~Merry Christmas~

and for those of you that don't celebrate Christmas (along with all of you who do), I wish you and your families a very happy Holiday (whatever that might be). I pray you enjoy family and friends, good food, laughter and happiness!

~Goodies~

I finally did it! I updated the images page for Jenn's Blanket! The squares are just gorgeous, please feel free to head on over and take a look! I thought I'd share one more picture of the two patients from last week - this silly dog slept on top of her for the longest time - the flash on my camera woke him up! They were the cutest pair last weekend! Speaking of last weekend, I took a spur of the moment trip to CT to meet Patti for the day and I received my belated birthday present from her! It is awesome! I cherish hand made gifts, and these are just gorgeous! First we have a lovely framed cross stitch... I'm told she modeled the black sheep in that family after me and I have no IDEA what she could possibly be talking about! lol It is so, so cute! Then she did some beaded cross stitch and made me these pins - I've been "hinting" for these for years - I don't cross stitch as much as I used to because my eyes aren't what they were, so I will truly cherish these little guys! Then I got all of these goodies in the bag .... a new mug with some cute sheep on it, sticky notes - who can't use sticky notes... breast cancer pens and a great panda cam book! I do believe I made out like a bandit! We also visited our favorite LYS - A Stitch in Time - while we were there and I bought myself a couple of little gifties... I love this book, and can't wait to start in on my stockings, since I am WAY behind in my mistletoes knit-a-long. Hopefully, I can get the stockings done for NEXT Christmas! I also purchased these.... the gorgeous pattern for the Storm Water Shawl (bought that online), the size 17 and 19 Denise tips and another Chibi - because you can NOT have too many Chibi's! I also bought the companion set to go with my Denise set, but when I came home I read about the new Pink Denise Set that contributes a portion of the sale to Breast Cancer (actually they charge a couple of dollars more for the pink set and send that to Breast Cancer). I have since sent them my new companion set and will be receiving the pink set in return. I have contributed a few dollars and will get pink cords instead. This, I am thinking, may help me in my quest to learn the art of knitting with two circs! All in all, I am excited with all of my new goodies! I have been truly scattered with my knitting - I keep starting new things and not finishing anything! I am absolutely NOT going to have time to finish the Christmas knitting I had planned, and now that I have all of these wip's I may never finish anything again! lol I have NOT, on the other hand, finished my Christmas shopping or done any baking! I am quite behind and am soon to panic, no doubt! We had a horrific week at work, wherein our boss has resigned and we will be getting a new leader in January - a very hard situation for all involved - and not to be a whiner, but I work directly for this person and will soon work directly for the new person that I have never met - ah well - I am normally a pretty adaptable person, so hopefully it will all work out. Tomorrow I will head on out to Vermont to pick up the boy from college! We can NOT wait for him to come home, we have a Confirmation class meeting for Em tomorrow afternoon/evening and then back to the grindstone next week! I am truly hoping for some extra hours in the days ahead so that I can finish preparing for Christmas!

~Positive Energy~

I would like to ask all of you to send positive thoughts to a VERY, VERY SPECIAL Blogger friend, who is undergoing a serious test tomorrow. Cindy of Two Wooden Sticks and a Ball of Wool and Warming Grace, has been living a nightmare - and hopefully there is a small light in the tunnel for her with this appointment. I have come across very few people with a heart as big as Cindys' - she seems to always say just the right thing, is always there to support, lend a hand, offer encouragement and... knit! She is of the mind that there is always someone who has more troubles than she does. I am sitting here searching for a way to describe this incredible lady ....... she is, in a word, KIND. I have been blessed to "meet", through this blog, a lot of wonderful people and Cindy is at the top of the list. Please send her your positive energy tomorrow. While we are sending out healing energy, Fluffy Knitter Deb's dad has had a stroke - please keep her, her dad and her family in your thoughts and prayers as well. This time of the year is about family, friends and love - thank you for sharing your love and kindness with me, my family and Jenn. You are all wonderful.

~ A Little Bit of This...A Little Bit of That...~

Well, I had every good intention of posting the day after my last post, however, my world doesn't always cooperate with my intentions! lol Last weekend started with a visit from Santa on the big yellow fire truck! I love living in a little town where Santa will personally come to see you, knows where the kids live and stops to "chat"! (all the pictures are clickable for bigness!) After Santa came, we left to go and pick out a new washer and dryer - an expense that we REALLY didn't need this year as we had to replace two refrigerators and my car already this year! UGH! Here are my new additions! I can NOT SAY ENOUGH about these two machines - they were way more expensive than I had planned, but I was convinced by my very trusted repairman to buy these especially with my large family. I find myself standing there watching them sometimes - it is amazing how much they hold, how quickly they spin and how fast these massive loads of wash dry! I am a dork - I have been told by my children! After the purchase of the very expensivenew laundry appliances we went to the tree farm to pick out our tree. It was a gorgeous day, a bit cold, but no snow and the sun was shining. The girls had fun walking around looking for the perfect tree... When it was found, Lyss helped dh with the cutting and hauling... and it is looking just lovely all decorated... I just love decorating the tree because most of the ornaments are handmade and bring back some lovely memories. This year the two youngest decorated the whole tree (except for the very top) themselves - I think they did a great job. Oh! and I came across this really neat ornament on the Mason Dixon KAL site - I think I may have to make one. I wish the person that made it had a blog - I'd love to see what else she has come up with :) DH said he was NOT going to decorate the outside of the house this year for a number of reasons. Guess what?.... I couldn't find him on Sunday because he was on the roof hanging the lights! lol I'll take a picture next time I'm outside at night with the camera - on second thought I'll have to make an effort to get outside with the camera at night. I found this little guy while Christmas shopping and he begged to come home with me! The box said he was made in Germany. He is incredibly cute and will live on my desk :) Lyss had her wisdom teeth out yesterday and my little Beau had his broken front tooth removed yesterday, so they were patients together on the couch last night and again today. Lyss' were bony impacted, so she is in some serious pain with some swelling and the poor little puppy broke his tooth while playing ball - he hit it on a rock :( So I am off from work today, in my nice comfy sweats and thick cushy socks. It is bitterly cold outside, so Lyss, Beau and I will snuggle up and watch Disney movies today - maybe some knitting too! Tomorrow I will have to get back to reality - you know the reality that Christmas is in two weeks and I'm not even HALF DONE with my shopping! *********************************** I have updated the picture page of squares for Jenn's Blanket. I received some more absolutely gorgeous squares! I'm sorry I haven't written to each of you yet, but I will soon, I promise! Thank you so much!

~Soaring Eagles Project Needs Help~

I have a ton to post about, and more squares to show you, but I will wait on that until tomorrow. I have been contacted by a fellow blogger and asked if I would please put out a plea to American knitters (the few that come by here at least). It seems that the Soaring Eagles Project is about 100 items (for children ages 4-12) short of the amount they need by December 18th. This is from the Soaring Eagles site: "Please knit hats, beanies, headbands, mittens, whatever you would like to help our cause.The pieces will be given out to students in a grade level assembly on December 20th or 21st.Time from the 18th to the assembly allows us time to assign each child a gift. Students range in ages 4 - 12. Sizes vary (4T size all the way up to adult size 5th graders). Types of yarn: please stick to cotton or acrylic or superwash wool. Wool is too hard to care for and I really don't think that the students' parents/guardian would be careful not to dry a wool hat." If you can manage, at this busy time of year, to make a hat, headband etc. for the project, then please head over to the blog or email theprocrastiknitter@yahoo.com.