Holy cow. Merry Christmas.

Where has the time gone????? Oh yeah, holiday prep, 2 weeks on-service, and a gazillion nights on call. Dang.

Finished a scarf for Miss Maddy and started the Penguin Pullover in the most recent issue of KnitSimple. Slogging away on my Sanpoku (BORING).

Oh, and I had my YAG laser iridotomy.

What?

Next month I am having Visian ICL: implanted contact lenses. Evidently, if they don't first punch tiny holes with a laser in your iris, your eyeball fluid will build up and give you a form of glaucoma (increased pressure in the eye). Why am I doing this? Because I am too damn blind for Lasik, that's why. And I'm sick to death of being blind. Especially since I regularly am awakened from a sound sleep in the pitch black and have to find my glasses befre I can figure out which end is up. I have been wearing my glasses for 2 weeks now (pre-op requirement) and I'm pretty done.

Almost-4-year-old Miss Maddy is confused: is Santa real??? Mama and Daddy say no. He is pretend, and your presents come from your family and friends. We feel that the Santa thing divorces the presents from, well, money, and that learning that your parents lied to you about Santa is a possible blow to your confidence in what your parents tell you. But he's everywhere! Her daycare teachers talk him up, of course. Her friends believe. He came to daycare! What did she tell him she wanted?

A puppy.

There's a chocolate's chance in my lunchbag that she'll get a puppy. Ever. We are cat people. So much for Santa.

Where have I been?

Do you care? Are you out there?

I've powered through most of a stocking for my kiddo. Just have the trim left. Trying to finish holiday stuff. Trying to keep up with work, all the cleaning, reading, knitting, life...I need a major vacation to catch up. Such is life. Better get off the computer and get something done!

Oy-ichi-wawa

Busy week. The usual...2 night calls with late-night admissions, screwy sleep schedule, usual kid shenanigans. Secret Santa has started...I got a mortar and pestle from Ikea, so I must have said I like to cook on the sign-up (I can't remember!). I managed to sneak in my offering without blowing my cover.

Starting to TRY to sort through all the knitting mags, flagging projects I might want to knit someday (if I live to be 140, that is).

Boring post. Sorry.

Her Royal Highness, Princess Maddy

Back from trick-or-treating, having to carry Maddy halfway home due to ouchy Cinderella shoes, which she then refused to take off when she got in the house. Does our irrational love of cute shoes that hurt start so young??

Behold the Empress!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Empress Mairwen the Verdant of Londinium-le-Thames Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

That one's sticking, I can tell you.

But....

..it's not easy being green.

Austermann Step

Austermann Step, originally uploaded by iron knitter.

In other news, I have once again been seduced by really awesome sock yarn. It joins its brethren in The Stash, to age until I get to it. I think I want to use this to knit the Tibetan socks in New Pathways in Sock Knitting by Cat Bordhi. The yarn is held doubled without matching the colors. She used Zitron Trekking XXL, and this has the exact same yardage (as does Lang Jawoll Aktion).

I wonder what year I will finally get organized enough to knit anyone a Christmas gift? Well...to be honest, I did give 2 pairs of socks last year. I'd like to knit my daughter a Christmas stocking, but I may not do it in time (I'm thinking of Teva Durham's stocking in Handknit Holidays)...I want to knit some ornaments too. And a tree skirt. I think you start to see the problem, especially since I work 50-60 hours per week, and then have household chores, exercise, and family time on top of that. At least I'm never bored.

Fastest admit in the (mid)west

Wow, thank heavens for competent nurse practitioners and babies who behave. Paged at 0122, patient admitted, examined, and note dictated, back home to bed at 0300. My husband didn't know I was ever gone (raises possibilities, hmm? Nah, nothing I want to do more at 2 am than sleep). Needless to say, the munchkin was up at about 5:30, just to plague me. Where do kids get that sixth sense, that Mommy needs sleep, so let's get up early today? Then the day she needs to get out the door early, do your hibernating bear impression.

Knit tattoo

Knit tattoo, originally uploaded by iron knitter.

So here it is, in all its glory: my knitting tattoo. Drawn freehand by the artist based on my description. Until I found the tattooed group on Ravelry, I didn't know anyone else was as crazy as I was.

I can't believe I started a blog.

Well. In a case of, "Everyone else is doing it, so why can't I?" I've started a blog. Never mind that I have no time, and I'm typing this at work (shh!). Never mind that I've already been burning time on Ravelry, that I haven't started any holiday knitting, that I have umpteen projects on the needles and a stack of medical journals that's down to 4 inches or so. Gotta have a blog, or there's a blank in my profile everywhere. I still refuse to IM.