Happy New YearHappy New Year!
Taking a quick break from cleaning for my New Year's Eve party (small, kids invited. We'll watch the ball drop at 11, and I expect the party to wind down quickly afterwards.) Still, cleaning and a bit of cooking must be done. Menu is spinach dip, chocolate fondue (with pears, apples, bananas, and angel food cake for dipping), and the usual veggies, cheese and crackers, nuts, etc. Just a simple party. (I keep telling myself that).
It will be nice, after reeling from the reports of the tsunami destruction to spend time with good friends. Please give!
I've been fascinated by this page -
Amazon Tsunami Relief donations. It was set up on the 28th - hit 1 million around 6am on the 29th, 2 million that same day... Yesterday afternoon it was up to 5.5 million, and as I write this its at 9.3 million. Refreshing the page reminds me how, while I can be unhappy with trends in American life these days, I can still be proud to be part of this generous group. (OK... not all the donations are from the US, probably - but with donations going to the American Red Cross, I'd expect most of them to be). Anyways, just wonderful to refresh the page and see the donations rise.
May all of you have a happy and safe New Year!
Just a quick post -
Christmas was Great. My family even cleaned on Thursday when they got here :-)
The weekend was filled with family goodness, church programs, and lots of cooking. I'm still recovering . Actually, I started catching cold today.
This week is off of work, so I'm taking advantage of it to catch up with some long-abandoned house projects. Like finding the bottom of my library/yarn storage room.
Tomorrow I start preparing for a New Year's party, see the Big One in the final performance from her acting class this week, and go see "A Year With Frog and Toad" again at the Children's Theater - its a GREAT show.
Not much knitting has been happening. A couple rows here and there, but I've been kinda tired in the evenings.
Maybe I'll post over the weekend. Elsewise, Happy New Year, everyone!
This week has become more hectic than I expected.
I was expecting company Friday and Saturday, and Sunday. This expanded to company on Thursday as well- dinner and present exchange. Then, that expanded to company coming on Thursday before I'm off work, (and I was taking off early to come home and finish cleaning). Somehow, I wasn't asked when would be a good time for my family to show up -noone will be home. They offered to help clean. I'm taking them up on the offer.
Friday I spend most of the afternoon at church, doing some more rehearsing on the Christmas play, then doing it during 2 services. Saturday is large Turkey dinner for 9. And presents.
And, after swearing off knitting Christmas presents... I knit a scarf this week for Sabrina's teacher. Turned out well - Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in cream, 1 repeat of Feather and Fan bordered by a 6 sts. garter stitch edge. Its SO yummy feeling. Tempted to keep it.... but, no.
I'll be posting again Monday -maybe Tuesday. Whenever I recover....
Happy Holidays to all!!
I do feel stupid.
When I changed my template in November, I broke my commenting code. The sad part - I didn't notice.
With Norma's contest, and Wendy's comments on comments this week, I was feeling especially sorry for myself. Why? Because I haven't gotten a comment since NOVEMBER. Turns out - its ALL MY FAULT! I was missing a single line in my template.
BAH!
So. I've been comment deprived. Please feel free to comment at any time now :)
(I did consider boosting my stats with a contest... but that was even too lemmingish for me. Maybe if I reach a milestone, I'll do one.)
EDIT - somehow this didn't post on Tuesday. And, somehow I've screwed up my comments. And, I was feeling all bad for myself that I wasn't getting any - show's me. END EDIT.
So, this is my bitch-and-moan, not very charitable/Christmasy feeling post. Fair warning.
Last night I went to the
Barenaked Ladies Christmas concert. Wonderful concert - I
love their music. They have a wicked sense of humor, and I'm a sucker for puns. We had great seats, and we brought the Big One (who also had a great time). BNL has a new Christmas CD out - well worth the price. (I hadn't listened to it before the concert, but have now)
The concert was very good - BNL played well (no surprise there). I was surprised that the "opening act" was a local jr. high choir - Shakopee. They were excellent, did a couple pieces on their own, then sang with BNL on a few songs. BNL sang new songs, and old favorites. The only song I missed was the "Postcards with Chimpanzees" song from last fall... which is pretty good. I had a wonderful time.
