'Twas the Day of Christmas

My Christmas was pretty laid back. I woke up late, watched tv, made crepes for breakfast, (my family called & talked about farting and saying the word 'ass' in church the previous night - that's a typical Kasiske thing), and then sat down at my sewing machine.

My neighbors are expecting a girl in February. Not only are they expecting a girl, but the Mom-to-be L O V E S pink, so you can imaging what the color is of everything that they have gotten thus far. As a Christmas gift to Baby M (and to the Dad-to-be), I made two gender-neutral burp cloth & bib sets. The monkey print is front & back, lined with brown. Apparent the Dad-to-be is obsessed with monkeys, so this was a perfect print! The dog pattern (they are Dewie's dog sitter if Mike and I are both out of town) is backed with a brown terrycloth (towel for those of you who don't pay attention to the name of fabrics) for the bib and burp cloth. I've been wanting to use that more - it'll help wipe up messes even better. It was just another something to experiment with!

These fabrics might make another appearance in the near future... (woof woof)

TubaChristmas!

When I left the house in the morning, it was a bit drizzly. I didn't think the weather would be great for tooting my tuba in front of the state Capitol. We had an hour practice to run through some songs, and then headed out to the crowds.
I was surprised at the turnout - not just of the Tuba Players, but also the number of people in the crowd. I was pleasantly surprised to see four people from church, several from work, and a neighbor or two.

Mike snuck behind-the-scenes to take a picture of me in action. Exciting, right?

It was fun, but next year, I think I'll skip the rehearsal. My lips definitely didn't work right until the next day.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Dewie insisted in dressing up like Santa. It must be a dog thing.

Mike's house is SO COLD that he grew a carrot nose. (Wait a second, the song says Frosty had a button nose!)

And I've been tinkering around with toys. Goodness, my job is never done.
I haven't done anything to get in the Christmas spirit. No tree, no decorations, no advent calendar. I think it was a combo of not being home for the first 2 weekends in December, and the fact that I'm celebrating with Mike circa Jan 3 and my family ~Jan 15th-ish. So I picked up ornaments at JoAnn's, some paint, and we decorated last night! Naturally, I only found the orange and maroon paint to be worth purchasing. Mike tried to put a "VT" in the top left bulb -- it was a little tricky. We'll need curved paint brushes next time.


These stocking ornaments are currently hung on a chandelier in the kitchen. So far, no tree. Will I get it up before the 25th? (Most likely before Dec 25, 2011!)

Knitting was my Therapy

What do you do on a plane to pass the time when you can't focus too well on a book? Crochet! And when I realized that I forgot my scissors, I decided to attempt to make my first hat. I liked swirling the orange and maroon so much that I made a matching scarf as well. (The scarf was finished in Austin.) I don't know if I could consider this a Christmas present, or if I strategically wanted him to have a hat & scarf for when I complain about his house being too cold!


For a moment, I ran out of maroon yarn. I searched my mom's knitting stuff and did about half the rows in this eventually-will-become-a-purse. It's still in NY for anyone that's interesting in picking up the needles.



So I knew I'd have enough for my hands to do, I picked up some red/pink/white yarn to crochet a baby blanket for a neighbor. After all, my 4 day trip home doubled and turned into a week and a half. Yes, I finished the blanket before I got on the plane.