Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Aftermath . . .







Looks like about 2 feet of snow! If we don't get at least 2 snow days out of this, I'll be most disappointed!

Kitty Cam: Bar has taken to the new Christmas Sweater Tree Skirt!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Be careful what you wish for!

So I've been wishing for a nice snow since Thanksgiving. However this is not quite what I had in mind. I woke up to this:
About 10 inches or so. By 6 pm we had about 20 inches or more: The snow covers the first rail on the split rail fence and the cars are completely covered. I hope we can get it pretty well shoveled tomorrow. Unfortunately it is too deep for the snow blower.

I'm hoping that our school system has the courtesy to tell us Sunday night whether or not we will be closed on Monday. I suspect we may be closed all three days next week. Montgomery County is the worst about clearing local roads and the school system is the worst about being considerate of their employees. That's the way it goes! I planned ahead however and I packed my book bag with everything I would need to plan for Monday Jan. 4 just in case. I hate going in to school not being prepared it makes for bad lessons and bad student behavior. So I am always over prepared! I bugged out in a hurry on Friday because I needed to go to BJ's before my 5 pm massage appointment. We were out of kitty litter! I got the litter and some over the counter meds and I stumbled across this on one of the aisles:This will come in handy now! I had been looking at full length down coats last year when a friend of mine got a Michael Kors one at Filenes. Hers is a little more stylish but this one is by Anne Klein and it was only $59! I like that it has a 2 way zipper and has side zippers so I can loosen it up at the bottom. I typically don't wear down coats unless I 'm going to be outside for an extended time because I get too hot in them. I have outside bus duty and it gets pretty cold so this will come in really handy!

I've been a lazy slob today--staying in my pj's until dinner time. We had our traditional snow day dinner of Pasta e Fagiole with Parmesan Pepper Baguettes. Good stuff! Nothing like homemade soup on the stove on a cold day. I finally watched the 4 hours of "Sing Off." I'm typically not into the talent shows on TV but I couldn't resist one with a cappella groups! They've all been really impressive!

Gonna watch the Caps game and do a little Christmas knitting. Tomorrow we hope to decorate the tree!

Kitty Cam: Greg finally cooperated for his Christmas portrait!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Where did November go?

I can't believe that I missed the entire month of November! I'll have to do better. It is hockey season and it's really hard to watch a decent hockey game while blogging! I loves me my Washington Capitals!

On the knitting front--I am working on some Christmas gifts and Wicked for myself. Wicked it going fast! I'm almost done with the body and I will save the sleeves to do when I finish my gifts. I finished the Vine Yoke Cardigan. It went faster than any sweater I've ever done! It has a rather unique construction and it is done in one piece.


Details:
Pattern: Vine Yoke Cardigan by Ysolda (Twist Collective)
Size: 32
Yarn: Lorna's Laces' Green Line Worsted in Echo (4 skeins)
Needles: Size 9 Knit Picks Options
Modifications: None. If I were to make this again, I would go down a size and I would lengthen the sleeves. I don't like that the sleeve edging hits right at the crook of my elbow as It causes the edging to curl. I would prefer more of a 3/4 sleeve. Over all though, I really like this sweater!

On the sewing front--I need to also make a couple swap gifts today and I need to start my skirt for the SAR Patriot's Ball this coming Saturday. The gown I had wanted to make--the one I showed in the houndstooth check --didn't happen because I could not find any suitable fabric. I had this pattern which is now out of print:

I am making the lace skirt on the right. I bought some nice black lace with subtle gold accents and some light gold-beige lining at Joann's at 50% off and the skirt will go together quickly. The one problem is that the pattern calls for lace with a scalloped edge on both sides. You cut off the eding and sew it on the bottom of the flounce to finish it. My fabric only has a scalloped edge on one side so I don't think there will be enough edging. My machine does a nice satin stitch scallop so I got some black Sulky thread and figured that I would do that on the fabric then stitch a single line of metallic gold along the satin stitch scallop. I decided on this pattern because I already have two black silk bustiers. One is very simple--similar to the one on the pattern and the other is a Nanette Lepore piece that is ruched in front with the bottom forming a ruffle. I'll see which one I like best with the skirt. Then I have to decide whether to wear my black beaded lace open toe pumps or my black satin or gold satin sling backs! Oh the decisions!

Other news--I finally joined the world of smart phones! I feel a bit like a traitor however. Those who know me know that I am an Apple aficionado and I so wanted an iphone! I cannot switch from Verizon however. Just won't do it. The appearance of the Motorola Droid in Verizon's line up has me convinced that they have no interest in ever picking up the iphone. So I took the plunge. I canceled my laptop broadband account and upgraded my phone plan for the data and it is actually cheaper. I have also found out that one can tether their laptop through the phone to get online! Hmmmm! I'll have to play with that. I'm convinced that there isn't anything this phone can't do! The turn-by-turn voice navigation is incredible and you can add layers that show atm's, parking, gas stations etc. I have an app that lets me scan a barcode and it finds the item both locally and online by price! I've already used that one several times! I just love it! I'm still getting used to the phone however as there are some quirks that are different from my old LG flip phone. One thing that bugs me is that I cannot set the phone on speaker phone and have it stay that way. I have to push speaker for each call. That makes it a bit more difficult when driving.

I decorated the house the weekend after Thanksgiving! That's the first time I've done it before Dec. 1! I have not put on any Christmas music yet though which is not like me. I think I'll crank it up today. It was a sad putting up the stockings and realizing that I couldn't hang Mikey's! I still miss that little bugger. I saw a kitty at Petco yesterday that is up for adoption that I would love to take. He is a peach tabby about 9 mos. old and he was clearly someone's loved pet. He was extremely affectionate and I think he would fit right in with our 3 . Greg needs a playmate. Needless to say DH says I can't have him. I'm trying to convince him that it would be like replacing Mikey, but he's looking to lower the number of kitties we have. If it were up to me--I'd have a houseful of animals!

That's it for now! I'll try to be better at staying current.

Kitty Cam: This one is from the archives. The peach kitty made me think of Peanut who we lost in 2007. I love this photo. Peanut looks less than happy about being dressed up for the holidays, but he was a good sport none the less!