Oh Ye Of Little Faith

I was busy yesterday, putting away the Thanksgiving and fall decorations. And not to toot my own horn (spoiler alert: stay tuned for toot), but I had decided that instead of storing them in cardboard boxes in the basement, where they can get smelly and weird, I was going to invest in some plastic bins. Of course, I didn't measure or anything, since it was theoretical. That is, until I found myself someplace where they had said type of plastic bins on sale. So in keeping with living life dangerously, I just eyeballed it and bought two. 

They were a perfect fit. Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Then ... and ONLY then did I start even *thinking* about the Christmas stuff. And when I was reading everyone's blogs yesterday, Kim and Kim (but not Kym, just to be clear), mentioned that they were waiting for me to alert everyone to the start of the holiday season by showing a photo of a certain item that always welcomes the season. 

Oh ye of little faith - were you thinking I'd forgotten, or lost track of the item? Not at all! Rather, I wanted to clean up all of the Thanksgiving and fall stuff, before even pulling it out of the acid-free folder where it lives.

Here we go - this year, including a shot of how the famous cardboard wreath looks on (most of) the door - since usually you just get the close up of the wreath itself.

TA DA!!!!

 

When The Tim came home from work yesterday, he said, "I still can't believe that we have that! Some of the best 69 cents we ever spent!"

Indeed. ❤

*****

Thank you for the nice comments about our new chairs. Since we are also getting some more things this week, we have to hustle to move some furniture, get rid of some, etc., much sooner than we expected! 

So currently in our living room, there are: the new chairs, the little couch, the spare chair, another chair that matches the spare chair that is waiting to go up to our bedroom, and the two chairs formerly in our bedroom that are waiting to be picked up by people from the neighborhood Buy Nothing group on Facebook. As Tim pointed out, it looks like we are hosting a chair convention, LOL! But the giveaway chairs are being picked up tomorrow and Thursday, and we can actually take the spare chair to the bedroom any time, we just haven't gotten to it. But it will all happen by the end of the week because The Tim wants to go out and find a Christmas tree no later than the end of this coming weekend. And there's no way we could fit a Christmas tree - even one tied up - into the living room with the current chair-a-palooza situation!

*****

I don't have my volunteer gig this morning because all of the cats and kittens that were there have been adopted! Which is wonderful news, but I do miss having the chance to go and cuddle and play with all different kinds of kitties. But next week it will happen, I'm sure.

So today I'm gonna work on some things around the house, as well as do some knitting. I had planned to go out for some things today, but it is rainy and raw outside, so that is put off for now. I figure I'll use my time that I'm usually not here to knit, and then do some of the other stuff this afternoon. I'm one sleeve away from being finished with my cardigan! And a couple of weeks ago, I realized that the pair of Social Security Number slipper-type socks I'd knitter for The Tim years ago were full of holes (rather large ones at that!), so I'm knitting him a new pair for Christmas. I already have one completed, so I'm sure to have them to wrap up.

And then later tonight, we will drink a toast to my mom, whose birthday is today. Last night, I said to The Tim, "Wow, if my mom was still around, she would turn 107!" and he responded, "And she'd still have me looking for her cane." We had a good laugh about that, because near the end of her life when she used a cane, she was always "losing" it, and would tell him to find it for her, and 9 times out of 10 it was ... right to the side of wherever she was sitting. So he'd say, "Geraldine, once again, your cane is right here," and then they would have a huge laugh about it. Whereas, if I said something like that, she would have likely responded, "Well, you don't have to be such a smartass about it." 😂

And there you go. That's it for today. I hope yours goes well, and that you don't lose track of anything that is right beside you ... 

Happy December!

Yep, 'tis the season. 😄

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely, as well as the weekend afterwards. It was so nice to have The Tim at home the whole time (he may feel otherwise, LOL). We had a lovely Thanksgiving Day, just relaxing and watching the parade, the dog show, and then some other things we had recorded but never gotten around to watching. Because if you can't be a couch potato on Thanksgiving, what is the point??

Friday we were excited because our new chairs were delivered! You may recall that we had saved some money over the course of the last couple of years to buy some new chairs for the room where we watch TV. Well, the weekend before this past one, we went to a place to look, and they were having an early Black Friday sale. We found something we liked, but then ALSO found two chairs we really liked that would replace also-falling part ones in our living room. Because everything was on sale, we could actually afford to get all of it! So last Friday our new living room chairs arrived, and we are so thrilled with them!

They are actually really comfortable, which is really why we even considered buying them. Because even if we don't spend as much time using them, we want all of our furniture to be comfortable - we are not believers in "fancy" furniture being for looks only.

Of course as you can well imagine, the cats also think they are quite comfortable. And being that they are right by the garden window, they are also very popular. 🙄

And I just got a notice this morning that our other purchase is being delivered on Thursday, so all of a sudden, things will be looking pretty different, even before we get out our Christmas decorations!

I will admit that I'm always a little bit sad to see November go, since it's one of my very fave months. But December being so festive makes up for a lot, so that makes me happy. We're even having nice cold weather, which helps it feel like it should (at least in my opinion).

So that's it for the news around here. December should be a busy month, since everyone at our house enjoys all the holiday things. I hope it will be a good month for all of you as well. 

See you next time!

Thanksgiving Day 2025

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! 

