7 Quick Takes Friday {Take 20} Knitting mojo, cranky dancers, and holiday meal planning panic mode edition...

It's been a bit of a long week. I am feeling a lot better, but the emotional drainment (new phrase: officially coined) remains. Therefore, I'm giving myself total permission to have my quick takes literally be anything that crosses my mind. You've been warned.

-1- I have my knitting mojo back. Most of you probably have no idea what in tarnation I'm talking about, and that would be because you are *normal*. Knitters like myself have our own peculiar language. We "frog" things,  we "tink" (this isn't anything scandalous, I assure you), we have projects that "hibernate," and there are mysterious "ufo's" all over our living rooms. It's all very charming in it's own freakish way. But I've been happily knitting and crocheting my way through some Christmas gifts these days, and that is good because Christmas is rapidly approaching. A lack of sufficient handknit dishcloths to give away on Christmas Eve is cause for me to have a nervous breakdown, just so that you know what we're dealing with here.

-2- We have a holiday dance performance coming up, and as of yet, I haven't gotten my *dancing* mojo back. I'm in a troupe, and the group numbers are all great, although my Wings of Isis and I have yet to truly bond. But I'd like to dance solo, and so far there has been no motivation to pick music and prepare. I'm hoping that changes. Lack of understanding about dance in general, and belly dance in particular, has gotten me down of late. People can be...I'll just let you fill in the blank on that one, dear reader.

Anyway, there is nothing worse than a sad belly dancer, let me tell you. I've seen dancers perform beautifully, but the entire time their face looked as if someone had just slipped some of that super stinky cheese under their nose. I don't want to be that dancer, my friends. I haven't been listening to my happy playlists of Middle Eastern music lately, this isn't good. Balancing always cheers me up, maybe I'll do some of that this weekend. I'll report back in on this. Hopefully I won't have set anything on fire by dancing while balancing my candle tray.

-3- Anne has been so adorable lately with her dolls and little Disney princesses. She carries them around and nurtures them. I mean, it's so precious you can hardly stand it. The Disney Princess Castle is quite the happening scene these days. Lovely, long-haired princesses abound, but the only two male members of the party are Prince Eric and the Beast. They each seem to have their hands full, entertaining up to a half dozen princesses at any one time on the dance floor. There is also a Little Mermaid coach available for courtship purposes. 

:0

I absolutely cannot wait for this Christmas with her. She is at such an adorable age for that. 

-4- Besides knitting and dancing (and Christmas shopping; my online shopping cart overflows as I await Cyber Monday...) I have been reading a lot lately. I have a few books coming up that I will review as part of the Catholic Book Club, and I'm very excited. Within the new few weeks, you'll see reviews of In Him Alone Is Our Hope: The Church According to the Heart of Pope Francis, and Catholics Come Home: God's Extraordinary Plan For Your Life, by Tom Peterson. I'm also almost always reading Amish fiction on my Kindle. I just love Amish fiction, and I subscribe to Inspired Reads' rss feed so that everyday I see Kindle books that are either free or significantly reduced in price. Whenever I see an Amish title that is 99 cents or $1.99, I snap it up.

-5- If you haven't already seen Part 1 of my interview with Fr. Kyle Sanders, definitely check that out. He is such a naturally engaging and funny person, and that really shines in his writing. I met him in person at the CNMC, and he brought the house down with a humorous comment that he made during the final panel. Part 2 will be posted Monday, and will cover interesting facts about his ministry and prayer life. Come and see!

-6- Beginning the first week of Advent, I will be hosting a linkup for those who want to try out wearing a headcovering to Mass during Advent. It's a nice opportunity to try this out if you've ever been curious about it, link up your blog to talk about your experience, and take part in the giveaways that will be available. It will all be very fun.

-7- Thanksgiving is coming soon, and I cannot wait. This is one of my favorite days of the year. We generally get up, watch part of (the parts that we can stand ;-)) the Macy's parade, and watch the dog show that comes on afterward. We prepare the food. I will drink some wine, because I am always a Nervous Nelly about hosting a gathering of any sort at my house in which people expect to be shown anything resembling a good time. (Wait. I'm thinking of another post on this holiday panicking topic. Hold on...Here it is. Oh, I'm snorting. OH! You should go read it. :) I'm so glad I read that, we should all heed it's vital message of: Wine= good. Too Much Wine=bad.). Ok, where was I? I do this a lot, thank you for putting up with me. Ok....right! Thanksgiving. Phew! Not all the brain cells have been comprised by age just yet. So, Thanksgiving day. We will serve dinner and socialize, and then eat pie. The cleanup process will inevitably drain me of all significant strength and I'll likely do something that I'll later regret, like agree to host another upcoming holiday gathering, but we'll worry about that more fully two weeks hence.

I do love Thanksgiving. Hopefully it won't end the same way it did last year. Now if that isn't an ominous statement, I don't know what is. But when the words "explosive" and "poo" are together in the title of a post, you can pretty quickly get a sense for how things went down.

To everyone: THANK YOU FOR READING! This blog brings me joy, and I hope it does for you as well. If you read this entire post, I'm sure your efforts will be noted someday in your cause for canonization.

For more 7 Quick Takes, visit the fabulous and funny Jennifer Fulwiler's blog over at Conversion Diary! I mean it. Go read her stuff, you won't regret it.