A New Year and Only 2 Weeks to Go (Maybe!)

Happy New Year!!!

It's a pretty exciting start to the year for me. Today, I am 38 weeks pregnant which means 'full term' from this point on, though the due date is calculated to 40 weeks.

This week, I'll do some final organization of the nursery and house, pack hospital bags for myself and the baby and do whatever last minute shopping I can think of. I will have the usual doctor appointment and make arrangements with the blood bank to donate/publicly store cord blood. I will also relax and do some knitting.

Lately, I have been busy cutting tags off of baby clothes and washing everything. I managed to order the Chicco playard online in our first choice of color (blue) and on sale, so I'm excited for that to arrive. It also functions as a 'gym' mat, changing table and bassinet. I think we will use it downstairs when we don't want to be going back and forth to the nursery upstairs. Although, I've been thinking about using it next to our bed too...so there are some decisions to be made still. Fortunately, it's supposed to be quite portable.

On a trip around to the stores, we got the Baby Einstein soother which is now hanging in the crib. It lights up and plays music or bubbling water sounds while the fish 'swim'. It can be operated by remote from the doorway too. It might be very handy when the baby is ready to start adapting to sleeping longer.

Also on a recent shopping trip, we got a new compact camera that also does HD video at 1080p! It's better than any other camera I've had except, being compact, it has less zoom capability than my former best camera. It was on sale too!

(shopping photos from Amazon.com)

I still need to get the video baby monitor and a humidifier soon, but a lot of other things are not urgent at this point, thankfully!

I had Jeff snap some pictures of me today to celebrate and record reaching full term. I feel way happier and less tired than these pictures seem to show! But, here I am at 38 weeks with no makeup, bloated, maternity pants trying to fall down and a dubious expression that says I'm questioning whether I really want to be recording this!

At least the baby was centered for these...at times, he really lists off to one side or the other and I look really funny. Even the doctor stepped back and squinted at my stomach at my last appointment!

Incidentally, today was so warm here that I went outside in just a t-shirt! It's hard to believe it's January 1st when it feels like it could be the first day of spring!

Christmas

We had a quiet, but happy Christmas. Although we were feeling very festive, we only put up a couple of strings of lights and a jingle bell wreath on the door. I was sure if we did the usual amount of decorating, the baby would come early and there would be a new baby and decorations to take down all at the same time. I didn't want to risk having decorations up until March or something!

Jeff and I didn't do surprise gifts for each other, but I did get him a new video game (Uncharted 3) to play during his vacation and we had a few surprise presents to open from family. I got some Cascade Pacific yarn for baby knits from my mother. There were a few more things for the baby too, like a touch and feel farm animals book.

Christmas afternoon, I cast on with the new yarn for the newborn sized Easy Baby Cardigan and knit most of the body portion. Yesterday evening and today, I was able to finish up the body, complete the sleeves, seam the hood and weave in the ends. I may make ties to hold the front together as shown in the original, but first I am going to check some stores for other kinds of closures. I keep thinking snaps might be nice. It is such a good pattern that I might make the 12 month old size as well. I have plenty of the same yarn for that too. I might add buttonholes for that or possibly sew in a zipper.

Front view of the Easy Baby Cardigan.

Back view showing the cute, pointy hood.

I haven't gone out shopping the day after Christmas in years, but planned on it this year. I had a $20 coupon to spend at Williams Sonoma (from spending $100 on presents there before Christmas), so I was excited to pick something out for the kitchen. I got a fun cake pan in the shape of a tree stump. It is a different take on the yule log. It is quite adorable decorated for Christmas with meringue or marzipan mushrooms, mice or other woodland things. I think it could be fun other times of year too! At Easter, I could decorate it with chocolate bunnies and a chocolate/coconut bird's nest and jelly bean or Cadbury eggs. For kids, I could make it with some gummy worms or bugs, LOL! We also got some hot chocolate which I may wait to open until February/Valentine's Day. I can make it up in the Breville Milk Cafe I got last year. And, we got a box of Peppermint Bark. That may not make it past New Year's as it is so moreish. Everything was at least half price before the coupon was even rung in! If only one could always do that much shopping for under $20 at Williams Sonoma!

We saw lots of good sales, but the only other shopping we did was at Baby Gap and Carter's. We found 3 of the cutest onesies at Gap marked down to $2.99!! We got 9 outfits at Carter's where everything we picked was between 40 and 70% off and then we were surprised with an additional 20% taken off at the checkout.

