What Have I Been Doing? you might ask. Or not.

But I'll tell you anyway.  

I have been busy!  Knitting away, cooking, having things done to the kitchen and generally jumping from project to project, with no organization in play.  

That's me.  OCD or something.

But here is my current project, which needs to be finished by Christmas, and since I just finished the chart this morning, I know I'll make it.

It will look like this

when I finish (with a turquoise pom pom on top) but as the Powers that Be are my witness, I will NEVER do intarsia or stranding again.  NEVER!!!

Because this is what is involved:

a tangle of yarns that keeps getting more tangly and annoying and time-consuming to untangle.  

So there, knitting.

To go back in time, I made this gorgeous pie for Thanksgiving:

It is from this Williams Sonoma recipe, and although I am not normally a fan of pumpkin pie, this tasted pretty good to me, and I overheard another guest tell the hostess that it was the best pumpkin pie she had ever had. (There is brandy in it, so there's that.) I just happened to have the leaf punches, from WS of course, so I could copy the top perfectly. And I've just realized that this is the photo from WS, and I wonder what happened to the photo of mine. hmmmm....  Anyway, mine looked like this.  

Another project:

I've been cooking in the dark since we moved in here 20+ years ago, and just the day before Daylight Savings Time went away, I had can lights installed.  Let there be light! said I. And now there is!  Doesn't mean I like cooking any better, but when I do cook, I can see what I'm doing.  As Martha says, It's a good thing.

But we lived with multiple holes in the ceiling until I finally found a painter willing to repair them and paint the ceiling. It was surprisingly difficult to find one and someone told me that lots of people have painting done before they entertain for Thanksgiving.  Really??? That's about the last thing I would think about if I were having a mob over for dinner, but ok. Anyway, I wasn't having anyone over; we went to our friend's home. So no hurry, but now the ceiling no longer looks like this:

Blurry photo......  I think there were about five holes in all, but they are all gone.

Since the weather has suddenly turned knitted-things cold, I can wear my hand knit socks, and I do!  In the house I wear them with my Birks, easy-on, easy-off.

Classy with a K, right?  (And no, H and S, I do NOT go out in public like this.)

BONUS!  I realized that I promised more photos from my trip in the fall, but instead I'll just post this one.  One of my favorites: 

A very relaxed Archbishop.  I think he is in the York Minster.  

To My Fashion-Challenged Daughters,

Just so you know.  The Wall Street Journal style writer says:

And don't forget my Birkenstocks.  They are IN too. They are CUTE!

You are very welcome for the fashion tips.

Sincerely,

Your stylin' mom

Everything Old is New Again?

Yesterday dH and I went to see Boyhood (loved it!) and then to the Panera next to the theater for dinner.  As we stood in line, a high school girl behind me said to me, "I love your shoes."

My response?

"Really? They're Birkenstocks. People make fun of them."

She and her friend both protested that no, they are cute.

I don't think Birkenstocks have EVER been called cute.  I've heard plenty of other descriptions, most from my younger daughter, but never cute.

Birkenstocks were popular in the 60s, I think, but now? These two high school girls both claimed to wear them, and said that they are comfortable. Both girls are tennis players, so it's not as if they are throwbacks to the hippy generation. Maybe Birks ARE cool!  

So that means:  Tah Dah, so am I!!!

Yay me! 

$1,000 REWARD!!!!!!

Not really.

But my Chacos, the shoes that I have worn since surgery on my left foot, the shoes that have prevented surgery on my right foot, that have just the perfect sponginess to support my foot, and that along with my Birkenstocks (stylish----c'est moi) have kept me comfortably shod all these years, they have

GONE MISSING !!!!!

Please, please come back...

Now logic is my middle name (not really---it's Louise), and logic tells me that shoes can't possibly disappear in one's own home. But I have looked everywhere (except where they are, obviously), and they are just flat-out missing. I grilled my recent houseguests: two daughters, four grandchildren, and I do mean GRILLED, until they almost r u n n  o f t, and they all denied having any involvement with the disappearance of my shoes.

Yes, I have other shoes.  Yes, I even have other Chacos, but these were my most recent purchase, and my favorite.

I may have to give up and go to the store for another pair, and then, I am sure, the missing shoes will show up.


***************

In other news, we all had a great time, in spite of the nearly constant rain.  It rained, sometimes ALL day, each and every day that they were all here. (It's raining now.) On Monday though, the rain held off  until later in the day, and my husband, daughters and grandchildren had a great time at Six Flags.  I, martyr that I am, stayed out of the heat and sun and off of the scary rides and made the aforementioned Ile Flottante. My husband is out of town every other week, so I rarely have guinea pigs diners I can experiment on cook for.  But in spite of being left behind, I had fun making dessert.

However, I need my grandchildren to answer for this affront:

WHY, oh WHY, are there goldfish left in this container? WHY didn't you eat them all?  Grandpa doesn't like them, so now it's left to me to finish them off.

Martyr, thy name is Knittergran.


UPDATE:  Chacos found!  Yay!