front of the closet, where I can spend upwards of 10 minutes trying to decide).  I was in very good shape, time-wise.  Of course there is an App for everything, is there not?  A friend had told me about a bus app that tells you where your bus is and when it is expected to reach your stop so I was able to monitor my bus as I was getting everything ready to go.  Oh!  And my sister gave me a new umbrella for Christmas.  I hate to retire my gorgeous little animal print umbrella that I bought when I was in Paris, but it has gotten to be more of a weapon, what with all the little bits of metal poking out of it at odd angles.  I have given it a place of honor on my shelf and taken up with a snappy little black number with multi-colored polka dots.  Last thing I had to do upstairs was make sure I had the bus fare.  There is a little cup I  keep on top of the dryer and when I find change after doing a wash I put it in this cup and I have a ready supply of change for the bus.  I grabbed a nickel, went back to my room, picked up my iPhone and reached for my bus fare but the nickel was not there.  I didn't have time to turn in circles looking for it so I grabbed another one and went downstairs to finish getting my things together.  As I was walking down hill towards the bus stop I felt something in my boot.  It took me about 4 more steps to realize it was the missing nickel.  How did it get in my boot?

I had a good day working from home yesterday.  Mr. M was out the greater part of the day with the contractor getting cabinets, etc. for the remodel of the rental property, so I had a nice quiet house.  I kept it warm, kept myself hydrated and today I'm feeling pretty darned good.  My cough is almost completely gone.  Hopefully I have figured out the odd ball pattern directions for my new project and last night after dinner I sat down to watch the entire second season of  "Eastbound and Down" which I had recorded a few days ago and got a good bit done on that bodice.  I can't understand why the pattern doesn't have any measurements or even a schematic!  It really annoys me, in case you haven't noticed.  But knitting in the round goes so quickly I am now about 20 rows from finishing the bodice -- or at least to the point where the pattern says to bind off.  I'm going to put it on a longer cable and make sure it fits before I cast off.

The first cold of 2011

I woke up with it January 2nd.  I went to work yesterday but was so uncomfortable plus I was coughing all day.  So now I am working in my jammies from home and I'm going to stay warm and hope I can kick this thing.  I was just so cold all day yesterday!  I couldn't warm up and when I got home I changed into flannel everything and curled up with Tink on the couch with a blanket where I stayed all evening just watching stupid TV, talking on the phone and knitting on the new project.  I have been reading and re-reading the pattern instructions for the bodice and finally think I've found the answer about where exactly one joins and starts knitting in the round.  It is never explicitly stated but at one point on a WS row you are purling and then all of a sudden it's knit, so that must be it - the point where the whole thing is joined together.  It's a poorly written pattern but it's going to be cute.

While I was out Christmas shopping at Tuesday Morning - a very odd ball shop with just about everything - I picked up one of those silly desk top LED candle fountains.  I was going to give it to somebody but then realized it might make my little office/closet a tiny bit more comfortable to have that little babble going on.  I brought it in yesterday and after rearranging my desk I got it set up, poured a cup of water into it and set it going.  Just one problem - there was water pouring out all over my desk!  I have a towel in my office for when I arrive soaking wet so I grabbed it just in time and sopped up the water.  I then inspected the unit and found that it had a big crack in the wall of the reservoir.  Nice.  It hadn't been opened and the box wasn't dented so I don't know how it happened.  Then of course I just had to have one!  I would not be denied.  I got on eBay, found one and bought it and it's on its way now.  Nearly instant gratification.

My current audio book is called "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" and it is charming.  Beautifully narrated and a wonderful story.  Again, I don't want it to end but I can't stop listening to it.  I don't have another one in the queue.  I had taken a page from the newspaper a couple of Sundays ago that listed the best books from 2010 as chosen by several different people.  And now I can't find it. I do that a lot - I will take something from the newspaper and then forget that I did it on purpose and think it's garbage and throw it away.  I will probably be able to find it on line at the newspaper's web site, don't you think so?

