We Weathered the Storm

So... if you haven't been living under a rock, I suppose you heard about our not-so-friendly friend, Sandy.  Yeah, that wench took our power from October 30 at 7:30 p.m. to November 3 at 1:59 p.m.  I'd never been without power for more than a few hours before, so this was a new one for me.  I'd like to never do it again.

Thankfully, unlike my friends along the shore who had tons of damage to their homes and belongings, ours was minimal.  We live on a mountain amongst lakes and forest, so I was worried about trees of course, but we got really lucky.  The one big tree that came down on our property was at the very edge of the woodsy part of the backyard and didn't even make it to the flat part.

I only noticed it because when we went to walk Meg, I saw the new breakage there at the top.  Like I said, we were lucky, and I'm not kidding.  That was a tall tree, and had it been at the close end of the woods rather than the far end, we might be roofless.

Another tree snapped partway up and is now resting on two other trees.

Mostly, though, we just were given a big raking job.

And as you see, we emptied the yard of everything.  The grill and whatever furniture would fit went into the garage.  The rest went down the basement.  And the garbage cans are on the steps right below those cellar doors you see on the left.  The only thing that we couldn't get inside was Eric's garden box, but we took care of that.

And then we got inside and stayed inside.  We lost power Monday night at 7:30, which didn't disturb much... until the 3rd day or so.  Neither one of us had ever been without power for more than a couple hours before.  It's a good thing we make candles!  It's also a good thing we have a fireplace.  Without heat, we'd have been cooked.  Or anti-cooked, as the case may be.  For a total of 5 days, we showered at a friend's house, closed off our extraneous rooms and dragged a mattress into the living room in front of the fireplace.  And did lots of this.

It could have been worse.  We could have had this in our yard.

Or this at the end of our street.

So yeah, lucky.  Also, I knitted.  Very glad knitting doesn't require power.  Started a sweater for myself and worked on a nephew's fish.

A nephew's fish? you ask.

One like this.

The one pictured above is actually available in the shop.  I'm also making one for each nephew for Chanukah/Christmas too.

And I cut out all the parts for 16 cows.  Sounds weird, I know.  But I'm in another show, Cinderella Confidential, and I've been double-cast.  I'm one of the stepsisters (fun!) and also Flossie the Cow.  How awesome is that?  Flossie is a silent part, but she's kind of a running joke throughout the show.  Because she's such a staple in the production, they've started calling me Flossie instead of Larissa.

And it's a theater tradition, at last in community theater, to give everyone a card and/or small gift on opening night.  So remember when I won that fat quarter of black and white fabric?  I'd never used it.  Yeah, I know.  But it was sitting there... and it hit me:  Cows!

(No, I was not actually hit by cows.  That would hurt.  Silly people.)

So... I started cutting.  And cutting.  And cutting.  Sixteen cows mean a lot of parts when each body takes two, each face takes two, then there are ears, hooves, horns, and snouts to cut from felt.  Floss for nostrils and buttons for eyes.  But how cute are they?!  As soon as we got power back, I got to sewing.  And sewing.  And sewing.

I've earmarked ten of them for my cast & crew, one for a friend, and three for the shop.

If you're on the east coast, how'd you make it through?  Everything OK?

Misfits Love Company

So I made a friend for Hamish & Mad Hungry.  Meet Moo Moo the Owl!

He's soooo soft, made from a sweater knit fabric I found at a tiny local fabric shop (which happens to be on the way home from a place Eric gets his beer brewing ingredients), one of Eric's old socks, some white felt, and a couple of buttons.

You know, it's amazing how much stuffing fits into something so small.  Just sayin'.

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African or Asian, do you think?

I'm proud of this guy!  I made him in just about one day, though I did cut out the pieces the night before.

All the sewing and stuffing, though, was in one day.  He was a lot of work, but I think he came out great.  I found the pattern online a while back, and hung onto it, since I knew I wanted to make an elephant for my nephew.

