yipe

Sorry...was trying for a weekly post and, well, pre-Christmas happened. My apologies to all ye adoring fans. =P

I'm in the midst of finishing up homemade presents; this may be the first year that all of my homemade presents get finished before they're wrapped! Woohoo! It's crunch time though, so my days are like this:

-check email
-knit
-drink tea
-knit in a different chair
-eat, return to knitting
-start last row before break, then decide to knit a bit longer since the cat just fell asleep in my lap
-fall asleep with cat
-wake up to feed David
-knit on the project that he knows about while we watch Star Trek

Be impressed at my knitting stamina. =) It's fun, but I'm starting to make dumb mistakes, so it's really really good that the projects are almost done. After this I'm going to sew for a few days just to make some different hand movements.

Pregnancy update: my belly is starting to take on a life of its own, and I'm not talking about baby Daniel. My body holds me, Daniel, and the belly he lives in. It's not as cumbersome as it could be at 6 months, but it still feels really big to me. It's blocking the view of my toes. Daniel's moving a lot; David says his son is a tap-dancing, soccer-playing drummer. We've got a video (VHS) of the last two ultrasounds, which we're packing for the Georgia trip, so you who will be around will be able to see his little face (and legbones and umbilical cord, which are much less cute).

gratuitous cuteness

yay warmth!

It's sooooooooo pretty today. We've got the windows open and everything smells good. I tried to get David to take a picnic in the park with me but he chose instead to be all responsible and stay at work.

This weather is great for tulip-planting procrastinators like me. Apparently they grow their roots while it's warm, then sit there while it's cold, then grow in the spring when it's warm again. We were supposed to plant in October; I put our tulips and daffodils in about a week and a half ago. Fortunately the ground is still warm, so maybe they'll be ok.

Our garden is doing pretty well. Who knew you could have one in the winter? Well, ok, Texas winter is warmish enough that it's not a big surprise...but we've got lettuce and spinach and bok choy and, I think, tiny carrot sprouts coming up among the Grass Invasion. I haven't pulled up much grass for fear of killing the tiny sprouts.

p.s.

one day i'll figure out how to format these posts into a non-annoying shape. You'd think a web designer would have a more nicely arranged blog. =P Until then...apologies for the mess.

pretty tree

We (David, Heather, Ronnie, and I) went to a Christmas tree farm the other day to get a Real Tree (tm). It was the most fun day ever. We got to pet goats that had slanty, rectangular pupils--who knew goats had crazy eyes?? They had a huge bumpy slide and an amazing two-story treehouse, and go carts that Ronnie and David chased each other around in. Oh, and they had trees. We picked out the prettiest one, then picked out a different one that was about $40 less but still pretty, and brought that one home. Turns out the one we could afford was the perfect size for our house.

Later, we decorated the tree; Heather did the lights, David did the ribbon, both of them did the ornaments, and I was management. Which means I found the ornaments and lights and tried not to interfere while they made the tree pretty. Ronnie played Tony Hawk. He likes David's new video game chair.

This would have been a great great photo post if I'd remembered to bring a camera to the farm...but alas. You must be content with a photo of our beautiful tree.

couple more photos

David lookin' fine, and me at 23 weeks pregnant. Say hello to baby Daniel, everyone.

love me, love my legwarmers

They're an essential part of This Complete Winter!

Mom found them for like $3 one time when I was a teenager and still collected Tweety stuff. They're still warm, and they still make me laugh, thus...they get worn almost daily whenever it's cold outside. Although I don't wear them with cropped pants in public. Not anymore.

David's a dork too, looky:

He got the tie for his birthday. He was very happy about this. I'm...glad he's happy.

swatching

These are the swatches for David's sweater. They're all delicious natural fibers; I think each one has at least 50 percent alpaca. David likes the green one best, but doesn't want it because he already has lots of green stuff. So, his revised first choice is the purple, and I can't possibly argue. It's a great color for him, and since it's an alpaca/silk blend, it's got a wonderful hand.

Google said "title your blog", so I did

but it's hard to name something that doesn't have a face. If my blog was a moose, I could have named it Edward.

Textural clues = because I love to touch things that are real. Cashmere, wood, tree bark, furry cats, homemade bread...they give me that "this is home" feeling. Plastic, electronic devices, etc...not so much.