Happy New Year!

Good morning all!

I hope your holidays were as bright and wonderful as ours. My kids were thrilled with their gifts, the husband really likes his Ipod and me? My sock sisters hooked me up! LOL

Dianne, Linda, Teresa and I met for lunch right before the holiday and it, all by itself, was a Christmas celebration. Teresa made an incredible, chocolate-y variety of brownies and other goodies and passed everyone a tin. Unfortunately, they did not survive long enough to be photographed, but they were amazing.

Dianne gifted me with this beautiful scarf and a "shawl stick pin" that her husband carved (how neat is that??). Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the pin, but I will do it soon and upload it.

She also gave me two skeins of Peace Fleece. This color, Kamachatka, matches the one Marianne gave me for my birthday. My plan is to combine the three skeins and make myself a shawl. (I did make myself the red Takhi shawl, but gifted it).



There was also Republic of Tea teabags, an adorable soap sock and this little baby. I'd often admired the little teapot charm Dianne wears and now, I've got one of my own. My husband bought me a long sterling chain to go with it and I'm always wearing it now.



Linda was equally generous. I received a skein of the Fortissima Colori 1776. My plan was to make socks, but then I saw a pair of fingerless gloves in this and I'm intrigued by that too.

She also gave me this wonderful floormat that brings a smile to my face every time I see it. Also in the gift bag were Christmas pads, a Panera gift certificate and other goodies.


In all honesty, my Christmas was that day at lunch. The laughter, friendship and generosity of these amazing women just overwhelmed me. Thank you Teresa, Linda & Dianne for making my holiday and for your friendship and love most of all.

I wish all of you a wonderful, safe, happy & healthy New Year.

MOTH&H (Man of House & Hero)

We had a brief, but eventful Friday last week.

Because of icy road conditions, schools were delayed for two hours (later, they closed), so Mohamed left the house a little while before me. I had just left our neighborhood and was heading down Diamond Hill Road when I saw a pickup truck sitting, overturned, on its passenger side. A man was directing traffic and waved me on, so I pulled around the truck and saw that my husband's car was sitting on the side of the road with its emergency lights blinking.

I pulled over to the shoulder, parked and went to the pickup. There, standing inside the cab of the truck, was my husband, Mohamed. As it turned out, the lady driving the truck had slid on ice, hit a hill and rolled onto her side. In the process, she was pinned by her seatbelt and we later learned, her wrist was broken.

Mohamed was one of the first people on the scene. When he saw what had happened, he just took action. He climbed into the cab of truck, irregardless of the leaking gasoline and the fact that the car, itself, was sitting in the middle of the icy road. He talked to the accident victim, Debbie, he gave her his coat to keep her warm and just did his best to make an awful situation not quite so scary. There were over 100 accidents in the county last Friday morning and it took about 30 minutes for a rescue squad to arrive. All the while, freezing rain was pouring down on all of us and the road conditions were steadily worsening.

Help did come and I stood there, jaw hanging open in amazement. The firemen threw a blanket over Mohamed and Debbie. They then broke out the windshield of the pickup and took the "jaws of life" and cut the roof off of the truck (who knew that the "jaws" were generator-powered giant scissors? I didn't.). Mohamed was then able to simply back out of the cab and the rescue squad placed Debbie on backboard and took her to the local hospital.

Every now again, the person closest to you amazes you. I know that Mohamed is good man, an honest man and a lot of other wonderful things. He's also the man who leaves his smelly socks on the floor, dances like a headless, flailing chicken, watches CNN ad nauseum and a lot of other annoying things. He shocked me...genuinely shocked me Friday. I know that he's generous, but I didn't realize how completely selfless he can be. I know that he can be fierce, but his gentleness was so touching, as was the bravery he showed. He took my breath away...again. I am blessed in my marriage and so glad and grateful for him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now, to the amusing part of the story. After all was said and done, I was slowly walking back to my car, clutching the vehicles parked alongside the road. I was going slow and paying attention so naturally, I fell on my butt...hard. So hard, in fact, that I fractured my tailbone (slightly).

So here I sit, high as kite on Lortab, chuckling over what my sister said to me.

Yes, Dana, Mohamed is the hero. However, you're

the one who can say, 'I busted my ass for a stranger,'

and mean it literally."

Have an enjoyable, uneventful weekend y'all. And, if I don't catch up with you before Christmas, I wish you a warm, happy, wonderful holiday!

A Week in the Life....

Here goes my first bullet post.

1. I'm still knitting furiously on the monstrously large afghan.

2. As a break from the afghan, I've done four (so far) calorimetries as holiday gifts. My friend (guru/mentor/teacher/inspiration), Becky, was nice enough to convert the worsted weight pattern into a bulky weight, so I've been using Paton's Shetland Chunky.

3. Andie's been earning her Christmas money by babysitting.

While downloading my knitting photos, I found these masterpieces.

Andie & Connor "cleaning their noses."

And who says you can't teach a two year old a new trick?

Andie & Jacob (with popsicle tongues)

Note: Jacob & Connor are Emma & Isabelle's older brothers.

4. And last, but not least, Arabella.

She's grown bigger and she's now a stash raider.

Happy Knitting/Spinning Everyone!

Jayne Hat

I'm maintaining my pre-holiday sanity by knitting Christmas gifts. While my bum grows ever larger as it's parked on the couch, I've been enjoying my new DVD collection, "Firefly." (Bless you Faren!)

When all the blankets, the calorimetry and gifts are finished, I'm going to treat myself to one of these babies, a Jayne Hat.

To learn more (and have a laugh), watch the video below.

Adam Baldwin and Jayne Hats