So… er…  Hi.

I’m still here, I SWEAR.  But I don’t know if you’ve noticed or anything.  But it’s like CHRISTMAS EVE tomorrow.  And I’m a knitter.  And as such I am burning the midnight oil (literally!) trying to get out a few last presents for the family.  And, sadly, amidst much knitting there isn’t much time for blogging.

Besides, all you would hear me say is, “FLU! ACK!  KNITKNITKNIT!  MY BACK! ACK! KNITKNITKNIT!”  That’s pretty much all that’s happened since I last posted anyhow.

So yeah.  It was the flu.  As evidenced by the crazy ass fever I was sporting (probably WHILE I was writing that last post which does actually explain quite a bit, don’t you think?).  Luckily, I bore the worst of it in the hood here.  Kile and Harry both were sick but neither were in the throes quite as deep as I was.  So… there’s that?  But I totally lost a whole day of knitting and that SUCKED.

KNITKNITKNIT!

And then the whole back thing.  I did something funky to it yesterday, popped something out of alignment behind my right shoulder blade or something.  Hurts like heck.  I had four ibuprofen earlier which sorta helped dull the PAINPAINPAIN, which is improvement because the 4 ibuprofen I took yesterday did nada.  I seriously woke up this morning feeling like one big old muscle cramp.

I can still barely turn my head to the right but whatever.  I don’t need to be able to do that to knit.

KNITKNITKNIT!

Luckily, I’m mostly done with gifts.  I wasn’t able to get everything done that I hoped, but perhaps that will remain as a lesson to me to START EARLIER.  And not to let ones customs list get so out of control next time.  *cough*  I only have left the rest of Evie’s longies (I’m on the second cuff ruffle… woot!) and a hat for Harry.  Oh and a hat for my father in law, but that doesn’t need to be done until like Saturday or thereabouts.  So a bit ol’ WHEW there.  I will finish!  I must!  And no, I don’t get a day off, because soon as I have a chance, I have to get back into customs.

It’s a good thing I like to stay busy with this, huh?

Kile has tomorrow off and doesn’t go back to work until after New Years which is going to be wonderful. I’m looking forward to a few days of family fun and chaos, actually.  I’m not 100% sure what our plans are for tomorrow yet, but I think they might involve eating Chinese food.  Which is fine by me!  And perhaps driving around and looking at Christmas lights.  That’ll be nice.  Oh and brining a turkey.  But that’s more Kile than me.

If I don’t talk to you before the Big Day, I just wanna say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there (there are still some of you left, aren’t there?).  I hope everyone has a great holiday together and that you get everything on your wish lists.

Ho ho ho!

So… I’ve been a little remiss with this here blog.  But November is busy.  Especially with the knitting 24/7 that is going on around here.  But we’ve had birthdays, and there’s Thanksgiving and other social things going down, visits from family, visiting family… Oy.  You get the picture.  I feel something akin to a chicken (turkey?) with it’s head cut off these days.  I have several projects that I want desperately to get done by December.  I don’t think that’s realistically going to happen, but I am hoping to get as much done as I can.

Who knew that a year later, I would be a knitter bogged down with projects?

Anyhow, Thanksgiving is tomorrow (!).  We’re driving down into California to spend the day with some family and then we’re driving to San Jose that evening to stay at my parents’ place for the weekend.   I don’t think we thought the details of this endeavor all the way through as we neither have $ at the moment (we will… eventually!) and we also didn’t consider that we needed someone to watch the dogs.  WHOOPS.   We have it all figured out now, thankfully, but for a minute there I was wondering what the heck our problem was.  It’s almost like, “Oh yeah! We’re going to be gone for several days!  I forgot!”

Lame.

The good thing about not being paid for a few more days is that we won’t be tempted to try to do the Black Friday thing down in San Jose.  To be honest, I was a little nervous about attempting it.   Here in Reno, Black Friday is one thing.  But down in San Jose, it’s something else altogether.  I just don’t think I’m up for it.   Weep not, for Cyber Monday follows and I full intend to take advantage of that to the full extent of my abilities.