May everything you have to be thankful for stay with you.

Things to Celebrate

Hello from cool, dreary, and rainy Philadelphia! The perfect kind of day to just stay inside and be cozy, and that's pretty much what I plan to do.

We have been kind of busy lately. I have been getting ready for both The Tim's birthday, and for Thanksgiving. The Tim always gets into a flurry of cleaning activity around this time of year, in preparation for holiday season, so he's been working on that. The cats are either sleeping and avoiding it (actually preferred), or busy snooper-vising. 

Yesterday was The Tim's birthday, and unlike today, it was a perfect fall day - sunny, cool, and just a touch of wind. He took the day off from work, and I swapped my volunteer shift with someone else, so we were both home for the whole day. He had asked to go out to breakfast at a place in the neighborhood, so we headed there first thing. He had one of his fave things, a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, with tomato, onion, etc. as well. I had the tofu scramble, which is really good, and comes with fried potatoes, which we both enjoyed. We were stuffed until it was time for dinner!

The Tim had told me what he would like for his birthday, and for once, I had been ready for over a week, so that worked out really well. He requested a cheesecake for his birthday dessert, and we enjoyed that after presents, while the kitties enjoyed some kitty treats. 

We had originally planned to go out to dinner, but he said later in the afternoon that he was feeling slightly out of it, like he is getting a cold, so we decided to do that another night, and just had leftover chili and some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. It was a lovely day, and fortunately, this morning he felt much better. A good night's sleep I'm sure helped. 😊

Over this past weekend, I put out our Thanksgiving decorations. I don't have a lot of them, but I love having them. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday, and I feel that a lot of the time, it gets short shrift. 

I posted this photo as well as a few others on Instagram, and got so many comments from people saying they remembered these particular candles from their families growing up! I just have always loved them.

My other exciting news is that I finished the body of the cardigan I have been knitting! Here is a not-lovely bathroom selfie for you to get an idea how it looks.

This is the Fidalgo Cardigan, and it is one of the most favorite things I have ever knit. I love that as you are knitting the sweater, you are knitting the button band - no hassle having to pick up stitches after the fact! I have learned a few new-to-me skills with this pattern, and it is so well-written that I feel like it would be understandable to just about anyone. I watch the designer's podcast, and she is just one of those people that I would love to be friends with. Yesterday afternoon, I managed to knit half of the first sleeve, so I'm hoping this will be an FO before long.

So that's been what has been going on around here. The Tim had a lovely birthday day, even though it means that now for a few months, we'll be same age (he always loves being "the younger one" for most of the year). We're looking forward to Thanksgiving next week, not just because we both love the holiday itself, but for the first time in four years, The Tim won't have to work! He also took the Friday after off, so we will have a nice long holiday weekend together to enjoy. I'm so happy about that. Obviously, we've survived the years when he had to work on Thanksgiving Day, but it's just so much better when he can have the day off and be at home too.

I hope your week has been kind to you, and that you are enjoying any crafting projects you have. See you next time!

Wednesday FO Post: Greg's Requested Socks

Hello there! I'm just going along as usual around here, so believe me, you're not missing anything too thrilling happening. But on the plus side, I do have an FO post for you today.

When I put out the call over the summer to family members asking if anyone would like knit socks, Greg responded really quickly! He asked for socks in the team colors of the Baltimore Orioles, and in the weight like another pair I'd knit for him (worsted weight). Greg is married to my niece La Liz, and is one of the most knitworthy people on the planet.

Project: Greg's Requested Socks

Pattern: Plain Vanilla Sock pattern that I usually use

Yarn: Berroco Vintage, in the colorways Orange and Cast Iron

Needles: US size 5/3.75 mm

Notes:  When I started this pair, I wanted to try something different somehow. I started with corrugated ribbing, but it just didn't look good to me. So I did a couple of knit rows in black, then did a few rows in "colorwork," alternating the colors. Then I did some rows of ribbing in black for the rest of the cuff. I thought that looked a whole lot better.

I didn't get them to him before the end of baseball season, but he said he didn't care, he was wearing them anyway! He actually sent me a photo of him wearing the socks, and the Musselburgh Hat I knit for him a few years ago! Apparently, they fit just fine, and he sounded really pleased, all the way around.

I told him he is always more than welcome to request anything, anytime. When someone gives you such happy feedback, it's not a slog to knit for them, if you ask me.

*****

Right now, I'm at the end of the body of a cardigan I've been knitting. Actually, I'm knitting the bottom ribbing again, because I ripped it out yesterday. I had bound off, using the Tubular Bind Off as suggested in the pattern. But it just looked incredibly crappy to me. So I decided to take it out and either do something else or try again and hope my results were better (I've had much better luck with that bind off before). Well, between it being a sewn bind off and the yarn being really stick-to-itself, I ended up taking out all but the first row of hem ribbing. No big deal really, it won't take me long to re-do it. As a matter of fact, I'm halfway there already!

But I also want to make something for myself that is kind of holiday-ish. I have a couple of things in mind, but first I need to find the yarn in my stash, and then wind it before I can start. So I'll likely do that over the next couple of days.

This morning I put all of the ingredients for chili into the crock pot, so I am pleased to say that dinner is sorted for today. That's always a nice feeling.

So now you're caught up. I hope this week is being kind to you, and that you are working on something that makes you happy. See you next time!