That Didn't Go As Planned...

Well. Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year. 

Christmas wasn't exactly Christmas. Or, it didn't go as I expected. I was honestly dreading it, since it was a reminder of the last day I saw my sister alive. 

But...almost simultaneously, Mother Nature threw a hissy fit and a couple of the immediate family came down with Covid, so we cancelled it. Initially, we put it off till New Year's Day - but with the fam having Covid, we had too many of us say, "You know, so far, we've been lucky and we feel like a cat on its 8-and-a-halfth life." 

So my mom pulled the plug, and we'll be doing a porch-drop of the various gifts. We even cancelled our Christmas Eve church service - winds howling over 50 mph, icy roads... I know there were churches in the area who did in-person services, but our own supply priest would have to have come in from north of Chicago. Maybe that was a knee-jerk reaction, but sometimes, you have to take that risk. 

All things considered, I'm somewhat relieved. Kid #2 came down for dinner today, which was fun. I ate some vegan cookies, and they were pretty good! In the larger tub on the left are variations on the ones I've made, and in the bowl on the right are things the Kid came up with. All are vegan, and the Snickerdoodles (a specialty) are delicious - you can't tell the difference between the ones I make (with egg) and the ones here, without egg. 

For some reason, Hubby won't touch them, so I have a whole batch of lovely cookies to myself! Fine with me. 

It's funny - you know when your oldest friend "gets" you. Check out this wrapping paper! She also is a person who can shop for me. I have a new, lovely, burgundy sweater that looks like it's a cowl neck, with a pair of gorgeous hoop earrings. She also gave me some lovely lotion and yoga-themed items. Hubby always rags me about the number of water bottles I have. So of course, in this year's box, was a yoga-themed water bottle. This one wasn't MY fault!

We've been exchanging gifts for a long time. This year, I found a vintage Mickey Mouse cookie jar, and at our church auction, I got a hand-quilted table runner (tones of green and ivory, just like her kitchen) and a set of cream/ivory soapstone candlesticks. I also got her a cosmetic bag, just for fun. She's a "fancy purse" kind of gal, and I found a glittery rose-gold one from the Kate Spade outlet website. It looks like much more than I paid for it! She loved all of it, thankfully. I'm particularly happy that she didn't have the cookie jar - she's got so much Disney stuff that I'm never sure what's what. And I'm not a Disney person, so I can only guess at this stuff. 

New Year's Eve...

In typical fashion, I'm watching "The Twilight Zone" marathon and will be knitting. I'm bummed - I had to change balls for the afghan in the final third of the row. Not cool. I was hoping to get the change done at the end of the row. 

I've prepped Quinn for the upcoming fireworks - which have already started. The diffuser in the bathroom where she sleeps has lavender in it and she got a round of hemp chews. I'll check on her in a bit (fingers and paws crossed, it's been quiet so far) and see if she needs a lavender butt rub. If it gets worse, I'll have to give her a shot of Sileo (vet prescribes it).  I'll have to be up with Quinn till she settles down and I don't have to worry about dragging her out from behind the toilet anyway, so I may as well relax and get comfy. I'm about to go change into my jammies and get situated in my chair. I know that while it's quiet now, around midnight it's likely to go nuts. 

Can you see how thrilled she is in her hat? Honestly, she does like wearing these things, but for some reason, this picture doesn't show her true feelings. Or maybe it does? All I know is that Raisa always looks like she's gonna crap in my shoes when I make her (rarely) wear a headband. 

Thankfully, Raisa isn't bothered by the noise, so she's conked out in the kitchen. 

I'm also praying for rain. Lots of it. So that the fireworks are kaput. It would make my new year nicer. There's church tomorrow, and I'd like to be fresh, since I'm playing a couple of the carols. 

We shall see what happens.

The Knitting...

The afghan, as I noted, is just coming along. It's at that weird spot where it looks like I haven't done anything much. I'm about 17.5" into it, and I've got to get to 35" before I can do the last 20 rows of the final border. 

I found that the turquoise and the taupe yarn balls are slightly off. It's not unusual, because in the factory they have wiggle room for that "5 oz" measurement of yarn. It can be plus or minus a couple of feet of actual yarn. In my world, I'd make sure that they're all even. Heck, I'm happy there wasn't a knot mid-hank - that's happened to me before. 

I have a small ball of turquoise left; and I might go really wild and put a little fringe on each corner. That would be very weird - I'm not normally a fringe gal. But in this case, maybe just a little one at the corners might not be too bad. 

