Merry Christmas to all!!!

I wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas from Princess Ivi and myself, I hope you all get to rest and relax and enjoy your family time.

I'll be back in 2010!!

-Lennette

I have so much to do but I can always sleep on the plane...

In an effort to get a feel for where I am concerning the holiday, I am copying my earlier to-do list and revising it as necessary.

To Buy
1.Princess Ivi's Gifts
2.Isaac's gift (which needs to be mailed 12/18)
3.Gifts for nephews and niece (I am thinking the first few Harry Potter movies for the boys and a Joann's gift card for Emily since she likes to sew and needs fabric and notions)
4.Baking supplies
5.10 Dollar Swap items to be shipped no later than 12/20
6.Carry-on size bag for Princess Ivi
7.Messenger style bag (or something like it) for me that can hold personal items (phone, wallet, etc.) plus ample knitting materials for plane trip and layovers Don't need because Princess Ivi is going to let me use one of hers. Didn't need since Princess Ivi will let me use hers.
8.Gift for Princess Ivi’s dad(??)
9.Stocking Stuffers
10.Gift for Mom
11. MOTION SICKNESS MEDICINE

To Bake
1.Cookies for Baking GALS (to be shipped no later than 12/16)
2.Cookies (for mailing to sister on or about 12/18)
3.Goodies (like Christmas mice, peanut butter chip brittle and possible Nigella Lawson’s Hokey Pokey) for mailing on or about 12/18

To Knit
1.Surprise project for Princess Ivi
2.Stick shift cover, ice scraper mitt and steering wheel cover for Rob all in Gator orange and blue. Will hold off until next year.
3.Hello New York Scarf Easy Ribbed Scarf for Pat using Grampian DK (purple)
4.Hat for Barry using Jiffy (black)
5.Wise Owl for Will
6.Spiders for Will and Jake Made other projects instead.

To Assemble
1.Two pairs of wristers
2.Two surprise gifts for Princess Ivi

To Visit
1.Princess Ivi's dad for Christmas (sometime in January)
2.Brother's family prior to Christmas day Not going to happen

To Wrap
1.All presents

To Stuff
1.Two Stockings (mom's and Princess Ivi's)

To Do
1.Ship package to sister on or around 12/18
2.Charge and load ipods before Christmas
3.Charge batteries for camera
4.Pack for trip to sister's house (leaving Jacksonville at 11:50 a.m. on 12/25) -of course this includes making sure there are sufficient clean clothes for said trip as well as pulling out our cold weather gear (which thankfully isn’t too far in the closet)

Oh, Fudge!!

I attempted to make peanut butter fudge last night. It isn't fudge though. It is more like gooey peanut butter caramels. It tastes good but unfortunately, it wouldn't package well for my goody packages for the office.

I may use it to make chocolate surprise cookies and stick it in the middle of the cookie...or I might just eat it with a spoon.

I have to make the chocolate cookies tonight and then finish packaging the containers for the office.

I finished my last Christmas knitting last night. Mom is going to do some seaming for me on Wednesday which is great since the seaming that needs to be done is beyond my sewing ability. Once that is done, those 4 gifts can be wrapped and put under the tree.

I am going to wrap Princess Ivi's gifts tonight and my Mom's and then, I think, I might be ready for Christmas.

10 New Year's Resolutions

I don't normally make resolutions because I hardly ever keep them but I am going to try this year.

1. Blog more regularly (every other day, every three days, etc.).
2. Take more photographs.
3. Get out and explore more whether it is going to parks, museums, or just driving around.
4. Go to the gym.
5. Go to the knitting group at least one Sunday a month.
6. Do something with the fleece (alpaca and llama).
7. Look on the bright side as much as possible.
8. Enjoy my time with Princess Ivi. It goes by too quickly!!
9. Knit more. See Knitting Resolutions to come.

Can't think of anymore....may edit to add #10 later.

Winner Again

I won the Treat Bag Download from Elle's Studio that Skip to My Lou was giving away! Yay!!

Best Laid Plans

I had the best intentions of getting all of Christmas knitting and baking done this weekend. That didn’t happen though.

As for the knitting, I am close. I have to finish the Grumpasaurus that I started on Friday. I have to knit the feet and the comb and put him together. I also have to knit a beak for the Wise Owl.

