Christmas Week

Christmas Day has come and gone (except for tomorrow when we do the silly family exchange grab bag steal the gift thing with the brothers/sisters/spouses/SO/older kids). Mine was very nice, and relaxing. Lots of wine and good food, and lovely gifts from Santa. I finished my knitting that needed to be done by Christmas Day. Kyle liked his alpaca scarf and hat, which will come in handy on his canoe trip this spring/summer from NY to ME. Ah, to be 23 and adventurous! My niece loved her Voodoo fingerless gloves (she bought herself a pair earlier this winter because, as a new driver, she doesn't like gloves or mittens--if she only knew I was making her a pair!) and Delite hat. Her Mom liked the hat too, and as soon as I get some cream colored alpaca yarn I will be fulfilling her request. I finished another niece's pair fingerless gloves for Sunday, Thursday evening after work. I made one on Christmas Day while we were relaxing between lunch and dinner, and started the next one Wednesday, and finished it Thursday night. They turned out better than my first pair, but I used 1 strand of alpaca and one of Paton's classic, knitting from my stash for these. Next pair, I will try a more interesting pattern, but these needed to be done fast with no stopping to check the pattern.

Christmas Eve the postman (or maybe Santa?) left a package at my doorstep, it was from Mary. She told me earlier "a little something" was on it's way. Well, I say that this is more than a LITTLE something! Mary made me a snowman fabric tree, it was one of my favorite ones when I saw them on her Etsy store. I have 3 different blends of Starbucks coffee, some Godiva chocolate, a new mug, a mini mocha candle, and a "friendship" candle with the sweetest sentiment on it. Thank you, Mary, it was a nice surprise.

Finally, on or after Dec 24, we could open our "handmade gift" from our Secret Santa person from Jane's Designs Secret Santa exchange. Mine was tucked away and out of site, to avoid temptation. I opened it Christmas night. My Secret Santa was Jane herself, and she made me a really nice felted clutch with a needle-felted flower, and a little first-aid/sewing kit. Jane does lovely work, and I'm glad I now have one of "Jane's Designs" of my very own. Jane also opened an Etsy store, where she sells her handmade felted items and mosaics.

This week at work was so boring and slow, I am so glad it is over. I'm not used to being NOT busy, and I am down to the pile of work that I've been putting off forever. Once that's done, I don't know what I'll do. I'm not good at making up work to do, and looking busy only goes so far. After vacation, I am going to do some financial calculations to see if I can cut back to a 4 or maybe even a 3 day week. I hate to take a cut in salary which will mean dipping into my savings, but it may come to that. Of course, there's always the catching up from vacation which could take a little time. So, work is up in the air right now. Four more days of work to go, (3 if I take off Tuesday!) and I am off until Jan 14. I can't wait. I was doing a little searching, and I found there is a Yarn shop in Key West! It's on a second floor of a building near mm0. I emailed them to find out if they had a railing on the stairs. They emailed me back right away, telling me exactly where they were located, and said it's only a few stairs and a landing, then a few more stairs. I had been to the cafe in the building they're located in, so I know where the shop is. It wasn't there when I was there in Jan 2006, it's new. It's called Knit Wits Key West (a very fitting name for a shop in KW!) and looks like a good one. I have a feeling I'll be bringing home some "souvenirs". At least yarn isn't breakable.

Friday when I got to work, I felt a little soreness in my throat, and got concerned when I started sneezing a bit. OH NO! The plague! Couple people were sick at Christmas that visited my brother's house; one in particular--I don't know why if you're THAT SICK it's NECESSARY for a NEIGHBOR to STOP BY for a FEW MINUTES looking like a pale ghost hacking and sneezing just because it's Christmas and that's what THEY ALWAYS DO. It's not like they can't come by the next day or when they feel better. Anyway. There's lot's of sickness going around, I was hoping to avoid it, especially right before going away!! As the day wore on, i felt achy, sniffly, and god awful tired. I had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up my 'script anyway, so I was going to stock up on remedies. I wanted to ask the pharmacist what he recommended. I'd already loaded up my cart with some things. He took a look in there, smiled, and said I was good to go. And recommend the Airborne I had picked out. And to drink a lot of tea, (which I have plenty of, thanks to exchanges!) water, and soup. Stay away from dairy. I prepared an Airborne as soon as I got home, and oddly enough, felt a little better around 9. I prepared the nighttime one before bed. I woke up a little congested, made another Airborne, and didn't feel too bad today. I didn't even have to open the Nyquil or Dayquil, but had to have insurance. I don't know if the Airborne worked, but I recommend it! I've heard that this cold isn't long in duration, only about 3 days. I hope so, I have to travel on Friday. I will see how I feel tomorrow, if I'll go to the family party or not. I sure won't go if I feel like Tony looked on Christmas! That's just rude. I'm just taking it easy today, I've started knitting the felted bucket bag for my sister-in-law. It's easy, and once I get the round base done, it will be mindless stockinette. I'm using Ella Rae Palermo. I'm using color 01. This was the yarn i chose as an alternative to Noro Sucks Kureyon It's very soft and a joy to knit with.

I'll end this post with a picture of my garden window, all decorated for Christmas.

This is the extent of my decorating this year, except for a basket of ornaments I have put out from my collection.

I hope everyone had a good week after Christmas, and enjoy the rest of the weekend. I'm getting sneezy again, so it's time for another Airborne and some more tea!