Window Peeper

I walked into the kitchen this morning and found this squirrel standing on its hind legs, front legs and nose pressed to the glass peering in at us.  By the time I got the camera up and running it had turned its back as if to say "I wasn't looking at nothing."  There was also a hawk on the birdbath as I was prepping food to try out a new 1 point breakfast of scrambled eggs with scallions, tomatoes, and cream cheese (pretty yummy but needs a bit of tweaking [of course]) but it flew off before I even got close to the table where the camera is.

Last night at Friday Night Knitting I got to the place where the sleeve stitches of the Black & Blue Shrug get put onto waste yarn and the body of the cardigan gets knitted.  Once it's the length I want it to be, I'll go back to knit the sleeves which I also plan to make a little longer, not a lot but some, then add the neck ribbing, a cool button, and VOILA! I'll have a new sweater.  I really like this pattern; this is the third sweater I've knitted using it, and probably not the last one.



I had big plans today and managed to accomplish most of them.  First thing after our yummy egg breakfast I went downstairs to organize presents to make sure that I had what I thought I had (almost), then I carried up my snowshoes (for birdfeeder filling in deep snow), the wall decorations Mom & Dad made in their retired-crafter days (Dad cut out the plaques and Mom painted the letters and Scrooge; they collected fallen palm fronds on Florida golf courses, cut off the frond part, inverted the part that attached to the tree, and turned them into Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer wall decor--kinda goofy but it makes me smile remembering how thrilled Dad was with them), got the kitchen table "chandelier" decked out for the season, and the box o'tree and tote of ornaments upstairs.  Maybe I'll find the Yule Log on On-Demand when I'm done with this and make a start.
 










I spent more time than I anticipated downstairs wrapping and packing up gifts for the Kentucky contingent, all ready to take to the USPS on Monday.  I will not be taking it to UPS because DS is a seasonal driver for them this month and is working his tail off.  I refuse to contribute to that for another mother's son.  It's the same instinct that makes me line up the grocery carts in the corrals, DS worked as a bag boy and cart wrangler in high school.  I reshelve library books and put bolts of fabric away because DD worked at the library in high school and a fabric store in KY.  (I know, I need help, but at least I'm helping make things tidy.)  Can somebody tell me why it takes so darned long to wrap gifts?  I'm not that much of a wrapping klutz but filling this 12x12x12 box took nearly 2 hours.  Sheesh.


December 16--Anonymous, Children Playing in Snow in Paris, c. 1930.  Cleo sat on top of the ball of snow like a figurehead.  Her black curls contrasted nicely with the white snow.  Amelie, Leo, and Georgette had meant to make a snowman.  They finished the big ball for the base but before they got the middle ball made Cleo leaped atop the big snowball and sat there like a queen on her throne.  If they pulled her down, she got back up once they let go of her collar.  Not even a dog biscuit that Leo pulled from his pocket enticed her down.  Granted the biscuit was full of lint but most dogs aren't as picky as Cleo was.

 
Will I go work on the tree or will I sit and knit?  Maybe I'll hold my knitting and doze off on the couch.  Only time will tell.
--Barbara