Post holiday blahs...

We are finally near the end of January, and I couldn't be happier about that. The subfreezing temperatures, gray skies and empty wallets contribute to my feeling of malaise. There is one nice thing about winter, and that is Calcifer, the flame in our new pellet stove. We named him after the character in Howl's Moving Castle, and we love him! We have been up to less than usual lately. Corie celebrated her 10th birthday and has been asserting her 'tweenhood through peace signs and pouting. Aunt Chris called it the beginning of the "payback stage". Zakary has been testing the boundaries lately, and he received his first bare bum spanking from me for his efforts. I can't say he is back to his angelic self, but he is now aware of how far he can push me. Eric has been working every weekend, and on the one weekend he had off one of our pipes froze. He worked his plumbing magic so it wouldn't happen again. He had to rip out part of the ceiling in Manland to get to the pipe, and now he wants to redo the whole basement this summer. I didn't share his enthusiasm for this new project, but he has bribed me with the promise of a laundry room and utility sink... So he has now received project approval. I have been spending most of my time on the computer (which is strategically place directly across from Calcifer). I'm at the tail end of a slides to jpegs project that was started years ago. I have also been on facebook lately catching up with old friends and acquaintances. After hearing about about every ones accomplishments I decided it was time to get my sewing room in order and get back to work. Here are a few of the Christmas presents that I made this year. I try to learn a new sewing technique with each project... mostly I learn what not to do. I should mention that the two guys on the ends were made from sketches from Molly Chicken's Flickr photos. Her blog is so inspiring.

I guess I've inflicted enough boring on you for one day.