I am not too sure Confucious is right about that. The only one here to take note is Mom, and she has mostly been too busy to notice my radiant personality.  Today is Mom’s birthday, and birthday presents have been arriving at our house for a while now!  So many of our sweet Ravelry friends have sent gifties, and it feels more like a birth-month than a birthday.

My Auntie Naomi (JollyPyrate) sent Mom a knitting book called Knit One Below. It has lots of cool sweaters and stuff in it, and shows cool ways to combine several colors in one project.  Mom likes it a lot!  Auntie Naomi also sent us an awesome sock monkey calendar!  We can’t wait until January of 2011, so we can start using it!  We like it so much, we have hung it up on the wall already.  That way, we can be off to a good start as soon as we have the right year.

My Auntie Kate (Chiendeterre) sent us a great package from Boston.  There were candies that Mom shared with me, which made me very happy, and some Green Mountain Coffee that made Mom very happy.  Auntie Kate sent a great big skein of sock monkey colored yarn, called Cascade Ecological Wool, and she sent a very pretty skein of yarn called Kauni.  It has cinnamon, butterscotch, and cocoa brown in it – all of Mom’s favorite colors.  There was also a funny card that made us laugh.

But the best part of Auntie Kate’s package was a little container that has a tiny sock monkey needle felting kit in it.  I am not sure why the sock monkey looks like Chinese takeout, but I can’t wait to make him!  Mom says I can blog about him while I make him.

My Auntie Cheryl (Packrat400) sent Mom some fuzzy purple and blue roving and a sharp stick.  Mom says the stick is a “drop spindle” and it is for spinning.  Spinning is how sheep and alpacas and llamas get turned into yarn.  I am very excited to learn about spinning, and Mom says I can blog about that, too.  I’m glad to hear this, because I have hardly gotten to blog about anything since Mom got her new sewing machine.  She has been too busy sewing stuff to be Adult Supervision.

If I learn to spin, I will buy some roving at the alpaca farm when we go for Alpaca Farm Days, and I will make special yarn for my Aunties.  Me and Mom are very interested to check out our awesome new kit!

My Auntie Gale (Galeu) sent some wonderful stuff, too!  I thought Mom was going to cry when she opened the box and found a knitted shawl in just the perfect colors for her.  It is very pretty and is one of the softest things I have ever seen.  Mom will really enjoy wrapping up with it this fall.  Auntie Gale also sent some yarn called Laines Du Nord Mulberry Silk.  It is very soft, too, and very pretty.  I am sure Mom will be able to make something beautiful from it.   She also sent Mom a card that plays music, and some awesome Mon-Keys!!  The Mon-Keys are for putting onto your keys, and each one is different.  That way, you can tell the front door key from the back door key.  There are enough for all of Mom’s keys, and they will make unlocking stuff much more fun!

Auntie Pam sent Mom a great big box of stuff!  I thought Mom was going to cry when she opened this one, too.  Auntie Pam knitted Mom some socks and some fingerless gloves.  Mom loves them so much she doesn’t even want to take them off.   They are very soft, and the green color is very pretty.  Auntie Pam also sent Mom a bunch of magazines and patterns, some nice vintage buttons, a book about friends and some note cards and a notebook.  There were also some monkey stitch markers that Mom really loves, and a cute snail keychain which made Mom smile.  And she sent Mom enough yarn to make a whole sweater!  It is dark brown, which is one of Mom’s best colors, and it is called Berroco Ultra Alpaca.   It is very smooshy and soft, and Mom will be able to make something very nice from it!

I did not even nag Mom to make me a sweater out of her smooshy brown yarn because I was too busy wondering what Chip sent to me!  Chip is Auntie Pam’s monkey, and he will be meeting me in California in February.  Chip sent me some awesome stuff!!  There was a grow-a-monkey, and a grow-a-pirate adventure!!  I will grow the squishy pirate stuff for Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is coming up very soon!  There was also a whole package of black bowling pin buttons!!  Now, Mom has no excuse for not making me another bowling shirt.  Auntie Pam told Mom that those buttons were vintage ones that Auntie Pam’s mom made a long time ago when she worked at a plastics company.  That makes these buttons even cooler and more special!

Mom got very good birthday cards from both of my grandmas and my Uncle Phil, too.  We will be celebrating Mom’s birthday on Friday with Uncle Phil and Aunt Karon.  Mom is getting a lot of mileage out of her birthday.

When Dad got home, he brought Mom surprises!!  He got her some flowers that are extra pretty.  (Mom and Dad don’t usually exchange birthday presents, but Dad was sneaky.  Sometimes it is okay to be sneaky.)

And he got her an awesome 3-D card, too!!  The monkey in the middle of the card is my favorite.  He is sneaking off with a big hunk of birthday cake!

