I often live in my site stats. I don't know why.

But what most don't realize, is that I can see you. I don't always know exactly who you are, but usually by location I can tell. Even more so if you use that little search box up above, depending on what you use as a search term, I can tell who it is.

Like right.. now... there is someone on here looking for information on my sister.

Ya know, sometimes its just easier to ask instead of being all stealthy like.

More later.

I've had a busy day

Cleaning cleaning cleaning

rub a dub dub

I said I'd draw a name last night, but the birthday celebration lingered on through the evening. There may have been some wine. And some delicious chocolate bundt cake. Then a little tipsy spinning, finishing a bobbin of luscious blue faced leicester while watching Family Guy with Richard. I didn't have the energy to turn on the computer, nor did I want to tear myself away from the spinning wheel.

Anyway, on to the festivities...

The random number generator at mathgoodies.com came up with number FIVE, which means Vicki wins the birthday surprise. Ironically.. Vicki celebrates her birthday, tomorrow! Congrats Vicki (and Happy early Birthday!)

Birthday pictures (or rather foodie pictures,) later. But I'm not promising anything special. I have difficulty photographing food without my light box and who wants to spoil the celebration by bringing out a light box?

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!

Getting back in the groove.. with the laundry, the dishes, the kids, the blog, is harsh. And I was going to just take it easy and make re-entry a little easier, but dammit if I didn't just see this on msnbc..

Toys R Us recalls 16,000 toys.

(note now it says server too busy.. keep trying)

WTF? Again? Still?

Why are we freaking buying shit from China.. STILL?

Richard and I have some discussing to do before I start Christmas shopping. I want absolutely nothing "made in china" in my home, under the tree, or otherwise. I'm not sure how we'll do it and the kids still be happy with "Santa". But gawd.. this.has.to.stop.

It was a rough drive down on Friday night in the pouring rain. But we soldiered on.. Diana, Becky, Liz and myself.. trying to get to the hotel in Saugerties to settle in for the night, knit, drink wine, and pray for a dry Saturday.

And dry it was. Look at that sky! This picture is from Saturday morning after our first sweep through building 29 (right next to the gate where we parked and entered.) See, no real crowds.. yet.

Diana and I sat for lunch at this spot while people watching until it was time to venture over to the spot between the food building and building A for the massive knitter meet.

I loved the striped sheep. S/he (?) even had a sign on the gate of the stall stating "this is a naturally colored sheep". And the baby doll sheep were interesting . They reminded me of Shetland ponies.

The meet outside the food building was overwhelming. So many people. If not for the Ravelry buttons, I might not have recognized some folks. I did recognize Susan immediately. And saw Carole from a distance, but never made it over to say "hi". Talked with Knitspot Anne briefly, but mostly stood and talked with Paul (who can be seen here in the last two pictures next to Diana.) Funny thing about me and Paul.. we went to high school together.. well sort of actually. He was a senior when I was in seventh grade. Anyway, Paul kept us laughing (oh my gaaawd did he make us laugh!)
I also talked with Vicki very briefly at the Seaport Yarn booth early that morning while watching the massive crowd fight over Socks That Rock at the Fold booth. I was hoping to run into Vicki again at the meet, but never did. I also met Kathy a little later while picking out lincoln cross batts.

Also at the meet.. I don't know her. But I was watching her spin with a drop spindle. Something I can't do very well, much less on the move.

This is Anne. She was my downstream pal for Sockapalooza 3. I was excited to hear that she had worn the socks I knit for her on her way to NY.. and they were even commented on by the TSA official during the security check. Cool.

Really awesome was meeting Nancy. Not only is Nance a frequent commenter here, but a person whom I consider a friend. The bonus was meeting Maribel and Nancy's son Avery as well. The bummer, not being able to spend more time with them.. or meet Rinaldo and Ian who were off having fun in the children's area.

