It's a Heat Wave!
Not only are we above zero again, but it's a balmy 17 degrees today. Yeah! Yesterday it got to -54 in Tower, MN. That was not a record, though. The record was -60 in 1996. I very clearly remember that day, because that was the year I got Finbar for myself, using the money I received for Christmas. I wasn't in Tower, but even down here in the Twin Cities it was really, really, really cold. And I was housebreaking my little pup. Which meant standing outside waiting for him to go potty several times a day. It was COLD! And I will never get a puppy in the winter again. He was such a little cutie-pie though.
I'm back from the trip to Sioux Falls. A good time was had by all and it was really good to see my family members. I do feel like a weight has been lifted, though. I originally planned on going the day after Christmas. But my car wasn't working properly and then I got really sick. I'm finally feeling well enough to go out of town and I ended up buying a different car. So, Christmas has finally been celebrated. I finally finished up the baking on Friday night. Wrapped up all the presents too. Yes, I waited until the last minute on a lot of this stuff.
The bad part of traveling this weekend was that I couldn't watch most of the football games. This is the greatest weekend of football in the season because you've got 4 games with good teams and there's so much on the line. Saturday I missed most of the first game because I was in the car and then we were eating dinner. We were opening presents and such for the second game. My brother and I decided to go have a couple of drinks after the kids were in bed, but by that time, the game was pretty much over. Our sister Laura met us at the bar, so we still had a pretty good time.
Unfortunately, the one game that I did see all the way through was the Vikings game and I didn't enjoy that one so much. Ah well, it wasn't exactly shocking. Definitely not as bad as in 2001 and not even in the same league as 1999.
I missed the second game on Sunday because I took Laura and my two nieces shopping. I wanted to buy Laura new eyeglasses for Christmas, so she picked out some cute wire rim frames. I wanted to buy my two nieces some clothes for Christmas, but it's much easier to let them pick them out themselves, so we went to Hot Topic for Jessica and Express Too for Alexis. Alexis loved this pink furry poncho in the store, so I'll be knitting one of those up for her next. I took a snapshot of Laura wearing the long, multi-colored scarf I knit her last winter:
Isn't it cute? It was the scarf on the cover of Knit It Magazine last year. It's made with Lion Kool Wool, which I really liked. The skeins are very small, though, so it would probably be a hassle to knit a sweater. I forgot to post a finished picture of the Punk Rock dolls I knit Greg for Christmas:
I'm almost finished with Joan Jett as well. Even though it's after Christmas, I'm still making her for him. I've just got to finish up the head, knit one more leg and then stuff it, sew the legs on and embroider the face and hair.
I finished reading "The Shop on Blossom Street" before I left town too. Not my cup of tea. I didn't care for the writing and thought the plot was pretty predictable. I did finish it though. I started our next book club selection over the weekend:
So far, I'm enjoying it. It's about a college student during the early 60s who becomes involved with an exiled Russian poet. There's all sorts of mysterious references to her father working with computers and her brother dying after joining the military and her being pregnant. The back cover says that the Cuban Missile Crisis also plays a role. Should be pretty interesting.
I'm back from the trip to Sioux Falls. A good time was had by all and it was really good to see my family members. I do feel like a weight has been lifted, though. I originally planned on going the day after Christmas. But my car wasn't working properly and then I got really sick. I'm finally feeling well enough to go out of town and I ended up buying a different car. So, Christmas has finally been celebrated. I finally finished up the baking on Friday night. Wrapped up all the presents too. Yes, I waited until the last minute on a lot of this stuff.
The bad part of traveling this weekend was that I couldn't watch most of the football games. This is the greatest weekend of football in the season because you've got 4 games with good teams and there's so much on the line. Saturday I missed most of the first game because I was in the car and then we were eating dinner. We were opening presents and such for the second game. My brother and I decided to go have a couple of drinks after the kids were in bed, but by that time, the game was pretty much over. Our sister Laura met us at the bar, so we still had a pretty good time.
Unfortunately, the one game that I did see all the way through was the Vikings game and I didn't enjoy that one so much. Ah well, it wasn't exactly shocking. Definitely not as bad as in 2001 and not even in the same league as 1999.
I missed the second game on Sunday because I took Laura and my two nieces shopping. I wanted to buy Laura new eyeglasses for Christmas, so she picked out some cute wire rim frames. I wanted to buy my two nieces some clothes for Christmas, but it's much easier to let them pick them out themselves, so we went to Hot Topic for Jessica and Express Too for Alexis. Alexis loved this pink furry poncho in the store, so I'll be knitting one of those up for her next. I took a snapshot of Laura wearing the long, multi-colored scarf I knit her last winter:
Isn't it cute? It was the scarf on the cover of Knit It Magazine last year. It's made with Lion Kool Wool, which I really liked. The skeins are very small, though, so it would probably be a hassle to knit a sweater. I forgot to post a finished picture of the Punk Rock dolls I knit Greg for Christmas:
I'm almost finished with Joan Jett as well. Even though it's after Christmas, I'm still making her for him. I've just got to finish up the head, knit one more leg and then stuff it, sew the legs on and embroider the face and hair.
I finished reading "The Shop on Blossom Street" before I left town too. Not my cup of tea. I didn't care for the writing and thought the plot was pretty predictable. I did finish it though. I started our next book club selection over the weekend:
So far, I'm enjoying it. It's about a college student during the early 60s who becomes involved with an exiled Russian poet. There's all sorts of mysterious references to her father working with computers and her brother dying after joining the military and her being pregnant. The back cover says that the Cuban Missile Crisis also plays a role. Should be pretty interesting.
rdladd@arnan.com
