Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My dad is 81 today. He was supposed to get his Canyon Ridge vest (the one he was originally supposed to get for Christmas) today. But, alas, it's not ready yet. I feel bad. I felt bad telling him the other day that it wasn't ready and he was all "That's okay, Hon." Which really just made me feel worse. I've got to get that vest done!

Work has been draining lately. There's just so much to do. I like my job, I really do, but, man, they just expect so much of us. Yesterday my boss was off to go to a funeral out of town, and I had so much to do. I left about 7:10 last night. It was a long day. Oh, and Thursday, my boss got on a cleaning frenzy. He does this about once a year. I just follow him around and try to make sure he doesn't throw away anything we need. He went nuts with the 409. Between the dust and the 409, my sinuses haven't been the same since.

Tonight I'm babysitting for my boys, Jack and Grayson. Or as I call them Jack-a-roo and Gray-baby. They are 5 and 2 1/2 and lots of fun. The biggest battle is getting Jack to bed. Gray goes without a fight; Jack moves in slow mo once he starts upstairs. I wonder what movie we'll watch tonight. There's always dinner and a movie. It's like a date, only I get some knitting done after they go to sleep and I get paid at the end of the night. It'd be bad if I got paid after a date. Also illegal.

Okay, have a great weekend. I'll try to be a better blogger. Lacy has given me grief over my lack to blogging. I get online and get lost in email and ravelry. I'll be better.

Longing for Snow

So, the forecast called for snow. They had even issued a "Heavy Snow Alert" for the area. I was so excited. I was ready for it. Looking forward to it. Then about 10:30 this morning, they cancelled it. Bad sign. I watched the radar and the snow stayed north of Muscogee county all day. I was sad. I still am. Daddy didn't get any snow this time either. But the PMF got snow at his house, one county north.

This is what was there when he got home from work today. I love snow. I wish I had snow.

We had a very busy week at work this week. We are doing a new show and it took a lot of time. Long hours and lots of work. I think it's going to be a really good show, though. It's hard to tell because we're shooting it in segments and not as a whole. It's going to be even more work putting it all together.

I made 10 Bean Soup with Ham today. Ideal for the cold wet weather. A nice pan of cornbread was the perfect compliment. It was delicious.

Stay warm out there.

No Snow Here

Daddy has snow. I miss snow. We would have one good snow a year when I was growing up in South Carolina. Columbus has one good snow per decade - maybe. I looked at the webcams at Clemson and the campus is covered in snow.

I know it's hard to tell in the dark, but there's snow. So pretty. I'm jealous. My freshman year at Clemson, they cancelled classes on my birthday because of snow. It was so much fun.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Okay, I'm a couple of days late for my birthday, it was Sunday, the 13th. I had a really nice day. My PMF and the kids in Sunday School threw a birthday party for me. Instead of the usual graham crackers, we had real cookies from the Publix bakery. They were good and the kids liked them. Well, some of them wouldn't eat the oatmeal raisin, but neither would I.

My friend Karen and I went to lunch. I always like to eat Mexican on my birthday. We went to a place where we don't go very often. There was a family from church there - we have their 18-month-old son on Wednesday night and I had their 4-year-old daughter in Sunday School two years ago. We spoke to them and told them it was my birthday. We had a nice meal. Afterward the mom, Julie, came by our table with the daughter who gave me a hug and told me "Happy Birthday". Then Julie said they had paid for our lunch (!) because they appreciate all we do for the kids! That was so cool and unexpected.

Then Sunday night, the PMF's mom invited me to birthday dinner at their house. We had breakfast for dinner. I love that. There was bacon, eggs, grits, biscuits, Eggo's, fruit, and more. It was SO good.

I had a really nice day. Getting older sucks, but at least I have people around who care about me, and you can't ask for much better than that.

