You Try to Work Under These Conditions!

OK....First of all, it's New Year's Eve...No.  We aren't going out to celebrate.

Walter is playing golf today and I am cooking for tomorrow.  Not New Year's Day....Walter's birthday. 

The kids are coming over and I decided to do pulled pork and potato salad today.  That way I won't have to spend the whole day cooking like I did on Christmas.

The rug is coming along nicely considering I haven't had a lot of time to work on it.  I am almost finished with the strap work between the blocks. and finished the blue in the boarder and most of the dark green.

But, I ask you.  How can I be expected to work with an ongoing party in the townhouse?  Tessie, after taking a couple of day off is back in the middle of it.  It has mostly moved to the living room.  The tree is down and the presents disappeared.  I think most of them were zapped somewhere by Tessie.  She is probably hoping that the rest of the gang will go home staggering and not remember any presents after partying for a week....

My other problem was this...While I was trying to take a photo of the rug, I would get the camera in position and as I was about to push the button, this happened.  Mookie kept edging in between  me and the camera and the rug...I actually had to push him away from the camera to take this....All I saw before was one golden eyeball  in the lens.

He did not want me messing around with minis when it was his turn for attention...

Anyway, I am going back to cooking now.  I have an order from the party goers for snacks....Maybe they will be satisfied with a sauce dish full of Chex Party Mix....I hope so.

See you tomorrow.

More Boring Cross Stitch....

OK.  I only had a comment from one person that does their cross stitch this way.  It was Rosanna from   http://lastanzadigiuggiola.blogspot.com/ She does some of the loveliest mini stitchery.  Go see her blog.

She also worked it out for herself and came up with the same solution.

Someone did want to see the uphill version, so I am putting that in today.

First step, start coming out of the top left corner, just like the horizontal version.  Again, run the needle parallel with the top thread of the canvas.

I didn't explain the reason for this yesterday.  By putting the working thread beneath the cross thread and parallel to the top canvas thread, it locks the stitch in place and it won't slide sideways as it sometimes does with other methods.  I hate to have to work the thread back to the diagonal before crossing it. The other advantage is, once you get the hang of it, you won't have to block your work either.  No diagonal slants. 

Second step is a diagonal. This one is just to get you back into starting position for the next X.  

Once you are there, you do one short vertical stitch. on the right side. 

That forms the first half of your second stitch.

Then you do a two thread vertical stitch on the left to complete the X and get in position #1 once again.

To do the diagonal stitches that you see in the border, I simply used the stitch that would make my thread parallel to the top thread of the canvas, repeating as needed...Still always starting in the top left of the stitch. 

Here you can see how uniform the stitches are when you stick to that rule.

For anybody that is interested in where the design for this rug came from, here it is.  This is another of the Dover books.

The copyright date in it is 1975...You can tell by the colors on the cover...The cover is detached...Falling apart. It has been well loved.  I even made a full sized rug from one of the designs in it long ago.

It was originally published in Europe in 1604, so the designs in it can be legitimately be made into rugs and other needlework items from that date to the present.

I messed with the design a bit.  I simply slid the boxes down so that they were parallel and added an extra row.  I added the zigzag border for interest and may still carry it further out.

I finished six of the inner boxes after hunting for a couple of the colors of thread that I had hidden with other rugs.  I also finished some of the strapwork running between the boxes.  Now that I have all of the kinks worked out, it shouldn't take too long to finish.  Designing as you go, can be fun....

See you tomorrow.

There Are a Few Simple Rules....

Tessie and I have been taking turns, working on this rug all morning.  Off and on...Between other jobs.

Those of you that aren't interested in cross stitch will probably be bored to tears.

Those of you that are, might get a few tips from this.

Incidentally, the little case that Tessie is sitting in, is a purchase at the after Christmas sale at Walmart several years ago. 75% off! I wish that they had something similar this year.  No such luck.  This one is starting to show a little wear and tear.  I fitted the inside to hold two rows of embroidery thread and patterns held in the lid with Velcro. It's a great take along case.

Now.  About those rules.

Over the years, I have devised this method of stitching.  I find that it is the fastest and most accurate way to work, when doing straight and diagonal lines.  I use it for background and geometric shapes.

I have never seen it written down anywhere.  I worked it out with logic and it seems to work for me. 

