Snowed In

This house is so pretty in the snow, I don’t really mind the cabin fever.  The kitties are driving me up the wall, however.  Hanging from the curtains.  Using a yoga mat balanced on a stack of picture frames as a teeter-totter.  Playing with the lowest branches on the Christmas tree.  Pretending to murder each other (at least, that’s what it sounds like).  The only thing that keeps their attention for more than five minutes is the Cat’s Meow, their Christmas present from my mom.  It emits a god-awful high-pitched whine, but it’s not any worse than the sound Sally makes when Buddy bites her throat.  I’m going to cry if the batteries run dead before payday.

We had a really beautiful Christmas this year.  We didn’t travel home, because of the snow, but my mom and her giant horse-dog came to visit us.  I love having guests!  I love waking up early and making a nice breakfast and having someone to chat with while I putter around the kitchen, filling kettles and flipping bacon.  Yesterday we made arancini for lunch, and stuffed ourselves so much that nobody had room for dinner later on.  Christmassy breakfasts are my favorite, though: yesterday it was French toast (using half a loaf of challah I found in the freezer), and today a gingerbread Dutch baby pancake with bacon and orange slices.  And always hot coffee.

I got some really nice presents this year, including a PDF pattern for a simple quilt.  I started working on the quilt last weekend and had the entire quilt top done by late Monday morning (I’m making the smallest size).  I spent Tuesday building my sandwich and pinning the layers together, but now I’m at a standstill.  I’ve got the walking foot for my sewing machine, which I needed to do the actual quilting, but every time I start working on it, my machine throws a tantrum.  The back of the work gets all knotted and loopy.  The bobbin jams, the needle comes unthreaded, and I have to walk away in frustration.  A friend has suggested changing the needle, which I’m going to sit down and figure out how to do this afternoon.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, with cozy wool socks and fur-friend cuddles and snow if you wanted it.

xoxo