What a wonderful lull of a week it is, this last week of December. The to-do list is in the recycling bin, and in between loads of laundry and putting away gifts, there’s time to just hang out and play. A few things making me happy right now:
The Christmas tree is still lit. ‘Cause it’s not just a day–it’s a season. There’s still some glitter in the air.
Time to play with my camera. Taking photos of food is almost as fun as eating it. That was our monkey pull-apart bread on Christmas morning. Made by Lulu and H. Yum!
H is on break from school. And was even willing to hike with Mr. T and me yesterday. And while I’m a bit envious of all the white Christmases I’m seeing out there in Blogland–even in Portland!–living in California does have its perks.
New music. If you know my sweetie, you know how he prides himself on staying hip to new music. Well, each Christmas my dad does his darndest to surprise us with some music that will impress even Chris with its sheer hipness. (Now, I love my dad, but I wouldn’t exactly call him hip. His little secret is NPR’s All Songs Considered lists.) This year he gave us Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. Pretty cool music coming from a 70-year old. Good tunes for thinking and puttering.
Making bubbly water. Yes, we are a simple people here on the wonderfarm. Making our own “bubble water” makes for big entertainment. You see, in addition to great music, my parents also gifted us with a soda carbonator. Oh, we’re having fun with this one! And this is another meager attempt to prove our hipness: the latest trend in Bay Area restaurants is doing away with bottled water. Because it’s wasteful. Restaurants are offering their own chilled and filtered water, both still and fizzy. When Chris and I ate lunch at El Dorado Kitchen on our anniversary trip to the wine country and were served some free bubbly water, we admired their snazzy glass water bottles with clamp-on lids. And shopping the next day, we found some of our own:
I’m hesitant to admit how much I love serving chilled water from these bottles. And I just found some red ones online! So we’ll have blue for flat water; red for fizzy. Yes, I know: I’m a geek.
New books. When Chris realized he hadn’t got his book-loving wife a book for Christmas, he promised a trip to Diesel. We went, and I found–oops!–two books. The River Cottage Family Cookbook and this one:
That’s Custom Knits, by Wendy Bernard. How is it that I hadn’t even heard of this book? It’s full of knitting-in-one piece projects! Lots of recommendations for adapting patterns to your liking! Great schematics! I won’t put an exclamation mark on the fact that many sweaters are modeled with bathing suits–silliness. But I’m having a good time perusing and dreaming. The Jane (Ravelry link) sweater is calling to me–but without that ribbon bisecting the bustline. Who needs a bisected bust?
So, how are you entertaining yourselves this week? (Chris, that’s your cue to finally leave a comment. Something like: Well, I’m toiling away at the office so my lovely family can stay home and have all the fun.)
Leave a comment? I much prefer to live vicariously through your blog while I toil away here in the salt mines so my lovely family can stay home and enjoy the holiday fun.
After 5 days of eating cookies and wearing my pajamas, coming back to work was a nice change!
He’s a funny guy, your husband. I’m toiling, too, at least yesterday and today. And my children have abandoned ship, anyway, to spend time with more interesting people than me.
Despite my lack of readable things to say, I *had* to shush you on your father’s secret, as it’s also MY secret for keeping one step ahead of the teens wrt cool music. I love All Songs Considered, and tunes heard there populate about half my iPod. Go, Dad!
i got river cottage for christmas, too!!! but since i’m on reprieve from cooking this week, haven’t put it to use yet. i’m off to check out all songs considered…
Yay bubble water! I’m so tickled for you.
Enjoy. We are out and hiking a lot — lovely season.
I am a huge Calistoga fan. How do you like the taste of your fuzzy water as my niece calls it?
Susan, the fuzzy water tastes great! I was skeptical–I figured the carbonation might not be the same as water we buy, but it’s just as good. You can control how carbonated you make it. We use water run through our Brita filter, but you could probably skip that step.
It sure seems like it will be a great money saver, although we don’t seem to be getting the “up to 60 liters per canister”. And I love that we’re not using bottles that need to be recycled.
Stefaneener has one too, so you can ask her about it.