As for baking, I mistakenly put it off until Sunday and now I regret it since I woke up Sunday and couldn’t swallow, had a fever, runny nose and was coughing. I did do the following with lots of help from Princess Ivi:

Double batch of the peanut butter rollout cookies (which included making the dough, slicing it and baking them);
Helensburgh Toffee;
Dough for the Mexican Wedding Cookies (it is in the fridge);
Iron Skillet Butter Garlic Rolls; and
Yummy Italian sausage and white bean soup.

I hope to bake the Mexican Wedding Cookies tonight along with making the peanut butter fudge. Tomorrow night, I will make the Chocolate Sugar Drop Cookies.

I had also planned on photographing all of this but since I felt bad, that didn’t happen either.

Surprises

After getting up this morning to go to the post office to ship packages to my sister, go to the grocery store and the Dollar Store, Princess Ivi got the mail and this was in it.

It is my free skein of Naturally Caron Country. Isn't it beautiful?!!

The color is sunset. I got this just by sending three ball bands from Caron Simply Soft. I wasn't able to choose my color but surprisingly, this is my favorite color so it all worked out perfectly. I just want to know how those folks at Caron knew that this was my favorite color.

The yarn is soft to the touch and has the perfect sheen to it. I can't wait to knit with it but, of course, that will have to come after the Christmas knitting is done.

Broken Hearts Club

I come from a very dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional with a capital bold D. Something happened today to make me see that dysfunctionality so clearly but before I tell you what that was, I feel I should give a little intro...

I am 32 years old. I have not seen my father since I was 6 years old. In short, he abandoned me.

I spoke to him once on the phone from the time I was 6 until I was 19 and only then because I happened to answer the phone for his call to my mom to tell her that his mother (my Grammie) had died.

When I was 19 and Princess Ivi was a tiny baby who suffered from severe asthma attacks, I decided it was time to talk to my father to get some health info. I spoke to him once on the phone and he and I each exchanged one letter apiece before he pushed me away with his cruel words. I never did discover any health information.

I went through a genealogy phase in my mid-20s and set out to answer the burning question of "who am I" by researching my father's side of the family. I was pretty successful with the genealogy aspect, tracing the family back from Massachusetts to Quebec to France in the 1400s. However, all the research and names never answered that "who am I" question.

My sister attempted to mend fences with him even though her memories were solid memories of hurt rather than some wispy tendrils like those rolling around in my head. She is 6 years older than me so she was a real "person" when we last saw him. After some months, my sister abandoned those attempts when it became apparent that in the mending of the relationship, the past would have to be rewritten to ease the conscience of our father. Given the fact that my sister was in her early 30s by then, it seemed unfair for her to have to pretend that life didn't happen the way it had.

My brother has not spoken to our father or seen him in 26 years. Neither my brother or father ever took steps to mend their relationship.

Dysfunctional? Oh yes!

Brought to light today by the email I received from ancestry.com advising me that there was a social security death index match to someone in my tree. Imagine my surprise when I opened the email to see that the match was to my father. After some research, I was able to discover that my father died on April 13, 2009, forty-eight days before his 70th birthday. No one, not my step-mother, my half-sister or my half-brothers, bothered to tell me or my sister or brother about his death.

It is hard to think that he is dead. In my head, I always knew that he wasn't going to wake up one day and realize he missed his kids and commit to doing whatever it took to make a relationship with them. But it didn't stop the little girl's heart that lives in me, that small and fragile heart, from hoping that one day he would realize that he wanted me and loved me. Now that little heart is broken and sad.

Strange but Funny and True

I drive by a baptist church everyday on my way to and from work. For the last few weeks, I have notices all sorts of construction type projects going on. I figured it was going to be some sort of live nativity as those are popular here since it is Florida, the weather usually cooperates. The living "nativity" began on Monday. However, this is unlike any living nativity I have seen or any nativity at all. Let me explain.

The "nativity" takes up about 3 football fields and it takes place about 10 feet from the road.

The first little scene is the manger complete with a burro, a baby and Mary and Joseph. Every time I have driven by there has always been one man kneeling on the ground with his arms raised in the air. I guess he could be a shepherd. There is no sign of the kings or an angel.

The second scene is about 100 feet away. The scene shows Jesus being crucified on the cross. The scene is complete with Roman soldiers, Mary kneeling at the cross, and the bloody crown of thorns.

