A Christmas Story

That's what was left of a 25 pound Christmas Ham after our very own version of the Bumpus's dogs, pictured resting post-ham with yours truly below, gorged themselves on porky goodness. While I was at first frightened because Scarlet looked like she had swallowed a barrel after consuming over 10% of her body weight in salted pork, I can now laugh histarically about the whole affair, epsecially since they devoured the ham before the stores closed on Christmas Eve so we didn't have to go out for Chinese food for Christmas.

snowday

We're still at home. We finally dug our way out of our driveway, but we're waiting for the roads across north central Illinois to be clear of ice before we head out towards Tulsa. We're planning to stop along the way at a motel 6 (classy, I know, but they are everywhere, cheap, and let pooches stay overnight) and arrive at Tulsa by lunchtime tomorrow.

"ho,ho,ho"... uh oh..."snow, snow, snow"

We are those lucky holiday travelers who are planning to leave tomorrow. "They" say the worst of it should be past Milwaukee by 10 a.m. tomorrow, but only after dumping feet of snow and blankets of ice in our path from Milwaukee to Tulsa. Fortunately, we are driving, not flying so hopefully we can control our own destiny and find a little window in which to safely drive the twelve hours to be with our Oklahoma family for the holidays, because there is yet another storm behind this one, although fortunately for us it seems to be coming from the north.

Subversive knitting in the news

Winter Knitty

The winter knitty is now available. I realized this when this design (pictured above) caught my eye over on ravelry. I was so excited that the new issue was out I immediately went over to knitty to check it out without looking at any of the details. When I found "Surface" on knitty I realized why I love it so much - it's by Nora Gaughan. Her designs are so unique and beautiful, like wearable art. While this piece doesn't scream practical and I will likely not knit it, I think it's pretty inspirational.

chicago and old friends

Above: At home with Scott, Sadie, and Gracie. Below: With Susan and Danny at Cafe Iberico
We went down to Chicago to have dinner with our friends from California, Susan and Danny who now live in Normal, IL. On our way to dinner we stopped by to see my friends from college Sadie and Scott and their adorable little girl Gracie. We were able to celebrate Danny's 40th birthday and Sadie's 30th all in one trip! It was so wonderful to see everyone. It makes me want to see all of my old friends more often. I love and miss you all.

can i get an upgrade? upgrade...

Good news: I got a new laptop. Bad news: It wasn't by choice.

My beloved iBook G4 came down with a rapidly progressing terminal illness last Wednesday after showing some signs of  distress the night before. She served me well for over three years, and it was sad to see her go, especially since we weren't really planning a major purchase just now. But, I was able to procure a new MacBook, not the fancy newest, earth friendly MacBook, but an early 2008 white version with the same specs. It is so much faster and nicer than my old one, and it has a built in webcam so now I can use my own computer to skype with my adviser, so that my husband won't have to give up valuable work time every week. Thanks to the geniuses over at the apple store all of my files and programs from my old mac are happily on my new one despite the uncooperative of the mostly dead older laptop.

Uptop is a pic of a MacBook like the new one currently on my lap. Immediately above is a much cleaner and newer looking version of my dead iBook G4, which is currently sitting on the dog's kennel until we decide what to do with it.