Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2008 in Review

2008 has been a whirlwind year for this crazy knitting fool. As I sit here reviewing what has been done and left undone I can not believe it is time to start 2009. Looking at my 2008 To Do and To Do Not Lists there were a few successes. I did eat healthier because of my pregnancy but since Clark was born that has changed. I did organize and purge a lot of the crap we had during our move. I managed to read the 18 books I wanted to this year. I have become better at being grateful for the blessings I do have. However, I did not even start Bombshell, work on the jewlery business, practice spinning 3 days a week or quit worrying so much. I am still working on the lists for 2009 and they will be up tomorrow.

I managed to read 18 books this year for a total pages read of 5795 and I am proud of that. Reading has become my hobby of choice lately since it is so much easier for me to pick up and put down when the baby needs me. Here is my reading list for 2008.

1) The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (12/20/07–1/13/08: 544 pages)
2) The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gulland (1/14-1/31/08: 448 pages)
3) Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe by Sandra Gulland (2/1-2/28/08: 384 pages)
4) Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy (2/29-3/7/08: 192 pages)
5) Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy (3/8-3/17/08: 224 pages)
6) The Last Great Dance on Earth by Sandra Gulland (3/18-3/28/08: 373 pages)
7) I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles (3/29-5/26/08: 656 pages)
8) Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy (5/26-6/10/08: 240 pages)
9) Diary of a Mad Mom-To-Be by Laura Wolf (6/11-6/23/08: 336 pages)
10) Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson (6/23-6/29/08: 207 pages)
11) Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger (6/29-7/15/08: 336 pages)
12) And Murder for Dessert by Kathleen Delaney (7/16-8/2/08: 250 pages)
13) To Shield the Queen by Fiona Buckley (8/2-8/24/08: 336 pages)
14) Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields (8/25-9/9/08: 226 pages)
15) The Queen of the Big Time by Adriana Trigiani (9/10-10/13/08: 261 pages)
16) The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews (10/13-10/28/08: 211 pages)
17) The Broker by John Grisham (10/29-11/22/08:306 pages)
18) A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton (11/23-12/14/08:265 pages)

Knitting wise this was the year of small projects. I managed to complete the following (all these link to Ravelry. The FO blog is here):

Calorimetry
Fruity Pebbles Socks
12 Mitered Baby Bibs (here, here and here)
6 Dishcloths (Summer Breeze, Diamonds on Lace, Elvish Leaves, Lacey Waterfalls, Shifting Sand and Diamond Drop Lace)
2 baby blankets (Rainbow and Stanley)
A Christmas Stocking

Of course my most important project of the year was this little guy.




Have a Safe and Happy New Year! Until next time ....

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Happy Belated Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was pretty low key. We stayed home and opened gifts with Clark. Santa was very good to him! I made the Rasinen/Clark family traditional Christmas breakfast of Pannu Kakku (Finnish Pancakes) and then took a nap. My sister came over to eat dinner with us. I made ham, scalloped corn and cheesy potatoes and we had a very yummy cheesecake from Costco. I got a beautiful watch from the hubby and I will try to remember to wear it!

Yesterday we went to my dad's house to open gifts with my family. I got some nice stuff including the new Yarn Harlot book, the 2009 Knitting Pattern a Day calender and an ornament that says I love to knit. We had pizza and hung out while hubby went to see his daughters. All in all it was a good holiday and I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. At least it is only a 3 day week since I have New Years Eve and Day off.

I managed to finish a stocking for Clark before Christmas. It was the Basic Sock Christmas Stocking from here. This was a very quick and easy pattern and Santa filled it up with goodies for the little guy.



My camera is really starting to die. I got it for Christmas 6 years ago and I think it may need to be retired. Unfortunately my hubby's camera is still with my BIL and who knows when it will return so I maybe using the camera feature on our video camera for awhile. Until next time ....

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas



May Santa fill your stocking with something besides coal!