Um, no. I didn't buy this. I wish. If I can ever afford a Golding wheel.. it will have hand carved dancing bears.

And lastly from Rhinebeck.. my modest haul. I'm still shocked at how little I came home with considering I planned on spending twice as much. The three solid colored batts are lincoln cross and oh my goodness, fluffy soft. They were purchased with the Fiber Trends felting starter kit at the Barneswallow Farm booth. A Grafton Fibers batt there in the middle. Eight ounces of Blue Faced Leicester roving in a deep shade of green (this was my steal of the day. SEVEN dollars for EIGHT ounces. It was tucked at the bottom of a bargain basket and I'm not sure WHY!) One skein of Aussi sock yarn in Faded Valentine from Seaport (who can't resist those colors for 13.00?) A beaded orifice hook, snagged for $3.50, but unfortunately too short for my Baynes (no worries, it will work on my next wheel!) And a pattern, Moon Garden Wrap from NatureSpeak Knits. I didn't realize until on the way home in the van that this pattern is written only, and not charted. Drat! I'll have to chart it out myself before starting.

We got home around 7ish on Saturday evening, exhausted. I even woke up on Sunday morning, feeling hungover, which Richard insists is the sign of a great weekend! I trudged through the morning however, sucking down coffee, so that the family could make its way to the state fairgrounds for the Alpaca Extravaganza.

And after looking at all the adorable fluffy sweet alpaca, we finished Halloween shopping..

Dylan and Connor in their chosen costumes. I'll rant some other time about how Spirit Of Halloween's prices are seriously marked up. Its Monday. Its over 80 degrees. And I'm still exhausted. Whew!

I know. Four posts in one day. Its feast or famine around here lately, huh?

But anyway.. the point.

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new electric/gas bill to see if replacing Goldie the monster side by side with an energy star model would reduce the bill. I am happy, no, delighted to report that two weeks from installation to meter reading and we already have a savings of slightly over twenty dollars. Twenty dollars in two weeks. Which is right about what I thought Goldie was costing us to run per month.. yowza!

Next month's bill will be the real test.. but I'm already pleased.

What is it about an "off" day that makes me think about moving back to Wisconsin?

Yesterday afternoon, I found myself deeply immersed in looking at real estate in Madison (again.) And moving back, although we talk about it at least once a month, sometimes once a week, is not a plan we're developing.. or even thinking about with any real seriousness. I guess its just homesickness, dreading another upstate NY winter, missing family, missing friends.

Or its just that time of year when I start to get increasingly uncomfortable with my surroundings, and look with dread on the upcoming holidays. Seasonal depression anyone? I never believed in it.. but I'm starting to.

The cold slugs on. My hair is still too short. And now the kid's computer is broken.

The monitor has been acting funky for a while now in that, to shut it off I have to turn off the whole power strip. We've been pricing flat screen LCDs as a replacement anyway, as recently as this past weekend when Aldi's weekly flyer advertised a decent sized one for 169.00. Its not even a "no name", rather its a "never EVER heard of that brand before". So we're leaning more towards a Viewsonic monitor, since we've owned one already, and had good luck with it. Besides, its only 20.00 more after rebate and comes with free shipping. I'm sort of glad the monitor is dying anyway. The current monitor takes up so much space on the kid's desk.. but I'd feel guilty replacing it before it lived its full life, and at the age of 6, I'd say its lived its life.

Additionally, the cpu itself is acting up, freezing up when the kids try to play on noggin, nickjr or uptoten (I highly recommend this site for your preschooler. Its absolutely ADORABLE.) This makes especially Connor, quite irate. Hopefully a reformat will save it, otherwise that will be two computers that the kids have gone through in 18 months. Ugh.

I'm finding my knitting mojo again, having finished the knitting on the contract project, starting the heel on the never ending peas and carrots sock, and I also picked up Gretel again.

Pictures tomorrow.. off to watch last night's Heroes. Richard had to teach last night, and I won't watch without him.