I suspect the chaise in my office is going to get some use today.  Maybe this afternoon I will switch from my desk to the chaise with my laptop ..... on my lap!  The sun does come directly into this west facing window in the afternoon but it's quite cloudy today so it shouldn't be a problem.

And a happy new year!

Oh it was a fun visit with my sister and a hectic vacation.  Busy maybe is a better word.  The snow didn't stick, luckily, and in fact the skies were clear for the entire time my sister and her boyfriend were visiting.  It was beautiful and very very cold.  Mr. M volunteered to pick them up Thursday night because I wanted to get the dinner ready and I didn't really want to drive on the icy roads.  It worked out fine.  AND the Huskies won their bowl game!!!  Awesome game!

After dinner we had our Christmas.  Since I hadn't been able to go to London with Kelli in the fall and she knew how disappointed I was, she had bought me some things there at Harrod's -- a pretty key ring and a watch with a Westie on the face and a gorgeous pair of gloves.  Pink gloves.  

On New Year's Eve day we went shopping for the New Year's Day open house I had decided to have.  We had so much fun buying tons of stuff for the party.  Then we went home and just relaxed.  That evening we went for a fabulous dinner at a French restaurant called Bastille.  On our way out I picked up my  new gloves to wear and then realized they were both for the left hand!!  When she had purchased them they were hooked together. Too weird.  And sad, because I loved those gloves.  We watched the fire works from the Space Needle on the big screen and went to bed at a decent time.

New Year's day we got up fairly early.  Mike, Kelli's boyfriend, had hurt his back on the way up so he had an appointment for a massage.  Mr. M took him and Kelli and I started getting things ready for the party.  I like to get everything set and then have a few minutes or an hour to put my feet up and just relax before the onslaught.  I had just gotten settled in my chair and did about 10 or 15 stitches on a project and they started arriving.  It was a good party.  And we all slept in late the next day.

My car battery died so yesterday got all messed up and to make matters worse I feel like I'm coming down with a cold.  While my car was being fixed we took the ornaments off the tree and stowed all the decorations.  The car was fixed by around 3 but by then I was really feeling under the weather so I ran off to do my errands and Kelli and Mike took Mr. M's car and went out for a couple of hours.  We were only having crab for dinner so it was not a meal I was going to have to slave over.  I went upstairs to my room with my new, beautiful comfy chaise and sat in the sun and knit for a while before the football game started.  I know it is VERY irresponsible of me but I started a new project on Thursday.  I was sitting on my chaise just looking at my yarn stash and feeling a strong urge to use that Noro Chirimen I had purchased a while back.  There is a cute top on the front of  Eternal Noro, a pattern book I had gotten a month or so ago, and I just cast on for it!  It is not like I'm not finishing projects.  I made a scarf and a couple of hats and all those mittens.  This is just an indulgence.

And now it's back to work.  Hello real world.  After a week on vacation it was a very rude start to the day -- 6 am instead of 9 am.   I am not feeling any better than I was when I got into bed last night but I had to get up and get them to the airport and get into work.  Winter quarter starts today and although all my sites are ready to go there will be lots of posting to do.  Thank goodness I have my cruise to look forward to.  I only have to make it through two weeks and then it's off to paradise.

And now I'd better have some breakfast.

Picasso

One of my Christmas gifts was a visit to the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.  The museum in Paris is being renovated and while that is happening the collection is touring.  I was looking forward to visiting some old friends.  I went to that museum quite often because it was close to my apartment and I just loved the pieces.  There are so many pieces in that collection, his personal one, that the pieces are changed out often.  Anyway, I did get to see a few of my very favorite ones.  Unfortunately I became a bit overcome at one point and my eyes started leaking.  Very embarrassing.

It is snowing as I type.  It doesn't look as if it is going to stick, or if it does there won't be much.  Which is good because I have a lot of running around to do today.  My sister and her boyfriend are coming for their visit tomorrow and I've got some grocery shopping to do, as well as getting my nails done.  The salon opens at 10 so I should be able to get out of here soon and get going before it gets worse.  I don't drive in the snow so .... fingers crossed it stops soon.

