Cray Cray Adorbs!

My Halflinger slippers from Meg!  Love them like 60!

2013 Finished Projects

I completed approximately 33 knitting projects in 2013 (not counting various test and sample knitting)

The year started with "Poppy":

And ended with "Keepers":

Movies!

Two good ones I saw this week:

All is Lost:  if Robert Redford doesn't get an Oscar nom for this, I will be shocked. The only character, with hardly a line of dialogue, he is riveting. Pia and I were both on the edges of our seats the whole movie. Most intense thing I've ever seen that didn't involve clown dolls coming to life. 

Saving Mr. Banks:  charming!  I knew I'd love the actors; Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, my secret crush Colin Farrell. But I wasn't expecting the story to pull me in. I'm pretty sure "liberties" were taken in the telling, but I loved it anyway. If you don't shed a few tears at the end of this, you're dead inside. 

We're still trying to find enough time to fit in The Hobbit, hopefully New Year's Day.

TQI Week 3

The "elimination" phase of our diet is over (yay!)  Must say I'm feeling good, and I won't be adding a lot of foods back in to my diet for now.  I am down 11 lbs. since we started, which is great!  I think it's going to take a while to really feel the benefits on my arthritic joints, so will keep going with the diet plan.

I AM adding dairy back into my diet -- this is part of the "testing" phase, where you introduce dairy, wheat, corn and and/or peanuts and observe whether  you are sensitive to any of these "problem" foods.  There's no provision for adding sugar or booze back in lol.  Red meat doesn't seem to be part of the plan either, but I suspect we will add a smidge of that into the weekly food plan.

Today, I am savoring my morning coffee with a splash of half and half.  Fingers crossed that I'm not sensitive to dairy!

How Cute Is This?

Good Stuff

This year, I'm thankful that the whole gang has embraced knitting. My stocking contents have taken a turn for the good. Here are a couple of goodies Santa left me:

A skein of lace yarn in my new favorite color

And a good knitting magazine. Thanks Santa!

TQI Week 2

We are now on week 3 of the "Elimination" phase of our diet. No dramatic weight loss this week :-(. But that's okay, we are all feeling good about eating healthy. Cara made delicious pancakes that had NO flour, yet the texture was perfectly pancakey. Amazing!  This is the sort of thing one gets excited about on this eating program lol. 

I've eaten more fruit the last two weeks than I have in the last two years, which I'm happy about. Knee is gradually improving, time to start exercising it to get some strength back. At least I can get up and down stairs a bit faster. 

2035 Ravelry Member

Ravelry ID: "Munchie"

Let the Holidays Begin

It's officially Christmas here; we are watching this:

Must Watch

If you have Netflix, watch Blackfish. And then boycott Seaworld. 

TQI

We've been following the TQI (To Quiet Inflammation) Diet for a week. B-Z recommended it after several of her pals had really good results.  My arthritic knee, wrists, toes, etc really needed help so I decided to give it a shot and the Gang came along for the ride. 

One week in:  each of us has lost 9+ pounds, my knee is definitely less painful and we are adjusting to no dairy, red meat, sugar, wheat or artificial ingredients. I miss my half and half in my morning joe but otherwise am enjoying eating a healthy diet (and the kids have promised to put my beloved Taffy Crisp cookies in my grave with me). We are lucky that Katie is a great cook and very inventive. 

Two more weeks on the "elimination" phase, then we slowly start adding foods back to see which ones create inflammation. I'm guessing sugar and booze are my Achilles, so won't be adding those back in any hurry. 

Here's the link for "the diet that's taken Vashon Island by storm" lol. http://toquietinflammation.com

Congrats!

After hours of intensive study of the world's most boring subject, Cara passed her insurance licensing test!  We knew you'd pass, Carrie.

We are SO Funny

Times Have Changed

I just added this 1952 toddler's hats pattern to my store:

Note the gun motif bottom right.  Yikes, that would get your child sent home from kindergarten, I'm pretty sure.

Merry!

We Love Our New Shoes!

Favorite Christmas Shirt!

Colie was not very cooperative about posing in her new shirt.  It reads:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

YA FILTHY ANIMAL

Sparkly!

CAF's sparkly new squeaky shoes!  We got them on our new fave site Zulily.  They're a smidge too big, but this girl knows you have to make it work.

An Idea for Christmas

I am quite fond of St Vincent de Paul -- Vinnie's thrift stores. They do a lot of good in their communities. 

If you're planning on buying anything through Amazon this Christmas, consider going through their link:

 

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001xd_LK1okcyIn_0Len7tY-5sYSFMF5guAgAoJEmni5j30KP61HOrROlH9X8-vTD7Ho9_cvfiGARMoyER7LdBqhssTIHKZlj1OmpgDHfkluMVLSmK2Xxklt2LGcZD57xAkn5SPiDpPoe6VNjYNYmllmbHa2bAYN7rZHwUK6h7hgRU=&c=ZGWufmL6UheFDEsALq7qHTPaBkzwFGfB3WjCZg9lf4QAifimQ1MoZg==&ch=-hsFKPXO6Ba7mQf3_YzXlw_zcqxnOoFv68SfeWzVHE_RqTimjT9uNA==

(Sorry, I'm doing this on the iPad and there's no link function)

They get a small cut for every purchase made via their link

Getting Ready!

We put up the tree yesterday, a real one this year. Good thing it's only 24 days til Xmas. I tried to convince the gang to eliminate all the ugly old ornaments, with no luck. They're mostly in the back though, thank goodness. 

A Holiday Miracle

Logan has always, always been terrified of dogs. Last time we brought Lucy to the cabin, poor Logie spent the entire weekend up on top of her dad's head.

Imagine our surprise to see this

Best buddies!  So proud of you for conquering your fears!