One More Holiday Story

Okay, I volunteered sometime back in October to do stage makeup for the church Christmas Program as I have done for several years now. I didn't hear anything from anyone involved. Didn't hear. Time passed. More time passed. I got no rehearsal schedule. Nothing. I thought, well, okay, they must have someone else to do makeup. I should point out that the drama coordinator passed away last summer (Please see my post from July 19, 2007), so the people running this play are rookies. Plus, our Minister of Music left late summer, so that position is being filled by a volunteer. Anyway, the production was scheduled for December 8th & 9th. I was contacted the folks running the play on December 2nd. My old friend Charles, one of the directors, says, "Well, we need you to coordinate makeup; but we're really going to need you to run sound." What?!? That's not fun. That's work. I had to do a total shift of my mindset. I was nervous. If you mess up with makeup, you wipe it off and start over. If you mess up with sound, everybody knows. My coping mechanism was to take a scarf I was knitting (a Christmas present) and at forty minutes before showtime, I knit for ten minutes. Then we had a cast/crew huddle. Visit the bathroom, and then do the show. Anyway, the guys in the sound booth with me thought it was a little weird that I insisted on taking the ten minutes to knit at the rehearsals and the performances. I told them I had to do it "to get my head in the game". By the last performance, they were asking to see how long the scarf was. It turned out to be a lovely gift and the show went really well.

Conclusion of "Blogless Holiday" Update

This pattern is called Calorimetry. It's designed for people with long hair to keep their ears warm. I knit it in a yarn called Paradox that's a Yarn Bee yarn from Hobby Lobby. This was my "After I Got Back to Georgia After Spending Christmas in South Carolina" project. I so need to clean that mirror.
For those who've asked about Daddy's Christmas vest, it's been renamed Daddy's Birthday Vest. He got the back for Christmas. He'll (hopefully) get the front for his birthday next month. It does look pretty, doesn't it?
I was at the dentist this afternoon and was chatting with the hygienist while we waited on the dentist to come in. I was telling her about this vest and pulled out my digital camera to show her the picture. We were looking at it and Dr. Leerssen came in. Julie showed it to him and he told me about his mother who joined a knitting group after his dad died and how much she likes it. He got hand knit socks for Christmas. Last year he got felted slippers! I told him the next time his mom visits to bring her to Panera on Monday night! He said, "I will. She'd love that!" Oh, and no cavities!

I also had my mammogram this morning. The technician didn't see anything, but it still has to go through a doctor's hands to be official.

Jenna went home from the hospital today. She's eating 2 ounces of formula every two hours. After two days she gets three every three. Then four every four. They go back to the doctor on Monday. They still aren't totally sure what caused it.


I think that's all that happened during my holidays. Oh, presents: I got some gift cards - Applebee's, Cracker Barrel, Subway, money, knitting books, ankle boots, clothes, body wash/lotion/scrub/spray. Now I'm all caught up.

Connections

On New Year's Eve I went to AC Moore. I was sitting on the floor in the yarn aisle going through the clearance yarn and met two girls who were shopping. I invited them to the knitting group. One of the girls gave me her website to visit. She's got some great stuff on there. Go visit. This is what I bought at AC Moore that day. Twelve skeins of clearance yarn. Most of it, well, some of it, has a destiny.

The weekend before Christmas weekend, I babysat Catherine and Adam. Catherine got in my knitting bag found some yarn and said, "Oh, Miss Holly! I LOVE this yarn. Would you make me a scarf out of it?" It's Red Heart symphony in Dark Rose. I had some size 35 needles in my bag that I wasn't using, so I cast on and knit. With the big needles it's very lacy. When it was as long as she is tall, I bound it off. She was so pleased. Looks great with her "Dora" jammies, huh? It looked really cute when she wore it to church the next day.

I made these ornaments for Christmas. I call them Yarn-aments. It's Yarn Bee Airy. I had some left over after making a scarf. I gave these to some of my friends along with a hand cream or some bath salts. Cindy and Debbie liked it because they say the yarn kind of sparkled in the Christmas lights.

I didn't get to stay in South Carolina long for Christmas. I went up on Saturday, the 22nd, and came back on Tuesday, Christmas Day. Here's a picture of downtown Anderson, South Carolina, my hometown, all decked out for Christmas. Yes, I was seriously annoying the other drivers as I took these pictures. Not to mention annoying my dad in the passenger seat.

I made my PMF a hat for Christmas. This is Bernat Denim in the green color. I used the Knifty Knitter. That's the only way I can do a hat. They don't turn out for me otherwise.

We've almost finished the "Blogless Holiday" updates. I've got just a couple more photos to share.

Jenna, Etc.

