I haven't really fallen off

the face of the earth blog-o-sphere, despite what the last month would lead one to believe. Needless to say, life has been full of all sorts of changes, trying to find our new normal, for all of us. My dad is slowly adjusting to living in the memory care place here, instead of being in his own home, in his own town. Some days he remembers what is going on better than other days, but that is the nature of the beast. However, he continues to be very happy to be in the same city with us, so that does help a lot. I am sure one can imagine that there is a lot of life adjustment going on for me as well.
Sadie came through her surgery on January 6th just fine, and was scared enough of the "cone of shame" that we only had to set it down next to her stop the messing with her stitches. Most of the time she was way more interested in the area on her front foot that had been shaved for the IV than the two areas full of pieces of thread. The evening after her surgery, I drove DTY and a friend of hers up to St. Paul so the two of them could catch the train back to school. DTE went along for the ride so that I wouldn't be driving home alone late at night in a snowstorm by myself. The next next day we made sure Sadie had her medications on a regular schedule so that she wouldn't be in any pain (in addition to the cysts that were removed, they had to pull several teeth)as well as doing the general "post-major surgery" eye on her, but she spent the majority of her day sleeping. Late that afternoon I took DTE to the shuttle stop so she could go meet a friend and head to Fargo for the weekend. I was gone for all of twenty minutes max, but could hear the poor suffering Sadie as I pulled into the garage! After I got inside and her all calmed down (which took at least ten minutes!), I realized that those twenty minutes were the first time in her thirteen-and-a-half years of life that she had ever been left completely alone! Because of course a cat that had managed to get herself locked in a closet does not count as company! (Not that Sadie would consider Oribel to be much company no matter where she happened to be.) She still doesn't like being left alone, but is slowly adjusting to it. We have found that it helps a lot to leave the radio on for her, but someone still come home several times a week to a very upset and lonely dog.
I have been doing some knitting, and have finished my first pair of socks (from stash yarn even!) for the year.
Pattern: Groovy Socks changed to be toe-up.
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color
Started: December 27, 2009
Finished: January 14, 2010
Sock count: 1 of (hopefully) 12(+) from stash (aka, yarn purchased before 2010 or gifted anytime)
Made for: My mom's birthday in January. She said she loves them, but I am kind of hoping she doesn't take them to the hospital tomorrow when she goes for surgery and several days of post-surgery pampering from the nurses. (But if she does, and they happen to disappear, I do know how to make her new ones.)
I have started another pair of socks that have involved restarting several times due to the two-color knitting causing sizing issues. They are supposed to be for Hubband as they remind him of a camping trip with DTY and the loons they had to listen to several nights running. Unfortunately, the first try wouldn't even go over my heel, so I started over on bigger needles. These fit me, but there is no way they will fit him, so if the other member of the camping party is interested, they will be for her; otherwise I will be happy to keep them for me! I will be making them again for Hubband but will add another pattern repeat or two for proper fit. I am enjoying the pattern, challenge, and new stuff that I am learning while making them.
I also made myself a cowl out of some yarn that a friend dyed for me last fall to remind me of one my favorite first signs of spring, crocus flowers. (I took that picture before it was blocked, thus the curly edges.)

 

I shall leave you with a couple of pictures of my latest learning venture. Saturday I drove north to The Big City and DTE took the bus south to the same Big City and we took a cooking class together. These are my first ones, start to finish, at home. Not as pretty as Chef Carrie's, but in time, I am sure I can make them look much nicer.

(For the record, croissants turn out to be pretty easy to make!)

Today I give you

a picture Hubband took of Oribel and me,

 

winter garden boxes,

 

and the male half of the Pileated Woodpecker pair that live in the dead trees in our woods and come hang out at our feeders.

 

 

This morning,

our coffee maker made 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of coffee and then biffed it. Fortunately, we happen to have some coffee in the cupboard already ground for the french press pot.
Le sigh. One more thing for me to fit into my upcoming week.

In the last week,

DTE and I have taken Miss Sadie Rose Dog to the vet for her to be diagnosed with an infected and burst sebaceous cyst that will be removed this week; I have filled out tons of paperwork and signed my name to it all for someone else; we/I have moved my father into a memory-care facility; I was given the official diagnosis I was suspecting of an outbreak of shingles on my personage; Mr. Simon Peter Dog was very, very sick yesterday so Hubband and DTE took him to the emergency vet clinic, and it was determined that he had too many things going on to be able to make it, so the decision was made to help him not be in the pain that had been getting worse for him all day.

