I'm feeling melancholy this evening.  No plans for New Year's Eve this year.  I actually spent the day in my jammies watching the snow and working on Christmas gifts.  Yep, I'm still not done.  

2008 was a rough year for us.  I am kind of glad it is over.  There probably was more good than bad, but the bad has been weighing on me and stressing me out.  Hopefully 2009 will be better.  I don't usually make resolutions, so I am going to keep on doing what I am doing and get the rest of this weight off me and keep it off.  I have also started applying for jobs.  There isn't a whole lot out there now but we'll see.

Best wishes to you all for a happy and prosperous New Year.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  Ours was very quiet.  Just me and Patrick this year.  We woke up, opened presents, watched TV, played some Wii, and had ham for dinner.  Saffy enjoyed the wrapping paper enormously.  She even opened all her presents herself.  She got about a gazillion new toys and yet all she wants to play with is the wrapping paper and the tubes from inside the wrapping paper.  

I am STILL working on Christmas gifts.  Four of them have been received so here, finally, is the first round of Christmas gifts!

This pair was for Rita, Patrick's sister.  I used the Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina that I found on Ravelry.  It's a quick and easy pattern and I love how the yarn worked in this pattern!  I knit these in Blue Ridge Yarn Jubilee.

This pair was for Teri, Patrick's brother's wife.  I used the Monkey pattern from Knitty.  These were also knit from Blue Ridge Jubilee.

This pair was for Patrick's brother, John.  I used the pattern, Mr. Pitt's Socks and they were knitted in Noro Kureyon Sock yarn.

Last but not least, the Sudoku afghan for my mother and father-in-law.  I used Vanna's Choice and made up the pattern myself.  I used shades of blues and grays in honor of my father-in-law's Air Force career and a Sudoku puzzle in honor of my mother-in-law's love of puzzles.

As far as I know, all the gifts were loved.  

In other news, I have officially lost 10.8 pounds as of December 24th.  Yay me!

Sorry it's been a while.  I wanted to post last week, but the universe just said no.  Last Thursday, New Hampshire had a huge ice storm and about half of the state was left without power.  Patrick and I stayed in the house over Friday night.  We slept with the dog and two comforters and many blankets.  I was planning on going to Syracuse on Sunday to visit my friend Sara, but ended up leaving a day early as she had power and heat.  Our power was out a total of five days.  I was going to come home yesterday, but there was snow in New York as well as New Hampshire, so I spent an extra day.  It was a really nice visit, except for the cold I brought home with me.  I just got over the last one.

I'll do some more updates when my head is less stuffy!

4 gifts complete!  I didn't finish yesterday as I was hoping, but just this afternoon.  I doubt I will finish two gifts this weekend either, but I will settle for one.  I am done with the majority of the crocheting for one of the gifts and all that is left is a LOT of finishing.  I can't wait until I can share everything I am working on.  I guess that is my Christmas gift to my blog readers.

I am still stuffy and snuffly.  I can't wait for this to be done!  Saffy keep stealing my tissues and then ripping them apart into a million pieces.  She tries to steal them while I am blowing my nose.  

Just thought I would post a quick update.

I purposely skipped posting yesterday after posting 30 days in a row.  It sure felt weird.  But I am back, typing more about nothing!

I am still suffering from this miserable cold.  It has finally reached my head and I am stuffy and snuffly.  I skipped yoga today as I didn't want my head to explode during the inversions.  I did have an appointment with a new dermatologist today.  I have a bump under my left nostril that has been there for around 15 years.  He thinks it might be a basal cell carcinoma and I have a biopsy scheduled for the 22nd.  I'm not too worried.  It's been there a while so if it was going to misbehave I think it might have done so by now.  My dad just got cleared of skin cancer so it's better safe than sorry.  

Saffy and I had obedience today.  She was really wound up.  She started freaking out the minute she saw me getting her bag ready.  When we got to Petsmart, she walked in the door, stood on her hind legs and waved her paws at the ladies at the checkout.  It was very cute.  She did do a good job in class as I got one good "stay" out of her.  She has been driving me and Patrick crazy lately.  She nips at our arms and scratches my head and face.  The instructor told me to put her in time-out every time she is naughty.  I've been putting her on the floor and standing on her leash until she calms down.  It seems to be working, but I will need to keep it up.   I am such a strict mommy.  Patrick is a push-over when it comes to the puppy, but I am with her most of the time so I guess it falls to me to be the disciplinarian.  I keep telling her that she is lucky we love her so much!

I'm about 3/4 of the way done with one of my gifts!  I hope to finish tomorrow and I want to completely finish two more gifts this weekend.  Wish me luck.

So, I figured out why I was so miserable yesterday.  I caught Patrick's cold.  I woke up with a killer sore throat yet still went to yoga.  At the time I was still holding out that I hadn't caught the cold.  Yoga made me realize that I did.  I spent half the class in child's pose and the other half of the class with my legs shaking.  Class was way harder than it should have been.  I was kind of hoping I'd sweat out any germs, but it didn't seem to work that way.  I'm supposed to go back on Wednesday, so we'll see how I feel.  Patrick had a head cold so I don't expect yoga to be as beneficial when you can't breathe.  

I spent the afternoon on the couch with Saffy and some tea.  I am almost halfway done with another Christmas gift so I am at:

3 complete

4 in process

2 not yet started

I'm getting there!

Today is my baby sister, Drea's birthday.  Happy 26th Birthday Sissy!  I sent her money for knitting lessons.  I tried teaching her this summer and we were working on the knit stitch, but with all the wedding work we didn't have much time to do any more than that.  Hopefully, another convert to the dark side.  Ha ha ha!