2.28.2008

Change of Name

There's another Kim out there in the stitching & blogging community, and she's posting comments. It's driving me nuts that we have the same handle, so I can imagine how other people feel. I'm not too keen on adding initials so I'm taking a page from CinDC and becoming K in NY. For now anyway.

Even though she kinda stole my name (or maybe her parents did?) check out Other-Blogging-Kim's blog and say hi. She's very new to stitching, but she's still cool :-)

2.27.2008

This turned into a sock post

(Sorry. It didn't start out that way, really!)

I am knitting a sock for a giant. I don't know what happened. My gauge was fine, and I never (well almost never) knit gauges, so that should tell you how seriously I'm taking this sock-knitting undertaking. I re-started this sock Saturday night at coffee with JF and finished up the leg portion on the way to the shower Sunday. It looked perfectly proportioned. Yesterday I did the heel part. Today I take it out to knit the toes with MZ, and we notice that it's GINORMOUS.



You might not be able to tell from this photo but trust me, it is. (Btw that pink blob on my desk is that hat I felted but never posted a photo of - does this count? ;-)

I'm just happy that I've been able to follow this pattern so well. Sizing will be a concern for the next round. And this is why I'm knitting my first pairs in cheap yarn, not Tofutsie :-)


In other sock news, my first order at Knitpicks arrived. I got some really pretty yarns, see!

I was chatting with a friend from the HSKS4 swap the other day - btw best idea ever to make a private chat room for a swap - and suggested that she design a pair of Ravenclaw socks. And she did! How cool is that? She's going to let me test-knit the pattern for her, and even offered to send yarn! I'm just looking forward to trying the pattern, the preview I got was great.

2.26.2008

It snowed Friday, like a lot of snow. We had probably 4-5 inches by the time I left for work, and then it kept falling until after noon. Of course this was the weekend I was spending with JS in Manhattan, the one weekend when I'd be doing a LOT of walking. Figures. It was a great visit though! JS was making Friday night so we didn't have to go anywhere :D An old friend from HS was invited with his fiance, whom I've met before but only briefly. I like her a lot and she seems to be a really good match for my friend.

There's like 4-5 options for shul Saturday mornings on the UWS. It seems like the way it works is that you find out where your host goes and then either daven there or arrange to be there by the time the kiddush starts. R, one of our hosts, told us he'd be at the Young Israel. We didn't see R at the kiddush, or anyone else that we wanted to talk to. Shul count:1, acquaintance/friend count:1 guy from college who'd clearly forgotten my name.

JS said we should check the Jewish Center, because we might not be able to get into R's apt building on our own. Okay. This involved a 10 block walk and then climbing 5 flights of stairs in 3 inch heels (it's a lot for me, ok?!?). Luckily for everyone we found R's roomate there! We also saw and said hi to:
  • JS's & my other roomate from senior year
  • 2 of the 4 guys from our Ecuador trip
  • JF's older brother
  • a friend I've known since kindergarten, but I'll talk about him in another post
  • 8 million other people
The UWS makes me so ADD. Luckily we found everyone we needed to find and were able to head out. Shul count: 2 friend count: 8 million

Lunch was long and fun, I'll spare you the details but want to mention that R's roomate did all the cooking and prep (aside from the dish that JS brought), and he did a really good job. So it seems that guys can cook, but most of the ones I know just don't want to or are in some way deficient. Good to know.

Saturday night I went out for coffee with JF to celebrate her birthday, then to dinner with JS and DS at their friend's place, then out to a bar on the UES to celebrate JS's birthday, JS leaving the UWS, and DS getting a new job. Kind of a busy night :-)

Sunday I caught a very early train home, and Mom and I went to my cousin's fiancee's bridal shower in Jersey. It was at the fiancee's aunt's house, which is really gorgeous. My mom picked out our gift, we got them a toaster oven. When the fiancee opened the gift she started laughing. While they were registering, my cousin had absolutely no preference as to what she picked (which is so like him) except to say he wanted to register for a toaster oven.

Sunday night I brought Grandma some ice cream. She is known for having a fully stocked freezer in case company stops by. Grandma was doing much better than on my previous visit and speaking louder so we could actually have a conversation.

Yesterday I went out to dinner with my parents and J. My parents almost always chose fish restaurants and I HATE fish (even though I have tuna for lunch 2-3 times a week), so after the last time I had enough and declared that I was picking the next restaurant. Guess where we went? Exactly. I kept my choice a secret (they're so much fun to tease), but J guessed it right. He's a smart one. Everyone seemed to like the restaurant, judging by the quartet of clean plates, so I think we'll be back. And I might get to pick the restaurant again someday.

