3-2-1 HAPPY NEW YEAR

It is New Years Eve. I wish all of you a happy and safe New Year. Chris and I plan to stay home tonight. We will probably be asleep before midnight. I know we are pretty exciting.


My Christmas

My in-laws came to stay with us to celebrate the holiday. It was wonderful having them around. Brandy, Haley, and Cosmo especially enjoyed all the extra loving they got.

Here is some pictures of my little holiday helpers







Here are some pictures of the helpers enjoying presents from the grandma’s




Cosmo Also got some Catnip, which is his drug of choice.






Christmas Eve

My MIL made home made Clam Chowder & a loaf of beer bread Christmas Eve. Yummy, that stuff is so good. We watched the new DVD Lord of the Rings Return of the King extended version. We watched it straight through with no breaks. That is how good it is. You don’t even notice how long it is, you are to into the story.


Christmas Dinner

I cheated. Yes, when the cook is beyond busy during the holidays, what does she do? She orders already made Christmas meal and reheats the containers for Christmas dinner. Here is my wonderful spread, in all of its silver throw-away pans glory.



We had turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, Caesar salad, & Orange cranberry sauce. For desert we had Cranberry Apple pie w/French vanilla ice cream.


Did someone ask Santa for knitting stuff this year?

Boy did he deliver. I am so proud of my husband he actually went into the book store and asked the man behind the counter for the knitting books I had mentioned wanting. It could not have been easy for him to say Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation let alone ask another guy where he could find it. To Chris’s surprise the guy new exactly where it was and asked if he needed to buy the first book also. Chris new the answer and said no she already has that one.


Here is the knitting loot.



Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. I felt like I owed it to Debbie to buy this book after all her first book was how I learned to knit and how I started this whole knitting obsession. The book has some real cute patterns in it, that look like a lot of fun to make. There is even a dog sweater and some mouse cat toy patterns. This makes it fun for the whole family. 8)


Knitting on the Edge by Nicky Epstein. This is a great book. It has 350 decorative border patterns that you can add to your knitted objects. I have been thinking of making an afghan square by square and thought I could use this book and it’s patterns to make a different pattern for each square of the afghan. It will be like a swatch afghan and will give me practice learning new stitches.


Rebecca Home. This has got some great patterns for the home. You can find this pattern book at Noble knits. If you want to view all the pattern go to Rebecca-online.



Tahki Yarns Fall/Winter 2004 collection. Here are some cool patterns in this collection


#18 Ghost


Vest #20 Panda




Filatura Di Crosa Fall/Winter 2004 Collection. I think I am most excited about this collection. Here are a couple of patterns I am thinking about making.

#9


#11


#14


Both the Tahiki and the Filatura Di Crosa you can find at Yarnware. If you want to see the other patterns in the collections you can view the entire pattern collection at Thakistacycharles.

Coming Soon
An update on my Weasley. Also knitting goals for the New Year.

Holiday Cheer
Of course my holiday did not go by with out a little cheer. Here is mine and my MIL Christmas Champaign Cocktails.

Very festive especially with the light up ice cubes in either red or green.

My toast tonight will be “ Here is to all my new found blogging friends and to a new year of expressive creativity. May all your days this new year be filled with love, laughter, and the joy of living each day to the fullest” Clink Clink

Tis the Season

Yippeee! We made it through our first week of being open to the public. Thanks to all the finger and toe crossing it went well. Next week will be a short work week due to we are closing up early for the holidays. I can not wait for that break.

Mrs. Grinch
This year I thought I would play the role of Mrs. Grinch. I am not decorating for the holidays. That's right no tree, ornaments, wreaths, lights, stockings, tinsel or garland. I just did not have the time to do it this year. Since my husband usually only has the task of putting the lights on the tree and I do all the rest. We decided not to decorate due to lack of time. We usually get a real Christmas tree, and I was afraid that if we had got one and left the dogs & cat with the tree all day while we were at work we would come home to a scary site. I will try not to embarrass them to much, but lets just say every day I have come home they have gotten into something they should not have. One night it was so bad we were tempted to leave Brandy and Haley outside all night with out eating their dinner. Of course Chris caved in. Talk about a bunch of daddies girls.

The Grinch Song Lyrics:
You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch,
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch,
Your heart's an empty hole, Your brain is full of spiders,
you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch,
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,
You have termites in your smile, You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile,
Mr. Grinch, Given a choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crocodile!

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch, You're the king of sinful sots,
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!
You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch, With a nauseous super "naus"!,
You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch,

Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch, You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!

OK OK I might not be that bad. I did have a pimple last week the size of Mt Everest sticking off of my chin. That was pretty gross. Thank Goodness that finally cleared up. The thing was so big I could have hung Christmas ornaments off of it. 8)

Although I am not decorating for the holidays I did find a house in one of the local neighborhoods that was decorated a little extra to cover all the houses of the people that are not able to this year. Here is a look at it during the day.



Here it is all lit up at night.



