freezing, freezing, freezing

It's not even winter yet, but the wind is so cold today. I stayed home after lunch because I think I'm coming down with something--headachey, and my whole body just hurts. So I came home and took a nap, then took the Ts out. Man that wind is cold!

So I was going to come in and drink hot chocolate, but, silly me, I bought some last time I was at the store, instead of making my own tried and true mix, and it smelled so terrible and full of chemicals that I didn't even try to drink it--I dumped it. Must remember to buy the stuff to mix up a batch of hot chocolate mix. I'm sure you've got your own version of this, but fwiw, here's my recipe:

1 cup powdered sugar
10 quart box powdered milk
1-1/2 pound box Nestle's Quik
12 oz. powdered non dairy creamer

Yeah, it makes a lot, and you can halve the recipe. If you make up the entire thing, put it all in a small trashbag, which you must close very tightly, and then shake it up to mix. Over the years I've adapted it a bit--for one thing, you can't find 10-quart boxes of powdered milk any more, and I usually use more Nestle's Quik. You could leave out the non-dairy creamer and add a flavored kind with each cup you made, to get different tastes. And yes, it has about 10,000 calories per cup. But it's sooooooo rich and tastes really good.

What I drink the most of is this:

18 oz. Tang
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup instant tea
2 packages Lemon Kool-Aid (no sugar)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves or allspice

I've messed with that one, too, mostly with the spices--like 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of cloves, or 1/2 teaspoon cloves AND 1/2 teaspoon allspice. It's not a lot better on calories than the hot chocolate--all the sugar in the Tang as well as what you add to the mix--but at least it has some vitamin C in it. It's really turned into a winter comfort drink for me--it smells wonderful, and I love the sweet-tart-spicey taste. Last winter I went through three batches.

I ordered a new keyboard for the computer this morning. I use an Adecco mini-keyboard with touchpad because I don't like using a mouse. I like them a lot, but they're not very sturdy, and I go through about one every 18 months. I also ordered a 2GB flash drive, since it was only $15 and I can't find my 1GB. It's floating around here somewhere... I think...

Speaking of spending money, I was hoping to get another year's use out of Taenzer's play tunnels, but they're in pretty rough shape--looks like I'm going to have to order new ones. Think I'll wait until closer to Christmas and hope I can find a good deal on them.

I'm knitting a little bit, but no socks. I started a sweater and have about 8 inches to go to the armholes. I should have started from the top down, because I want to do raglan sleeves, and I do have a pattern for a top-down raglan sweater, but I wasn't thinking of that when I started and I'm too lazy to stop and start over. It's a 4x2 rib, with a 2/2LC on alternate panels every 12 rows. I'm hoping it will look nice enough to wear to work (most of my sweaters turn out to be knocking-around-the-house sweaters). I've also started another tam. I don't expect to do anything fancy with the crown because I'm using a novelty yarn, Phildar's Top Secret, once I get past the ribbing. Plus I'm working a little bit on a trinity stitch shawl I started last winter. It's going to take me years and years to finish, and it won't be anything terribly fancy, but I think it will be light and warm. The yarn is a laceweight mohair with a bit of gold glitter, and I'm thinking of edging it with some light-weight chenille from the stash, to give it a bit of definition. We'll see.