On the crafting front I have nothing spectacular to report
  • I made another dishcloth, with a dog on it, that I'll keep since it matches my bathroom.
  • I'm about 50% through a sock - :-) Next up: double knitting socks - :-D
  • I started CCN's Summer Garden but I've only stitched 3 letters. I'll show pics when there's something to see
  • My SBBC exchange was received! You can find photos of the finished Shamrocks Fob on Jenn's blog. I didn't use the recommended overdyed because my LNS didn't have the right shade of Needle Necessities. I used WDW or GAST's Pine instead because it matched the DMCs the best. I also couldn't find all the recommended Mill Hill beads at my LNS so I substituted some seedbeads I had on hand.
Stay tuned for some sock knitting photos later. Unless I lose the cable again...

2.21.2008

*Bad* Influences

My 3 languages are Hebrew, French and Spanish, in that order. I also know about 10 words of a some other languages, like Farsi. If you're ever in Iran (or LA) and need a cucumber or a napkin, I'm your girl!

It's been a busy couple of days! I'll give you the highlights...
Monday I went to my LNS's Nashville Preview Party. The internet's cool and all, but seeing the new designs in the shop was WAY better. Omg, these designers are talented! Did you guys see the advent calendar from SamSarah? If I only celebrated christmas... lol. I got a different SSD, no worries :-) JBW came out with a dog for their French Country series, so I got that one. Omg, did you see the new series from Raise the Roof, The Wrong Side of the Tracks? Too funny! It's their response to the HRH-type samplers, and it's much more my style than the other ones. I love their sense of humor, even if they don't all speak to me. I'm not quite old enough to stitch this one, but I'll certainly keep it in mind :-)

The best part of the outing was meeting Mercy IRL! We were both reeeally bad influences on each other - totally talked each other into buying more stash :-) I showed her my Ivy, which I'd brought to work on thinking I'd ever be *done* shopping, so she picked up a Mirabilia too (Feather Fairy?). I think I talked her into Wrong Side of the Tracks, but I'm not sure. Mercy totally talked me into CCN's Summer Garden, by talking up how gorgeous the colors are. She's so right!

The rest of Monday was pretty quiet: stitching, crocheting, cleaning, etc. I turned on
my work computer and got sucked into that for a couple of hours. My *goals* didn't all happen, but that's okay with me.

1 finish the Shamrocks fob - soooo almost, but not quite
2 finish my Fair Squares exchange - didn't even work on it
3 crochet a new needlecase - done :-)
4 work on Ivy, try to finish up her skirt and legs - worked on, didn't finish

(I have photos on my camera but no connector-cable. Will post later)

Tuesday was really busy at work, but otherwise uninteresting. Mailed out 1 of the 4 things I have to send, but it was the one with a deadline :-) Picked up a copy of Goblet of Fire for the HSKS4 Quidditch round (we did *ok*). Stitched on... nothing.

Wednesday was CRAZY busy. I wanted to mail out an exchange but left the critical part - the stitched piece - at home. That drove me kinda nuts, but I was too busy with work to even kick myself. Then my mom & I went out on my lunch break to pick up my dress for my cousin's wedding next month. It was ready in the store, I just had to try it on to see that it fit 100%. It was a half-hour drive each way so I brought along my laptop.... I got a lot done in the car, and the dress is really pretty :-D

Photos in 1 month from the wedding. Hold your horses.

After work I went out to Garden City to pick up a second cousin, S (yes, I know all about 2nd and 3rd and removed cousins). My grandma's not doing too great so S wanted to visit. I really don't know S well since her mom and my dad (the first cousins) don't get along. At all. She's been living in NYC for eight years and I only met her last year at a birthday party we threw for Grandma. But that's our parents, we're cool.

S & I had a good visit with Grandma. It's very hard to understand Grandma these days because she both whispers and mumbles, and her memory isn't good so if you ask her to repeat herself more clearly, she sometimes can't remember what she just said. Frustrating for all involved. Conversation is rough but it helps that Grandma (and everyone else) has a good sense of humor. And as we kept talking, Grandma spoke more clearly and we listened better, so it worked out. Apparently S and Grandma kept in better touch than my dad and her mom, because Grandma (aka the Queen of the Sample Sale) had given S all the tips on sample sales that she sent to me and my mom. :D

S missed her train back to the city by a couple of minutes, so we grabbed coffee and waited for the next one. Mostly we plotted future trips on my motorcycle to a bar she knows of on Long Island with cheap drinks and hot guys. Hot Marine guys. It's good to have single female cousins!

