just maryse

Oh Christmas Tree ...

  with three whole days to spare, i do believe that i'm done.  finished.  fini, finito.  well, done with all of the important stuff.

i've done all of my christmas baking -- most notably butter nut balls for my company christmas party last week (or "delectables" as i call them -- bite sized balls of cardiac death covered in confectioner's sugar).

i've done all of my christmas shopping.  i still need to finish wrapping and i have two gifts that need to be mailed but i'll do that after christmas.  i mean who says that christmas gifts have to be on time?  it's like an extra surprise!  don't you think?

i've done all of my christmas knitting.  yes, i've been knitting but no one and i mean no one is getting a knitted or crocheted gift from me this year.   remember the little sweaters i was talking about making?  well i made some.  38 of them.

each one different.  the hangers were made with glittery pipe cleaners for a little festive touch.

here's a close-up of a couple on the tree.

and finally, here's this year's tree.

just little tiny sweaters, shiny balls, and lots o' lights. 

i think that my possessed cat likes it. 

Thank You Everyone

my birthday was a quiet one.  j had to go to work and i spent the day putting up the tree and finishing up some christmas shopping.  since i actually like being by myself, it was all good. 

i do want to thank everyone for wishing me a happy birthday.  (see?  it pays to advertise...)

thank you vera, kim, elisa, bron, kate, claudia, margi and anna!

and finally a special thank you to cathi.  i thought the mini people had sent me the fun mug and wacky cards the other day, but in fact it was she.   

Snow Day

today, i took a personal day to celebrate my birthday.  i was originally planning to take the mini back to the shop to have some tweaking done.  and while she was getting worked on, i was going to meet a friend for lunch, do some last minute shopping at faneuil hall and downtown crossing, get a manicure, just have a totally "me" day.

but i woke up to this. 

so i think i'm staying local.   

The Pressure's On

so it's one week until x-mas and this is how far i've gotten with my x-mas decorating.

exactly.  i've done nothing.  that's where my tree is SUPPOSED to go.  i guess i've got work to do today because if i don't get this area cleaned up and the tree decorated this weekend, it ain't happening.

but i have a very good reason for the lack of x-mas spirit.  december is a busy time in our house due to the fact that between thanksgiving and christmas we also have 5 birthdays to celebrate (that's including mine which is in two days.  have i mentioned that?) .  last weekend, we went to our twin nieces' birthday party.  here they are wearing the ponchos i made them.

 

oh this is fun.  when you bring a mini cooper into the bosom of your family, you also get great surprise gifts from the mini people.  yesterday i received some funny  mini trading cards/stickers (that kind of remind me of wacky packs from my childhood)  and this very fun mug.

see, it comes with paint.  you paint the mug and then when you like your design, you set it by baking it in the oven.  isn't that cool?  i love the mini people.

anyway, i'm really off this time.  gotta motor.

Bag sans Trash

i have a lot of stuff to write about, but pictures are required and i haven't had a chance to download them from my camera.

so in the meantime i leave you this quiz that i got from Annie Modesitt.

I AM 12% WHITE TRASH! I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box. Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com

hmmm, i do have an old white chevy sitting in the driveway.  but it's not my chevy per se and it's in the driveway, not on the front lawn.

Oh I Don't Have Time To Knit...

You Are a Snarky Blogger!

You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of. And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

What kind of blogger are you?

i meant to post the results of this quiz on friday, but then the day got away from me, and then the weekend came. 

friday night i did nothing. i just sit on my ass and knit.

saturday, i cruised around town and in my cruising, ended up in the shop of a local craft celebrity, Kathy McMannis, author of Rag Wool Appliqué: •Easy to Sew •Use Any Sewing Machine •Quilts, Home Decor & Clothing . she was very friendly and we chatted about how she started out and what it was like owning her own shop (she's had it for 3 months and has been keeping busy with custom embroidery orders for the local highschool and businesses). anyway, it was kind of cool. maybe i'll buy her book and have her sign it for me... right next door to her place, is my town's only yarn shop. i really really really want to love this little shop, have my picture up on the wall, have the owners wave to me when i drive by, come by for a sit with my Big One from dunkin donuts .... sigh... but it's not going to happen as long as OVER HALF OF THEIR INVENTORY IS THAT HEINOUS FUN FUR NOVELTY CRAP!!!! they also had a bunch of baby yarn. my guess is the bulk of their clientele answer to the name of granny or nana. i did buy 2 skeins of very pretty dark pink cascade, since i felt kind of guilty just coming in, making retching noises at the wall of fuzz yarn, and then walking out.

saturday night, j and i went across the street to the neighbors' annual holiday open house.  this is the third year for me.  the first year, we had just gotten engaged that day so i spent the evening showing off the crazy ass 6 carat cubic zirconium that j had just given me (to be traded in later -- he had wanted to surprise me, but he had also wanted me to pick out my own ring, so he decided to get me something fabulously fake).  last year i got drunk, spilled red wine on the carpet, and ended up with a mother of a hangover.  this year, i behaved myself, but came close to going postal on the nicolette sheriden of the neighborhood when she asked me to make her a fuzzy assed novelty yarn shawl like the one she was wearing.  i told her that i'd be happy to teach her how to knit one herself, to which she replied, "oh i know how to knit, i just don't have time."

i've heard other bloggers talk about this...i didn't realize how infuriating it would be to be on the receiving end of such a comment.  'yeah lady, i have so much free time myself that i'd be more than happy to knit you some fuck ugly shawl out of yarn that i can't stand on needles the size of tree trunks that hurt my hands while you prance around showing off your navel ring to my poor husband who is nice enough to help you around the house (because your ex-husband is a loser) but who is afraid to go over to your house alone because you make him "uncomfortable." '

no i did not tell her that.  i think i did say though, "if you have time to sit on your ass, you have time to knit."  was that rude?