I'm a bit annoyed... I'm not sure how I'm going to make these ends disappear into the afghan. If I could've made it to the end, I could've woven them up the sides. But I was literally 2/3 of the way across the row. Maybe I should've just frogged it back, but it's done now. 

I'm getting nervous about the Baby Surprise Jacket. I think I'm more concerned about getting the gauge right - I'm not usually a gauge person. My "typical" sweater is a knit-and-go because I always use the same yarn and the same pattern. But this branching out is a bit different for me. 

I keep telling myself, "How bad can it be?" So I guess I'll give it a go. It's only yarn. 

I have to get skippy though - the shower looks to be in March, so I suppose I'd better move it along!

The Baking...

Merry Christmas to me... Our old white Kitchen Aid is on its last legs. Hubby already opened her up and re-greased, and re-tuned her motor. And she was still struggling through some basic cookie batters. However, the nice thing about those gazillion pre-Christmas sales is that you can get your mixer replaced at a decent price so you may as well do so. One of our friends has christened her "Big Red." She's a commercial grade Kitchen Aid and I'm still getting used to her. She's a lot quieter than Snow White, but she's got a bigger bowl. Hubby also got me the scraper/beater, which I haven't used yet. 

I did try her out on some casserole bread, and the fact that it was screwed up is entirely my fault. Anyhow, I was surprised at how deep her bowl was. The dough did rise nicely, but I have to adjust my eyes to the depth and realize what's in there.

Honestly, it was the same with Snow White. Her bowl was bigger (went from a 3-qt. to a 5-qt.) and it took a minute to figure out what I could do with her and what she was capable of. 

And Big Red is an 8-qt. She's got some girth on her. 

So we didn't bake a couple of the batches of cookies that we planned. We didn't do the M & M cookies or the date balls. Not to worry - we have plenty of cookies to go around anyway. So I guess the ambitious list was just not going to happen this year. All I can say is that, were we to do those cookies, Big Red can handle them with ease. Snow White was, frankly, struggling with the almond crescents. 

I'm dropping a platter off to my mom. She gives my cookies to her friends, which works for me because then I'm not tempted to pick at them. 

Today, though - not a baking thing, but still... I made my first curry. I have to get more fresh ginger; I had a stash in the freezer, but somehow, it's not there, so I had to use powdered ginger. It was a sweet potato curry with red paste, and served over a rice blend. It wasn't too bad. We roasted Brussels Sprouts and I added some to my dish. They gave it a surprising amount of "crunch." Oh, and it also had garlic, chickpeas, and spinach in it. It kind of made me wish I could taste and smell. 

The original recipe called for a bag of fresh baby spinach, but I used a bag of frozen chopped spinach. That actually worked better because you weren't having to wrangle full-sized wilted spinach leaves. The Kid approved, and Hubby made chili-roasted spud slices, which they enjoyed. 

My commitment this year is to try to eat more veggies & fruit and less meat. I'm not a huge meat-eater anyway. But also I do need to de-junk my habits. I got into a rut with eating after yoga class: a ham sandwich or a grilled cheese... maybe a yogurt. 

It wasn't cool, and my stomach (and blood pressure) can tell. 

It's not necessarily a "resolution," but a plan. I'm setting a goal for myself, and I want to introduce more vegetarian options. I'm told that curries are addictive because they're super easy. Well, ok. Lucky for me, I don't get bored of the same meal over and over. 

The Hip...

So I'm still rehabbing. I'm not sure when I'll be bringing prenatal yoga to our studio, because you can't just teach that from a chair. 

But not to worry; I'm still positive that things are getting better. I have one more shot to do, and I'm going to talk to the doctor about a PT program. 

At first, he said, "all I could do for you for therapy, you can do with yoga." But -- I'm not always motivated. I need a nudge. If I'm tired or hurting, I'll sit my butt in a chair. That's fine, in one respect because it is important to listen to what your body is telling you. But to the point, I do need someone (other than Hubby) to nudge me to do stuff. If I know I have to be responsible to a therapist who's set goals, then I'm more likely to actually get off my butt and push myself a bit more. I would like to get more steps in, and one way to do that is to have a plan to get up out of my chair (at work it's worse!) and walk the hall a couple of times. If I can tour the office, or (weather permitting) take a tool around the building, it'll be good for me both mentally and physically. 

Once I can ditch the cane, I can get back to my yoga therapist. I can feel that it's a lot of muscle rather than bone pain. It's just getting my strength back in the muscles. 

I've taken to talking to myself. "It's just lifting your leg, you can do that." Or "One step at a time." Or all that positive stuff. If I do that regularly, I do see that I'm moving better and feel more motivated. 

Who knew? 