Dad took me and Mom to dinner at Big Truck Tacos to celebrate!  Mom wore her cat ears, and I wore my jester hat.  Birthdays should definitely be celebrated with silly hats!

I want to thank all of my Aunties for helping make Mom’s birthday such a special day!  They have sent messages on Ravelry, and have made Mom smiley all day long.  Mom says this is the best 35th birthday she’s ever had!

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Drop spindle,

I sure hope Confucious is right about that. I have so many people that bring sunshine into my life that I hope I can return the favor.

Mom has been busy with work and other stuff ever since we got back from Ashevegas and Camp Cavett, and she has not had time to be Adult Supervision. This means that I have not been able to blog about all of the cool stuff that the postman has been bringing to our house, so I am surely glad to be able to finally catch up on things.

Right after we got back from camp, a package arrived from my Auntie Cindy in Indiana.  She sent me a fun postcard with kitty paperdolls on it.  A week or two later, my friend Ollie (who lives at Auntie Cindy’s house) sent me a very good monkey postcard.  Mom got a Napoleon Dynamite eye mask, which made her laugh a lot.  We are surely glad that Auntie Cindy and Ollie are thinking of us!

I also got all kinds of good stuff from my Auntie Mary, who lives in Baltimore.  She sent me an awesome new soccer jacket, which I was surely glad to have, because Mom still has not sewed anything for me and I was getting tired of wearing my baseball jacket.  I also got more new shoes.  But the best part was the wood pirate to color!   Talk Like a Pirate Day is next month, and this will definitely come in handy!

I got a very nice monkey pin from my Auntie Lulu in New York.  Mom said she thought the pin was for her, but I am pretty sure it is for me.  And I am surely glad that Mom did not put up much of a fight about it.

A couple of days ago, a package arrived addressed just to me!  It was from my friend Niji Saru, who lives with my Auntie Michelle in Florida.  Niji Saru sent me a zipper pouch with more alphabet magnets for my fridge, and a very nice card.

I am surely glad she sent me those, because I have been needing them.  Now I have enough i’s to spell “Thanks, Niji Saru!”

Another package arrived last week.  This one was addressed to Mom.  It was from my Auntie Karen in California.  She is Praline’s mom, and she is lots of fun.   Mom’s birthday is at the end of this month, and Auntie Karen sent an early birthday present!  It was a box from Peet’s Coffee. There was some yummy coffee, a great big awesome mug for Mom to drink her coffee out of, and Barnyard Licorice, too! I was surely glad to see that there were chocolate licorice cows in there, because they are my favorite!

In other sock monkey news, we went to Buchanan’s a couple of weeks ago, and Mom rescued another monkey.  Her name is Shirley Glad.  That is because she is surely glad not to be living at the flea market any more.  She was so glad about this that it took her a while to quit hugging me.  I was surely glad when she decided to stop, because she was squeezing the stuffing out of me.

I am surely glad I finally got a chance to blog again.   And I am surely glad I got to say “Thanks” to everyone for bringing so much sunshine into our lives.  We are very lucky to have such good friends.

That is a very silly fortune from Confucious. I have to stay close to my inner self.  If I don’t, my stuffing will get scattered all over the place.

Yesterday was a great day.  It was the Big Truck Tacos First Anniversary Party!   Big Truck Tacos invited all of their Facebook fans to come have a big party with them to celebrate. They have over 9,600 fans now, so they had to limit it to the first 1,000 people to RSVP. We were very happy to be invited. We got there early so Dad could take some pictures. There were only a few people there, and they were helping get ready for the party. It was very strange to see the inside of Big Truck Tacos when it was not full of people.

Most of the party was outside in the parking lot, so me and Mom decided to wander around and see what all was going on. There was a man setting up a lot of equipment.  Mom said he was called a “DJ.”  That means he plays cool music.  His name is Brandon Hall, and he let me and Puglet watch him for a while.  He played really good music all afternoon and evening.

It was really hot outside.  Mom said it was 102 degrees.  I had to take off my pirate hat, because it was making my head all sweaty.  There was an awesome swimming pool, but Mom said I was not dressed for swimming.

There was also a really cool inflatable thing.  It was like a moon bounce with water.  You could jump on it and slide down it to the end and land in a pool of water.  I really wanted to try it, but then Mom reminded me how much I hate baths.

There was so much to see and do.  They had a cool table set up with all of their shirts and stuff, and there was a whole big bucket full of BTT Frisbees.  Dad got me a lime green one a couple of weeks ago, so Mom said I did not need another one.

They had some new shirts, too.  These were special ones just for the party.  They did not have one in my size, though, so I had to skip getting one.

There was a booth for tie dying t-shirts, too!  The shirts were like the special party ones, only they were white with black, and then you could squeeze different colors of dye onto them.  I watched a couple of them being made and it looked like a lot of fun!

