Thanksgiving Weekend

Here is a pictograph of our past two days:

The pie went in like this

And came out like this

While Jim and David were hanging the Christmas lights

The turkey breast was in the rotisserie

And came out delicious.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the cooked turkey breast - it was yummy and really pretty!

Then we ate and went to some friends' house to share our pies

And some laughs

Then the turkey bones became stock

Today we went to work -

Here is our concert master taking the tuning note

And my husband concentrating more than me

Our music is the Nutcracker

Here is the oboe section

And my surreptitious photography of the dancers

Whew! I'm glad no one caught me...

Tomorrow is rehearsal with Sandy Patti... probably will not be able to sneak any pictures....

I hope your Thanksgiving was great! See you in a few days.

A beautiful fall day here

Good Monday Everyone!

The sun is shining, the temperature is pleasant, the leaves are rustling in the light breeze. All in all, a perfect fall day.

Thank you for your thoughts. The health issues are almost gone and so are quite a few pounds from not eating at night! Who would have thought?!

I am halfway through another Ice Queen, but in black. I have a colleague who I think will like it.

Jim's Cobblestone is progressing amazingly well. I ditched the Sirdar sweater (too much seed stitch) for this easy-peasy pullover. I am using Sirdar Country DK, Options #4 needles and knitting the 2nd largest size. My gauge is 22" instead of the called for 18" so I am hoping this will fit.

The short row shaping is fabulous! And by knitting the wrap with the stitch, there are no holes :-)

And here is a shot of the sleeves attached. I think this will be an FO very soon.

I planted some sweet little violas this weekend -

I love the tiny size of these flowers and the look of pansies. All in all, a perfect flower.

What are you all doing for Thanksgiving? We are having a friend eat with us and he and Jim will put up our Christmas lights. Then the seasonal insane schedule of rehearsals and performances begins. Nutcracker is Fri, Sat and Sun along with a rehearsal and performance with Sandi Patty.

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with joy. I feel thankful for my beloved husband, wonderful mother and family, dear friends, both in person and cyber-space. My best wishes are with you all -

FO: Ice Queen

My dear knitting friends - Thanks so much for your thoughts on the furniture. We are hoping everything will work out and we'll actually have our refund and a table before Christmas. As for the dietary issues - I am determined to do my best to stay healthy! After last night's concert, instead of drinking a glass of wine and eating fried bits of who knows what, I had a bit of juice and some popcorn. (Had to eat something!) Low acid, thank you. I do plan on eating sauce and spicy foods in moderation - will just reinforce the situation with Rolaids or something similar.

Ice Queen is finished! It was knit with Roan Kidsilk Haze in color 633 - violetta. I used #8 and #6 16" Bryspun circs. They have nice little points and are grabby plastic. They were great for knitting with this very slippery yarn. The color is actually more plum, less blue, but the camera did not want to accept that. I also used 60 Swarovski crystals but they are not showing well. They really sparkle in real life. I think my friend Joyce (who will be receiving this for Christmas) will like it.

This was such a fun little knit, I actually stopped at the LYS yesterday after rehearsal and picked up another skein of KSH in black to knit another for another friend.

Here is a little bonus shot of Silly Ewe at Friday night's rehearsal. Note the amazing sweater she is wearing (for which she won a blue ribbon at the fair this year!)

Have a delightful week -

A Queen, a table and a gig

Sounds like it ought to be a joke, no?

Ice Queen is moving right along but somehow I need more beads. I really thought I bought the right number - guess not. Anyway, here she is so far:

I am ready to do the bind off, but need the rest of the beads before I can continue.

We decided to purchase a new dining room set after we gave the old one away and after lots of searching found this beautiful one from Broyhill.

We gave the store our credit card, paid for the set and have been anxiously awaiting delivery. Friday a letter comes in the mail telling us the Broyhill Home Stores in the area have been closed and are declaring bankruptcy and that our furniture will not be delivered. What the *&#@?

We called customer service for the manufacturer and were told these stores owed the company millions of dollars and we could file a claim to retrieve our money. So we called the credit card company and explained the problem - they have a dispute form we can file to get our money back. In the meantime, we still have no table or chairs.

I found a distributor (in North Carolina) for this particular line of furniture that ships nationwide. But - it will take another 6-8 weeks for delivery! The price is actually about the same so I think we are going to order from them. If we are lucky, we will be reimbursed for the original purchase and have a new dining set by Christmas. What a pain in the butt!

Here are some shots from last night's job - my husband:

St. Andrew's Methodist Church:

Inside the sanctuary:

We play in some beautiful settings although coming from a small town in upstate NY, I am amazed at the size of these churches. I think our little one could easily fit inside this a few times over!

I wanted to thank you for your comments about my health. I appreciate your good wishes :-) I am definitely almost done with the coughing but the dietary changes are a pain in the a$$. Things like not eating three hours before bed - I don't finish work until later than that many nights. And not wine at night! Rats!!! My favorite adult beverage! No acidic or spicy food - yeah, right! We live in Texas - so there are lots of great Tex-Mex places and delicious Italian food. I have even cut back to 1 1/2 cups of coffee in the morning (apparently caffeine also aggravates this condition). I have been faithfully taking the Nexium and now carry Rolaids around with me. If I know I am eating something I have been warned about, in go the Rolaids. So far, so good.

This is just another thing I have to discipline myself to do. Isn't enough that I am highly disciplined in my profession (practice and make reeds daily? Yes - every day!) and now I have to adhere to this too?!

As she drinks her morning coffee (bad girl!) she says, "I hope your day is a good one -"