We Say Thanks

What a wonderful week we've had! M was home for the Holiday week, and we tried to make the most of her presence. We may be mother-daughter but we have fun together like best friends! For our girls' night out, we headed to a class at Whole Foods and wound up at our favorite "bonding" place...Macaroni Grill. We cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for three days, and then enjoyed it in less than an hour on Thursday. And, then, for our After Turkey Day treat, we dragged Mr. T. to see the new Disney movie "Enchanted," and afterwards tried out one of our newest restaurants, The Japanese Bistro (where they cook your dinner on the grill in front of you). It was certainly a sad moment on Sunday when we had to bid M and Charley Dog goodbye. As Mr. T. said, "it sure didn't seem like a week, did it?" No, it did not.

Of course, our Holiday was made even more special by the fact that Mom is on the road to recovery following her recent illness. She's still not 100%, but she's certainly feeling much better than she did!

Between her hospitalization and the fact that we didn't have to travel for the Holiday, I've been able to complete several projects lately. One, pictured here, is my 2007 Christmas Wrap that I've talked about before. Recall that I used a 5-row Paton Scarf pattern stitch, paired with simple 4-row garter stitch, worked over 277 stitches cast on to US13 needles. I started with a gorgeous hand-dyed yarn from Hand Painted Knitting Yarns, called "Pretty Mix, Tannheuser," in my favorite colors: purples, teal, greens, and blues. I added 5 more yarns, picked for their colors and textures. I even used an alpaca yarn held with a sparkly thread. Then, I found just the right shawl pin which I ordered from The Loopy Ewe: a sterling silver Ram (sheepie!) by Romi. [Of course, I also bought two beautiful sock yarns, too, but I digress...] I'm looking forward to wearing my new wrap and shawl pin to a few upcoming functions in December...like, maybe our book club Christmas luncheon, the Nutcracker Ballet, and "Wicked." Just trying it on makes me feel all sparkly!

I've also completed a wool-blend scarf in beige (for myself), as well as a couple pairs of socks (for Christmas gifts...shhhh!). I love knitting at this time of the year, I guess because it "feels" right...since it "feels" cold outside. I turn the fireplace on (gas logs...fabulous invention!), make myself a cup of tea with sugar and lemon (ummmmmm, tasty...), and either put a Poirot or Midsomer Murder mystery or a Christmas DVD in or turn on a basketball game. Which reminds me...

The (Memphis) Tigers are rated Number 3 in the ESPN Men's College Basketball rankings...and Number 1 in one of the other rankings!! (Yeah, I know...everyone else in this area is excited that the Missouri Tigers are rated Number 1 in college football...but I'm only mildly enthused about that one.) Woo-hoo!!

It looks like The Boys (Thomas with Elmo and Gus, on the Lounge Luge, left) are ready for some hoops!

Go Tigers Go! [Click for the Fight Song!!]