Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yes I realize it's Christmas Eve but as I have volunteered to work on the day of the festivities today is the day I will be celebrating Christmas. Money has been more than tight, so having been unable to provide many Christmas presents I hope that my greatest gift to my family will be the cooking I have done since before I even went to bed last night.

Let me start by saying what all I did last night. I baked nearly 10 dozen sugar cookies for everyone. They aren't just ordinary cookies though, they are very special because they are my Grandmother's recipe. See, for the holidays my grandma goes to South Carolina now, which means we don't get to see her at all. Her absence has left a hole in our hearts that I hope to fill up a little bit by giving everyone what they look forward to the most: grandma's sugar cookies. See what makes them so very special is how unlike ordinary sugar cookies they are. To explain the taste and texture of them would be very difficult, so I will reside in saying you must try them to understand what I mean. They are a very special addition to our family and as you see them on the right they are exactly as my grandma makes them. I think having them for the holidays helps us cope with the fact that she's not here with us to celebrate such a momentous occasion. Do I blame her for wanting to escape the Winter Weather? Absolutely not. I just miss her.

Well as I sit here and type this up, my mother's trailer is filled with the smells of pumpkin pie that I just pulled out of the oven and plan to give a few hours to cool down. As you can see on the left here, it turned out fantastically. This is one of the two pies that I baked this afternoon. All I'm waiting for now is the stroke of 4 to start peeling potatoes and get the sweet potatoes into the oven so they have at least an hour to bake. My mother and I bought an enormous 24 pound turkey yesterday which is in a roasting oven on the counter on the other side of the kitchen. I can hear it cooking now. Another hour or so and it should be done as well. Dinner is at 5:30PM and so far everything is on time for the most part. All I have left is mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Oh and fruit salad! Sure it seems a lot like Thanksgiving dinner was but who cares. Not everyone has to be traditional.

Well fellow bloggers, this is me signing out. Wish me luck to get everything finished in time. And pray I have the patience to put up with so many family members in one place for an extended period of time...

Feliz Navidad!
Cassie

Just Another Day In Paradise...

I used the beginning title because today I counted a coworker who sits in ear shot of me saying this phrase to technicians on the phone a total of 18 times during my shift today. Now if you take into consideration the fact that we only have a span of about 2 hours in which we work at the same time, I would say his overuse of the phrase is quite substantial. Still - The fact that I was able to follow through and count the number of its uses will put into perspective the kind of day I've had so far.

Boring...

Oh well, we'll have those from time to time. Now that the weekend is over it's back to the usual routine. I've really got to start showering at night though because I'm really really tired of my hair freezing before I get to work. that is the bad side of not using a blow dryer in the morning before going to work. My hair is typically a bit damp before my day begins which wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't below freezing outside. I can't imagine that's any better for my hair than blow drying it. What can I say? I'm lazy. I just can't justify waking up a half hour earlier than I already do just to pointlessly blow dry my hair.

So my latest project is a pair of socks for a woman that I work with. She requested them for her Step Mother. I'm not quite finished yet, but I figured I would at least post what I have thus far for your viewing pleasure. That way you can follow my progress. To the left is the beginnings of the ribbed cuff. Eventually this piece gets connected from beginning to end to form a tube. As you can see the requested colors were pink and gray. I can't say they're my favorite two colors to go together (and for those of you who know me, know I hate the color pink), but once I got started on the project I was pleasantly surprised to find a humble mesh of the two. I've been using Caron Simply Soft Medium sized yarn in Plum Wine and Grey Heather colors. Did I mention that Michaels had an amazing sale on Yarn the other day? Did I buy a load more yarn? Hecks yah I did.

To the right you'll see the original striped stitch has been made into the tube and in gray beneath it the heal has been attached. At this point the plum wine yarn is worked in rounds connecting the rest of the tubing to the heel itself. All that I have left now is to finish the rounds until it's long enough for the requested size foot (in this case a woman's 9) and then the toe can be connected. Then VOILA! 1 sock done. You know I've done this pattern so many times I could probably do it in my sleep now. In this case I had to make the ankle a few rows shorter as the woman I am making them for has particularly skinny ankles. I'm a bit nervous that overall it may be a bit too small. I'm going on the fact that this style of stitch has some room to stretch a little though. Cross your fingers! I'll post the completed project when it's all done. I really gotta get on it and finish these socks soon. So many projects before Christmas! WHICH IS NEXT WEEK!

