Big day done

 Wow!  I managed to spend the whole time in the kitchen and got hardly any pictures of the big event.  That's sad.  Rob got sick the next day, so I've spent the rest of the time cleaning up from the holiday and trying to help take care of him.  

Here are our stockings in front of the fireplace.  

And, here are a couple pictures from my cake.  It's delicious!  Spice cake with orange filling and an orange cream cheese frosting.  The frosting recipe I picked didn't work for cake decorating, but I did the best I could with it.  It wouldn't firm up enough to make good shapes, so everything is kind of a blob of frosting. But, I was pretty happy with my ability to wield a piping bag.  

Unfortunately, most of it will go in the trash.  I won't be able to eat the whole thing, but I'm putting the biggest dent in it that I can while it's here.  If I'm going to bake like this, then we're going to have to make some friends to come help us eat it.  

I got to enjoy the last of the Camelia blooms on Christmas.  We had cold weather early this year, so it bloomed closer to Thanksgiving than Christmas, which was unusual.  

Yesterday, while Rob slept, I sneaked away and started playing with my sweater.  I had committed to not starting until I had finished the second Linus afghan, but I ran out of white yarn and "couldn't make anything else work" (read that as I was self indulgent and wanted to work on what I wanted to work on).  To test the gauge, she had me knit a section of the cable pattern.  It's a quarter inch too narrow and a half inch too long which, when blocked, should come out perfect!

It was a good thing she had me do that as practice.  My skills at reading a cabling chart were rusty and it took most of the day!

I don't think Rob has Covid; there's no cough.  But, he is really sick.  Unfortunately, we spent two days taking his temp with a defective thermometer.  It kept saying his temp was normal, so we weren't too worried.  Then, last night, he said "I can't be this sick and not have a fever" so we got an older thermometer (30 years old, maybe?) and took it again and he was right.  He said it was up and down all night.  He says he's feeling better today, and that's a good thing.  

I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling a little post holiday blues.  The hype and distraction of the holiday is over and Rob is sick and I don't really care for the way Syd drops by to eat but runs before dishes, so she can spend the holiday with several other families.  (As far as I'm concerned, if that's how it's going to be, then she can leave me off her list of places to drop by.)  And, now the holiday's over, I'm feeling a bit adrift at sea.  It will pass.  I just need to decide what I want to do with the rest of my time off and get up off my butt and start doing it.  That will make me feel better.  Taking care of myself always does.  Maybe I'll work on this sweater in earnest.  Maybe I'll work in the yard...the days have been beautiful!  Or, maybe I'll just sit and watch what I want to on TV for a change.  Either way, the solution is going to be self-care for a few days.  I deserve it.  I put on two holiday feasts and was a great host.  Next should be "me time".  

Everyone be well.  Take some time for self-care.  Be as good to yourself as you were to everyone else.  

Lane