It was a Merry Christmas

A very blessed Christmas occurred in our home this year. With a frantic few days trying to get everything ready with very little time, it turned out to be a good time.

As I mentioned, we went to a Christmas dinner on Thursday 12/20 at a friend's house. This is a creche they had set up in their bedroom - I just love the innocence and the execution of the scene in clay.

For the gift exchange, I offered one gift of a Yankee Candle in the Jack Frost scent and also a certificate for one pair of hand knit socks. The socks were snatched up quickly! I received a most unusual and wonderful gift of a reindeer made from turkey wishbones and wool roving. I'll take a picture soon. I love it! The pies turned out OK - the lemon was a bit bland (need to add rind next time) but all was eaten.

Friday I spent getting the cards out and Saturday we went shopping and put up the tree. The cats approved and have since started the demolition :) Below is our lilac-point Birman, Tia, pretending to be a present.


Midnight candlelight mass was wonderful this year with spectacular music and fellowship. It is my favorite service of the year at church (Good Shepherd Episcopal, Tomball).

Christmas was very relaxed despite all the cooking. Brooke (my son's significant other) was ill and they delayed coming over until about 11am. This is the latest we have ever opened gifts as the kids usually are up at dawn wanting to tear into them. My son was so funny when he opened the unexpected helicopter toy - he was just like a child. It was all fun - I even got a Nintendo DS which was on my wish list. Got to love a son who shares your gadget-itis.

Dinner was fine with ham, sweet potatoes, and the required noo-noos and krinkies (Mac & Cheese with French fried onions). Heaven help me if I don't serve this every holiday!

I'm hoping you and your loved ones had a super holiday. I'm busy finishing a few knit projects and starting socks!

till later ~~ Dene

Let them eat PIE!

I'm going to a Christmas party tonight with a group of 5 couples and I'm to bring the dessert. Normally, I'm a great dessert maker but lately I've had to modify my recipes to cut the sugar out and I'm finding it difficult to get the same results.

So I give you:

The Christmas Pies

On the left is the mandatory (at least according to my husband) Cherry Pie and on the right is a Lemon Meringue. I found the recipe for both over on the Splenda site. I have my doubts about the lemon but we shall see.

The bags hold the goodies for the gift exchange which is the first year we have done this. Should be interesting. I'll reveal contents tomorrow in case there are wayward eyes looking in.

For my first day unemployed, it was busy. I started the day at church for morning prayer and then did lots of errands including the post office (BIG surprise - no lines!), grocery and Vets. I know .. really good blog content there. The best thing was the hour I lounged while listening to the latest This American Life. Life goes on and the sky didn't fall in today. So all is good.

till later ~~ dene

"Are you bored yet?"

This was a question a co-worker asked me 10 minutes after I signed off from my job for the last time this afternoon. I'm still giggling and also tearing up. This was a hard decision and I'm still not 100% convinced it was the right one. After you have been with a company for over 9 years, it is just hard.

As I enter unemployment/retirement, I don't know what is ahead of me. For the first time in many, many years, I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. Well, I sort of - I need to get Christmas packages sent, make pies for a party tomorrow night and do some housework (watch out cats - that litter box is going to be scrubbed!). But the pressure of effecting the bottom line of a company is now off my shoulders and that sort of feels good.

So, here is to waking up at whatever time I want to tomorrow! No more client calls at 7:30am :) Wait - I have morning prayer at 7:30am - *sigh*

till later ~~ Dene

Wow - I created something!

Not much but at least I worked with some fabric :) This cute folded star ornament was super simple and great for scraps! Pattern is on the second page of the Folded Fat Quarter Stars found on the Acorn Hill Quilts site (middle of free pattern page).


There is a button on each side so they can be reversed. I can see making more of these for the tree and I have tons of scraps!

And I feel sane making these .. LOL!

till later ~~ Dene

Sanity pending

December 19th it will commence :) Reason? My last day on my job is the 18th.

More to come later but I've been making lists of projects I want to do in my head for when I have the luxury to decide my activities during the day.

till later ~~ Dene

Ravelry - First impressions

After exactly 2 months waiting for an invitation to the beta release of Ravelry, Sunday was the fateful day when I was finally able to log into this much-hyped social networking site for yarn-people. As a veteran of social networks (it is my profession you know) I was very interested to see what the buzz was about.

First impressions were very good! Navigation takes a bit to get use to but is pretty intuitive. This is important - you should be able to get where you want to go without reading directions on how to navigate. I enjoyed browsing different users, projects and yarn.

