Good Bye 2012

Some years seem to go by faster than others and 2012 was one of them. I can't believe it is almost over.
It was a good year and it gave us a bit of a break after the last two years which were rather stressful.

In 2012

• nobody got seriously sick.
• nobody in our immediate family died.
• no major appliances broke (well, the car needed new tires, but that was it).
• out of the 9 things I wanted to do, I did only 2 but when I made these plans I did not know that my life would be taken over by a herd of cats. I am not complaining, I love the little monsters. I just had to make adjustments to make it all good for us and for them.
• the only major bad thing that happened was our garden not doing well at all and I really felt the pinch in the wallet when I had to buy the things I usually grow.
• I did a lot of knitting and a little sewing.
• we continued to eat healthy and buy locally as much as possible.
• my main feelings were tired, the last two years took a lot out of me and I really felt it this year, and thankful for the break.
• I did not read as much as I wanted to.
• the weather was weird.
• the world did not end.

However you celebrate tonight, be safe and have fun. See you all next year!

Holiday Food

Since I could not do much decorating this year I put my energy into cooking and baking. I made a beef roast using my mom's recipe for the first time ever and despite not being able to find any parsnips it tasted just like I remembered. Dessert was an orange-spice cheesecake with cranberries. I also baked a cinnamon-raisin swirl bread for breakfast and some sugar cookies and gingerbread.

Merry Christmas

I'll be stepping away from the noise of the world for a few days to focus on my home and my family. I will be back after the holidays with ideas and projects for the new year. Until then I wish you all a very

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Greens

I brought some Rosemary in from the garden and bound it into a garland for the kitchen. I hope the cats will just ignore it.

This is my 'ancient' Christmas Cactus that faithfully blooms every year.

Knitting

I abandoned my second attempt at knitting 'Hermia' it is just not to be. I think it would not look good on me anyway. So I have all this lime green yarn and although I did not want to start a new project this year, I am now knitting the 'Leaf Yoke Cardigan'. I think that style will work better for me and the pattern is really pretty.

Advent

All of a sudden the 'bah humbug' feeling has left and I am writing Christmas cards and looking for cookie recipes. ;-) Better late than never. That first Sunday in Advent sneaked up on me and caught me unprepared and I was convinced that I could not have Advent candles this year due to the overly curious cat population but this morning I decided I have to have my Advent candles and this is what I came up with. (I know I will have to hide it during the night, but that's okay.)

Purple Cowl

I finished this one a long time ago but never took pictures, no idea why. The pattern comes with the yarn (Patons Lace Sequin in Amethyst) and I like the 'wrong' side a lot better than the 'right' one.

Leftovers

Of the yarn kind, that is. I always have small amounts of cotton yarn left over when I knit dish cloths. In the past I knitted them into strips and then made rugs out of these to put under the cat boxes to catch the flying cat litter. This time I decided to knit up some funky bath mitts instead.

Random Thoughts

I believe that life is all about making choices. And when we chose to keep the kittens we also chose to make a lot of changes in our life and around the house. One of them is no Christmas decorations. Last year I could decorate the mantle but in the meantime Miss Precious has discovered how to get up there and so this year my mantle is bare. We did not have a tree last year because the kittens were quarantined in the living room and this year it would be way too much temptation for the whole gang and I can live without it. We actually donated our big tree and most of the decorations and lights to the thrift store.

It seems like every year these things become less and less important to me and I was asking myself if they are really necessary at all. Yes, it looks nice to have the house decked out in holiday finery but necessary it is not. I am okay with that and I came to realize that I did a lot of things just because they are something 'one' does for the holidays, like baking tons of cookies and cooking big meals. And I remember with horror all the stress that came with that. I have gradually cut out everything that caused me stress and our celebrations became more simple over the past 10 or so years. This year with money being not so abundant due to some unexpected expenses we will keep it very simple and we will enjoy it just as much.

So, everybody, do what you like best and whatever it is you are celebrating this time of year, enjoy, have fun, eat, drink and be merry!

Here are a few pictures of my favorite decorations around the house. ;-)

Monkey on his back

One of MamaCat's favorite things to do.

Knitting

Two recently finished items. Another Old Man of Storr shawl and a Pimpelliese scarf. I saw the yarn on sale and could not resist, it has all my favorite colors in it and it knits very well too. I guess the colorway has been discontinued since it was on sale. It is Yarn Bee Snowflake Wool Blend in Caliope. I changed the pattern for the Pimpelliese a little to make sure I would not run out of yarn. Instead of continuing with the increases until I used half of the yarn I knitted four pattern units without increasing in the middle of the scarf.

Food

Sweet Harvest Bean Pie

Thanksgiving Turkey

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Del's Birthday

It has been a couple of weeks since his birthday but between computer and camera troubles and all kinds of busy I did not get around to showing you this year's birthday hat and cake. The hat is the same pattern as last year - Fortnight by Jared Flood - only this year I did not mess it up. The cake is chocolate with fudge frosting.

Finished!

I finished my ripple blanket yesterday (still need to weave in the ends) and had some help taking pictures of it.

Circle of Cats

Happy Halloween!

Snug as a bug

This Week ...

... I started fall cleaning with re-organizing the linen closet which left me with a basket full of towels that need new hanging loops and deep cleaning the bed room which yielded a basket full of stuffed animals to be donated to the thrift store.

... I baked something every day (yes, I am baking something today too).

... I cooked dinner every day as usual, these two looked especially photo worthy.

... I took time for having tea, reading and some knitting.

... I spent time with these guys.

It was a good and busy week, how was your week?