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!

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!

and I'll likely take the weekend off from blogging unless I end up with something fun to share. But before unplugging, I offer another list of really cool sites..

Loren, my good friend and frequent commenter here, has started a new blog called The Other Side Of New York, where she'll talk about all sorts of fun things to do upstate. Give her a visit and be sure to subscribe or bookmark!

This cupcake hat at Chile Con Yarne. Too cute for words. Be sure not to miss the viking hat and pineapple hat either!

CNY Menus. I use this site way too often, but its a great resource.

A knitted donkey pattern. Doesn't this just scream out to be knit by me? Well, it will be.. I bought it. And I'm tempted to buy the panda, lamb, and kangaroo too.

Sheri posted this recipe for Italian shredded beef on her blog, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So easy, and damn tasty. I was skeptical.. how could something so easy be that good? But I'm a believer.. and so is the rest of the family. Alex took one bite, had a look of food euphoria and immediately asked that we make it again. We served it on uber soft kaiser rolls and had a green salad on the side. YUM!

Have a great weekend y'all!

I felt a little better on Sunday, so Cassidy and I spent the day shopping, with no real goal in mind, other than using my JoAnn flyer coupon.  We started at TJ Maxx however, where I ended up purchasing a Lodge cast iron skillet for 9.99. Not a huge discount, but I didn't have to pay shipping either, and that is good.

At JoAnn, I couldn't think of anything to use my coupon on except for a new knitting book, (and what has happened to JoAnn's book selection? They had nothing worth buying.) So I used it on the October issue of Real Simple, a magazine I always want to buy, but never want to spend the four dollars and fifty cents on. Well color me hooked. I.need.a.subscription. Cassidy and I also picked out some flower shaped fondant cutters to use as veggie cutters for her lunchbox (at 2.50 for the set, its much cheaper than spending 9.99 on eBay and paying shipping from Japan!)

But the highlight of my day.. finding Honeycrisp apples at P&C for 1.99/lb.  We found some at Wegmans on Saturday too (and I did buy 2 at 2.99/lb) They were large.. and goooood.. but I didn't feel comfortable buying too many at that price. As it was, 2 of those large Honeycrisps cost over three bucks! But back to P&C.. I bought a whole bag.. and man am I enjoying them. This discovery comes during a week when I was feeling particularly homesick for Madison.

But Honeycrisps are from Minnesota you say? Well.. a yearly ritual when we were living in Madison, was watching every day this time of year for the huge "HONEYCRISPS ARE HERE!" sign in front of Brennan's on Northport Drive. It was one of the first signs of Autumn's arrival for me.

Now I'm sure for the past few years that we've lived in New York,  I've just "missed" the short period of time when Honeycrisps seem to be available. Or maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, (or subconsciously, not looking at all.) In any case, I've eaten three since Saturday.. and I'll likely have another at some point today. But one things for sure.. I need to get back over there and buy several pounds worth and stock the fridge (they can last up to 6 months in the fridge - good thing the new fridge has all that extra space!)

So if you've never had a honeycrisp apple.. get your fanny to the market to get some before they're all gone. You won't be sorry.

Various links, some from my ever growing list of bookmarks..

• How to make a wall sized white board. This is the coolest idea. If I only had a wall big enough to put it on and keep everyone's schedule organized.
• How to get rid of things, particularly, squirrels. Its just about that time of year, when those nastly little critters will start chewing their way into the attic again.
• Its officially Autumn, and the leaves are starting to turn. How about making roses with maple leaves for a good seasonal craft?
• a Java based online knitting chart creator. One of the coolest sites in my bookmarks for sure.
• Equally cool, a random stripe generator for knitting striped sweaters/scarves.. or whatever.
• Molten Lava Cake. A must add because it looks so freaking delicious.

Halloween sneaks up on me every year. And every year I say we'll start planning/making costumes months earlier (you know, like earlier than like the week before.) This year the boys (mostly Dylan) have been asking for Transformers costumes. Not store bought ones, homemade, with boxes and gadgets and spray paint. Not sure what I'm talking about? Check out this amazing Optimus Prime.

But I'm getting off track here. Do you remember this picture from last year?

Well I've entered Thing 1 and Thing 2 in a Online Halloween Costume Contest (See our official entry here.) I won't tell you to vote for us, even though the prize is amazing, because there are some equally awesome costumes entered already.. (like the Optimus Prime linked above!)

But anyway, back to this year..

I think we are going to give a try at the labor intensive Optimus Prime costume for Dylan. And Alex, although he really likes it, keeps talking about a Spider Man costume again. This is sort of a relief.. Can you imagine if he were dead set on Megatron? Cassidy hasn't decided yet (she usually waits for the last minute.. what girl doesn't?) Connor.. I think he would be happy with any sort of kid costume, though I'm sure Nemo would be a hit.

So what are your plans for Halloween this year? Inspire me!

Between the invasion of germs, and an already busy schedule, my crafting this week came to a screeching halt. Ok, maybe not a screeching halt, but a real slowdown. I did get the entire back done on the contract project, as well as the start of the front portion.. but since I can't show that off, it doesn't really count, now does it?

So this week I suppose I'll show off some goodies that showed up in my mailbox, which are craft related.

This is the last time you'll see this fiber until after the December spinning guild meeting where we'll do our gift exchange. But the new Evelyn Clark book and Addi lace needles arrived since the last craft club post so I'm including it. These were purchased specifically for this project, and some other future lace projects. I'm not sure that the book is what I expected it to be, but I'll try to give a good review in the next few weeks. The addi lace needles... pointy!

New niddy noddy in action. I need some practice before winding yarn like this becomes second nature, but it does have a bit of a rhythm to it. And it was for sure, faster than my previous methods utilizing my swift or the bottom of a rubbermaid bin!

New fiber from Jessie at A Piece Of Vermont. 50/50 Merino-Bombyx Silk in the "Shimmer" colorway. But what drew my attention to it, was that it very closely resembles a painting on my living room wall - Georgia O'Keeffe's Music Pink & Blue II.

Like I told Jessie, she doesn't need to name a colorway after Georgia, if it just resembles one of her paintings, she can pretty much count on a sale from me. (So, um, Jessie, since we have Red Canna and Music Pink & Blue II taken care of, I'll be waiting for some Light Iris, my all time favorite, and maybe Black Iris or Waterfall.)

And because its just one of the reasons I didn't get much done this week..

As Richard said, once it was plugged in, he could practically hear the CHA CHING of money going back into our checking account, while National Grid shouted "Drat! And we would have gotten away with it too, if not for those pesky Energy Star appliances!"

I intended to sew a roman blind for over the master bathroom sink ever since we moved in, seeing as how that window looks out on the enclosed porch, but I never could find the right fabric or a fabric pattern I liked well enough to spend the money on. So for the longest time I had a no longer used baby towel tacked up there as a "temporary" window covering. That "temporary" covering stayed there for 12 whole months. Shameful, huh?

I looked at real wood blinds to match the vanity, but was afraid of damage from the moisture. I thought about fabric blinds or a fabric pull down shade, but still.. the moisture issue. And I knew for sure I didn't want plain white vinyl blinds.

So when Blinds Chalet offered me a set to review, I jumped at the chance. I ended up choosing a set of custom cut faux wood blinds to closely match the vanity, and fit perfectly over our oddly sized window. I came pretty close to matching the shade, but despite the slight difference, I'm not at all unhappy. Blinds Chalet was incredible to work with, contacting me via email and phone during the process, plus theres the very-important-to-me bonus - they ship fast.

Now we have total privacy in the bathroom with a quick turn of the wand. Yay!