While attempting to turn leftover mashed potatoes into latkes:

B: When Claudia was little, she had a teddy bear cookbook…
J: That’s horrible!!
B: Hm… maybe that’s why she became a vegetarian.

(An aside: making latkes makes me think of Jewish Family Dinner Night. Latkes and matzo ball soup… good times. I miss Jeni, and I need more Yiddish in my life!)

Today was very busy for a Saturday. I got up before seven so I could go use my 20% off before 9 am coupons at the fabric store. I was somewhat self-controlled and only bought things for Christmas presents. Well, maybe there was a present for me…

Then I drove (full of dread) to the mall. Visions of craziness danced in my head. However, once I arrived at the mall, I found a parking space, ran my errands in record time, went to the gas station, then was home by 11. I was amazed. Perhaps I will have a new day-after-day-after-Thanksgiving tradition.

The rest of the day was cozy. I finished my side of the thank you notes (hey! Emily Post says we have a year!), so I got to lovingly remind Jamie to do his half. I think he still loves me, at least. ;) A co-worker gave me a stocking to piece together for her nephew, so I got the sewing machine out and went to work. It turned out pretty well, and the best thing is that we’re bartering–I sew and get yarn in return! Then I started another sewing project, only to get extremely frustrated with a malfunctioning bobbin-casing (read: machine no stitch-y), so I switched to knitting. Jamie joined me to watch Forrest Gump. I forget how much that movie gets to me. Then it was 8 o’clock and we hadn’t eaten dinner (though we had consumed a large quantity of chex mix that I made earlier today), so our latke adventure began. If I knew the Yiddish word for Gentile, I’d use it.

For those who are interested, Jamie and I will be in the Olympia/Tacoma area from roughly December 23rd to January 2nd. Hope to see you then!