We topped off the day with lunch out at Chipotle and later had lattes too! I think I might be back into the habit of shopping on the 26th ;)

Well, next year should be our most exciting Christmas ever, the first with our son. I can't wait to start celebrating holidays with him!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are using the holiday weekend to work on things that need doing around here. Today, we did the remaining garden cleanup which consisted of cutting eggplant and pepper plants and carrying them to the burn pile, pulling up stakes, picking up bricks and removing plastic mulch. Then, Jeff tilled the entire garden. I love seeing it all neatened up for winter and waiting for the spring planting!

The light is getting very slanted and wintry looking.

There were lots of chickadees flitting about the trees near us and V's of geese honking overhead.

It was quite a beautiful day for being outside. I hope we get a couple more good days for outside work. There are some leaves to rake, though not like other years, and I need to neaten up the patio area. Then, the burn pile needs to be torched.

Tomorrow, Jeff will work on the nursery doors and maybe that bit of trim for over the cubbies. I'll work on house projects too.

I'm just eating little meals that are healthy and full of protein, so I didn't do the Big Feast this year. We ate pretty much normally and I made some mini quiches in a muffin tin for dinner filled with turkey sausage, broccoli, onion and cheese. They were delicious. If you ever want to not overeat during the holidays, just time a pregnancy so you are in your last trimester then! I've actually lost a few pounds lately and the doctor says that often happens as you have less and less room.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year! You can imagine I am especially thankful that the nursery is finally functional!!!

Happy New Year!

I've never been very good at making *new* New Year's resolutions. I tend to just re-commit to the old standard ones like save more/spend less, eat healthfully/exercise... I think I do pretty well with these at this point, but there is always some room for improvement. I also set my mind to new goals whenever the mood strikes, at any time of year. But I do like the feeling of 'newness' of the New Year!

My main short term goal at the moment is to get busy looking at the garden catalogs, focus on what I actually need and do some seed orders. I could be winter sowing now! But even if I don't get going with the sowing until February and beyond, it will be ok, as long as I get the seed packets as soon as possible and develop a plan for the garden.

I love looking at all the beautiful pictures of veg and flowers in the catalogs. I start to suffer this time of year, from missing all the fresh foods from the garden! I do the best I can with what I have frozen and what the grocery store offers.

Yesterday's grocery shopping trip really reflected our cravings as it was all lettuce and salad type veg! Today, I washed and chopped all the Romaine we'd bought, stored most of it in the fridge, and made up a big bowl of Greek inspired salad for lunch. We'll probably eat like this for several days or even a week, and then, I'll feel like making some winter food again like soups. I want to try the cauliflower and cheddar soup in the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution book. I also want to do some curries.

I try not to make this blog about 'OMG, look what I bought!', but we have just been through the season of some moderate indulgences and I am so excited about a kitchen appliance that Jeff and I bought the other day at Williams Sonoma when we were out shopping at Garden City. I'd been admiring it all fall since first seeing it in the catalog. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I broke down and got it, but now that I've used it--I am in awe! I still don't understand how it works--it seems like magic! If you love lattes or cappuccinos or hot cocoa, and make them at home all the time, this is for you! It is the Breville Electric Milk Frother.

It wasn't on display in the store, so I figured they did not have it, but when I asked at the checkout, low and behold, they had it out back. It seemed meant to be!

One of the best things about my coffee set up at this point is that I can make more than one nice cappuccino or latte at a time, and share!

Christmas 2010

It is hard to be sick on Christmas! But we usually have a laid back xmas, so we don't feel like we were are really missing out, we are just tired of being sick and tired! I tried to give us healing food for dinner last night: soup! It's made with tomatoes from our garden, spinach and tortellini. We sprinkled parm on top.

We had zucchini bread for breakfast.

We all opened our pressies this morning. Bandit got treats and catnip. Saffy got a 'funky chicken' and Silas got a rope toy with some leather braided into it. In this video, Saffy takes the rope from Silas and then if you are watching closely, you will see that Silas sneaks in and grabs the chicken! They always want what the other one gets!

Of course, I took a lot of stills too. Here is Silas opening his present. He needs encouragement, but eventually gets it open!

Saffy is excited when it is her turn.

She needs no help or encouragement at all!

Before she plays with 'funky chicken', she has to finish shredding the paper.


Paper is the 'enemy'!!! Destroy!!!

Later, one has to see what the other dog has and steal it. Saffy with the rope.

Silas with the funky chicken.

Jeff gave me some really special Emma Bridgewater pottery for Christmas. The little jug is so sweet and will match some cherry plates and cereal bowls exactly and mix and match with some other motifs.