I'm not sure whether I should be bummed or pleased. Hubby got me a quad-foot for my cane and a spike for when Mother Nature gets back to her winter mode. After nearly killing us the week of Christmas, we've had that weird week "in-between" where it's almost been spring. 

No wonder everyone's sick. 

Random Picture...

I rearranged my table. I was given some lovely Lake Superior rocks and I wanted to display them. I also moved my Mary Magdalene icon. Of course, in my opinion, Mary Magdalene was robbed. Her entire story was created by the patriarchy in the church who couldn't stand a powerful, spiritual woman. And so they made her pay for it. 

But I digress. 

Today, after a long while, I decided to fire up the diffuser in the living room. I normally use the one in the bedroom every night, but I'm careful about the one in the living room because Raisa doesn't like it. I've heard about dogs who don't like the oils, even at the most mild, and that's fine. My friend's dog hated lavender, and when she'd diffuse it, the dog would go to the farthest reaches of the house to get away from it. 

Much like people - they don't have to like everything! So anyhow, she was in the kitchen, so I fired it up, using Young Living's "Celebration" blend. I hadn't pulled that one out in a while, because frankly, I wasn't feeling celebratory after this year. But I thought I should maybe try adjusting my own attitude. 

As you can see, I set my rocks out. The round one at the right, Kid #2 used for meditation, so it should be full of good juju. Now I just have to layer my own on top of it. I like to hold a palm stone when I meditate sometimes. Sometimes it's Labradorite, sometimes Shungite or Black Tourmaline or sometimes...it's just a rock. I have some Lake Michigan rocks that I picked up last time I was on the beach and they're just lovely smooth stones with stories to tell. 

I'm also hoping to get back to a regular meditation practice in 2023. Last Thursday, I held a free Metta Meditation class and one of my students said, "My heart feels so light." 

I want that feeling in 2023. What is your desire for 2023? What are your goals? And you know what? It's ok if you don't have any right now. 

Cute, but Useless...

 Yeah, that covers a lot, doesn't it?? Well, in this case, I'm talking spatulas. 

The Cookie Baking Season has begun and is almost done here in my house. And I dug out a spatula that someone gave me a while ago. Honestly, it's too long ago - I could've bought it myself, thinking it would be a cute addition to my kitchen. 

Cute, yes. Useful? Nope. All style, no function. 

The snowflake design is adorable, but it's a pain in the butt to clean, and to be honest, the "tips" of the snowflake make it impossible to get a good grab on a cookie. I tried it. The cookies pushed themselves to the edge of the parchment, and the spatula had no grip, in spite of the pebbled surface. And the snowflake cut out? Yeah - not easy to clean. 

So back in the drawer it goes. And I go to my old standard - the GOLD standard, in my opinion. By the way, as always, I don't do "affiliate" things. Whatever I suggest here is just because I think it's a good thing. 

My absolute favorite spatula is the Wilton one. It's got a nice sharp edge. It can actually dig into the parchment paper, but it's a boon for the more delicate cookies. It can also stand up to the sturdier cookies, like slice & bake, chocolate brownies, etc. I got this at the local Michael's store when they had a decent selection of Wilton stuff. Now, lately, it's mostly their own stuff. Sorry - I'm a snob when it comes to some products, and I know that I'm lucky to have the ability to buy the things I buy. It's a good idea to always get the best item you can. It doesn't help if you skimp on some basics, because you just have to spend more to replace the cheap stuff. I think this spatula was maybe $10.00 and it's lasted me for years. 

We have a rule with scissors and spatulas. If I say they're my fabric scissors, and you cut something other than fabric? It's not going to end well for you. 

And if I tell you "This is the COOKIE SPATULA," then don't be using it to lift fish sticks off a baking pan. I will be very upset! 

Anyway, we're mostly done with the cookies except for the Pineapple Crescents, a/k/a God's Fiddliest Cookie. I'm doing the dough tomorrow; it will sit in the fridge all day and then Tuesday & Wednesday nights, I'll bake it all. My kitchen will be a wreck, and I'll be dead, but it'll be done. Actually, Hubby will help me do some of it. He's been a great help in keeping me balanced. 

In order to rehab this hip thing, I'm learning the balance between "pushing" and "don't push." I'm feeling better, and I have to work on the "don't push" thing. 

The Knitting...

Just moving right along...Knitting for about 18" now. I have 35" or so to complete. I'm loving the heft and squishy feel of this afghan. 

Barring any emergencies or injuries, I'm going to sail through this and move on to the other items in the layette. 