Can you believe the holiday season is upon us? I mean we just had Thanksgiving and all, but next week is Christmas! I'll be working of course as we really could use the money as my husband hasn't found any work yet. Holiday pay is a glorious thing. I'm not too concerned though. The fact that I get off work at 3PM is nice. That and my wonderful family will be celebrating Christmas on the 24th instead of the 25th to accommodate my work plans. I love my family.

Well, I would say that's enough from me for one day. Keep your eyes out, I'll be around soon!



Cassie



Edit:

Well instead of making an entirely new blog post, I figured I would place the finished product at the bottom of this one. There you have it folks! One of two socks completed! Hopefully I'll have the other one done in the next few days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

Hello everyone!

I know that it's not formal to be doing more than one post in a day, but after the unexpected and wonderful evening I've had, I definitely wanted to make sure I shared it.

SO! With the weather that we feared was coming tonight, my plans to go to the Holiday Party at work were ruined. I will be the first to admit that I am terrified to drive in the snow. Well adverse weather in general terrifies me. Even the rain...Ugh. I'm a wuss I know. I don't know if it was the year I lived in Colorado and the monstrous weather they out there or what, but when it comes to bad stuff I stay home whenever I can. Heather wound up giving me a ring around 11 or so this morning with the idea of getting together for dinner to make some awesome soup - Which I will say was really really good. I didn't take any pictures of it, but Heather and I had a blast making it. I'll post the recipe another time if anyone is interested. Anyways - we were sitting down and eating when Tony called us and wanted to come over to celebrate his birthday. I tell ya, loads of birthdays today - Shawn's parents and Tony! Was a great day of celebrating.

Tony and Sarah showed up and after ordering some chinese came the brilliance of playing Just Dance 2. For those of you who don't know what that game is? Look it up. You literally follow the little figure on the screen while they dance around like maniacs - At least we looked like maniacs trying to keep up with them. I think the comment of the night was "I've never seen Tony move that way before..." I tell ya, not my initial plan for the evening, but a fantastic outcome. I just worry about people leaving here and driving around. ::Sigh.:: Let's hope we all end up where we're supposed to be. I've attached the hilarity of the evening. Enjoy!

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful -

- But the fire is so delightful!

No really it is. We lit a fire last night and when we woke up it still had embers going in the fireplace. So my husband tossed some wood on it, used this little air pump to blow on the embers and BOOM new fire! Which is good too, considering this is the first time all year we finally have snow on the ground. Can you believe it? December 11th and we're just now getting our first snow. To the left is a picture I took from our patio. As you can see we don't have a whole bunch of it but holy crap it's cold outside. Not to mention the sidewalk and the like is totally covered in ice. Makes me afraid of what the streets are like. Oh well, Shawn and I went on our last enjoyable walk in this weather yesterday with Sassy. Now I'm sad to say the one's from here on our will be too cold to really enjoy considering how far we actually walk. Two miles by my last count - And Sassy is STILL not totally worn out when it's over. I tell ya. Now I'm worried about my little girl getting too cold outside. So it's back to the sweater I made her when she was a puppy. I'll have to make a few more adjustments to it though so it'll fit her properly. I've attached another picture here. I believe Sassy was about 6 months old when this was taken. She's wearing the sweater I crocheted for her. Now that Sassy is going on 4, I've obviously had to make it a bit bigger for her. The other side of the sweater has a little Hawkeye on it. Yes, we're a family of Hawkeye fans and my husband and I both have matching sweaters, so naturally I had to make one for Sassy. I used Redheart Medium Worsted Yarn Black and Gold to make it. Thankfully I made it adjustable since I knew I would be making it bigger as my puppy grew up. You can't hardly tell but she looks so small there...