So all was going great until .. yeah, here is where the shoe drops .. I go to fill out my profile. Again, really nice interface until I get to the profile question "Fave curse word" ... excuse me? On most social sites, if you leave a field blank it will not show so I try that. No luck .. that question still on my profile.... insert grumble.

So this is what I put and I feel very strongly about profanity and cursing on the net:
I really don't like having this field on my profile as I don't like seeing profanity on the web. I don't think it is needed on a crafting site.

I know I cannot keep people from using curse words on the net - I'm not that Pollyanna - but to encourage it is another matter. On blogs, if the author uses what I consider too much profanity, I have the choice to not view that blog - I had to do with one of my favorite bloggers. But on a site like Ravelry, I believe promoting the use of profanity is inexcusable.

I am hoping the owners of the site remove this profile field before releasing the product out of beta.

till later ~~ Dene

Someone with too much time on their hands ...

But truly amazing work anyway. Go see here

Happy Memorial Day

Flag quilt - more here

This is the first Memorial Day since my Dad passed in February. He was a member of the U.S. Army and served in WWII. He didn't talk much about the war and his time over there but I know it had a dramatic impact on his life. He married my mother shortly before he deployed overseas and I have a picture of him looking at her picture while in Europe. By God's grace, the one time my Dad volunteered for an unknown duty it was the best job he could have been given. My Dad drove Jeeps during the war and was one of the safer options given that he was often on the front lines in Germany and France. Dad kept up with his Army family over the years and even went to some reunions later in his life.

On today, I remember my Father and the service he performed, not as a duty to his country but as a honor to serve to keep us all free.


Till later ~~ Dene

6 months

Is how long I've been gone from blogging. Various reasons - too many to detail but suffice it to say, it has been a strange year :)

But, I want to re-invent this blog so some changes are coming. First off, I'd like to move off Blogger. But to do so, I need to have my web server move me from a very archaic server onto a new server so that I can use Typepad. I tried to do this last summer but ran out of steam mid-effort and just let it die. If they won't do what I want, then it will be time to move to another web server.

Second, I'd like to ditch my www.denebir.com site and move my blog there. I've not updated that site in years (maybe 3-4 years?) and all of the content is dated. Most of the links on the cattery page are broken also. So, organization is coming .. I hope!

It is funny that I still get people asking for kittens. There must be a site out there that still lists me as a breeder. I know I plainly state on my page that I am no longer a breeder but I think I just need to take the whole cat thing offline.. LOL.

News on this end. I'm still knitting, though not as much. I have about 6 pairs of socks started along with a sweater and a couple of shawls. I have a yarn stash that will last me for years and the good thing is that I've not bought any yarn this year other than what I receive from one sock club I belong to. My goal? Keep knitting!

I've also revived my quilting bug. I found a new shop in our local town I'll talk about in another post soon and it was good to be back in a quilt shop. I bought a few yards of a white TOT and some fat quarters of repro fabric for a niece who is expecting a baby. A friend and I have tenative plans on meeting on Thursday nights when they have their sit and stitch at the shop.

I've moved my office and sewing/knitting studio upstairs. My son *finally* bought a home and he and his girlfriend moved at the end of February. He was living in our upstairs "apartment" - long room (14' x 47') with a half bath and a separate entrance from the garage along with an entrance from the loft. So, this space became mine once he vacated it. I've repainted it a soft medium minty green with white accents and am working still on the lighting and wiring. I bought new office furniture and have moved everything up from my old space (spare bedroom 14' x 14'). One half of the room is my office for work and the other half is a sewing/quilting/knitting area. They are separated with 2 reclining chairs and a TV. I love the space but I've still got a lot to do before it is truly finished.

Other news, I've been traveling. Both coasts and 2 spots in between. I was in Dallas most of February when my Dad passed and I was up there again for mother's day. In the last month I've been also to California, Boston, and New Orleans. All of these were for work although I did have some relax time in New Orleans and got to see a lot of the tourist spots. I leave again June 3rd for a week's cruise to the Western Caribbean. Should be fun!

My husband has been gone for 7 weeks with his job and will return this Thursday. This is a special day since it is also our 32nd wedding anniversary. Although I can talk to him almost every day (he has a direct line into Russia), it will be wonderful to have him home to snuggle with. It has been way too long. We are waiting to see what the job market shakes out as to if he stays home a while after the cruise or not.

Well, enough rambling. I promise pictures and more detail on events and knitting/quilting content soon.

Good to be back in blog-land.

~~ Till later Dene

I'm still around

Busy but I leave you with St. Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.... Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

till later ~~ Dene