Turning The Page On December (and 2013)

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe 2013 has come to an end... the last few months have just flown by! It was a year of changes for us, as we said aloha to Hawaii and arrived in Ohio last February. We bought a house, enjoyed some visitors, spent two months apart while Jarrod was in Alabama for an Air Force school, celebrated our 5-year anniversary, took an amazing week-long trip to the Smoky Mountains, sadly had to start back up with chemotherapy for Conan's canine lymphoma. I started working at the public library near our house. Jarrod bought a 1967 Camaro.

I knitted a lot, I read some, I started a furniture re-finishing project months ago that I should probably finish, I pulled weeds this summer and cursed the never-ending landscaping that came with our house, I marveled at the stunning fall colors Ohio boasts, I bundled up and realized that it was nuts to complain about missing seasons when we were enjoying 80-degree winters in Hawaii. I got my first cold in over 2 1/2 years. All in all, 2013 was a pretty good year, and December was a great month. Here's my month in review:

Books Read:

Just One Day by Gayle Forman -- 3 stars, my review
The Dogs of Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron -- 4.5 stars, my review
Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews -- 3.5 stars, my mini review

Book I'm Most Excited to Read in January:

 I'm planning to start re-reading the Harry Potter books in January and I'm so excited to return to the magical world of Hogwarts, especially the whimsical first few books in the series. It'll be so nice to snuggle up by the fire with a cup of tea and a HP novel!

 

Knitting Projects Completed:

I've been meaning to write up a blog post about this headband I knitted for my best friend Katie when she was visiting a few weeks ago. She asked for an Ohio State-colored earwamer and this is what I came up with. Here's my Ravelry project page.

 

On The Knitting Agenda for January:

I have several projects in the works that I'd like to finish up or make significant progress on: a vest, a cardigan, a scarf, the mitten garland I had hoped to have done before Christmas. I also have some baby knits to whip up, and I just bought the pattern for a cool new mystery shawl knit-along by pattern designer Ysolda Teague. It's kind of choose-your-own adventure style, which should be fun! I'm also considering the Downton Abbey mystery knit-along, which is meant to be knit during the show and the pattern corresponds to events in each episode.

 

New Recipe Tried and Liked:

Katie lives in Dallas right now and loves to get fried Moonpies at the Texas State Fair. She suggested we try our hand at making them when she was here to visit. I have no idea what recipe we used, but we made up a thick pancake batter with Bisquick, dipped banana Moonpies in the mixture, fried them up in a deep fryer, then covered them with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. They were sweet and oh-so-rich but yummm!

 

Favorite December Memory:

We saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Zac Brown Band in concert, my best friend came for a visit, I had lots of peppermint mochas from Starbucks and we spent Christmas with relatives in Indiana. But I think my favorite memory from December was cutting down our own Christmas tree.

 

In Hawaii we'd go to a Christmas tree farm where a guy would trudge along with us until we found the perfect specimen, cut it down and haul it to our car. At Young's Dairy Choose-and-Cut Christmas Trees, we were handed a saw and a sled and sent on our merry way. It made for a wonderfully fun and festive afternoon!

Most Looking Forward to in January:

Downton Abbey!