Except.
Behind us. 3 women. I think they had already had a couple before coming in. And, they came in carrying another drink each. Good Lord, did they have loud voices... they didn't shut up while the kids choir sang. When BNL came out, they still didn't stop talking. (Loudly - I think the people in the row ahead of us could hear them). I was gifted with the information that one of the women thinks "the one in the tan shirt and glasses is the cutest one - isn't that ridiculous". After they talked through the second BNL song, the people behind them rather forcefully told them to shut up and listen to the music. For some reason, the women thought that the people around them should "just ignore them"... This escalated a bit, until I was surprised that a fight didn't break out. One of the nice people in the row behind me went out and called in security. The nice security guys stood in the aisle for a while. This shut them up for a while.
As the concert went on, they stayed mostly quiet. Then, they spilled on my coat about 2 songs from the end... they apologized, but, boy, did they hightail it out of the theater when the show was done. The people around us sympathized - we thanked the woman who called security, and we left.
RANT
Why don't people have basic courtesy for others at concerts like this? Its not like the tickets were cheap. We weren't in their living room. Then, when asked to be quiet, they almost took it as an insult - their neighbor's fault for not being able to ignore them. I HATE THIS. Those who regularly read my blog may remember a similar issue at a Sarah McLauglin concert (see 9/7/2004). I'm ready to make a deal out of this (remember, I'm a Minnesotan of Norweigan descent. We don't make issues of things
)
Done ranting. Thanks for listening.
Pictures!
Its been a busy couple weeks. We kicked off the Christmas season with a bang. My husband's choir sang at the
Augsburg Vespers. That was 4 concerts on Dec 3 and 4, along with rehearsals all week prior. Granted, he wore a tux for this event - pretty snazzy. And, it'll be on TV, at least locally. Our local public TV is showing it on Dec. 23. They are making it available to other Public TV stations as well, so if you see the Augsburg Advent Vespers on your Public TV station, watch it! It was a wonderful concert!
But, that made the week just a bit more hectic. I've switched on Tuesday from directing my choir to working with the drama kids, as I'm playing the Mom in the Christmas pageant. Last week my choir girls were somewhat distraught that I wasn't working with them - its kinda nice to be missed. I'm enjoying flexing my drama muscle, though. And, playing a harried mom is not much of a stretch!
On Dec. 5 we went to see
A Year With Frog and Toad at the
Children's Theater. This is a wonderful show. They premiered it last season, then took it to Broadway - a first for a MN-created show. Where it was nominated for 3 Tonys... (In part to this show bringing them to the Theater Wing's attention, the MN Children's Theater took the Regional Theater Tony last year). Its wonderful... its based on the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. His daughter drove the production, and did the set design. My husband and older daughter went last year - we only get 2 season tickets since the little one has been too little. This year we took her as well. I loved it, the little one loved it, and we have been listening to the
soundtrack. (I especially love the Snail with the Mail song, and "Toad looks funny in a bathing suit")
My singing group has started our Christmas rounds of concerts at local nursing homes. 2 concerts every Wednesday from now to Christmas. Much fun!
And, I'm still working on getting my recital put together. I've got almost all of my music memorized...I find memorizing Italian somewhat difficult.
Oddly enough, I am getting some knitting done. See - I'm about half done with Lara.
The 2000 stitches that were the left front/back section took FOREVER. I'm now just starting the left front ribbing. The yarn is heavenly to work with. And I love the color.
And, I've started work on my Kersti Ribby sleeve. Not much done.
And, I've been using Kersti scraps to make a wristwarmer. Pattern from
Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - a wonderful book. I'm quite impressed by it. Worth picking up - the patterns are easy without lacking style, and without the clunky look many quick-knits have.
PS. I'm feeling very lemmingly - and am working on my 100 thing list. Oh, well...
Still here.
Got stuck thinking about a 100 things list - its taking a bit.
Got busy.
Still knitting. No pictures - Lara is a lot of stockinette stitch.
Be back with a real post Monday.