Honestly, with a project this big, the changes are pretty much invisible in pictures. But I can tell by the weight of it. This is the heaviest one I've made so far. The Encore yarn I usually use has a gorgeous loft, but this Softee Baby is HEAVY. 

I can feel when it's not quite right on my lap because the whole thing lists over. 

Now, I'm wondering if when I do the Baby Surprise, I ought to just do one strand. I was going to hold 2 strands together, like the blanket, but I'm thinking that's gonna be a COAT and not a sweater. So maybe I just use the 1 strand and work it that way. 

I can always cast on and see how it goes. 

Bad Book...

Back in the way-back, when I had a Kindle Gen 3, I was still unsure about how this "e-book" thing was gonna work. Much like farmers never thought a tractor would beat a horse. 

(sigh) Ok, call me converted. But there are still glitches that wouldn't happen in print. 

I bought a great Agatha Christie mystery and I was so eager to get into it. But...The upload sucked. I mean, there was code or gobbledy-gook on every page. I got to Chapter Two and my eyes wanted to vomit. 

I found out how to report it to Kindle, and then I went on Amazon. I thought, "Maybe it's just me..." and lo & behold -- MANY readers rated this gorgeous mystery as a 1-star because "the upload was crap and we can't read it!"

I mean - zoom in on that picture and you'll see what I was looking at. You can't read that. Your brain searches for the word stuck in all that crap, and your eyes are literally twitching. 

I hope that Kindle sees this stuff and updates the book. I went on to another mystery, but it makes me sad to see how bad this is. 

As an editor, I'm used to being the last set of eyes before a book goes to print. This stuff? It's unacceptable. 

Random Picture...

Well, we finally decanted the Mother Jar of vanilla. Hubby re-upped the vodka and we put it in the pantry till next year. He found a bottle that I think used to carry honey mead. I remember one of the kids got it for him for Christmas. 

He's not a mead drinker... But the bottle is cool. 

I knew it was down there, and I'm glad it's now holding our precious vanilla. I have my original -- I mean from like 2000 -- vanilla where I used Svedka. Hubby decided to get me Tanqueray Sterling Vodka. 

Honestly, when making vanilla, middle-shelf is fine. But I must say, this vanilla is quadruple-strength and it's smooooooooooooth! 

I have Indonesian beans coming. The vanilla comes from the POD, not the bean. So I've been scraping some of my beans to make cookies and frosting. Now, I'll add the Indonesian beans to my Ugandan beans; likely, I'll start another Mother jar, because this one should be split up. Too many beans in the jar. It'll be easier to make 2 jars, as long as we have enough vodka. 

I wonder about transferring the vanilla out of the Svedka jar. I just love it because it's my "vanilla history." It's something think about. 

Christmas Has Commenced...

 So, "White Christmas" is on the TV, I've got a cake and 2 batches of cookies baked. Hubby has the tree up...He's going to put one batch of Lemon & Cherry cookies in the oven this evening. 

It feels like we might have some momentum. I've got 4 gifts wrapped, and most of the shopping done. Though, to confess, in the past many years, I've just done shopping early and had it over with. That worked out especially well with Covid, of course, but lately, I'm not even in the mood to get out and "people" a lot with shoppers. 

I will say, however, that I'm a bit bummed that the local "Christmas Pop-Up Shop" which opened in one of the mall buildings has not decided to come back. That was fun, even though I certainly do not need one more ornament or decoration. Period. 

I finished a large editing project. I actually even caught up on the blogs I usually read regularly, but I let them slide. There's been a lot going on. 

I hate to jinx it, but I'm actually slightly ahead of myself at work, considering it's Advent and we're embarking on the busiest season for the next few weeks. Fingers crossed that I haven't just put a pox on the copier or something... 

The One Problem...

The fact that I still have just about ZERO taste & smell is particularly problematic. I can smell strong smells. I often misidentify them. Many times, I've said to Hubby, "Something's burning..." and it's not. But taste is the most elusive now, and it's hitting me funny. I don't want to eat. 

I was just kind of eating out of habit, even though (a) I couldn't taste it; and (b) with the hip injury I was certainly not moving a lot. That caused a pretty nasty weight gain. Now, I'm not a waif. I never have been, and I've not been obsessive about my weight. I'm pretty strong, and I have good (or HAD) muscle tone. Could I be thinner? Yeah, my cardiologist would like that, but I was active and  ate mostly clean, so he wasn't too fussed about it. 

But at my last check up he was not a happy camper. I don't know if that's what lit the lightbulb for me, or it's (which is where I'm tending to land on this issue) the anniversary of the last time I saw my sister alive that's hitting me between the eyeballs. 

