knit too

Two weeks, that's how long it took. On January 5th we handed out balls of yarn, on the 16th we spent an afternoon at Einstein's bagel shop, in their "free" community room

and on the 19th we finished putting the blanket together and presented it to Pat, who, yes, was surprised.

To get this picture we pulled a friend out of choir practice and had him take it. It reminds me a little of Dad's dining room photos of any family members who were coming or going--line up the subjects in front of the dining cupboards, and make sure there's lots of white wall in the picture. I'm just not into cropping at the moment. Time for Bush to speak to the nation.

At the top of his class....

The Montgomery County Road Runners magazine arrived yesterday. It may not be Runners World, but it's a big deal in the county and this is the issue with the end-of-the-year awards.

And yes, that is Tom at the top of his age group. Runners are ranked by the points they earn in their top 5 races out of 12. You might get a point for running, but you really earn points by winning your age group.

That's the good news, but now the pressure is on. It's a new year. He's no longer the anonymous new kid on the block. Will he be tripped up by Joseph? Joe? Roger? Bill? Will he rest on his laurels? Will I be able to keep up with the laundry?

Don't make a habit of it...

Two potlucks this weekend, so it's time for Tom's most decadent recipe. If ever there was an example of how to take a simple vegetable and do everything possible to make it into an artery-clogging wonder, this is it. It's the recipe that got Bridget a 2nd place in her company bake off in December, even though she went overboard on the milk and the voting process was flawed--the potatoes ran out before all the voters got a taste.

Party Potatoes
3 pounds potatoes, peeled
9 tablespoons butter (6 whipped in, 3 on top)
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temp, low-fat or real
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream, ditto
salt
pepper
paprika

Bascally, you boil the potatoes, drain them, put the pot and potatoes back on low heat to evaporate the extra water, whip them with the rest of the ingredients, put them in a casserole dish, dot with butter and paprika and bake in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

For those of you up north, check this out. That's the outdoor temperature you're looking at. Next thing you know we'll be walking around in flipflops.

It took an hour

but we got it done. The manger pieces came in a box that is actually three different layers of styrofoam. Each layer has spaces for particular figures, even the long thin palm trees. Unfortunately, the diagram is worthless and none of the spaces were labeled. It was kind of like reading indentations in a mashed potato casserole. Each space is now labeled. We have a King in purple, a King in teal, a Black King, a sheep with head down, and a sheep with head up. A brush with winter yesterday, but we were lucky. The temperature dropped about 30 degrees in a few hours, the wind picked up, trees in Bethesda were blown over, our lights flickered, but we did not lose power. In good Memmott fashion, we were ready. The blue icing theme continues. Believe me, they were a gift.

You don't want the details

Suffice it to say that three hours in a periodontist's chair makes one appreciate having the right drugs at the right time. I'm feeling like a fat chipmunk on the left side of my face, and I'm keenly aware of some tender teeth, but with regular doses of ibuprofen, I am functioning. Tonight was our turn to have our potluck group at our house. We never plan, no one ever tells anyone else what they are making or bringing, and somehow for about 10 years we have not yet had a meal that is all brownies or all vegetables. Tonight we had salmon, spinach and mushrooms, meatloaf (made with horseradish), scalloped potatoes, tomato and mozzarella salad, brownies, and ice cream cake. That's right, blue frosting.

It's all in the numbers

Or maybe in the box. We packed up all the ornaments this weekend, removed the tree, and we are almost back to normal. The only thing we haven't packed up is the Christmas manger. Each piece has to fit in its own molded slot in the styrofoam, and then slide into a box about the size of a small refrigerator. I'm betting we'll have it put away by Easter.

Meanwhile, I'm living in the middle of an 8th-grade word problem. One of the St.Rose knitters designed a blanket to be given to one of the few remaining staff members at St. Rose. She's seen the writing on the wall and is moving back to Rochester at the end of the month (27 days from today). So, how many knitters does it take to complete 240 3.5-inch squares, in 12 different colors, with 48 of the squares done in 2 colors, in about 20 days?

So far, we have about 200 little balls of yarn, 5 yards each, in packages by color, a chart to keep track of who has what, a dozen phone calls, and lots of e-mails. On Thursday night we meet, at which time I'm hoping every knitter or would-be knitter--Can you remind me how to cast on?--shows up with their size 10 needles.