Our Internet is back up

and running. Which is a really good thing as I have had important e-mail and Skype stuff I needed to do today. Maybe in a couple of days my life will settle into a new normal. It better continue to have a properly running Internet connection, 'cause my need for it isn't going to change.

It is just like gambling.

Re-posted/edited for spelling

There just enough, off and on, to make you come bake back hoping for more. That would describe our internet connection today, and the last few days.
Posted from Parera Panera Bread's handy, free Wi-Fi.

In the last couple of weeks

since I have been here, life has gone on and stuff has been happening, even though the blog has seen no evidence of it. Or perhaps the lack of blogging proves that life has been happening?
Anyway, Hubband and I had a wonderful time planning and fixing dinner together on the fourth, and then watching our movie together. The next evening, our Christmas socks made their public debut. (Of course Hubband made sure several people noticed our matching socks at his work party.)

 

Another pair of socks have been started, finished, and delivered.
Pattern: Broadripple
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Fixation
Started: Dec. 1 Finished: Dec. 13

 

Sock count: 17/12+2 (I didn't have the right color of yarn for these, so I bought some, thus the +2)

 

Made for: My younger sister, who absolutely loves them and says they fit like a glove.

 

A co-worker of Hubband's had a new baby, so we all know what that means.

 

A couple of coasters were also made and delivered when I got home, another hat was started, and I do believe a pair of socks will be started this weekend.
In addition to knitting, there has been traveling to Idaho (before the blizzard hit here, thank goodness!), visiting with a few friends and my sister (delivery of socks, obviously), some general stuff taken care of there, and traveling back home with my dad in tow. He is here to visit and spend Christmas with us.
Next up comes catching up on getting ready for Christmas, the DTs coming home next week, and general life stuff. Blogging may or may not resume on a regular basis.

I know,

where are the hat pictures? Well, you need wait no longer, here they is! (Nicely modeled by the owner of said hat.)

 

Pretty little intertwined knit cables on a purled background, all on account of reading the pattern correctly (after a bit of a mis-read in Round Three).

 

With the use of a life-line and realization that if you move the beginning row marker over, you have to move all the markers in the row over before you decide you have one too many stitches, beautiful decreases and a star/flower shape happen. Then with continued decreasing, poof! it is all finished and on someone's head.

 

(Unblocked, but that was OK with her. I am not sure she actually took it off for over 24 hours after it was finished. Maybe she took it off to sleep, but if so, she put it right back on as soon as she woke up. It is so nice to have someone who appreciates hand knit items, not every one who knits is so lucky. I am extra lucky to have several people wiling to indulge me.)

Tuesday I got to engage in some cat wrangling and take Oribel in to the vet for a check-up. She weighs in at seven pounds, six ounces and Dr. E was was very impressed with the fact that "She is solid muscle!" and diagnosed her as being "excessively healthy".

Tomorrow's big plans include a couple of errands and house cleaning during the day, but Hubband has agreed to indulge me with letting me pick pick what movie we will watch after dinner. I made sure we had this one show up in the mailbox in time for the big event.
(BTW, blog posts will probably continue to be erratic for the next several weeks. I am heading out next week to bring my dad here for a Christmas visit. I'll be gone for a bit and I think a lot of you know he doesn't have a computer so I only get Internet connection when we go to the cyber-cafe. Of course after we get back I will be finishing up with getting ready for college kids to come home, keeping dad busy helping around here, and the like. I'll try to entertain you at least once a week, and we can always hope for more.)

I only have a couple of minutes

before I need to dash off north to return DTE to school, but I just wanted to give you a quick Happy New Year again, and let you know there will be more recycling soon.
(Oh, and some finished hat pictures!)

Very awesome dinner tonight,

so I figured I would share.

Coconut-curry-ginger-carrot soup
1 TBS oil
1 inch + fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
2 small or 1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tsp curry powder, more to taste
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
8 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk, regular or lite
4 cups water, veggie or chicken broth
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Saute ginger in oil in a 6 quart pan until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add onions and cook over med-low heat until onions are almost translucent, stirring often. Add garlic and curry powder and cook briefly. Add the carrots, potatoes, salt, coconut milk, and broth, stir well and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until veggies are soft. Use either an immersible hand blender or regular blender/processor to puree until smooth. Adjust salt (and curry) as needed.
I considered garnishing it with lightly toasted coconut, but that would have meant I was going to have to toast it, and we were hungry.

(You can substitute sweet potatoes for regular potatoes, or add a bit of cayenne pepper with the curry. Or even a dash of cinnamon.)