Tree hunting

on Thursday was successful.

 

 

 

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!)

It has been very busy

over here at Casa Coffee Yarn. Knitting, sewing, cooking, pet wrangling, and a few other things have been going on. Of course, there is more of all that to be done in the near future. Oh, and the traditional recycling time is coming up!

Happy New Socks!

Oh, wait. That is supposed to be Happy New Year, isn't it?
I finished this pair of socks last night, just before midnight, and I am very happy with them! (Just ask Hubband, I am sure he will tell you how much I keep going on about their colors, comfieness, etc. to him. I am guessing he will be glad I am gushing about them to someone else besides him.)
I don't know when I started these; several years ago, before we moved here. I do know it was in my "still learning how to knit days," and I hadn't made very many socks when I decided to teach myself the two socks on two circulars method. I am sure that is part of why they got put in a box and were lost for a while, I really needed stuff I didn't have to think about in the midst of relocating and all that goes with it.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation Spray Dyed/Effects
Pattern: Cuff down, 2X2 rib, all the way down to the toe.
I wasn't completely sure about the whole stretchiness of the yarn at times, but I really love these socks and the color. I like that they are cotton (with a little bit of elastic to add stretch) and this yarn has definitely grown on me.
Happy New Year to everyone! I am off to start our Black-Eyed Peas.

Catching up

On Wednesday (Christmas Eve), a tree was procured and put up in the front/music room. It was then very thoroughly inspected, from all sides, angles, and heights possible.

 

After lights were put on, it was completely reinspected, along with the lights, which had to undergo a taste test. (The tree had already had one of those.)

 

There was more inspecting every time something new happened with or near the tree.

 

Once we got the presents under it (and inspected) there was mostly guarding to be done. All of the repeated inspections resulted in Oribel having tree sap stuck under her chin and having a couple of her whiskers stuck in the sap. Guess what though? She smelled wonderfully just like a Christmas tree when I snuggled her!

 

Wednesday also involved baking birthday cake, church for DTE and me, picking up Chinese take-out for dinner, back to church for all four of us, and a bedtime story (this year it is Christmas Day In The Morning).
Our Christmas Morning/Day was filled with the usual suspects of stockings, eating said birthday cake, present opening/inspecting, snuffling, belly rubs, and such.

 

There was also a game played after the wonderful dinner DTE made.

 

Friday I got to play with my birthday present all day. Fun times, even with all the help I had.

 

 

Hubband took the dogs in to have their nails clipped, and we discovered that they have both lost weight. For some dogs this would be OK, but not these two. We have been able to keep their weight right around fifty pounds ever since they were full grown/out of puppy hood. Well, they are both at about 45 pounds, so now need to put some weight back on! (This might explain why Simon has been shivering when he goes out lately!)

Yesterday Hubband and DTE delivered the baby hat and it was declared to be very cute, tried on, and fit wonderfully! (Thank goodness, though I had sent them with strict instructions that I would make a different size if needed.) Mostly it was a low key day, though Hubband and DTE ended it with going out to the airport last night to welcome our friends home from their year-and-a-half in China. Turned out to be a good thing, as their three kids were exhausted and only one of their nine suitcases had shown up from the Chicago transfer. So the other friends that had also gone out were able to take the kids home and our contingent was able to provide follow-up transportation after all the requisite paperwork was filed.
Today has also been pretty low-key, other than the usual Sunday stuff, DTE heading off to Des Moines for SpamALot, DTY and I headed out to procure fabric and a pattern for a sewing project she is going to do, and other such general stuff. Pretty low key around here, which really means all is good!
(Don't forget to click on the pictures to bigify!)

Recycling is a good thing, right?

Well, most of the time it is, but right now I am not so sure. Is it possible to save bits, or bites, or 1's and 0's if I recycle blog posts? Would it help keep the tubes of the Internet from getting clogged up? How will we ever know the real answer?
Any way, it is time to say "Happy New Year" again. Main difference from last year's post? We are now in Year "B1." I still love the whole Advent thing and there isn't much to add, other than I can't think of a better way for a church to celebrate the New Year than the party St. John's got to throw yesterday.
Also for the recycling project, you can go here, and insert Thursday for Tuesday. Well, I guess we do know why, though, don't we?

