Dear Bastages, um, people who haven’t seen me all year long who suddenly get the need to see me around Christmas,

I’m happy that you remembered me. I mean, I’ve lived at the same address and had the same phone number since 1999, including the previous 334 days of this year, but Christmas is a time of remembering so I guess I can understand how you might forget that fact the rest of the year. It’s hard to remember where I’m at and how to contact me, given the extreme amount of moving I do. I mean, once in the past eight years is pretty out there. And I’ve got the same email address, too, even.

As you know, secular or sacred, Christmas is a busy time of the year. My problem is this: I only have so many hours in the day (24, just like everyone else) and five days a week 9-10 of those hours are devoted to work. Lazily, I spend another 8 sleeping. Every day even. Add in 1-2 for the gym six days a week and the times that are regularly scheduled to spend with friends who do know I exist all 365 days a year and the time that my family has claimed for family events (and who can blame them) and you can see where I might be starting to have some issues finding time for coffee with you.

Now, I’m not talking about the people I email regularly, who I don’t see as much as I’d like. The fact of the matter is that those people, the ones who’ve emailed me or who I’ve emailed in the past months, get first dibs on the 3.5 hours left after everything else is accounted for in my day and they have to share that time with my remaining Christmas projects. (Yes, I can chat and knit at the same time.)

But the rest of you: I’m sorry. You’re going to have to settle for coffee some time in January. My calendar’s booked solid by people who actually give a damn at times other than December and they deserve my holiday cheer.

Do better next year. You can start by actually (gasp) scheduling time to do something, rather than saying that we “should” get together.

Thank you again for thinking of me. Hope to see you in January.

Love & Kisses,
Toad

Cozumel! That’s right, I’m taking another dive trip as a non-diver, this time to scenic Cozumel. The resort we’ll be staying at has a webcam and a photo gallery, perfect for checking out all the “scenics” ahead of time and getting pumped up for the trip.

I’ve got to check and see what kinds of attractions and daytrips are availalbe in the area, but I’m seeing a trip to Chichen-Itza in my future, at the very least and yes, I’m planning to swim with dolphins, too.

Nececito practicar me español, tambien. Espero viajará hoy.

This particular meme has been going about, and I guess it’s my turn now.

1. I only shampoo my hair twice a week. This may seem icky to some people, but my skin and scalp are very dry and shampooing anymore often than that leads to flat hair, breakage, and an itchy, flaky scalp, so I rinse my hair every time I wash myself, but I only shampoo twice a week.

2. I occasionally shed the nail on my pinky toes. It doesn’t hurt when it happens, but sometimes they just fall off. Weird and kinda gross.

3. My eyes are blue, but they have brown flecks around the center, technically making them hazel, but a blue/brown hazel. I got that part from Dad. The blue part picks up the colors I’m wearing, like Mom’s grey eyes do, so sometimes my eyes end up looking purple with yellow flecks.

4. I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I love peanut butter toast or eating peanut butter right from the spoon. It makes no sense.

5. My ears used to be quadruple pierced, with one piercing at the top of the ear, but I let that one close because I decided it looked silly on a person of my age.

6. When I’m watching TV, my imagination fills in all the missing details. Specifically I imagine the smells that go with the scenes. My imagination’s so vivid, I can actually gag myself with imaginary smells. I think that’s why I can’t eat meat and watch CSI.

7. I secretly lust Chris Garver from Miami Ink. I can’t explain why. Maybe it’s because he’s the most mature acting one on the show. Maybe it’s because he knows that some people have to buy cool, but others (like him) simply are cool. Either way, I watch the show for him.

The one who makes me laugh my @$$ off.
HuckChuckFacts

I don’t like his politics on several key issues, but he made me laugh. Decide for yourself by checking out his stance at www.mikehuckabee.com.

I’m cruising right along on my Sonnet and thought I should snap a few pictures before it’s all done. If I keep progressing at this pace, I should be done by the end of the week, maybe even before the end of the month. We’ll see if I hit that goal.

I just started the left armhole.

It took a little doing to get a color accurate shot. The silly thing keeps showing up “Kirk Gold” in my photos. I half wonder if I shouldn’t use this yarn to make the Star Trek Sweater and make it like Kirk’s green surplice uniform top similar to the one in this fan recreation and this famous shot from the Season 2 episode The Trouble with Tribbles. The geek factor for doing that is pretty damn high, I admit, but as long as it’s not a complete recreation and just an “inspired by,” I think I should be cut some slack for wearing it in public if I do that.

I love the texture on this top. It’s an easy, fun, knit. I’m sure I’ll have to make another variation on it at some point in the future.

It’s become tradition to stay as far away from the stores as possible on “Black Friday,” but HR and I did have to brave the crowds for a few essential, but non-gift items. After losing battery power on my keyboard in the middle of Uldaman on Wednesday with no spares on hand, decided I needed a couple sets of rechargeable batteries for my computer keyboard. Now I can have one set in the keyboard, one set charging, and a bonus pair for my (crappy) digital camera, so I don’t have to depend on HR’s camera being charged to take pictures of my works in progress. Joy!

I also ventured out by myself to find a replacement for my pink polo which has developed a mysterious stain before my six months of Wardrobe Refashion begins and I find myself needing a “get out of Refashionista Jail Free” card right away because I cannot live without my pink polo. It’s a wardrobe staple item, at least in my closet. I’ll be posting more about that as soon as the new Wardrobe Refashion buttons come out: hopefully around December 1. We’ll see how that goes.

