Spanish

My hubby gave me the Spanish version of the Rosetta Stone for Christmas 2009.  What with all those people moving in and out of my house, I installed it on my laptop and set it aside for a more interrupted stretch of time.  Yeah, funny joke-there's never such a thing!

But I decided do or die-I'm gonna learn this thing.  So I started on Monday after everybody left for work, school and fishing.  Why did I wait so long?!!  What a cool way to learn a language.  I set it up on Latin American Spanish and went to work.  I think I just might learn a bit of Spanish before my next trip to Mazatlan.  Of course, the only really effective way to learn a language is to go where they speak it and beg for patience, which I hope I can do.  The people of Mazatlan are so hospitable and accommodating that they speak very good English, so I might have to ask them to practice with me.  I have two months to learn enough to actually practice with!

Well, done with the lesson for today and I just got called in to work, so I'd better brush my teeth, eat something and get going.

Two Months and Counting

Knowing that we make frequent trips to Mazatlan, friends have been asking when our next trip is.  I was checking out the timeshare website when my daughter-in-law and I started chatting on Facebook.  Don't ask how I got from the timeshare website to Facebook, but nevertheless...

Wonder if the resort iguana will still be hanging by the pool.

Anyway, she was talking about getting away.  I asked her if she thought it was feasible for her and my son to go with us, and she said, "As long as we go during spring break."  I got on the phone with the timeshare people, and then spent three hours on the Web tracking down plane tickets.  We are set to go and I'm not sure who is more excited-my DIL or me.  I am so excited that at least one of my kids gets to see my "other home!"  I said their four kids might be mad, but we agreed they would get over it!  And when their parents get back with all the stories of the fun they had, they'll be ready to go the next time.

Two months from today we'll be sitting on the beach, watching the sunset.  DIL sent their passport applications yesterday and is now on pins and needles hoping they come back in time.  I have no doubt that they'll get here on time-I bet they take less than 4 weeks.  One nice bonus-usually we have to fly out of Billings because it's always been more expensive to fly from Bozeman.  We both happened to trip over a better price from Bozeman, so we won't have to drive over the day before we leave and come home the day after we get back.  Cheaper and less stressful-we all know flying is stressful enough these days.

A view of our timeshare-nice place, huh!

Now I Can Show You

Okay, now that Christmas has come and passed, I can show you the knitting that has been taking my time.  First, I decided to make wool socks for all my immediate family:

Center:  Gracie; starting at far left and going clockwise:  Sam, Laura, my sis Judy, Sydney, Millie, Isaac, Steve, Christopher, and Jim.  A good year's work.  Stan's?  Still on the needles-I am working furiously and have just turned the heel on the last sock.  They're blue and gray like Jim's.  Both Jim and Dad are conservative dressers.  I plan on tying a ribbon around Stan's and leaving them on his pillow.  Should put a note, "Last but not least!"

Then I got a bee in my bonnet to make hats for all the kids, including the great nieces and nephews.  What I made for the boys:

I made a pattern that used a double strand of yarn for warmth.  The three littlest boys got the camo; Ethan, 7, got the blue and gray; Chris got the red and black Atlanta Falcons color; and Isaac got the blue and orange Denver Broncos color.

For the girls:

Inspired by the movie, Golden Compass, I knitted these hats with a triple strand of yarn.  They should be super warm and look really cute!

The kids were on a dead run, so this was the best I could do to get them to hold still for a picture.

And for Gracie's doll, the one I made clothes for?  She loved it.

And I did finish all the pajamas, a week late, which was OK because the flu delayed our celebration.  The three young ones spent the night on New Year's Eve and HAD to wear their PJs.

The big boys wouldn't model, darn it!

A good Christmas, but I'm glad to move on to other things, like filling out my Etsy shop.  I put one of the hats in the shop, we'll see if someone else thinks it's as good an idea as I do!

My Shop

Finally put a new item on my Etsy shop.  Check it out:

A Christmas Moment

Just a quick story.  Thursday I got a call from the young man that usually drives Santa's fire engine at the Manhattan Stroll.  He wondered if it would be possible for Santa to stop by early on Christmas Eve because his mother-in-law was dying and he just wanted to keep the kids' spirits up during this hard time.  Turns out he lives next door to my daughter-in-law's sister.  Stan stopped by yesterday and saw the man's kids and he could tell it was a really tough time for the family. 