Happy Christmas

To you.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's a little Christmas miracle

Well, that could be a slight exaggeration but still it's pretty funny.  I had a dream last night about doughnuts.  I never buy them, and always resist when they are brought to work.  I dreamed about Christmas doughnuts -- green and red sprinkles and I resisted them.  Then this morning as I stopped into our coffee room to put my milk in the refrigerator what do I see on the table?  Yes!  Christmas doughnuts.  And today I did not resist.

I worked from home yesterday as I had planned.  And good thing too because I was up all night with insomnia and didn't drop off until about 6:30 am.  I slept for a couple hours and then got up and  got the day going.   I received an email late in the afternoon from a professor who teaches a class once every two years.  This is the year on and I had totally forgotten about it so I didn't have any of the files I needed on my laptop.  I wanted to work from home again today but instead I am here to finish up the last bit of work before the vacation begins.  It shouldn't take too long and I would imagine people are going to be buttoning things up early today anyway, plus I have a hair appointment at 4 so it'll be a short day.

Yesterday evening I put the knitting on hold and spent a few hours wrapping presents and listening to my audio book.  I finished the book and loved it!  I did not finish the wrapping and must put in a few more hours tonight to get it done.  Maybe I can finish the hat and baby socks today after I get my work done.  I brought them just in case I could grab a few minutes at lunch time.

It's rainy here.  No white Christmas for us.  And that's okay.

First day of Winter!!

Yay!  Now the days get longer.  And it is a beautiful day.  It would have been perfect to bike in but I have to pick a friend up from the airport -- his sister has broken ribs and can't drive -- and so I drove in.  It is so very quiet!  All the students are gone and it seems like most of the staff are on vacation as well.  I had my phone forwarded and I didn't get one single telephone call yesterday. 

It was a busy weekend.  I was going to finish my Christmas shopping on Saturday but realized that the mall would be a mad house so instead I worked on knitting up my last gifts and took a long lunch yesterday and finished up.  This weekend I finished my nephew's scarf and also did a hat, and yesterday I started a pair of baby socks for Mr. M's daughter's baby.  They are so cute!

With all that knitting there was also a lot of listening to audio books.  I finished the Jane Smiley book and I really enjoyed the story but never did quite like the narrator.  Then I started "The Unlikely Spy" and it is wonderful.  It is set in London during WWII and is historical fiction so we have Churchill and Eisenhower and all the nasty German characters and spies and double spies.  Right up my alley.  The only thing bothering me about it is that there are a few anachronisms that bother me something fierce.  I think that is ultimately the fault of the editor, is it not?  But they are small things and not taking away from the story at all.  I am almost done with the second of three parts.  I don't want it to end but I want to know how it is going to end.  That is the trouble with good books.

I've got a nice little cocktail party to attend tonight.  I think I'll work from home again tomorrow.  There's nothing I can do here that I can't do from home, especially since 2 of the three people I'm working with next quarter are gone.  All my ducks are in a row.

An observation

It seems to me that the older I get the bigger my mistakes are.  Does that seem right to you?  Don't you think we should be learning from our mistakes and making smaller ones instead?  I wish that were the case for me.

I worked from home yesterday and took a nice long shopping lunch.  I am finally feeling that I have control of the situation.  Almost everyone is taken care of except my sister and my  nephews and I am planning on getting that taken care of tomorrow.  And I am furiously knitting gifts.  One of my friends here at work was complaining at the luncheon that he had lost his hat and had borrowed his wife's so I knit up a nice  hat for him  -- started it Wednesday evening and finished it up yesterday evening.  Then I cast on for a scarf for one of my  nephews -- he wants a black scarf and I can't see buying one when a hand knit one is so much nicer.

It is very quiet here.  The students have one last final this morning and then next week this place is going to be pretty much empty.  I'm not going to have much to do next week.  Thankfully it'll be a short week. 

It's Holiday Party day!

