Merry Late Christmas and Happy Early New Year

Since my last blog, I finished the Twilight Saga and Jason & I have seen "Twilight" twice. I'm so hooked! I'm now eagerly looking forward to the realease of the companion book (sometime in 2009), the release of Midnight Sun (who knows when), and the release of "New Moon" (which hasn't even started filming, yet).

I'll still have plenty to read, though. I have to come clean and admit that I have never read The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, or The Lord of the Rings. I know, I know....you're asking yourself, "How can that be? Lora's such a HUGE fan of those stories!" The simple answer is that I just never got around to it. I've spent the last 15 years or so reading tons of crap (romance novels and other books that are quickly forgotten) and tons of classics (Catcher in the Rye and Sense & Sensibilty are my favorites) and lots of knitting. Never fear, today I am starting on The Chronicles of Narnia. I bought an anthology that has all of the books placed in the order in which C.S. Lewis intended them to be read, not in the order in which they were released. I'll have to share that info with you another time because the book is in the bedroom, and I am not.

Back to "Twilight" for a moment. I finished my first pair of mittens like the ones in the movie. Hurray! My first pair of human sized mittens. In the past, they've all been Hobbit or Jolly Green Giant sized. They're dark gray tweed. A little bit tight on my wide paws so Meli (who's hands are much smaller than mine) is the lucky recipient of them. Congrats, Meli! I then went to work on a light blue pair. I have the left one finished. The thumb is a little bit large, but the rest is perfect. A million thanks to Subliminal Rabbit for writing the pattern and posting it on her blog for free!

Christmas was good this year. Very simple, but good. Jason surprised me with Samantha's doll trunk. Woohoo! I immediately grabbed Sam, did a little fashion show for Jas, prayed that changing the clothes of a baby will be easier than those of an 18 inch doll, changed Sam's hairstyle, thanked God I'm having a boy because I'm bad at the whole hair styling thing, and then put everything away in the trunk. Tons of fun.Mom, Jason & I went to see The Nutcracker at the Louisville Ballet on the 20th. This is a tradition for Mom and me. We've been going every year since I was 6 or 7. It's been so long we can't remember. I just know it was before I started pointe, and I did that when I was 8. Anyway, we've mostly seen Louisville's, but when I lived in Georgia, Mom & I would go to the Atlanta Ballet and Jason & I would got the the Georgia Ballet (to see Lara dance). Last year's perfomance had me in tears. There's a Russian dancer named Natalia Something at Louisville, and her feet are so perfect and her dancing is so perfect, I cried from the beauty of it. Seriously. I was really hoping to see her again this year. It was not to be. The perfomance we went to didn't even have the same woman dancing Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy. Which turned out to be a good thing because the woman dancing Snow Queen was having an off perfomance and came across as a graceless cow. Yeah, I said it. She stumbled through most of the dances. Her landings were heavy (hence, the cow part....she definitely wasn't sized like one). The Sugar Plum Fairy's dance was shorter than it has been in the past. When Helen Starr, Elizabeth Hartwell or Natalia Something danced it, they did the full song. Oh, well. I still loved getting to see it.

My baby bump is growing still. No new pics to post because it's growing up and not out. What fun is that? It's about an inch and a half above my belly button now. My belly tattoos are starting to look funny. I think the green apple will be a cucumber by the end of this! There's no telling what my Goonie's inspired tat will look like by then....

My dear Kandice was still in the bag that I carried at Lincoln Days. I never would have thought to look for him there. I used it to carry some knitting over to my parents' house for our big Christmas dinner on the Sunday before Christmas. I didn't find him until after dinner when we were all sitting at the table, and I decided to show Jeanne and Blythe the awesome soy-wool yarn I'm using for a new scarf. As I pulled all of the yarn out, Kandice came out, too! I got a pic of him with Rob & Jeanne. I'm so happy to have him back on the mantel where he used to live when not adventuring with me. He better not go hiding on me again!

Knittin' Some Mittens

I had totally intended to write a couple of different blog entries tonight to make up for my absence the past week and to let you know what all has been going on. I finished all of the Twilight books and even dragged Jason to the movie, which he ended up really liking. Now I have a new obsession- the mittens that Bella wears in the movie. I was all prepared to come home today and create my own pattern, but luckily someone has already done all the work and the pattern is available for free online.

So that's what I'm working on now. Instead of blogs.

By the way, I finally found Kandice!

Cracknip, anyone?

I'm only on here long enough to post the fireworks video from the other night. I'll have to get Jason to work his programming magic on the parade video. I think it's too big to be posted or something...

