Monday, November 29, 2004
What happened to Vacation?
What happened? How can it possibly be Monday? I'm just starting to feel rested and pow. Back to the last few weeks of the semester. This last push is always hard, as I'm feeling just burned out and tired. But, a few more grading sessions and papers to get ready....Thanksgiving was just a nice break. My cranberry sauce (recipe in the Thanksgiving Bon Appetit, New England version) was declared the best ever, as was the pumpkin pie. I brined the turkey, but it received mixed reviews. I thought it wasn't bad--nice and juicy. My husband declared it a "salt lick." You know, this is the man that used to eat cold baked beans out of a can, leaning over the kitchen sink, and think that was dinner. I think he is spoiled. Too much good food makes the man forget... (I worked as a personal chef between my Ph.D. and return to academia...It was a great break, but HARD WORK. The upshot, for our family, is that my cooking is far better than the husband's.)
I discovered that I could read and knit at the same time. Multitasking! What did I decided to read? The Thursday Next series! Do you know these amazing books? Jasper Fforde has a great wit and tremendous knowledge of literature. Next is sort of a sci fi, geek literary text, murder mystery, and more all rolled up into a funny set of books. I had read the first two, but wanted to re read them before starting the two new ones. I forgot just how much fun The Eyre Affair (as in an endangered Jane Eyre--Regency House is boring compared to this) was to read. I can categorically state (where does that strange expression come from anyway?) that these are the best books that I have read in a very long time.
So about that knitting... The fish need eyes... then they are finished. The booga bag is finished--sort of. Here's pre felting
and after
I would have finished it up, but it is still damp. We have been having super rains in Texas--all the rivers hit flood stage--so the moisture in the air isn't helping. Maybe by tomorrow?
I finished everything but the crochet finishing on my Mom's Christmas gift, so that should be done (with pictures) by the time my Mom visits.
What to do with three projects in near finished process? Pick through that list of projects and get going! I chose the Sally Melville Knit Flat hat and mitts. Here's the hat to date:
I'm a little concerned that I'm going to run out of yarn, as the hat took more than I thought it would. I ordered the yarn from Patternworks a while ago. It is 127 print in shade 20, a very pretty red with some other colors mixed. It is so soft!
And last, for the grandma's surviving the snow, here's lots of kid pics.
Anna decided to help her father clean out the flower beds:
If you are kid in Texas, what do you wear outside? Well, there's that pink cowboy had that you bought at Cavender's boot city (Mommy was pushing for the red hat, not the pink, but no luck), your fun fleece coat from Cousin Emily, and the all necessary rubber rain boots to protect the feet against the swarms of fire ants and snakes. yup. I'll tell you our snakes in the house story at some point when I hit a slow knitting day.
On Sunday we decided to get our tree, as the time leading up to Christmas is just going to get crazier and crazier. We cut our own tree at a place South of town. I love to go to this very Texas-ey Christmas farm. Plus, it is cheap. A nice fresh tree (6.5 feet) for 28.50. I don't think you could buy a pine bough in New York for 28.50.
We brought it up and put it up. For the first time, Anna seems to understand Christmas. I think she was a little excited.
She helped me to put up the ornaments:
I caught her giving the tree a big hug and smacking kiss--she announced to the tree "I love you"!
But, try as I might, it was a little more difficult to explain that we had to wait for Santa to bring presents for a full month. Out two year old wants "chocolate and books," and she wants Santa to bring them now!
Hope you enjoyed your all too short break!