About 50 feet away from this scene is a tomb where a deceased Jesus is brought after being taken from the cross.

The fourth scene is a King on his dais while white robed people (including children) bowing and kneeling as if in prayer. I guess this could be King Herod or Pontius Pilate. Still not sure?

I have driven by it 4 times now and each time I ask myself "what is this?". It looks like a weird version of "Jesus, this is your life".

I get the manger and if I knew for certain the king was King Herod, I would get that part too. But what's with the crucifixion and the tomb? Maybe they confused their holidays (Easter and Christmas) or maybe they wanted to show us the whole story.

**EDITED ON 12/21/09: I figured out that the last scene isn't a king. It is Jesus after his ascension. So the whole enactment is the live of Jesus from his birth to his ascension.**

Either way, the whole thing is rather distracting and I fear it is an accident waiting to happen since all the drivers are rubber-necking and like me, are trying to figure out what the whole point is.

Another funny thing
Last night while watching the Jaguars vs. Colts game, the announcer said at least three times that the Colts were down by 4. However, the score was 28 to 31 which means they were actually down by 3. Apparently, the announcer skipped the math class where they did basic subtraction.

Completed Knitting Projects

These are the Wristers from the spring/summer Knit 1 magazine for Princess Ivi. (I started these in September and have had them done for a while but I was dreading the seaming. I don't know why I made such a big deal about it because the seams look great.)


These are the Alice wrist warmers for my niece which I think look very Dr. Seussy.

Giveaway at Mommatudes!! Go check it out..

Check out the awesome giveaway of a Thirty-One Skirt Purse at Mommatudes and go check out Thirty One.

10 Things You Love to Eat/Drink During the Holidays

Thanks to CaroleKnits for today's 10 on Tuesday idea...

10 Things You Love to Eat/Drink During the Holidays
1. Ribbon candy.
2. Candy canes.
3. Brach's nougat candies (the mint ones with the Christmas tree in them).
4. Peach blossoms.
5. All the yummy, fancy goodies that come in the gift baskets that our work gets (my co-worker and I split the goodies up).
6. Turkey. (we eat it during the rest of the year but there is something special about it at the holidays.)
7. Lots of Christmas cookies.
8. Apple cider. (We can only find it in the stores in Florida around the holidays.)
9. Appetizers. (This is normally what we do for dinner on Christmas Eve.)
10. Hmmm.....

100th Post for 2009

This is my 100th post. I feel like I should post something deep and meaningful but I don't think I can pull it off.

Facebook - Love it or hate it?

I will say this, I love Facebook. I love the fact that I can reconnect with old friends who I have lost touch with because let's face it, when you are 15 and move 1,500 miles away, you don't think too much about keeping in touch with those people who you love. It is only as we get older and think of those people and wonder about those people and miss them that we wish we could go back and write more, call more, visit more. Granted Facebook can't go back in time so you know that person's whole story but it connects you and makes it possible to ask for the whole story, if you want.

I am a winner...
I was contacted by Tammy at Mom Knows Everything because I won her Pulse Yoga DVD Giveaway. How cool is that?

Christmas...Ready or not, here it comes!
I went to Walmart to pick up Christmas Ivi's gifts last night after work. I hate Walmart at Christmas. It is always crazy. Too many people and of course, there are always those shoppers who stop in the middle of the aisle, not leaving enough room to go around them, and take forever to do anything. Or those people who visit with others in the middle of the aisle instead of moving over a little bit to let others pass.

But I had a semi-successful trip. One of the things she asked for was there and the other was not (but I was able to order it for ship-to-store this morning) and I was able to pick up some stocking stuffers as well as some wrapping supplies.

I still need to pick something up for my nephew in Massachusetts. I am going to do that on my way home.

As for my brother's kids, I have a slight dilemma. I am not sure we are getting a Christmas bonus this year and without that, I don't have any more money so that means I have to knit stuff for them. Considering the fact that there are 10 knitting days (counting today) and I have to work 7 of those days and can't be knitting then, I am starting to worry.

I am working on a pair of Alice Wristwarmers for my neice that are neon green and white striped. They look very Dr. Seussy - how is that for a non-word?

