Monday Catch Up

Happy Monday Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was FAB! I didn't mention it last week because I've found the older I get, the quieter I am about it, but my birthday was last Wednesday. It was wonderful and spent with my family.  My Sainted Mother made an amazing dinner for me and gave me a GORGEOUS Waterford Crystal Bowl that she bought for me when she went to Ireland - lucky thing!  I'll try to take a picture for you when the sun comes back to my little corner of the world and my camera battery is charged - I'll explain in a minute.

On Saturday Morning, Car Guy and I had to run errands. I also had a little bit of cash burning a hole in my pocket courtesy of  Fabulous Frankie.  I've been wanting a basket that I can store my WIPs in so that they are all in one central place, but can be moved around easily and it was my lucky day...

I apologize for the horrible picture!  I'm afraid that the last time we went to my Grandmother's beach house, I left our spare camera battery and charger plugged in behind the chair and totally forgot about it.  So all my pictures are being taken with my phone that has no flash.  We've been having a lot of gray weather so everything is a little dark. 
The basket is a lovely deep green, so deep that it's almost black.  And if you can't tell from the picture, it's huge.  I was so pleased! And on top of that, I got it for $9.00-Yeah!

I also managed to find some gorgeous yarn.  It's a hand painted  wool/silk/camel blend made by Araucania called Lauca.  This stuff is incredible! I bought it at a close out store and paid $5.99 a skein.  I was only able to get two skeins, so I went surfing last night to see what I could find out about this stuff.  I finally found it at JimmyBeansWool for.....$19.99 a skein - Yikes! You gotta love a bargain.  I spent part of my day just  holding this stuff.  Car Guy asked what I was doing and I told him I was trying to find out what this yarn wanted to be.  He gave me a quizzical look and so I said that I was waiting for the yarn to speak to me.  He laughed and said "hand it over."  He proceeded to unwrap the skein and hold it for a minute.  Then he wrapped it around his neck and sat there watching the TV for about five minutes.  When he took it off and handed it back to me he pronounced that the yarn wanted to be a scarf. I think he may be right.  How scary is that?  I think I might be rubbing off on him :) Anyway, those were the sweet gifts that Fabulous Frankie got me.  He has such wonderful taste, don't you think?

Finally, have I mentioned lately that I have some amazing girlfriend? Here I thought this birthday would slip past quietly, but not with these ladies.  They - and their husbands - came over Saturday with the most wonderful food - Cantaloupe wrapped in Prosciutto, Taquitos, Stuffed Chicken Breast (stuffed with broccoli and cheese), Tomato and Mozzarella cheese skewers and so much more.  And of course there was something sweet - pound cake covered with chocolate and raspberry sauce - so amazing! It was a wonderful celebration with wonderful friends.

So, as you can see, I had a WONDERFUL birthday and weekend and am truly blessed.  Hope everyone else has been just as fortunate.