Mom decided to get one to dye for herself, but she said I could not tie-dye a t-shirt, because if I got the dye on me it would not come out, even with a hundred Woolite baths.  It’s just like when she dyes her yarn at home.  I don’t get to have any fun then, either.

That was okay, though, because right after the tie-dying, we found the balloon man!  I wanted a bunny-ear hat, but it was too big for my head, so it wound up being a neck-tie.  I even got to have my picture taken with the balloon man!

He made one for Mom, too.  Dad took a picture of both of us with our cool balloons.

There was an awesome cart full of popsicles and ice cream!  Me and Mom got a lemon-lime one, and it was really good, especially since it was so hot.

They had some very cool big pinatas, too.  There was one shaped like a giant taco…

And another one with pointy things and streamers poking out of it.  And both of the taco trucks were serving tacos!  This was our first time to get a taco from the truck, so I was really excited!

The picnic tables we sometimes sit at were marked off with signs that said “Reserved for Eating Contests.”  I wanted to enter the eating contests, but Mom said that would probably involve a Woolite bath, too.

It was easy to get thirsty and tired in the hot weather.  I was glad to see that they had a big table with two giant jugs of water.  I had to rest before the party even started.

The eating contest festivities began with the Jalapeno Eating Contest.  There were two tables full of people who entered this one.  The contest was to see who could eat the most roasted jalapenos in three minutes.  I was glad I didn’t enter this one.  I don’t think I could eat three jalapenos in three minutes.  I would have been embarrassed going up against these guys.

I got to have my picture taken with the winner!  His name is Chris Thomas, and he ate twenty-seven jalapenos in three minutes!  Congratulations, Chris!  (I hope he feels okay today.)

There was a break between the eating contests, so me and Mom wandered around some more.  I went over to the swimming pool, and made a new friend!  His name is Mojo, and he really liked the swimming pool.  He even went down the slide.  Next year, I’m wearing my swim trunks.  As long as there’s no Woolite in the pool, I think I’ll be fine with swimming.

The next eating contest was The Big Johnson.  That is where you have to eat a giant burrito.  It weighs two pounds, and the contest rules are that you have to eat the whole thing!  Whoever finishes first wins.

There were five guys who entered this one.  They ate….

And they ate….

And they ate.

As the contest wore on, they started looking pretty tired.  And full.

And the winner?  Was Jon-Michael, who ate the whole Big Johnson in ten minutes!  Jon-Michael deserves a huge round of applause for surviving this challenge!  And for not getting sick.

Cally and Kathryn posed for a picture with Jon-Michael, too.   I’m pretty sure he probably won’t need to eat for a couple of days.

We had not eaten tacos yet, when we saw fantastic trays of cupcakes from Sweete Memories bakery! Me and Mom had a strawberry one, and it was delicious! Mom almost never lets me have dessert before dinner, so yay for Sweete Memories!

We were walking around in the parking lot, finishing our cupcake when we saw Kathryn with a really cool bike!

Me and Puglet got to ride on it!  Cally took a picture with us on the bike.

On top of all the wonderful free food, drinks and desserts, our great friends at Big Truck Tacos had drawings for amazing prizes!  It turns out that the awesome bike was one of the prizes, and it was from Schlegel Bicycles, where they have all kinds of cool bikes!  Cally and Kathryn drew the ticket out for the bike… I was really hoping I would win it, but Mom told me she forgot to get us tickets.

Even though I didn’t win, I got to get my picture taken with the winner.   His name is William, and he will be riding in style!

Then there was a drawing for an iPad.  Dad has been wanting one of those.  I hated to break the news to him that Mom forgot to get us tickets.

Cally’s Mom helped with the ticket drawing for the iPad.

The winner was Linda Short!  She was very excited to win the iPad, and I was glad to get my picture taken with her, too!

After the drawings, we decided to get tacos from both of the trucks, because each truck had different tacos.  That was lots of fun, too, because I got to say “Hi” to John at the first truck….

And I got kisses from Cassie and Kelly at the second truck.  That was even better than tacos!

Last January, I wrote a Restaurant Review of Big Truck Tacos. I think I am going to have to revise my review. They have set a new record to beat, and I am awarding them the highest rating ever…. Ten Twinkies!!!!! That’s five for the fabulous food, and five for the awesome party. Plus seven bonus cheetos for tie-dying, eating contests, and water games for people and pets.

And a bonus high-five and a whole bonus pan of Rice Krispy treats for Cally and Kathryn!!

We love you, Big Truck Tacos!!!!

Today’s Vocabulary Words: DJ

Confucious sure got that one right! I’ve never seen a better time to make new friends than at Camp Cavett! I got to meet so many new friends, it was hard to keep everyone’s name straight. I was glad they wore their name badges most of the time. Next year, I need to see if Mom will make me one of those in my size.

