And Now Back to Our Regular Scheduled Programming

Hey, all my wonderful readers - thanks for your support this week. I really appreciate all your wishes for a wonderful holiday for our family. We are so gearing up for it! I know you want to see some of the fun we've been up to.

We made some pom-poms the other day. I raided my stash and found a few bits and pieces of yarn I was willing to contribute to the project, and got out my trusty set of Clover pom-pom makers. I'd tried this last year with Julie, and she wasn't ready for it. This year she did a lot better, and even made one or two of her own. With a little help.



Sophie "helped" too. She had a blast tangling up all the bits and pieces she got her hands on.



Even Daisy cat got in on the action. The scene under the tree has since changed drastically - Joe and I finished wrapping all the presents, and it's pretty full under there now.



And some of the fruits of our labor.



A few nights ago I boiled a chicken and made up a pot of chicken noodle soup from scratch. It is SO easy to make chicken noodle soup, and it was so perfect for our puny little family at the moment.



The clogs for Joe are coming right along. They just need second soles before felting. Except oops - I realized last night that I think I'm knitting the wrong size. He has small feet, and I think I'm knitting bigger than he needs. I can't remember what size I knit for him before. So I'm going to go ahead and finish this pair and knit another if necessary. Either way, they're not going to be done before Christmas.



And finally, a couple of product endorsements. I've been all crazy cleaning these last few days. Normally, I'm not all that huge into cleaning. I mean, I love a clean house as much as the next person, but it's just not usually the first on my list of priorities. But since we are now hosting both Christmas Eve and Christmas night, I figured it couldn't hurt to spiff the place up. And it helped that I had a few hours by myself to get a head start. So that meant I had a bit of extra time over the last day or so to do some detail work a step above and beyond scrubbing the toilets. And I tried a couple of products I don't normally get around to using.



First, on the left that's a Swiffer dusting tool. Joe actually bought these, and I don't usually dust because dust is even lower on my list of priorities than toilets. But there was time, and there are guests coming, so I tried this thingie. It works really well, and was even kind of fun to use. I did feel a little guilty about the disposable aspect to it. I have to wonder how it compares to the usefulness of a feather duster, which is permanently reusable.

On the right is a packet of Pledge Stainless Steel Wipes. Now, I have to admit that I have tried more than once to get the fingerprints and water stains off my stainless steel appliances, and I've been less than satisfied with the results of at least two or three products. I don't know what possessed me to try this product, but it ended up in my shopping cart and I brought it home. I couldn't believe how well they worked, and with how little elbow grease. Look at my fridge!



And it was addictive. Once I finished the fridge, I did the rest of the appliances and even cleaned up the hood over the range. Those darn things even cut through the grease up there. Again, they have the evil chemical and disposable landfill filler thing going against them. But there you have it, I'm glad I bought 'em and I'll probably buy them again.

Okay, and here's a little Christmas present for you in case there's no post between now and then...



Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it, and peace and joy all around.