Knit & Play with Fire

Box Last Night

There are two types of fires that fire fighters never really want to hear about and we had one last night. The first type is at either your own fire house or someone else's but that is not what we had.  The second type of fire is at a nursing home. Yeah, lots of mostly elderly people who are already in poor health and their building is on fire.

Last night at 8:30 we were dispatched to a box at one of the two nursing homes in our first due. A total of 7 companies were dispatched on the initial call including us. I was on the first engine arriving from my company and we were the second engine in. The boys from United Fire Company were there a few seconds ahead of us somehow.

The fire was already out when we got there. The fire was in a laundry room and the sprinkler system did its job. There was water everywhere. The residents in that wing were already being moved into another wing or were in a central location. After verifying that the fire was out and repacking the attack line, I ended up helping with EMS. We needed to move several of the patients into the back of ambulances to keep them warm and get them checked out.

After patient care and putting all of the tools away, it was stand around and wait for the fire marshal to finish up. What could have been a very scary night turned out to be not so scary.

And just as a public service message, please make sure that you clean out your dryer lint traps each and every time you use it!

Map Time

Okay, I was just volunteered to do quite a bit of data entry for the fire company. We are in the process of updating our map books and running routes and the guy doing the updates needs some help with the data entry and I was volunteered. Okay, I was asked to do it but as any one who has spent any time in the fire service knows, you do not tell the chief no without a really good reason. So I am going to be busy for the next few weeks entering the data into the data base. So if my posting is sporadic, I hope you understand.

Happy Boy

I am busy trying to finish up some UFOs. so I will give you a picture of a very happy little boy CHristmas eve. He is playing with the toy his favorite aunt (me) gave him. And no, the UFOs were not Christmas presents, but ones that I want to finsih up for Three Kings Day, which is January 6.

Yesterday's Fire

Okay, as promised, I have a few pictures of yesterday's house. The house was in an old farmhouse back down a long dirt farm lane. And yes, we took the engines and the truck back down this lane. Let's just say, we did not get stuck and it was a nice fun mini roller coaster ride back down the lane.

But to give you a clue as to the lane's condition, brush trucks were being used to bring fire fighters back to the house. And we picked up some extra people at the top of the lane.

The fire was out by the time we got there. (We had about a 10 minute drive.) But we still  had to overhaul the fire room and the next room. And overhaul is just another word to say that we had the dirty work of cleaning out the burnt stuff and trying to save what we could.

While the guys shoveled the debris out, I was going through the clothing and the toys in both rooms seeing what could be saved and would had to be tossed out. There were quite a few small stuffed animals in the room and I had to make the decision to toss them. I also had to toss the bedsheets off the beds.

Once the smell of smoke from a house fire gets into textiles, you will never get it out no matter what you do. I really wished that I could have saved some of the kids stuffed animals but there was just no way.

If you have kids at home and they have quite a few stuffed animals and toys that they do not play with, I am going to suggest that the kids themselves go through their toys and set some of them aside. Talk to your kids and tell them what happens to kids toys after a house fire and see if they would like to donate them to a family in your area who has had a fire in their house. This is also a good time to go through the kids clothing and pull out what they do not wear or have outgrown. The easiest way to donate the clothing is to contact your local Red Cross chapter and tell them that you have kids clothing and toys that you would like to donate to families that have been displaced by a house fire. They will work with you. The Red Cross provides the families a place to stay and some money to replace to some of what is lost. But kids do not always understand the money and want toys. This is just a suggestion but it does make a difference to the kids.

And just so you know, it is my niece who came up with this idea. She is 9 years old and one of the things on her Christmas list is $100 to use to buy warm clothes for kids whose parents can not afford to buy them warm clothes. This idea is entirely her own. And when I questioned her that she would not be upset if I bought warm clothes and donated them to a family that needed them and that would be her present. Her answer was that was what she wanted for Christmas. (And I did make her a present.) My SIL has been cleaning out the toys that are not played with and we have been getting the toys to families that need them at my niece's urging.

Knitting will resume shortly.

Staying Busy

Okay, I keep trying to blog but real life keeps getting in the way. And that translates to my rear end has been spending a fair amount of time riding in a fire truck over the past few days.

I will post pictures later of the house where I spent a few hours at today.

And just a safety reminder to everyone who has wood stoves and chimneys in their houses. Please have them professionally cleaned at least every other year if not every year. The fire department really does not like having to visit you because of a chimney fire or a wood pellet stove that is malfunctioning and sending the smoke into your house.

So more later, I need to go and get some sleep.

