Happy New Year!

Pink mitts. Check.
MIL's shawl. Check. 
Fleece-lined slippers. Check.

It's a dreary day here in blogland. Actually, it's been a dreary week. Monday was rain. LOTS of rain. Today, the frost took over, but now, with the sun going down, as I sit by my window? It's chilly. It's 29 degrees but "feels like" 22.... Cold. 

My dad would say, "colder than a well-digger's belt buckle." Or something even more pithy... I've had enough tea to float a battleship, and I've given up. Just now, I'm bundling up and hoping to warm up. You'd think a hot flash would fix this, but somehow, when it gets cold, they disappear. That's not handy... 

Eventually, I'll warm up. I usually do. Sunshine, though. Sunshine would be nice. 

Here's a mug that Kid #2 gave me for Christmas. Posted it on Instagram, and I'm tellin' ya - it struck a chord. Lots of hearts for this one. 

With the RBG movie out now, it's particularly timely. And with her recent cancer surgery, everyone's offering to give her their lungs, wrap her in bubble wrap and basically donate their healthier, younger bodies to her. Heck, I'd donate mine. I may not be the healthiest person on the planet, but I'm a good 20 years younger than she is, and even with the heart issues, I'm good to go. 

I haven't exactly been sitting on my tush all day drinking tea. It only sounds like it, right? Today, I had a whole day off. A whole day to myself, mostly. I asked Hubby if he wanted to take the Christmas tree down, but the one on the dining room table is still up. My mom's/granny's ceramic tree has been removed to its place of safekeeping in the basement. It needs a new light, but it's so old we have to figure out what kind of bulb we can put in there. It may be that I won't be able to light it anymore, because it has no way to vent out the heat. Old-time ceramics, you see. 

So off and on, I've been dusting, trashing junk, and moving things around, trying for organization. As it is, this weekend, Hubby and I are tackling The Office (a/k/a The Pit of Despair). My plan is to get my laptop back into that room (right now, I'm in the middle of the living room), and work on doing some videos and Facebook lives. A friend of mine and I are going to do weekly gratitude meditations, and right now? The living room isn't ideal. 

Looks Like Dinner...

Yesterday, New Year's Eve, we didn't go out. We're not "going out" people. So Hubby made potato soup, and we bought some "bake your own" ciabatta rolls. Of course, we've got leftovers. Lots of them. Which is fine - because, again, crappy weather is soup weather. Tonight, we have a rustic loaf which we'll warm and have...soup. It's always better the second night anyway. 

And somehow, my stomach has gone on strike. 

I'm not sure why. The food poisoning and my antibiotic "purge" have both been long over. I'm taking the mega-expensive probiotic to repopulate my gut. 

But it's being very balky, and the GERD is flaring up like nobody's business. So I'm kind of not eating. It's working, sort of. I wish I could say I'm losing weight, but at this point, I'll settle for not being in pain when I'm ready to go to bed. 

There's nothing as disheartening as your stomach trying to crawl up your esophagus when you lay down to sleep. Disheartening and painful. Very painful. 

I've started exercising more frequently, which is good. I'm not trying to "beat myself up" but I'm trying to move more. Using a Bodyblade, which only takes about 3 minutes (if that) and your arms are feeling it. The squatting part isn't hard - but hey, I'm squatting in yoga all the time. Using my arm hula hoops. Working the upper body with that and lower body with yoga. 

Hopefully, I can keep the momentum. I'm going to try. 

Hubby's Got the Bug...

So here's an update of my orchid area. And boy-o-boy --- Hubby's now got the bug. He helped me repot a few of them and there you go. He's working on using an old 55-gallon aquarium of ours that's been sitting in the basement to make a terrarium for them. He rearranged the lights so that the table here gets a bit more sun (gloomy weather, right?). 

We joined the American Orchid Society and he's been perusing the back issues of their magazine. He's fascinated with all the many species and a bit bedazzled, if you want my opinion. We're going to go on a road trip to a local orchid specialist so he can take a look.

I really don't want more than what I have here, and I really don't want to get into the crazier species. Frankly, they freak me out! But I'm happy to have something we can do together. Just now, he was over at the "orchid altar" and looking to see who needs misting. It's so cute. 

