I know, I have been neglecting my blog lately. It seems that at first there will be nothing new to say, then I have too much to say so nothing gets said at all.
I have been working on Christmas knitting. I have 1 item done, 1 a little over 1/2 done, and I just started the 3rd today. I'm not going to be posting too many details of those until they are sent out. I had to set aside my Cascading Leaves Shawl until I have the Christmas knitting finished. It's getting down to crunch time and I really need to kick it in gear. I have some Christmas sewing to do also, but those items are going to be "belated" gifts. I will be working on them during the Christmas break.
Last weekend I went to the Frog Pond Fiber Arts group's Christmas Party. It was such a blast. There were so many people there and so much yummy food. I brought knitting along with me, but didn't do any of it, because there was so much chatting going on, I couldn't tear myself away from the conversations long enough to remember where I was. Thank you Elizabeth for opening your home and letting us all in. I hope we didn't make too big of a mess and it wasn't too much trouble to re-re-arrange the furniture. Oh and the Chicken Tortilla soup was scrumptious. We had both a door prize (knitting related items) and a White Elephant gift exchange. The white elephant item did not have to be a knitting related item, although the one I received was. Here is what I got. I did not have either of these books. And Aubrey showed me this really cool cabled hat in the SNB Nation book. PS I also got a true "White Elephant" gift. I got an outdated Exel 97 computer book. I mentioned it to one of the 'computer' geeks at work and he said he still runs Excel 97 at home, so guess who getting that!!! I had a really nice Stanley Thermos in my hot little hands, but it got stolen. :o(
On Tuesday night, I went to a Christmas party with my former quilt group (BTW this is party #3 this week). The Tuesday Night Crazy Quilters meet in Hartford, MI, but the ladies travel from all over; Niles, South Haven, Bangor, Coloma, St. Joe, Dowagiac, Hartford, Decatur. I joined that group in 1990 at the ripe old age of 18. I have grown up with these women and love them all. I never really realize how much I miss them until I we all get together. Because of the distance, I just don't get to see them as often as I would like. I do go to their quilt retreats ever year though. I think I have only every missed 1 since they started having them. Originally it was just a fall thing, then we added a spring one and now they have added a winter one too. (Can't wait for January!) They are always so much fun and so productive. Since I learned to knit, I think I get more sewing at retreat then I do the rest of the year. A big Thank You to Teresa who hosted the party. And Nancy really needs to give me the Pomegranate/cranberry salsa recipe. Oh man was that good!!
B100 Fit Club Update: I keep missing the radio broadcast that announces the team loss totals, so I'm not too sure where the Dazzling Divas stand. I will see if anyone knows tonight at the bootcamp. I lost 1.8 lbs last week, which brings my total loss to 17.8 lbs. If I loose approx. 6 more lbs, I will have hit my 10% goal. Then I will set my next goal for another 10%. I learned in weight watchers once that you'll feel better setting the smaller goals and that each one will be a milestone once you hit it. It's better than saying I need to lose like 90 lbs total and seeing what a huge difference there is between 90 and 17.8. Also, last week I donated blood. When you do that, the blood bank tell you your total Cholesterol. It is of course a non-fasting test, and I think that is supposed to mean that it would normally be higher than a fasting one. Someone please correct me if that is wrong. In October when I had a fasting cholesterol test done, my total was 157 and the results from the non-fasting test was 136. SOOOO, I pretty sure that means my Cholesterol has come down as a result of this diet. I can't wait until January when I go back to have the blood work re-checked. I want to know what has happened to my Triglycerides!
Tonight is Christmas Party #4 of 5. I am going to bootcamp beforehand though. And I am brining a salad to eat for dinner, since I know I will be hungry after the workout and I don't want to pig out on all the goodies that I know will be there.
Gingerbread (a.k.a Graham Cracker) Houses were also made. I didn't participate in this as I was busily knitting a complicated row on my Cascading Leaves Shawl. However, I did watch and occasionally snitch candy. They all turned out very lovely, however there was a slight seismic occurance and several houses were completely distroyed. At last report, only 2 of the 5 survived the earthquake.
PS Thanks to Carly and Aubrey for the lovely pictures which I snooched off Facebook. I forgot my camera and the camera phone's batteries died enroute to the party.