Brought to You After the Fact

Okay, I tried to post on Friday but Typepad was down. So now, I have a few posts that I need to write.

Friday Morning
Here is the view out of one of my bedroom windows Thursday evening during the ice storm that kind of wasn't. Yes, the window was completely iced over. This particular window does not have the protection of the eaves of the roof. It is under the attic gable window so it tends to receive the brunt of the ice storms and rain storms.

And the ice storm turned out to really be nothing. The storm that started with snow ended with rain.

Saturday
I ran around picking up the door prizes for the Christmas party at the fire hall. I also ran a call where we transferred an engine into one of the city companies while they were out on a house fire. I still did manage to slide into a yarn shop and pick up some Manos for a hat and mittens for myself.

I did win a door prize at the Christmas party. Since all of the gift certificates had been placed in sealed envelopes and mixed up, I decided to take my chances with the gift certificates. Well, the one I ended up with was for a local day spa. But I ended up trading it for the gift basket donated by a local business with some one else. She has never been to a day spa and I have been to this particular day spa. I prefer a different day spa, so we traded.

And the scarf that I knit for a door prize went to a friend. He wasn't sure about what to pick so when he asked me if I knew what was in the bag, I told him. His only question to me was would his wife like it. And since I know his wife, I could answer in all honesty -  yes. So I know my scarf went to a good home. But I forgot to take a photo of the finished scarf.

Today is Brought to You By the Letter S

This is what is I saw outside my windows this morning. Yep, snow! The weather guessers are saying that we are supposed to getting ice on top of snow. But every single weather guesser has a different forecast. I hope it stays snow because I really do not like ice. I will drive in snow but not if there is any ice on the roads. If there is ice on the roads that means I can not run calls unless I decide to stay down at the station and I would rather stay at home knitting!!

And I did pass my final last night. Not that there was any question of me failing it; it was just a question of whether or not my grade was an 88 or better or between 80 and 86. Call me strange, but I not happy with a grade below 88. And unofficially I missed 6 questions so that means I received an 88. To pass the final you needed a 70.  I now have to wait for the official grade and my card saying that I am a rescue tech.

I have finished the scarf that I was knitting as a door prize and I will try and get some photos this afternoon. Plus I need to take some photos of the package that I finally picked up from the post office. (Sorry Bron, it has been there since Saturday but I did not want to stand in the long lines. They were really short today.)

And I have a link to share with you today that is worth bookmarking for those of us who knit at work. I am knitting up the Lace-Up Fingerless Gloves from Alterknits as a sample for my LYS. And I photocopied the pattern to work from and I was drawing a blank when it came time to M1-R. So I did a little search and found this website which has some really good videos for both those of us who knit continental and English or American.

I am doing this glove in the Manos that the pattern calls for and I am making a modified version using Kimono Angora in color 4 by Louisa Harding. Pictures will follow shortly. And I will also post the modifications to the pattern after I finish knitting up the gloves. I am making the arm part shorter on the forearm since I want to wear them while I am working on the computer.

Study Time

I am busy studying for my final in Rescue Tech which is tomorrow night. I have finished the scarf for the Christmas party and it just needs a quick wash tonight. I also have pictures of some new yarns and such. I will aim for either tomorrow or Thursday.

But I really like the quote I found on  my tea bag this morning - "Freedom is not woth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." - Mahatma Gandhi

Outrage

This article was in yesterday's Washington Post. It is an outrage to be suspended for speaking Spanish in a public school. As someone who is proud of her Hispanic heritage, I am outraged.

(In case anyone has problems accessing this article, I have copied it here.)

Spanish At School Translates to Suspension By T.R. Reid Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 9, 2005; A03 KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 8 -- Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally."
But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "

ut that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.

Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."

Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.

The tension here surrounding that brief exchange in a high school hall reflects a broader national debate over the language Americans should speak amid a wave of Hispanic immigration.

The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, says that 20 percent of the U.S. school-age population is Latino. For half of those Latino students, the native language is Spanish.

Conflicts are bursting out nationwide over bilingual education, "English-only" laws, Spanish-language publications and advertising, and other linguistic collisions. Language concerns have been a key aspect of the growing political movement to reduce immigration.

"There's a lot of backlash against the increasing Hispanic population," said D.C. school board member Victor A. Reinoso. "We've seen some of it in the D.C. schools. You see it in some cities, where people complain that their tax money shouldn't be used to print public notices in Spanish. And there have been cases where schools want to ban foreign languages."

