After All That Trouble

Cody walked right out this morning without his cookies, five minutes after I'd told him not to forget them. Fortunately, J & B were going into town anyway, so they agreed to take them to him. That helped me out--not having to make an unplanned trip into town. I was able to get right into my do list for today:

1. Make Turkish delight
2. Make cream cheese mints
3. Make peanut butter fudge
4. Make fruitcake cookies
5. Make bread

I got everything done, except for cutting up the Turkish Delight, which has to set overnight anyway. Christmas candy making/baking is right on schedule.

After Christmas, I hope to finish cleaning out my old house and getting everything moved out of it. I was baking cookies today, when a lady banged on my door and asked me if I was planning on selling the old house. I don't think she will get it because of all the work that needs done on it, but that is three bites already and I haven't even advertised it yet.

Anyway, while I was cleaning out the old house, I found this old picture I drew when I was in high school. In my youthful zeal and ignorance (those two do seem to go together, don't they), I had it laminated in a vain attempt to protect it. The paper has really yellowed, but the drawing can still be seen:

Speaking of art, Buck posted a neat picture on his blog yesterday of ice forming on a tree. I thought the picture would look really good in black and white, so I took the liberty of grey scaling it. Hope you don't mind, Buck. I think it looks great. It has an almost spiritual quality about it.

What we have here are pictures of Cody and his two sisters:

Yes, they are twins. That is Faith in the middle and Taylor on the far right.

Now for a bit of:

Literally...

Lastly, a bit of good news--well good to me. Kim was finally able to switch the Stashalong to beta, so I can join in now! The object is to reduce your yarn stash. I was already working on this, and making progress, until my mother cleaned out her closet about a year ago and sent me her stash. Three garbage bags full of yarn. Not the little white bags either, the big black ones. And my friend Patti sent me her stash as well. Now I have a rather formidable stash, though not as big as some. There are three ways to play:

Choice 1: The original rules

(1) Choose a Stashalong time frame (1 month (minimum choice), 2 months, 3 months, etc). Personally, I would think about month to month--just in case :) Remember that during that time frame you will not buy any yarn(buying patterns, bags, and books are up to you)

(2) Choose some of your stash you would like to knit on during that time (maybe it's something you can finish, maybe it's for a gift or deadline or KAL).

(3) Post your start date and finish date. You could also include a picture of the yarn you'll be using and maybe some details about the pattern.

(4) Post your results at the end--did you finish it, did you crack and buy something, fill us in on your Stashalong victory!

(5) Have fun.

(6) Start and end anytime(within a one month minimum). You don't have to start at the beginning of a month just pick a date spanning 30 days and you're ready to roll!

Choice 2: The "Checkbook System"

Full disclosure time if you choose this option. Let us know how much you have--yes, your grand total(skeins, yards, whatever measurement works for you), let us know how much you want to get rid of, let us know how you did or when you reach your goal. (Example if you have 300 skeins, you want to get rid of 10, you ended up with 290)This choice allows you many options really. You could choose mini goals, like the example listed above, OR you could choose a long term goal like using 50% of your stash in a year. You could also decide that you can only buy as much as you use up--how's that for incentive to get stuff finished. Make it work for you.

Choice 3: The WIP/UFO Numbers Game

This one will really put you to the "get it done" test. Here's how it works:**choose how many WIP/UFOs you want to finish in an increment of 5(5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)--your minimum choice for this is 5.

**You can list specific projects if you like OR if you are like most of us you can leave a couple slots open for the "screaming stash" projects. (Example: You choose to finish 5 things. You have a sweater, a hat, a scarf on the needles, BUT while working on those you get bored so you "stash dive" and you find you have a enough stash for another sweater and a pair of socks--those are your "screaming stash" projects and they round out your required minimum for this choice. Does that make sense?)

Hmmm, what to do, what to do? I'll have to think on this one, but I'd better think fast since the new one begins Jan 1st.

Off to count skeins...

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