The first rule is.  Every cross stitch is started in the upper left corner and the second half of the stitch is parallel with the top thread of the fabric that you are stitching over.

Second rule is...When doing straight lines work either from right to left or bottom to top.  If you want to go back in the opposite direction, turn the work upside down.  Don't try to stitch back the way you came.

When I first learned to cross stitch, the teacher was doing that old "work the first half of the stitches going from left to right and then work the second half back....For me, that just didn't work.  I had stitches slipping out of place and other problems....What if I wanted to do a couple of stitches out of the line?

Then that little light bulb went on over my head.  I realized that, when doing hand sewing, I never went from left to right.  I always went right to left.  That is natural for a right handed person.

I kept at it until I got a four step pattern to do two stitches.  They don't slip out of place this way and it is fast, once you get the rhythm.

Go back and look at the second photo.  You will see that the thread is coming out of the left top corner of the X.  To make the cross, you have to go on the diagonal.   In this case, the top thread is vertical.  Therefore the needle follows the thread.  One stitch from the bottom right corner to the top right.

Second photo.  Complete the cross in the bottom left and continue by slipping the needle through to the top left of the next stitch.

I know this sounds complicated, but if you just follow the directions carefully and practice, I guarantee that you will be doing this automatically in no time....And you will speed up your stitching.

You are now in position to do the second stitch.  The third step is to do a right to left stitch across the bottom.  This makes your first diagonal.

The fourth step is to complete that stitch by going in the top right and doing a horizontal stitch across the top across two threads.  This will bring you back to step #1.

If you should happen to start on an X that has a horizontal thread on top, simply start with the third and fourth step.  Just always remember rule #1.  Needle always parallel to the top thread on the second step of each cross.

The way to get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice!  If anybody shows any interest, I will show you how to do the vertical steps tomorrow.

My favorite saying, when I was teaching was, "Trust me!  I know what I'm doing!".  It still applies.  Just read carefully and practice. Soon it will come naturally.

See you tomorrow.

Sitting and Stitching....

It started out as a day of sitting and stitching.  It wound up another cleaning and clearing day.

My New Year's Resolution shall be, "Finish things!"

It will probably last all of three days, twenty two hours, seven minutes, and two seconds....Not counting the milliseconds.... It wouldn't save any time.

This is one of those rugs in a book that I liked...I am doing pretty good on it, with Tessie's help.

Maybe I should mention some tips and tricks I use whilst stitching.  I just got new glasses, but I still prefer using a lighted magnifier to work.  Less eye strain.  I like this type, with the magnifier and light separate and adjustable.  It works well to keep an eye on Tessie too.

Storage for all of the floss I have can be a problem at times, so I use the DMC color chart.  I bought my first one about 30 years ago.  Wore it out.  Bought this one about five years ago and will probably wear it out too.

Walmart carries a version of this...I wouldn't buy it.  It has photos of the thread colors...Not the real thread.  This one costs more, but it is much more exact in choosing threads.

The three boxes in front are all my threads in numerical order. ( The color chart goes by groups of colors.)  That way I can pick and choose by color on the chart and then go to the appropriate box to find the thread of that number.

The three boxes from Plano(fishing gear from Walmart) stack and fit nicely on a book shelf.  They take up very little space, compared to some of the other storage units that the thread company puts out.

The last time I checked, I was lacking 5 of the colors on the chart....They were out of those colors everywhere.  I suspect that they have been discontinued.

The secret is out....These are just some of my unfinished rugs.  They will all get done eventually.

Remember, the more projects you have going, the longer you will live!

This is the last secret.  It is a four foot high jewelry chest.

I bought it years ago, at an after Christmas sale.  Half price.

I don't think that I have ever had it close to filled with jewelry.

The bottom five drawers are filled with the fabric and other items for making the rugs.

The drawer that Tessie is standing in, is the drawer that you see in the photo above.  Believe it or not, all of those unfinished rugs in the plastic boxes fit in the one drawer.

The top one that you see has all of the silk items that you saw a few days ago.

The second, fourth and fifth have fabric.  Hey! You never know when I will want to start another project.

One thing I forgot to mention.  When I start a new rug, as I add colors, I write the number on the outer selvage of the fabric.  That way, if I pilfer a color from one box to work on another one, I will know which color to search for and chances are, the number will be written on the edge of one of the other rugs.

