Sunday, December 25, 2005
Green Christa.. I mean Christmas.
I can't count the number of times in my life I have accidently written "Merry Christa!" or "Have a good Christa!"... (wondering if I would fall into the catagory of "good" or "bad" Christas...)
Anyway...
Home for the Holidays, at the Giles house in Williams Lake, means me coming up from Vancouver for a week to 10 days, and either taking over my mother's sewing room, or my father's LazEboy. This is the first year I've been here sans cats, and the petless house feels a bit lonely, aside from the occasional visits from my sister's dog, Cricket. Good dog. Inside voice. Good dog. Inside voice. Can you whisper? Whisper, Cricket! Can you sing? Mary had a little lamb.. Woo woo woo... such a good dog!
List of things finished or started AND finished or just started, while in WL: two ponchos for my sister, a work shirt for my dad, a knitted-and-felted toy for Cricket, felted flowers for me (5 wonky, 1 wearable), a felted hat for me that may or may not get cat ears attached, and two sleeves and an inch of the body of a sweater for me (and then I broke the needles). Grrr. SO, giving up on the sweater until I get back to Vancouver for replacement needles, I've started another felted bag.
I think this is the first year I've been finished all my gifts and had them wrapped, before 3am. Okay, cheating a bit in that I didn't put buttons on my dad's shirt (my mom and I both hate sewing buttonholes), and my sister's ponchose are not actually wrapped, but they ARE stuffed quite snugly into the long cardboard tubes that will eventually be covered in paper and ribbon. This is also the first year, in a long time, that I've used conventional paper and trim, normally I haul a bunch of fabrics and ribbons up from Vancouver and use those.. but, travelling by bus made packing light a bit more of a necessity. (BTW, thanks Phil and Carmen for bringing up Mom's hoop with you! Wouldn't have wanted to try to get THAT on the bus!)
Things to do in Williams Lake? Well... I go for a swim everyday, 'cept the pool is closed the 25th and 26th.. I've watched at least two movies every day, 'cept for yesterday when I was sewing... shopped for MYSELF (weird, eh? You'd think I'd find more in Van that in WL, but nooooo....).. and got a haircut, unfortunately by someone who smoked. Wet hair, and nicotine-stained fingers reeking of cigs in your face, are not a good thing. Oh yeah, and I read the last two Harry Potter books (thanks Linz n Katie!) and a few others I grabbed at the library. ("Yes, this is my mom's library card that I'm using. Yes, she is now over 60. Oh, you mean that since she's a senior, she won't get charged overdue fines anymore? HMMMMMMM!"For those of you who don't know, I've owed several libraries in excess of several hundred dollars in late fees over the years..)
Oh yeah, and in Williams Lake, I can also go for wings with my sister's co-workers, and spend a couple hours talking sex and religion with a nice couple who, THAT NIGHT, were "excommunicated" (well, that's not the right word, but you get the idea) from the local Jehovah's Witnesses community... and now the hubby is trying to hook up the wife with a willing woman so she can try that side of the street. HIGHLY entertaining conversation, between arguing bible interpretations, and talking about gay sex... too bad I wasn't going to be around longer, would be entertaining to see who would be converted first, me to JW, or him to trying boys
New thing this year, going along with our trimmed-down gift-giving: we're heading over to Heather n Dave's place (sis n broinlawish) around 2... so no sneaking up early to open my stocking presents, no sitting around here for three hours waiting for them to show up so we can open presents together... instead, sitting around here all morning (prob reading, in my case), doing some veggie prep in the afternoon, then heading over there for the whole shebang. Change is good, right? right?
Christmas eve service, I had a really strange-yet-comfortable vision, of being there next year, or some other time in the future, with my partner at my side. Currently I'm single, and now and then I feel lonely and worry that I'll never get beyond my shyness and insecurity and fears to actually DO something about approaching the person I'm interested in... but this vision has given me hope. Maybe not GUTS, but hope at least...
I hope all of you are having a pleasant holiday, whether it be celebrating Christmas, or enjoying a bit of slower time while the rest of the world shuts down for it.. be well.
Weather: balmy, 5+, mostly green showing but the occasional patch of ice lingers.
Chai's: had a not-great one a couple days ago, in the closest-thing-to-Starbucks this town has... didn't get many withdrawl pains before that, so I'm gonna try to stick to just one a day when I get back to Vancouver.
Water: One visit daily since I got here last Saturday, for usually at least 1500m plus some passing or whapping the ball at the nearest starting block on the edge of the pool. Less baths while I'm here, too, since I'd incur some wrath for a two hour tub session..
Wardrobe: jammies at the mo, otherwise I've been alternating between jeans and my big red fluffy Modrobe pants, and a mottled blue sweater that has been all I've needed to keep warm in this unseasonable weather.
