My poor neglected blog! I’ve been assimilated into Facebook. While it fulfills those quick fixes it doesn’t lend it self well to the longer posts that I (infrequently) want to write.
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By hook or by crook, I’m going to make this holiday special. I keep trying to do that as each holiday approaches but I keep letting things get in the way. Sometimes, I just don’t have the energy or feel like it. Excuses, excuses!
Watching “UP” gave me this gem: “Its the boring things I remember the most.” Or something like that. So I’m not going to let another holiday pass without giving it my all to make it a special family moment.
Enter the Advent Stocking Garland… I’m going to try to knit a smallish stocking for each day leading up to Christmas. Every morning I will put a new one out on the mantle with goodies for the kids inside. Sometimes there will be something special… like a “coupon” for a hot chocolate at Kaldi’s or eating out. Others it will be something we were planning on doing anyway… like get a live tree. The second one seems like a bit of a cheat to me at first. But then I remember what I’m trying to do here… make a conscious effort to make each day of the season special. Bob and I talked about going hiking with the kids to gather materials to make our own wreath for the door.
So tomorrow morning, this little stocking will go up on the mantle. In it will be a chapstick for each and a coupon to get hot chocolate at Kaldi’s. Yeah, okay so I was going there anyway to knit. To satisfy my educational urges. There will be a scrap of paper with a tid bit about Rosa Parks for some quick research. 
This is actually the second stocking I knit, but I just found my cat eating the first one. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I think it is salvageable. My cat’s life however….
All yarn used will come from stash. I spent $10 dollars today getting cookie cutters for Thursday’s cookie tree making (again something that will be in the stocking to do). I want to keep track of the costs for next year.
Other things… I seem to have irritated the IT band in my right knee. Hiking Saturday left it mildly painful. I tried a couple of short jogs but stopped as soon as I felt a particular stiffness that generally precedes the pain. Sunday’s swim left everything else sore. Today’s Karate lesson left everything else quite fatigued.
Yes, I’ve signed up for Karate. Tonight was the first regular class… 1 1/2 hours. I was all thumbs, elbows and knees and none of them seemed to be in the right places. A couple of the other participants were talking about being “old” before class. HA! I got ‘em beat in that department. In fact I think I have many of them beat there. :\
Yeah, so I feel like am the old lady in the class. Kinda out of my comfort zone too. But the people seem to be genuine and caring. The group seems to be about more than just learning to beat the crap out of someone. It is definitely going to help me help Sam with Karate. I will enjoy practicing with him and I think I will enjoy the class more once I am more comfortable in my skin there.
I’ll close with a picture of the stocking Mirage tried to eat tonight. Sigh. She is SO glad I’m not the kind to just kick her out. HOwever, if she does this too much longer, I just might make an exception.
nearly chewed up stocking
and I meant to use cinnamon but forgot. They were really yummy anyway. This is a recipe I’d really like to play with…. even if it has me running for the benedryl after I try a taste. 
Pictures of the fun parts of the visit can be found starting 
