Well, of course, it is baby Consuelo! My son has been wonderful, sending lots of pictures and video, but I just HAVE to go visit her…so I am off to Mexico City for a long weekend Friday. YAY! In the picture above, do you notice the blanket that’s keeping her warm? Yep, that’s the blanket I knit for her.
I finished a bit of knitting recently. This shawl is about all I need at night in Mazatlán, and I just love it. This is the washable cashmere that came from Crochet last month. (Why is it every time we take my picture I have just yanked my hair out of a ponytail and have a weird expression on my face?)
It has been getting cooler here. A couple of mornings this week it was around 65 to 69 degrees. Yes, that does seem cold to us! And one thing that happens in the winter is the beach at Olas Altas moves around. The sand was carved away from the North end of the beach – I mean a shelf was created with a drop off of about 8-10 feet – and the sand moved South.
We were on a mission this morning – we headed to Bancomer to apply for a credit card. We have a checking account with them which has a debit card, but you can’t use it online. This has been frustrating because we could pay all our bills on line if we had a credit card. There’s also this black hole you fall into sometimes if you want to buy something for delivery here in Mexico but your credit card is from the US. We were looking at Apple recently…you can specify the operating language and keyboard you want, but if you want it delivered in Mexico you have to pay for it here and the address needs to match the credit card. We even called their help line twice. So we spent about 10 minutes waiting for a customer service rep and about 15 minutes at her desk in order to get a credit card. The banker spoke clearly but it was all in Spanish and we did fine. We go back in 5 days to pick up the card. The interest rate is ridiculous (like 35%) but we plan on using it for convenience and paying it off after each use.
We are getting ready for a wild and crazy new year’s eve. How? By cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards and rearranging everything. Now that our cupboards are clean maybe we can actually keep our resolution to not overbuy groceries! We have had a bit of a time adjusting to the trio of humidity-bugs-limited availability. Continuing the wild and crazy new year’s eve, Paul bowled a bit on his Wii, and I spent some time on the internet looking for my next knitting project. Aren’t we just a couple of crazy kids?
I hope all of you have a wonderful time this evening marking the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. I am filled with optimism for the coming year, and I hope that you are, too.
Brenda
December 31, 2008She is just adorable. Have a great trip and a fun time spoiling her.
Cairelle
December 31, 2008OMG look at all of that HAIR! Beautiful! She’s just precious and I am so happy for you and your family!
Jonna
January 1, 2009Consuela is a beautiful baby! Enjoy the time with her and the joy of her birth.
You are right, our houses do look alike – I love yellow!
I suppose someday I will have to break down and get a MX bank account, not yet though. It’s good to know that it is fairly easy to do.
Enjoy Mexico, it should be beautiful with the decorations still up.
Michael
January 1, 2009Nancy: You look wonderful with your hair down and your hand knit shawl.
I hope that you had a brilliant NYE sorting it all out. Way to start the new year!
I hitched a ride with Bill to his novia Carmen’s amigos party and danced. It was a lotta fun.
I miss my beach. I still cannot get used to the fact that it migrates to the other end. It doesn’t seem fair on some cosmic level, but perhaps I should take it in stride.
Michael
January 1, 2009¡When will Consuelo get her ears pierced!
Theresa in Mérida
January 1, 2009Consuelo is more than beautiful! All your knitting is lovely. I am at loose ends right now too. I need a project, but first I have to clean up from my last one!
You absolutely DO NOT look bad in your photo.
Happy New Years to you too!
regards,
Theresa
Beth
January 1, 2009Congratulations on baby Consuelo! She is beautiful! And your knitting is pretty good as well.
Have a wonderful 2009!
Nancy
January 1, 2009Brenda, Thanks…I think you know I will!
Cairelle, Yes, I love the hair, hopefully it won’t all fall out!
Jonna, It’s Consuelo -not la…not sure why, I will have to ask them. The bank account is nice so that at the grocery store there’s no need for cash. I hate handling money, seems we always get sick when we use cash a lot. All the little transactions and restaurants are enough! I am looking forward to Mexico City but Adam warned me that we’ll be mostly hanging around the house this time. Still, it’s nice to have an excuse to wear a coat!
Michael, Yes, Paul and I have never liked rowdy party new years, preferring instead to snuggle up and have a quiet one…but I’m glad you hooked up with Bill and Carmen, probably was a lot of fun. Consuelo’s ears are pierced now, here’s a pic from when they got home… http://www.countdowntomexico.com/wp-content/gallery/BlogPosts/consuelo4.jpg
Theresa, Thanks! I like the pause in between projects…originally I thought I was going to knit with plastic bags but it felt like WORK so now I’m looking for another project. Oh, I think my photo thing is that I really need to lose some weight this year…hmmm that sounded like a resolution.
Beth, Thanks, I am very excited to get to meet her this Friday!
Cynthia
January 1, 2009Nancy, she is just beautiful (and that blanket is so pretty). What a great year you have ahead of you with that little girl. Hope you are enjoying a beautiful New Year’s Day.
You have a lot of talent. Tell me, how difficult is it to learn to knit? I might like to give this a try.
1st Mate
January 1, 2009Consuelo is so beautiful, even more so in the blanket you made her. And a washable cashmere wrap! Now that would be worth knitting! I like the openwork pattern you used, I’ve been trying to find one like it since my sailing knitter friend gave me a big ball of yarn last year. If you share the pattern, maybe Cynthia and I can both make it!
And didn’t your Spanish come in handy in your banking transaction! That’s what intimidates most of us gringos, the idea of facing Mexican financial red tape without the language skills. Buen trabajo!
It’s chilly here, too, and I’m enjoying it! Got to wear my leather coat last night.
Nancy
January 1, 2009Cynthia, Thank you so much! I am excited about the new year. If you want to learn to knit, I would check out various websites like
http://www.knittinghelp.com/ (really great for getting started with videos)
http://www.knittingdaily.com/ (free patterns and help)
as well as http://www.knitty.com and of course YouTube. And ask a neighbor or a friend! You can do it!
Ist Mate, Thanks so much! I love the wrap pattern, too…it is on my Knit page as a jpg. When you print it tell it to scale it to the paper. For some reason the pdf wouldnt show the images! (If it doesn’t print out readably, let me know, I have a Word doc I can send you.
I’m loving the cooler weather, we had better go out tonight to I can wear my wrap!
Deb
January 1, 2009Happy New Year. Keep on knitting…and blogging! All the best in ’09.
Cynthia & Mike
January 1, 2009Happy New Year Nancy and Paul!
islagringo
January 1, 2009Is it the blanket that makes the baby look pretty or the baby that makes the blanket look pretty? Probably both! Good job on the shawl too. I hate lacework, even simple y/o’s drive me nuts after a while! My best friend here has a credit card like yours and it drives me crazy to see him use it. He really has no idea what that interest rate will do to him down the line. Sigh.
Cheryl
January 6, 2009What a bEautiful baby! Congratulations! I am so looking forward to being a grandmother, but I guess I better get them out of school and married first!