Today is my birthday. Well, at least for another half hour or so. I’ve had a day full of food and friends and fun and luck.

I spent last weekend with lots of friends at CoasterMania at Cedar Point. We had a blast on Friday for the event despite the heat. Several of us headed to Waldameer Park in Erie, PA for the day on Saturday to give their new coaster several spins (it’s awesome, if you’re even sort of close, support this great little traditional park. The new coaster is definitely a winner!) I’ll be making more trips to visit, hopefully yet this year. And on Sunday, my friend Ed and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  The whole weekend was a blast. The RainbowHappySock was there too, and it brought Craig along, so I’m sure once he gets his photos uploaded we’ll have another update here.

Mike told me earlier in the week that he was being a cheapskate and not even sending a card. So instead, I received a bouquet of 18 pink, orange and yellow roses at work this afternoon from him.  They’re lovely even if I had to put them in a Jimmy John’s cup because I don’t have any vases at my desk. They’ll live at work for the remainder of the week to keep the cats out of them, but I think I’ll bring in a proper vase for them tomorrow morning.

I was also sent on a quest today. My mom decided sort of at the last minute before father’s day that she wanted to get my dad a Wii for father’s day. I think she’s had my brother searching for a couple weeks now, and just asked me to start looking last night. Since I was running to a few places after work today anyway, I went on a small search here in town. Birthday magic is a funny thing. I tried Sam’s Club, K-Mart, and Circuit City with no luck. When I got to Jackson Crossing, I knew there were at least 5 or 6 stores that could potentially carry the system, so I parked at one end (Target) and started at the store furthest from where I parked (Sears). Once I got to the department, I asked if they had any in stock, and the guy gave me something of a “I’ll humor you and look” look until we rounded the corner and there in the display was a single Wii box. I snatched it right up and gave mom and my brother each a quick call. The other thing I was on the hunt for was my freezer. I’ve finished pricing them out now, and it’s looking like Sam’s Club and Lowes are the cheapest, Sam’s is about $20 less, I’d just have to convince a coworker to lend me some braun and his truck for part of an evening, otherwise I think I can get Lowes to deliver.

I am still knitting, I started another travel-buddy sock. Another pair of Monkeys. This pair in Panda Wool in the circus colorway. They’re pooling in a kind of strange manner, but they work well for in-park knitting and saw plenty of knitting time last weekend while at the parks.  I have so many other sock patterns I want to play with, but it’s good to fall back on an old standard sometimes too.

It’s a good random day. I’ve been neglecting the blog again and have many little things I want to update.

1) My brother’s gmail account was hacked yesterday. He was able to resolve it, but he wrote a really clear and concise post about what information one needs available and the process he had to go through to reclaim his address. It’s a really good read for anyone who uses gmail.

2) Mikey headed back to Cali on Saturday. We had a great couple of weeks while he was visiting and I miss him tremendously. Just gotta figure out when I’ll drag him back for another trip. Silly work is eating up all my time.

3) We had a great weekend with friends at Holiday World and Beech Bend while he was here. Some of our friends ran into some snags that soured our exclusive ride time a bit at Holiday World, but we still had fun. I didn’t take any photos this year, but I did manage to knit most of a pair of socks that weekend.

4) That pair of socks, I just closed the toe on the second one tonight. They will be going in the mail to my mom soon. Simple stockinette socks out of KnitPicks Felici in the Gelato colorway. They knit up fast and I really like how they came out. Since I finished them tonight, they are also technically my first completed pair for this year’s 52 pair plunge.

5) Socks, socks, socks. I also joined the summer of socks this year. And I’m still knitting up that design in honor of my cousin. And I’ve set a goal for self to finish all the Sock Madness 1 & 2 sock patterns that I haven’t done yet before next spring’s Sock Madness commences. And I’m hoping to submit a design or two for SM3 as well. And wearing a skirt today, I’m really wishing I had a pair of handknit knee socks. Socks, Socks, Socks!

6) My CSA starts next week, my birthday is next week, and I’m headed to Cedar Point and Waldameer Park this weekend for some more coaster time with friends. I will have my camera and a sock or three with me this time, so look for some more photos soon.

7) Another contest won, I guess I’m on a roll lately. Knitsaur requested hand sizes in her comments and drew a name in exchange for that info. I won a skein of Silky Wool.

8 ) While the rest of us were in Indiana and Kentucky, Craig took the RainbowHappySock all over New York and into Quebec. He has a ton of photos, and even wrote up the Quebec part of his trip report in French, but I’m going to be a little lazy and just put together a big mosaic of his photos from this trip. It even witnessed his daughter’s 500th coaster.