Some advocates of an English-only policy in U.S. schools say that it is particularly important for students from immigrant families to use the nation's dominant language.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) made that point this summer when he vetoed a bill authorizing various academic subjects to be tested in Spanish in the state's public schools. "As an immigrant," the Austrian-born governor said, "I know the importance of mastering English as quickly and as comprehensively as possible."

Hispanic groups generally agree with that, but they emphasize the value of a multilingual citizenry. "A fully bilingual young man like Zach Rubio should be considered an asset to the community," said Janet Murguia, national president of La Raza.

The influx of immigrants has reached every corner of the country -- even here in Kansas City, which is about as far as a U.S. town can be from a border. Along Southwest Boulevard, a main street through some of the older neighborhoods, there are blocks where almost every shop and restaurant has signs written in Spanish.

"Most people, they don't care where you're from," said Zach's father, Lorenzo Rubio, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, who has lived in Kansas City for a quarter-century. "But sometimes, when they hear my accent, I get this, sort of, 'Why don't you go back home?' "

Rubio, a U.S. citizen, credits U.S. immigration law for his decision to fight his son's suspension.

"You can't just walk in and become a citizen," he said. "They make you take this government test. I studied for that test, and I learned that in America, they can't punish you unless you violate a written policy."

Rubio said he remembered that lesson on Nov. 28, when he received a call from Endeavor Alternative saying his son had been suspended.

"So I went to the principal and said, 'My son, he's not suspended for fighting, right? He's not suspended for disrespecting anyone. He's suspended for speaking Spanish in the hall?' So I asked her to show me the written policy about that. But they didn't have" one.

Rubio then called the superintendent of the Turner Unified School District, which operates the school. The district immediately rescinded Zach's suspension, local media reported. The superintendent did not respond to several requests to comment for this article.

Since then, the issue of speaking Spanish in the hall has not been raised at the school, Zach said. "I know it would be, like, disruptive if I answered in Spanish in the classroom. I totally don't do that. But outside of class now, the teachers are like, 'Whatever.' "

For Zach's father, and for the Hispanic organizations that have expressed concern, the suspension is not a closed case. "Obviously they've violated his civil rights," said Chuck Chionuma, a lawyer in Kansas City, Mo., who is representing the Rubio family. "We're studying what form of legal redress will correct the situation."

Said Rubio: "I'm mainly doing this for other Mexican families, where the legal status is kind of shaky and they are afraid to speak up. Punished for speaking Spanish? Somebody has to stand up and say: This is wrong."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Snow & Knitting

The weather guessers got it wrong yet again. Yes, we did get some snow but not as much as they predicted. My favorite farmer said that we only got about 3 inches of snow not the 5 inches or so that was predicted. But the snow was pretty first thing this morning. And Kris, here are your pictures and even though you don't want to help shovel, I still like you.

Actually it was prettier about 2:30 this morning. Yes, I was up at 2:30 in the morning. My pager went off for a call but before I got dressed, I peeked out my bedroom window and saw that the snow was covering it. I then promptly reset the pager and crawled right back into my nice warm bed. That is one of the advantages of being a volunteer - you can pick and chose the calls. (Actually, I rarely pick and chose the calls, I do run most of them, including the ones that turn out to be b.s.)

But I did get up for the one right before 7 am. See my driveway and parking lot were in the process of beingplowed at that time. One of the guys had the utility out already and was plowing the fire company grounds so they took the call. But I killed an hour down there before coming home to shovel snow. I had to shovel the front sidewalk and the pathways to the back doors. I never shovel the pathway to the front door because no one uses it!!

And just for Kris, I took some pictures. I really like the one of my next door neighbor's ornamental grass. I am planning on redoing my garden beds come spring and I know that ornamental grasses are going in the redesigned beds.

And now for the knitting. I was planning on knitting last night while I was down at the fire hall during bingo but fate intervened. Last night was going to be a really light night for help in the kitchen so I was not planning on running any calls during bingo. But I had just about finished getting things set up by myself in the kitchen when the blue light went off in the kitchen. (In my fire company, the blue light means a fire call. In the fire service, blue lights going off in the fire hall generally means an EMS call and red is a fire call. But we are strictly a fire company so blue means fire and red means get out the door.)

I went out to the engine bay to make sure that there was a crew for the quint. But when the chief came in and saw just me, I grabbed my gear and got into the back. We had one other fire fighter who came in at the last minute before we pulled out the door. We headed north up US 15 with lights and sirens going. I am constantly amazed by how many people do not get out of the way for emergency vehicles. Here we were going up the middle of the north bound lane with lights and sirens going and they still refused to move over!! Come on people, you have a big blue fire truck with pretty lights and loud sirens right on your rear end, get over!!!