It's not a fool proof system, but most of it works for this fool.

See you tomorrow.

Trunk Finishing and An Angry Drawer.....

This is how it always happens...I go look for something to blog about, with the best of intentions....And then something explodes in my face.

This morning, I wandered into the less than clean workroom...Yup...It's that way again.

I spotted a box marked Trunk Pieces.  Sure enough there were four trunks in various stages of completion....None complete.

I thought that was as good a place as any to start.  Besides, it was in the bookcase just inside the workroom door....I didn't have to try to go further into the jungle....

Wait for it....This is the explosion part.

I went back to the living room to dig out the leather drawer from the Chinese chest, where it lives.

It groaned and growled a bit when I opened the door.  Normal.  Then when I went to pull it out, It exploded all over the living room floor.  It has been making threatening noises for months.  I guess it just couldn't stand being crammed in the little space anymore.

I decided to go ahead and work on the trunks for a little while and then clean out the drawer...That is going to take a while.

I got the insides of all four trunks painted.  There is something wrong with this camera.  It keeps telling me that the inside of two of the trunks are blue.  They aren't!  Those are both decidedly gray in real life.

I cut strips and trimmed one of the trunks.  I still have to put the hardware on it.

One almost down and three to go.....Plus the angry drawer.

I guess I should send Tessie back to the party and get back to work.

She changed aprons, in the hope that the guests would take the hint that Christmas and the party were in the past....It didn't seem to work.  The party is still going strong. 

I think that I will be seeing a lot of Tessie in the next week....She is partied out.  Just a little while ago, she asked me,"How do you get rid of unwanted guests?  These people are starting to get on my nerves."

I told her, "Just tell them that there is a much better party going on down the street.  You know, the house with all the lights."

The last I saw of her, she was going from room to room in the townhouse telling everyone about the fabulous party the neighbors are having....It should be interesting to see how the neighbors react to all of those tiny people showing up, drinking their beer and eating their pizza.  I have a feeling that their party is about to come to an end too...

I have to go and help Tessie clean out all signs of a party in the townhouse.  Maybe we can convince them that there was never a party there....It was all in their tiny, little minds.  We shall see.......

See you tomorrow.

"For Me??? You Shouldn't Have...."

That was Tessie's favorite thing to say as I opened gifts.  Then she would grab whatever it was and run! 

The best quote of the day was from Seth though.  He took one look at the party going on in the townhouse and said.  "I want to go to Tessie's party.  They look like they are having fun and there's pizza and beer!"  He know how to make Tessie happy.

Now to the gifts. Seth's mom found these for me.  They are Chinese Cloisonne.  Each one is different and all have little handles on both sides, with the exception of the middle one.  That one has two loops towards the top of the neck, one above the other. 

I suspect that these were maybe on a necklace or something.

Thank you, Jill....I had them for about 10 minutes and then Tessie zapped them.  She has plans....

Something that Tessie didn't get away with was a couple of gifts from Walter.  I knew I was getting the pendant watch.  He let me pick that one out.  The ring was a complete surprise.  He knows I like Steampunk. If Tessie even dares to breath on either of these pieces, she is going to get a severe reprimand.  And maybe even locked in a closet for a couple of days.

When I first started minis, every year I looked forward to my dad's special present.  He worked in a place where they had Elmer's glue in GALLON containers.  He knew I used a lot of it, so that's what I got.  This year, April got me these! It's not a gallon, but every little bit helps. 

It was the most popular gift in the house.  We all piled up the presents for Amare and he had trouble getting through them all...But he did.  He decided that my four bottles of glue were more interesting than all of the toys. 

He just about wore the labels off of them.  They started out on the footstool in front of where I was sitting.  They were delivered to everyone several times each.  Then they were placed on the living room rug, here and there.  We kept picking them up and putting them back.  He kept toddling around with one in either hand to deliver them to where he thought they should be....Toys?  What toys?  He walked around them or stepped over them to get where he was going to deliver the glue...

At one point, I told him that if he could properly say "glue", he could open the bottle and squirt glue wherever he wanted....I felt pretty safe....Until everybody started telling him to say "glue" and he came out with "goo" a couple of times....I had to rescind the offer...

I am now going to play with all of my new toys....Even if Amare won't play with his.  He's still trying to say GLUE properly.

