We’ll take a cup of kindness yet!

Sometimes it’s easier to write every day than to skip a week and try to catch up. I feel ridiculous admitting this, but I’ve been sitting here for nearly ten minutes trying to figure out how to give you a rundown of the past week without either boring you to tears or drowning you in cheese.

Christmas was good. Very good. Every year we have five Christmas gatherings—one for my dad’s side of the family, one for my mom’s side, both sets of grandparents come over here on Christmas day, we go to Jeff’s parents’ house a few days later, and we finish up the run at my folks’ house when my sister and her family come to town.

Let’s see. Harper and Meredith are now sufficiently Furbified, Jeff has enough books to carry him to 2014, and I’ll be sitting over here in the corner trying to spin sock weight yarn with my fast flyer while steeping the Lavender Dreams tea that Harper gave me in the new cast iron teapot that I received from Meredith.

Speaking of spinning, I’m pleased to report that I finished spinning and plying another skein of yarn last week.

It’s my very first 3-ply, and I’m pretty proud of it. With that said, I was shooting for at least 300 yards of a 3-ply sock weight, but what I achieved is 196 yards of 3-ply DK. (This will bore 83% of you: I’m hoping that the fast flyer will enable me to spin finer yarn, because I’m starting to get tired of shooting for sock and hitting DK.) Anyway, this is Chocolate Cherry Merino-Sparkle Blend by Frabjous Fibers, and it was gifted to my mom, whose birthday is today.

Speaking of spinning once again, I have a shocking announcement! Do you remember a few weeks back when I went to a Pilates class? Get this: Two days ago, my sister drove up, and we attended a SPINNING class.

It was absolutely terrible and I hated it, but I’m going back next Tuesday for more. (I hated it because I had no idea what I was doing, and when the instructor yelled for us to stand up, I was taken by surprise, because Stand Up?! (Apparently, in order to stand up, one needs to adjust one’s tension so that one’s knees don’t buckle. I, for one, didn’t know this. Luckily, I eventually figured it out after realizing that I was the only person who was wobbling around. Something had to change. Tension. Yes.)) Anyway, it was 60 minutes of spinning which included 20 minutes of climbing with no warm up and no cool down and the instructor yelled, “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET THIS ANYWHERE ELSE!!!” and everyone in the class yelled, “YOU’RE THE BEST, KELLY!!!”

I think I was the only person in that room who didn’t love it, so I’m telling myself that I am WRONG, and that I need to try it at least once more before making a final decision. (There are very few things that I’ve refused to try more than once. In fact, if I had to make a list titled Things I’ve Refused to Try More Than Once, it would contain only the following items: Whiskey, Folding Sheets Too Soon After Reading a Paperback Book (It’s a texture thing. I can’t talk about it.), and Anti-depressants. Also, Unscented Deodorant. Vaginal Delivery.)

Two years ago, I found my eye doctor by calling a random number when my right eye started crying. A few months later, I saw him again after I freaked out at a stoplight. Last year I went back for my annual exam and left with a list of restaurant recommendations and a desire to permanently remove fish from my diet (which I have). This year he dilated my eyes and talked me into feeling enthusiastic about Pilates and spinning. Expect the unexpected, Heraclitus!

Bonus: I get to pick out new glasses after the first of the year. I’ve already been browsing at eco and Lookmatic, but would love to hear your recommendations, too! ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>