So far this year?  Not really feeling it yet.  I hope that happens soon.  So far it’s been stress, stress, stress.  You try to rise above it, but it’s hard when everyone else around you is stressed too.   I’m sure it’ll ease up.   For the moment, however, it’s hard to see beyond obligations, shopping and dollar signs.  I definitely don’t feel as with it as I did last year.  I guess you can’t have it together all the time, right?

So how is everyone else doing with the holidays this year?  Please tell me there is someone out there who is more together than I am.

I can’t believe how quickly this month is passing.  Normally, I’m excited for Christmas to come and anxious for November to be over so we can get to the “good stuff”.  But this year, I wouldn’t mind a few extra days, just to catch up!  There never seems to be quite enough time to finish everything that I would like to get done.

And yes, the blog does suffer.  Perhaps it’s good that I didn’t do NaBloPoMo this year!

But I do have some things to bring to your attention.  First off, I have a couple of new reviews up over on my review blog.  I took part in a blog tour (yes, really!) for a wonderful, festive and romantic novel, “Lakeshore Christmas” by Susan Wiggs.  I suggest all book and Christmas fans go read the review and then go buy the book because I had such a good time reading that one.  You know it had to be good if I’ve actually READ a book these days!

I also have reviewed, yet again, the custom holiday cards over at Minted.com.  I was lucky enough to get to review them last year and to get to do it again this year?  Just awesome.  Rest assured, Minted will be the first place I look should I need custom cards in the future.  And their holiday card designs this year?  Awesome.  Definitely go check it out.

I know you hear about my knitting all the time and how busy it keeps me (REALLY REALLY BUSY).  Do you want to keep up with how it’s going on Facebook?  I have a page for that!  Become a fan and make my day.  Please?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my knitting.  I swear, I’m such a slavedriver!

Whew. Christmas is over. Now it is time to begin the business of getting life back to normal. Clear the last of the wrapping and boxes and packages off the floor, start taking down the decorations, move the baby back into her room and crib, get both kids back on their regular nap schedules.

Topping my list of post-holiday to-do is to learn just what to do with the sewing machine Kile gave me. Seriously, the thing sorta intimidates me. But once I get the hang of it, it’s going to be AWESOME.

So how are the rest of you all coping, now that the holidays are past? Do you all need some Advil and a glass of wine as much as I do?

Ya’ll are wonderful, really you are.  I actually kinda feel bad about the last post, as though I should have turned off comments or included a disclaimer or both.  I didn’t mean for it to feel desperate or anything, just contemplative.  The bottom line is: those thoughts weren’t unusual for me and neither were they weighted.  They’re the sort of thoughts that flit through your head while you’re taking a shower on a Christmas afternoon and coming down from a stress-high.  Seriously, I limped to bed last night because I was sore all over my body.  My arms and legs were a mess of cramped up muscles that ached and burned and the best reason I can come up with is that I’ve been so tense about the holidays that yesterday when the stress finally passed, I had sore, sore muscles.  Owie!

I guess what I’m trying to say here is: I feel better today.  Shoot, I felt better almost as soon as I had posted that.  I wrote down what I’d been thinking in the shower as soon as I got out and scheduled it to post this morning so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting a post done this morning.  And I felt a lot better after I had it done, because this blog is nothing if not an outlet for my emotions.  Bless it for that.

I don’t doubt that I probably need to see a psychiatrist or any of that.  Right now, I’m a little more than reluctant to deal with doctors after that whole thyroid fiasco.  But I know it needs to be done, sooner or later.  Because I know that I MUST have some form of depression.  I must.  I’m not naive enough to think that I don’t.

Today has been a good day though.  We got out, left the house.  Ventured out into the snow and got some In n’ Out Burger and hit the stores to spend some Christmas money. I got a lot of things for the kiddos, including a booster/highchair that straps onto a kitchen chair and some snow bibs for Liam (he has been DESPERATE to go play in the snow and now he can).  I also got a sweater dress/tunic for myself and some wool yarn and more knitting needles to play with.

So don’t worry about me, okay?  Please?  If you see me start shopping around for razor blades or shotgun shells, then you can worry.  But really, I promise I’m okay.  We all get down now and then, and I’m no different.  In the meantime, the holidays are over, and all is well once more.  Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief and move on, shall we?