the end of 2007

Well, I came back just in time for my final post of 2007! Lots of pics though I have to admit I didn't take enough while I was home. My dad is doing very well-this coming straight from the visiting nurse's mouth. He has just begun week 4 of his recovery process. He has yet to venture outside of the house but apparently once he has hit his six weeks of recovery, he'll be out and about-at least as much as he needs to be.
Christmas was very nice. Here's the lil munchkin with some of the loot! I was up at about 8 in the morning while everyone else (my brother, his gf, my sister, my fiance, and my niece) were all still asleep! I woke up my fiance and my sister and she took care of the rest. My parents are always up early! I divied up the gifts and we commenced opening. I requested one of those giant foam puzzles so I could use it as a blocking board and I have to tell you, the lil munchkin wanted it for herself once I showed her what you could do with the pieces! I think her parents are going to need to get her her own! I got a crock pot from my sister (though I was really hoping it would be a sewing machine!!) and I plan to use it for our New Year's Day feast (whatever that's going to be!!). I got some much needed clothing, lots of goodies from my students, some new converse, and I got to spend lots of time with the lil munchkin. There was some serious fun going on.
Most of the shots are grainy (except for the one above!) because I was playing around with the settings on the new camera. I now know the tv setting isn't the best one. I wanted to get some shots of the lil munchkin wearing her swing coat I made her. Talk about tough. She was bitten by the crazy bug and went berserk for a good 15-20 min.
Once she calmed down, we were able to take some better shots of her. She looked quite fancy in it. I hope she wears it. My sister's got shots of her with the mittens on but has yet to send them to me. I finished two hats while I was home. I used the basic roll brim hat pattern out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts and made one manos hat for my fiance and one for my mom. Mine is still waiting. I've been secretly working on a shawl as well. I haven't said anything because I tend to jinx myself and end up frogging the thing but so far so good. Pictures tomorrow-maybe!
Oh and of course there was cookie baking. But no pics. My sister and I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and some scrumptious chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies. My brother found them spicy but if you love ginger like I do (and chocolate!) you will adore these cookies. And they look so fancy! I'll try to take a shot of them tomorrow during the daytime. Thanks to Ruth for posting the link on her own blog. :)

Oh yeah! The day after Christmas, my fiance and I went into San Francisco. Oh how I wish we had faster internet connection at my parents' house so I could've looked up the addresses to some of the yarn shops in the city. As if I needed to be visiting any yarn shops!! It seems as though going into SF over the holidays is going to become a tradition for my fiance and I since we went last year as well. This time, we had no real destination other than Daiso and Ikea. He took me to Twin Peaks and I was able to take this shot. I hadn't been there during the daytime. It was freezing but the view was gorgeous! While we were just driving around SF, we noticed a pharmaca! There's a Pharmaca near my school and I absolutely love the place. It appears as though they are starting to pop up places. There's even going to be one in Monterey! How exciting. :)
This is will be my first New Year's Eve that I will be spending in LA. It's weird I tell ya. I slept in. I did laundry. lol. Can I tell you there were mostly men at the laundromat today? I decided it was because most of the women were at home cooking. I have also been trying to catch up on blogs as well as on ravelry. Oh the weird part is it's like 70 degrees outside!! And it looks like it's summer. If I were back home, we'd be freezing our butts off like we had been all of last week. Yesterday was my fiance's birthday and we spent a better part of it trying to help his dad out with a flat he got an hour away from here. We have yet to have his cake but he did get his birthday gift which was from my brother, his gf, my sister, and I. He was over the moon about it. We got him his very own digital camera along with a case and a memory card. He takes it everywhere he goes. He's such a geek. Well, I bid you all a very happy new year!! Here's to 2008.

p.p.s.

So I thought the last post was going to be my last one until after Christmas. Until I checked the mail. :o Sundara Seasons Club 2nd Installment. I present to you: Emerald Over Charcoal.
Wow.
I'm not quite sure which shot is truest to it's natural color which is why I have posted three shots! This last one I used flash (which I'm not particularly a fan of because it tends to wash out colors) but in this shot you can see the emerald peaking through against the charcoal. :)

