The Aftermath...and Superdogs!

Christmas...an orgy of presents and food. My parents arrived on Christmas Eve and my husband's brother and sister arrived Christmas Day (with their respective spouses/offspring/dog) for Christmas dinner...so the event is a busy blur of wrapping paper, gifts, food and drink. Oh and mess. Boxing Day was spent putting the house to rights. If I can find the photos that I took, I'll post something Christmasy this week.

Instead, I'll post about DH's surprise gift...tickets to the Superdogs tonight! Yeah, it's a guilty pleasure. I've been known to drag the pups to the CNE or Royal Agricultural Winter Fair JUST to see the Superdogs. Heck, I think that Clare and I were 2 of maybe 150 paying customers to see Daniel and the Superdogs in a theatre! (see ancient post) March 7, 2005.

Anyway, DH surpised E, C and I at lunch today with tickets to the Superdogs show in Oshawa tonight. Here we are:



Note the blue thing in the foreground? That's the rail...yeah baby...front row seats!!



Clare invited her closest, similary dog-obsessed friend Julia to come with us!



Here are the girls at the "Celebrity Dog Meet and Greet" after the event



Ellery was smitten with a weiner dog...and his 11 year old handler was quite taken with Ellery. (with three daughters this is pretty much gonna be my life for the next decade or so, right?)

Not much knitting to report. I'm a bit ahead on my knit-disabling hand/finger injury this year. A couple years ago I burnt my finger on a baking tray and last year I logged several hours in an ER getting a kitchen knife-related middle finger injury stitched up. This year I figured I'd beat the January rush and injure myself on Christmas Eve. I took Haley out for a walk and managed to slip and fall on some ice. Falling would have been bad enough, but I caught myself with my arm stretched out behind me and now it hurts from my thumb to the nape of neck...with no painless points in between.

When I do rally, I'm a handful of finishing seams and a collar away from a finished object for Clare! Stay tuned!

Yums and Yucks....

That's what Clare's teacher calls the morning Grade 3 circle time. Each child has an opportunity to share a Yum or a Yuck that has happened in her life with her classmates.

My Yum...

Isn't it, well, Yummy? It's a holiday present from Maggie, a skein of her delectable handdyed mediumweight sock yarn. She picked out the colours and dyed it just for me! How special is that?? It made me all squidgy at SNB on Tuesday. (check out her other fabulous wares at Dyed in the Wool )




It is so lovely that I truly wish I was a more accomplished sock knitter! Look at the beautiful shades of turquoise and teal...reminiscent of...

My Yuck!



Or more appropriately Haley's yuck. At lunchtime today the plumbing under the sink sprung a leak. In order to trace the leak, I quickly cleared out everything in the undersink cabinet with a broom for later disposal. While hiding under the sink with a flashlight, looking for drips, I heard Clare say "Mom, Haley's chewing gum". Not quite. I had a mouse poison cube hidden deep in the back of the trash cabinet just in case the mice managed to get in to the house via the backyard hose connection.

Anyway, mayhem ensued. Calls to the vet, digging through the basement to find the packaging for the poison (I'd only used one cube ages ago and could scarcely remember where I'd hidden the rest.) A drive to the vet's office at speeds slightly exceeding posted limits.

I won't keep you in suspense. Haley is fine. The vet administered an emetic (ick...TMI) and some activated charcoal and sent her home with Vitamin K pills as a precaution, but the truth is she probably ingested a "Less than Lethal" dosage for a mouse...and she does weigh 75 pounds.

Funny isn't it...my first brush with accidental poisoning and I've been a mum for 10 years now.

That's Why I Married Him...

Because he makes me laugh...

When you've been a couple as long as DH and I have (8 blissful years DH claims...we've been married for 15) it's easy to forget the little charms that attracted you to each other in the first place. Occasionally, when you aren't looking, you catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye.

