Monday, December 29, 2008

Pretty Awesome, Considering...


We missed David. He plays a great supporting role at Christmas. He has batteries, wire cutters--all the tools required to bring toys to life. He picks up the wrapping paper and takes out trash. He compliments the food. Christmas isn't the same without him.


Faking holiday enthusiasm is a little like faking an orgasm, except that it goes on for months. My kids deserved a bit of joy, so I bucked up. We baked Jesus a birthday cake with a Montana theme, complete with coconut snow. (Okay, I thought I was buying barnyard animals at Michaels, but we made due with what I bought.) We used this recipe and you can't taste the Vegan at all. Isabel dipped all the animals' faces in the icing so they would have Santa Claus beards.
I bought a bunch of brown Lion Brand Wool from the clearance aisle at Walmart. (Don't be jealous of my extravagant military wife lifestyle.) I wasn't crazy about the color, so I dipped it in kettles of Jacquard Vermilion. It's more of a chocolate cherry color right now, but I am not super sure what I think about it. It's still drying. Maybe I'll dip it again. Maybe I'll keep messing with it until I ruin it.


Isabel named the Tiger and Liger I knit for her Edward and Bella. My teenage stepdaughter is obsessive and contagious. I've tried to explain to her that Twilight is a book series, not a lifestyle. She thinks that Harry Potter fans are dorks, but can't see people rolling their eyes when she natters on and on about teenage vampires in Washington. How old am I that I don't get caught up in magical books anymore? Old.

I hope you had a great holiday. I got a 24" Kromski Harp loom, but it's taking forever to get here. I also got a lot of coffee love gifts. My grandmother knit a cute little scarf for me. I got a beautiful mohair stole from a friend back in KC. I seriously need to take some pictures.
My kids need to go back to school. Soon. Seriously. Please.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are too funny about faking...um...enthusiasm. I really like the chocolate cherry dye job fix! Bravo.

CraftyGryphon said...

*snort* Yeah, and all the FarScape kids rag on the old-school Star Trek fans. Every fandom sees itself as the Cool One, and everyone else is dweebs. (I used to help run a small semiannual science fiction convention; we got ALL kinds. Mostly, they played nice, though.)

Anonymous said...

I love the animals :-)

I have been lucky in deployments, as we're child-less. I know that once a Mini-Me does come around, I'll be doing what you are: faking it really well.

James said...

"Is it made with real vegans?" I am seriously going to have to bake that cake, though I can't imagine it without the Montana wildlife.