All my first cousins on that side are guys.

When I finally got home around 7:30 I searched for that missing piece of my exchange. Couldn't find it anywhere, and got really worried that I'd left it out and Sky found it and ate it. Or even just licked it. Then I found it in the most random place. Mailed it out today instead!

2.18.2008

Seven things

C from Pencil Crossings (not to be confused with my Aunt C), tagged me in a 7 weird things about you post.

The Rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

The Facts:
1) My name is not Kimberly.

2) I used to have a British accent.

3) One of my favorite crafts is pottery/ceramics, although I'm not working at it at the moment. (I need to sign up for a class at the adult ed center and I don't have the time right now, probably will this summer :-)

4) I have a red motorcycle and usually drive it instead of a car between April and October. Two other people drive motorcycles to work, but they only started a year after I did.

5) I have a plant on my desk at work that has been with me for 6 years and 5 locations (as in different buildings).

6) I can hold a conversation in 3 languages besides English. Bet you can't guess which 3 ;-)

7) My favorite cold beverage is water, hot beverage is tea.

The Tags:
Erm, lots of people have done this in the past couple of days... but I'll tag
Mercy
Jacque
Novice Stitcher
Michele
Becky
(I'm a couple short so feel free to write your own list even if I didn't tag you, and let me know you posted it so I can come read it!)

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with for your facts! Thank you C for tagging me in the first place!

2.17.2008

Happy President's day weekend

My goals for this weekend are:
1 finish the Shamrocks fob
2 finish my Fair Squares exchange already ;-)
3 crochet a new needlecase
4 work on Ivy, try to finish up her skirt and legs


I can finish this tomorrow. Just have a lot of backstitching and some beading :-/

I stopped at Joann's on my way home from work Friday because they were having a 5 for $1 sale on DMC, plus a 10% of your order coupon. I got plenty of DMCs and also found some baskety things that were 70% off and perfect for Mishloach Manot. Mishloach Manot are a Purim tradition, food baskets that you deliver to your friends and family. The anti-Trick-or-Treating, I like to think of it. I was going to try for something clever with recipe boxes, but I saw these baskets first. They'll be great catch-alls for a desk afterwards. They only had 12 though, and last year I think I did 20 or so. We'll see what happens.

While I was at Joann's I also picked up some more cotton and tried a new needlecase. Ta da!

(I still have some backstitching to do, see the green line on the bottom left? I need to do 14 more.) It took about 3 hours to make - because I totally obsessed over the size of the 24 rows of single crochet. Every stitch had to be *perfect*, LOL. I think I can do another in 2 hours, and I really like this one... so I might keep it and do another one to give away ;-) Then if that one turns into a UFO, I can always send this one.

C and I went to see Fool's Gold last night. It was good, but between that and Sahara, I'd see Sahara every time. Luckily I brought along some knitting to keep me quiet during the boring bits :-)

(There are a couple of twisted knit stitches because of the switching between purling and knitting, but they are pretty unnoticeable. I think. Shh, don't tell!)

Tommow my LNS is having their Nashville Preview Party (I love that they do sales and things to celebrate holidays too, instead of having everything on Saturdays like some shops, because I can't do Saturdays). Mercy and I both go to this NS, and are both planning on going to this event, so we're trying to coordinate our visits. I'm so looking forward to meeting her IRL!

Went ice skating with Sh again tonight. We basically skate around in a circle and talk the entire time. I was laughing so hard at one point I almost fell over, so I skated over to the wall and had a meltdown. Between that and Sh's wild hand gestures I think the ice police officially think we're nuts. That's ok though, even though they're mostly really hot guys and that'd normally be kinda embarrasing, Sh says they're like 15 years old and way too young for us. Really I think they're about 20 years old, which isn't such a stretch... 4-5 years is nothing, right? LOL. One of these days I'm going to ask how old they are. Just not the day I look like a dork lmao (about Sky drooling on Sh every time she comes over - which is kinda funny the way she said it).

Gah, it's midnight already?!? I need to rest up for Quidditch tomorrow. Good night guys!