Sweater Factory

everyone and their mother are knitting up little sweater ornaments.  check out alison's weasleys (dec 7, 2004 post).  and there's these; and these ; and these; and look here!  so many tiny little sweaters.

well, i too have been knitting little sweaters.  i've got quite a pile going but i don't think i'll show them until i'm totally done.  i'm hoping to have enough to cover our entire tree, perhaps as a garland.  we'll see.

Oh-Two-One-Three-Four!

it's a sad day when something from your childhood disappears.  Zoom has been cancelled.  it's true, that i didn't even know it was still on, and had i not read this article i would have been oblivious to it's demise, but still.  it's a sad day.

i thought the kids on zoom were really cool.  (yes, i was a HUGE dork as a kid and very uncool). they wore orange and yellow striped rugby shirts (this was the 70's -- no one wore rugby shirts) and one of the girls, i don't remember her name, wore her blond hair really short and she wore big button-like earrings.  although i had pierced ears, i wasn't allowed to wear big earrings like that. 

it's on zoom that i learned what a self-addressed stamped envelope was, and i learned how to do that thing with my arms that really serves no purpose other than to amaze and shock your friends and family ... those who didn't watch zoom anyway.

and you were encouraged to send them letters, although i never did.  "SEND IT TO ZOOM.  BOX 35"oh"  BOSTON MASS OH-TWO-ONE-THREE-FOUR!  SEND IT TO ZOOM!"

by the way, 02134 is the zipcode for allston, a very popular student neighborhood of boston.  and when i see an allston address, i can't help but hear in my head a faint voice singing (and it's the only thing i hear in my head by the way) oh-two-one-three-four.. send it to zoooom!

Christmastime Is Here

to get too and from the train station, i have to drive for about 20 minutes through a couple of towns.  it's actually quite a nice drive and i've found a couple of shortcuts so that i don't actually hit traffic unless i get stuck behind a school bus.  my route takes me through hopkinton center which is very "new englandy." and i pass by some beautiful old farmhouses.  but now the lights are up.  and everynight on my way home, more and more of these houses are awash in lights.  and i love lights.  even the really tacky, neon baby jesus in the psychedelic manger tacky lights (there aren't many of those in hopkinton.  there seems to be a rule about being tastful in hopkinton -- my town, however, does not seem to have that rule).

another sign of christmas of course is the gazillion catalogs i get in the mail.  i very rarely order from one but every now and again something intrigues me.  last night i got a mini catalog.  yes, not only can i drive a mini, i can outfit my person in full mini regalia.  these slippers particularly intrigued me.

kind of freaky, huh. 

also in my mailbox was a small package from alison.  a few days ago, she held a little contest and i actually won some lovely sock yarn.  how cool is that?  i don't know how to make socks, but i can certainly learn how.  i can use the tutorial that appeared in an old issue of knitty a couple of winter's ago.  thanks alison!

last night, i finally made j watch the daily show.  jon stewart was mocking tommy thompson's press conference where he gives his resignation and says that he can't believe that terrorists haven't already attacked the food supply, yadda yadda yadda.  j turns to me and says, "did he really say that?"  "yep."  "why would he say such a thing?"  "don't know, maybe because he had an audience and since he's resigining, he can say whatever he wants.  i mean what are they going to do, fire him?"  "do you think no one's listened to him in the administration?"

YES BUCKO THAT WOULD BE MY GUESS...

i think we'll be watching the daily show everynight from now on.

finally, dude, does the fact i found this fascinating make me a dork?

Everyone's Home

all is well now.  the mini is home.  it's with trepidation and sweaty palms that i drove her home in the falling snow.  i've driven in snow maybe twice in my life so although the roads were not yet bad, since the last time i drove her, i ended up smack right into a tree, i was a tad nervous.  she looks great.  and i'm happy.

not much to report over the weekend.  i didn't end up going shopping friday night but instead went out for a few beers with some coworkers, which was fun.  i don't do that entirely enough.  sunday i went to visit allison, who just turned a month old.  i brought her a very cheeky looking sheep. 

the sheep's mouth is a little crooked but so is holly hunter's and it hasn't stopped her.  i got the impression that allison's grandmother wasn't too impressed.  she was much more impressed with a hand knit sweater that a friend of her's had made.  HEY GRAMMY, I COULD HAVE  MADE A SWEATER, BUT INSTEAD I MADE A SHEEP! allison will end up liking the sheep and dragging it's sorry ass all over the place until she goes to camp in the 7th grade.  that sweater will be worn twice before she grows out of it.  so there.  put that in your pipe and smoke it.

i also finally got to find out who my secret pal was.  thank you brenna for the wonderful gifts.  now that i know for sure who she is (i kind of guessed early on -- i'm super sleuthy that way) i'm doubly impressed that she found the time to spoil me.