Okay, I feel better now. We are the second due truck in this particular that is 15 miles north of us. We did pretty good time wise because we were there in about 10 minutes. But we were placed in service after getting there so we were able to come home. My chief drove up and the other fire fighter drove back. But we did manage to look at the Christmas decoration on the houses we passed on the back roads as we headed back to US 15. It is kind of fun looking at Christmas decoration when you sit up nice and high. But I really wished I had some simple knitting with me for the trip home. I am going to figure out how to stick some knitting in a spare pocket in my gear really soon.

But I do have some pictures of how much my Clapotis has grown. The next row will be the 19th pattern of the straight portion. Last time I measured it, the measurement was just over 64 inches which makes it taller than me! It stretches all the way across a queen size bed. I will probably start the decrease rows after pattern repeat 22 or 24. It all depends on how long it is at that point.

And II have decided that I need to finish up at least 2 UFOs before I can start any big projects. But I will state publicly that socks do not count!! (And yes, I did make the quilts on my bed.)

Time for Panic!!!

The weather guessers might finally get one right. They are calling for 5 to 7 inches in the Washing DC area and since I live further north, I might even see a little  more. And this storm isn't even here yet!!!

And my county is already panicking!! The snow is not supposed to start until late this evening and the powers that be have already announced that the snow emergency plan will go into effect at 6 pm. We had snow Monday night into Tuesday morning that amounted to a big zero!!! And there was more salt on the roads than snow. But they never placed the snow emergency plan into effect. So it will be interesting to see what actually happens tonight and tomorrow.

And we all know what I will be doing tonight. Hopefully, I will be sitting on my couch knitting. I have to go and work bingo at the fire hall tonight at 5 pm but we are generally done with everything by 9:30-10 pm. I will probably give my chief a call later to see if he is planning or wants any of us to spend the night at the station as an overnight crew. My only problem will be getting out of my driveway. One of my driveways is a little steep and the other one is easier to get out of because it is a gentle grade. But I hope that all of the lunatics stay off the roads overnight and no one needs either fire or EMS services. When we get more than 5 inches of snow, the fire department is dispatched along with the ambulance. Even if we are not dispatched on the initial call, if the ambulance fails to get out, the fire department is dispatched. So we shall see.

Knitting

And as promised, I have been knitting and I have a picture to prove it. I am knitting 2 hats that are supposed to be Christmas presents. But the truth is that only one of them needs to be done by Christmas. The one is my nephew's present. But if I get lazy, he will understand. He actually understands the process of knitting and that a knitter will get sidetracked. He is pretty smart for an 11-year old boy. All he cares about is getting the finished product and convincing me to make him another one.

The other project has an absolute deadline - Saturday, December 17. That is the date of my fire company's Christmas party and the scarf is a door prize. I am about 2/3 of the way through the second ball of yarn that I have. I had purchased 2 balls of Plymouth's baby brushed alpaca to make this scarf. But I am thinking that I need to go out and pick up another ball of it. I like my scarves to be really long so that you can wrap them around your neck and still have the ends hanging. And two balls of yarn just won't cut it. I will try and sneak out of work for a bit today to pick up another ball of it.

But the real question is whether or not I fringe? See, I am not a big fan of fringes on my scarves so I rarely fringe my scarves. But this scarf is not for me, so I would welcome any opinions on the fringe issue. I was thinking of not fringing and putting a note in the gift bag stating that if a fringe is wanted, I will be happy to put it on the scarf. Opinions please.

I am also trying to finish off a sock or two so that I will have some more warm socks on hand.

 

Yet More FIre Stuff

Okay this is an article from a Canadian newspaper but it is very true. People seem to fall in love with the glamorous picture of being a fire fighter as seen on tv and in the movies. But it is far from glamourous. It is dirty, cold, and hard work. What this reporter didn't get to see is us blowing our noses and having black snot coming out. Or coming home from a middle of the night call to go right back out and you still have to go to the job that pays your bills in the morning without any sleep.

Firefighting not all glamour
Bruce Campbell
Ramlbin’ On

Wednesday December 07, 2005 High River Times — When you’re an eight-year-old boy dreaming of growing up to be a firefighter, you imagine it’s about running into buildings and saving some damsel in distress.

 

What you don’t imagine is standing in the freezing cold, watching over a destroyed historical building in the middle of the night to ensure there are no more hot spots and that the site isn’t tampered with before the investigation.

 

The High River fire department once again went beyond the call of duty during the fire at Smiley’s Gateway Hotel in Nov. 28.

