Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes, I had an extremely nifty day.
Ways is which my birthday was very good (an abbreviated list)
1. I had a really great lunch with Lene downtown, on a patio, in the sun, wearing a tank top and drinking Stella Artois. That alone was great, but then the very young and hot waiter hit on me. While ten years ago I would have thought he was a pig, there's something about getting older that makes it less harassment and more absolutely charming and thanks so much. (It's like how getting carded when you are very young is horrible, but now I think I would weep tears of joy.)
2. Joe bought me a new battery for the phone. My old phone held a battery charge for approximately 3.5 minutes, (assuming of course that I had the presence of mind to charge it for 8 hours prior to wishing to use this 3.5 minutes) I'm sure that anyone who has tried to have a 4 minutes conversation with my and been consigned to the abyss will appreciate this am much as I do.
Joe and the girls picked the most beautiful handmade glassware for me, and it was my lovely and charming husband who co-ordinated my day so that I knew only joy.
3. Ken wrote the best guest blog ever, and I feel extremely grateful that he's put up with my insanity for 20 years. Grateful enough that I'm contemplating his next pair of socks. How could I not, after he knit me this?
We are ignoring (graciously) that there is only one. (We are openly mocking the pointy toe, mostly because it's fixable and Ken mocked it first.)
4. Dinner was prepared by people other than me, and I did no dishes. It speaks volumes about my life that this filled me with a simple joy that I will not even attempt to convey. You have to live it.
5. Kelly, my very tidy sister-in-law who happens to live in Nova Scotia, gave me this (this is as good a close-up as I could manage, check out the perfect, regular curls of mohair.)
Fleece Artist "Curly Locks". Kelly and her husband Ben would like to personally apologize for the blueness, but acknowledge that while the blog may tire of blue, for me...blue will never die.
Yes, that is the beginning of a shawl, and yes I did cast it on while Kelly was still here. No I did not consider the feelings of the boring cardie. I have donated four days of my life to the cardie,
(yeah...ok, fine. It was four days sort of on and off, and I was rather impolite to it yesterday) and it's it's own fault that it's getting dumped, because it is boring. It reeks of monotony and no reasonable knitter could be expected not to dump it the minute a better yarn came along.
(Obviously I missed my calling as a marriage counsellor?)
6. Ken gave me this.
It's Lion Brand "Van Gogh". A bulky single, 100% wool. There's about 240 yards. Any ideas?
7. I watched the french language debates. (Canada is about to have a federal election, and since we have two national languages, there are two debates, one english and one french. ) Is it just me or did Paul Martin say something crude about taxes? The moderate and lovely Canadians around me I'm sure will maintain that The Prime Minister said that he would "abaissez les impôts" (Lower taxes), but with my wool as my witness I will go to my grave believing that I heard him say that he would...well, let's just say that the verb "baisser" in Quebecois french can be idiomatically used to mean...well "baisser" and "abaisser" are very different. If you must know, ask in the comments.
The very thought that the Prime Minister may have uttered this phrase in a National Debate is a birthday gift all by itself.
All in all, I am a lucky, grateful harlot. Today I'm going to enjoy the spoils of the day, knit a little on the new shawl, and cast filthy looks at the sulking boring cardie, and watch the english language debates. Tomorrow, (hoping that elves have finished knitting the cardie in the night) tomorrow I start something new and exciting.