PS I got the news over the weekend that Sock Wars III is starting up. I know I was really excited about this in December when I first heard about it from my brother... but now that I'm in HSKS4, I don't think another sock *exchange* could ever measure up. So I'm leaning towards sitting it out. I'll keep you posted.

2.14.2008

Raviolis yet again, with some crafty goodness mixed in

Wednesday (yesterday) my favorite coworker, who almost always works from home, came to the office. It was GREAT to see her. To give you some idea, I bought her a book in Paris, (because she speaks like every language, including Thai, Japanese, and all the romance languages, except not Hebrew thank goodness because I need to have some secrets) and I've only seen her once since Paris (Thanksgiving break), and it was in Manhattan so it doesn't count. Because I didn't have the book with me and she wasnt at the office.

Anyways... I know that the best way to get Sponz back to the Island was to take her to a great restaurant. Guess where we went for lunch?

I'll wait.
Got it?

Yup, the Ravioli place. And it worked! She's coming back next Thursday :-D In fact everyone liked the place, despite not ordering the raviolis. I think we'll be going back a lot.

I met JS and her fiance for pizza tonight. The three of us don't celebrate St. Valentine's day, because it's a Saint's day, but I was in the city for other reasons and had some time, so I called JS. It was really good to see them.

That's the non-crafty rundown of the past 2 days. In other news...

My LNS rocks! I ordered some things through my LNS from Hoffman. Mostly Sweetheart Tree scissor fobs. I've discovered that it's cheaper to pay the $1.50-$3 in shipping than $7 in gas. I was too sick last week and too busy this week to get over there, so I asked if they could ship my order. All I know is, we must have some crazy good mail karma on Long Island because my LNS mailed it out Monday and I got it Tuesday. I'm not going to stop going to the LNS, but now if I *need* some things right away to finish a project, I know who to call. And while I'm calling I might as well ask her to send some other things I'd been meaning to get... :)

I started one of the fobs already.

No, I don't celebrate Saint Patrick's day either. Green's my favorite color. And it's a gift.

Remember that needlecase I told you about last post?

This is the one I'm crocheting for the HSKS4 exchange. I'm just a little bit worried that the colors are too bright, the orange is very neon in person. On the plus side, you'll never lose your knitting needles with this case, it's practially radioactive!

What do you think? Keep this one and stitch one for my partner in more *normal* colors? The thing is, on her blog she mentions that she likes hot pink and bright orange and lime green. And she lives in the South, where people like bright colors. In NY we like shades of black, lol. And this is a really, really neon orange. BTW, orange and blue is for bronze and blue, the Ravenclaw house colors from Harry Potter. Also btw, I crocheted all of that during 70 minutes of train commuting. So I don't mind starting over or stitching two. Or twelve. I'm just saying, in case other people want one....

Ok that's all I got. It's 12:30am, I get incoherent late at night, and if I don't stop typing now I might never. Oh wait, just a couple things:

a) Thanks to everyone for your comments and get-well wishes!

b) One chart is spoken for, but I have a couple more Christmassy things that need a good home.

c) HSKS4 is the best swap ever. No offense to other swaps! It's just so involved, and I've never met chattier, friendlier people online, ever. If you don't knit, learn, but you should really sign up for HSKS5 when the time comes. And I'll let you know when the time comes :-)

Good night all! and happy Vday if you celebrate it.

2.12.2008

I'm feeling much better. Not quite 100% but I'm tired of talking about being sick so I'm sure everyone else is tired of listening to me talk about being sick. So I'm going to stop talking about it and move on. :-)

As if I didn't have enough projects going on, I think I have to make this needlecase. It's simple, no-sew, and very colorful - a triple threat. I'm going to make one for myself and one for my HSKS4 exchangee. I picked up some yarn at Michael's on my way home from work yesterday, and it shouldn't take long.

Can I just say though, it is RIDICULOUS that Knitty Gritty did an entire show on how to Crochet using a circular Knitting needle. It's a neat trick for a stitch or two, but seriously?!? Use the right tools for the job - a HOOK.

Moving on...

Someone that I know likes lighthouses... so since I don't have any stitching progress to show you guys, here's an old finish (circa 1996).

It's the Gibbs Hill lighthouse in Bermuda and it hangs in the hallway by the kitchen with some other vacation memorabilia type of things.

2.10.2008

I'm back and better :-)

When Friday rolled around and I wasn't feeling any better I figured it was time to see a doctor about my *cold*. I got some antibiotics and a recommendation for OTC Mucinex, and felt much better when I woke up Saturday.