First time I saw it I thought it was a little confusing having so many santas on the roof. Then my psychological training kicked in and I started wondering about the people that live there. Maybe last year they did not decorate at all and they are making up for it this year. Or maybe the husband is mad at the wife and is doing it to tick her off. Or maybe it was a bet to see how much decorations they can fit on and around their house. Or maybe they hate their neighbors and purposely put up a ton of lights to flash into the neighbors windows at night. The possibilities are endless. Of course I could always go up to the door and ask them why they decorated so much, but what's the fun in that. Ones imagination is always more interesting then the truth. 8)


Enough of the chit chat
It is time to get down to business. I have got family coming in on Wednesday from Oregon to stay with us through the holidays. I have got to get this house cleaned from top to bottom. Since my usual cleaning schedule has been turned into I will get to it when I get to it, It will be a huge endeavor to get this place shining again. Since one of the family members that is coming to visit is my mother-n-law the place needs to be extra sparkly. You know how it is I have to show I am taking care of her boy. 8) I joke my mother -n-law is the coolest.


Holiday Shows
One of my favorite Christmas Movies is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

This movie cracks me up every time I watch it. I love it. It is always a must see around the holidays for me. It will be on NBC Friday night if you want to catch it.

One of my favorite holiday movies to watch although I have not seen it in awhile is Emmett Otter's Jug-band Christmas.

This movie came out in 1977 and is a Jim Henson puppet movie. It is awesome. It is funny and sad and a great family movie to watch around the holidays. You know it has got to be good if Kermit the frog is in it.

Holiday Music
I picked up the CD "Sleigh Full of Songs" at Starbucks and have not been able to stop playing it over and over.

It has all the greats featured like Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong and much more. It is fabulous and upbeat.

I love most Holiday songs. One of my very favorites is Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. I remember listening to it when I was a kid. Of course you can not beat Elvis's deep smooth voice then you have got the back up singers in their high pitched voices. My girlfriends and I always took on the roll of the back up singers belting out WHOOwhooooowhoowhooo. Yes again I have revealed my true dorkiness.


Favorite Part

My favorite part of the holidays is of course opening presents and sitting around all day in my Jammies playing with the new things I got. I know I should say my favorite part is spending time with family and sharing and learning and experiencing the true meaning of the holidays. But to be honest the best part is playing with your toys.

Tis the Season
Tis the season to re-format my hard drive. Falalala la la la la la.
Yes it has come down to this. I can not take it any longer it is time to go back to the basics and start all over again. Over the holidays I am reformatting my hard drive because my Norton & spyware and pop up blockers have not been able to get rid of the pesky adware that has accumulated on my system. Since the adware and virus people are a step ahead of the anti-virus people it has to be done. A person can only take so much. This is a dreadful task that turns your computer into a baby and you have to start all over and download back on all the stuff you want and remember all your passwords to your frequented sites & search around to find all the great sites that use to be bookmarked on your favorites.

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season

Drink lots of Egg-Nog & stand frequently under the mistle-toe
I will be back in January after the holidays.
Don't forget in January there will be a new Secret Pals 4 for all you knitters out there.
Warmest Wishes to you and to yours.

How Low Can You Go

Webshots Photo

This past week has got to be the lowest week for me. You know when things are really bad and you think this is the lowest point and there is no where else to go but UP! At this point that is how I feel after making it through this week it should be smooth sailing and the skies the limit. If this week was my lowest I would say that Monday night about 8:30 was my lowest hour. I had a wee bit of a break down. That day I had gotten up at 5am and Chris and I were out the door at 6:30am for our hour drive to our new dental practice. The day was much like the days of the past two weeks. So much to do and not enough time to do it in. That day for lunch we grabbed a quickie meal at Pizza Hut buffet. I am not use to eating so badly but fast food and junk food were starting to become the norm, having no time to prepare a healthy meal. That whole day was atrocious. Some of the equipment was not working properly. Some of the computers were not linked together, The building had not yet passed all of it’s inspections. Employees were coming in this week for training. Everything had to be done and ready for next Monday when we open for business and already had a full day of patients scheduled.

Well finally everyone left the building around 8pm and we were able to close up and make that hour drive home. About half way home I started to feel queasy. A couple blocks from our house I felt I could not make it home with out being sick and forced Chris to pull over to the side of the road. I jumped out and prepared my self for a moment I had not experienced since I was a kid feeling motion sickness riding on the school bus. The bus driver kindly pulled the bus over so I could get out for some fresh air. I did not get sick that day as a kid and I did not get sick Monday night as I was hunched over beside a bush. The cold air whipped at me and shocked me back to an ounce of relief. I quickly jumped back into the car and said I think I can make it home.

Chris drove carefully and dropped me off in the driveway while he went to go check the mail. Lets just say I made it to my bathroom just in time. I relieved my self of that quickie lunch and until the day I die I will probably never eat at Pizza Hut again. The part about being sick was not even the worse part. The worse part was that I started crying and could not stop. The tears kept rolling down my cheeks and onto the floor. Chris put me to bed immediately after making me drink some 7UP. I think that I have been so stressed and over whelmed with the responsibility of the new business that my body finally broke down and had to release all of that built up stress.