And today I'm spending the day with him and my sister, so I wanted to have a surprise to bring with me.  I hope Avery loves him as much as I do!

The slate blue is the great, soft fleece that I bought at Joann's back when I won that gift card.  I got the yellow felt that I used for the feet, trunk, and tail at the same time, to make Avery's birthday crown.  

And believe it or not, the plaid is an old flannel nightgown of mine.  I retired it, and kept it as fabric!

I love being able to recycle.

And I was happy with the elephant even as I was making him.  As soon as I had most of the body together, I could see it really taking shape.

Once I had it together correctly, that is.  Because seam rippers?  Best invention ever.  Yeah, I accidentally started to sew the right side of the belly to the wrong side of the back.  Realized when I had it 2/3 done.  Oops.

You know what's ironic?  Remember CTBS standardized tests back in grammar school?  Remember the questions where they'd give you a picture of a flat, open box pattern, and then pictures of 4 or 5 funky-shaped boxes?  And you had to pick which box would be made if you folded the pattern shown?  Well, I aced those.  Couldn't get 'em wrong.  I used to be able to see in 3D like that and test at some crazy level.

So where'd that go?!  How is it that the kid who couldn't possibly get one of those wrong can now sew a stuffed animal together incorrectly?  Sigh.  I thought it was innate, but maybe it's a skill that needs a little practice.  I know what that means.  It means I need to make more stuffed animals!  Mwahahaha!

Well, I finally got him together properly, turned inside-out, and then he took a crazy amount of stuffing; I felt like I was stuffing and stuffing and stuffing him!  He couldn't be mushy, though, or he wouldn't stand properly.

In fact, I'm especially proud of that.  This is my first stand-alone stuffed animal!  Cool, right?  And he's still soft, too.

For his eyes, if you're wondering, I used yellow embroidery floss.  I considered buttons, but this is baby-safe, and at 16 months, Avery is at that "eating everything" stage.

Now I'm just waiting for his verdict!

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How We Celebrated

First, there was Chanukah.

We all met at my sister and brother-in-law's house for mom's brisket sandwiches (yum!) and latkes (yum!), and to exchange gifts.  My nephew became totally enamored with the dreidel, which my brother-in-law spun for him.  I can tell this kid is going to love tops.

I'll have to get him one ASAP, if I can find one for under-three kiddos.

At Chanukah, we gave my nephew his mooshy belly bunny and bear, as well as a See 'n' Say (remember those?) and a CD version of "Free to Be You and Me."  We gave my sister this travel tea infuser from Libre Tea.

And of course we gave her some loose tea to go with it.  She's been taking it to work every day, where people have liked it so much they've bought some too!  To be honest, I really wanted one also, and was deciding whether I should just get one.  Turns out I didn't have to.  I'll get to that.  This is gonna be a long post, so find a comfy seat.

My sis and brother-in-law got us a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant, which was funny because then our parents surprised them with one too, so now we can go together on a double date!  And they got me a beautiful paperweight, since I collect art glass.

Our parents gave us great stuff - the serving dishes and cereal bowls to our china set,  plus a remote starter and a gorgeous new Coach bag for me!

Then came Christmas.

On December 24, Eric had off from his day job, and I worked 1/2 a day.

Before we left, the office staff gathered us together to give us gifts, which I thought was really sweet.  I got this great set of pancake & biscuit mixes, preserves, and syrup.

Then we got together in Manhattan with a friend Eric hadn't seen since high school and her husband, who were down from Canada.  From there, we drove them back to her parents' house in Queens, and then went to deliver the Christmas present for our nephew on Eric's side, who lives in that boro.  The baby and his parents weren't home, so we dropped off the gift, and then headed to Eric's brother's job to surprise him.  It worked, too, he was shocked!  From there, we picked up some more of Eric's friends, and hung out for a bit.

It was really a great Christmas Eve, seeing a bunch of people we otherwise wouldn't have been able to see.