I wasn't sure if I was well enough to go to an engagement party for a good friend of the family last night, but the party was close to my house, so we decided my dad could take me home early and then head back to the party. I totally forgot that my friends JL & RM would be there. There went staying for just a half-hour!

JL's more of my brother J's friend, since they're the same age, but since our families are friends he hangs out with me and my other brother as well. RM and I are often the only girls in the mix so we've have become really good friends too. She and JL got married last Spring. She's pretty awesome: she reads even more than I do and she knits. RM's also the person who, if asked what she'd like as a gift, always replies "A pony." She's the only other girl around my age that drinks scotch, likes it, and also knows her stuff. My friend Sip once mixed the good stuff with COKE when my back was turned!!! Sip hasn't been offered any alcohol besides beer since.

The party was fun but I ended up staying for and hour and a half. Even though I barely ate anything, I felt pretty nauseous by the time JL dropped me off at home. It was good to get out of the house though!! Other than the doctor's visit Friday I hadn't been out of the house since Tuesday. Plus I had a great excuse not to hug everyone and their mother at the party.

Today was a very quiet day. Some cleaning and some stitching, basically. I worked on my Fair & Square exchange. One square is mostly done, and now I need to come up with my *signature* square. It *might* be ready to go out this week, but probably Friday at the earliest. I have a feeling it's going to be a busy week.

If anyone's in the NYC area and wants to see The Daily Show taping Thursday, I might have a couple extra tickets. Let me know if you're interested!

2.07.2008

Make someone's day

I'm a big fan of speaking up when you have something nice to say (I try to keep my mouth shut if it's not nice, unless it's constructive, but that's a WIP I might never finish ;-). It doesn't hurt to put some more positivity into the world, right? And you really never know how far that little bit of positivity will go with the recipient.

I've been feeling kinda lousy this week (in case you couldn't tell from my whiny post Tuesday). Let me tell you, hearing from San and Jennifer that I make their day really, really made my day. They both read my blog and commentate regularly, which always makes my day, but this was extra special and just what I needed this week. Thanks guys!



Some of the bloggers who make my day are

Jennifer at Sweet Pea Stitches
Beatrice at Stitching with a View (she left the very first comment on my blog, and that made my whole week!)
Jenean, Neila, and Minerva Kwikspell (no that's not her real name) at HSKS4
Jacque at My Needles Delight
Anna at Stitch Bitch
Janet at 37 (stitches) in a row
Ranae at The Needle & I
San at AngelSan Creations

Thanks guys! I really like reading your blogs every day, and just want to let you know you have a fan here in NY.

There's a lot of other blogs that I like reading every day too, but I'm too tired to tag all 60-something of you individually... But you know who you are, I try to comment when I can.

Off to thank the non-blogging people who make my day. Good night!
I haven't left the house since Tuesday night. I'm still feeling unwell, but it's slightly less unwell than previous days. I'm okay with that. So far I've avoided getting anyone else sick. I think. My coworker A has come down with a sore throat but since she always works from home, I'm clearly not the culprit ;-) She called in sick today. Wimp. Or very smart of her. We'll see.

I'm not the only one on the DL in the house. Sky cut her paw on Monday when she and my mom were at the park. Tuesday she went to the doc and got a stitch and a snazzy looking bandage. She's really working the look - maybe she knows it's Fashion Week? Sky's being awesome, as usual. She's not eating at the bandage at all and she's walking around like nothing even happened. She even stopped limping after Tuesday night. What a trooper!

Speaking of Sky, my mom sent me a link to the cutest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM . J would kidnap Sky and go live in the city before letting her do something so *silly*, but that looks like a very happy dog to me!

I haven't done any cross stitching since last Sunday, despite some grand and ambitious plan to finish 2 things by this Sunday. That's what I get for planning! Instead I've been knitting. I find it much easier and quicker. With my short attention span and lack of focus, I wanted to work on something that's harder to mess up ;-)

The pattern is here. It's a really fun knit so far. First I did a rectangular base, then I picked up stitches all around the rectangle and I'm knitting it in the round on circular 16" size 8s. And you can kinda see the stitchmarker - I made it myself :-) For all you non-knitters that means I made a square base for the bag, then created additional stitches from certain loops on the base until I had stitches going all the way around the bag. So now I can knit all the way around the base and build the walls evenly as I go, instead of making 8 thousand little rectangular pieces that I'd have to sew together later (I hate seams. And sewing). If you squint really hard you can see the needle-bling, aka stitchmarker, that I made the other day.