This is the Hellebore comport for serving up some sweet treats. I have a lot of other Hellebore pieces to use this with. I love this pattern and was so surprised to get a comport as they are discontinued in this motif.

And, meet Pip and Penny!! My beautiful spotty terriers!!! They are placed on top of my computer cabinet where I see them all the time. I love them--in fact I want to squeal with happiness when I look at them =)

I was so lucky to get these and some other lovely things like fleece mitts, lotion/lip gloss, soaps, stove top espresso maker, and two knitting books. They are both Rowan books. One of them is a collection of Studio designs from issues I don't have...a kind of 'best of' and they are actually the ones I like a lot. And the other is a Martin Storey book called Nordic Knits. I think this is probably a compilation too, as one or two patterns are familiar, but all the others are new to me for sure.

Jeff mostly got books along with a couple CD's and video games, so he is happy too! Best of all, he has a nice long vacation. I'm sure he will spend some of it mastering the new games.

Normally, we would go biking or hiking today, but with the sickness, I think we will stay warm and cozy indoors. I hope everyone else is having a good time and I look forward to seeing what Santa brought you!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Despite having some sort of flu, we are ready here. Today, Saffy had a little 'warm up' paper tearing session, so she will be all set for xmas morning. She *loves* the paper!!!

After it's all torn, it should be rolled in. It's much better with huge amounts of paper though! Note the vacuum cleaner in the background......!

Gingerbread Cookies

These are my first holiday cookies of the season! They are from an old issue of Everyday Food, a cookie special edition that I really like.

Random Update

Christmas preparations are coming along nicely. I just have a few more presents to get and cards to write out and then I can start on grocery lists for some special meals and baking. Although some boxes are shipped directly from the sources, others I prepare myself and include homemade canned goods from our garden. You can see it's time to go to the post office!! I will be happy to have the space back in my dining room and be able to get to the drinks cabinet again, which is the right half of the server. With this cold weather, one needs a warming nip of something! Perhaps the dogs should start carrying brandy flasks on our walks?!

We have been walking most days and only see a few other people out there. By 'see' I mean there are bodies wrapped head to toe with no skin showing and muffled 'hellos'! The dogs really stare at people in balaclavas. Yesterday, one guy was obviously worried we would be scared of him in his full face mask and from quite a distance started saying hello and that he was not trying to scare anyone, LOL! I think you can sense the cold from the picture--that is the *mid-day* sun taken today!

Jeff has such a bad cold and has just about lost his voice. The dogs are giving him no respect!! They think he sounds like a squeaky toy and don't do anything he tells them to. If I catch it too, they will really be doing anything they please! We know they can hear a whisper and understand hand gestures, but they deliberately play stupid! They are so naughty sometimes!

Jeff and I have a tradition of holiday Scrabble games. Yesterday, Jeff bought us a fancy new board that rotates! It is black and silver and sparkles in the Christmas lights. We tried it out last night and it must have brought me luck. In one of my last few moves, I got rid of a pesky Q by playing quagmire on a triple word score. That, combined with the bonus for using all 7 tiles got me 101 points!!

P.S. I uploaded a new blog banner picture. It's a carved swan ornament on our tree.

Feeling Festive

I feel like we 'kicked off' the Christmas Season this weekend, starting with a fun surprise birthday party for a friend on Friday.

Saturday, Jeff and I went to Bellevue Avenue in Newport to look in some of the shops. I was specifically looking for local stockists of Emma Bridgewater pottery, but as I suspected, they have not been there for years, although references to them remain online. It would have been fun to find EB in a store display, but I am sure I get the best deals ordering from the source when they have sales or coupons. There were other nice shops to look in and I was able to find a couple of Christmas presents for people on my list.

At one shop, the salesman was working on a display of jewelry. Knowing that I wasn't looking for anything for me, I walked by, avoiding making 'eye contact' with the undoubtedly alluring items! Silly Jeff, browsing along behind me, stopped short and said something like 'did you see how sparkly these are?!'. Of course, I instantly sprang back to the case and, like a bower bird, was enthralled by a blue and silver ring. It fit! It wasn't even that costly! I couldn't wait for Christmas day--it is just too fun to have a cocktail ring to wear all season. It even goes well with a necklace I got on sale 2-3 years ago from Ann Taylor Loft that has blue, green and smoky 'stones'. I am keeping its tiny, pink box under the tree, even though it isn't often in there!

(I quite like this photo, even if it is yet another view of the dining room table!!)