See you tomorrow....Merry Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas to All...

This is what Christmas looks like in AZ.  Yup.  Bare feet are the normal attire. This was Seth and Amare about four o clock in the afternoon.

It was a great day.  I will be back tomorrow with all the details.

See you then. 

I hope that your Christmas was as Merry as ours!

Merry Christmas Eve....

I am sooooo late.

I cooked and cleaned all day, in preparation for tomorrow.

Then I went in and laid down...Just for a little bit.

An hour later, I realized that I hadn't written the blog entry yet.  Oops!!!

Tessie told me to just give you this recipe and let it go at that....I suspect that she just wanted to pose with the cookies.  Whilst eating most of them.

This is another very easy recipe...Very tasty.

So here you go!

Graham Cracker Nut Bars.

1 cup butter
3/4 c sugar
Graham Crackers
1 c. chopped pecans

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and butter it well.  Break crackers apart and line them up side by side on the sheet.

Combine butter and sugar in a sauce pan.  Boil over low hear for three minutes, until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Stir constantly.

Spoon over graham crackers and spread evenly.  Sprinkle pecan pieces over the top.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Cool some and then put the pan in the refrigerator to cool completely. Peel the foil from the back and break into pieces. 

EAT!

The last notation was Tessie's.

I did them this year with chocolate flavored graham crackers and walnuts instead of pecans.  We are on the second batch...The seem to disappear quickly.  Of course Tessie makes sure that none go to waste.

Anyway, tomorrow's the big day.

See you then. Merry Christmas Eve!

The Moveable Feast....

Don't ask about minis for a couple of days.  I am down to the wire. 

I finished putting together two little tubs of cookies.  One for April and Seth and one for Seth's parents.

The party is still going on at the townhouse, but unfortunately Tessie and Zar heard the clanking of cookie sheets coming from the kitchen.

There will be a few less cookies in the tins.  Please don't tell.  The recipients would probably frown upon dogs sitting on their cookies.  Not to mention a couple of people pawing through them and selecting the best ones for themselves....

I didn't tell them that I had extras to replace what they took.  If I did, they would probably immediately remove the extras from the fridge and hide them somewhere.  I would find them next July with a couple of tiny bites taken from each one.

As it was, they managed to leave a trail of crumbs for me to follow, from the kitchen to the Clockwork Caravan.

The Terrible Two +One, settled in the pavilion atop the caravan to get away from the irritation of the party.  Besides, they did not intend to share the cookies....No way. No how!

I won't mention the fudge that they pilfered for dessert.  You didn't know that Christmas cookies require a fudge chaser?  Yup.  Tessie informed me, "Its a law....Well it should be!  Cookies always taste better, followed by a bit of chocolate.".

Now I know!

I did finish a project...Not a mini, but for a mini.  I knitted a large Christmas stocking for Amare.  There was only one problem.  Only two of his presents would fit inside....Oh well maybe  the presents will get smaller as he grows???

I am going back to bake more cookies to replace the ones that the Cookie Monsters devoured...Sometimes I question their sanity...They didn't even ask for milk!

Merry Two Days Before Christmas!

See you tomorrow.

Confessions of a Rugmaker....

Some of you admired the Celtic rug I showed you the other day.  I can't claim to have designed it. It was found in an old Dover book.  Usually, once they start printing Dover books, they keep printing them.  I imagine that you could find it at the Alibris website as a used book if you can't find it new.  It  is called "Celtic Charted Designs" by Co Spinhoven.

The page that you see here is a chart for half of the rug....I have a LONG way to go on this one.

I love designing my own rugs, but if I see a design that I like, I am not above following someone else's chart.  If I do, I will always tell you where I got the design. I think that is only fair.

If you are just starting rug work, I think that this is the way to go.

This one is an English book and it has a lot of really nice designs that are mostly pretty simple to follow.

This Dover book is the one that got me started making mini rugs.  after 30 years, it is still one of my favorites.  Don't expect instructions.  It is simply many charts in black and white.  It has color recommendations for each chart.

The one that I am showing you here is the fourth one that I have done from this pattern...Each time I used different colors and each time it turned out great.

Love this book. 

Now, about designing your own....This is the most fun. 

See the rug to the left?  It is a small photo of a Tibetan rug...From that, I did the chart at the bottom right.  And almost half a rug at the top right. 