I have to do something to re-create a sensible balance. I'm committing myself to introducing more plant-based meals into my cooking rota. Hubby is a definite carnivore, and that's fine. Dude never sits still...he's always doing something. So that's good on him. But for me, I find meat to be "heavy." I always have, apparently. I asked my mom to make sure I wasn't imagining it. 

So yeah, this is definitely a First World problem. I have a house to live in, I have food in the fridge, I have good health insurance. And I also have long-Covid. Which pretty much sucks. 

I really saw something disturbing on the socials recently. As you may have heard, Celine Dion said she has "Stiff Person Syndrome," and some people have linked that to the fact that she took the Covid vaccines (as did I - and I had Covid before we had vaccines...). 

The fact that these people are all, "She took the poison so she's paying the price"? That is inhumane. Unkind. Scurrilous unless you know for sure whether that's true, and reading it off a list of "side effects" doesn't count unless you know her medical history. I mean, honestly, I thought she was quite frail after her husband died. Who knows what she's been through?

And it's none of our business. 

Why can't people be kinder?

Knitting On...

I'm knitting apace with the baby blanket. I've got about a foot on the needles. It's 33" long, so I've got another couple feet to go. 

I'm enjoying how this is feeling. It's very squishy, and honestly, is going to be one warm blankie for the kid! 

I'm anxious to get on to the Baby Surprise Jacket, but a bit apprehensive, too. I mean, I've seen a lot of "genius, so easy" as well as a lot of, "OMG, I'm so confused!" And knitting on a deadline doesn't help that. I did see a version where they seamed up the front and made the neck wider - making it a jumper or pullover. That's an option. 

Anyway, it's going to be an experience. 

So my friend D sent me a note and said, "I have these socks..." They're adorable: red heels, cuffs and toes, and a grey background, with a motif of candy canes. I don't do color-work like that. I love the design, and I love the other colorwork socks I've seen, but frankly - self-patterning sock yarn is my jam. 

She said the sweetest thing: "You're a better knitter than you think you are..." That's quite a vote of confidence since she's such a great knitter herself. 

I'm also kind of getting my knitting mojo back, so I'm anxious to get knitting on some other stuff; finishing up Long Sands, finishing up at least another pair of socks. Perhaps starting something from my stash. I have a couple projects set aside: a nice beret, a cowl, and a vest. And maybe those colorwork socks that D wants me to try. 

The Baking...

First up was a Poppy Seed cake, which I put in a Bundt pan. I've sliced and double-wrapped it so that I can add the slices to the cookie trays. 

CPS Butter Cookies were next. I scrape in 2 vanilla beans, and I add 2 tsp. of vanilla (which is a tad more than they call for. These are family favorites, especially since I've added the vanilla bean. Those were a last-minute addition to the list - so Baking Kid told me there would be a vegan option. I just said go ahead and do them, and I'll keep mine for the cookie trays we're giving away. 

If we don't tell the carnivores that the baking is vegan, 90% of the time, they can't tell... 

These are great cookies if you're tired of shortbread. See, even though they ARE basically shortbread, they're somehow fluffier and not as dense as shortbread can be. One year, I dipped them in chocolate as a "half & half" cookie. 

It was gilding the lily and we didn't need to do that. The vote was to "do what you did before," and skip the chocolate. Heck, even I decided that doing that was a bridge too far... 

Next was Jewish Honey Cookies. This was a recent addition - as in, I only started adding these to the Cookie List a few years ago. They were an unexpected hit. 

But there are caveats. Apparently, the recipe should not be doubled...It's a dairy free recipe, and uses oil. I doubled it one year and the cookies sucked. Don't ask. I don't know. I figured it was easy enough to do them one batch at a time, since one batch makes about 36 cookies. 

(We make A LOT of cookies.) And -- I discovered that putting two pans at a time in my oven caused some issues. It looks like my oven may need a recalibration. 

To my eyes, the far left batch (I did 9 to a pan, because they do spread) is the darkest. That was at the full 12 minutes. The middle batch went in when the first pan was about 5 minutes in. And then the last pan was slightly too pale. 

This is one we'll do another batch of, so I have another shot at getting it right. 

The remaining cookies need chilling before baking, so we'll work on those in the coming days. As Hubby said, "It's only December 10." I have to have a large chunk of them done by the 3rd Wednesday, for a gathering, but I find that I can stand and bake, and manage to hobble my way from one end of the kitchen counter to the other, so it's not hurting me to do that. 

And he's a good baker - we work well together. 

