I Smell Chocolate Cake

I smell chocolate cake. Today is Dad's birthday, and I have a cake in the oven for him. (Not from scratch -- Betty Crocker with matching frosting that came in my Chrisco Hampers.) I have some Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses for the boys to decorate it with. My parents are stopping in this evening, hopefully giving me enough time to finish his gift. I'm making him the man's hat on the cover of this book, but I'm using Patons Shetland Chunky in black because it's a wool/acrylic blend. (Didn't want all acrylic. That stuff is starting to give me the heebie jeebies.) After the hat I have to make his slippers. I haven't had a lot of knitting time this week with the holiday stuff going on, and I had to work the last three days.

Here's some Christmas pictures I couldn't get to upload the last few posts. See how much more stuff there is on the boys' side of the tree than ours? There's even a few of their things on our side! I conveniently left my Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in the closet for fear that the cats would get it. They have a thing for anything and everything under the tree -- walk on it, lay on it, knock it over... I took the tree down yesterday, and most of the other Christmas stuff is down, too. There are still a few things I will take down tomorrow. I light up my outside lights for the last time on New Year's Day. I figured the kids would be less upset if things disappeared bit by bit.

The boys got the Shake 'n Go Racetrack from my parents. Methinks they each may get a new car for it for their birthdays. The Littlest One also got the Shake 'n Go Offroad Big Rig.

I was saying the other day about my "new to me" chairs. My table and chair set is about 10, 11 years old. I bought it when I still lived at home for when the time came that I would be getting my own place. The table is still fine, but all of the chairs finally started falling apart (some with help). The only one that was left got knocked over the other day, and one of the rungs on the back of it smashed off. My parents looked in Halifax for new ones for me but didn't see any that looked sturdy. They ended up giving me the money to look on my own. One day at the store there was a man in who owns an antique/second-hand store just outside of town. I asked if he had any chairs, and he said he had twelve chairs that he had gotten from a church (can't remember where) that were 80 years old, in wonderful shape, solid wood, and some still had the box under the seat for a Bible. I got four of them, and only one is missing the Bible box. The kids love to put small toys under the seat. He gave me an even better deal than the price tags, and I saved about $34. I had quite a bit of money to boot left over, and I happened to mention I'd look for a computer chair with the rest of the money. He happened to have one of those, too, which I ended up getting. It's a grey, high backed chair made of a woven fabric, very comfortable. Every time I go to sit down in it I have to clear Simba and Pumba out of it. I guess they think I got it for them. He gave me a deal on that chair as well, so I came out with five chairs and $70 left. That money will go towards a new dehumidifier for the basement. Ours stopped working again, and I already paid $100 for it to be fixed once.

I put little felt stickies on the legs so they wouldn't cut in the kitchen floor or scratch my hardwood floor (as if it isn't scratched up already) if we needed to take them in the living room. (The boys insisted on sitting in them to watch TV when they first came home.) Here's a shot of the Bible box.

Don't forget -- anyone who wants dibs on the Lite Brite refills has til tomorrow night midnight. I have four names to enter in the draw so far. Here's the low-down on it for anyone who didn't read the other posts:

I also have a little bit of a contest to hold. Well, it's only a contest if I get more than one person who wants it. I ordered the boys some Lite Brite refills for Christmas from Toys R Us. One was a Star Wars refill kit (I know, more for me, the SW freak that I am), and the other one was supposed to be this plain one. When it came it was My Little Pony, which isn't even listed on their site. I don't have any little girls with Lite Brites to give it to. Anyhoo, all you have to do is leave me a comment or e-mail me saying you either have a little girl with a Lite Brite Classic, Cube, or Travel OR you know a little girl with said item(s) who would like to have it. If I get more than one person expressing interest then I will do the random draw thing to see who gets it. {darganknits at hotmail dot com}

I will pick a winner on New Year's Day.

Lastly a parting shot from Christmas Dinner. He still wasn't feeling well, and he only took two or three bites of the drumstick.

Happy knitting!