It's sneaking up on us...

Christmas is right around the corner - Can you believe it? I have a few little things out in the mail so I can't post about them yet, but I did make a few little ornaments for my tree. Just for the heck of it.

I can't remember what pattern I used for this little sock but there are a whole bunch on Ravelry to choose from. (I'll edit if I find out someday!)

Caron Simply Soft Yarn
Just a smiget really


Mini Mitts Ornament
Caron Simply Soft
Just a smidget again.

More Mini Mitts.

Caron Simply Soft

Cute. Too cute.

I finally got motivated to wrap gifts yesterday when I realized I was hitting the single digits as far as "days until".... I did a terrible job but they just rip it open anyway. All I have left to do is fill stockings and put name tags on the presents. (As you can see from our chalkboard, we're not quite on schedule here).

We went very simple this year but I still probably spent more than I had intended. My girls are at an age "crossroads" so it's harder and harder to think of what to get them. Pretty soon we'll have teens and with that age comes WAY more costly items and them telling me "Mother, Plu-easseee!" This year there are still some toys in there and that makes me smile. They may say that, but you know they still want to play!

I've been having trouble with my sleep schedule again. A few hours one night, twelve the next. It's very hard to wake up enough to do things feeling like I have been. I saw my new Rheumy Dr on Monday and had to go back this morning to redo the blood work (the gal stuck me 4 times and couldn't get a good vein. OWWWW!).

I really like my new Doctor. I felt like I was in Mayberry, everyone there is SO incredibly NICE and polite! The absolute nicest southern people I've met here hands down. The ladies that work there are much older but they run a VERY BUSY office (it took me 6 mos to get into see him, he's totally booked). When I was checking out they thanked me for choosing him and asked if I was happy, they were just everything you WISH a doctor's office would be. I wanted to stay just to hang out, I've never been around such friendly people in that setting before (except my Mom's cancer nurses and Dr, they were awesome too). The nurse gal felt really bad about poking me so much! She said when I took a drink later it was going to squirt out like a sprinkler! At least we had a good laugh over it! Today I drank lots of water and they had no trouble at all. Whew!

My new Doctor was more than I had hoped for. He listened to me, validated how I felt and said "Yes" you do have fibro - but the main thing we're exploring right now is the positive ANA-antibody test. My Auto Immune system is attacking itself and we have to just explore and see how things progress to find out what it is (bloodwork galore). I told him I knew there wouldn't be an answer right off the bat, but I just wanted a good doctor who would put it like he did: "it's like we're in a dark room and we have to feel around for the light switch, just because we can't see it, doesn't mean we give up and that it's not there". What a complete turnaround from the last guy I saw who just shrugged his shoulders and told me I DID NOT have fibro, lupus, or RA. AND that my positive tests (I've been tested over and over again and it's still high) meant nothing. Hmmmm. There are doctors - and then there are DOCTORS. I just wanna hug my DOCTOR now! What a relief. Just a HUGE relief. That's all I wanted, someone to say "we're not going to give up".

I may take a little hiatus with the blogging, I probably won't be posting as much (like I do anyway! HA!) because I just haven't been knitting much of anything lately. I hurt, and noticed it helped to take a break from picking up the needles. I'll still be reading everybody's blogs I already do and plan to post IF I have something to show. Hopefully next year will hold some answers for me and things will improve. I have some new muscle relaxants (flexirill) that make me sleep like a dream as long as I don't have to wake up early the next day.

Happy Knitting & Merry Christmas