I be back

It's a new year and I had plans to do fun stuff. You remember - cook from a favorite cookbook, knit several projects from a favorite knitting book...

Well, it seems that folks are lining up early to throw me curve balls. Exhibit A -

Who needed a furnace when the temperature here in New Jersey has been so balmy? But, last night we got some ominous news by way of a power outage - the dang cold front that has iced over nearly everything past the Mason Dixon line was coming this way. When the lights came back on at 4am, I tested the furnace because the temperature is supposed to drop below the 20s. Furnace comes on ok but with an awful sound. After the furnace guy shows up, he took one listen and said, "hey, lady, youse guys are lucky, sounds like your pump is cooked." Two hours later, he fixes my 'cooked' pump and my house is hot again! One curve ball for a base hit (sorry for the sports analogies, I live with all men remember).

The curve ball before the busted furnace was with both of my cars. Two flat tires on one car, 1 flat tire on another and an expired AAA membership! You don't want to know what it cost to get out of that fix. Now I'm below the count (it's another baseball thing, look it up).

Before the 3 flat tires, it's college application deadline time for my senior in high school. I should be a drinking woman by now but, I manage to trick the pitcher into a full count and I squeeze out a walk. My son sent off his gajillion applications via a wonderful invention called the online, Common Application! I'm too dizzy to tell you what that cost me.

Before the college application deadline night, there was Martin Luther King Day speech writing marathon. My same high school senior was one of the youth keynotes. I hadn't seen his speech. I won't tell you what ensued but it was similar to college application deadline night. He wrote a wonderful speech and delivered it as if nothing ugly happened the night before...

Before the Martin Luther King Day speech marathon, I thought I'd have some knitting progress

Lovely, right?? WRONG. This is the Jo Sharpe Truffle bag I've been working on forever now. I thought I had finished it. Instead I realize that I knit the picot edge ON THE WRONG SIDE. I'll have to rip that some day but not now...

Here's the Rowan hat I modified for knitting in the round.

Something is wrong, I don't know what it is exactly. I must have mentally wandered off at some point. It will have to be ripped back too.

Lastly, my final report on how I had spent the most miserable last two weeks of this new year has to do with my middle school son. He comes home from school and announces that he needed a food item to take to Spanish class. The food item had to be an authentic Spanish dish that he can share with the class (read enough for 25 kids!)

"Hey mom, can you make a Tres Leches cake?"

So, 7am the next morning, I was up to my elbows in milk and flour and Karo syrup -







Oh, and aside from the cheers that the class gave me upon seeing my Tres Leches cake, I did have another delightful surprise -


This cheerful young lady arrived to my house for theatre practice (it seems my college application/speech writing son is directing a play this month). She is wearing a hat that I knitted last year for him. She said that it fit her better than it does the college application/speech writing/theatre directing dread head! I think she is right!