What day is it again

and why am I at work?

Oh right, work = money = yarn

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year and I have no idea where that year went.

I made one gift this year:

This would be my take on our favorite Harlot's Unoriginal Hat.

This is what happens when I first got to the last three rows and

1. Ran out of yarn
2. Realized I TOTALLY cannot read and missed the cable cross on the first big cable
3. Ripped all the way back and realized I'd have to do my own mod if I wanted to finish it without running out of yarn again.

The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy Thick n' Quick. I chose it because the recipient made an afghan in the same yarn.

I used size 10.5 US (6.5mm ?) because I didn't have any 10.75 US (7mm) DPNs (heck couldn't find any in the shops till AFTER I finished the frakking thing).

In the end it looks like a schizo gumdrop, but the recipient likes it and it fits. Doesn't get much better than that.

We had a busy four day weekend, which started Friday night with the company Christmas party down in South SF.

Nobody bothered to tell me that dark colors were the choice du jour, so boy do I stand out. But I love that dress. It was my wedding dress for wedding to current (lol) hubby.

A good time was had by all.

Saturday started bright and late. Then we tore up the work surfaces in hubby's side of the new office so we could expand his side to give him more desk space. He is much happier now and spent most of the rest of the weekend organizing everything, while I ventured out amongst the lunatic consumers.

Sunday was shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Mostly for food. Hubby was leaving on a quad riding trip the day after Christmas and it's my job to make sure he has way more food than he and Shane could ever eat in 6 days. They might run out of propane on the rig, but they won't run out of food.

Monday was a day of doctor appointments (a friend is sick and I'm morale support), more shopping and last minute gift buying (happens every year sigh) and more organization on hubby's office. I prepped teriyaki pineapple meatball and pineapple chunk shish kabobs for his trip. Loaded a ton of food. We went to a friend's house for dinner and had a lovely time.

Tuesday was the marathon cooking day from h*. Please note that I am not a chef. I do not want to be a chef. I don't even really like food. I eat because I have to. However I will state that I am getting better in the kitchen, which hubby likes.

Here is how Christmas went

• Pancakes
• Bacon
• Toast
• Gaming briefly
• Find an open grocery store because I'm out of sugar for the lemonade and he won't camp without S'more fixings and I forgot the chocolate - I know the blasphemy - I'm female, I knit, I crochet, I quilt and I cross stitch, how in all that's holey did I forget the chocolate?
• Start prep work for homemade mac n cheese - onions, macaroni cooked, destroy cuisinart grating 2 pounds of Cabot's extra sharp white cheddar (man is that stuff good)
• Call MIL and have her talk me through the roux
• Fill two pyrex dishes with Mac n Cheese
• Start the ham
• Forget about the ham (thank goodness for glaze)
• Start the tri-tip
• Make mashed potatoes
• Carmelize pineapple slices for the the glaze
• Drag hubby in for dinner - which was the ham and potatoes and pineapple
• Stuff hubby to gills then have him carve the tri tip
• Shrink wrap the tri-tip in it's juices in sandwich sizes for his trip
• Do same thing with left over ham
• Make lemonade
• Figure out how I'm getting two batches of lemonade in the RV fridge with 2 gallons of milk, a tri tip, two buckets of crab and corn chowder, a 9 x 12 mac n cheese, one giant tub of macaroni salad, oodles of TJ's Maui Ribs, the shish kabobs, left over ham. Thank goodness for left over canning jars from the apple butter marathon of July.
• Pack all the warm clothes hubby owns plus some
• Load his quilt
• Load extra blankets (they are totally going to freeze)
• Collapse into bed

He and Shane were safely off on their trip yesterday evening. I have the house to myself, mostly - we have a house guest, but she's as into doing nothing as I am right now, and boy I don't intend to cook all weekend if I don't have to.

Just me, my knitting, my dogs, my cats, and as many chick flicks as I can stomach between now and Tuesday night. Maybe a quilt thrown in for good measure.

If any of you want to stop by for a chick knit night feel free. My door is open. Just be warned about the dogs and the cats and the anti cooking protest I have going on right now.

I will leave you with a picture of my darling Smokey Cat. Yes he is all fur and no cat. He weights a whopping 7 pounds soaking wet and no that's not a bad thing. FYI, his front feet are as soft as they look as long as he keeps all the pokey ends in.