Things look up.

First of all, a quick little mention about one of my blogreaders, Sarah the fabulous potter. She has the cutest baby — go check him out. Anyway, I ordered a pump bottle from her (a birthday present to myself), and it arrived last week and it's beautiful (my photo can't do it justice, it's just luminous). And it works beautifully for dish soap.

You might want to check out her pottery site (linked from her blog)... Maybe you need one too.

Speaking of birthdays, age 43 is going to be good. I'm certain of it.

First of all, I thought everyone had forgotten my birthday because I usually throw a big party on my birthday, and I wasn't healthy enough to do that this year. But no, they hadn't! First I got to work and Elinoire had prepared these fancy cupcakes for me (I took a photo on my phone, but my phone is refusing to mail me the photo). They tasted as great as they looked, or even greater. And then another employee brought me a huge bouquet of gorgeous, great-smelling flowers (the photo is also stuck on my phone).

Then I got a call from my doc, who put me back on the good antibiotic for another month. Trust me, this is a good thing. I want to feel better, and the one I was on wasn't working. And she helped get me in to the specialist sooner, so I can see him next week.

Then Rob got me a million cool presents. Really more than I can even remember!, but they included things like the ultimate Bladerunner collection (all the versions!), some Henry Rollins books, a cool light-up necklace, and and an awesome device that lights the ceiling with travelling laser stars.

Also, just to prove he totally rocks, he got me Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Around and a gift certificate for Patternworks. Teh cool!

Last night we went to see Laurie Anderson's "Homeland" show in Los Angeles, and though I got very tired, that was great, too. Actually the tickets were one of my presents to Rob for his birthday, but the show coincided with the day after my birthday so that was convenient.

Finally, today I got in the mail my new care labels:



I picked out these four as being most applicable to my knitted things. I ordered these from Nwtag.com, as they were cheaper than anyone else and had more options. I faxed in my order on I think Tuesday this week, and they arrived today (Friday). You can't beat that!

I got 250 EACH of these labels. That's way more than I need. Anyone reading this blog, if you want any of these, tell me which ones (or say "all 4") and send me a paper mail address and I'll send you 10 of each. Just email me at valerie {at} grasslimb {dot} com.

I'm really pleased with these and think they'll help folks who get items from me as gifts. I'd better learn to hand-sew more neatly, though!