The Knitting...

I've set aside the Diamond shawl. I'm committed to working on some singleton socks. I've gotta get their mates done. I'm over having Second Sock Syndrome. 

I've weighed the ball for the Diamond Smackdown. I'm still at a little over 3 oz, and the half-way point is about 2 oz. Remarkably, one ounce goes a long way. 

The first singleton I'm working on is the Green Traveling Sock. This one, the first sock has a bum star-toe (gotta work on that more...it used to be my favorite toe), and the foot is about 1/2 - 3/4" too short. I mean, it fits because it stretches, but it's not my fave. I don't know what I was thinking -- or what I was measuring...but it's a rookie mistake. 

I started it New Year's Eve. My usual pattern is to do an "exchange." 

When I've got all the stitches on the DPNs, I take the first stitch off the right-hand needle (technically, needle #4) and put it on Needle 1 (the left-hand needle). And switch that first stitch onto the 4th needle. It helps "close the gap." But it's a bit of a challenge sometimes. I usually take the #4 stitch last, because it's the last one cast on, so it's got a little flexibility. 

Then, 6 rows of knitting, to curl the end. Helps me get it over my high instep. Then the ribbing. 

Now, in all honesty, I despise ribbing. I just don't like K2, P2 -- or even worse, K1, P1. I can never get the tension right; I get ladders sometimes, in spite of tugging the first 2 stitches on each needle. And it's boring. 

You may ask, "isn't stockinette boring?" Well, yes, but no. Yes, because it's straight-up knitting. But no, because in about 7" total, I'm doing a heel flap, which is fun. And the heel turn comes next.


Which is magical. 

When I get there, I'll post some pics. 

Anyway, I got to thinking about it. 

Bored.

Bored. 

Bored...

But I need to flip that paradigm. I need to get my mind around it in another way. I need to change "boring" to "plugging through." 

So I thought, why not just take a quick break to blog, and then literally plow through the rest of the ribbing? Get it done with and move on. 

I normally do 15-16 rows of ribbing. And I have to make this one identical to the other one. Except I think I'll do the foot properly... So it's 16 rows of ribbing. I'm on row 4. It'll be done by the time the Dr. Who New Year's Day special is on. I know it. 

Yet another mug. I dug this one out of the other cabinet in the kitchen. I have 2 large snowman "latte" style mugs. One of them is really not a good mug; when you heat it in the microwave, it burns your hands to bits. 

This one isn't that one. It held my morning green tea matcha latte. I try to drink that as often as I can, and when I make mine, it's a lot less sweet than the stuff you get at Starbucks. 

That went down nicely. 

Knitting goals for 2019? Well, normally, I don't set goals. I used to, but then I got discouraged, so that took a lot of the fun out of it. When knitting becomes a "chore," it's not a hobby anymore. 

So here's What I'd Like to Happen in 2019 for my knitting. 

1. Finish the singleton socks.
2. Finish the February Lady Sweater.
3. Finish the Before and After peacock color scarf (there are 2 to this project) and figure out how to add beads to the ends. 
4. Finish Kid #2's afghan.
5. Learn cables.

That's it. We'll see how it goes. 

Random Picture...

I got the girls (well, 2 of them - the usual suspects) to wear New Year's hats. I had to whistle to get that Elkie Head Tilt. 

We tried to stay up, but I lasted till 11:30 p.m. Tippi slept with me, on the floor, though, and Hubby told me that at midnite there were fireworks for about 20 minutes. 

Well. Coulda fooled me... I heard a few of them. Got Quinn in her crate, gave them both "boom boom cookies" (dog cookies with CBD oil on them), had Kunzea in the diffuser. Tippi also slept through it, apparently. 

We had a quiet day today. Both are now zonked out next to me in the living room. 

I really wanted to stay up till midnight. I had it all planned. I had some cookies, a special tea I was going to enjoy. I even had a face mask I was going to treat myself to. 

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd.... I got tired. 

Oh well. 

New Years came without me. It's ok. 

What did you do special to bring in the new year? Any plans? Let's chat!