New year starting out well.

Happy New Year!

Blog was neglected for a busy December. Few random items from the past month:

• Had a bit of a scare when I tried to get dressed and my jeans wouldn't go past my knees. To my relief, I realized I had grabbed the pair my skinny 14 year old son had outgrown and are destined for the Goodwill.
  
• My car got graffiti tagged in the driveway one night. Was pretty creeped out by it, then found out that two neighbors had gotten tagged the same time. Then it seemed more random and less creepy. Plus, what seemed to be indelible marker came off easily with Citra-Solve and some elbow grease.
  
• Working retail in December has its ups and downs. At least there are stories to share. Like the woman looking for a sudoku book for her "very smart" 8 year old granddaughter. I showed her Sudoku for Dummies and she was completely offended. Said her granddaughter was not a dummy.
  
• December 3rd, I mailed 6 checks including the mortgage. All but the mortgage showed up as received and cashed within a week. I called mortgage company on Dec 17th, last day to pay without a penalty. No check. I paid on-line which cost me six bucks. Then what to do about the missing check? Just in case, I moved enough money from savings into checking to cover it. Sure enough, it appeared at the mortgage company on the 18th. Large mortgage company is fighting bankruptcy. Is it possible it is "losing" checks for a couple weeks just so folks need to pay a late fee?
  

But now it's January and things are looking up.

I just won a blog contest! Kris has been having contests to celebrate her husband Dana's birthday. I was one of the folks who guessed his favorite album from 1979 and I won a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy Sock from her on-line store. Yay for me! and Yay for Kris who just sold her house and yay for Dana for having a birthday. Check out her store. Kris sells a nice variety of commercial yarn and a great selection of Indie hand-dyed yarn.



Most of my knitting time has been spent on the Large Rectangle from VLT. I have only 25 pattern repeats of the border left (out of 82). Each repeat takes me 24 minutes. Therefore, at least 10 more hours of work. And I am thinking of knitting the Princess Shawl? Am I nuts or just very optimistic?