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.
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. :)
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!!
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.
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!
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 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. :)
Well, I bid you all a very happy new year!! Here's to 2008.