The rest of the week was not as horrifying. More and more things got accomplished and checked off the list. Our employees came in for their training and we feel they are an amazing group and will be just fine in their new positions with us.



On a More Positive Note

I was ROAKED this week. There was a little package in the mail for me from Wendy from catknits.



Included in the package was a note wishing me a great holiday. Wendy must have ESP. because of all the times to send such a random act of kindness this would have to be the BEST time. There was a little metal gingerbread ornament (too cute for words), a bluewick desk candle in coconut pineapple (when lit I can imagine my self at a tropical island sipping a pina-colada), garmet gift tags (I can use these when I knit something for someone), & a note pad that says little miracles happen every day. The number one thing in this package is a lantern moon sheep measuring tape. I LOVE THIS! It was actually on my Christmas list. I have wanted one of these since I saw it in one of the knitting mags.
No words can say how much this little package means to me. I will be forever grateful to Wendy for her random act of kindness sent to me in my lowest week. THANK YOU!



Where is all the Knitting

Here is my progress on the Weasley. I know I know a pathetic report of progress but it is progress none the less.



I am thinking of maybe when I start the sleeves to do them on a circular needle that way I can do them both at the same time. Has anyone else done this? That is if I can ever get to the store to buy a size 5 circular. I am thinking about getting one of those bumper stickers that read “I would rather be knitting” and stick it on my back. Maybe I will be able to get some of my employees to learn how to knit.


Opening Day

Monday we open to the public. I can hear Beethovan’s bump a bum bum in a deep roar in my head. I am sure every thing will be fine. My fingers and toes are crossed.

Busy Bees

O my goodness to say I have been busy this past week has got to be the understatement of the year. Holy Moley Kajoley, fraholy, OK if I am incoherent in this post please just write it off to lack of sleep.

All right, I have about 15 minutes to make this post I am cutting out personal hygiene today in order to do it. I will put on a little extra perfume and swish some mouth wash. That hopefully will cover it for one day.


Yarn of the Month

When I reached into the mailbox Saturday Night and pulled out my yarn of the month package, I could have cried. I had such a long dreadful day it was just what I needed. I have had no time for my knitting and this just helped me bring that smile back on my face and dream of the possibilities of projects I could make with the yarn samples given.



The pattern was of a Holiday Cowl. Not something I will make. The yarn was all Christmas red or white. 1) Alpaca Boucle by Plymouth 90% Alpaca, 10% Nylon, 2)Lurex Shimmer by Rowan 80% Viscose, 20% Polyester, 3) Shimmer by Crystal Palace 86% Acrylic 14% Nylon, & 4) Silkroad Tweed by Jo Sharp 85% Wool, 10% silk 5% cashmere. I liked all 4 yarns.

The flyer that came with the package talked about knitting for charity. It listed Stitches from the heart, Project Linus, & Special knitting forces as three charities for knitters to get involved in.


Poor Haley



What kind of lampshade do you wear? Haley prefers see through plastic. Poor Haley has a rash on her belly and will not stop itching it. For her own good the vet prescribed a bunch of medicine and to wear this collar when we are not able to watch her. Since Haley started the medicine we can already see the rash is clearing up.

I feel like such a bad Mommy this week. We have left in the morning and have not been able to get home until late in the evening. I feel like I have abandoned my animals. We get home and feed them and they just go to bed. There is no play time or cuddle time left in the day. Today is the only day I have been home. Of course, I had a million things to do today.


Christmas Cards

Today I sat down and filled out Christmas cards to get in the mail on Monday. Does anyone else do this dreaded task. I don’t mind sending the ones to immediate family, but the ones to family you hardly talk to except giving them the yearly update in the Christmas Card it is time consuming. The part I like the best is picking out what Christmas Cards to send out this year. I chose this card.



This card jumped out at me. I have not been home very much lately and this picture feels like home to me. I wish I could jump into that picture and open that door. Grab some hot cocoa and sit down by the fire with yellow dog at my feet. I thought I would send this card to share that feeling of home with my family.

It is printed by Palm Press. You can check out their website here. They have many good cards. I know it might be a little late to get some for this year but there is always next year.


Office Decorating

This week I have put together 5 office chairs and 1 and a half desks. The chairs were not so bad. The desks come in two boxes each and are in a million pieces. It took me two and a half days to finish one desk. I feel like I got a work out. My muscles are all sore. The reason why I have not finished the second desk is that we were missing a piece. I called the manufacturer and it should arrive next week. You are probably wondering why I did not order them put together. They were charging $300 for each desk to be assembled. I am cheap and now I am suffering. Oh well, what does not kill you makes you stronger.

My favorite part of this whole starting a new dental practice has been picking out artwork to decorate the rooms.

Here is a print I chose for my office.



This print is named Loki’s kitten photographed by Rachael Hale
I have been a huge fan of Rachael Hale's work for a couple of years now. She photographs animals. All of her pictures are gorgeous and done in soft colors. I usually buy one of her calendars every year. You can view her gallery here.

My time is up. I need to go make a quickie dinner.
Thank you every one for your well wishes on our new business.
Have a great week.