manos family of three

I received my Christmas bonus from work yesterday and what better way to celebrate than to spoil myself with some manos del uruguay, right? I was actually trying to kill time with my fiance before having to go pick my sister up from work (her car was being serviced at the dealership). I suggested we head to WildFiber (because Unwind was a bit too far for us yesterday) which is how we met the manos family of three. What led us there? He pointed out that his current hat wasn't strong enough against the cold winds. He wanted a hat made of bulky yarn. I showed him the rowan chunky wool, the big wool, the tahki bulky stuff, and he had actually selected something else (something I wasn't familiar with) and I said, "Couldn't you just pick some manos?"
His first pick (Manos del Uruguay 120, Olivewood)from the manos shelf. Ohh, I so wanted this for myself instead!
This one, I picked out for him. Manos del Uruguay 112, Moss.
We were also drawn to this one too though. Manos del Uruguay 34, Oilslick. Decisions, decisions. He pointed out that Oilslick was a bit rosier in color and would better suit me. He really liked Olivewood and Moss though. I told him I could see him wearing Moss more than Olivewood. So he relinquised the Olivewood to me and rather than choose between Olivewood and Oilslick, we took all three home. I'm going to wind Moss and Olivewood before we head off to see the folks for Christmas and I just might have some finished hats to share. Oh, the really important thing I failed to add is he and I have the same head size so we'll be able to wear each other's hats. :)
Surprise of the Day. An early Christmas present from my fiance. I saw him with it when he was visiting my school yesterday morning for our weekly Friday outdoor assembly and questioned him about it when he came down to say goodbye. Talk about a little sneak! My current camera has been testing my limits by working when it feels like it vice versa.
Oh, I almost forgot! I finished the mittens that will go with the swing jacket. Here is the completed set. Hopefully I'll get a pic of my niece wearing the set to share! Fingers crossed that everything will fit!
This will probably be my last post before Christmas as we will be leaving either today or tomorrow (at this rate!) but we'll be back before the new year to ring in 2008 in Los Angeles! To those of you that will be traveling, I bid you safe travels and a safe return. Enjoy this special time of year with your family and loved ones. :)

p.s.

I received my last shipment of YP's Booty Club. I decided not to do the second round. Let's hope I made the right decision! I also found out that my second Seasons shipment is on its way to me already!!

best. day. ever.

We had a 'short' day today because the teachers were supposed to have in-service. Admin. decided to cancel it so I've been home for at least an hour now catching up on blogs, emails, and filling up my amazon basket. lol. I hope tomorrow flies by just as quickly. Here's one of the mittens that will go with the swing jacket I finished earlier this week. I was having a bit of trouble so I frogged back and made it work. I finally took a picture of my completed swing jacket. It's up on ravelry and it's also here.

wow.

Where do I even begin?? It seems as though the last two weeks have kind of been rolled into one long crazy week. And it's still not over. I have two more days of school to get through before school is out! Here's your fill of pics of the lil bulldog. These were taken while she was in my care. Here she is helping me to go through some old letters I had from years and years ago. She was supposed to be ripping them up so we could put them in the recycling bin. I obviously asked too much of her. lol. cousin it is in the house. day 2 of being in my care..watching "Charlie and Lola" who I now love! isn't she cute??
sigh..the calm before the storm (she has yet to realize her beloved grandmother has left her alone with me to get stuff for grandpa!!).
While I was away, my first shipment of the Sundara Seasons Club arrived. Isn't it gorgeous?
Black over Fuchsia. I'm sooooooooooooo glad I selected Winter as my season of choice!
Here is what my swing jacket was looking like right before I finished it. It's now completed and I'm in the middle of working on the matching mittens. Still on the fence about dyeing it a different color. It will all depend on my brother's gf.
Winter Festival came and went. The parents loved the show. The kids had a great time too. I wanted to post some pictures but I have no way of blocking out faces so you're just going to have to imagine how cute my lil Kindergarten students looked in newsboy caps, vests, jeans, and white t's. ; )
Ooh, my first experience going ice skating! I didn't fall once. I even had a lil 5 year old take around part of the rink. :) I was starting to get the hang of it. The parents loved seeing me at the birthday party and I think I'm going to be invited to them all from now on! I can't wait. :)
I made it through parent conferences. Every parent pretty much said the same thing-our child loves school and they love you guys. We had the same thing to say to them too-they're doing well and they love it.
Work Holiday Party? Freakin' hilarious. We did a yankee swap where I guess you get the option of 'stealing' an already opened gift vs. picking something that has yet to be opened. Then there was a lightning round. We got gypped. Oh well. We began with some yucky coconut lime candles (so not a fan of the coconut!!), for a moment had "what the f*ck" which was a drinking game!, and ended the night with 3 nesting boxes, a thing of tic tacs and a disposable camera. :( Good company. Good desserts. Good fun. What more could you ask for? The hilarious part? It involves someone taking their turn during the yankee swap and unwrapping a lil vibrator!!
Still left? School Ice Skating Party and the last. day. of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

doesn't anyone get tired??

