So Behind!

I have felt behind the eight ball since returning home from the cruise. Everything I do seems to be at the last minute or not at all. I've screwed up dates, finished my Icelandic sweater, had a cold that flattened me for 48 hours, lost stuff, found stuff*, attended several concerts and one pot luck luncheon, and baked and given away dozens of cookies.

Tonight I have another pot luck event - mostly after-dinner finger foods. I'm taking my usual deviled eggs. The cookie press tip I use to make them broke today so I had to resort to other ways of getting the yolk-y stuff in the eggs. They don't look that great but they are yummy.

I tried to make pralines from an authentic New Orleans recipe. Out of the 4 dozen from the two batches I made, only 5 turned out.

One of my former students and Facebook friends thought they looked like poop. I know they're not uniform in shape and size, but the consistency of the caramel looks exactly like the ones we ate in New Orleans. I did use a candy thermometer and follow the instructions to the letter but realize there's a lot more to cooking sugar than meets the eye. Hopefully there will be a YouTube video or Craftsy class I can take to improve my skills.

I had an epic fail knitting one of the Mitten Advent Calendar mittens. I was happily knitting away and only had a couple of rows to knit before grafting the top when I realized I had totally forgotten to knit the gusset and the thumb. Rip! Here it is, re-knitted, complete with the thumb.

I did another one, too.

The tree is up. The bird for Christmas dinner is bought. Wood is piled by the back door for spontaneous fires in the fireplace.

Last Sunday, Alexa and I attended the Sing-Along Messiah at Massey Hall performed by Tafelmusik.

Ivars Taurins, the music director, traditionally impersonates George Philip Handel for the occasion.

We also celebrated Skip and Scooter's birthdays.

So I guess I have accomplished quite a bit since returning home less than a month ago. There's still some stuff to do and stuff I'll never get around to doing. This is going to be the most laid-back Christmas yet.

* last night I lost something that had recently been given to me. I was SO upset. I retraced my steps and found the item in a snowbank that I had climbed over to retrieve the mail from our superbox earlier yesterday. I was SO relieved to have found it.