Crafty Pancakes

X-Mas... BRING IT ON

It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's bright blue skies and 75 degrees out. When you see people Christmas shopping in shorts it's just a little sad. But us SoCal people push through it and make it as holiday like as possible. The teenager and I decided to partake in some gingerbread house making yesterday afternoon. I have to tell you that it is a gingerbread house or you might think it's the remains of some sort of gingerbread/frosting/candy bomb...

It looks like I set a couple of preschoolers loose with a gingerbread house kit! But no, that was the skilled work of an adult and a teenager. I think I may have to break out of the whole housewife gig and start making a business out of these babies. Just look at the artistry on the windows...

It takes finesse to get results like that. And did you get a good look at the snowman in the front? If it could speak it would say I'm going to kill you while you are sleeping "this glorious gingerbread house is what Christmas is all about." Can't you tell?...

There are a lot of things that I like at the holidays but my family doesn't have a lot of traditions. I do have two that I am starting this year though. One is to do a puzzle on Christmas day. I don't think there is any better puzzle than this to kick it off...

The freaking leg lamp.. YEAH! I swear I'm actually going to order one for next year! Nothing is more Christmas-y to me than A Christmas Story. That is one tradition we have had for years. Doesn't everyone watch that on Christmas Eve? I love that movie so much. On Friday my son and I were talking about it and we decided we should go out to Chinese food and pretend is was because our Christmas turkey was ruined by the Bumpus hounds. We were laughing so hard. I'm sure everyone in the restaurant thought we were nuts or on drugs. We were very tempted to ask the owners to sing Deck The Halls but that would have officially been unleashing the crazy and we weren't up for it. Oh how we become obsessed with that movie at this time of year. We are even bound and determined to make it to the house one of these days. 

Another movie tradition is Christmas Vacation. I think the one-liners are what we like the most. I never get tired of that movie.. ever. The hubs and I literally laugh ourselves into tears when Eddie is outside in his shorty short robe, fur hat, smoking a cigar and holding a beer while emptying the sewage out of his tenement on wheels.. and says "shitter's full!" Don't ask me why that is our favorite part. I'm sure we are a little unbalanced or something. Every year I threaten to expect the hubs to turn our house into a Griswold Christmas light spectacular and every year he laughs and tells me to have fun with the ladder. Men!

I have also decided my new way to holiday shop. I am buying everything within three days of Giftmas. I usually start buying in October. That ends up meaning that I over buy since I had almost three months of store grazing. It also isn't fun to buy gifts without the mall decorations and the crowds, I have discovered. I hauled the teenager to the mall with me last night and I LOVED it. You could feel the panic in the air. You could smell the money. Plus, it's not fun to spend money here and there over a few months. I would much rather head to the mall and drop a grand or two and leave on a shopping high that has me giddy. Fun times I tell ya.

Well my last newly imposed Christmas tradition has to do with a purchase during the aforementioned fantastic Christmas chaos at the mall last night...

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? A cookbook featuring Twinkies??!! How could I leave that on the shelf? So.. every Christmas were are now going to make some sort of Twinkie monstrosity. Some people decorate cookies.. we roll Twinkie style in the OC. Let's see, should we dare some Twinkie sushi?...

 

Creative with the fruit rolls-ups but I'm not feeling it. I'm thinking maybe the Twinkie pancakes fit the bill...

 

There are certain things in the book where I must draw the line! Some things are just wrong. Some things have no business being used together in a sentence let alone be a chapter in a cookbook!!...

I do have one thing scarier than that to share though. Last night on our way home from the mall the teenager looked at me and said "ya know, in about two years I'll have my license and I can drive you all over the place... including CRAZY!"... Dude, I'm already there.

Time to dust things off

Look what I pulled out of the closet...

I've had my Ashford Joy for three years... and it's never been used.  I also opened up a box of 8 lbs of undyed roving. 8 lbs seems like a lot for someone who doesn't really spin or dye yet. I guess it's a good thing I also found a box of chemicals and dyes. Then there was a box with an electronic scale, niddy noddy, Katie a-Go Go and WooLee Winder in it. That makes things a little easier.  I think I'm all set for some serious dyeing and spinning. It's going to be awhile before I manage to make anything knit worthy though. When I first wanted to spin I pulled out all the stops and pretty much bought everything I would need.. then the thrill was gone. I tend to dive in head first and then don't do much with it. I know, who would have thought I would go overboard buying things. It's really a shocker. All that comes to mind is the song with the line "a little less talk and a lot more action".. that is exactly what needs to go on around here! Action, baby! Hopefully there's some patience wrapped up under the Christmas tree with my name on it so that this whole spinning thing will be a little easier for me.

Now that I have stunned you with my new endeavor this might put you right over the edge...

It's only the most fantabulous gift evah! My bud, Gaby, had this custom dyed for me by the one and only Jenny Boully (Woolly Boully)! I have two skeins of both the meanie and softie bases. Here's the best part of all.. Jenny named it Megann's Crafty Christmas! The giddiness just doesn't wear off. A big HUGE thank you to both of them!

I wish I had more to show you but the knitting hasn't exactly been flying off the needles lately. It's been pretty busy around here since Thanksgiving. You know, that time of year when it's one thing after another. The hubs recently had a birthday. I bought him The ISIS. He's a bit of a thinker (the guy literally reads books on quantum physics just for fun) so it seemed like a great gift. I didn't realize just how big of a hit it would be. He happily sits there for hours with it. Now he doesn't ask me when I going to put my knitting down because he can't put that damn puzzle ball down. I should have bought it long ago.

It's time for that action I was mentioning. Eleanor needs some attention. Yes, that's my wheel's name. I wonder if there is anything that I don't name? I need to get out her instruction manual and see what it takes for her to spit out some good yarn. The biggest problem with that is that I'm going to have to put down my bag of Trader Joe's chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels. You have no idea what a sacrifice that is.

Who needs Santa?

Well Ho Ho Ho and Merry early Christmas to me! Notice anything special about my new shoes?...

Yes, those are my hand knit socks peeking through at you! Can you believe these?! They are just about the coolest shoes I've ever seen. Now I'm actually going to start wearing the socks I knit! That's a pretty big news flash around here. You must go buy some or tell Santa that you need them for Christmas. Do it quickly before all the other knitters in the land catch wind of these and snatch them up. They are just too cute for words...

 

I know what you are thinking right now... Good gawd, look at those cankles! Or maybe, OMG my feet would be all sweaty. I'll address both. I most certainly do not have the dreaded cankles.. just poor photography..and there are no worries about having sweaty feet.. voila, air holes...

I should be sharing lots of yarn with you but I must go prance around now. Yes, prance and spin and sing a song about clear Converse.  I don't, however, want to spend the holidays having a psychiatric evaluation too terribly bad so maybe I'll just sit on the couch and admire them. Now go.. stop reading this.. can't you hear the shoes calling your name? Resistance is futile. How can you really pass up an opportunity for such happiness? And remember.. if you are happy.. everyone around you is happy. It's like a gift that keeps on giving. Ho ho ho.