Last One!

This is the last of the larger crochet gifts I needed to complete. Woohoo!! Anything else I start at this point might get done by Christmas, might not and be saved for next Christmas. I'm done stressing :P



This is the Baby It's Cold Outside Sweater. I modified it to fit a size 2 ~ which was really easy ~ and made it with Patons Be Mine instead of the recommended Homespun. It came out soooo soft! The cap is a simple pattern called Gotcha Covered that I got from Coats & Clarks old site. I met my girlfriends for our annual Christmas breakfast yesterday and it was a hit (just made it under the wire too ~ whew!)

So now, all that is left is the wrapping of the store-bought gifts. I agonized over what to get my husband as he has everything. Then as I was cruising the local Walgreens looking for stocking stuffers, I got a look at the price of razor blades. Have I just not been paying attention? At what point did men's razor blades go up over $25 for a pack of 8?!! Who is Shick, Gillette, et al, trying to kid here? Well, I wasn't having any of that so I decided to spend $100 on a nice electric shaver for hubby instead of the traditional razor and pack of blades. It may not produce as close a shave as blades, but he's retired and not out to impress anyone anymore (particularly me LOL!)

Oh yeah, here's the latest on the smoking adventure... Chantix is a freaking miracle drug! My husband jumped the gun and started his routine before me. He has had a grand total of 2 cigarettes in 2 weeks. I started 4 days later and am taking a slightly different approach and weaning off instead of quitting cold turkey. I'm currently down from 1 1/2 - 2 packs a day (30-40 cigarettes) to 5 cigarettes a day. The true test was yesterday when I was out with my girlfriends who smoke. I was with them for 6 hours and they smoked like fiends (funny how you notice when you're trying to quit) and I did not go ballistic! I was able to calmly sit there while they puffed away and it didn't bother me and I did not smoke, nor did I want one. How great is that?!! So my official 'quit' date is next Monday. I'm not going to jinx the effort by saying it's in the bag just yet, but if you know of anyone that has been painfully unsuccessful at quitting, do them a favor and let them know about Chantix.

That's it for now. Merry Christmas!

Co-worker Gifts

Since I decided to do "store bought" for co-workers, I did manage to get some crafting in. I made up goodie mugs for 14 people.


Before wrapping. Each mug gets hot chocolate/marshmallow/sprinkle cones enough for 2 mugs, a chocolate dipped pretzel, a smores stick, 2 candy canes, a bottle of coffee liquer, a bottle of Baileys and 3 kisses. I used Wilton icing bags to make the hot chocolate cones - worked perfectly!


After wrapping. I found ornaments on a stick at Michaels which I thought were sweet. They're made of that old fashioned plastic that toys used to be made with. A little ribbon, a little shrink wrap, the blow dryer and I was done!


Some of the inventory.

I still have to put hang tags on them. I made them, but still need to cut them up and tie them on. This is the artwork for the tag I worked up real quick in Illustrator. They will also serve as a card because I'm not handing those out to everyone this year.



The mugs and ornaments were on sale at Michaels for $1 each, the candy canes were on sale at Target for $1 for 12, the chocolate sticks were about $3 for a jar of 12, the liquers were about $2 each - so adding in the ribbon, wrap and shred filler, I think the whole mug cost between $5 - $6 each to make. (If you don't count the weirdo looks I got at the liquor stores when I bought them out of those particular items. They made me feel like a wino - LOL)

I'm starting to feel like I'm going to finish everything in time, so I'm a little less stressed - YAY!!

Edit 12/13/07

All finished!

The Rebel Is Out Of His Yell

What a goober! I think I'd rather hang with the ape :D



Merry Christmas!