I did the required 12 rows of Shirley Shrugs last night and it wasn't so bad.  The little voice says, "Why knit something if you don't love it?"  The other little voice says, "It's for your mother; she's done plenty of things for you over the years that she didn't really want to do."

That other little voice kind of puts me in my place.

I did not pull out the second Log Cabin Sock, but I did work a bit on Weasley.  Woo!

DH & Maddy brought the Christmas tree up from the basement.  I noticed a string of lights marked with bits of masking tape -- must have flagged it last year as needing to be replaced.  Heh.  That string is glowing brightly, wouldn't you know, but there's a HUGE chunk at the top of the tree and some spots near the bottom that are dark, dark, dark.  Ugh.

Today, I'm going to learn a little bit about my credit union's online bill pay service.  I've paid plenty of bills online before, but never in this way.  My most recent bill from MCI came with a notice that they'll start to charge me a fee to send me an invoice unless I register for e-billing.  I'm old-fashioned -- I like to hold the actual bill in my hand, to write the actual check, and stick the actual stamp.  I've got to get with it.  My mother (let's just say not so computer savvy) will be happy to hear it -- she's been doing it for quite a while!

Y'all had eyeballs popping out of your heads yesterday at the number of Bloglines (or Fucklines, depending on who you are and maybe the day) subscriptions in my list.  You know, I make it a point to subscribe to the feeds of people who make themselves known to me in one way or another -- by linking or commenting or emailing or throwing a dart at my Frappr map.  When you click on my list of feeds, all you see is the gigantic list.  When I click, I see it with highlights -- you know, 384 subscriptions, but only a fraction of those have new posts, and they're broken down into smaller (but not yet bite-size) pieces.  I haven't been using my new system for very long, but I am SO happy with it -- the blog reading is so much more manageable.    I've actually been caught up with blogs a couple of times this week!

Geez, remember?  Back in the day -- a year ago -- when we blindly clicked on our link lists not knowing whether anyone had posted anything new.  And the learning curve -- figuring out who was who and who posted when and how often -- Bloglines is SUCH a time-saver that way.  I will freely admit that I don't read every single word of every single blog every single time -- just can't do it -- nor do I actually open every single blog every single time, but I'd rather skim them than ignore them altogether.

Just last night, I was reading Jen's post about Christmas Stockings and her desire to knit one for X by Christmas.  Then I clicked on "Knit Blogs UVWXYZ" and saw a post on Zip-a-dee-doo-dah Day about Christmas stockings -- and a Stocking Along!  Did you know there was a Stocking Along?  I didn't, and I don't think Jen did.  I was so happy to share that with Jen and hopefully she'll find a pattern or maybe just some inspiration and support.  That's the kind of stuff I love about blogging and why I like to read and/or skim lots of different blogs.