Got a call from my daughter-in-law a while ago.  The mother-in-law passed away this morning.  He told Millie's sister that having Santa come made Christmas for them.  What a privilege Stan has to touch lives like this!

Our Day

It was a quiet day here, with only five of us-Steve, Sydney, Stan, myself, and my sister from Helena.  I miss the big group-setting up the extra tables, tons of food everywhere, playing dominoes (Syd got a Wii so there were no dominoes today) and me making lattes for everybody.  Hardly worth firing up the espresso machine today.  It was a good day though.  I could set the table in my pretty linens and goblets, and the meal was easier.  Not sure why that was because I made pretty much the same things and the same quantities as always-lots of leftovers for us.  A big prime rib, Hubby deep fried a turkey, parmesan potatoes, salads, and topping it off with raspberry cheesecake.  Whew!  It was surely a lot of food.

We were all so excited about Sydney getting a visit from Santa.  You'll never guess who was the last one out of bed-yup, Syd.  He was worn out from all the anticipation, I guess!  He loved his gifts, especially the Wii that Santa brought him.

We have another get-together with Stan's family tomorrow, and with the oldest son and his family on Friday afternoon.  We'll have a long spread-out Christmas, but that isn't so bad.  We've done it this way for as long as I've been married, and I think it's better for the kids because they don't suffer so badly from sensory overload.  My kids never did wake up at 4:00 to see what Santa brought them because they had opened all their other presents the night before.

Hubby gave me a new office chair for my sewing room-my old one is so goofy it keeps trying to buck me off!  He thinks he should have given me a new camera he saw too, something with lots of bells and whistles but tinier to fit in my purse.  I said it was OK, I was happy with what I got, but he wants to stop by Office Depot tomorrow and pick it up.  What a guy!

I've been knitting frantically, but it's all stuff I can't reveal yet.  After Friday I'll post what I made and who it goes to.  I'm even still knitting on one gift for Hubby and I'm hoping to get it done by Friday.

Hubby is needing me right now so I'd better finish this.  He makes jelly every year and gives it to his siblings and he needs my help with decorating the jars, so I'd better boogie so I can go to bed on time tonight.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!

Busy Day for Santa Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Manhattan Christmas Stroll.  Of course Stan will be the Santa for it.  He will be at the school library first then ride a fire engine (I know-cool!) downtown to the bank where he will pose for pictures with a couple hundred kids.  The pictures are compliments of the Manhattan State Bank, something they do every year.  They print the photos right away and put them in a nice framed keepsake card.

The cool thing about tomorrow?  My three youngest grandkids get to ride in the big fire engine with Santa!  The fireman is a good friend of ours and said it would be just fine.  The firefighters are super to us anyway, they always give Stan a check to help defray the cost of his Santa goodies and the gas he burns making all his trips.  His favorite thing is to show up (prearranged) at someone's house and watch the kids' faces.  He loves it, but in recent years he has done more gatherings, clubs, churches, and day cares.  He's pushing 70 now and it's just less tiring to see the kids all at once.  Of course he's the Santa for the Manhattan grade school program too.

He still does as many house calls as he can, but the number is dwindling.  More and more of the parents are opting for the larger group setting.  For sure he visits the grandkids and he loves it when a charity group asks him to deliver gifts.  He has been asked to be a Mall Santa for years but has always turned them down.  This year his good friend, the main Mall Santa, had another important Santa job and asked him to cover for him at the mall.  He finally said yes, but they had already found someone.  It's fine, he was still not sure about that scene anyway.

I have to work but I get off at 5:00 so I'll fly home, change my clothes and pop in at the bank.  I'll miss seeing the fire engine ride but I've been promised lots of pictures.  And I'm sure the kids will be so excited I'll hear all about it!

Afterward it's our tradition for just the two of us to have a late dinner at Sir Scott's Oasis, a landmark Mom-and-Pop steakhouse.  A good day!

Here he is with Sam, our youngest grandchild.  When Sam wrote his letter to Santa this year, he made his dad add a P.S.-"I know you're really my Poppa!"