DH is a notoriously difficult person to shop for. For the most part, he doesn't care much for "things" and cares even less to pay for "things". When asked what he would like for Christmas, DH's stock answers include "lasting peace in the Middle East" or a "really workable strategy for sustainable economic growth in China". In less altruistic moments a "powder blue 1974 Mustang Mach II with white leather interior and Jennifer Connelly in the passenger's seat" also makes the list.





So when DH blurted out of nowhere yesterday, "hey, I know what you and the kids could get me for Christmas...one of those snazzy snowshovels like the neighbours have!", I had a mission.



And mission it was. I hit half a dozen hardware stores and bigbox chain stores (you know who you are) to return home exhausted, humiliated and empty handed. And then I remembered DH's sense of humour. Sending me out 48 hours after the largest snowstorm in a lifetime to acquire a snowshovel...brilliant. I can't accurately describe the looks of delight, barely contained guffaws, tearing eyes and sips of coffee expelled through nostrils, in short, the brief but sweet moments of complete mirth that I provided for overworked, abused and underappreciated retail workers today.

He makes me laugh...or a laughing stock...I forget which.

Anyway, while zipping around looking for snow removal equipment, I did manage to drop off the first 4 of my teacher presents:

Everlasting Bagstoppers packaged with a delightful selection of homemade baked goods and a Tim Horton's card! (For anyone interested: cranberry swirl cake, snickerdoodles, my MILs holiday bars and chocolate espresso cookies!)

Clare posing with teacher gift. Ignore the booze bottle in the background, the kids know its off limits before 5pm.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yup, 43 today...yikes that's old. Fortunately, I was distracted from my depressing enumeration by a fabulous and timely birthday present...ta da!



NOT! Despite the fact that it looked like this outside today:



(Rumoured to be the city's worst snowstorm in 60 years!)

I did not receive a snowblower for my birthday. DH swears WE don't need one. Curiously enough, DH is always at work when the snow falls, so from his perspective, our driveway is remarkably clear of snow all winter without a snowblower. Perhaps he believes it to be the work of elves?


This morning was the children's Christmas Pageant at church, so despite the weather, E, C and I were out and about bright and early. I think that there were more kids in the play than attendees at the service, but they had a blast anyway! Uncle Ross was invited out to see the play and have lunch with us, but the foot of snow kept him home. Oh well, we missed him but ...more cranberry strudel cake and sausage/egg casserole for us!

That's Clare and Ellery on the left side of photo.


And Clare the narrator, up at the lecturn.

Getting Back Up

Ok...in the last week and a bit, the car has been restored to an operational status again after numerous trips to the local service station, I've wrapped 60+ presents (don't ask...but at least it kept me productive while house-bound), participated in a couple glue-gun/popsicle stick/dried fruit holiday craft afternoons with a Grade 3 class, shuffled kids to the dentist and eye doctor, missed my SNB evening due to family illness and whipped up one pre-holiday finished object as an antidote to Everlasting Bag-pergatory...
Juliet by ZephyrStyle Although in fairness, I should also credit Ravelry, cuz I doubt this pattern would ever have made my radar if I hadn't been trolling through member projects looking for something to do with eight skeins of Goa.



Voila, Ellery's new Juliet Cardigan. It's made from the Goa in my stash and the only pattern modification was to rip out and reknit the lace panel with one fewer repeats to conserve yarn while preserving the proportion of the garment. When I've had a chance to pick out some frogs or buttons, I'll post a picture of Ellery modelling it. Juliet is surprisingly flattering and equally surprisingly loved by my picky oldest dd.





Oh yeah, this knitting from stash thing...great idea in principle, but the heart-stopping nature of finishing a garment with this as leftovers:



is really getting old fast.

Oh yeah, BTW the mystery illness has receded to a merely annoying wet hack, so I'm good to to for this weekend's excitement including a trial overnight stay for Boo at a respite centre (that should be restful for the family...NOT), swimming, Christmas Pageant rehersal and getting a jumpstart on the gross or so of cookies that I need for Tuesday's Cookie Exchange!

Anyone have an absolutely fabulous Christmas Cookie recipe??