Quick kitchen hack: Stick a chopstick in your sugar and flour canisters. Give them a stir before you use them. I rarely sift flour, but recently, I've been toying with stirring the flour a bit to sort of "fluff" it a bit. I've noticed that it not only makes the bread lighter, but it also helps the cookies rise a bit better. 

The chopstick also helps as a handy leveler - when you're dipping your dry measuring cup in there, you don't have to reach for a butter knife or spatula - you have your nifty chopstick which will help you without giving you another utensil to wash. 

The Ornaments...

The batch of ornaments this year was small. I hadn't realized that till I looked at the spreadsheet. Yes, I do have a spreadsheet - I need it to keep track of 18 years of ornaments per kid. 

And after the holidays, I'll have to order another 18 for the May Baby. 

The Joy and the Christmas Tree will go to Montana for the last of the Montana Kids... I think there's only a year or two left for one of them. 

The rest stay here in Illinois. 

Fun fact: I used to be able to pick these up at a local craft store. Gradually, they became harder and harder to find. One year, I ended up with these really crappy "ornament" looking things. No character at all. I had to really fiddle with them to give them some personality. 

But then I was lucky enough to find a website where they had the actual ornaments I was used to seeing. Some, of course, were no longer available (like a lot of the Santas, surprisingly). But I made do with what I could find, and each kid gets their own theme. 

It used to be more random when I had better access to the wider variety. 

Nice thing is: the kids don't care. I see my siblings' kids putting theirs up and it's really heartwarming. Makes me feel like this little thing mattered. 

The Tree...

This year, we did what we usually do: Tree on Table. It's the only safe way to have a tree with two dogs who masquerade as bulls in a china shop! 

Way back, my husky Topaz would sleep under the tree, and she was so graceful (even though she was huge) that she could get under and out of it without disturbing anything. 

Quinn & Raisa? Nope. Just easier to put a small tree on the table. Sometimes we do my Grandma's ceramic tree (my mom made it for her years ago). Sometimes we do the 4-footer. 

This year, Hubby found a different tree topper, and so we're kind of really bright. We have both colored and white lights on it, and mostly the Hallmark Frosty Friends ornaments on it. I've been collecting those for years. Since they first came out, actually. 

As you can see, too, we have them surrounding the tree. We haven't quite chosen a nativity set yet. That's another foray into the basement. 

I also got some Xmas cards out. Yeah, we send them. Shorter list, though. 

Random Picture...

My happy place. With my mixer. I have several happy places, to be honest: with a book, knitting, on my yoga mat, in my garden. But this time of year, I really do like to make time to spend in the kitchen. Whether it's baking or cooking, it's just a place where I can tune out the rest of the crap happening. 

I feel like I use an entirely different part of my brain in the kitchen. Even without a lot of sense of taste & smell, I can still cook. 

Recently, however, my good old Kitchen Aid has been making some oddball noises. Don't die on me now! First Kid has my avocado-green smaller Kitchen Aid from the 70s. That's when they were all metal. 

Now, they're not. We've already done "open heart surgery" on it once. I'm not sure what more we can do if it decides to crap out. Other than buy a new machine, which I don't know that I want to do. And if we do, it's likely to be another Kitchen Aid, because we have accessories for this one, like the grinder and pasta maker. 

But lately, nothing lasts like it used to, so I shouldn't be surprised. 

What's YOUR happy place? What does it feel like, sound like, look like? And if you've never thought about it, maybe it's time to do so!

A Small Miracle???

 No, not that I'm actually back here. Though, it's a thought. 

To say it's been a rough year would be an understatement. Actually, the last entry was just before my mom needed her hip replaced, and I'm now her medical person. So there were numerous medical appointments, the surgery itself, post-op care, etc. 

It's all fine, she's walking better than I am, and she's not in pain. 

I've had my second PRP shot in my left hip. That picture right there is the plasma they spun down from my blood. All that goes into the joint where the injury is, and it acts like your body's own "cortisone." It takes a while; I had 3 or 4 INSTANCES only after the first shot, where I was pain free, and they didn't last. But the effects are cumulative, and I have great hopes. They were very happy with the amount of plasma I was able to produce. 

I've noticed muscle atrophy in that leg and I'm a bit confused, but working on rehabbing it. The JOINT doesn't hurt, but I have some pretty interesting and intense muscle cramps. I'm using a cane, which my doctor and his nurses suggest that I decorate for the holidays. Little do they know that I'd actually do that... 

And, in one of the most bittersweet moments of this year, my nephew announced that his wife is pregnant. My sister won't be here to see that grandbaby. 

Let's start there...

The Knitting...

I have put aside the Long Sands Tee, not because of baby knitting (well, sort of) but because of the project below...a HUGE book editing gig. 