Craft in progress: one sweater, on hold due to broken needles, one felted bag, waiting upstairs for me to finish blogging.
Anyway...
Home for the Holidays, at the Giles house in Williams Lake, means me coming up from Vancouver for a week to 10 days, and either taking over my mother's sewing room, or my father's LazEboy. This is the first year I've been here sans cats, and the petless house feels a bit lonely, aside from the occasional visits from my sister's dog, Cricket. Good dog. Inside voice. Good dog. Inside voice. Can you whisper? Whisper, Cricket! Can you sing? Mary had a little lamb.. Woo woo woo... such a good dog!
List of things finished or started AND finished or just started, while in WL: two ponchos for my sister, a work shirt for my dad, a knitted-and-felted toy for Cricket, felted flowers for me (5 wonky, 1 wearable), a felted hat for me that may or may not get cat ears attached, and two sleeves and an inch of the body of a sweater for me (and then I broke the needles). Grrr. SO, giving up on the sweater until I get back to Vancouver for replacement needles, I've started another felted bag.
I think this is the first year I've been finished all my gifts and had them wrapped, before 3am. Okay, cheating a bit in that I didn't put buttons on my dad's shirt (my mom and I both hate sewing buttonholes), and my sister's ponchose are not actually wrapped, but they ARE stuffed quite snugly into the long cardboard tubes that will eventually be covered in paper and ribbon. This is also the first year, in a long time, that I've used conventional paper and trim, normally I haul a bunch of fabrics and ribbons up from Vancouver and use those.. but, travelling by bus made packing light a bit more of a necessity. (BTW, thanks Phil and Carmen for bringing up Mom's hoop with you! Wouldn't have wanted to try to get THAT on the bus!)
Things to do in Williams Lake? Well... I go for a swim everyday, 'cept the pool is closed the 25th and 26th.. I've watched at least two movies every day, 'cept for yesterday when I was sewing... shopped for MYSELF (weird, eh? You'd think I'd find more in Van that in WL, but nooooo....).. and got a haircut, unfortunately by someone who smoked. Wet hair, and nicotine-stained fingers reeking of cigs in your face, are not a good thing. Oh yeah, and I read the last two Harry Potter books (thanks Linz n Katie!) and a few others I grabbed at the library. ("Yes, this is my mom's library card that I'm using. Yes, she is now over 60. Oh, you mean that since she's a senior, she won't get charged overdue fines anymore? HMMMMMMM!"
Oh yeah, and in Williams Lake, I can also go for wings with my sister's co-workers, and spend a couple hours talking sex and religion with a nice couple who, THAT NIGHT, were "excommunicated" (well, that's not the right word, but you get the idea) from the local Jehovah's Witnesses community... and now the hubby is trying to hook up the wife with a willing woman so she can try that side of the street. HIGHLY entertaining conversation, between arguing bible interpretations, and talking about gay sex... too bad I wasn't going to be around longer, would be entertaining to see who would be converted first, me to JW, or him to trying boys
New thing this year, going along with our trimmed-down gift-giving: we're heading over to Heather n Dave's place (sis n broinlawish) around 2... so no sneaking up early to open my stocking presents, no sitting around here for three hours waiting for them to show up so we can open presents together... instead, sitting around here all morning (prob reading, in my case), doing some veggie prep in the afternoon, then heading over there for the whole shebang. Change is good, right? right?
Christmas eve service, I had a really strange-yet-comfortable vision, of being there next year, or some other time in the future, with my partner at my side. Currently I'm single, and now and then I feel lonely and worry that I'll never get beyond my shyness and insecurity and fears to actually DO something about approaching the person I'm interested in... but this vision has given me hope. Maybe not GUTS, but hope at least...
I hope all of you are having a pleasant holiday, whether it be celebrating Christmas, or enjoying a bit of slower time while the rest of the world shuts down for it.. be well.
Weather: balmy, 5+, mostly green showing but the occasional patch of ice lingers.
Chai's: had a not-great one a couple days ago, in the closest-thing-to-Starbucks this town has... didn't get many withdrawl pains before that, so I'm gonna try to stick to just one a day when I get back to Vancouver.
Water: One visit daily since I got here last Saturday, for usually at least 1500m plus some passing or whapping the ball at the nearest starting block on the edge of the pool. Less baths while I'm here, too, since I'd incur some wrath for a two hour tub session..
Wardrobe: jammies at the mo, otherwise I've been alternating between jeans and my big red fluffy Modrobe pants, and a mottled blue sweater that has been all I've needed to keep warm in this unseasonable weather.
Craft in progress: one sweater, on hold due to broken needles, one felted bag, waiting upstairs for me to finish blogging.
