Birthday

I am so blessed to have family and friends that love me! At work, there was a pot luck that I like to say was held in my honor. Just because they did not fully know the importance of the date before they picked it, does not mean they were not trying to celebrate my birthday, right? My second job, I was given a beautiful card for my birthday, and extra hours, woot woot.

When I went home, Dave had my birthday presents lined up for me. He had wrapped them... in newspaper. He used the beloved sports section even, and one package was covered with a picture of my husband, Lebron James.

Upon opening my gifts, I can say "the pants done good." The people at the LYS are amazing people. Knitters' mercantile (see link in side bar), helped him pick out a bunch of stuff for me. I was given "Knitting Rules," which I have coveted for a long time! To date (since I started reading it the minute it was open), I have had to explain to 3 people that it is Knitting RULES!!!!!, not "the rules of knitting." Most people I meet lately are non-knitters, so they all look at my funny.

Anyway- He also got me a swift. I am SO happy because when I try to wind balls of yarn, the cats *help.* That lends itself to a lot more swearing than I typically like to do in one day!

He got me a ball of sock yarn in a patriotic colorway. I am excited to cast on, but I already have too many socks cast on right now. Or is it that I just don't have enough dpns?

Lastly, for the knitting stuff anyway, he got me One Skein. I did not know about this book until my most recent Knit Picks catalog came in the mail, but I am so glad he picked it up for me! I have already knit the baby bib and I am almost done with the Baby Bolero. This book is so me. Quick projects that look great!

This is the body and first sleeve of the baby bolero. Now I am already done with the first sleeve, and halfway up the second. Then, of course, the bane of my existence, finishing. hehe.

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday special. I had great visitors, calls, emails, cards, presents, drinks, well wishes, warm thoughts. It means a lot to me to realize that everyone cares so much!

K.J.

Do let him fool you, he isn't sleeping...

We named our new kitty. There were so many options that it was overwhelming. Kevin seemed like a good choice until someone asked "Did you name it after Kevin (our friend)?" One friend suggested Paco, "because it sounds like Taco." That was when I vetoed any names related to food. Just what I need while trying to diet, is a constant reminder, hehe. That meant that Whopper and Cheeseburger (thank heaven's) were no longer options. Gerard and Trevor and Bruiser were all options, but none of them seemed to fit.

Then, someone suggested Lebron. My husband, Lebron is an amazing basketball player. That's a silly name for a cat though (and Kevin isn't?- hehe) so the obvious next direction would be LBJ. I thought that might lead people to think we had named our kitty after a president. I AM a dork, but not that big of a dork. So, we went with K.J. Yes, it stands for King James, yet another nickname for that amazing man. I figured this way, when he grows up we can call him James. That sounds grown up and mature, right?


The silly things that I worry about...

Muah ha, the paw of death. Also, aren't those tats in my ears kinda silly?


Anyway, I was hoping to have more pictures of K.J., but I will have to edit them in later because I definitely forgot to bring the camera today. Last time I forgot to bring the cable. Just call me absent minded! ETA: pictures added. I remembered both necessary parts. But I forgot to bring extra batteries. Luckily, after several tries, I was able to keep the camera on long enough to copy several pictures to the desktop.

Hotlanta

This past weekend was my brother's graduation from AIT with the army. On Wednesday, I left Columbus, Ohio at 10 am, and did not leave the Atlanta, GA airport until almost 8 pm. Gersh, that was a long day! Wednesday night was spent with my mother. She cracks me up. To me, she is a sign of strength, beauty and...comical relief. Honestly, I am hard pressed to think of someone I laugh so hard with on a consistent basis.

Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Thursday morning we left our hotel at the ungodly hour of 7 am (ok, I'm not a morning person). We had to go back to the airport, rent a car, and then make the drive down to Columbus, GA. This was rather confusing for someone that comes from Columbus, especially so early in the morning..... "Where are we going?", "Columbus", "But I just came from there!"

Thursday morning was a briefing, or de-briefing, or whatever. The sergeant reminded us that they were reLEASING the soldiers to their families. They want the boys back, they say. grr. The Turning Blue ceremony followed. I took approximately a million pictures. My brother looks so absolutely proud; it made me cry. The boys were released for several hours before they were asked to go back to base for one last night.

My mother, making my brother Turn Blue.

Friday morning was another early morning. There were demonstrations, speeches (which reminded me of Full Metal Jacket, made me giggle), and singing. If you have never experienced hundreds of boys, dressed in camo, singing, you have not lived. That was funnier than words. After the ceremony, we went shopping and saw M:I III (enough said there) and then hung out in the hotel. There was consumption of alcohol. It eased the loss of the Cavs. And then there was sleeping.

This is the demo. Todd is the one on the left with the big gun on his back.

A picture of half the soldiers that graduated on May 19th, 2006.Shopping for goofy hats. He did this voluntarily.
Saturday we woke up at 4:30. That's in the a.m. folks. "It does exsist." We had to drive back to Atlanta, drop off the rented car, and do all the fun check into the airport stuff. Even though I was not allowed to be co-pilot, I still had to stay up and keep my momma from not sleeping while driving. That was fun. There may have been some car dancing and poking of people while they were sleeping involved. We had breakfast at the airport and then mom and Todd left me. It wasn't so bad on Saturday because I was coming back to some guests here in Columbus.

Eating breakfast in the Atlanta airport.

Now I miss them terribly. Hopefully I will have that much fun again soon.

Random Thursday

1. Tomorrow is when I get my new kitty I adopted from the vet hospital. Any suggestions for names? Several ideas have been thrown around, cheeseburger, whopper, trevor, kurt, jason, but I'm not sure what I like the best.

2. I have been hit by the green thumb this year. My project is trying to get at least one tomato out of these three plants. What do you think the odds are? hehe.

3. Next week is vacation! Atlanta here I come! My family is gathering for the graduation of my brother from boot camp. I am so proud of him, seriously. Talking about it makes me grin from ear to ear.

4. Is it wrong of me not to send my mother a card for the looming holiday? I don't "believe in" sending cards for anything but thank you's really. It is not the first year that I am not sending one, but I still feel sort of bad. I am, however, bringing my mother's gift for when I see her on Wednesday (hopefully it will be done by then).

5. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Goodwill and bought 4 knit sweaters. They are all now in pieces and I am going to use the yarn to make other things. One was white so it is being used to practice my dyeing skillz.

6. Egg decorating kits work well to dye small amounts of yarn!!!

7. I work as a receptionist at a church and right now they have the most gorgeous decorations on the altar. (Sorry to put up a religious picture, but beautiful is beautiful).

8. I like lists.

Life is good

Friday, after a long week full of issues, I arrived at work to find a package. So excited, I could hardly wait until my boss gave me my instructions for the day. As soon as she left, I ripped into the envelope. Look at my booty:




Not only did my sock pal make beautiful socks for me (THANK YOU), but she sent a postcard, and a skein of beautiful sock yarn. The yarn is from her friend at All Things Heather. If only I had such cool friends...

I am so happy to have participated in this exchange.