But once I heard the news, I was back in "start" mode. I had started, a few years back, a baby afghan for them, thinking I'd get a jump on things. It was going to be a feather-and-fan (also known as Old Shale) in the colors of their wedding afghan. I remember I set it aside because I managed to screw up the pattern, and one of my fans was off. And there was no news on the baby front, so I thought I'd eventually figure it out. 

In the meantime, JoAnn Fabrics had a sale on their Bernat Baby Softee, and I picked up 4 bundles: 2 each of aquamarine and "little mouse" (a sweet tan/taupe). I had no plans, but I figured the colors went well together and who knows - someone will turn up pregnant sooner or later. 

So as you know, my habit is: baby sweater, afghan, hat and maybe booties. This little one is going to be born in May - no need for sweaters. So we have to think differently. Still doing a sweater but had to look at my original "standard" - which doesn't go beyond a size 6 months. While that may work out mathematically, I've made the 6-month size for EVERY baby, and it fit them at birth. We grow 'em big here...

And... I decided to do a version of the Encore 8-hour afghan that I've done before. I'll tell you my theory on that in a second. I had enough Baby Softee to do the afghan. But not enough to do the rest. 

No more of that color combo at JoAnn (of course)... And I really wanted to do "simple" instead of what I had initially chosen for them. 

So I hoped on to Jimmy Bean's Wool. What with my own hip issues and a schedule that has gone from "nuts" to "impossible," I wasn't going to be making the 4-hour trip to my LYS anytime soon. 

I wanted something coordinated. What I found was a freakin' miracle to which I can only attribute the powers of the Knitting fairies or my sister, whatever plane she's on. The colors match. Two different yarns entirely: one set of Cascade 200, a superwash wool, and the Bernat Baby Softee, an acrylic. And they MATCH. Of course there's the sheen on the acrylic, but holy moley... the bottom knitting is the Baby Softee. The top two balls are half of what I bought for the sweater, the Cascade 220. 

I am so gobsmacked and jazzed! I was prepared to be ok with something "close enough." Well, near-perfect is certainly "close enough." 

So the sweater? (Insert drumroll here) I've decided to try for a Baby Surprise Jacket. I figure a 12-month BSJ can have rolled sleeves if by chance the baby is smaller, but if at 6 months, the peanut is more like a 9-10 month old, it'll still fit. And garter stitch is remarkably stretchy. I can do the turquoise/aquamarine for the body, and add random stripes of the cafe latte. And then reverse that for the hat. Yippee!!

Ok, now my screed on simple knitting. The pattern I'm using is off the Bernat site, and it's actually for a gradient, where you'd have a pale color, with two darker colors, and switch the darker colors half-way through. So, let's think green & cream. The green would be perhaps a grass green and then an emerald color. You'd hold the emerald + cream together for the first half of the afghan and then switch to the grass green + cream for the last half. I've done that in an Encore pattern with a different pattern: 2 of the darker colors first, then dark + light in the middle, and then 2 of the light at the end. It's gorgeous. 

But since I only had 2 colors, this is going to be very tweedy and I already love how the colors are patterning themselves. 

And let's face it. For me, at least, if I screw up a lace pattern, or have one more stitch or whatever in a complex pattern, I can fake it. It's a "design element." Here, with just garter border and stockinette body? There's no where to hide. Your skills, such as they are, shine (or not) in plain knitting. 

Besides which, this particular afghan is draping like a dream and the texture of the yarn is bouncy and yummy. And, thank you, grandma - my tension looks really good so far. It's a 20-row bottom, and then 12 knit at each side. Alternate knit and purl through the body for stockinette and you're good to go. Then 19 rows of garter at the top, and a bind-off for row 20. Easy as pie. 

If I had more colors, I certainly would've used them. I should work on some sort of scrappy baby blanket, but this is going to be good. For what it's worth, they're not revealing the gender, even to themselves. They want to go "old school." Which is fine - this colorway will work for whatever they have. 

I also have my "travel sock" which I'm piddling with. Honestly, since this hip injury, my hand-made socks are easier to get on than the store-bought ones...so I should get skippy and just finish a pair! 

One stitch at a time...

The Baking...

The last time I saw my sister alive was on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, this year is going to be hard. Well, let's just put it out there. SUCK is kind of the order of the day. 

There was a small family melt-down over the timing of Christmas Eve, which I will for now ignore (it'll go in my novel). 

I digress. 

My sister's favorite part of the dinner was the cookies. All baked by hubby and me. Her favorites were M & M cookies - take your basic chocolate chip recipe and instead of chips, put in Xmas-colored M & Ms. We made big ones, soft and chewy. We'd set aside a dozen for her and she'd take them home, hoarding them. One a month. 

