Getting Re-Caught up

Last week, I kinda disappeared. Sorry there was no warning. It was just time for a break. Both hubby and I had been sick and we were at each other's throats. I decided we needed some time to just relax and have some quiet time and I needed to have some "kitten therapy" so I went down to my mom's house. They live out in the country so there's basically no TV (they get like 4 channels) and so it's mostly quiet and I get to play with the pets and (sometimes) get a lot of knitting done.
Friday morning it looked like this outside:

Yeah, um, Surprise!

It was pretty but it sure looked like almost Christmas not almost Thanksgiving. The kittens got to go outside and see snow for the first time EVER. It was pretty cute and pretty soon their feet were cold so they came in and did this:

That's all five of the kittens curled up together in the bed on top of the dog's kennel. The two adult cats Willow and Fluffy of course wanted nothing to do with these guys so they all snuggled together to stay warm.
Yes, Freckles is bigger. He's from an earlier litter. His mother abandoned him and we found him under the wood pile.
I came home on Friday and have spent the rest of the time trying to get things back into some semblance of order. I try to (mostly) be neat but we are still unpacking so everything is still a mess. I'm working on that today but I had a big "bachelor" mess to clean up when I got home. That's what I call it when I leave and hubby goes all bachelor for a few days. He kinda reverts back to old bad habits.
Yesterday, things were finally back to the somewhat skewed version of normal we have around here and I decided that the nice crisp day (despite the fact that all the snow has melted) called for some homemade soup. Have I mentioned here before that I like to cook? yeah, this was dinner last night:

Homemade vegetable soup with alphabet pasta and homemade whole wheat bread. Yum! Actually, that's what I'll probably have for lunch today too. Only I'll toast the bread since it's no longer warm from the oven.
Since yesterday was Sunday and we usually relax on Sundays I decided I'd better get hot on the Christmas knitting so I started another pair of socks.


This yarn is the new Lion Brand Sock-Ease in the color Rock Candy. It's pretty much gray with some lime green and a hint of mauve. These are going to be socks for my step-brother Chris. (I have to specify which Chris because my other brother is also named Chris. Yeah, holidays are somewhat weird with my family. I know they don't apply to the rules of colors men will wear on their feet but I think they will work anyway. My step-brother is not what you would call a "typical" guy. He's a little odd. As you can see from this picture

I'm already past the heel turn. How did you get so far, you ask? (Let's pretend you did.)
Well, for one thing, he has size 13 feet so I didn't make the leg very long so I'd have enough yarn to finish the feet but also, this contraption helped.

Pictured here with the knitting for people who don't care.
What is it? You ask (again, let's pretend you did.)

Here is it being used. It props open my book so I can read and knit at the same time. In this way, I managed to get pretty far into my book, have some quiet time and get a whole bunch of knitting done. At this rate, I should easily be done in time for Christmas. (Please don't remind me of that statement on December 23rd when I'm crying into my coffee cup.)
I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow, we'll probably have an update on said Christmas knitting.
One more thing though.
Some Congratulations are in order to this guy:

My brother Chris pictured here with Trouble on my parents' couch. (Not the one these socks are for though so no worries. His Christmas Gifts are on super, double secret alert.) Anyway, congratulations are due because he's engaged. (Not to the cat though so don't worry about that.)