Ho Ho and some FO's

Wow I can not believe that Christmas is in 3 days!!! I am not happy that Thanksgiving came later this year. It really messed me up. I love Thanksgiving don't get me wrong I have about 4 totes of Fall/Thanksgiving decor that goes out every year. However, with the mixture of the boys being sick over Thanksgiving holiday and the beginning of December and then last Sunday I was sick, I feel like we missed part of the season.

Speaking of December.... it has been cold here. We had several cold nights where we could actually the fireplace. It was so nice being able to knit on my Christmas socks while looking at the tree with the fireplace crackling in the background. I got a lot of knitting done this past week since I was sick and I got to use the Mommy's sick card and lay in bed and knit. The downfall of that was that I was actually really really sick. Last Sunday I woke up at 2:30 am in a cold sweat freezing and actually shaking from the chills. Monday I found myself in the waiting room of my Dr (who by the way is an older man that is like family). After the pokes of needles and swaps of stick I was informed I had the flu. My doctor gave me a hug, told me go home and sleep and Merry Christmas. Oh and we have insurance and Tamaflu for $60 is not what I would call covered by insurance... I pretty much lived in our bedroom all Monday and Tuesday. My darling hubby brought me food, drinks and meds. Wednesday I was able to leave but I wore a mask since we do have kids and I did not want them to get it. I had gotten the flu shot in October and I guess I could have had the Flu for a longer time frame but I think I got over it so fast due to some simple little at home remedies..

1. sleep! (I did have to take phenergan due to being so nauseated.)
2. Vitamins I bought 3 lbs of oranges from the road side vendor who is always set up down the street from my Doc. I had a hard time holding down other food but I could keep the oranges down. I ate a 3 lbs by Wednesday... it was pretty much all I ate in the 3 besides the occasion cracker.
3. Homemade rice/lavender cold packs for fever. To keep fever down I have 2 rice packs. They are dried white rice with some dried lavender sewn in a cotton sack. They are fast to make and make great gifts. I keep mine in a freezer zip lock bag in the freezer at all times ready to fight headaches, colds, etc. 
4. Lots and Lots of fluids. I esp love hot teas. They feel so good on your throat and the peppermint ones are great for headaches and colds.
5. humidifiers - We have several some hot air and some cold air depending on what ails us.
6. layering- So many people they when they are sick they need to bundle up but trapping in body heat is not the answer. If any of us have fevers we wear cotton and do not get bundle up. Fevers are a natural action for your body to take when if fighting germs. If you jump to taking fever reducers and trapping heat in you are not allowing your body to do the natural things it needs to do. Now of course if it shoots up with first try to lower it with a slightly warm shower and then Tylenol. But if it is around 100 we let it do its thing.

So that's some of the things we do.. Do you have any go to remedies? I would love to hear them.

FO's Time!!
Who got their Christmas socks done... this girl that is who! I am so happy with the especially since they are my first sock. I did manage to totally butcher the toes because I did not feel like looking up the closing stitch. I just winged it. They still look good and to an non knitter they would never know.
#Operationsockdrawer

I also started and completed a gift for my hubby. See I am married to an adult kid :) He is loves Ninja Turtles. The wall in our bedroom and his desk is covered with them. I decided to make him a mini Leonardo for his stocking. If you remember a while back I made my son a larger turtle and that can be seen here. The one I made for Lee was totally free handed. I did make notes as I made him and I plan on releasing his pattern in January or February. You can see all my notes on him here.

Last but not least I have a very fast hat for my brother. It is made from Red Heart With Love. I used a pattern by Amanda Salazar Higgins. It is called simple mans beanie. You can see my Ravelry notes here.



Oh one more thing. Are you giving away handmade knitted or crocheted things? If so here is some printable labels. I am not sure where I got the link from Pinterest I think.. I know that is so bad of me :/
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BywamVDQWUXAOXpWMEY0azNhTUE/edit

I wanted to shared some random pictures from the last time I posted... Merry Christmas and happy Yarning...