The art room was a very busy place the whole time we were at camp. There was a table in the back for dollar bill folding, called “origami,” a table for the birdhouse teams to work at, a table where Miss Pam did lots of cool beading with the kids, and the main tables where the campers worked on projects.

On our first day of camp, Mom had shadow boxes for our project in the art room.  A shadow box is a box that has stuff glued inside it, and it is a kind of art called “collage.”  Miss Jackie and Miss Donna looked through the magazines before the kids came in and found all kinds of good words and pictures to cut out, to get them started.

Shadow boxes are lots of fun, because you get to make a very big mess, and you get to use scissors and glue. We cut up lots of magazines, and everyone got to choose what they wanted in their shadow boxes.

I made lots of good friends in the art room!  One of my new best friends is Kathryn.  Her name is easy to remember because she spells it the same way Mom does.

Kathryn is an amazing artist!  She did an awesome sketch of me and Puglet, and it hardly took her any time at all.  I love my sketch.  Mom hung it up in her office so I can see it while I sit here at the computer and blog.  Mom says we will get a nice frame for it, so we can keep it forever.

All kinds of stuff went on in the art room on our first day.  The kids also did needle felting projects like the monkey pins that I made for all of my Aunties when we had our Sock Monkey Dream Date swap with the Tractor Girls.   We were happy to see everybody having fun with a new craft!

Miss Jackie was very good at needle felting!  Mom was very glad to have her there to show the kids how to do the felting, and to help out if they needed it.  Everyone liked needle felting so much we decided to keep it set up for all four days of camp.

All kinds of awesome things were made at the needle felting table.  Some kids made pins, some made magnets, and some of the girls made pretty things to wear for the dance.  My friend Evie made a heart that was really pretty, in lots of fun bright colors.

And look at this awesome needle felted hamster!!  I might have to make one of these, because Mom won’t let me have a real one.

One of our favorite shadow boxes was made by my friend Glen.  Glen is also a very talented artist.   His shadow box was really cool.  He made a shirt at the dollar bill origami table, and he used it inside his shadow box!  And the best part was, he used our theme of “The Buck Stops Here!”

I made a shadow box while I was at camp, too!  I found a sock monkey to cut out, and lots of other fun stuff that made me smile.

I gave it to my Dad as a present when we got home, which made him smile.  He is going to take it to work with him, and make other people smile, too.

You can get a lot of smileage out of one piece of art.

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Origami, collage,

Boy! Confucious sure knows what he’s talking about! I found more adventure in five days at Camp Cavett than I usually find in a whole year!

We arrived at camp last Tuesday evening.  Me and Mom came in the day before camp started.  Mom was in charge of the Art Room, and she and a bunch of other grownups came in to get stuff ready for the campers to arrive.   We got to see a slide presentation about what we would be learning at Camp Cavett.  It was kind of a sneak preview of all of the challenges the campers would get for the week.

It was mostly grownups there on Tuesday night.  I found out that the grownups are called “counselors.”  They are there to be Adult Supervision.  After the slide presentation, they all got to pick out t-shirts to wear.  There were special days for each shirt to be worn.  Mom did not know we were going to get shirts.  She will pack differently next year, because she didn’t bring enough of the right kinds of shorts, and she brought way too many things that never got worn.  It was okay, though.  She is pretty adaptable when she has to be.

We carried lots of stuff in to the art room, and it took a bunch of trips to get it in.    Then we set up the art room.  The first challenge was “The buck stops here.”  We wrote that on the blackboard, and put up lots of big dollar bills for decoration.

There was a big tower of birdhouse kits for a team contest set up on one of the back tables.  Me and Puglet decided to check them out.   They were very cool, and I was hoping to get to put one of them together, but Mom said me and Puglet were not enough for a team.

I was getting pretty tired from all of the art room stuff, and I nearly fell asleep in a big bucket of foam pieces Mom had brought in for needle felting projects.  I was really glad when it was time to go to the motel room and go to bed.

The next morning, the campers arrived on big tour buses!   It was pretty cool to watch them all getting off the bus and finding their cabin groups.

Since this was our first time at camp, we did not know anybody, so we took lots of pictures of the campers reuniting with old friends and locating their groups.

I was amazed at how many kids there were!  They all found their groups pretty quickly, and the buses were empty.

Look at all the luggage!

After everyone got off the buses and got settled, we all gathered for a giant group photo.  I did not get a picture of that, because I was in it.

I will have to tell more about camp tomorrow.  Mom says I have to go eat dinner.  She has promised to let me blog every day about Camp Cavett until I am done telling about it, though.  We did so much there, it might take weeks!

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Counselor