i'll be in a home for christmas

two of my absolute most favorite things are driving through town and shopping. really. well, standing in line is up there, too, but it really is at best a distant third.

logically then i had a fantastic day, as i had the opportunity to do not just my two favorite things, but the third as well. If someone would have tried to run me off the road while flipping me off, well, the day would have been pretty darn close to perfect.

IF YOUR INITIALS ARE S.O.P. YOU MAY CONSIIDER YOURSELF EXCUSED AT THIS POINT. THAT'S RIGHT. LEAVE. NOW. YOUR EYES ARE NOT WANTED HERE.


i had the day off, and spent the morning seperating threads. the present that sop doesn't know about is a kumihimo neckband for him to put his wedding ring on. So, getting ready for a trial run, i took embridery thread and started seperating and then loading into the kumihimo plate (traditional kumihimo is done on a marudai, but i'm just getting a feel for this, and do not know how much i'll be doing it in the future, and so i opted for the plate and disk method). After an hour of seperating threads and starting my first braid, i realized that i needed bobbins to hold the loose ends - and quickly. If i didn't, i was never going to get to this:

no more tangles instruction

and most certainly not to this:

mmm... twirls

Time to hit the road, as they say. Get the ball rolling, stop dragging my a**, you know what i mean.

Thirty minutes (10 minutes looking, 20 minutes standing in a four-person line) after entering michael's, i emerged with these:

10% more plastic goodness

Since one really cannot have enough of driving in holiday traffic, i decided to do more of these fine activities while i was out. After a short stop to the Library, i headed through town, buying the last gifts on my list and a candle ring to get some greenery in the house, dropping some things off for good will, not recycling cardboard due to the overflowingness of the recepticles and posting a sign for some items i'm selling at REI. But i have to say, i love Steve Hagen's audio book "Buddhism Plain and Simple". I'm an addict of Pema Choedron's, but i don't always quite know what she's saying. When i finish listening to this book, i just might.

Zen state aside.

I got home and pulled out the bobbins, wrapped the first thread around its bobbin securely,let it go and watched it unravel to the floor. Hmm... it seems that these bobbins MAY hold an entire skein of embroidery thread, but only if you don't seperate the threads out. Thank goodness i waited the 20 minutes in line for these. I grabbed one of the boxes that didn't make it in the recycling bin and voila:

today's apad

Now, with the kumihimo fiasco well hidden and sop coming home with FOOD, i can sit by the candle ring and enjoy the smell of pine blended with one of my favorite scented candles:

nothing says holidays like tangy pear

Enjoy your weekend!