Good day, Sunshine

Today is a preview of Spring. The sun is (and has all day been) shining. The air is a warm 50 degrees, with a slight breeze. It makes me want to grow things. It will be February next week - is that too early to start?

My peppermint plant loved the sunshine today. I swear that tall stem grew in just a few hours.

Showing off...

Just wanted to show everyone my latest (finished!) project! These fingerless gloves are probably the coolest thing I've knit so far. Thanks to Mom and Rachel for encouraging me to try cables. You were right, it's really not that hard :) These were not at all hard to make, so I think I might give this first pair away, and knit another for myself. I'd like to alter them a little to better fit my long hands. But on the other hand, I'm kind of attached to this pair already!

Good deal!

Check out the new super warm fleece I got at Target today. Only $4.50!! It's not really my favorite colors (although I think it may be Gryffindor colors) but you can't be too picky when you shop the clearance rack :) I also got some footless tights for $2. They put the "winter" items on sale, and now it's cold. But the joke is on them, because I got some good deals!

Idea

This idea is not my own, but I think it's a good one. Next year I might try it.

Celebrate the winter solstice. No, not in a ancient Celtic, Druid, Stonehenge-y type way. But simply because of what happens after the solstice.

The days begin to get longer.

I love that.

Resolved:

To always walk to the library instead of driving.

It's only 1/2 mile from home, so there's no good excuse for wasting the gas and polluting the atmosphere.

I didn't have much work today; therefore, no good excuse for not working out. Decided to walk to the library instead of going to the gym and walking nowhere on the treadmill. Only one little hitch in my good idea: it was freezing outside! Yesterday was 65, today it's 35. I checked the weather before I left (to see how many layers to put on) and it was 25 feels like 19. Yikes! But I was determined to go so I got all bundled up. Going to the library is easy- nice and flat or downhill, and the promise of a nice cozy place to read and relax. I guess I relaxed too long though; I was so nice and warm with all my layers on that I didn't want to walk back home! Oh well, there was nothing for it. Unfortunately, the way home is one long, gradual hill. I sweated up it though, and was actually very warm when I made it back. Except for my legs. I always forget to put extra layers on my legs....

Decaffeination (or the pain thereof)

Christmas was full of temptations. To overeat, oversleep, overindulge (in everything). But the biggest temptation for me was coffee. I'm not a regular coffee drinker. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE coffee, but I try to limit myself to a few cups per week. I dread getting hooked and having those "coffee headaches." But over Christmas I drank tons of coffee. It was just always there. Egg nog, cinnamon spice, peppermint, and my favorite: plain, black, and strong enough to float a horseshoe.
This week has been a week of coffee hell. It was our first week back from vacation, and I tried to detox from all the caffeine. I actually kept notes, because I knew it wouldn't be easy. Here's how it went....

Sunday - accidentally had about a 1/4 cup of coffee in the nursery before I remembered (sadly) about detoxing. No headache

Monday - No coffee, no headache. This is going to be easier than I thought!

Tuesday - No coffee, slight headache in the afternoon. Still not too bad.

Wednesday - MAJOR headache around 1pm. Had been working since 9 am, not getting off until 10pm. Caved at 3pm and stopped at Starbucks. Yay for Christmas gift cards! Got a Tall (which is a small) Nonfat Caramel Macchiato. As soon as I smelled it I knew everything was going to be okay. So delicious. No more headache.

Thursday - Bad headache at 2pm. Was driving past Starbucks (why does it always have to be on my way to work?) when I made a sudden right turn into the parking lot. Thinking to wean myself off gently, I ordered a Short (extra small) regular Coffee. Headache gone halfway through the cup. As I felt the caffeine begin to pump through my veins, I realized my error: A short black coffee has more caffeine than a Tall Caramel Macchiato. The macchiato is probably about 50% coffee and 50% milk, with an additional 10-20% sugar and caramel. A black coffee is all coffee. So much for weaning myself off.

Friday - Slight headache all day. Drank tons of water, Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, and Peppermint Tea. Very bad headache 9pm. Took 2 aspirin and went to bed.

Saturday - Same bad headache upon waking. Took 1 Ferrum Phos. Headache gone in 15 minutes. Why didn't I try that before?!?!? Ferrum Phos always works on my headaches. I guess I just figured that because they were caffeine related there was no remedy.

Saturday - Currently 1:30 pm. Slight headache. Numerous glances at the coffee pot. Danger. I think I'll go check out the 50% yarn sale at Michael's. I can't stay here with the coffee pot looking at me like that.

Belated Christmas and....stuff

I know, 2 weeks past Christmas and I finally get around to posting about it. In a nutshell, we had tons of fun, family, and food. We spent a week with the HuYoungs, then a week with the VanGilders. It's never easy dividing up the holidays, but we had a whole 2 weeks to share, so hopefully nobody felt left out :)
Tomorrow is back to work as normal. I've decided that I've been working too much, so I'm cutting down my hours in January to see how it goes. I've dropped both of the houses I was cleaning (yeah!!!) and am leaving those slots open. I'm also in the process of rearranging my jobs to have less down time in between them, but I'm stuck. I have a 3 hour time slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays in between my 2 jobs. It's not enough time to schedule anyone into (or enough to go home) and too much time to have to kill twice a week....any suggestions for filling/killing that time?

Oh, by the way, I managed to get all my projects done just in time for Christmas. The hats were a big hit! And they all fit!

My niece Sadie helped me get the afghan done mere hours before it went under the tree...

And this was a really cool gift I received- a loaded knitting basket! It had a project bag, needle case, an assortment of yarn and needles, stitch holders, etc. Oh, and my new favorite knitting book! Thanks, Mom!