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.