Typically this would be noon knitting day but that is preempted for our staff holiday lunch and gift exchange.  We have a very small group this year - some people are out sick, others out of town and I don't know what other excuses but it's going to be lunch out this year rather than potluck.  And that's fine with me because I just couldn't think of a thing to make.  It's been too crazy lately.  Tinkerbell had an appointment for a grooming so I dropped her off this morning and after our lunch it'll be time to pick her up.  Short day in the office for me.

I finished up the Waves stole last night but got distracted and so tonight I have to weave in the ends an block it.  I have enough of the wool and silk blend and the mohair to make a hat, so I think I'll make a beret using the wool/silk blend for the band and the solid mohair for the hat part.  It'll be pretty.  But before I do anything tonight I must do my Christmas cards.  I'm so late this year. 

One last exam to give tomorrow and then I am done with exams.  I have three web sites to get ready for the first of the year and one is completely done and I should be able to finish up another today or tomorrow.  That leaves me more than enough time to finish up the third and I'll have an entire week between Christmas and New Years with no worries and a visit from my sister to look forward to!  yay!

Get out the boats

Talk about rain!  We have been having a lot of it.  Yesterday morning the trail was closed in a couple of spots because of mud slides.  This is almost due east from my house, but I don't get on the trail until around 100th so it wouldn't have impacted me had I biked in.  There was no way though -- much too windy and wet and dangerous.  Last night another storm blew through and there was thunder and pouring rain and wind.  The wind was so fierce I had to close the windows for a few hours because I couldn't sleep through the noise of the shades smacking against the window. It's a mess out there.  I am lucky I am so close to work and/or can work from home.  I had to proctor an exam yesterday, today I have to proctor a single student who can't make one of the scheduled final exams.  I would have worked from home today for sure if not for that.  We had the Histo final yesterday and one student missed it because he is stuck in Chicago, which is having its own winter mess, but for them it's snow.  He's supposed to be back by Thursday.  We shall see.

I tried hard to finish that waves stole I've been working on, in between mittens.  I don't know who is going to get it but I'm tired of it and want to have it finished.  I worked on it during the football game last night but couldn't quite finish.  I'll give it an hour at lunchtime today and then maybe tonight I can get it done.  It is really quite pretty, if you like orange ... well, more like apricot.  And it's soft.  I will find just the right person for it.  But that still leaves me with quite a few people to get gifts for and not a single clue about what to get!  I'm not usually like that.  Usually I have a good idea what I'm getting for everyone on my list in plenty of time.  But I no longer have plenty of time.  I've got to get this nailed down this weekend.  Time to make some lists.

Maybe the reason I'm not on top of my game with Christmas is the sleep troubles I've been having.  I don't know if I'm blue because I can't sleep or the other way around.  No matter.  There is nothing to be done for it at this point.  I'll have to ride it out.  And I'd better start working on a game plan because coming back from vacation and having to face February ..... that's going to be the real test.

I am just about there

I did, finally, finish the convertible mittens.  Well .... I didn't knit the thumbs and I haven't woven in all the ends, but I got the pop tops done and it is evident that making the tops longer than I had on the other two prototypes is the key to keeping them from opening on the palm.  Also, the construction of them by picking up stitches (with the help of a lifeline) on the top of the hand is also a key design feature.  There are two things I will do differently when I make the first 100% perfect pair and that is to rib on both sides of the mitt portion where it ends.  I only ribbed the palm side of the mitt and that was stupid because the top of it curls and makes a little bulge.  And I will start the decreases for the top of the mitten top another few rows longer.  I am afraid of having too much space up there and trapping the cold air but a couple more rows will make it even less likely that the top will gap from normal finger and hand movements.  It is unfortunate that I am sick and tired of knitting these.  But I have some lovely Noro yarn -- not Iroha but Maiko, I think -- in a beautiful peridot color and that is what I shall use next time.  Or the cashmere.  hmmm

Saturday we went to see the Nutcracker and then out to dinner at that new (for me) restaurant called the Stumbling Goat.  The ballet was nice, but I wish Mr. M hadn't purchased matinee tickets.  I don't like matinees, especially of the Nutcracker because there are so many noisy children.  We did have nice seats though.  The dinner was great, again.  This restaurant has the BEST mushroom soup I have ever tasted.  The secret, according to the server, is the stock.  I have a friend who makes his own stock.  And I have plenty of recipes.  I should give it a try some weekend.

