I've done more than eat rum cake

Last Friday was the last day of school for my boys for two weeks. Two weeks of not having to catch the bus at 7:30 a.m. for the younger one, and not having to wait until 4 p.m. for the older one to get home. No need to get up early (yet the little one does) and they still have the need to play with other kids. I really thought they'd want to spend every waking second with me! Geez....blown off again....

Ah well.....it's nearly Christmas and I'm happy to say I'm sufficiently in a good Christmas mood. I wasn't so sure if I'd get there! Now if only my husband can relax and enjoy the holidays. Work is work is work, though, and there's never really a down time for him.

Here's what I've accomplished recently.

I have finished the seamless yoke sweater for Jack! There's one area on it I'm not particularly pleased with, but it'll do. He wore it yesterday in some drizzly damp weather to help me walk our dog, Comet.

 

I also finished a hat for Connor that didn't quite turn out the way I hoped it would and it's all his fault. He would have nothing to do with I-cord and a pom pom coming off the top of the hat, so I ripped it back and knitted it with steady decreases to conform to the shape of his head, which is round, and not at all like a cinder block, which I've been claiming for 11 years. 

He will never wear this. I just know it. By the way, he is not naked in the pic, just showing me his pecs because he's been doing push-ups every day and increasing the reps. I guess he's after big muscles already at his young age.

And then yesterday, I cleaned up our basement so Connor had space free of dust and dog hair clumps to drive his Air Hogs Hyper-active remote control car. A little bit of dog hair gets tangled up in the axles then we have to spend a half hour with a safety pin and tweezers pulling the hair out. A real pain in the arse. They should have put a warning on the box. Anyway, upon cleaning up the spaces down there, I started looking through the myriad projects I've begun and I got a little bummed, because I'm such a slacker. I was going to make a wonderful crocheted ripple afghan and never did get very far. I think it gets too boring for me. I dunno. So today I looked at it again and thought, "should I get a hook and continue on?" 

I made a scarf out of it instead. And I've worn it twice today. Good idea, I think.

And finally, I have been baking. I've made dozens of Christmas cookies and also made my very first rum cake. I found this beautiful baking dish of Paula Deen's on clearance at Wal-Mart and once again, made a decision based on my subconscious efforts to turn into my mother, who made many a Bundt cake. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and voila! Rum cake. It was delicious!

For Christmas, I need to finish up a knitted Squirrel on Wheels for Connor. I think that's about it! I've never been this prepared for Christmas. It's quite shocking....