Valentines, Knitting, and Birthdays

Happy

Valentine's

Day!!

Today is Valentine's Day, which I think is a lot of fun. This is mainly because it has never been a day that required having a boyfriend, spouse, or significant other, as far as I'm concerned. It's just a day to send a card to anyone you liked, or wanted to cheer up, having them know you were thinking of them. I can remember in first and second grades, when you had to either hand out no Valentine cards at all, or give one to every kid in the class - it was terrifying to think that some boy would think you liked him!! So what that everyone else was doing the same thing ...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day, and have a chance to hear from someone who loves you, and/or eat some candy.

Knitting - on a Knitting Blog!!!

Media alert ... I bet you have either forgotten about this, or thought you would never see a picture of the finished masterpiece, er, item:

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Tim's Birthday Vest, in all of its finished glory, modeled by the man himself - TA DA! Yes, I finally got around to posting this picture. I think it turned out pretty well, considering that it was the first item of clothing I'd knit for a few years. You can't see it here, but the stripes even match up on the sides, which for those of you who knit clothing all the time, is not a big deal, but it was a real accomplishment for me. The pattern is from a Catalina Yarns booklet, and the yarn is Catalina Yarns Chunky Baby Alpaca. It's the softest thing I have ever knit! I saw a sample last summer at the Adirondack Yarns booth at the Valley Forge Knit & Crochet Show, and it just really appealed to me. Tim likes vests, and it seemed the perfect special gift for his 50th birthday this past November.

And because he is such a sweetie, he even wore it to work today for Valentine's Day.

Birthdays

Valentine's Day is also special at our house, because we have two birthday boys:

Here we have Garden Kitty, aka GK or The Gardenia. He is 8 years old today. We had seen a cute little black kitten on our street for a few months, but whenever it would see you coming, it would run and hide. Then one day, said black kitten showed up in our garden. Which of course meant I had to put out food and water. After a few days, "the garden kitty" (as opposed to the cats in the house), would let me pet him. This went on for a week or so, and then Hurricane Floyd hit, and Tim decided it was time for him to come inside. And, as they say, the rest is history. He is a sweet boy, but is still unfortunately scared to death of almost everyone and everything - and he still seems convinced for the most part, that Tim is trying to kill him. Because, well, he does things like clear his throat, or get up from the couch - can you imagine???

Then there is Jetsam, aka The Gray Menace, Jet Boy, or Shtinky Puddin', who turns a year old today. I was walking to work one day this past May, and saw a cardboard animal carrier wedged into a city trash can. I decided that once I got to it, if it wasn't icky from other trash, I would take it to recycle. But when I picked it up, it meowed! So I headed home, and opened it up, and a tiny gray and white kitten was inside. I fixed him up in the guest room, so the other cats would stay away, and headed to work, where I spent the day calling around to see if any places had recently adopted out a kitten. No one had, so I figured when I got home, we would need to take him to the animal shelter, since I was figuring that Tim probably was not too keen on having another cat. I prepared myself for this all day, then when I got home, there was Tim in a chair asleep, with the kitten asleep next to him! Tim said he thought Jetsam would be a good name for him, and that is how he became the youngest member of the family.

Garden Kitty and Jetsam have become best buddies, which is fine with Abigail and Tess, who think they are terrible examples of the feline species ...

So Happy Birthday to The Boys, who are both so sweet, that Valentine's Day makes the perfect time for them to celebrate their birthdays!