To be honest, so far, they're not on my list. I'm not sure I can make them. My list is actually short-ish, all things considered. 

We did, however, do potica. And the dough was not happy. It was pretty stinky, as a matter of fact. It would roll...and then Slowly. Go. Back. Hubby had to fight it every step of the way. They weren't pretty. I was ready to chuck the whole thing and start over, but he persevered. 

They baked up pretty. The taste and texture were there. They got rave reviews. And they never knew how close they came to getting binned! So we're stocked for Christmas, though we may do another single batch for Easter. We make 1 batch of dough (unless we get crazy and do a double -- which results in anywhere from 6 - 10 loaves and is a marathon weekend of baking). And we make 1.5 batches of filling. My family has come to like just a tad more filling - actually about 1.25 batches, but I don't want to "math" that much. 

Hubby has a fix for that extra filling. His granny's Never Fail Pie Crust, and a mini cupcake tin. Voila, my mother's new favorite cookie and lots LESS fiddly than Pecan Tassies (or nut cups, as my granny used to call them). 

So the list is, so far, brown sugar cookies (rolled with our Ukranian cookie press rolling pin); lemon cherry cookies; coconut macaroons; chocolate shortbread; poppy seed cake; almond crescents; chocolate chip bars; lemon bars; pineapple crescents; snow-on-the-mountain and filled cookies. Oh, and Jewish Honey Cookies just because everyone loves them. 

I'm not sure if anything else will make it to the list. Probably not. We're giving a lot of it away, aside from the platter we do for the family dinner. It's a labor of love, but there's someone missing. My brother's favorite is the pineapple crescents - he gets his own bag too. 

So anyway, that's the plan.

The Project...

I've snagged a great editing gig. I've done 6 books already, and I'm on #7, for a publisher that I've worked for before. I'm the "last set of eyes" on the books before they go to press. A great gig, the books are all pretty good, and the only problem is -- with my hip. Because I can sit a long time editing 8 or 10 chapters. Then I figure I need to stand up. 

Oy, the creaking! So I've settled in to doing 2 chapters, then I get up and walk around, get some tea, take a trip to the bathroom, pet a dog. Anything to keep me moving. 

And I'm still able to make my deadlines. The books are all coming out in 2023, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in print. 

I've started thinking about a book I'd like to write or at least be the lead author on. Maybe that'll happen soon. Stay tuned!

The Bat...

I work for a church. The church buildig itself is old, from around 1910-ish. And occasionally, we have visitors. Of the animal kind. During Covid, when we were in lockdown and not permitted to have services, we battled the spiders, who promptly saw this as an opportunity to reclaim the entire building. 

Then, we had a cat in the basement - which I actually was hoping we'd be able to lure into the office to keep the mice at bay (a different building). That didn't happen. 

We've had a bird fly into the church while we had the doors open. We've had bats - mainly dead already.

And then there was last week. A parishioner comes up and says, "There's a bat in the sacristy and if So-and-So sees it, they're going to freak out because they don't like bats."

I go take a look. It looks dead. There are cobwebs around it. It's about 12 feet up. 

I call Animal Control. In our county, bats are supposed to be removed and tested for rabies because it's a problem. I think, "No worries, we'll get the little critter out of there and it'll be fine."

Well. Animal Control isn't allowed to get up on ladders. Dude says to me, "I can do this because on this one step, I can reach it, but next time, the bat should be within reach." Seriously, in my head, I'm thinking, "Ok. I'll leave a note for the bats..." And then... It's alive. I hear peep-peep-peep...and he's got it in some salad tongs, wings flapping, a very peeved bat. 

He can't let him go; it's his duty to take it in and send it to Bat Heaven. I'm gutted. And now we have to figure out how he got in (the bat...). 

I'm still a little concerned about the "bats have to be within reach" thing though - who tells the bats??

Random Picture...

It's Advent. This was from last year; this year, I'm not sure I'm going to set up our Advent Wreath - which is what this is. Two years ago, our vicar had a "make your own wreath" project for us, and this is what I came up with. 

In spite of the fact that I knit, I'm not entirely a craftsy person. I thought this looked pretty good; I didn't want real candles, so these are the battery-operated ones, and the ribbons and gold balls just look nice. 

We are going to have a tree of some sort on the dining room table. Tomorrow, I start the annual Ornament Extravaganza, and I know I'll have to order 18 ornaments for the gestating Peanut, but that's going to happen later. 

And in the meantime, knitting continues, and I bake.