When Fire Chief Len Zebedee was fighting the fire, directing his men and women and coming up with his successful strategy to ensure the fire didn’t spread, I was on the sidelines, asking a paramedic on stand-by, if “Hey, can you go bug Len and tell him I need a quote? Tell Len to hurry. I’m on deadline -- this is an emergency.”

 

I was rightfully told to go to the media centre at the town office. I’m sure the paramedic was thinking of all sorts of places to tell me where to go.

 

The following night, I popped in on firefighters Curtis Doell and Mike Pearl at the Gateway site, who were standing guard.

 

While the spectacular fire drew hundreds of spectators, watching a burned-out hotel at 9:30 at night has all the appeal of knitting as a spectator sport.

 

I wasn’t about to mistake Curtis with Kurt Russell in Backdraft at that exact moment.

 

So after a few minutes of chitchat, I took a picture (which didn’t turn out --hey, man, it was cold out) and left.

Boy it’s tough being a reporter.

Meanwhile, these guys had to stay up until 1 a.m in polar bear-type weather. Oh, yeah, they are volunteers, so they were getting paid exactly the same as I was while I drank warm milk and read Huck Finn --nothing.

 

Just for good measure there were other firefighters who were going to take their place at 1 a.m for the “bad shift.”

 

Sadly, my illusions of being a firefighter have been shattered -- it’s too much work.

 

But I sleep easier knowing there are folks out there who are putting in the effort to make my community and myself safer.

 

What our firefighters do, is something the community, myself included, take for granted.

 

I guess, now I wanna be a cowboy

What It Is Like...

This is an anonymous poem that is making it's way around the fire fighting blogs.  II really think it because it does pretty much sum up what I see and do every day. And keep in mind that I do not get paid for doing what I do.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3 AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns. I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none.

I start CPR anyway, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible was done to try and save his life. I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar with. I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire, Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?. Or to call and ask what is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun? I wish you could be in the emergency room, as a doctor pronounces dead, the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past 25 minutes, knowing she will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy", ever again. I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine, squad, or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic.

When you need us however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!" I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years from the remains of her automobile. What if this was my daughter, sister, my wife or a friend? What were her parents reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?

I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not come back from the last call. I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers, firefighters and EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers back or to here a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance. I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally and sometimes physically abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will never happen to me". I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain of missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen.

I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos. I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging at your arm and asking, "Is my Mommy okay?", not even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say. Or to have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on him as they take him away in the Medic Unit.

You know all along he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with. Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us...I wish you could though.

Regular Kknit blogging will resume in the next day or so...

Go Navy!!!

Okay, the only football game that I even attempt to watch happened this past Saturday in Philadelphia. And I think Shanti will agree with my feelings. YEAH!!! NAVY HANDED ARMY THEIR REAR ENDS!!!! GO NAVY!!!!!!!

Blogging By Mail/Updated

I took part in the Blogging By Mail after reading about it on the Super Eggplant's blog. I mailed my package off to Mari in California who does not have a blog. Check out the post on November 19 on Cathy's my little kitchen to see what I sent Mari.) And from the note she sent me, she loved what I sent her.

I received my package today from London, England!!!! My package came from Jess of Scarf-o-matic. Yes, a knitter sent me food goodies!!! But she also included some yarn!!! She sent me a skein of Colinette's Enigma yarn which I have never seen before.

There is a container of Christmas pudding which smells wonderful! I am going to be nice and try and wait until Christmas to try it. This way I torment my brother in the meantime.

There is some chocolate. And no, I have not touched them unlike other bloggers out there. I do have some will power! Not much but some...

There were some tea packets in the box that I will be trying. There was also a little Christmas wreath since Christmas is one of her favorite holidays.

And of course recipes. I will be trying them of course. I will try to remember to take photos of the finished items before eating them.

And just as a side note, I will be doing this again. I have already signed up for BBM4 at Templar's site.

Updated 12/1/2005
I am updating this post and republishing it. I have tried the chocolate coins. Okay, just one! And I must report that it was delicious. I am going to share the rest of them with my niece and nephew. I know that they will enjoy the chocolate but I will not share the Christmas pudding with them though!!

I am thinking about how to use the skein of Enigma that Jess also sent me. I am leaning towards using it in a scarf with possible another Colinette yarn. But I will play around with some ideas first. But nothing will be done with it until after the holidays. I have 2 hats to finish for my niece and nephew and a lace scarf for my mother first. And yes, they are Christmas presents.