As for my nephews, I am stuck. Will is very smart, loves books, science, science fiction, puzzles, etc. I am not sure what to knit for him. Jacob is very smart, loves Lord of the Rings, action figures, Star Wars, etc. I am thinking of a sword belt, a crown and a ring. Then he can be Strider from LOR and have his crown for when he is made king. I would just need to pick up a plastic sword for him.

I feel bad that I can't do more for them especially because my brother is currently out of work and won't be able to do much for them either.

Welcome Back, Peanut Butter Cookie!! (and Christmas knitting update)

I used to make batches and batches of peanut butter cookies for my Uncle Dave. But when Dave died in 1999, I couldn't make peanut butter cookies anymore. The smell of the peanut butter was just too much for me to handle and made me miss him too much. After years of abstaining from the peanut butter cookie baking, I made a batch this summer. I used the same recipe that I had used all those years ago but I didn't like them anymore. Absence in this case did not make the heart grow fonder. They were too crumbly and just not what I want in a peanut butter cookie. I had resigned myself to being peanut butter cookie-less for the foreseeable future.

However, after yesterday, I see peanut butter cookies in my future once again. I made the Peanut Butter Cut-Out Cookies from Hershey's. I didn't roll and cut them out because I have bad luck with that. Instead I just sliced and baked them. They are so good. Instead of using peanut butter, you use peanut butter chips. They taste like real peanut butter and they are soft and chewy. I made these for the Baking GALS box I am sending to our soldier in Iraq since her favorite cookies are peanut butter. Mom and Princess Ivi agreed that they were so good and I thought I would have to fight them off with a stick to be able to get enough cookies to ship. I also picked up two boxes of cocoa, some tea and some chocolates for the package and Mom is making me a batch of caramel corn to include so it should be great.

The new Knitty is up. I just took a look at it. There are some really pretty patterns in there. The Zora Cardigan is beautiful. I also like the Quadrat Pullover although I am not much into the belted look. The Pyroclastic Sock is awesome. Maybe I could beat second sock syndrome...or maybe not. I am adding them to my list of projects to knit. With these, my Ravelry queue is 30 projects long...hmmm.

As for Christmas knitting, I finished three surprise knitting projects for Princess Ivi this weekend. I can't post them here but I will post them after Christmas. I also cast on for a pair of Alice Wristwarmers for my niece. They are neon green and white striped. I made good progress with them and am extremely pleased.

I did some shopping on Saturday. My sister and brother-in-law are done (well, my sister will be done once I locate the gift I bought for her months and months ago). My nephew is almost done. I am picking up Princess Ivi's gifts tonight on the way home. As for my niece, nephews and brother, they are going to have to wait for the Christmas bonus.

Another Completed Knitting Project

I started this Watch Cap from Lionbrand on Monday and I finished it up last night. It is a gift for Barry, (Mom's male boss and landlord).

10 Great Things About the Holidays

1. Hanging out with family...especially this year since we are traveling to Massachusetts to see my sister and her family.
2. Yummy treats like Helensburg Toffee, peanut butter fudge, peanut brittle and oodles of cookies.
3. Wrapping paper. I love wrapping paper at the holidays and I have to try very hard every year not to buy more since I always have leftover rolls from the year before.
4. Giving knitted gifts that are appreciated.
5. My daughter's face when she opens her gifts and sees the things she asked for.
6. Playing Santa. I love staying up late and filling stockings and hiding presents under the tree.
7. Remembering the true reason we celebrate Christmas.
8. Advent calendars.
9. Seeing the Salvation Army bell-ringers.
10. Seeing my daughter's generosity to those less fortunate grow each year.

One Down, So Many More to Go

I finished Pat's present this weekend. I was going to make her the Hello New York scarf but the pattern seemed like a lot of fuss for something that didn't look all that great. A lot of yarn-overs but not a lot of ooh factor at the end. Instead I made this simple ribbed scarf. I am very pleased with it.

Princess Ivi was kind enough to model it as long as I didn't take a picture of her head since she was very upset with her air-drying hair (a curly, unruly mess).

Scarf: 27 stitches on size 8.0 mm needles, K3, p3 ribbing

Yarn: Grampian DK held double throughout

Daughtry, Theory of a Deadman and Cavo Concert Review

I am finally getting around to blogging about the Daughtry concert from November 30.