Our Thanksgiving day

started with frost on the grass (and most everything else). There was putting dogs out and in (and *out and in,* repeat between *'s as needed throughout the day), feeding of dogs and a cat, making pumpkin pie, washing of dishes, and reading up on some HTML code, and stuff. Well, that was how my day went any how. Hubband did work things; DTE slept, relaxed, and stuff. (Isn't "stuff" a great, all inclusive word?)
In the early afternoon we all bundled up to set out on the annual Thanksgiving expedition with the dogs. Normally we would have loaded up in the truck with the dogs in the back, but since it still has a bunch of wood in it, they had to ride in the back of my car. Sadie loves riding in the truck as it normally means she gets to "sit on the furniture," but three adults and two dogs in the cab of a small sized pick-up just wasn't going to work. Simon doesn't mind the back of my car too much, but Sadie isn't usually impressed with not being able to leave dog hair all over the seat.
She did manage to survive the ordeal, especially with the excitement of the proposed outing.

 

After we arrived at our destination and got leashes attached appropriately to all involved parties, we set out on our way.

 

(Of course we followed the directions on the sign; it is not a good idea to let a basset roam free, and never two or more together!)

 

We saw a lot of things while we were wandering the trail, starting with some berries,
which look much better close up.

 

There were more signs to pay attention to,

 

harvested fields,

 

as well as ones "in process."

 

We never did see the field being harvested, but we could hear it happening, along with the jingle of the bouncing dog.

 

We also saw fallen logs and moss,

 

remanents of Halloween,

 

frozen creeks,

 

the last vestiges of a light snowfall and other trail users,

 

and tree mushrooms. (I am always amazed with these; I don't remember ever seeing them before we moved here. They seem to be all over the place, we even have one growing on a table on our patio.)

 

We also saw seed pods,

 

bridges,

 

lichens,

 

and more seed pods.

 

Of course there were all kinds of good things to smell on our adventure,

 

as well as a some of waiting for the rest of the pack to catch up. A great time was had by all, and then we headed home, with a couple of exhausted dogs!



After we got home I put the chicken on to brine, prepped items for cooking, and then put the garlic-rosemary chicken on to roast. Of course when everythig was done, we enjoyed our meal, but most of all we enjoyed each other's company! All in all, we had a low key Thanksgiving, but sometimes those are the best.
(I will give you an update later tonight or tomorrow about how today went. It is a bit of a different story with other characters involved.)

Traditions

I thought I would just take a bit to share two of my favorite family Christmas traditions. The first one is about presents and when they get opened. Neither Hubband or I grew up in families that opened presents on Christmas Eve so we didn't really need to do any figuring out of when to open said gifts. However, there was an established "putting the baby to bed" routine before the first one was even a year old. The standard stuff of pajamas, last drink, mouth cleaning, and a bedtime story/book reading. Yes, I have had people ask me how old my kids were when I started reading out loud to them. The first one, about three or four days. The second, well before she was born she had an older sibling reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to "the baby in your tummy" complete with showing my tummy the pictures every day.
Anyway, back to traditions. There are a lot of really cool children's books about Christmas out there and though libraries are some of my family's best friends, I do believe in buying books. Especially cool children's picture books. Thus a new tradition began in our family. Every year we get a new Christmas book, the kids get to open it on Christmas Eve, and it is their bedtime story for the night. The Christmas "bed-time" story still gets read to them by their dad. Why him? Well, that is part of the tradition. If he's going to have to finish reading it when I get all choked up while reading it, he might as well start it.

Our other major Christmas tradition is to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and have birthday cake for breakfast. That tradition has been in our family at least since my mom was little girl, but maybe since my grandmother was a child. I know Mr. A and his brother were singing Happy Birthday this morning too, and I would guess my cousin and his kids were as well.
Happy first day of Christmas!