Notice, I changed the shape of the rug  and eliminated the things sticking out from the edges of the inner border. 

When you design your own patterns, you get to do what you want.

Here's the book that the idea came from.  I am a fan of Tibetan designs.  They are simpler than Persian or Chinese usually, but still complicated enough to catch your interest.

This particular book came from a used book shop here in town.  I imagine it is out of print now.  If you ever find it, grab it.  It is in full color!  No black and white photos at all.

Now that you know about these books, you should be able to make any kind of rug you want for your mini room.  I should mention that it does help to have a program for your computer like PC Stitch Pro 9.  It is so much faster to do a rug pattern when you can design a quarter of the rug.  Then with this kind of program, you can flip and turn the quarter to do the other three quarters of the rug in no time.

I am going back to work now.  Just a few more days and then things will be back to normal....Kind of....Sort of....

See you tomorrow.

Get Out Your Needle!

Every year about this time, I get out the PC Stitch Pro and go to work. 

This year, I did a small, simple Christmas Rug and three pillows.  It would be good for beginners in counted cross stitch.

As always, they are for personal use only.

And as always, you will have to enlarge them to get the lines to show up in the right places. The colored squares are in the right place.  It's just the lines that, for some reason, move when they are made smaller.

If you do this one on #22 hardanger in cross stitch, you will have a rug that is about 2 1/2" by just under 4".  If you do it on #40 silk gauze, it will be a little over an inch by two inches.

The pillows are about an inch square on 22. and half inch on 40.

You can go larger for a bigger rug and pillows by using coarser canvas.

Feel free to change the colors.  It is a basic 3 color pattern.  By  changing colors, you could easily use the pillows and a boarder rug with a plain center for any room.

Have fun, with my present to you. An early "Merry Christmas!"

See you tomorrow.

I Know I Have One......

I just don't know where I put it....Syndrome.  With a capital "S"!

I am at least determined to correct it.  Christmas is Tuesday. This is Thursday?  That gives me five days....

See the mess on the bed(plus some more that I didn't show).  I decided that, rather than have a few items here and a few more there, of the same category, I am going to consolidate...

This morning it began.  I took all of the boxes and drawers of miscellaneous minis out and started sorting.

It was interesting and kind of fun in a way.  I found some pieces that I hadn't seen for years, at the bottom of the boxes.  I also found some things that I have been looking for and couldn't find....They were in boxes that were totally unrelated to their home base.

Anyway, I am very proud of the five boxes that you see here.  It did take a few hours, but everything is in the right boxes and none are labeled miscellaneous minis.  That, in itself is pretty amazing....

I still have a lot of receptacles to sort through, but at least I got a good start.

I did find one item that I have been looking for since I started working on the Tudor house again...These were all in a little 1 1/2" X 2" bag and weren't taking up even half of it.

I bought them last year at the mini show in October.  I came home and carefully put them away....In with the one inch kitchen item.  They immediately went and hid beneath some of the one inch items.

See those little bottles? They are 1/8" tall...The plates are just a hair over 1/8" across.

I think that they are all going to stay attached to their sprues until I get the rooms in the Tudor house ready to have them solidly glued down to tables.
I am still trying to figure out why they included what looks like a pile of potatoes, with no container to put them in. I assume that the box is for the soft drinks.  Although it looks like there will be a lot of room left over.

Anyway, I am a happy camper.  Mini Tessie now has something to eat with...Now all she needs is something to eat. 

I will think about that later. I am going back to work now.  Maybe I will find more things that I forgot about.  I love surprises.

See you tomorrow.

One of Those Days....

Six days left....This morning we spent the time moving furniture, vacuuming and shampooing the carpet....

That takes a lot more time than shampooing hair!  Then you have to do the reverse and put everything back where it was.

We do have a Christmas tree, such as it is, now..  It is about 1/2 the size of our usual tree.  We had to put it up on a cabinet out of the reach of Amare. He can reach the edge of the cabinet if he stands on his tippy toes. 

I don't know what we will do next year....Probably suspend the tree from the ceiling...

In case you can't tell, I didn't manage to get ANY minis done.  I did work on the cleaning of the workroom whilst Walter manipulated the carpet cleaner around the house. 