It needs to be blocked (stretched out properly) in the worst way and I'm felting it, so it'll look completely different by the time I'm through. And hopefully not so... deflated.

Last week Jennifer posted about a good stashbuilding deal she found. $22 for a box of assorted needlecraft supplies from a going-out-of-business lns. Jennifer's always being helpful with PSAs and good ideas, so go check out her blog if you haven't yet. I'll wait.

Back? Cool.

My box came yesterday, and I really like most everything I got. There's a few things I know I'll never use though, especially the Christian stuff, so if you're interested in any of these let me know! I'd much rather send these things to a good home than have them lay about here doing nobody any good. (I'm not sure about international shipping but email me and I'll check with the post office how expensive it'll be)
Charland Designs, Holly Band Sampler
http://www.charlanddesigns.com/o/designs/hollybandsamp.htm

Designs by Lena Rose, Waiting Room Sampler
http://www.myspclstitches.com/PriceLists/images/LenaRose/DLR003.jpg

Coca Cola Santa Series #1, When Friends Drop In

Stoney Creek Collection Book 223, Prayers and Blessings (can't find it online, but here's a pic)


Email me or leave a comment if you're interested. I'll probably put more up later too.

If you're a fan of Jon Stewart, Conan, or Stephen Colbert they all had really, really funny crossover shows on Monday night... check out the Comedy Central clips here, then head over to Conan's website for the last segment.

That's almost all I got. I'll do another little post soon. Happy Thursday!

2.05.2008

Shoulda stayed home

Yesterday I was feeling a little better but not good enough to leave the house so I worked from home. It was okay. I had a LOT to do and it was pretty mindless stuff, so it was for the best that I got it done on time.

Today I have an appointment in Manhattan that I really can't miss, and rescheduling would take forever, so I decided to work from the NYC office. BIG mistake. I'm coughing a lot so my throat hurts, and my nose is running even after taking a Sudafed (which I only take if I'm *really* sick because I hate meds). I really shoulda called in sick and gone back to sleep.

I don't talk to anyone in this office and I'm not even using the phone, so at least I won't spread my cold around :-/ But I really want to go back home and sleep...

2.03.2008

Thursday night I went out to Karaoke with Other Kim, a friend from college, and M, a friend of hers from college. Other Kim, aka Kimberly, found a great little place in the West Village that's reasonably priced and has small private rooms, so the 3 of us had our own. I'm not a fan of those karaoke bars where you're singing in front of strangers and have to share the mike.

This was our second time going just the three of us, we went last week too. It was soooo much fun!, and a great way to end a busy, stressful week at work. We're going back next week :-)

Friday was crazy at work. I had 2 high-priority deadlines, and then JC tells me that the French team bounced back his report again, and asked would I take a look at it? It turned out that there was one glaring problem (which I caught and fixed), and one problem that took until 3:30 to diagnose... and I leave at 3 on Fridays. I didn't mind staying late, especially since the guy from the French office was at work still at 9:30 on a Friday night. My boss rocks, he knew I had to get home for for Shabbat so he took over troubleshooting so I could leave.

I didn't go straight home, I stopped at my Grandma's a couple of blocks away from my house. It was her birthday Friday, so everyone went over there with cake and cards and flowers. She's really out of it, but she seemed okay yesterday and happy to see us. She really liked the sparklers on her cake, so we relit it and resang happy birthday. She was joking a little and gave my dad a hard time. It was good to see her.

I called my LNS on Thursday night and asked them to mail me a couple of things I'd ordered, because I haven't had time to go out there to pick them up. Well guess what showed up in the mail Saturday! It takes me 30-45 minutes to drive to my LNS and I usually have to leave work early to do it, so I think I'll be ordering from them a lot more in the future. It was a small order this time - just some buttons for my F & S exchange and the LHN Iced Tea Threadpack. I'm doing the Tea threadpacks on 1 piece of fabric, and I'm considering finishing them as a boxtop for a teabox, if I can find a pretty wooden box that fits them.

This morning I woke up with a sore throat and the worst cold, so I canceled my plans to go meet my friends and see their new baby. Don't want to get a baby sick! I got an email from the French guy that they needed their report rerun, so I did that... and hopefully built a little goodwill towards the NY office.

There's a superbowl party on the UWS but I'm really not in the mood to take all those trains with my cold. Oh well, my dad's having some friends over here to watch the game, I can crash with them :-)

Happy Sunday!