The day was crazy. I had to work until 2:00 p.m., then run home and bring Princess Ivi to a doctor's appointment. We arrived at the appointment at 3:34 p.m. only to discover that her appointment was at 3:10 p.m., not 3:30 p.m. so rather than being 4 minutes late, we were 24 minutes late. I hate it when that happens.

On top of that, the doctor was running late. They didn't bring us back until 5:00 p.m. We would have left but since it was for Princess Ivi's last shots for her Hepatitis and her HPV and I was worried that it would mess up the whole process and we would have to start them all over.

This was Princess Ivi's idea to kill time while waiting for the doctor.

After quickly throwing on sneakers at home, we headed back to Gainesville. It took some hunting but we were able to find a parking spot with a short walk to the O'Connell Center. Unfortunately, we had to climb to the nosebleed section. I imagine I know how they felt hiking Mt. Everest. Except Mt. Everest wasn't built out of wobbly bleachers.

We arrived just after Cavo took the stage (early). Cavo was awesome. They sounded great and they looked great. And we could actually hear the words he was saying (more on that later). I really hope Cavo does well and continues to be so successful so that they eventually have their own show because they made the whole night worth it. Here is a pick of the stage...


After Cavo, Theory of a Deadman came on. They looked good but unfortunately, they didn't sound good at all. The music was so loud, you couldn't hear the words. It sounded like he was mumbling quite a bit too.

Here is a view from our seats.

After Theory of a Deadman, the crew came out and put this curtain up. I thought it looked like a present. Too bad a shirtless Daughtry wasn't behind it.

When the lights dimmed, the light show began...

After they dropped the curtain, Daughtry came out. He looked wonderful but again, the problems with the sound.

I think some of the sound problem is that this is the O'Connell Center where the basketball team plays so the acoustics pretty much suck.

All in all, it was fairly disappointing except for Cavo. We actually left shortly after Daughtry took the stage since we couldn't hear anything.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

at least here on the blog. Not so much at home but putting the tree up this weekend.

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

-Emily Dickinson

Favorite Holiday Recipe - Swedish Cream Wafers

I was given this recipe by distant cousins that I met while conducting genealogy of my father's family. The story I was told was that my Grammie's mother (who was Swedish) used to make cookies like this and the recipe had been passed to her son's wife who continued to make them and pass the recipe to her descendants. These cookies re so good. They are light but seem very decadent because of the yummy filling.

SWEDISH CREAM WAFERS

1 c. soft butter
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 c. sifted flour

Mix butter, cream and flour. Chill. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick on floured board. Cut with a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter. Roll only 1/3 of the dough at a time. Keep rest in refrigerator. Coat both sides of cut dough with granulated sugar. Put on a cookie sheet and prick with a fork 4 times. Bake 7 to 9 minutes. Cool. Put two cookies together with frosting.

FROSTING:

1/4 c. soft butter
3/4 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla

Feeling Lost and Unable to Find My Way Home

I am 32 years old. I spent the first 15 years of my life in a small, rural Massachusetts town. Then, after my mother and stepfather divorced, we moved to a small town in rural Florida. We stayed there for a year and a half and then moved to a small, rural town in southern Georgia. In 1998, after five years, I moved back to that small town in Florida with my daughter who was two at the time. Years later, we moved from the rural towns to the bigger "cities" of Gainesville and Ocala and then eventually back to that small town when I got divorced. In 2006, we moved to Massachusetts but after a difficult time, I moved back to Florida in November of 2008. My daughter will be 14 in February and she has relocated seven times.

I have asked myself so many times what spurs me to pack our belongings and move and the answer is simply: I do not know where I belong.

I have never "put down roots" even when I owned a house with my second husband. I have never landed in one spot, city or town that truly felt like home.

I don't know if it is because I moved at a time when I had my life planned out - how the last years of high school would be, where I was going to college, who my roommate would be. Instead of those plans, I became the weird, awkward girl with no Southern accent surrounded by people who didn't know my story. I didn't fit and I have spent my life since then feeling like I didn't fit.

Sometimes I feel as if I don't fit even surrounded by people who love me and have known me my whole life.

I know there is a plan for my life but I can't help but wonder if feeling as if I don't fit and not having a home is part of that plan. To what end are these feelings? Then I remind myself that I don't need to know all the answers. Someone else, someone bigger and better than me, knows the answers and I just have to trust that He knows what he is doing.