I locked myself in and, miracle of miracles, The baskets are empty now!  Oh, OK, I still have one tiny basket full of stuff left over, but that is a far cry from the two laundry baskets from last week.

This afternoon was Wednesday Witches, so no minis then either.

Meanwhile, the party is still going on in the townhouse.

Tessie keeps poking her head out the door, looking for more guests...I think that she has just about everyone that is anyone in the house now.

It is definitely looking a lot like Christmas  a little more each day....

Sorry about the mini situation.  Tomorrow.  I promise.

See you then.

Holes in the Canvas...

This is probably the oldest, unfinished piece of silk canvas petite point I own... It isn't even really silk canvas....I found an antique dress that wasn't worth saving.  At the time(about 1984) I didn't have any idea where to get #40 silk gauze, but this was close.  It is very soft, unlike the real thing, but it was cooperative when I tried stitching on it.

The pattern was from a full sized rug pattern book. Instead of traditional Native American colors, I used typical 80s colors. It is about half done.

Why am I showing this to you?  I was doing more cleaning out and found it....It was a miracle.  I could actually see the holes in the mesh! 

The new glasses are tight and I am still trying to loosen them up, but they DO work. 

I dug a little deeper and found this Sharon Garmize Kit for a firescreen that I bought, finished, and never mounted.

By the time I did this one, I was saving every precious scrap of silk gauze that I could.  Thus the strip of a vine design running down the excess on the side.

I still didn't have a real source for it.

See the box of sewing thread?  That's all silk.  I have gathered that from various places.  Mostly in grab bags of thread from thrift shops and garage sales.  Hey!  It still works.

Later, when I found silk gauze, I fell into my normal way of doing things.  The rug that Tessie is holding is the center of a design that I liked in a rug catalog....Now all I have to do is find the catalog.  Then I can finish the rug...

The other pieces are just doodles and starts of borders for other rugs.

Now that I can see the holes, I have no excuse not to finish some of these pieces.

The little lavender piece is a unfinished clutch.  I actually finished one of those.  It is in the Regency Room.

The last piece, in her lap, is a very large Celtic bird design.  That isn't even a quarter of the whole length. 

I guess that, now that I have my sight back, I should start working on these again....Nah....Christmas is coming and I have to finish that first.  I will definitely get back to these after the 25th....Stay tuned for progress.

Back to my knitting now.  Amare needs a Christmas stocking more than he needs a mini rug.

See you tomorrow.

A Change of Venue....

Why do I bother?  I make plans for Christmas decorations.  Including mini places to have parties every year. 

This year, I was going to finish Santa's Workshop...I got some of it done.

I got sidetracked a couple of times and then this morning, Tessie flounced into the workroom and announced, " I am moving  back to the townhouse.  No way am I having a party in a one room cottage with an attic!"

She went and took the key away from Cordelia by force.  It was not a pretty scene.  She shoved the key to Cordelia's Nine Dollar Dollhouse in her hand and told her unceremoniously to beat it. "It's MY house and I want it back!".

Fortunately, Cordelia was forced into the trade in the first place and wanted her old place back....She was just too afraid to ask Tessie for it.

Tessie then "borrowed" furniture from Eskiaga and a few others and set the party in motion....Every year it seems to start earlier and earlier and finish later and later...The Twelve Days of Christmas has nothing on Tessie and company.  They called out for pizza and bug beer and let everyone know that the party was going strong.

The living room would only hold seven + a couple of animals, so the party spread.

She sat up a second table in the bedroom and the historic crowd got together up there.

Since Spike has been around a hundred and some years, he gets along with that group well.

This year, Walter even got invited.  He cut short his golf game and Tessie zapped him as he came in the back door.

She sent him up stairs to the workroom to have his fortune told.  Zofi was getting bored. 

The only other person up there was Engelbert.  He announced that he was going on strike and staying in the bubble bath until I finished his clothes.  I wouldn't object, but he took Spike Junior with him....

And as for the roof garden?  Tessie is making a little money on the side.  She rented it out to Santa.  Nice cozy office and a comfortable place to wait until Christmas eve.  

I am going to have to talk to Rocky Raccoon.  He will have to stop serving Santa mulled wine at least twenty four hours before flight time.

Now I have to go clean up the mess from the cottage that Santa refuses to go near....No raccoons serving drinks over there.

Ho! Ho! Ho! See you tomorrow.