In a few days, on Sunday to be exact, I will celebrate my first annual 39th birthday. This is a big milestone, no? Well, maybe it isn't since I plan to celebrate the same birthday every year from here on out.

So I'd like to entertain a little reversal here, and have a little contest. No answering questions, no donations to charities, just leave a comment telling me about a favorite birthday present you've received. I'll pick one at random on Sunday, November 4th and put together a little surprise package for the winner. See, as much as I love receiving surprises.. I adore putting together surprises for others. If the winner is a knitter or spinner, perhaps you'll get a nice fibery surprise in the mail. If you're not, maybe an Amazon or iTunes gift certificate... I have lots of ideas!

And here, I'll get you started. What is my favorite birthday present? Cassidy! She was born just a few months shy of my 30th birthday, and I had always wanted a baby before I turned 30 (weird.. I know!) But besides all of that, Richard and I were both surprised, since we had always thought our path to parenthood would be a difficult one. We were looking at facing lengthy and heartbreaking fertility cycles.. then there it was.. a positive pregnancy test, all on our own. And after a rocky first trimester, when we were expecting the worst to happen every day, despite bed rest and progesterone supplements, we were truly blessed... just in time to fulfill my 30th birthday wish.

Now, go, and tell me all about your favorite birthday present! As you can tell, it doesn't have to be a "thing", it can be "the perfect day", a great meal... anything.

P.S. Scorpios Rule!

I know that sounds terrible coming from a mother, doesn't it? To be happy that her kids are back in school and out of the house? Its not that I'm happy they're out of the house. I'm happy that there is a defined routine (something that can never be strictly adhered to in the summer) and that Cassidy, Alex, and Dylan are actually excited to get on the bus in the morning.

Dylan is especially excited, as he enters kindergarten. In fact when he got off the bus yesterday, after his first day at school, he ran up the steps exclaiming "School is FUN!" (of course kindergarten is fun.. we only hope he thinks, first, second and so on are fun too!)

So Connor and I are home alone, and will start his therapy line up on Monday, though is new occupational therapist will be stopping by today to meet us. Today we'll just be talking about how Connor has progressed through early intervention services and we'll also be setting some new goals. I'm just hoping that since both of Connor's new therapists work out of the same agency, we can all get together soon to coordinate our game plan.

And now that my day is slightly less hectic (no fights to break up, no reminders- at least during the day, to pick up dirty socks and toys,) I need to start addressing some chores and projects. Firstly I need to start thinking about moving my plants back into the house from the sun room. Once the temperatures start to dip, we keep that room's door closed (and un-heated.) The problem however, is that I've acquired several plants over the summer so I'm literally out of surface space. I've already purchased some swing arm hooks for my plants which can be hung, (like the epiphyllums and spiders.) But I also have several snake tongue plants from separating a monster of a plant earlier this year, a huuuuge fiddle head fig, and an equally large umbrella tree. Since floor plants don't work very well with a toddler and a cat, I need to raise them a little. I've found that bar stools work really well, and are much stronger than the overpriced and flimsy plant stands that can be found in the gardening section of any discount chain. So add those items to my "to purchase" list, as well as maybe a pretty and inexpensive bakers rack to display a lot of my smaller plants.

I also plan to be a little more active in some of the hobbies I've let slide. Most notably quilting. My poor sewing machines have been sadly neglected for about 2 years now, and I feel bad every time I pass one of them.

I've promised Cass that I'd dig through my monstrosity of a fabric/notions stash, as part of my autumn organizing, and send her a little care package. She has jumped back into sewing/quilting, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with.

And speaking of Cass, shes starting a new Friday ritual called..

I like this idea.. and it may actually force me to post about knitting/spinning/quilting at least once a week. So without further adieu, this is what I'm working on..

These Roza's Socks (I know.. another pair - I just love this pattern) are being worked in Cider Moon Flurry colorway "peas and carrots", chosen at The Loopy Ewe because, y'all know how much I love orange and green. I started these on the way to PA last week and this is as far as I am. Shocking.. because I expected to have one sock done by now.

And my spinning guild holiday wool has finally met my wheel. I plan to spin this as lace weight singles. And of course because of that, my holiday gift project will be lace. I'm not sure which pattern yet though. But even when I decide, I doubt I'll be documenting that particular project, since several of my fellow guild members read my blog and I'd hate to spoil a surprise.

I also started work on the Dana Bag (that Berocco pattern I complained about a few weeks ago.) However right now there isn't much to show. I'm halfway through ONE of the side pocket panels, which requires 13" stockinette over like 300 stitches. This one is going to be a long winter long project for sure.

I remember thinking at the beginning of the month that it seemed so odd that we were entering the month of June. Time flies indeed! It seems June has rolled on by and I've gotten so little done knitting, reading, the yard, everything. This annoys me to no end - I'm not the most organized person in the world, but I'm a bit of a control freak. Its just part of my DNA. Imagine that internal struggle, a disorganized control freak.. its not a pretty sight.

Anyway, I don't have any knitworthy pictures to share yet today. The progress made on both the Vino and pink Monkeys last night didn't really change much from what I showed yesterday. So instead I'm going to show you something exciting I found this morning..

This is my oxypetelum epiphyllum, a.k.a. queen of the night, as she only blooms at night. This is a new plant that I purchased on ebay. I managed to kill my very large oxy last summer, having left it on my front porch for a few days in the afternoon sun. Epis don't really like hot afternoon sun. My bad.. I needed a replacement. So the thing is that, when the package from the ebay seller arrived, it was crushed and in very bad shape. Most of the plant had been damaged during transit. I didn't want to throw away the little 2" long bits that had broken off however, knowing that sometimes, if you just put some rooting hormone on the end and plop them in soil, they'll grow.

I've been watching it pretty carefully for the past few weeks and the part that I planted seems to have mostly dried up except for the bottom quarter of an inch.. so I remained hopeful (this is that dried up looking thing to the left of my crudely drawn circle). But look what I found this morning while watering it! Some ittttty bittttty new growth popping up through the soil! YAY! Can you see that small bright green dot in the circle? Grow baby GROW!

This is also a new epiphyllum for me, called Tele Ann. Shes a long way from blooming, but she will some day. Pictures of my Ackermanii epi next time!

Additionally, I'm planning an outdoor photo shoot this afternoon of Olyvia's dress and hat, so long as the weather stays nice. With any luck, I'll get in another post today.