Anyway, I ventured out by myself because HR had already had her fill of shoppers during our brief outing to Tar-jay. I went to Kohls, TJ Maxx and Sears looking for something pink, collared, and polo-like. I should have gone to Sears first. They had some pink striped johnny-collar shirts with three quarter length sleeves on sale 50% off. (The link shows the “look” but doesn’t have the color I got.) It wasn’t a one for one replacement of the pink polo, but it’s nice. I’m still going to try to figure out a way to salvage the pink polo. Until then, this will fill the pink polo void while I figure that out. I also got one in a sage green multi stripe, too. I think it will go nicely with the CSI sweater.

plus I found a pink cable-knit cardigan hoodie, also 50% off. I got mine in “Rose Bloom.” It’ll be nice for work.

Yes, I could have waited knit something similar for myself, but not for the price. At least that’s how I’m justifying it to myself. After my Wardrobe Refashion pledge begins I’ll be avoiding the stores to prevent that kind of impulse purchase.

Other than that, we finished CSI Season Five and started watching Season Six. I made good progress on the CSI sweater, starting into the second skein of yarn while we were watching. If I’m selfish and only work on the CSI sweater, I think I might be able to finish it before the end of the month. I’m considering indulging myself. I’ve been in quite the funk and hopefully another finished object will kick me out of it. After that, it’s back to working on things for others: finish the Voodoo arm-warmers, AJ’s hat, and Dad’s afghan.

–

Well, I survived the rest of Thanksgiving, the long part after the time with
the fam where I’m far too alone with my thoughts for my own liking.
Thankfully, this year HR’s Christmas plans and mine line up better than
usual, so I won’t have very much “holiday alone time.”

I probably would have been better off if I’d committed DVD adultery and
watched some CSI while HR was out, but I promised it wouldn’t, and I kept my
word.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and it’s been a grey, melancholy kind of day all day long. I’ve been working on winding my hank yarn into cakes with my shiny new winder purchased off of ebay, but even petting the nicest yarn in my stash hasn’t done anything for my doldrums. I stopped for some tea, because that often lifts my spirits and discovered it’s alternating between sleeting and snowing here.

I wasn’t quite prepared for that. I’ve been enjoying the lingering fall in kind of a daze, really. I mean, I know it’s supposed to be on the down slide to winter, but I was hoping for a few more days yet. I grabbed my crappy little digital camera and rushed out to get some pictures of my burning bush before the leaves all dropped. It was especially pretty this year and I didn’t want it to be completely gone, not just yet anyway.

I’ve been enjoying meals at the table a great deal. This is pretty much the view from out my dining room windows. The white spots in the pictures are sleet reflecting the flash.

This year the burning bush fired in a beautiful sea of crimson and yellow. I was really surprised by both the range of color and just how vivid the colors were this year.

It seemed to have more depth of color this year than any before.

It’s about the only thing left with any leaves at all. Even these leaves are falling fast.

The leaves even look pretty carpeting the deck. They’re so pretty, I couldn’t quite bring myself to sweep them away, even though I knew I should. I kept putting it off, waiting for the silver maple to finish dropping all her leaves, but even after the majority of those were down, I put off sweeping the burning bush leaves off the deck.

I imagine by tomorrow morning everything will be blanketed in snow, tucked in to sleep through another winter. At least now, I have a little something to help me remember just how beautiful it was this year.

You can always count on Reuters: Oddly Enough for a laugh, though not always for the reason they think the news is funny. Take today’s headliner: Firemen told to abstain from sexual bribes, which is about a new edict in China trying to combat official corruption on all levels, including corruption in firehouses.

In explaining the problems China has with illicit sex and official corruption in China, the article quotes the official news agency, Xinhua as saying:

“For every 10 corrupt officials, nine are involved in illicit sex. This old tune has already been proved by statistics from disciplinary organs many times”.

Disciplinary organs? Kinky.

All I can think of is my friend Karl Johnson, who often exclaimed “Bailiff! Whack his pee-pee!”

Thought I’d share my progress on the Voodoo Wrist Warmers

They’re not a difficult pattern at all and I think this was a good choice for me to learn how to use double-pointed needles. It’s an easy pattern and they make up quickly. I’ll be making a pair for myself, too, to wear while playing video games. My hands get very cold here in the basement of “Serenity Valley.”

The second arm warmer, started. The yarn is Red Heart’s “Soft Yarn” in Ember. I chose this yarn because the colors looked like ones Aunt Net might enjoy and it’s acrylic, so I don’t have to worry about her allergy to wool. It’s not as nice as working with wool, but it’s not anywhere near as nasty as Red Heart Super Saver (Worst Yarn Ever!). I haven’t had much problem with the yarn splitting and it’s actually soft to the touch, so I’d recommend it to the budget conscious. I still have a slight preference to Caron Simply Soft for my budget acrylic yarn needs, because it comes in a seven ounce skein and is very soft to the touch.

Laying out, all smushed up. I was very concerned at just how small it looks, but it stretches out nicely. I can get it to stretch to a 13 1/2 inch circumference, which should be more than enough for Aunt Net since it doesn’t go all the way to the widest part of the forearm.

On a real live hand (mine). Boy, it stretches out. It will fit an even bigger hand than mine, I’m sure.

Palm Side Up.

Now, I just have to finish arm warmer number two and then worry about whether or not she’ll like them.