It goes perfectly with my favorite nail polish of the moment, a dark navy blue.

After our little shopping spree, we went out to lunch in Newport at Crowley's Casino Pub, next to the Tennis Hall of Fame. We were seated in the 'porch', where we could bask in the sunbeams streaming in the windows and look out at the grass tennis court and pretty, old buildings. We had different kinds of burgers, both served on sourdough toast.

Back home again in the evening, I laid out some nibbles. I had to have some tea to wake me up before sipping the wine!

And we decorated the tree and put some roping on the stairway. Over the next few days, I will set out some of the other small trinkets here and there.

I think there are more ornaments than tree, but I quite like it smothered like that! I have to try not to find more ornaments I like as I already have to skip having any duplicates on the tree.

First Holiday Shopping

I ended up doing a little holiday shopping the day before Halloween this year. Jeff and I went to the shopping village in Mystic, CT, for some wandering around outside and browsing. I almost didn't even go into the xmas ornament store, but after was so glad I did! I love the ornaments I found and can't wait to put them on the tree this year.

This little pinata is incredibly sparkly, bright and cute in person! My photo doesn't do it justice.

The donkey is so sweet looking.

A horsey for my horse ornament collection.

When I saw this, I had to get it! It is so goofy and a perfect ornament for Jeff.

Happy Holidays!

I thought it was about time for a little blog update to say Happy Holidays to you! We're enjoying the season here and have brightened our house with a table top tree in the living room. There is a tiny tree with mini ornaments in the dining room and strings of lights in the windows, doorways and outside on the porch. The cards are up along with some Santa's, reindeer and shiny trinkets. We'll keep things up until just after New Year's Eve.

Bandit got a new bed and various cardboard boxes. He's been as snug as a bug in a rug while the dogs have been playing outside.

We had about 5 days of snow, which the dogs were thrilled about! Silas found the buried toys.

Saffy likes to eat snow.

Here is one of my Christmas presents from Jeff, a silver and ruby ring made by a local artist.

There are some pics of the dogs opening their presents here on my cycling blog. My cycling blog has been updated more often lately as there has been more of that than crafting. I go through phases...guess that's normal, right?!

A Fresh Start

I hope everyone had wonderful New Year's Eve celebrations last night and aren't too tired today.

Jeff and I celebrated at home with the pets. We watched the rest of the episodes of My Hero Season 2, one of the shows we got for xmas. I am so bummed that there are no more seasons on DVD yet! Will they hurry up?!

We both used the new computers some and are still stunned by how fast cable high speed is! Later, we tuned into the broadcast from Times Square to see the ball drop.

We indulged in various nibbles, but the real treat was Chocolate Mousse for dessert.

Yes, it is so rich that you might be exposed to some calories just from looking at the picture!

So, on to the new beginnings...

First thing, my sharp new computer monitor allowed me to see that my profile photo was absolutely horrid. So, I've posted a new one that's at least slightly less awful!

I started on Ravelry last night! How fun that is, now that I have cable high speed. Feel free to comment with your identity here so I can make friends...mine is theknittinkitten.

I tend to 'start over' with things throughout the year anytime I feel like I've derailed, but I still like to make a few resolutions.

My crafting ones are:
-Finish things I started in 2007 (Hopefully that won't take all of '08!)
-Make more smaller things, so I have more FO's
-Make a sweater for Jeff
-Start 2008 xmas gifts earlier
-Sew, starting with projects from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts book

I'm still not worried about structuring myself too much. I'm going to permit myself to cast on things on a whim. (I'll count on my blog friends for an intervention if that gets out of hand, ok?!)

My general ones are:
-Eat healthfully and locally/seasonally when possible
-Keep on bicycling!
-Live in the moment and each day to the fullest!

Well, there you have it. I'm so amazed by all the truly inspiring posts people wrote to wrap up '07 and look ahead to '08. Happy New Year everyone and best of luck with your resolutions!

New Year's Eve

Well, the 'dust' is starting to settle here after our Christmas frenzy of buying new computers, accessories and setting up the wireless networking and new cable Internet access. Here's some of the debris:

A lot of boxes ready to be hauled out of the dining room, temporarily used as a new computer staging area!

You saw the Dell desktop in my last post. Today, my new notebook arrived!

I love it, especially the color! See, it goes with my favorite wrist warmers.

So, I've been on the computers most of the day, but I did break to make this French Onion Soup for lunch:

It's a rather boozy version, with a combination of sherry, brandy and white wine, perfectly warming for a winter day.