It’s been a crazy year with a lot of ups and downs. I’m really ready for a new beginning and a better year ahead. My car has been my biggest enemy this year, and it decided last night to give me one last hurrah for the year. So after a year where I’ve replaced the battery, the tires, the rear brakes, the casing on the side mirror, and the engine… last night the drivers side window came unclipped and fell into the door. I live in Michigan, it’s December, and the nearest dealership is 30 minutes away. I’m not looking forward to that chilly drive. So, get your car serviced regularly or it will come back and bite you in the ass. Consider this my public service announcement and biggest lesson learned for 2007.

Knitting wise, I’ve been all over the map this year.

I’ve played with a ton of sock patterns resulting in 18 pair (19 if I finish dad’s today). My mom got 3 pair, I gave 3 pair at Christmas (dad, brother, and sister-in-law) and the most spectacular pair went to my sockapalooza sock pal. The rest are all mine and between those and the few pair I knit in ‘06, I’m down to a very scant number of non-handknit socks in my wardrobe. I have a couple pair of solid black and brown trouser socks and a few pair of athletic socks, but the rest are all knit! I knit simple socks, fancy socks, cabled socks, lace socks, socks at amusement parks, socks in the car, socks at work, and even participated in a crazy mad event that was essentially a multi-round sock race. It’s mostly been my year of socks, and with my sock yarn stash as it is, there are many more years of socks ahead.

I made 5 scarves, including two very nice chevrons. I love my amusement park chevron and wear it constantly. 3 of the 5 scarves were gifts, 2 of them gifted for Christmas. I have several other scarf patterns I want to play with, but they really aren’t my go-to project.

I made my first sweater, an undertaking that was far faster and simpler than I ever expected it to be and something I consider among my biggest accomplishments of the year. Another is in progress and I see many more in my future.

And I made a few other random accessories… a hat, some gloves, a few dishcloths.

It’s also been a year of knitalongs, a year of Ravelry, and a year with NaBloPoMo, and a year that I’ve realized I need to figure out a better strategy for managing those sorts of things if I’m going to participate.It’s been the year that the knitting traveled. I worked on socks in several amusement parks, and my socks got to see some rather coaster geekish things like the walk-back tour at the Voyage at Holiday World, and the brake run of Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park. One sock even rode the carousel at Kennywood.

I’m not really setting any notable knitting goals this year, I’m planning more on just going with the flow since I tend to do that anyway. I am going to be mindful of the presence of the holidays a little sooner(like say, next week), I am going to try to pare down the number of projects I’m splitting my time between, and I’m finally ready to tackle some lace, but beyond that you might as well stay tuned, because I have no idea what the future holds for me in this craft.

I am working on some other more personal goals though and I’ve begun them a few weeks prior to the new year. My mantra for ‘08 is “What can I do today to improve my health, wealth and home?”

I’ve got some little projects, and some notable ones in the works. The biggest one this year will be finally focusing on getting rid of debt. The money thing has been hanging over my head like a noose, and I’m ready to behave like a mature adult and get it taken care of. In the grand scheme of things, it’s initially a short term cleanup project with some longer term implications and additional goals once the debt is gone. I can have the credit cards gone at the end of the year, and most everything else taken care of in another beyond that, in the meantime, I’m working on establishing some healthier spending habits that should help in the long run. Financial independence in my 30’s is not unreasonable and is well within my reach.

That one trickles into all sort of other projects that will be more of a downscaling than full removal. mostly Knitting from my stash, fewer coaster trips (this is definitely a limited time while buckling down for the debt reduction thing), decluttering my apartment, better time management, and cooking more meals at home. I’m not really making resolutions, just setting some goals and direction and aiming to be in a healthier and happier place at this point next year.

It’s sort of a clean slate for ‘08 around here. I’m taking next week off, and I’m leaning closer to not going to visit the folks for New Years proper. That means aside from a doctor’s appt on Thursday, I have 9 days home alone by myself with the kitties. I’m thinking back, and in the 8 (as of Jan 15th) years since I’ve been working I’ve always used my vacation time to get out of town. I don’t think I’ve been at home by myself (excluding an occasional illness) for more than a 4-day stretch. I’ve done 9-day road trips solo before, but never just spent the time at home. It’ll be an interesting experience and should be a great time to do some decompression and get the @home-to-do-list into a manageable state.

I have a few at-home projects that have been weighing on me, and I just need to reboot my brain since it kinda checked out for the better part of the last month. I’ll have the holiday knitting wrapped up (dad got an IOU for his second sock, but otherwise the rest was done) this weekend while I decompress. A couple other small UFO’s from earlier in the year will likely be tackled this week and I may frog a couple projects to clean up the needles. I mainly want to spend the week decluttering though. I have a catch-all room that’s full, a holiday closet that’s a mess, and another hall closet that’s not being utilized well. Plus the kitchen just needs a major top-to-bottom overhaul and scrubbing. I’d like to actually have a functional home that’s a little easier to maintain. Since I revamped the bedroom a couple months ago, I know that I’m not that far off from getting it to a workable point. The start of a new year seems like a good time to get to it.

