Birthday Round-up, many days late

Yes, it's been a while since last I posted. I am a bad blogger, and I deserve no cookie. I have a list of excuses, though:

1. It's been cold. It was -14 here (without the windchill) on Sunday night, and yesterday was the same and when it is cold I apparently cannot blog. (I realize that -14 might seem downright balmy to those in more northern (read: arctic) climes, but it's a big deal here in Northern Illinois) And now it is snowing.


(you can click the picture to bigginate, but I don't know why you would. It's just all white and snowy. I could have saved bandwidth by just leaving a gap in the prose and saying "this is an entirely accurate depiction of what it looks like outside my window this morning.")

2. The debacle on Sunday. I have been weeping. Let us speak no more of this.

3. I wanted my post about the Walker Treasury Project to stay up for a few more days so everyone (all 9 of you) could see it.

4. Work has eaten my brain the last week or so. I'm working on two big projects that are coming up next week and next month, all the windows in the building are being replaced, the plaster is being repaired, and the fire alarms keep going off several times a day. I have developed a mean twitch over my right eye, and haven't felt much like sitting down at the computer after sitting down at a computer all day at work.

Okay, those are my excuses for not posting, and here is my Birthday Round-up:

Friday the 26th saw me at my lady-parts-doctor's office (except I see a nurse practitioner, but "nurse's office" doesn't sound the same as "doctor's office." hm.) and I got weighed, which was a sobering experience (I am now extra-committed to going to the gym every day for the rest of my life), then got asked questions about my lifestyle, habits, concerns. And they let me keep knitting. I love them, even though I did have to endure The Speculum of Doom.

After my appointment Nick picked me up and gave me a present that was not at all birthday related


(not all gone, see above re: weight)
Three kinds of dark chocolate, not for my birthday, but because I had to endure The Speculum of Doom, and because he knows I need a little comfort after that. This man is amazing.

After I cried a little (which made him say, "Honey, it's just chocolate!") we went to the Yarn Sellar (website-less, sadly) where I spent my entire gift certificate on a Nifty Swift!


(I also bought a ball winder, but through the mail. I got it yesterday. I am in yarn heaven.)

I love this swift. I love that it sits on a table and does not need clamping. I love that it's made entirely of birch. I love that it's cute. I loff it, in fact. And with its new friend, Windey von Ball-Winder, I finally put up my Wedding Day yarn:

It looks like I took the picture through a veil or something, doesn't it? I didn't, my camera is just being an ass.

Okay, so after the Yarn Sellar we went to the India House (and if you're ever in Rockford, let me know so I can take you to the India House) and it was amazing. Then we went to Best Buy and I bought an iPod with my birthday money. And this thing is damn cute, let me tell you.

I had to kiss it when I took it out of the packaging, it was so precious. I'm so happy about this little buddy and its magical ability to make my workouts more fun and enticing and also to make the workday go by faster. (Oh, and the book underneath? My own gift to me -- the Second Treasury by Barbara Walker.)

The next day we had dinner with my family (as my sister Laura's natal day is six days before mine, we try to combine forces) and my mom gave me an Ott-Lite!

And it is like natural daylight indoors! It's made my knitting life a little easier on my eyeballs.

And I don't have a picture of it, (see above, re: camera acting like ass) but Margaret sent me a sweet bookmark in the shape of a frog made from recycled Thai telephone directories. I loff it.

This concludes our Birthday Round-up. Thank you for playing, please see the secretary on the way out for your prize. Next time I'll talk about the bechamel sauce that tasted like a sugar cookie, and why that is never good.