Tonight I went to see the new sherlock holmes movie. It was about 2 hours long and, I thought, worth the 2 hours. If you didn’t know it was directed by Guy Richie, you would have figured it out by the first fight scene. You can’t mistake the Guy Richie fight scenes. I also spent a fair amount of time figuring out where I had seen a number of the supporting actors. Most of them were either in a Jane Austen movie or a Masterpiece Theater Classics production. Other than that I thought it was a darn good movie and worth dropping the cash to see it on the big screen.

Santa spoiled me again this year.  I got the new droid phone!  As well as a gift certificate to one of my favorite LYS, a ceramic pie pan, several kitchen tools, a silicon rolling pin with height guides, the Norah Gaughan Knitting Nature book, a couple of gift cards to Target and Walmart, a pie making class at Art of the Pie, a couple of sudoku books, my kitchenaid mixer (which arrived earlier), 2 lbs of Dunkin Donuts coffee and a whole host of other goodies that my mind is blanking on.

Santa also spoiled Mom and Dad as well.  Mom got an iPod Nano and Dad got a Wii.  After spending most, if not all of Christmas eve and Christmas day trashing talking my Dad, he kicked my butt at Wii bowling.  I’ll be honest, I let him win   I also showed Mom how to use her iPod and I’m pretty sure she’ll be the iPod queen within the next few days.  She’ll be downloading podcasts, albums and books in no time!

And Kink and Jimbo were also spoiled by their Aunt Marilyn.  She and her kitties bought them some new toys.  As soon as I put them down, that was it.  Now I only seem them as they are flying around the house.

As for the New Year, Well I hope it brings lots of love, hope, happiness and health to me and all my friends and family.

Happy New Year!

First, here’s the nativity scene.  Your standard nativity – 3 wise men, Mary, Joseph, LBJ (Little baby Jesus) and a few assorted animals.

But upon closer inspection, the LBJ was not the one that came with the original set.  It was a doll.  No problem.  Apparently the LBJ is a popular item for the teens to swipe off the lawn.  But it’s not the soulless doll eyes that’s strange.  It’s the fact that LBJ has a hat on.

That’s a knit hat.  Who knew that even as a baby, Jesus was a fashion icon.  I mean, we all know he started the Air Jesus sandals trend (Mom, air Jesus sandals are Birkenstocks or Teva sandals).  I had no idea that he was responsible for single handedly bringing the knit hat in fashion.  Not only did he die for our sins but apparently he should be the next winner of the VH1 fashion icon lifetime achievement award.

There’s also a few strange things going on with the Santas that were on the lawn.  For instance, apparently this Santa and his “ride” were out drinking.

I mean look at them.   They can’t even stand up.

Or perhaps this Santa.  At first glance everything looks normal but…

it looks like that dog is covering up Santa’s naughty bits.  That dog does not look happy.  And what is that look on Santa’s face all about?  It’s very upsetting.

and lastly here’s Kink and her good friend Bob sharing a moment.

This first one is of everything but the cute little project bag.

and here’s the yarn, small buttons, and stitch marker close ups

and how about the cute little notebooks, book, tape measure and stitch markers

and here’s the front and the back of the bag

I haven’t been doing a lot of blogging lately because my fingers are needed to finish up some last minute knitted Christmas gifts.  So on that note, I’ve got to get back to knitting.  There’s only so many days left  before Christmas!

As for the rest of the day, I’m heading over to my friend Marc’s house for a morning of breakfast and budgeting.  I’ve enlisted the help of Marc, my friend Linda and my parents to help keep me on the straight and narrow.  Mom and dad don’t know this yet, but once a week or every other month, I’ll be emailing them my spending for the week.  In some cases I have a feeling it will be just a trip to Starbucks for my knitting group.  My goal is to do this for at least 6 months.  After 6 months hopefully it will become a habit, just like brushing my teeth.  My goal would be to save up enough money for a trip for my 40th birthday, which is about 4 years away.  It’s my 40th.   I want to go big.  So I think saving for four years would be about right.  Right now, I would like to go back to England.  I want to visit a few friends and perhaps, if i plan it properly I’ll be there for the Jane Austen festival in Bath.  OR if mom wants to go, we could do the Chelsea Garden Show.  Maybe while I’m there, I’ll meet up with some of my UK ravelry friends.

If that happens, I’ll have to plan a separate trip for me and dad.  I won’t force dad to go shopping with mom and I again.  Dad, start thinking of places you want to go that you know mom won’t want to go to

As for this weekend, it’s going to be picking up the Christmas tree tomorrow evening and getting it all set up.  Then the rest of the weekend will be about watching movies, reading, knitting and a little swimming.

My aunt had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer a month or two ago.  She had unfortunately lost her battle with cancer on Thanksgiving.  My aunt was truly a great person.  She had the best sense of humor and was one hell of a cook.  We will all miss her greatly and I know that she’s up in heaven with her family and my grandparents.  I’m sure her and grandma are looking down on us and wondering why can’t one of us make a decent pie?  And I know that she is making everyone in heaven laugh.  We’ll miss you Aunt Jean.