Friday, December 31, 2010

7 Days of Christmas and Feel Good Friday


Ok, it's supposed to be a Feel Good Friday over at thegirlnextdoorgrowsup but it seems she is AWOL.  MIA.  IOU.  Actually, it should be S.O.U-- she owes us.  Just great.  She sets us up for this weekly fun and reflection, we get used to doing it and then poof! she's gone.  This is the 2nd Friday in a row that I'm out here hanging all by myself, telling my tales of 5 feel good things from the week.  Looking like a fool.  Not feeling so good right now, girl, not so good.  I don't care if it's new year's eve and you're spending time with family.  We're your bloggy family and you're neglecting us.  I know, you're going to come back and wow us all with some fantastic new contest and whatever, but you're on my list.  And that's not the best place to be. 

So, grab a coffee and get ready for a reading.  Feel Good Friday first, followed by day 7 in my 12 days of Christmas thing:

1.  K-ster got to get his foot wet for the first time on Christmas day.  He was thrilled to take a shower and not have to bag his foot.  It's progressing nicely.  He hasn't walked with crutches since Monday.  He's driving again.  Woo hoo.

2.  A former student of mine is looking at Vanderbilt University, my alma mater.  That's really cool.  He's the first student that I know of that has applied.  I got to do an alumni interview with him yesterday.  He's definitely a good fit.  He's applied to Duke, Stanford and that sort of thing, so I'm sure he'll get in everywhere and then have to make a decision.  It was also nice that though he only had me for 6th grade French, he actually remembers me.  Many students will swear on their graves that they never had me because they took Spanish and then I have to remind them that they did take that little smidgeon of French in 6th grade.  And I remember them, so why don't they remember me?  I know that there are those of you out there that didn't care about your teachers, but don't you remember them all?  Those who tortured you, made you laugh, cry, scream, gave you your first F, first A, etc?  It boggles my mind because I remember my teachers.

3.  Christmas was great.  The morning was a k-ster's mother's house and then the afternoon was a my parents'.   My sisters were both there with their men and we had a great afternoon of opening presents and having Christmas dinner and then pie.  That's what inspired me to do my 12 days of Christmas extravaganza.

4.  I bought a piece of remnant Red Sox fleece a few weeks ago when I was at the fabric store, thinking it might be fun to make a hat or something.  I have a pattern for a hat that I made a few years ago but it seems like there was some issue with it, so I hesitated to do it again.  Yesterday, I opened the remnant and decided I had enough to make 2 hats for my friends' little boys.  I like the way they came out, but it will be a different story when they put them on.  They will open them tonight and if they are not totally lame, I will put up a picture.  I have this odd feeling that when they put them on, they are going to look like they are wearing chef's hats.  Or like the hat that Strawberry Shortcake wore.  Without the strawberry smell.  My sister e-ster had an obsession with Strawberry Shortcake and she got a doll one year that actually smelled of fake strawberry.  I swear I can smell it now.

5.  I mastered the art of the pony tail hat.  I don't love to wear yarn hats because they hide all of my hair and they make me look like a 12 year old boy.  I've seen these pony tail hats online and figured there must be a pattern out there somewhere.  It was such a DUH moment when I realized how easy it is.  You just have to start with an elastic which is what gives the hole for the pony tail to go through.  It takes me less than an hour to whip one up.  I have it on my etsy and other colors are available.  Here's what it looks like.  I know, still like  a 12 year old boy but at least it's cute from the back.  And the plus is that I'm not all itchy from my hair being plastered to my head!  And yes, those gorgeous earrings hanging down are called Orbit and they are available here.

And now a word from my 12 Days of Christmas fun:

I can't believe I'm already on day 7 of my 12 days of Christmas plan.  Today's gift is brought to you by THE GIFT THAT CAME FROM LEFT FIELD.  I suppose you think that means it has something to do with baseball.  That would be simply ridiculous because unlike my family's new (in the last decade) love all things Red Sox and Patriots, I don't give a rat's ass about any of it, so baseball themed things are totally lost on me.

No, this has nothing to do with the Red Sox.  This is from my uncle c-ster.  My sister and BIL were invited to dinner with uncle c-ster and aunt v-ster just before Christmas and c-ster told them he had something that they had to bring here when they came for Christmas.  This piqued my curiosity and my question was "is it bigger than a breadbox?"  That's my father's favorite question.  A-ster's question was "will it fit in the Jeep and can I look at it first so I know what I'm bringing?"  Then nothing more was said, so when they arrived on Christmas morning, I was dying to know what this mystery thing was.  Was it something they found in what they moved from my grandmother's house many years ago?  Was it some papers?  I really couldn't imagine what it is.

I could never have imagined this.  When a-ster and s-ster brought them in, they had them backwards and they looked like small surfboards.  I thought maybe they were skim boards, which are really thin board that you throw into the shallow water and hop on and fall hard right on your butt.  Instead, this is what we call a half boat model.  My grandfather, a boat builder, made a ton of these in his retirement.  All sizes.  But nothing quite this large.  No idea when or why c-ster came up with this plan.  It's about 4 feet long, the back part anyway.  It's quite something.  And a huge surprise.  And there was one for my sister e-ster, one for me, one for my parents and one for a-ster.  Wow, is all I can say.  It's hard to put up something that's this big without having any warning.  Clearing wall space for something this large is actually not so easy!  And fitting it in with the decor.  Let's just say that c-ster has left us all taking a great pause as we figure out where it's going to hang!  And the bigger question:  since he made 4 of them, did he make 2 full models and just cut them in half?

Tune in tomorrow for gift #6:  SEW MUCH CREATIVITY, WHO CAN STAND IT?

2 comments:

  1. A hat with a ponytail hanging out the back? That's fucken genius! As for the Strawberry Shortcake hats, I think if you're going to make them for little boys, you should at least scent them with Eau de Armpit or some manly smell so they aren't completely emasculated.
    Ciao Bella! The sight of your nickname Sparkling (unless that's your real name in which case, I'm totally jealous!) in my comments ALWAYS brings a smile to my face and makes me LOL as much as your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm with Sandra---that hat IS genius! Can we see the front view too? Or is that on your Etsy? Will go check in a sec!

    ;-)
    Happy New Year!!

    ReplyDelete

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