I am in the midst of yet another busy week. Does it ever stop?? Progress reports were due yesterday and everyone pretty much has an incomplete set. They're supposed to be mailed out and received by all parents by Monday because that is when parent conferences are scheduled. Tomorrow is our tech rehearsal for the winter festival which is Friday night. We're supposed to get an entire school of about 115 students to the theatre we'll be performing at in about 45 min plus all the staff. Are you thinking, Good luck?? At this point, my partner and I don't even know which child is riding in whose car! I can't wait for December 21st. Next week is going to be crazy as well. I have knitting to post (a soon to be finished object! and a possible new wip)..some sundara seasons yarn to show off and of course pictures of my niece to share. It's been too dark to photograph my sundara yarn so I'm hoping I can get a good shot on Saturday. It is absolutely gorgeous. 100% silk. My dad was released from the hospital Saturday morning. I haven't spoken to him since we left on Sunday but I'm assuming he's slowly recovering from the surgery. He looked good and was up and around when he was home Saturday and Sunday. I was in charge of my niece both Friday and Saturday and come Saturday, 5 o'clock, I was done seeing her face. lol. My sister announced she didn't want to have children-or at least become a single parent! She was wiped. She was my asst. She was in charge of carrying my niece when the lil monster didn't want to be with me or was getting too heavy for me and she was in charge of driving. lol. When left to decide btwn staying at home and taking care of both our dad and the lil rugrat vs. leaving the house with our mom to take our mom to run errands, she opted for the latter! And she doesn't like being in the car with our mom for very long! When we were visiting our dad at the hospital for a second time on Friday with our niece in tow (who was knocked out by the way!) she fell asleep in the hospital bed!! Um yeah. Don't go having any kids just yet, sister! ;) Okay. Must walk away from the computer now!

hot cocoa swap

Did you hear?? There's a hot cocoa beat the winter blahs swap and sign-ups will begin December 16th. I can't wait!!! There's a contest right now where all you have to do is post about the swap and leave them a comment letting know you did. You get additional entries into the swap for every person you send over there too. So get to it!! :) I heard about it from knottykitty. :) P.S. My sister and I are driving home later this evening. I spoke with my dad earlier today during my lunch break and nearly cried afterwards. I held my composure though since I was at school. He sounded so weak and tired. :( I hope I don't bawl in front of him when we go see him tomorrow! Also, my sister and I might be having a long day of babysitting tomorrow and maybe Saturday because I volunteered our services for taking care of the lil bulldog. :D Her grandmother on her mom's side had reconstructive surgery (breast) and the lil bulldog's mommy is taking care of the salon as well as her lil brothers while her b*tch a** sister doesn't do a damn thing. Apparently her life doesn't stop just because her mother is sick. How's that for family?? I feel for my brother's gf so I offered up our services so she has one less stress. P.P.S I received the first shipment of the Seasons Sundara Yarn Club and all I can say is oh. my. It's too dark for me to get a picture but I absolutely love the colorway..and it's 100% silk!!! 1000 freakin' yards of the stuff!!! :o

smooth sailing

First of all, thank you all so very much for your prayers, good vibes, good thoughts, etc. I know that it helped. :) Well, my brother took it upon himself to give me a call to let me know that my dad's surgery went okay (since no one else bothered to call me). Wasn't that nice? Good lookin' out. :) He went to go visit our dad this morning, he was sitting up in his bed and he told my brother to go to work-yeah, sounds like he's doing okay to me! My sister and I are driving up tomorrow night so that we can visit him Friday during the day. I'm hoping to get the Christmas presents I already purchased wrapped between now and before we leave tomorrow so that I can bring them now instead of having a whole entire trunk filled with presents come Christmas.

good thoughts

If you believe in prayer or just plain old good thoughts, please send some this way as I found out last night that my dad was to go in for quintuple-bypass surgery. Thanks. :)

a day late

As promised, here's your well-deserved knitting content. :) I started the second techguy sock on dpns--I forgot to bring my circs with me so I had to purchase some emergency dpns!
I ending up frogging the accidental hat after I saw the blasted thing couldn't fit over my niece's big giant head. :o I had ordered a new baby knits book from KnitPicks (which I LOVE by the way!) and cast on for the swing coat. I may not have enough yarn (I've got one more skein of this stuff) but we'll see. I may be soliciting donations from those that might have some alluring in their stash. Here we have a plain' ol stockinette sock for my fiance. I'm using the shibui knits sock yarn and Shannon was correct..this stuff pools like a mother. :o He likes it so that's all that matters.
Oh, and here are the lil bulldog's lil footsies in the socks that do fit her. Here's a close-up of my skein of Nevermore purchased from Sarah over at Perfect Day Yarns. :)
It looks much more purpley in this shot but I think the close-up shot is a bit more accurate.
ooh! Did you all know the latest magknits is up?? Go check it out! There's a super adorable sweater for a lil one. I love the buttons on the shoulder-it's exactly what I had in mind for my niece--at least the buttons on the shoulder part.
Here's a great shot of me working (or is it hardly working?) on my progress reports on Thanksgiving Day.

I leave you with these parting shots of the little bulldog..