33 Days Until Christmas!

This will be a post full of holiday ideas.

And, if you've never noticed, there's a widget at the bottom of this page that tells you how many days are left until Christmas, so you can check back here anytime.

First of all, since it's coming up later in the week, Crazy Aunt Purl has put up a post about how she's making stuffing and turkey at her house. These are good, easy and workable recipes, from a no-nonsense knitting writer, so get on over there and check it out if you're someone like me who never knows how long to cook a turkey.

She's doing her turkey in a crock pot, which is something that I've often thought would be a good, foolproof way of doing it but have never tried. Mainly because I don't have a crock pot. But I think I'll get one and do my Christmas dinner that way if I'm home for Christmas. She says the crock pot keeps it from overcooking and guarantees that it'll be nice and juicy! Sounds good!

If you want to do a more traditional roasted turkey, you can find all the instructions here. This seems like the best general outline I could find for times and temperatures for roasting.

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Now I'm switching the topic to Christmas presents, which people are beginning to think of with increasing panic at this time of year.

I came across a great listing of handmade presents for geeks. If you plan to buy something for a geek, you might find some good ideas here.

I was in a Borders store yesterday, and they had e-readers on sale this week. If you know someone who reads, you might want to check it out. I tend to lean toward the CruzReader and the Cruz tablet.

If you actually go to a Borders and look at both of them, you'll see that the Cruz tablet has a much clearer, easier-to-read screen than the CruzReader. The reader is a reader (duh), but the tablet is more like an iPad, more like a computer than just a reader. Both of them are color. There's not that much difference in price, so I tend to think I'd prefer the tablet because it'll be easier on the eyes, and will have a lot more functionality.

If that Cruz tablet sounds like a good deal, check out the Nookcolor. It's also a small tablet computer, that runs on the same system (Android) as the Cruz tablet (and some Android based phones), but it's about $50 cheaper and has a higher resolution screen than the Cruz tablet. Both tablets are smaller than an iPad, but both have or will have similar functionality as the iPad (from what I can tell) with a much smaller price tag.

Both have expandable memory (to 32 gigs) by the use of an SD card for the Cruz and a mini SD card for the Nookcolor. Both of these are also small enough to be almost pocketable, too! I especially like the loop on the Nookcolor so you can put a hand strap on it to help prevent dropping it. From what I understand, most of the apps that are available for my phone (I have a G1 from T-Moble, and I highly recommend T-Mobile as a phone company) will work on the Nookcolor as is or with a program converter. But there will be a whole new app store out for the Nookcolor in January, so it'll be even more computer-like.

I also feel I should mention that there's an app available for my phone that's similar to the one available for iPad that shows the night sky when you hold it up to the sky. I'm guessing it should work for the Nookcolor and Cruz tablet, but I have no proof of this yet, so take it with a grain of salt.

I went into my local Dollar Tree yesterday, too, and they have small lumps of (plastic) coal to put in someone's stocking or give as a present for someone who has been naughty this past year. Two lumps for a dollar.

And speaking of stockings, I will have a series of about 10 hand knit Christmas stockings available for sale in my Etsy or Art Fire stores. More on that in the next few days. They'll all be multicolor red with a white fur yarn "cuff," beading on the leg, white, glittery heels and toes, and knit stars on the hanging loop. I should have a photo or two in the next two or three days, and if you like it and want more than one, let me know so I can reserve them for you.

This now concludes the extended infomercial!

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We're having another new Chuck, The Event, and Hawaii Five-O tonight. It looks like Castle will be off TV for this week and next. The holidays always interfere with regular programming!

Have a fabulous Monday night!