LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...BUT ONLY AN INCH OR TWO, PLEASE

 I awoke to the smell of gingerbread, the sounds of Christmas music, and the sight of Stewey in his little Martha Stewart craft apron affixing ribbons to pinecones.

"Mo-ther. Today is the day that you are going to put your shoes on, find a suitable pair of old lady sweatpants, fix your hair, and go outside to decorate the house for Christmas.  You've had a week and a half in the Happy Chair with your coloring book and your turkey sandwiches...now it's time to throw a little bit of good cheer around and hope that the neighbors will let us stay here another year."

I had decided to forego decorating this year, but Little Lord Fauntleroy made a good point.  My neighbors are subjected to me and my crazypants outfits and my bleary-eyed trek to fetch the paper every day, as well as the weekly argument we have as to what constitutes proper trash recepticle organization.  (For the record, I don't think that the recycling guy gives two hoots that I put the damn bin at the left edge of the driveway instead of the right edge, because he flings it smack dab into the middle, once emptied, regardless of where it starts out.)  

But this is Stewey we're talking about, so I quickly calculated that there would be NO peace to be had here at Chez Spinster until the annual tarting of the homestead was complete.

Two hours of grunting and sweating and cursing later:

I know.  Pitiful isn't it?  I think it looks much better after a few inches of snow.  And at night  And if you close one eye, stand on your left foot, and view the entire mess from the other side of town.

The good news is that my neighbors really do appreciate it, and I will too when I take You Know Who out for his evening constitutional.

I just hope he doesn't notice that the bows are all crooked and half the lights don't work.

LIST, SCHMIST

So I decided to throw out the to do list and just...be.  Stewey reminds me that this new policy looks amazingly like the old policy, but I'm all for a little do nothingness for a while longer.

Here's last night's progress on Copper & Turquoise:

And here are a few pages from my coloring book.  This one is called "Balance" from Angie Grace.  I'm still using the Bic Mark Its, but every now and then I throw a Sharpie in there for good measure.  I am, however, doing my level best to resist the temptation of Copics, since I think they are more of an investment than this amateur is ready for.

That's the report for today.  Not a "should" in sight!  The laundry, housecleaning, decorating, and baking will be there for me to ignore again tomorrow.  To the Happy Chair!

ACK, FRIDAY

I really need to stop writing to do lists.

Today was suppsed to be a laundry, housecleaning, bed-changing, Christmas decorating, cookie baking day.

Instead, I slept in, read the paper, drank coffee, took a shower, and did the Jumble, Sudoku, and crosswaord.  I took my meds, had a turkey sandwich, watched a movie, and am now contemplating a nice long nap.

I keep trying to convince myself that it's OK to have a lazy day, but Stewey informs me that it's only OK when it's the exception rather than the norm.

Can I just point out that HE  has been snoring away in front of the fireplace for the better part of three and a half weeks?

Oh well.  It's gloomy and cool outside and the last time I checked Her Royal Highness, The Queen of England had better things to do than to come disapprove of my homekeeping skills, so I guess I'll give it a rest.

Here's hoping that YOUR Friday is considerably more interesting...and productive.

TURKEY EVE

It took longer to stand in line at the Honey Baked Ham That Has Turkey That Tastes Like Ham store than it did to buy provisions for tomorrow's feast.  Stewey and I are ready....coffee, the paper, and a mini quiche while watching the parade, and then all of the normal stuff for dinner.

I am, however, completely ashamed to confess that I had a turkey sandwich for dinner tonight, thus breaking all kinds of tradition by indulging a day early.  I couldn't reist the idea of a Siggie Special...turkey, mayo, celery sticks, salt and pepper on Pepperidge Farm white bread.  I guess the fact that I only have them once a year gives me a pass...right?

Copper & Turquoise is coming along quite nicely:

Ideally, I will complete this one soon so that I can start to think about the Spinster Stitcher Basket O' Yuletide Fun.  For some crazy reason, I am really looking forward to it this year.  I've even started planning my baking, decorating, and shopping!  Friday was going to be outside decoration day, but the forecast calls for rain, so methinks we might do a little inside decorating that day instead.

Or I could just take a nap and have another turkey sandwich.

If you're celebrating, I hope that your table is overflowing with love and health and happiness!  If you're not celebrating, I hope that your table is overflowing too.  

Happy Thanksgiving, all!  I'm thankful for you!

OH, BEAUTY!

This is the first time that I can remember our first snow fall of the season being so significant.  They say we got nine inches.  I believe them!

Progress on Copper & Turquoise:

 Yesterday was a bit light in the productivity department.  I managed to make goulash, eat goulash, and stitch.  Today, I think, will be more of the same!  After all, isn't that what Sundays are for?

SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS

The view from my Happy Chair cockpit is so swell, I almost can't stand it. The only thing that would make it any better would be the addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the kitchen...baking scones...in his underpants.

I found the notepad in the Target dollar bin, and couldn't pass it up since it was a) a dollar and b) matches my favoite winter coffee mug.  Starbucks French Roast is the last vice I have left:

Can I just tell you how happy I am that I managed to get all of the patio stuff inside earlier in the week? (I also cleaned the garage to within an inch of its life, but that's a story for another day.  Suffice it to say....it's actually cleaner than the inside of the house, so I'm contemplating moving out there for the duration).

I wish it would stay just like this....pretty, fluffy, and white....until March:

I know, I know...you've seen this view so many times before that you're probably ready to delete me from your Palm Pilot.  There's just something about my Stewey Little toasting himself in front of that fireplace that makes me feel like everything is right with the world.  

And besides...who doesn't love a little Snoopy dressed up as Santa Claus as an early holiday accessory?  (You should know that he managed to find Snoopy all by himself.  I have not yet transistioned his toy basket from Autumn to Christmas.)  (Damn dog.)

That's the story for today.  I am determined to stay in this chair...stitching and reading and contemplating and whatnot.

I hope that your Saturday is equally as blissful!

A LITTLE START

OK, it's not much, but the center of Copper & Turquoise is in.  As soon as I get my chores done for the day and then re-organize my stitchy stuff, I'm going to hit the Happy Chair for some therapy.  I noticed that my dvr thingie is almost full, so it looks like I need to catch up on my TeeVee viewing and clear the darn thing out!

Why do I need to re-org the stitchy stuff, you ask?  Well, it's because SOMEBODY pointed out that he can't find his favorite reading glasses due to the untidiness of our current basket of stuff/crap:

His assistant informed me that he will supervise from the cozy confines of the Magic Blanket:

 Damn dog.

Happy Wednesday!  

OPA!

Do you remember when I used to take pictures for this blog with an actual camera?  I'm not sure that the quality was any better than the pic posted below, but I'm too snoodled up under the magic blanket to go remedy the situation.

This is Copper and Turquoise by Needle Delights Originals and I'm sitting here like a little kid on Christmas Eve wanting to tear into it.  I've been petting the threads for an hour now and just can't get over the fact that this combination has grabbed my attention so.  I think that all of the coloring I've been doing has really expanded my horizons.

Last Saturday I went on a little stitchy shopping trip and my travel companions are still talking to me!  It was hard to NOT be me for the day, but I did my very best and managed not to end up on the side of the road thumbing it for a ride home.  We went to Designer's Desk in Geneva, Illinois.  If you've never been....well, all I can say is....put it on your list.

We went to Greek Islands for lunch, and I'm mortified to tell you that I had not one clue as to what we were eating.  Thank God for Miss Jane and her extensive knowledge of the menu, and for her tact in not pointing out that I'm Greek for crying out loud...how could I not know what a dolmides is?  All I do know is that it was a real treat!  Thank you again, Miss Jane!

Tomorrow I will have to sneak out of the house early to spend the day with Miss Charlene and my Hoosier Heartland guild friends.  If Stewey finds out where I'm headed, he'll throw a tizzy of epic proportions and I will never hear the end of it.  Miss Charlene is one of very few humans that Stewey loves in real life...he's devoted, of course, to all of you (his faithful and devoted readers), but the mailman or the neighbors or the nice lady at PetSmart that always insists on giving him a cookie and patting him on the head?   Not so much.

Here's hoping your needles are flying!

Woo Hoo!

CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH FROM THE CONGREGATION?

I am happy to report that the two fantabulous donut puff zeppole thingies are the ONLY two that I've had since making the darn things.  Photographic evidence, as certified by Master Stewey Angus Willowswamp, His Very Little and Official self follows:

I read that loss of appetite might be one of the side effects of one of the meds that I take, but I just laughed and laughed and laughed at the very thought of that.  Now I'm starting to think that there must be some cosmic shift of things in the universe that's brought us to a time when I, the very rotund but loveable spinster that you've come to know and love (um, I mean tolerate), has been able to not eat an entire container of fantabulous donut puff zeppole thingies in one sitting.

Woo to the Hoo, people.

Woo to the Hoo.

I DID A BAD BAD THING

What evil genius figured out that you can take a can of Pillsbury buscuits, cut them in quarters, deep fry them, cover them in cinnamon sugar, and then go face first into delishiousness all within four and a half minutes?

I've had two.  Two little puffs of mmmmm mmmmm good that will last me for at least a month because this is the new me that exercises self control and has the discipline to avoid polishing these off while standing at the kitchen counter.

(As soon as I finish typing this, Stewey is going to hide them from me....I swear.)