So Shawn and I went outside a bit ago and took Sassy with us. She, of course, still loves the snow even as an adult. It was flurrying while we were out there, but it doesn't look like it's doing it anymore, which is good. I hear we're supposed to get another 3-5 inches overnight. Remind me to wake up early in the morning so I can get my car cleaned off without much trouble. I get to work nice and early at 6AM. What I'm really disappointed about is that my work's Christmas Party is tonight. The weather has me afraid to go, because let me tell you, I hate driving in snowy weather.

Well then, provided all loads properly, I leave you with a video of Sassy in the snow, December 11th, 2010!



<3 Cassie

Somewhat Great Works Of Art

I promised projects so I have a few pictures of some things I've worked on in the recent past.

To the right is a photo of a Christmas Stocking I made a few months ago. Ironically, I happened on the red and green yarn at the Dollar Tree for 50 cents a skein. Do I now happen to have an entire duffel bag full of red and green yarn now? ...Ok yes. So if anyone out there needs anything crocheted in the colors of red and green by all means let me know, otherwise I'll never get rid of this yarn. And if I never get rid of all this yarn I'll have to accept that my husband was right and that I overdid it. I'm sure the other married women out there agree with me when I say that if I ever admit that the man is right I'll never, EVER hear the end of it.

What's funny is, now that we're on the subject of my husband and the socks that I made for him awhile ago, he's actually sitting at my feet now whining about the fact that he can't find his other sock. Like I know where it is? You see recently we decided to move our bed out into the living room in front of the fireplace. Now before you start to assume it was for purely romantic reasons, let me tell you the amount of money we have saved on our energy bill. The fact that we hardly have to run our heater in the winter time is more awesome than I can put into words. And ok, the romantic aspects of falling asleep in bed curled around my husband in front of the fireplace with a cozy fire burning is really really nice.

You'll see to the left the socks in question. Now that its made its debut on this blog I've returned it to Shawn and he can stop his valiant quest to find it. Beside it is another version of socks that I've made and wear frequently. What cracks me up is how long the body of the sock looks yet it still manages to fit on my feet. Shawn's socks were made with size 4 medium worsted yarn (Red Heart Black and Caron Rhasody Greenfields from the Dollar Tree. See I used it some more!) The only downside to this, which I discovered after he had worn them for the first time, is that Red Heart Medium Worsted yarn is rough on the feet. Since then I've changed to Caron Simply Soft Medium Worsted Size 4 yarn which makes for a much softer slipper sock.

Now my socks are actually comprised of two different kinds of yarn held together. Bernat Baby Coordinates Light Yarn Size 3 (Lavender) and TLC Baby by Red Heart Size 3 Bunny Print. Now I had originally purchased this yarn to make a Baby Blanket for someone close to me (I'll post pictures another time. Can't give it to you guys all at once or I'll have nothing to talk about later on) and with what I had left over because I undoubtedly bought too much, I made myself a nice pair of thick soft socks which I am very happy with.

I would say that's enough from me for one day. Stop by often because my hopes are to at least blog a few times a week. I think maybe tomorrow I'll post about my most recent project for a girl that I work with. See what happens when I do this stuff at work? People want to buy my stuff! YAY!

Also if anyone has any requests for me to make anything for them in the months or years to come, please by all means drop me a message.

Salut!

Cassie

A little introduction...

So after much deliberation I've finally decided to sit down and make myself a blog. While I hope to center it around the life of me, I also intend to devote a fair share of it to my love of crocheting and writing.

So with introductions, I suppose I ought to introduce myself. If you're reading this, chance are you already know who I am, but for those of you who don't, my name is Cassandra Rathjen. I'm married to a wonderful man named Shawn who relentlessly fills me with love and happiness even on the cloudy days. We'll be celebrating our 3rd wedding Anniversary in January, and while we've had ups and downs along the way I'm just as in love with him now as I was when we started dating almost 5 years ago.

We don't have any children except for our furry ones. Our miniature dachshund is Sassy and is the light of our lives with a personality to match her name. Our more recent additions are our three Sugar Gliders: Charlotte, Bella, and Pete. Together the group of us makes a happy little dysfunctional family; tails, teeth, and all.

So in the posts to come expect more insight into the life of me. Hope you enjoy the ride!