Tucked around all the sweat equity, I’ve got some online reading I’ve let slide and a backlog of about 2 weeks of blog reading to catch up on. If I can get back to the point of feeling “caught up”, I might just get back in the swing of staying on top of things again.

I’ve had tomorrow’s post drafted all month… today’s… not so much. I keep forgetting to post til the last minute since I’m focused on planning the insanity of next month now. I’ve got some major knitting to do in a short amount of time and I’m trying to get a more solid and realistic view of what’s on my plate and make sure I have everything available to knock everything out as quickly as possible. It’s going to be a wild ride this year.

Are you a card person or not? I’ve skipped a few years, but I generally enjoy sending holiday cards. I don’t do a big huge letter or any sort of newsletter and some years the cards barely get signed, but it’s one of those little traditional things I like to do every year.

It gets me onto some of the family card lists that my cousins aren’t necessarily included on. It makes me feel like a grown up (as often as I try to deny my adulthood, I still have that little kid-ish need to prove that I’m grown up in random silly ways and holiday cards are one of my random ways). It connects me to friends who have moved away or with whom I don’t keep in as close of contact as I should. And since I know that my mom can’t necessarily get her cards out every year, it feels like I’m helping to fill in when she can’t finish as many cards as she’d like to. So, every year I find and/or make cards and send to about 50 households. And this year I’m planning on getting myself some moo cards to put in the envelopes and (scary thought) bring this blog into the general consciousness of the people with whom I share some holiday cheer.
I went through and updated my recipient list this week and I always have to limit myself when I get to adding names to my list. That got me thinking about bloggers (doesn’t every thought lead back to bloggers, or is it just me?) I love my blog and while I’m starting to forge acquaintances and friendships with some of you through comments and contests and exchanges, the whole comment & reply conversations always seem a little fragmented to me. I’m not sure who I would or would not automagically add to my holiday card list. So, I’m going to throw this idea out there and see if there’s any interest and follow the model of the Pay it Forward post from yesterday and let you all decide for me.

Spread some holiday cheer

I will send a holiday card during the month of December to the first 5 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to receive a holiday card. I would love to get a card in return but that’s not necessary. However, I would ask that you make the same offer on your blog, spread some holiday cheer and send cards to a few of your readers as well.  I don’t intend for this to be some extravagant gift exchange. My crafty resources are spread thin this time of year but I can definitely put a few extra cards in the mail and share some of my abundance of holiday spirit. 

Also as an aside (beyond the scope of the snippet above), I’ll probably be ordering more than the 5 extra of my cards, so if there are already 5 comments here and you’re still interested feel free to comment anyway. I’d like to see the ‘5′ number work it’s way through the blog-world if by some miracle of blogginess this actually catches on, but I’ll send as many cards as I have to exhaust my supply. I may not always write a lot in my cards, but I do try to be a bit matchy-matchy and send all the same card each year and exhaust that year’s supply so I don’t have to worry about sending a repeat card to the same person the next year. That’s about as close to tricking myself into being organized as I can get. The holiday season has a bit of that mystical fantasy charm to it, so if I can trick myself into pretending that I’m an organized person for one month out of the year it just adds to the fantasy. Fortunately, I have a couple more days before that month begins so I can finish the prep work necessary to fool myself into that belief.

One more week of this NaBloPoMo thing and I’m kinda looking forward to a few days to self-edit and come up with interesting relevant posts instead of all these filler posts. The sick fog is lifting now and today is the best I’ve felt in a couple weeks. Hopefully that means the meds are working and I’ll get back to something resembling normal soon.

I’m giving myself this week to get the living room and kitchen in shape so I can get my tree up next weekend. I won’t have anyone over for the holidays this year, so it’s not “necessary” but it’s one of those things I love to do every year just for me. It is a bit of a pain to keep the kitties out of the tree, but I like my holiday decorations and my tree and if nothing else it may be the incentive I need to get the needles flying for the final pre-holiday push.

Sick sucks. It took all my energy to get dressed and packed today and as soon as I was 5 miles into the drive I knew I shouldn’t be driving tonight and turned around. I’ll give it another try in the daylight tomorrow.

Not only am I keeping up with NaBloPoMo in some capacity however lame that may be, today’s post marks #150 for me (proof that prior to NaBloPoMo I was slacking. That seems like a really small number for a year and a half of posting). But it’s a milestone, and deserves some sort of recognition.

I’m slowly shaking this, the drugs had me a little more active today.

The joys of being sick and living alone. Apparently, I’m still supposed to eat and drink things. The cats still expect to be fed and have a clean litterbox.

So, I used most of my energy today to get to the grocery store. We will all be equipped to stay alive until Thanksgiving now. Then I’ll relax and turn my survival needs back over to my parents for a few days.

The Doctor on Friday said I should be ok to work tomorrow, so I’m going to give it a try. No guarantees on that one though.