In a twist on "Where's Waldo," our grandcat decided to hide in the Christmas tree.
Can you find her? It took me a few minutes, and DH needed to have her pointed out.
Earlier in the week, I attended choir practice for Christmas Eve, even though we won't be here for Christmas. Rikki, who is to my right in the photo, was retiring from her job, so a few of us went out for a drink after practice to celebrate.
Thursday we went out again. Flat Bread Pizza lets you have a free Margarita pizza for your birthday, which you can collect any day during your birthday month, assuming you've signed up to get their promotions by email, a small price to pay. I will be a year older before my next blog, with a birthday on Thursday. Last year, I missed out on the free pizza because I put it off until the last minute and then came down with pneumonia, so I was determined to get my free pizza this year. We decided to go out on Thursday to collect on it, with DBIL paying the bill (drinks and pizza for him and DH), to reward me for taking him to the airport on Saturday morning. (Pick-up time was 3:00 AM!)
DH got to go along just because.
After getting coming back from the airport Saturday morning, I never went back to sleep. I was too awake, although a bit sleep-deprived.
Saturday I roasted vegetables.
Sunday I put the leftover roasted vegetables in an Indian dal recipe I like. That made enough for about three meals, so we ate it Sunday and froze the leftovers.
Also on Saturday (busy day), I cast on a sweater, so I would have something to work on during the trip. It's the Midcoast pattern by Jennifer Steingass. I'm making the pattern as-written except that I'm adding an extra color, and I'm going to steek it and have a cardigan, which required putting some extra steek stitches in the center front and placing a beginning-of-round marker at the center back, which is where the pattern starts after joining to work in-the-round. The steek is about at 2:00 in this photo. The green marker at the bottom of the photo is the center back.
That created a mental challenge, because there are short rows across the back, and they were written as if you were starting the round at the center back. I think I have it figured out. Here's my Ravelry project page. Here are my colors.
The purple will be the dominant color. The white will be the outline of the motif, with the turquoise filling in between the green and the purple, if that makes sense.
Sunday I got to sit in the congregation at church for a change, as the choir wasn't singing. We had a performance by the children who were there. They sang The Friendly Beasts and held up the appropriate paddles for the animal who was talking. (That's the newly retired Rikki in the bottom right of the photo, leading the children in song.)
I slept a bit late on Sunday morning, having slept for ten hours straight. I found this photo on my phone when I woke up. It had come in after I turned off my phone.
This is Elizabeth, Daphne's birthday doll. (You might have seen her in my blog last May.) She is trying to control her excitement at her first trip to Texas to visit the other grandparents, whose turn it is to get a visit and who have real horses!
I put the photo below in my blog every Christmas.
It was taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the first mission to orbit the moon. That Christmas Eve so long ago is etched in my memory.
First Anders said, "For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you." Then he read from Genesis.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness."
Then Jim Lovell took up the reading:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. and the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Then Frank Borman took over the reading:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
Then Borman added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you––all of you on the good Earth."
––Wikipedia, Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast
God gave us this good planet to live on and made us stewards to watch over it. I pray that we can preserve it for future generations.
I wish you all the best of Christmases, a happy Hanukkah or happy Kwanzaa, depending on which you celebrate, or if you don't celebrate any of those, I wish you happy days off from work, time to spend with people you love. See you next week.
What's on my needles: The Midcoast by Jennifer Steingass
Can you find her? It took me a few minutes, and DH needed to have her pointed out.
Earlier in the week, I attended choir practice for Christmas Eve, even though we won't be here for Christmas. Rikki, who is to my right in the photo, was retiring from her job, so a few of us went out for a drink after practice to celebrate.
Thursday we went out again. Flat Bread Pizza lets you have a free Margarita pizza for your birthday, which you can collect any day during your birthday month, assuming you've signed up to get their promotions by email, a small price to pay. I will be a year older before my next blog, with a birthday on Thursday. Last year, I missed out on the free pizza because I put it off until the last minute and then came down with pneumonia, so I was determined to get my free pizza this year. We decided to go out on Thursday to collect on it, with DBIL paying the bill (drinks and pizza for him and DH), to reward me for taking him to the airport on Saturday morning. (Pick-up time was 3:00 AM!)
DH got to go along just because.
After getting coming back from the airport Saturday morning, I never went back to sleep. I was too awake, although a bit sleep-deprived.
Saturday I roasted vegetables.
Sunday I put the leftover roasted vegetables in an Indian dal recipe I like. That made enough for about three meals, so we ate it Sunday and froze the leftovers.
Also on Saturday (busy day), I cast on a sweater, so I would have something to work on during the trip. It's the Midcoast pattern by Jennifer Steingass. I'm making the pattern as-written except that I'm adding an extra color, and I'm going to steek it and have a cardigan, which required putting some extra steek stitches in the center front and placing a beginning-of-round marker at the center back, which is where the pattern starts after joining to work in-the-round. The steek is about at 2:00 in this photo. The green marker at the bottom of the photo is the center back.
That created a mental challenge, because there are short rows across the back, and they were written as if you were starting the round at the center back. I think I have it figured out. Here's my Ravelry project page. Here are my colors.
The purple will be the dominant color. The white will be the outline of the motif, with the turquoise filling in between the green and the purple, if that makes sense.
Sunday I got to sit in the congregation at church for a change, as the choir wasn't singing. We had a performance by the children who were there. They sang The Friendly Beasts and held up the appropriate paddles for the animal who was talking. (That's the newly retired Rikki in the bottom right of the photo, leading the children in song.)
I slept a bit late on Sunday morning, having slept for ten hours straight. I found this photo on my phone when I woke up. It had come in after I turned off my phone.
This is Elizabeth, Daphne's birthday doll. (You might have seen her in my blog last May.) She is trying to control her excitement at her first trip to Texas to visit the other grandparents, whose turn it is to get a visit and who have real horses!
I put the photo below in my blog every Christmas.
It was taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the first mission to orbit the moon. That Christmas Eve so long ago is etched in my memory.
First Anders said, "For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you." Then he read from Genesis.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness."
Then Jim Lovell took up the reading:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. and the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Then Frank Borman took over the reading:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
Then Borman added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you––all of you on the good Earth."
––Wikipedia, Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast
God gave us this good planet to live on and made us stewards to watch over it. I pray that we can preserve it for future generations.
I wish you all the best of Christmases, a happy Hanukkah or happy Kwanzaa, depending on which you celebrate, or if you don't celebrate any of those, I wish you happy days off from work, time to spend with people you love. See you next week.
What's on my sewing machine: Still resting.
What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: "And to Dolls a Goodnight," in which the dolls hear noises and get up to investigate.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: "And to Dolls a Goodnight," in which the dolls hear noises and get up to investigate.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Christmas music, and still Blowout by Rachel Maddow. We will be continuing with The Tower by Gregg Hurwitz, which we began during our last trip to Beaverton.
What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw Red Blend, 2016, one of our favorites because of the price.
What's my tip of the week: Parchment paper can be used for most of the purposes for which we use aluminum foil, but it's a better value and saves aluminum. Pieces can be reused if it doesn't get too messy, and, unlike aluminum, it can be used in the microwave. The only disadvantages are that it scorches around the edges if used in a very hot oven (minor problem), and a folded package doesn't stay closed unless you tuck the ends underneath or put the opening on the bottom. It's useful for lining cookie sheets when baking cookies or roasting vegetables.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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