My Hands Haven't Fallen off Yet

I've been neglecting my blog, reading other blogs (so if you haven't had a comment from me lately, I'm trying to catch up!) and just about everything else the last few days. First of all, Saturday was my birthday and I treated myself to another hairstyle. You really don't know how big a deal it is for me to go twice within six months to have my hair done. I know normal people go every so often, but I've never considered myself normal. I mean, I hate spending one hour to three hours depending on just a style or also highlights (which I had done this weekend). It's three hours of sitting, but non-knitting time. I know some people love being pampered. I'm not one of them.

My birthday itself was good. I am now thirty-two. Doesn't bother me. I am truly in better shape now than I was at twenty-two. I'm happy with myself and my life. As for presents, I hate surprises. I mean I love surprises when they are out of the blue, but I truly hate knowing that I have a surprise coming and not having it in hand. And I usually manage to wheedle presents out of my DH before my birthday, so he's learned to get me several small things. Before my birthday, I managed to get Persuasion and a nice tea set from Adagio.com. On my birthday, I got Mansfield Park (TWO Jane Austen movies - he really loves me:) and a headset for my phone so I don't have to hold it on my shoulder. And he surprised me on Friday by bringing home a lovely chocolate cake, dark chocolate. Doesn't it look good?

It is very good. I forgot to get a picture before trying it out. I also got a little mad money for yarn and yarn-related equipment from other family :)

The second reason I'm neglecting the blog you already know. The insane knitting and sewing. The lining is cut for the dress and I pinned it together to see if I would have fit problems. Yes, I have fit problems. It would be a little tight in around the chest and back, so I think if I cut just a little more on the sides in that area, it will be fine. So there is a silver lining (get it, the lining is silver; bad, I know). I hope to have the dress cut out today and start the sewing tomorrow. The shawl is coming along, around 60% of the way done. I guess if worse comes to worse, I could skip the last repeat; the shawl is going to be huge anyway. But if I spend that much time on it, I really want to do it right. We'll see how it goes.