Happy New Year!!!

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We had a wonderful lovely, quiet Christmas while I recuperated from the cold that we think was actually the flu. More on that later.  I hope you are all well.  I'm off to check on you and see how your Holidays are going. 

I hope 2013 brings you peace, love, and happiness!

The Stockings Are Hung

By the chimney with care...

Presents are under the tree...

Decorations of red...and green...troughout the house...

And it does look a bit like Christmas....

Wishing you and your's a joyous one from me and mine.

I'll be back after Christmas!

Doing

Doing now:

* Watching as little news as possible because it makes my heart ache
* Enjoying the presence of my family
* Trying to finish that last hand made gift
* Blocking....lots of blocking
* Fighting the annual Christmas cold that my mother just had to share
* Still trying to figure out what to get two wonderful boys for Christmas...some gifts bought but can't find "the" gift
* Trying to deal with holiday stress in a productive way...suggestions?
* Feeling thankful for how truly blessed I am

Here's hoping you and yours have a wonderful Holiday Season. I'll be poking my head in periodically, but I will be spending most of my time now, in these moments, holding onto what keeps me whole.  I hope you have that with you as well. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers for a Joyous Season and you have everything you need and hold dear.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Welcome Home!!!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Behind

The elving is continuing.  Slowly but surely, I'm getting there.  Just a few more things. Car Guy and I put a huge dent in the Christmas shopping this past weekend.  We've only got a few more things to take care of....our boys being part of the list.  They were so much easier when they were younger. My youngest claims he wants a "Mama Made" sweater.  That melts my heart, but it won't be happening this year.  Maybe if I start in January, he'll get one for next Christmas? Hmmm....It shouldn't take long...he's only 6'2".

I received the BEST news yesterday.  The owner of the company I work for decided to give us a little Christmas break.  We will have the 24th, 25th and 26th off for the Christmas holiday.  Well, I've held on to a couple of vacation days in case I had to go pick up Number One Son from college.  Since his girlfriend is bringing him home, I still have those days.....sooo....I get the whole week off for Christmas!!  That hasn't happened since I was 15. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. Car Guy has that week off too and The Boys will be home. It makes this mama very happy.

Well, I'm off to get more work done.  I hope you are all ready for your holidays and are able to enjoy them and aren't behind like some people...ahem.

By the way, the table top from Friday's Moment is actually the counter top from Turntable.  Jon and Renee, the owners, made it and it's so cool.  It's like a giant word search of names, places, etc. that are relevant to our area and some other stuff thrown in for fun.  That picture is actually of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but it was so big, that I couldn't fit the whole word in the picture.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

 

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Elves At Work

Hello everyone! I don't know about the rest of you, but we are busy around here with the Christmas deadline looming...Yikes!  Still so much to do and not enough time...are you feeling that way as well?

I think this one might be one of my favorite projects so far. Do you recognize him?

The picture is a little dark, so I hope you can tell what it is.  This Minion from Despicable Me is for my three year old nephew.  He loves "Pesdicable Me" as he calls it and his mama said this was perfect.  Number Two Son wants me to make a bigger one so that he can sport it around town...Funny boy that he is, he would wear it proudly.

Over the last few years, we have been trying to give more thoughtful gifts that are either handmade by us (ahem, me) or handmade gifts by someone else or gifts that inspire the receiver to create.  This isn't a problem with the adults, but sometimes it can get a little tricky with the younger set.  It's not that they don't appreciate it, but sometimes it's just not that easy to find something in their wheelhouse.  Thankfully, my teenage niece is a hippie chick like me, so she's easy.  This year, while the gift isn't hand made, it has been altered/improved by hand...

Aren't they awesome!  I mean seriously, who wouldn't want a pair?  I actually have a pair gifted to me (love them Dawn!!!) and my niece saw them and fell in love.  It made perfect sense to get her a pair as well.

I'm currently working on the Mimosa Slouchy Beanie.  This is actually something that a friend asked me to make for her daughter and normally I wouldn't take on a custom order this close to Christmas, but this young lady is very close to my heart and calls me her "other mom."  How could I say no? It's actually working up pretty quickly....

She picked out the yarn, which is a washable wool blend. It looks like I'm such a fancy knitter with the lace and cable, but the pattern is really easy to memorize and as long as I pay attention to my stitch markers, I can cruise right along.

Tonight is Wednesday Night so that means much needed time with my girls.  Normally we meet at Panera's, but we are trying a new spot tonight.  Some friends have opened up a coffee house/hang-out in town called Turntable and we thought we'd go hang out on the sofas there. Come on...coffees, beer and wine with great music...how perfect is that? And tonight is half price wine night!

Jon and Renee, the proprietors, are the cutest couple and I love the idea behind what they are trying to do...local beers, wine and musicians, all in downtown Jamestown.  A fun time should be had by all...I'll let you know.

Look!

What came in the mail today. I've only flipped through it quickly (I do have a job after all) but I can tell you, it's divine! Hope you have one to enjoy!!