Random Thoughts

Thanksgiving was awesome.

 Trying to move through New York City with eight children ranging in age from seven to seventeen has its challenges.  The MTA made a lot of money off of us.  The best part is that we could all laugh about it.  And did we ever laugh!

 It's my day off, and I think I have three days' worth of errands to complete. 

 Of course, "find a skirt for Christmas" really isn't a pressing thing--but why not have a little fun on one's day off?

 I am so excited about baking goodies for the holiday that I already started.  I made some Peppermint Meringues on Saturday night.  They are on the cover of this month's Bon Appetit.

I'm off to start the day of errands!

The Post with the lousy pictures

As I type this, the lovely people from Amazon have promised me that my (our) new camera (that shoots movies) is on its way to our house. I *think* we're calling it an early Christmas present for me/us even though I was prepared to part with my birthday money to make it happen.  And it's "early" because there's no way I'm going to limp along with awful pictures when I know there's a new camera in the house.  Whew.  Deep breath.  So this will hopefully be the last post with lousy pictures!

Right before Thanksgiving, I finished this hat for my nephew.  He's a Steelers fan.

 I also finished the pink and white mittens for my niece, but Blogger has rejected that picture.  It was a very poor picture, so I don't blame Blogger!

Here's how our Thanksgiving looked: a little blurry and a lot of fun.  We even had huge, beautiful snowflakes falling for a couple of hours in the morning.

Dad brought his top hat.  Somehow this is a thing now.

 And after dinner, there was a lively game of Blokus.

I am slowly bringing out the Christmas decorations.  Our outdoor lights are done.  Would you believe that I forgot to put up the Advent calendar last night?  I hung it as soon as the kids went to school.  They can have their Hershey Kisses this afternoon.

And after all my bellyaching about a sweater for myself, I decided to use some of my 17 (!!) skeins of red yarn to knit myself another Francis--this time with long sleeves.  Can I just say how much fun it is to knit stockinette (in only one color!) in the round after so many stranded projects?   This sweater is literally flying off the needles.  And then I'll just have three more little projects to finish for Christmas gifts.

My New Mantra

Okay, I'm a couple of days late, but I'm back.  And I don't really have a game plan for all these seasonal crafty projects--just one rule and a new mantra.  The rule?  Don't start any new projects.  The mantra? (With apologies to Alec Baldwin's character in Glengarry Glen Ross) Always Be Knitting.

I finished the second pair of mittens. And the only way to take a picture seems to be with the flash.  This picture was taken before I finished the thumb.

I'm working on another pair of mittens (another pair where I had to merge two patterns--so the writing out of the pattern has been time-consuming and there has been some trial-and-error).  And I started a hat for one of my nephews.  Yes, I started a project, but this one was already planned.  I am trying to avoid starting any unplanned gifts.  I am also working on Caroline's sweater at night (those secret knitting projects are tough to fit in, I tell you!).  I'm almost finished with the back.  My sweater?  Is on hold (see my one rule above).  I'm okay with it. For now.

And as a corollary to "don't start anything new," I decided to find a stopping point on other projects.  So these little decorations are done--I finished stuffing them and sewed them closed.

 And these unsewn ones will go into storage for another year.

Just this morning I realized that my parents will be arriving here next Tuesday.  And while this is super-exciting, that also means that it's time to start preparing the house for guests.  I am hosting Thanksgiving again this year, and I am super-tickled about this because it is also my fortieth birthday!