Hello, World! Newborn Diana’s Arrival, March 7, 1996
The Night You Were Born
On the night you were born
The moon looked down
Like diamonds on a blanket of deep velvet blue.
The stars were singing an ode to joy
And the snow crunched like clanging bells.
On the night you were born
The hands of angels
Lifted you apart from me
And you cried, “Welcome me world! I am HERE!”
And tears of thanks rolled down our cheeks
As God Himself delivered you safely to our waiting arms.
The day has come! Who would have ever thought that this little bundle, perfect in every way:
Newborn baby Diana
Would one day, just a mere 13 years later, become this:
Diana at 13
A beautiful, smart, funny young woman that I am so proud to call my daughter. I love you, Diana!
But today is not just about being all mushy and sentimental. (The Birthday Princess respectfully requests that I can the mush, like NOW!) It is a day of celebrations. Actually, it is the culmination of several days of celebrations. And I’d like to share with you some moments that helped us mark the occasion.
We had our first celebration at home on Wednesday. My mom and Tony are on a fabulous cruise that started today, so we had a lovely little birthday dinner with them. Of course there was cake:
Diana, blowing out candlesBudding photographer snaps a photo of the birthday girl
Then last night we had dinner at Diana’s favorite restaurant–Olive Garden. Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us and there was much good food, many presents, and lots of fun. Oh, and singing:
Riding Lessons for the Birthday GirlThen today we went with her friends to a horse farm, where we held a horse mini camp. There was education, and riding lessons for everyone! Some of the girls had never been on a horse before and had a little bit of trepidation. But, in the end, everyone did great! The weather had warmed into the 70s, which was nothing short of a miracle, considering the snowstorm we had last weekend. And the riding instructor was totally awesome. I overheard several of the girls asking their parents for riding lessons or the chance to come back to the farm for summer camp. Yay! I am so glad this all worked out.
Diana works on her balanceThe horse poses for a photoRiding LessonLearning to Balance
So, it has been a fun-filled few days around here. Although, if you ask me, I’m still not old enough to be the mother of a teenager. I’m not sure how this happened so fast.
Noro Kureyon squares in progressI’ve got the blues. The “when the hell’s this winter gonna be over?” blues. And, the “I really wish I didn’t have to work ever again and could just sit and knit all day” blues. Sigh.
Good thing I’m into color, because this blanket in all its weirdness is the bright spot in my days lately. I’m loving the simplicty of the garter stitch and the constant surprises as the colors unfold. Each time I start a new square I have to contain myself from squealing with glee, practically, even though most of the time, no one is listening.
The cool thing about Noro Kureyon is that the color runs are so long that I can switch off from one end of the ball to the other, thereby doubling my color choices. It’s like a wonderful game for the easily entertained. And that, my friends, would be me.
But I must stop. I have about three more hours of work to do before bed, thanks to a tragic brain fart I had while saving an HTML document preparing an HTML e-mail newsletter. I’ve got lots of code to strip before bed and I hate that I haven’t been able to face it all evening, so I’ll be up late again. Ah well, at least I can knit again before breakfast, which will be sometime after the customary three-hour’s nap that I’ve been calling an excuse for a night’s sleep lately.
third square in progress on the blanketfourth square done
As you can see, I’ve been busy with the knitting! Over the last several days I’ve completed the third and fourth squares on my Noro Kureyon Babette. I was feeling all accomplished-like, until Her Highness the Tween pointed out to me just how many squares I have left to do! I think, though, in a similar way that people say entrelac is never boring, neither will these squares be, despite the miles and miles of garter stitch. Watching the strips of knitting magically become squares as the center double decreases are made, is just enough entertainment for a simple girl like me. I can’t wait to be showing this project off as it grows and grows.
I Bought a Skein of WHAT?
vitreous humor eyeball yarn So, do you think I’m crazy that I actually WANTED this yarn? Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been wanting and waiting for it for TWO years? (The waiting was some small amount of self control on my part.) Yes, I’ve always loved things that would make people look twice, and the first time I saw this yarn I knew that one day it would be mine. Of course, the classic line I’m telling people is that it’s perfect for my standard witchy Halloween costume, but the truth is, I don’t think I’ll need to wait for Halloween to wear something made from this baby!
For those of you who haven’t seen this yarn before, it is Vitreous Humor, by Insubordinknit, a.k.a., the wonderful Jacey Boggs. Grossness aside, this is a lovely work of artistic handspun. It is beautiful and soft, and the felted eyeballs? Well they do give the yarn that certain something! The whole thing is a work of art. It is all at once beautiful, and a pile of sadistic muppet roadkill. That makes me love it all the more! Perhaps I will knit it up in time to wear it to Maryland Sheep and Wool. That is, if my friend Steve will be seen with me while I am wearing bloody eyeballs around my neck.
Her Highness the Tween on the sledYay! I got my wish! The kids got their snow day today. They didn’t waste any time, either; they were out shoveling and frolicking in it before I ever even came out of the shower this morning. I don’t know whose idea it was to build a snow ramp for their sleds, but they talked about it all evening last night and I was having a hard time picturing what they were talking about. But build a ramp they did, and boy did it look like they were having fun!
BoyZilla on the sledSo while there were plenty of snowballs and mugs of hot chocolate to go around, I was unfortunately stuck at the computer, working on the tail end of a long-term project for work. Some days I don’t love my job, but when that happens I know that in these times I have to keep up my mantra: “At least I’m lucky enough to have a job I don’t love.” I’m glad they got to go out and play today, though. We’ve been having such an unseasonably dry winter that we’ve had almost no snow at all. I don’t think the kids have had enough snow to play in for probably a couple of years now.
I did manage to sneak in a row or two on my Noro Kureyon blanket. So it wasn’t all bad. More on that tomorrow. For now, I think I’m gonna charge my iPod and head off to bed a bit early for a change.
We’re having a big snow storm tonight. Don’t tell the kids, but I’m hoping for a snow day, even more than they are. It seems like we haven’t had real snow in years. See you tomorrow!
