The Loot! and...staying away from it

Here's what I occupied myself with while trying to keep my hands off those presents:

I ended up finishing the back of my Minimalist Cardigan-to-be on the 26th and starting the right front the same evening. The right front is going so much faster than that big piece of back fabric! I am a little concerned that I should've taken more length off the pattern, but we'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will be fine, just not the cropped-ish look that's on the model in the magazine. I will be shortening the arms though, I've read a few people's surprised reactions to the sleeve length.
It's hard not to be concerned with the way the back ended up so "slanty". I've also read that that will be fine once it's blocked, but it's still a little unnerving. The front... oh boy... it's fast, but my how that stockinette strip on the front is rolling! Hope that will block out a bit as well.
Anyway, now that I've opened all the presents, I'm still knitting away. I'd love to finish the right front tonight and get going on the left front. I wonder if I can finish both sleeves next week and then maybe I can meet my goal of finishing by my birthday! I'm not looking forward to the seaming though. And, I wanted to do some other crafty projects (and some reorganizing in my classroom) over winter break... which is already half over! Eeek!

Okay, so here's what was in all those boxes under the tree:


Lots of good stuff! Someone who did not know me but looked under our tree would be able to tell the following about me, based solely on my presents: I run and I cook. And that's pretty much it. I got lots of running clothes--including 7 pairs of socks!-- and cookbooks. I got some other goodies too, like some clothes from...the Gap(!!! I haven't been to a Gap in 6 months, but David found one on mainland Japan I guess!), a few other books, a day planner, a special Moose ornament, etc. Santa brought me an ice cream maker! How did you know, Santa? I've been wanting one for 2 and a half years. In fact, I did have one for about 5 minutes once. Five minutes is how long David and I argued in the Linens N Things' parking lot before he guilted me into taking it back and exchanging it for something more practical. But that Santa pulled through for me and brought me the ice cream maker I've been waiting for...and an ice cream cookbook, of course.

Counting Down

It is getting harder and harder to wait for Christmas! Look at all our presents!

I'm so glad we open gifts on Christmas Eve! Some of these presents have been sitting under the tree for almost a month and it's beginning to drive me crazy!!
I've been such a good girl this season and haven't been snooping around the presents. Well, not snooping around the presents as much as usual anyway.
I know exactly where David hid my presents before wrapping them and I never even opened the closet. Although I did have my hand on the doorknob once or twice. But I didn't turn it. You can't really expect me to not know what any of the presents under the tree are, as I can't go all cold turkey and not even touch them, so I know there are a couple spiral bound books and something that comes in one of those large plastic cases that are skinny up at the top and then the item is down toward the bottom. The present I am most confounded by is this large flexible-looking (David yelled for me to stop in my tracks when he saw me headed toward it) rectangle. It's very thin and I almost thought it was one of those desk-blotter-calendar things, but why on earth would I get one of those, since I can't even see the top of my desk anyway.
We've come a long way since our first Christmas here. Although it seems there are fewer presents under this year's tree (or maybe it's because we've graduated to a bigger tree?) if you look carefully at this (low quality, sorry) picture, you might see we had only 12 ornaments in 2005! (We started out with 3, and luckily my family sent out a few more to fill it out!)

We added to our collection and ended up with these ornaments at the beginning of 2006:

And this year before decorating, we had this many:

I love our growing collection of Christmas decorations. I love my new green sparkly tree & golden sleighs. I love my nutcrackers and red and green balls-in-a-bowl. I even love the candles and candle holders I keep getting as Christmas gifts from my students. But most of all, I LOVE my Christmas tree.

Dear Santa (again)

Santa, I need you to clear up a little something for me, please. You see, my students seem to be under the impression that your naughty vs. nice list has been finalized and that the sleigh is packed and ready to go. You wouldn't do that to a first grade teacher when school is still in session, would you Santa?
"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" doesn't actually start until Friday at 2:30. Until then, it's one of the most migraine-inducing times of the year.

The Cruelty of Military Housing

Have I mentioned before that we only have one bathroom? One. Uno. Just one single, solitary bathroom. For 2 people. I don't think I've ever lived somewhere with just one bathroom, always 2 or 3. I'd even prefer summer camp, or campground style...if I had to walk outside to get to the bathroom, it would be better than having only one. On Saturdays we have to plan very carefully, because David is leaving the house for golfing right around the time that I need to leave the house for running group. He takes much longer than me in the bathroom, if you know what I mean, plus he has to shower I guess because you should be clean for golf, while it would be silly to shower right before running.
This morning, I got up early, fully intending to go for a run. But, David got up first, and claimed the bathroom. (I do NOT share bathroom time with anyone. I don't want to go in and pee while someone is brushing their teeth or even in the shower. I did my time in the dorms, that was enough bathroom-sharing for me!) So I had to wait...and wait...and wait. I got dressed in my running clothes, and waited some more. After all that waiting, I decided to check ScrapVillage. By the time David came out of the bathroom, I no longer had time to go for the 6 mile run I had planned. Besides, by that time I was involved in posting on ScrapVillage! So I decided to check my e-mail. And write this blog entry. And now I have no time to go for that run, even a less-than-six mile run, and I woke up at 5:08 for nothing. At least my running clothes are still clean...

**I know it may sound as though I'm irritated with David for taking so much time in the bathroom, but I'm not. I understand that he has to brush his teeth, shave, shower, and um...read the paper...before work. I am irritated with the housing office for thinking it's okay to assign people (even people with a child--that's 3 people!) to live in a place with just one bathroom!