It’s Beginning To Look Something Like Christmas…..

 

 

For the last 4 days I’ve done nothing but shuffle around the house with my box of kleenex and pocketful of cough drops, drinking cups of tea and exhausting my Christmas movie supply.  My boss brought some nasty bug to work last Wednesday where it got busy with the other bugs in our humid laboratory, and proceeded to launch a full on sneak attack on my normally iron-clad immune system.  So I didn’t make it to the Deception Pass Dash yesterday to cheer on Mr. CrazyPants (R. Darling), which I felt pretty bad about, but he managed to complete the grueling 5.8 mile race in high winds and miserable conditions where many others dropped out.  Hooray for Crazy!!  I’m proud of you honey :)

Saturday we had a little taste of the holidays as we woke up to a dusting of snow and a day filled with soft white flurries.  For once the snow came on a weekend when we didn’t have to drive anywhere so I could just smile and enjoy the fluffy white marshmallow world outside.  Nothing inspires the latent photographer in me more than a fresh snowfall.  So I dragged my photography assistant (R. Darling) outside with me to snap a few photos of one of my recent FO’s while the light was nice.

 

 

 

For knitty specifics, you can visit this previous post

 

I love how these photos turned out.  If you look closely, you can see R. Darling and me reflected in the ornament.  I guess we should have smiled for the camera! 

In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, the snow disappeared by Sunday afternoon and now we are back to the rain and wind that characterize winter here in our little corner of the world.  Between sniffles and hacking up a lung once or twice, I was able to finish the Valley Yarns’ Falling Leaves Scarf that I’ve been working on since last weekend.  That was a relief because I expected it to take me much longer to knock that one out and with it behind me now, the future of The List doesn’t seem nearly as bleak.  It’s not blocked yet, but I hope to do that soon with my nifty little Knitter’s Block.  I’ll let you know how that works out.  But for now here’s the Frosty Falling Leaves in its unblocked glory:

 

 

 

I started the Holiday 2007 IK Clutch yesterday and it’s going fairly quickly, so that’s encouraging.  I also expected this one to take me some time but I think the most complicated part will be hand sewing in the lining and zipper and that shouldn’t be too bad since I’m starting on this one early in the month.  Then a couple more Fetchings and a hat and I should be set for smooth gift giving. 

 

 BTW:  Whatever idiot made up that law of the universe that says you will have some kind of nasty skin eruption the day you are scheduled for a dentist appointment, needs a severe spanking.  I can just hear the dental hygienist behind his magnifying glasses, staring at my volcano sized pores and saying to himself, “Eeeewwww.  Gross.  Hasn’t she ever heard of Benzoyl Peroxide?”   

 

So…….how was your day?

 

Friday Fill-In: November 9, 2007

 

Photo from the Bellagio seasonal display taken during our Vegas trip in September 2007

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday Fill-In #45
(answer yours here)

1. Plans and schedules are kinda my bag, baby.

2. I’m happy when things are bright and sunny.

3. The last thing I drank was diet coke with lime juice in it.

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my great relationship with my husband.  Predictable & mushy, but true :)

5. I like sun-dried tomatoes on my pizza. (Mmmm….. pizza……)

6. Dear November, does it suck to play second fiddle to December?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to eating pizza, tomorrow my plans include working out (ugh!) and Sunday, I want to watch “Ratatouille”!

 

Nothing’s “Cheap” In Vegas – Part 1 *

 

The only thing cheap in Vegas these days appears to be the porn pamphlets that get snapped in your direction on certain blocks on the strip, a regular porn gauntlet if you will, and maybe a few of the trashy hookers hoochies slouching around random streetcorners.  Seriously, when you pay $3 for a drip coffee, and $12 for a small drink by the pool, you can no longer consider Vegas a cheap getaway.  But we still had fun.  Yes, we did.

And apparently, so did the Canadians on our flight down.  We had a direct flight from our hometown to Vegas, and as we live fairly close to the northern border between Canada and the US, there were quite a few of them on our flight.  I swear they all started getting their drink on by at least 6 AM because there was way too much tomfoolery going on around the plane for a noon flight.  In fact, I overheard some rather amusing conversations through the gin-soaked miasma behind us.  In the row directly behind I us, I heard this:

Voice 1: O.k.  You’re Jessica, right?
Voice 2: Right. And you’re?
Voice 3: I’m Chantel!
Voice 1: I’m Susan, you’re Jessica, and you’re….. What are you again?
Voice3: Chantel!  I’m going to be Chantel!
Voice 1: Right, you’re going to be Chantel. Good one.

It was all I could do not to choke on my laughter, until I heard from somewhere in the back on the left side of the plane, this conversation:

Female voice:  She wants to find a husband this weekend!
Unintellible male voice answers something
Female voice: Well, we figure she can meet him on Friday night, go out with him on Saturday, and be married in Vegas by Sunday.
Annoying shrieky guffaws follow from various seats around the female voice (and continue throughout the duration of the flight).

Keep in mind, the plane hasn’t even left the tarmac yet.

We arrived in Vegas in the middle of a humid, brewing storm.  “Ha ha”, we laughed to ourselves.  How funny that we left rain, only to experience rain somewhere else.  What kind of vacation would that be?  As we hailed a cab and headed off to a 9:30 showing of Cirque du Soleil’s Ka, thunder rumbled around us and jagged ribbons of lightning erupted between the massive casinos, outshining even the millions of neon lights in a city that never seems to darken. 

The show was positively stunning, with one heartpounding moment when one of the acrobats almost fell from a wildly spinning contraption that he had previously been jumproping on.  It was so worth the trip, if only for that show! 

And of course, it’s not a real trip without a new hat for Knittymuggins……

Despite the rain on the first day, the rest of our stay was gorgeous.  We walked the strip quite a bit on our second day and did some shopping and eating (of course!) since we don’t gamble much.  This was our first time staying at Mandalay Bay, and holy crap was it awesome!  I never sleep well in hotel beds, but this one was dee-vine, all full of downy feathery goodness.  The room was gorgeous too.  Think I could have them decorate mine at home?  The only drawback was no coffee pot in the room.  Thus, the need to shell out $3 every morning for our drip coffee.  Oh well.  We were on vacation, so “When in Rome…..”  I’ll leave you with some assorted pics of the surrounding hotel grounds.  So luxe!

Wendee: Check out the heffalumps! I found ‘em!

Stay tuned for part 2…..

* Blog post broken into parts for the benefit of the scroll-weary and those opposed to excess verbiage

 

As Pink Would Say: “I’m Not Dead, Just Floating….”

This running a swap thing is a crazy business.  Between the last 3 days, Kasia and I have spent a total of about 8 or 9 hours online together (via yahoo messenger) trying to make the matches for some 110 odd people in our Christmas swap.  How long do you think it would take for my ass to turn into complete jello?  At this rate, probably not long!  And I’ve got more work to do.  So, now that I’ve popped out for reinforcements (a grande pumpkin spice latte and pastry of course!), I’m back for a few more hours of e-mailing addresses and all that nonsense.  So, I’m afraid I’ll be on hiatus from blogging for a while.  Please don’t give up on me everyone!  I’ll try to be back soon and hopefully I’ll have some knitting to show and some adventures to share (still want to tell all of you about our Vegas trip eventually).

Until then, I’ll leave you with a funny photo from the lion habitat inside the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Vegas……

How I wish I that was me!

 

Happy Anniversary R. Darling!

Happy 3rd anniversary sweetie!  I’d marry you all over again in a second (Vegas in 2 years?).  You are the best husband a girl could ever ask for and I will love you always!  Thanks for always being there for me.  I love you baby!