Today’s Fortune: Others will take note of your radiant personality today.

I am not too sure about that fortune. 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,