Then we came home, in a great mood, and hid from each other to wrap gifts and stuff stockings... and by then it was nearly 1 a.m.  Impatient Eric asked to exchange gifts since it was technically Christmas, and I relented.  He's so like a kid!

The biggest gift I got him was a 14.5 gallon stainless steel conical fermenter for brewing beer.  This is serious stuff!

Should I be concerned that he keeps giggling over it?  I also got him an organic cotton t-shirt that says on it "Save the Ales:  Support Your Local Brewery," which he loves.

In his stocking, in addition to every bag of Reese's candies I could find (his favorite), I put some funny books and a cute little game.  That bottom book is The Zen of Zombies.  Who doesn't love zombies?

For me, he outdid himself!  He got me a SodaStream, which I really wanted, but never mentioned to him.  And he was afraid I'd think it was stupid!  I love it!  I'm a big seltzer drinker, which normally unfortunately can mean lots of plastic bottles.  This is such a green substitute!  Plus, I can order all-natural & unsweetened flavors to add... for healthy and yummy seltzer all the time!  

It was apparently a really hot item, too.  He had to run to a lot of stores to find it, and they were all sold out.

As "stocking stuffers," he got me new Bare Minerals lip glosses.  I'm addicted to Bare Minerals, so that was perfect.

And they're in great colors for me!  He also got me - and this is why I don't need to get myself a Libre Tea  - a travel tea infuser from Teavana!  I swear, sometimes we share a brain, because I hadn't really mentioned that I wanted one of these either.  Instead of the clear glass, he picked a ceramic one for me, because it was blue, my favorite color.

But wait, there's more!  He also got me, allegedly as a stocking stuffer, only it wouldn't fit in my stocking, a kit and instructional book on how to do aromatherapy and hot stone massage!  

Of course, it's  more important that he read it and learn to do it on me than I read it to do on him.  Right?

Best gifts ever.

On Christmas Day, we spent a rather uneventful but satisfying day completely cleaning our house.  We put away stuff that hadn't been put away since we moved here in September, and cleaned to a state of "sterile" this house has never seen, probably not even when the owner was living here.  It feels great!  It was necessary because of our Sunday guests, one of whom was to be our one-year-old nephew.

And then came the blizzard.

Yeah, that's our wrought iron deck table and the umbrella that had been closed until the wind blew it open.  I righted the table and put the umbrella in the garage, but one by one, our friends and family dropped out of coming to dinner on Sunday, leaving just one couple to brave the snow.  And they did!

A good thing, too, since our 20 lb turkey was already defrosted and marinated.

And I had the green beans and honeyed carrots ready to go (which I served in our new serving dishes from my parents).

And of course we did roasted potatoes.

But first there was salad, served with a dressing Eric made and some amazing homemade croutons from my boss' wife.

All of this, though, was built around the main course, that turkey, which my kamikaze husband and his insane friend deep fried in the driveway on a rig Eric built!

In the blizzard.

Seriously.

When the turkey was finally ready to come in, Gina had to catch the oil on a pan.

While I got the stuffing balls ready for deep-frying.

The turkey looked almost as great as it tasted!  Eric and I both took turns carving it, with some help.

After all that, we were seriously stuffed.  But did you think we'd skip dessert?  Silly, silly people.  Of course there was dessert!  Who do you think I am?

I baked nut fingers!

Oh, and if you ever want to have some great guests?  Invite Rand & Gina.  In addition to a huge umbrella for each of us, they brought Eric a set of Mikasa Brewmaster glasses and me a great tealight holder.

The blizzard turned them into overnight guests, too.  I'm glad we have a guest room!

The next day, we had to deal with the snow.  Eric had already taken the day off from work, but then the governor declared a state of emergency, so my office was closed too.  I shoveled this mess, with some help from Eric.

Meg was happy, though.

Now Eric just has to break out that massage kit, since my muscles are all sore...