Under the weather

I'm sick.
Our family spent the entire school holiday sick, and now I'm still sick (or sick again, which is probably more accurate).
This morning, I may or may not have called the doctor and cried on her voicemail when she still was out of office close to noon...because I wanted to come in that badly.
She did greet me with a hug when I went in at 12:30, because I was such a sad case.  She also gave me meds, instruction to rest and a side order of "call Hubby and tell him you need him to come home sooner than later".  Bless her.
Hubby did come home sooner than later, ordered pizza for dinner and completely took over.  Bless him.
Which is great, because this morning while I was calling the doctor crying, sewage was backing up into the basement (again) and I spent the only hours both girls were at school this afternoon working with the plumber.  Glub-glub-burbling-noises are not good noises when made by sewage bubbling up into your house.
But those noises do buy serious pity points with a friend who then offers to look after your littles for an hour after school so you can take that much needed and recently prescribed nap in the interim before Hubby comes home.  Bless her.

What a day.  Full of so very many good things that followed some bad things.  Better to end with the good, I say.
Wishing you a healthy start to your week!

Christmas daze

Greetings, friends!  How was your Christmas?  Two of four of us woke up sick with colds on Christmas morning and have been in various states of ick ever since.  Between the fevers and coughing and the winter storm, we ended up changing our travel plans for this holiday.  Alas.  At least we are all together, and it doesn't mean we aren't having any fun.



Check out these crazy elf hats (finished Christmas night and raveled here).



I'm a bit addicted to knitting them at the moment, I'm afraid.  As soon as the girls tried these on, I cast on for another...and have 3 more in the works.  It's entirely possible that I've gotten carried away, but I don't care.  They are too funny!

Wishing you a warm, relaxing holiday time with your loved ones.

Christmas tree bokeh

Today was one of the most ridiculous days, start to finish.  So many things didn't go according to plan, so many sassy mouths and surly attitudes (and from not kids!)...it makes me want to look forward to the end of this "season of loving togetherness and giving" so people will calm down about twelve notches.

And then, I paused at the end of this long, crazy day.  I remembered how many of the bloggers I enjoy have paused to take a bokeh snap of their Christmas trees, so in that moment I decided to do the same.



So beautiful.  I felt the stress melt away.
Amateur photography as a metaphor?
Stop fussing about all those details.  Let the focus shift and blur.
All those worries and strains and rudeness issues other people are having don't have to be my problem. This season can be as it is intended to be, if only we just pause and remember.

Hitchhiker scarf

It was nearly a month of dedicated garter-stitching, but I did it.  I knit the ever-popular-on-ravelry Hitchhiker scarf as a Christmas gift for my daughter's beloved 2nd grade teacher.

With handmade gifts, I long ago learned that you have to enjoy the process and the result yourself, because you can never be sure how the recipient will respond.  The person might not like it.  She might not know how much effort and planning it takes, and even if she did, she might wish you'd just gone with a gift certificate instead.  It's not that I expect this to be the case, but really, you never know, so you have to be happy with it...and I am!

The pattern was super-simple and very satisfying.  I do not typically enjoy knitting scarves (too monotonous!), but this pattern was very approachable, even for me.  Each tooth requires 8 rows of knitting, so I could feel the progress and I always knew where the next stopping point was.  I'm sure the Noro yarn helped, because I do love watching those color changes.  This is called the Hitchhiker scarf because the original pattern and yarn yields 42 points.  I only reached 40 before capitulating to mild tendonitis and moderate readiness to move on.  It is over 6 feet long, so I doubt that's a problem!




Again, I'm not sure if she will like it or wear it, but I hope she does.
Meanwhile, I'm very tempted to knit another one.
There is a perfect red variegated yarn in my stash...

Peanut-butter-and-Nutella "pop-hearts"

Finding myself without bread or tortillas or pita and having 2 hungry kiddos in the house, I quickly whizzed some flour, salt, butter and ice water in the food processor and made plain pie crust.  Quick as a flash, I rolled it out, cut it with my largest heart-shaped cookie cutter and spread each heart with peanut butter and Nutella (one girl is a self-proclaimed jelly hater).  I placed another heart on top and crimped the edges with a fork.  10 minutes at 400F and voila!  Homemade "Pop-hearts"!



I thought these were absolutely darling and irresistible...therefore, the girls wouldn't touch them.
Thank goodness there was string cheese in the fridge, right?

Carrying on

I still feel striken by Friday's events.  My heart just aches, and every new detail released makes me feel sick.
But.
It doesn't feel right to wallow.  It isn't my grief to share, so I'm going to move on in this space.  I'm going to post about baking and kids and crafting, because those are the simple daily pleasures that perhaps might help us all feel a bit better from time to time.

Yesterday

Yesterday, my children went to school and played with friends and laughed and sang and squabbled and cuddled and slept.  The same day was a day of unspeakable horror for families in Connecticut.  As a mother, I feel devastated beyond words. As a citizen, I feel anger and frustration and a sense of futility in the face of "freedom" that allows tragedies like these to occur.

My girls are 7 and 4.  I don't know how much to tell them or even if I should tell them.  I know it is better to present them with facts and let them ask questions, to try to address their fears one by one and reassure them that we will do whatever we can to keep them safe.

I awoke this morning once again filled with heartbreak and incomprehension and deepest compassion for the children and families affected by this tragedy.  My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to them.  Never before has a traditional holiday wish for peace or comfort carried more weight.