It's cookie day!

Or rather, it's "bake the cookies for cookie day, day." Also known as "I haven't updated my blog in three weeks day." What can I say? Things haven't been all that interesting lately. Frankly, that's kind of a nice change!

Life is continuing to be life. Peter's new job is good. My jobs are good (office is winding down 2007 and I've got a decent head start on 2008, store is in the midst of holiday insanity but I only work Saturday/Sunday days so I'm not really suffering the full brunt of retail hell). I've even been knitting! Made an adorable pair of mitts for a co-worker's little boy (black with neon green random lightning stripes, and a STRING no less!) and am about halfway through a new toque for Peter to match his new coat (black and navy, double-thick).

I was sick a few days last week (to the point of one day, lying in bed completely unable to do anything - not even knit, not even crochet!). But I'm better now. Glad to get that out of the way early... of course, the irony was that I was home sick in bed on the day our company had its Flu Shot clinic. Argh.

So today, as mentioned, I am going to bake cookies. I do this every year (last year of course didn't happen due to Peter's mom's sudden illness and death), make a whack of homemade goodies and distribute them to the people with whom I work - consultants, city staff, etc. They are a gift FROM ME, not from my company, so no one gets in trouble for accepting gifts (the rules on that kind of thing are stupidly rigid in some places). However, this year (at last!) my boss said I could take a day to 'work from home' and make the cookies instead of trying to squeeze them into a couple of evenings and exhausting myself. Good boss. He may get a cookie or three. :)

The plan, as it stands now (by the way, I'm already about 2 hours behind schedule, but MAN did I sleep well!) is to make 4 batches of gingersnaps (6 dozen per batch), an equal amount of sugar drop cookies, a tray of Rice Krispies squares, and two cake mixes' worth of mini cupcakes. Then sometime next week, do the cookie exchange baking (another batch of gingersnaps and a batch of nut-free toll house cookies). Finally, the evenings of December 21, 22, 23 do the "family" baking (another two batches of gingersnaps, a suet pudding, a lemon pie, a punkin pie, and maybe another batch of the sugar drop cookies).

The upside of all this is while a quality control sample is necessary for each batch, beyond that I have not much interest in actually eating the cookies. I am trying to stick to my tradition of actually LOSING weight over Christmas, which I've done the past few years. Portion control, careful selection of treats, etc. All the usual tactics. And not eating all my own cookies. :)

So now, I must finish my coffee (mm coffee!) and make my list for the grocery store. Which I intended to do last night but I was playing WoW with Peter instead. Quality time comes in many forms. :)

I send you all virtual cookies. Have a lovely day!

It's NovemBRR! - and, call for help!

Despite the fact that today's forecasted high is 10 degrees Celsius, it's definitely winter (or at least, late fall) now. This is evidenced by the fact that in the midst of all the things I have to do for work and home and other projects, I'm knitting (and crocheting!) myself a new hat/scarf/mitten combo that will go with both my late-fall navy football coat and my deep-winter red parka. The hat is done, one mitten is done (except the thumb), the other mitten is at the cuff stage, and the scarf is about halfway. I'm crocheting the scarf, partly for practice and partly for speed - using a Q-hook with Shetland Chunky yarn certainly does go quickly! It's lacy and open which means I need to make it long enough to wrap around at least twice. Two balls oughta do it.

Also in the works are Christmas-tree ornaments of my own design, sample demos for the Yarn Event next weekend at the store (more on that, please keep reading!), and other odds and ends.

Quick Personal Note: Peter is NOT going out driving long-haul after all. He's found work with a local company that has him home every day. We're very VERY happy about this!

Back to yarn. A week from today (that would be Sunday November 11), from 1-6 p.m., Michaels is having a Yarn Event. Lots of yarn on sale, knitting and crochet demos, and a Blanket Joining Party for Blankets for Canada / Warm Up America. As I am the designated "Yarn Lady" at the South Keys (Ottawa, ON) Michaels, I am in charge of this event for our store. I've taken up the crochet hook to do the demos. I've laundered the squares that were donated for blankets last year that no one did anything with. :( I need HELP! I need people who can sew or crochet to help join all these donated squares into blankets to give to homeless people, because it's NovemBRR!

So, a call for help - if you have an hour or two or five to spare on the afternoon of Remembrance Day next week, I would really REALLY appreciate you stopping by the store to lend a hand. Of course, if you don't live in Ottawa, this will be going on at Michaels' stores all over Canada and the States, so visit your local store and pitch in there! And if you want to contribute squares, visit this link for some easy patterns.

And now, after a blissful extra hour of sleep (yay time change!), it's time for me to haul my ... squares ... to work and get some yarn downstocked. This week's yarn sale is not nearly as massive as next week's but we do have Patons SWS and Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick on for $5/ball!