Now that I am done with the sweater for my nephew I find myself antsy to start something new. I've got this book of patterns for some truly gorgeous sweaters for adults (male or female) but last night on a whim I got online and started poking around looking for patterns for hats. I found this really cute pattern for making little hats for kids that look like Christmas ornaments. Naturally I immediately fired off an email to my sisters asking for the general circumference of their children's heads, because I am going to hold to the fact that the pattern says the hat can be made in a day. I figure with my skill level and time limitations I should multiply that by at least a factor of three, but that still means I could maybe get these done. This does mean, however, that I am going to have to make a trip to the yarn shop in Davis because the pattern specifically calls for metallic yarn. Gosh. Darn. A trip to the yarn store. Heh. I'm not sure yet how quick these will go, even despite my guestimates, nor am I sure exactly how they will turn out. But I'm going to give it a try because apparently I am just insane.

While I was sending emails to my family, I included one asking about the cookie situation. Our family has a list of cookies that we make every year – some of which require more time and preparation than others. Since we're all flying up to Seattle to spend Christmas up there it made sense to try to divvy up the baking so we each can just do only one or two kinds. I immediately volunteered for gingerbread men (see above reference to the fact that I am insane) because I make them every year and I would hate to miss my yearly purchase of a box of raisins, which I only ever use as gingerbread man eyes and then promptly pick off the baked cookies before I eat them because I really cannot stand raisins. But traditions are important and besides Richard doesn't mind getting random pairs of gingerbread man eyes dumped in his hand for snacks so it works.

Speaking of holiday baking, it's that time now when people start bringing in random goodies to the office. Earlier this week there were Reese's peanut butter cup bells in the candy jar in the kitchen, which usually only ever holds Tootsie rolls. Tootsie rolls I can usually avoid, but Reese's peanut butter cups? Bye bye willpower.

Luckily the supply of Reese's had been depleted by Tuesday and now there is nothing left in the candy jar but Hershey's Hugs. Those I can avoid easily because they are mostly white chocolate, and really, what is the point of white chocolate except to make you *think* you might be getting the good stuff, only to sorely disappoint you?

And finally, apropos of nothing else in this entry except that I took it at work, I leave you with this picture. So many times I've seen a gorgeous skyscape while driving and by the time I have searched frantically for, and located a safe place to pull over and drag out the camera, the clouds and the sun have shifted and it is gone. This one, however, stayed around. It looked as if there was something hovering over downtown Sacramento, spilling through, and I could barely believe that I managed to capture it on film.