You say tomayto, I say tomahto...

So, are you going to call next year two-thousand-ten or twenty-ten?

(And btw, I say tomayto. ;-)

My dogs are really strange. The past couple of nights I've had pork roast (pre-roasted, from the store), sauerkraut, and potatoes, with a little applesauce to temper the sauerkraut a bit, for dinner. Such a good meal; I love the contrast of the rich pork and the tang of the kraut and the earthiness of the potatoes. But strangely enough, apparently so do the dogs. I had left-over sauerkraut after I finished the pork, and they both showed interest in the bowl, so I put a little dab down for them, and they ate it right up. So I gave them a little more, and they ate that, too. I don't think I've ever had a dog who liked sauerkraut before, and now I have two! Strange doggers.

(Guess who just moved to snuggle up and snooze with her head in my lap? Sweetie!)

I was supposed to go to Springfield to visit my sister today, but (a) I had a queasy stomach all night and (b) it snowed this morning. I could have coped with one or the other, but didn't feel like trying to cope with both, so I called her and cancelled. She was in the shower when I called, so I had a chance to talk to my brother-in-law, the one with soft palate cancer; he sounded great, strong and upbeat, which made me happy. But when I talked to my sister later, she sounded so tired--I hope she gave herself a break today and got some rest. She said she was thinking about starting a pair of socks, had her yarn all picked out and wound into balls and just needed to decide on the pattern.

She's responsible for my learning to knit--she started knitting first, and was making wonderful things, and I thought, Well, if she can do it, I can do it! :) She's still a better knitter than I am, I think--I'm pretty slapdash about it; she's more patient and careful and has a great eye for color. I always like to see what she's doing. She did a beautiful shawl-collared Aran sweater for our mutual nephew for Christmas. One time she was visiting, and we looked down and realized we were wearing socks made from the same yarn. Different patterns, but the same yarn. Kinda cool.

I haven't exactly been sailing along on this, but I've gotten back to where I was with the Aran sweater before I decided to rip it back. I think another repeat of the central pattern and it'll be time to divide for the armholes. I totally plan to pick up stitches and knit down for the sleeves, which will entail some tinkering with the pattern, but I'm so allergic to sewing things, I'd rather tinker.

I wonder if I can spare $50 to buy a set of blocking wires and some alpaca-silk yarn for the 2009 Calendar Scarf from Elann.com, or if I should buy more dogfood instead.