Lots of Pictures

Lots of pictures:



Sunset, December 4th.

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El Burrito's new hat. The yarn did a nice diagonal-stripe thing toward the end. He's gotten compliments on it a few times already.

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The Big Fluffy snowflakes from last weekend.

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The ice that we got on top of the snow.


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Our pathetic holiday decorations: a string of lights suction-cupped to the window, a short string of LED lights on the stair rail, and the tiny fiber-optic tree. Oh, and a few of Breyer's Christmas horses. Three and a half so far - I have the accessories for one set, and can not find the horse anywhere. I know it's here; I have the box for it. Just can't remember where I put the horse. And it's bigger than a breadbox, so it's kind of hard to misplace.

Productivity

. . . or the lack thereof. So far, it hasn't been a really productive day. And I'm still waiting for my car to get out of the shop. Fun.

• I did ban a spammer on one of my Yahoo groups, and put three other potential spammers on limited status.
  
• I watched an episode of Riptide while I ate lunch. Yes, this is productive. I'm trying to catch up on some DVDs, mostly because I worry that one will be damaged and I won't find out until it's too late to exchange or otherwise replace it.
  
• I gathered up a small stack of DVDs and a larger stack of books that can be boxed up. This is part of a larger plan. Since we're going to be moving sooner or later, anything we pack now won't have to be packed up later. It'll also make it easier for us to do some work around the place (like the annoying doors).

I did make some progress last night, while watching Deadliest Catch. I went through all the sale ads, in preparation for a shopping run tomorrow. Then I sorted some of the coupons (but I still need to weed out the expired ones), and got rid of most of a small stack of newspaper bits and pieces.

For the rest of the day: El Burrito is awake and hungry. After that, among other things, I need to do the dishes, and get some digital pictures ready to be printed. My mom wants some prints, and there are a couple of aunts who would like some as well. The new camera has the most helpful option of shooting pictures directly in 3:2 format, but the pics from the old camera have to be cropped to the right ratio. If I don't do it, the printer (Target, etc) will do it for me, and they tend to not care if they slice off a head or arm.

Any other year, this being Easter weekend, I'd be heading off to Springfield for some fun. I collect Breyers, and another collector in Springfield has been having a Breyer show for the past few years. It's always on Easter weekend, because that's when she can get the best price for the conference room. But, this year, I'm missing out on the show because we're going to Nashville in a few weeks. And, of course, the other Breyer show in the state is the weekend we're out of town. Lousy timing. Oh well, maybe next year.

On the list for the weekend:

• Taxes (this is DH's thing; I just dig numbers out of Quicken when he needs them)
• lowering the crib mattress, since El Burrito is sitting up on his own, and pulling up onto his knees in the crib
• Easter dinner with the in-laws
• possibly measuring the porch and purchasing the fake grass carpet
• lunch "out" on Saturday
• some shopping (possibly on my own), including a trip to Michaels and/or Hobby Lobby for some things Mom needs
• cleaning/organizing/decluttering in general - the furnace guy is coming in a week, so the place needs to be semi-presentable. The front rooms, anyway. Sigh.
  

Yarn and stuff

So I've spent part of the morning chipping away at the 1400 (yes, you read that right) emails in my Yahoo inbox. It's like bailing the Titanic with a teaspoon, and I don't know why. I've been unsubbing from various newsletters as I get them, but it still seems like an uphill fight.

Found out that there's a big music festival of some sort in Nashville the weekend we'll be there, so we need to start looking for a hotel room ASAP. I meant to get that done this weekend, but it was a bust. Sunday was 90% wasted, thanks to a birthday party for one of DH's many nieces. We left at noon and got home just before 7 p.m. Between that, a night of TV (Dresden Files, Battlestar, and the insanity that is 7th Heaven), and showers/baths all around, I got squat done yesterday. My computer time was about 20 minutes all told, and half of that I spent taking care of an auction I won on Ebay. I had the winning bid on a diaper bag, which I don't really need, but it was a great price (retail is $140, I paid $31 with shipping) and if I don't like the color, it should be easy to resell.

But, at this rate we'll never find a house. Or anything else on the never-ending list of Things To Do.

I did get to play with some yarn this weekend. I wound one skein of the Canadiana into a ball and crocheted with it for a while to get the feel of it. It's the variegated "Misty Mountain" which is shades of blue and green; it's darker in person than on the website, but it's got a sort of silvery undertone to it - the "misty" part, I guess. It's prettier worked up than in a ball, and I think it will make El Burrito a lovely hat or something. And the Canadiana is definitely softer than the other acrylics I've got. I also figured out the "seed pattern" used in a couple of the afghan patterns, and it's both simple and interesting-looking.

I also went to the library and cleaned out their crochet afghan books. There are some likely looking patterns, so I just need to find colors that will go with the purple Canadiana, and it'll be good to go. There's at least one afghan that looks lovely (and within my skill set), but purple isn't the right color for it. But if I can figure out the carried-yarn thing, it would be beautiful. It's a seablue body, with a Greek keyhole design along the edges. Fits well with my fondness for Classical Studies.

It's going to be a busy week. I don't foresee getting a lot accomplished, with an appointment of some sort almost every day.

• Tonight - credit union meeting (always fun - free dessert, great door prizes)
• Tuesday - taking DH to his eye appointment, since he has to get his eyes dilated. Plus, if time permits, a trip to the library for the Tuesday sale
• Wednesday - the monthly lunch with the ladies from the condo (postponed due to weather)
• Thursday - nothing at the moment
• Friday - Pediatrician visit for El Burrito, but no booster shots this time (Yay!) Plus a trip to the local toy store that's going out of business, to see what Breyer horses and Schleich animals they may have on sale for me, and possibly books & toys for El Burrito. And it truly sucks that a city of almost 100,000 people can't support a toy store other than Toys R Us. I've been in TRU, thanks to a gift card we got for the baby, and I'm not impressed. Their toy selection seems pretty skimpy for little kids, and for the bigger kids, they seem to be overly emphasizing action figures and video games.
  

And that's my ramble for now.