what you think on grows

We had a lovely Christmas.  Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, I'll share some photos of the last 3 days.


  I finished the sewing on the 22nd.  Pk managed to make my sewing machine function (it worked but not optimally.  It moved slowly.)  The projects were knitting project bags for Kate and Emily.  Kate's had monkeys and Em's had robots.  Both had polka dots.  Inside I put a skein of sock yarn, some Harmony dpns and a Knit kit.  Everything they needed to grab and go.  We also baked more cookies.


 We had a half day on the 23 and finished baking the cookies.  Elanor made a batch of raspberry thumbprints by herself.  (She is NOT a cook).  They are delicious.  On the 24th, I made the babka and the chocolate torte and both came out perfectly.  We decorated the cookies and Pk gets the award for the oddest cookie.  He made the Flying Christmas Cow. 


 We finished the baking and cleaning and I had time to take a nap before Em and Kate got here.  Pk made meatbal…

The baking has finally begun here at chez Wood.  Tonight, I made the dough for pfeffernuse (cookies that contain real black pepper, spicy and delicious), Pk made pizzelles and together we made some lace cookies. 


I hear all of you knitterly type individuals saying, "Lace cookies?  Pray tell, what is that?"
Well, I'll tell you.  These are lace cookies.  They are one of Peter Kevin's favorite cookies.   The bakery makes them and they are horribly expensive but so addictively delicious.
We've tried to make them before but never had much success.  This recipe came out of Bon Apetit magazine and it works!


And the only way to make them better is to sandwich two of them together with chocolate.  These are so good.  And they were easy!  Who knew ?
We are taking half a day tomorrow and the baking will continue.  I have to bake the pfeffernuse and make some butter horns and then the sugar cookies.  Elanor is going to make some jam thumbprint cookies and that will be enough.
Sa…

So what was Kate's penguinski, you asked?  (Well, ok, you all didn't ask, Roxie asked).  She left a Lego penguin hanging from Peter Kevin's desk shelf, a foam penguin that said " It has begun, there is no hope" and a chocolate penguin was left on the dresser.  That one is a recycled bit of penguinski as Pk left it in her freezer last year.  No, we are not going to eat it.

Pk has struck, tying a penguin to Emily's license plate when she came here on Sunday.  Oooops, (I don't know if she found it yet so don't tell her!). 

And me?  I just keep letting my little penguin dance around the floor and watch his little hat bob up and down.  It makes me laugh each and every time.

In the time off news, I will be able to take the four days off between the holidays.  My supervisor told me to email him which days I wanted and he will "make it happen".  I am sooo glad.  I really didn't want to get up and go into work for 2.2 hours.  What a waste.

We gav…

The season's first Penguinski score goes to Kate this year!  She managed to visit some penguin love on Peter Kevin while she was here to cut some holly branches off our tree. 

Of course there will be retaliation........

Things here have been fairly quiet.  Life has been work and home and sleep.  I have been busy at work but that's a good thing.  They finally came and installed my new phone so now I know who is calling.  It makes life easier.  Pk has been busy coding at work.  He enjoys doing the computer work but has an exacting boss.  She's a difficult to please workaholic.  She keeps him on his toes.

He and I had date night tonight.  We go out most Friday nights but always on payday weekends.  Tonight we saw a movie and had dinner.  We saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  Don't waste your money.

To be fair, Pk liked the first one and I didn't.  I will admit I am not a Holmes fan to start with (although I do like the BBC version with Benedict Crumblebatch (I love …

Wouldn't you know it?  The day after my 'coaching', I wake up in the morning and the room is spinning around and around.  I'm familiar with this feeling and I know that the best way to deal with this is to take the medication and sleep it off.  It usually takes a few hours and while the world is not altogether stable, it's better.

I couldn't do that this time.  I had to haul my sorry ass out of bed and get showered and go to work.  I got myself cleaned and dressed and took the sleep inducing medication and went to work.  It was a total waste of a day.  I sat at my desk for 7.5 hours (only got up twice to use the bathroom) and slept on and off with my head propped up on my hand to hold it steady. I still felt unsteady when I got home so I slept for a few hours and was better by dinnertime.  Pk made me some eggs (my comfort food of choice) and I sat and watched some netflix and went to bed and slept 10 more hours.  Today started out a bit woozy but is better at t…

Brrr.  After a day during which we got a total of over 3 inches of rain (and we could see lots of flooded yards from the train)yesterday,  today the temperature is 20 degrees colder.  It feels even colder because it's so damp.  I'm sitting here wrapped in the Wool Peddler's shawl that Kate made me and I have a blanket on my legs and the space heater is on to try to drive off some of the damp chill.  If I had some whipped cream, I'd make a hot rum drink. It's probably better that we don't.  I don't need the 1,000 or so calories!

I was home with some stomach bug on Monday and Tuesday.  At first I thought I had food poisoning or I was having a reaction to a new medicine for cholesterol (Lovaza, a fish oil) but I was feverish and exhausted Sunday night.  And I had stomach cramps and diaharrea.  I did what I thought was the sensible thing and stayed home.

I had supervision today and was "coached" because I have too many occurrences in the past year.  I…

So, Friday morning came and I felt nice and calm.  I listened to the three presentations before mine and wasn't embarassed by what I had to say at all.  I was a bit nervous (my director told me she could tell when I was getting nervous, the flush was creeping up my neck into my face) but my piece flowed easily and I actually had to cut my talk short when they flashed the 3 Minute and then 1 Minute signs at me.  I think it was successful.  And it's over.

Friday night Pk and I went to the fabric store to get some fabric for a couple of gifts I want to make.  I didn't have to wait in line to get my fabric cut or anything.  It was amazing.  I'm going to check out the old sewing machine to see if it works and if it does, I'll use it instead of pulling my machine out from its corner next to the dresser. 

Saturday, we decided to go to a christmas lights warehouse called Kindy's.  I included a link only so you could see the difference between their online presence and …