Gratitude for a great website

I am a subscriber of Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. I have been avidly reading about Jen's brother's adoption of a special needs child from Ecuador. On her post today, she sent us to (in)courage to read her brother's perspective on little Edison and his addition to their family. This is a great story and I love that they welcomed a child with Down Syndrome into their family.

After reading the posting, I started exploring (in)courage. I love this site. I subscribed to the feed and read every post, often struggling to hold back my tears. I would encourage everyone to check it out. (Follow the link here or click on the (in)courage button on my sidebar.)

One thing that I read that I really liked. So much is this.

"Gratitude is a decision. It's also a gift; it multiplies and spreads to those around us."

During this holiday season, remember to be grateful for all the gifts in your life. Even if you can't see them as gifts, they are gifts and each and every aspect of your life is part of the plan for you.

Too Much to Do

To Buy

1. Princess Ivi's Gifts
2. Isaac's gift (which needs to be mailed 12/18)
3. Gifts for nephews and niece (I am thinking the first few Harry Potter movies for the boys and a Joann's gift card for Emily since she likes to sew and needs fabric and notions)
4. Baking supplies
5. 10 Dollar Swap items to be shipped no later than 12/20
6. Carry-on size bag for Princess Ivi
7. Messenger style bag (or something like it) for me that can hold personal items (phone, wallet, etc.) plus ample knitting materials for plane trip and layovers Don't need because Princess Ivi is going to let me use one of hers.
8. Gift for Princess Ivi’s dad(??)
9. Stocking Stuffers
10. Gift for Mom

To Bake

1. Cookies for Baking GALS (to be shipped no later than 12/16)
2. Cookies (for mailing to sister on or about 12/18)
3. Goodies (like Christmas mice, peanut butter chip brittle and possible Nigella Lawson’s Hokey Pokey) for mailing on or about 12/18

To Knit

1. Surprise project for Princess Ivi
2. Stick shift cover, ice scraper mitt and steering wheel cover for Rob all in Gator orange and blue.
3. Hello New York Scarf Easy Ribbed Scarf for Pat using Grampian DK (purple)
4. Hat for Barry using Jiffy (black)
5. Wise Owl for Emi
6. Spiders for Will and Jake

To Assemble

1. Two pairs of wristers
2. Two surprise gifts for Princess Ivi

To Visit

1. Princess Ivi's dad for Christmas
2. Brother's family prior to Christmas day

To Wrap

1. All presents

To Stuff

1. Two Stockings (mom's and Princess Ivi's)

To Do

1. Ship package to sister on or around 12/18
2. Charge and load ipods before Christmas
3. Charge batteries for camera
4. Pack for trip to sister's house (leaving Jacksonville at 11:50 a.m. on 12/25) -of course this includes making sure there are sufficient clean clothes for said trip as well as pulling out our cold weather gear (which thankfully isn’t too far in the closet)

This seems so overwhelming especially when I consider that I have one pay check between now and Christmas (I am not counting the check I will receive on Christmas Eve). Thankfully Princess Ivi is out of school starting on the 21st and she is really good about helping with laundry and stuff. She will also make sure she has what she needs to keep herself occupied on the plane.

Judging from this list, my life will be very crazy for the next few weeks.

Great Magnet - I want One

While browsing the Net this morning, I came cross Slipped Stitch Studio's Etsy shop. She has some great project bags and pin back buttons. I especially love this magnet.

10 Things I Want but Won't Buy for Myself

1. A ball winder. My mom is currently my ball winder but when I move out, I guess I will have to consider buying one.
2. A Wii or Playstation or Xbox.
3. A fancy phone with a keypad.
4. New clothes
5. Lazor hair removal.
6. Lasik eye surgery.
7. More yarn.
8. A new purse
9. A wireless keyboard for work (added 12/3/09)

okay so I can only think of 8 9. (edited on 12/3/09)

Two Great Programs to support our troops-Check them out

I just found two things I am going to participate in. One is the Holiday Mail for Heroes program through the American Red Cross. I am going to pick up a box of Christmas Cards on my way home and Princess Ivi and I will get signing tonight. (Edited on 12/3/09: Our cards are on the way!)

The other program is Operation Baking GALS (Give a Little Support). This sounds like such a great program. It will allow me to bake which I love and support our troops which I love. Double the pleasure!