Day by Day--December

The Last One

I love these day by days but, it is taking an increasing amount of time to sort and crop these photos, and I don't want to take it.  

I also want to do some other things with the blog next year.  The most important being doing it.  

I've really spent the last year self-medicating with knitting and it is time to be doing some other things.  

This month some of the photos are taken for their story value and remembrances from other years.

December

7. Pearl Harbor Day--Lest we forget.

8. I've worn out these slippers, my toes are nearly poking through.  I love these little ballerina slippers, the best thing for wearing in the house, year round.

9. New baby afghan

10. My baby is a college student!  Of course, she has been one for several months.  I was really digging for a photo.

11. Kindergarten/Preschool Christmas Concert. Zane is in the lavender shirt

12 Mousetrap.  I loved this game as a kid.  It was all green plastic back then. I used to set it up in the upstairs bathroom.  I seem to remember playing a lot of games and reading comics in that bathroom. Some of those things I probably wasn't supposed to be doing.  

13. Home is where the story begins.  A gift from a very good friend.
14. Soap in wool.  Interesting. It scrubs well, but the jury is still out on this one.
15.This is a mini meat grinder.  I remember my mom often getting hers (full size) out, clamping it to the bread board and grinding meat for sandwiches, she used it for other things, too.
16. Who wouldn't want a mug with grandchildren on it!
17. Hole reinforcers.  These are really old, from when I kept lots of stuff in binders.  I just used them to help my 27 year old cookbook, and to make cute tags.
18. This says "Auntie Shelley".  Tiny thank you cards are cuter than any other kind.
19.  New scarf pinned with a pin I made from old family buttons.
20. A frosty morning.
21. With our humongous potato crop this year, I have rediscovered hashbrowns.  I have also discovered that cooking them in an old electric skillet with a broken handle is difficult so I am retiring this very useful wedding gift, and bought a new one.
22. A sunrise is the most beautiful when there are a few clouds.
23. Lynette is home again. Complete with personal coffee pot.  I think going to college has corrupted her.
24. Venison pot pie, homemade by said daughter.
25. This really isn't a very good photo.  But, what was in the skillet was very good.  Fried potatoes and eggs was a common Sunday evening meal, one that went back a generation.
26. This was a pinterest try.  Cinnamon roll pancakes, not easy, but doable and pretty good.
27. SPAM, I know people scorn this stuff.  I remember eating and enjoying it as a kid.  Mom would slice it, spread it with pineapple and broil it. My sister-in-law says the only kind to by the spam brand.
28. Snow again.  But the colors that morning were wonderful. It was nice to see the sun after many gray weeks.
29. This is a new sudoku game with colored balls.  The warning label says, "Toy contains a small ball, Not for children under 3 years of age."
30. I've got a daughter ready for world travel.
31. Hot cocoa mix makes a great gift.  It's the way I sog up most of my treats.  Thank you SIL.

January
1. Chocolate frosted cookies.  They are little mini fudge frosted cakes.  They were also my favorite cookies of all time.  I ate more chocolate chip cookies, but they aren't as time consuming.  Sadly, they don't taste the same, but they are my dad's favorite, so I made a batch when my folks were here for a visit.
2. Lynette was getting bored--therefore lemon meringue pie.
3. Aunt Inez's doll has found her way to us.  (I made the dress long ago to match a little girl's dress)
4. Celebrating birthdays, Lorene and Zane. This present was useful and loved, albeit non-traditional.  Taco dip, complete with chips.
5. Another sunrise, but such beautiful colors!
6. These cold days I have been glad for wool slippers,  Holey ballerina slippers have been retired until spring or a new pair is found.
7. This violin has hung on the wall about my piano for about 20 years.  After my sister-in-law painted on her visit over Christmas vacation, I gave it a new home. Outside my house.
8. Crocheted kitchen towel holder.  It works, the towel doesn't fall off the stove handle.  Otherwise, it is kind of an "meh" project.  Needs refined somehow,.
9. Jim has cut a hole through the garage wall to the outside.  It's a project he's wanted to do for a long time.  The door was put in the same day.
10. The yellow mirror used to be white.  I painted it in honor of the freshly painted walls.  The doll has a story. A very long time ago, when a little girl was about 5 years old, she wanted her daddy to take her to Hobby Lobby to get a gift for mommy's birthday. They looked all over the store for a "glass doll".  She had seen one another time in that store.  They asked for help, and finally after much fruitless looking they were getting ready to take their disappointment home when they passed this doll on display.  "There it is!", my daughter yelled. It was the last one left and they took it home and gave it to me for my birthday.  I love it for all those reasons, and especially since it is a blonde, green-eyed doll.  Just like the dolly that picked it out for me.  Her name is Ivy Lynette.  Lynette chose the Lynette part, and Nathan chose the Ivy part.  I just wish I knew where his head was at that time.  It seemed such an unexpected choice.