Aloha

Yup - we are in HAWAII!! With a 2 week winter vacation we decided to take advantage of the time and go all out. We arrived here on Friday night after a LONG trip - flew to Atlanta, LA and Honolulu. We had to sleep in Honolulu since we got in too late to make the last interisland flight to Maui. We caught an early flight Saturday morning and everything fell into place. The resort, Kahana Falls, is ok. We were booked into a hotel room-type room but upgraded to a one bedroom. Gerry is still on treatment and so naps alot, and this way I have the living room to hang in plus a full kitchen. We food shopped the other day - man, food is SOOO expensive - and I cooked holiday dinner for us. We have already been to a movie - Night in the Museum (cute, but best for kids), shoppping (bought something for Avi the first day, then today bought some things for Gerry and for ne). I am NOT a relaxer, but with him sleeping (especially on his treatment days) I have taken time to lay at the beach or by the pool, working on getting a tan. The sun is making my face break out (or maybe it's the sunscreen I am using) so I have to check that out. I was WAY too white and so gradually I am getting some color. Tonight we went to the Hyatt Luau. It was good, but about 20 min before it ended Gerry was so wiped out that we left. I was disappointed at first but I know it's hard for him and we DID have a busy day. So, he went to bed by 8:30 PM. The hotel offers wi-fi in your room but we had trouble getting onto it Good thing, as I found out they charge $10/day. However, the concierge desk offers ethernet hookup for free in the evening when they are not here so I am presently taking advantage of it. My eyes are closing though, so I will end this and continue later. BTW - no pix as I didn't bring my camera's cord to download pix to the laptop. They will have to come later. ALOHA!

Isn't He The Cutest??

Sorry, I just have to write about my beautiful grandson. I have not seen him since he was a week old, but my wonderful daughter keeps a blog and posts pix and videos for me (and the rest of the world) to see. I am flying to Atlanta next Thursday for a long weekend visit, and to help out by watching Avi when Alison goes for her 6 week checkup and to the dentist. I can't wait. I am so proud of Alison, too, for the beautiful writing she did on her blog post to her son, which she hopes to write to him once a month (her letter, not the blog). Ok - I just HAVE to post a picture of the new love of my life. And if you wish to see more, you can go here:

Gift Knitting

To fill in some time I knitted two face/dish cloths from Sugar and Cream cotton yarn. Using # 6 needles, I made one in seed stitch with a garter stitch border, and the other in box stitch, also wtih garter border. Put a bar or two of soap with it and it's a nice little gift for a coworker, office staff, etc.

I wrote in a previous post about some holiday gifts I had gotten. Today I decided to photograph them. I bought 10 pair of the red microfiber sleep socks - oh, they're so soft - for my coworkers; the scarf was a freebie from Bath and Body Shop (for any purchase); and a really nice quilted overnight bag, quite large, for $25 (supposedly regularly $65 - I'm not sure that is so BUT it's definitely worth the $25).

Finally Finished

I FINALLY finished the sweater I was working on for Avi, my grandson. It's the Fisherman's Rib Sweater with Saddle Shoulders from New Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss. I made the smaller size - 12 months, using 50g skeins of Hayfield Aran with wool - it's 80% acrylic and 20% wool. I could not find the yarn here so I got it on Ebay from a British seller. The purchase was 12 skeins and I have about 6 left for future use. I used US 4 needles for the basic rib and US 6 for the Fisherman's Rib. I didn't realize how long it would take to do the FR, nor that it would take more yarn. However, it's done and it came out really nice. I think Avi has enough sweaters to keep him warm for a while. This one should fit him when he is about 2, I think.

I have been waiting to take a picture of Gerry, myself and our two dogs for our holiday card. Unfortunately, the one time we took a pix, last week, Gerry had his hat on and his face was in shadow. Time is fleeting, so I decided to use one in our archives, sans dogs. There was one from Becca's graduation that was pretty good, but Gerry looked really tired in it. I am really fussy about pictures and didn't really want to use it. I went through all the photos on my computer - and in doing so, finally organized the folders by year instead of subject. I found a great photos of us with my nephew Michael from 2005 . So I got a little confident and decided to "play with it." Using PhotoShop Elements I cropped the photo, taking Michael out, erased my name from the name tag I had on, as well as the shine from sunglasses that were perched on my head.

I uploaded the finished pix to Costco and picked up my order today. I gave them a fast glance in the store and they looked fine. After addressing all the envelopes tonight (about 60) I was putting the cards into the envelopes when I saw that the salutation read: Love, Gerry and Jo! I NEVER sign my name as Jo. So, back they will go tomorrow. Thank goodness Costco is wonderful and I have no doubt that they will make good on the error. Upon seeing the picture on the holiday card, Gerry said, "You need to keep going back through the 'archives' each year, making us younger and younger with each holiday card!" I think Gerry had a very good idea.