Oddly I woke up Saturday night and thought it was Sunday night so imagine my joy when I realized I had another day of rest and sleeping in, which I did.  I slept, then turned over and slept some more.  Football wasn't much fun to watch because the Seahawks were on the road in San Francisco and got crushed.  I have a slim chance of winning my  matchup tonight but Joe Flaco is going to have to produce some big numbers.  And speaking of numbers -- I've got 5 and 5 for the Monday night game.  That is going to be pretty hard to get.  Hopefully next Monday we'll have better numbers.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Things have been just WAY too busy lately.  And combine that with my sleeping problems .... I am wrecked.  I worked from home yesterday and I was hoping to have a few minutes to get my sister's birthday present sent off but that didn't happen.  I'll walk it up to the post office at lunchtime today.  I got all of my work work done by about 4 yesterday afternoon and then went about re-arranging the living room to accommodate the tree and setting that up and decorating it as well.  It was quite a job but I wanted to get it done while Mr. M wasn't around.  It would have been nice to have the help with the heavy lifting but then I would have had to argue every little move.  This way he will be presented with it - fait accompli.  I think it looks quite nice.  The tree is in front of the big window, the couch is at an angle with the fire place and looking out to the tree and my comfy chair is next to the tree and facing, at an angle, the fireplace.  VERY cozy.  I am looking forward to sitting there and doing a little knitting sometime soon.

There was no knitting last night.  My mittens are not finished and I wanted to finish,  but that cotton yarn is so unyielding that it's making my arm sore.  I just rested last night but have high hopes for finishing, or getting very close, tonight.  As for the weekend.  Sleep.  Sleep would be good.  Just some sleep.

Why hitting the snooze alarm is sometimes a good thing

Yesterday evening I met up with the faculty and TAs of the Histology course to celebrate the end of the quarter.  The meet up was in a restaurant at a nice shopping mall close by the U, so I went home and cleaned up and then drove over there early so I could shop for my sister's b'day present.  I got just the perfect thing for her and a few other little things and then headed to the restaurant we where all had a really really fun time.  The TAs are so sweet and gave us cards and little packets of candy.  After dropping one of my friends off at her house I made it home by 9:30 and just went to bed to read.  I must have been asleep by 11 or maybe 11:30 but in the middle of the night it started to rain and it woke me up, so I was a little groggy when the alarm went off at 6 or whatever ungodly hour I have it set to.  I hit the snooze button a few times and managed to drag myself into the shower about 10 or 15 minutes later than usual.  The rain had stopped and I could even see bits of clear sky in the east, so I put on my bike clothes and got all ready to ride in.  As I was packing my panniers I heard a rumble but thought it was a truck maybe or ... ?  I went to the garage, and as the garage door rose up Mr. M went closer out near the opening and turned to look at me saying, "It's pouring"!  And indeed it was pouring, and that had been thunder I heard and then there was another clap.  And I turned off my bike lights and trudged upstairs to change and drive in.  If I hadn't slept in I would have been out in that downpour, and rain gear or no, it wasn't a storm to be out in.  Took me ages to drive in as well, what with the slow traffic and the standing water.  Thunder and lightening in December! And tomorrow -- I am working from home so it can rain all it wants.

My sister is getting excited about their visit on the 30th.  We have decided that we would go out for an early-ish dinner on the 31st and then host a nice open house on New Year's day.  So I've got to start inviting people. 

Noon knitting today and I think I'm going to break with the latest tradition of working a row or two on my Cloisonne jacket and instead take up my convertible mittens to see if I can finish them up today.  I would dearly love to because the cotton yarn is making my hands hurt and I want to see if my modifications work the way I need them to work.