"Tell me where he is, and I'll break down the door."

The Snidely mustache is complete. I had to knit that with Cascade 220 held double, and as such it is twice as warm as normal. Today we went out and spent two hours digging out my car, (and the neighbors per Dante's suggestion), and Alex was just fine while he played in the snow but Dante complained of being too hot. I guess I'll have to pick up some alpaca after the first of the year (lets hear it for the employee discount) and knit it again. I'll recycle this lovely green yarn for something awesome for myself.

After digging out the cars and the parking spaces, we headed out to Sam's club for Aaron's iPod which was sold out! Girrr! So back into the car we went, and over to Wal-Mart where I lucked out and got one of the last two in stock, and only for $1 more. I bought he and I noise canceling headphones to go with our iPods, only to realize that the new shuffle has the controls on the ear buds...so he won't be able to use the pair I got him. Luckily I can use the ones I bought and although they aren't top quality, they do stop the outside noise and give me some base which is really what I was after. And they're more comfortable than my first pair (which crapped out after about 6 weeks!). Then it was back home for lunch and some Netflix instant holiday movies. Aaron introduced Alex to The Muppets Take Manhattan which was interesting to watch again now that I'm an adult. If I remember correctly, my mom hated that movie, lol. After stuffing the boys with PB&J (extra peanut butter), Cheetos, and hot cocoa, I just about passed out on the couch.

In terms of knitting, I've started and stopped three different baby sweaters in the last few days but I think I finally have one. It's been tough for me to work from my stash because the only yarns that might work are earmarked for a pullover for myself (although I have no specific patterns in mind, but I don't want to break up the set for fear that I'll run out and wish I had that ball back). The other yarns that would work aren't machine washable and it's just too much to ask parents with new babies to hand wash a sweater for a newborn. And then I had to search to find a pattern in worsted weight because I didn't want to be spending weeks knitting a sweater that the baby will only wear for the same amount of time that it took for me to knit it! I did find one in my Natural Knits for Babies and Moms book, and I started it a little bit ago. I've already knit the same amount of inches as I did in the DK weight after 2 days.

So what am I doing right now instead of working on the baby sweater? Well, besides writing this post, I'm listening to my Christmas mix on iTunes, and baking butterballs per my husband's request. I found the recipe a few years ago next to the chocolate morsels and I made them. My husband loves them and has asked for them every year after. So it's butterball season and I've got them going right now. Butter and yarn don't go well together so I'll be staying away from the knitting until I'm done for the night. In the mean time, I started to read Breaking Dawn again. I've re-read all of the other books from the Twilight Saga and I started this one last night. I love the love story in Twilight, but I love the actual plot of New Moon the best.

On Thursday (Christmas Eve), I'll be taking my family with me to deliver all of the things that I've received for my adopt-a-family. I've got some cash (which I'll be converting into gift cards), some donated holiday treats, and some toys for the kids. Yesterday my MIL and her boyfriend came over with gifts for them and about 5 boxes of kids cereal, lol. If you've never been poor, then you have no idea the power of sugary kids cereal! I remember how much it sucked to have to get Kix all the time because that's what WIC covered. I just wanted some Captain Crunch. And now these kids will have about six different varieties of sugary love for the mornings. I have more stuff than I have room for right now and it's scattered over my dining room, my kitchen closet, and behind my couch. I better get wrapping! And I want to thank everyone who helped me do this, because I remember being a single mother on welfare and worrying about what I was going to be able to afford for Dante for Christmas. I hated that feeling of helplessness, and I've tried every year sense then to help someone who's in a worse situation than I am. And this year, I couldn't have done that without all of you, so thank you for giving me what I wanted for Christmas.

PS- the quote in the title is from "The Emperor's New Grove". Ezma is trying to get them to tell her where Pacha is, and the kids called her on her error. "shouldn't it be 'tell me there he is or I'll break down the door'?" Hilarious