Last Summer on NPR, I heard a story about Stephanie Meyer's and her Twilight series. I didn't think much more about it until I read about the 4th book coming out on Jennifer's blog. After that, it seemed like everyone I knew was reading or had read the series. I bought the first book back in October, but I'd been preoccupied with other books and knitting. Today I finally started reading it. At work. At about 3 pm. I'm over halfway done. I texted Meli and told her it was like crack. Or catnip. Or both. And she coined the phrase "cracknip." I thought that would be a great blog title!

Well, back to reading. If I don't finish tonight, I won't get any work done tomorrow! Enjoy the short video.....

No Mariachis....

So Thursday I did go to the hospital to see Kristi's baby. She's been named LeeAnna.

I almost fell asleep after work on Friday waiting for the parade to start. I re-read last year's blog on MySpace, and I had written that the parade was at 6:40. So at 6:30 I started camping out on the window seat of the guest bedroom upstairs. There's no heat up there so I had on a wool turtleneck sweater, a quilted, flannel coat, my pj bottoms, my slippers, a hat, & no socks (brilliant). I started to panic that the parade had been canceled, but I thought I could hear fireworks going off. I opened the window and leaned out, and yes, there were fireworks! Closer to 7 I could see the police stopping traffic out on the main drag. I think the parade either starts at the Mexican restaurant or at the tienda. I know for sure that it ends at the Catholic church. Anyway, there were no mariachis this year. I'm thinking either it was too cold for them or it cost too much for the parishoners to have them again. I froze my fingers off taking a video that you can't see anything in besides blurry lights. It's posted below, but first I'll describe what I saw. A police car was in lead. Then there was an SUV with an Our Lady of Guadalupe placard between the headlights. Behind that were dancers in some kind of costume making jingling noises. They were followed by mostly women and children singing in Spanish. There was a priest in white robes with a tall scepter thing. I don't think it was the priest from down the street; this guy looked bigger. Then there were the two guys in charge of the fireworks. You can actually see them on the video and hear when they throw something away in our trash can. Glad I didn't pull it back from the curb when I got home. Behind them was a pickup truck. The bed was filled with flowers, pine branches, and palm fronds. There was another Our Lady of Guadalupe placard instead of the huge statue from last year. Then there's a long line of cars. If you watch the whole thing, towards the end you'll hear my phone go off when I got a text from Meli. There were many texts flowing back and forth because I had to share the excitement in the moment with someone! The second video I posted is off the fireworks that they shot off once they got to the Catholic church. I walked outside in my funky outfit to take that one.

I wish I took the first video from my arts & crap room because I think it's closer to what turns out to be the only street lamp on my street (I hadn't noticed before). So the videos are not exciting but I still think they're neat because it's not something you experience everyday. Or even once a year, since I'm still the only person I know who's seen this parade! I'm already thinking about the parade next year, and the best way to record it. I think it might be bigger because it will be on Saturday. I guess we'll find out!

Sorry the videos aren't posted. I'll have to try it again tomorrow. The first one is at least 6 minutes long so it was taking forever to post, and I don't have forever to wait on it right now. Bed is calling. :)

Do You Know What Today Is???

I am so excited about today that I've been up since 5:30! I want to make sure that I get to work on time at 7:30 (instead of 9, which is when I usually go in now). Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. You can also click here for the wiki entry. Last year I didn't know anything about Our Lady of Guadalupe other than that she's on those big glass prayer candles at the grocery.

I had settled down to watch a movie when I heard a ruckus outside. Being suspicious of all neighbors, I immediately thought my neighbors were having a fight outside. Whatever it was started getting louder so I paused my movie and peaked out the door. It was a marching mariachi band! Followed by a truck with a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by flowers and palm fronds. Then there was a small parade of Ford Mustangs and walkers following with more flowers and palm fronds. (I wonder where they got palm fronds in Kentucky in December?) Jason wasn't home from work, yet, and none of my neighbors saw the parade. I can't believe I was the only witness. I know I shouldn't say this because it means something to the local Mexicans (all Mexicans actually), but the whole thing was really bizarre.

And really neat. Which is why I'm awake and blogging so early. I'm on the edge of my seat, wondering if there will be another parade this year. I want to make sure I'm at home in time to experience it again. I would call the local Catholic church and ask them, but they didn't even know about the parade last year. They just knew about the feast that followed the parade at the church. Well, I'm going to cross my fingers and go get ready for work. Hopefully I'll have happy parade news to report tonight!