This is ten-month-old Jenna. She's a friend of mine from church. (Yes, I made her hat.) She's been throwing up since last Monday. She was in the hospital from Wednesday to Friday and then went home. She started throwing up again yesterday morning and went back to the hospital. I went to see her and her mom, Wendi, and dad, Jason, after lunch today. I walked into her hospital room with a couple that's friends with them. Jenna looked up at us all and smiled her big bright smile. She ate a little Friday morning, but that's all she's eaten since Monday. Bless her heart. Her spirits are up, but she's so hungry and can't keep anything down. The doctors are doing tests to try and figure out what's wrong. Keep them in your prayers.

Okay, continuing with my "Blogless Holiday" Update: When we visited Teresa's goat farm, Daddy and I had our picture taken with a goat.

Dawn went with us on our visit to the goat farm. Here's a picture of Dawn with a goat.
Here's a photo of me and Teresa. We called her "Thumper" in high school. She played cymbals in band. Daddy never remembers who she is when I say "Teresa". I always have to tell him "Thumper".

At work, we videotaped the Bi-City Christmas Parade early in the morning of December 8th. There's the production truck we borrowed from our sister station in Montgomery. We had signs made up with our logo on them to cover up their logos. Do you like our logo? I designed it myself. There's a couple of week's of my life. Go look at our website. There's a couple more.

Saturday

Today I went downtown to have lunch with my PMF while he has to work Saturday's (which he hates!) Afterward I went to my favorite beauty store: Ulta. I just love Ulta. Many of my friends have heard this story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I've shopped at Ulta in Atlanta and in South Carolina for several years, a member of their frequent shopper club. The day I read in the Ledger-Enquirer that Ulta was coming to Columbus, tears welled up in my eyes. The day the Columbus store opened, I was there. I told them this story. When I returned to the store later in the week, one of the girls said, "I remember you. You're 'The Crier'." Anyway, there are great deals to be had there. I got two hair color kits, a hand cream, a lipstick, a facial scrub, two deliciously scented body washes, two deliciously scented body lotions, and a hairspray. I had manufacturers coupons, plus the coupons in the mailer they send me as part of the frequent shopper club. My total for the day was $22.16. I love Ulta.

Afterward I came home and made another pan of cornbread to continue eating my turnip greens from New Year's Day. And I'm watching We Are Marshall on HBO. Two words: Matthew McConaughey. Oh, my. Even with 70's hair. This is a beautiful story, too. It kind of reminds me of the Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie Radio which, for those who don't know, is about the high school I attended in Anderson, South Carolina. Ed Harris plays my gym teacher from tenth grade. When it was in production, I was telling my dad about it, who they had cast in it and everything. None of the names meant anything to him until the day I told him the Lieutenant from Law & Order was playing Radio's mother. Well, then his opinion of the whole thing changed and he realized that this was really going to be something! Also, I saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets last weekend and Ed Harris is something of a bad guy in this movie. I don't like him as a bad guy. He was Coach Jones. He can't be a bad guy now.

Also, I realize I didn't post much between Thanksgiving and New Year's, so I'm going to throw in some photos I took during this time to catch you up: Here's me and Daddy in the backseat of my cousin Steve's SUV riding to Augusta for Thanksgiving Dinner at our Cousin David's house. Yes, those are size 50 Lion Brand Speed Stix in my hands. I used five skeins of soft yellow Fun Fur and made a great fluffy scarf!
This is Steve and his wife Nancy on David's back deck. Yes, David's place is really beautiful.
Clockwise from bottom, my Aunt Eunice and her sons, my cousins Perry, David, and Randall.
The spread: That's David's daughter Katie, first in line.
While I was in SC, I went to see my high school friend, Teresa, who has a goat farm.
I'll stick more pics in my next post. You'll be caught up in no time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody! It's all about new beginnings. Resolutions. My resolution last year was to not leave dirty dishes in the sink when I went to bed at night. I won't say that I've been perfect this year, but it was a success. I have a dishwasher, but I don't clean it out. Then the dirty dishes in the sink just sit there day after day after day. After many years of this, I finally realized the solution was to take the dishwater out of the mix. So I stopped using it. I mean, seriously, there's just me here. I don't use that many dishes. I eat breakfast and lunch at work everyday and do those dishes there. I mostly eat simple meals at night, so that's no big deal. When I did a bunch of cooking before the holidays, I threw it all in the dishwasher, and you know what? That stuff is still in there - except the stuff I've had to use. So it worked.

This year instead of the usual "I need to lose weight," my resolution is to eat more vegetables. I figure "keep it simple" and make it do-able.

I also resolve to blog more. So...y'all come back now. Ya here?