Happy New Year

I hope ya'll had a happy holiday season. Mine was great. No migraines or anxiety attacks, so WOOHOO! The boys had a great Christmas and we all had some delicious food on that day. Number 1 had his 7th birthday a couple days later, so we had more presents and more decadent food (homemade chocolate cake with Rockyroad Frosting).

New Year's Eve was mellow. A couple of friends came over and brought their 5 year old son, who is Number 2's best friend. We had a bonfire with toasted marshmallows, and fireworks. Nobody got too drunk. I felt pretty good this morning, and got ready for our annual New Year's Day Lunch. For those of you not familiar with the southern tradition, Hoppin John's (black eyed peas) are for good luck, the ham in the peas is for health and the collard greens are for money. The cornbread and rice just go well with the rest of it. There was plenty of sweet iced tea, beer and wine. About 12 people showed up and we watched football and ate. I made a killer cake, but was too busy to photograph it. It was an orange almond cake with chocolate glaze. Man, it was fine.



I only made 1 resolution. I will hang framed pictures on my walls. I have so many things that need to be hung. We've lived here about 8 years and it looks like we just moved in. It's time to make things a little homier. I also will participate in Project 365. I learned about this on Elabeth's blog and it seems like a great idea to me. For Christmas DH gave me a camera, so that's more incentive to take pictures, and learn how to use my new toy.

I tried to knit on Enid over the holidays, but this is a fairly complex project and I need to think about it. Having the kids around all day makes it difficult to concentrate. There is a provisional cast on for the body, and I'm not sure how it will work out. I think I'll do a practice run and see if it works on a small scale, before I commit to the larger (over 200 stitches CO) real thing. Also, it's a cardigan knit in the round, and the front and sleeves are opened using steeking. I need to do a practice swatch of this, also, to see if it works as planned. I'm substituting yarn, and I don't know how it will respond to steeking. I guess if the steeking doesn't work on the swatch, I could just make the sweater a pullover.

So, my friends, I'm ready for life to return to normal. I miss knitting, and I miss my boys being in school. I even miss my job a little. I don't start back until the 16th. That seems late, but it'll give me some time to prepare and get in the right mindset. I hope you all are having a wonderful time.

EDIT: I just had to pop back in and say, it's been a surreal day for college football halftime shows. Earlier some band was playing "Stairway to Heaven", and just now the band on TV was playing a Queen medley. Odd, but entertaining.