Wow! I have the morning news on, and they're reporting that at one of the churches in Louisville, there are over 700 people jammed into the church to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe services, and there are more people standing outside celebrating. And if I heard correctly, services started at midnight. Surely, I'll be seeing the marching mariachi band tonight...

The Tired Knitter

Thanksgiving was good. We got to Aiken in time for me to have a long nap and shower before hiking through Hitchcock Woods for the Blessing of the Hounds. I got to knit on a hat for one of my adopted soldiers before dinner/lunch. Joe cooked two turkeys, and this year he remembered to save the skin for me. Last year I sailed into the kitchen with dreams of yummy turkey skin, only to nearly collapse in tears on the kitchen floor when I saw the yummy turkey skin in the garbage. I ate two plates full of turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and yams & cinnamon apples. Of course, I had to lay down for a five hour nap after eating.

Friday morning, Jason and I got up before the crack of dawn to go shopping with Joe. We thought it would be a good chance to spend some time with him while he was doing something he loves. I have to state that this does not change my position on shopping. If it doesn't sell yarn, knitting needles, or books, I don't want to go there. After a couple of hours, we went back to the house.....then Jason and I left to go shopping with Renee. Seriously! First we went to Hobby Lobby and bought tons of yarn. Then Renee took us to the newest local yarn shop (LYS) in Aiken. It's called The Sassy Knitter, and it's AWESOME! I felt right at home there. The owner, Karen, is soooo nice. (Unlike Barbara Sue Brodie of Barbara Sue Brodie Needleworks in Aiken. I have scars from my visit to her shop two years ago. I almost quit knitting after my Barbara Sue experience. I was seriously depressed and upset. No exageration.) My back was hurting from all the walking around so I sat at the work table with a man using a drop spindle and a woman with a long-haired terrier. As soon as I sat down, they pulled me into their conversation. It was so cool. And we left there with a lot of yarn.

Friday night, I started knitting a sweater for my baby with yarn from The Sassy Knitter while I supervised Missy, Jason and Tarra putting up the Christmas tree. After dinner I switched back to the hat for my soldier. I did get that finished Saturday morning, and I went back to my sweater. Saturday afternoon, Jason & I drove to Augusta. To go shopping. This time we were on the hunt for a maternity dress for me for the work Christmas party and The Nutcracker. We also got to briefly meet up with our friends, Pam & Rudy and their three children. We hadn't seen Pam since her brother's wedding four years ago. And the last time I saw Rudy was seven years ago at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It had been a long time!

We got a late start home on Sunday. That left me pretty drained all of last week. I felt like I couldn't get caught up on my sleep. Tuesday, Mom, Jason & I went for my first ultrasound. It was so cool to see the baby....to see our son. My favorite shots were the ones of his spine. Especially the ones where Jonas Randolph would move his arms and legs. He looked like a little dinosaur. By Thursday, my sinus congestion started breaking up and sliding down my throat. On Friday, I had a sore throat. Saturday, I woke up coughing and felt like crap. I made myself get moving because we had reservations at The Brown and the Christmas party at The Henry Clay. After feasting at the party and some room service drama that the hotel made up for the next morning, Jason and I had the best night's sleep we've had in a long time. Because we slept in separate beds. We kind of had to. Our room had two double beds. I've never seen that before at a hotel. So Jason got to lay crosswise on his bed the way he likes to, and I got to toss and turn from side to side the way I do now.

I had to quit knitting my sweater and start knitting on a sweater for Kristi. Seeing as how she's been scheduled for a c-section for Dec 10 since this past summer. It's not like I didn't know about it, but I certainly waited until the last minute to start the sweater. Baby was born this morning at 7:41, weighed 7 lbs 7 1/2 oz, was 19 inches long, and still has no name at this time. Maybe when I go visit tomorrow, she'll have a name. I'm glad I'm healthy enough now to go visit Kristi & Baby in the hospital. (When I went to my GP on Monday, I found out I have bronchitis.)

I know I have at least three more sweaters to knit before New Year's and two more by the Spring in addition to knitting some sweaters and blankets for my own child. Then I'm taking a break from knitting baby presents for awhile. I'm a little bit tired of it. I feel like that's all I do anymore. I'm behind in my other knitting (scarf & hat for me, scarf for Jason, scarf for Meli). I'm behind on my reading. My blogging is behind. I need more sleep. Instead of me knitting so much, more people need to learn how to knit.

To end tonight, here's my baby bump/enormous chest picture and an ultrasound picture of Jonas. If you don't hear from me for awhile, I'm probably knitting.