Challenge-day five

I'm sitting here looking at this picture today, and it appears to be smaller than yesterday's picture. But, I promise you, it's not. I've completed 6 and 1/2 pattern repeats out of the needed 8 pattern repeats before completing the top border. We're getting closer!


But it bugs me that I've done this pattern in the past much faster than I've been able to complete my knitting lately. I'm thinking talking about HBO's recent U of M vs. Ohio State documentary last night 'might' have had something to do with the current chapter of slow down here. The blanket WAS on my lap, and my needles were at the ready...but I cracked up over the jokes during the ending credits. Well, let me rephrase that, some of the jokes. Wasn't so crazy over the Michigan cookie one, for obvious reasons.

Now, back to knitting! I want to make Christmas cookies this weekend! AND have a pasty!

Challenge-day four

We are on a roll here! See what no talking can do for me? Click, click, click...and we've gotten to just below the 60% level by 'just this much'. Gotta love Ravelry with all it's little gizmos to keep you from knitting. Ravelry and talking. They're going to get to me yet. Love 'em both, but APPARENTLY, they slow me down.

I am enjoying the comments you guys are all leaving here about my Mom. OY! If only you knew this lady with her proper ways of doing things. I'll have to let her know this weekend about the 'other' ideas you thought her Granddaughter bought for her birthday. She's going to do one of two things. She'll either blush terribly, or crack up laughing. Mom has always been so modest in her manner of dress, but she takes teasing pretty well. Yep, going to have to share this with her. Since she is computerless, she hasn't heard the comments, yet. I will get some pictures up soon of the pasties. Given time AFTER I get this blanket finished, I'll have to dig out the family recipe to make them. We have eaten a lot of these over the years-generally family style but the pictures you get first, will be the individual types. They are the most commonly known. I gotta say, it's really nice that some of you are getting hungry with all this food discussion going on, and it's just not me!

I have had several emails and comments about people knitting up my patterns. I'd love to be able to post pictures here if you send them to me! I find it interesting how you're making them your own with different choices in yarns. Who wants to second this idea? You email me the pictures with the bruinmom99@yahoo.com email address, and I'll post 'em right up here. Make sure, please to tell me in your email that you give me permission to post them, please. I think it would be fun to see how many different ideas you all have.

OK, OK, OK, now...I have some more waiting time today. I'm going to do my best to knit WHILE I talk. Heaven knows, I just can't not talk, but I'll attempt to let others have more words than I do while my needles are clicking along. Well, that is unless I'm asked questions where I have to explain something. I can multi-task quite well. You should have seen me 20 years ago when I was on a bowling league after my youngest daughter was born and was still a nursing baby. Now that, I tell you, was the ultimate in multi-tasking! Hey, they were going to make me miss my turn! Not.going.to.happen. I like my yarn, and I like my turns. ahahahahaha.

Send duct tape for my mouth if this doesn't work today. I need to get this blanket in the mail soon! Then, I'll see about getting my left ear unplugged...yesterday marked the 4 week mark I've been dealing with it. Not in pain, but annoying as all get out!

Challenge-day three

Like the little engine that could-I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...I'm still trudging away. Now, what's today's/yesterday's excuse? "Apparently" I talk too much! *Gasp! WHAT A SHOCKER!* ahahahaha...

While knitting in public yesterday during my 'waiting' time, a lady from across the room commented that she liked my knitting and wondered if I was making a sweater. Nope, a baby blanket for my Niece's first baby due on Christmas Day. By then she came over to touch and feel the blanket and gave her ooo's and ahhh's (*sigh, if only my kids would learn to do so well...) and added her compliments for the chosen yarn. She not only liked the color, but the bits of colors as well.


Now, with all the sitting on the fence that I've been doing about this yarn, that did it for me. I am now convinced that this will be a finished project in the very near future. So long as I don't stop to talk. Because while I can knit and watch TV, knit and go to the movies in the dark, knit and watch my kids' soccer games, or UCLA football games at the top of the Rose Bowl, watch baseball games and knit, or read the paper and books and emails while I knit...APPARENTLY, I can't talk and knit at the same time. *Sigh*....go figure! (did you hear my kids just roll their eyes and groan????)

Now, before I go hit the needles for today, I need to clear up a little something about my Mom's birthday. What she was given originated in Cornwall, England. They are properly called a Cornish Pasty or Cornish Pasties (plural). They are not the items worn by exotic dancers. I'll promise you she'd never do that! Now, to explain....As one of many Great-Granddaughters and Great-Grandsons of a Quincy Copper Miner, we all grew up on these things. (That also means we came from Yoopers) They are pastry filled meat pies that the miners took down into the mines for their dinners. My whole extended family (except for my kids...sheesh..where did I go wrong?????) love them! In fact, with the family loving them so much, Grandma and her four daughters started making them in deep dish pie plates and serving up wedges ala apple pie style rather than in individual servings. Traditionally they are made with beef, rutabagas and potatoes in the pastry and shaped like half circles and dipped in gravy. We grew up with a lot of ketchup on them rather than the gravy, but today I prefer BBQ sauce.

Near my house, is a place called the Pasty Kitchen which makes them in both beef and chicken. When my parents were younger and able to travel, they'd come out to see us every 6 months to make sure they spent time with their only grandchildren (at that time). Dad decided it would be 'too much' for me to make dinner that first day, so it became a tradition for him to run over and pick up dinner. (Personally, I think he didn't want to wait for dinner once he got off the plane with the 3 hour time difference.) For awhile they also made vegetarian pasties as well, but I haven't seen them lately. Guess they didn't go over so well.

Man oh man, am I getting hungry just thinking about them! So, I think what I'll do is to make that a goal for finishing up this blanket. Once it's done, I'll pick up a few and post pictures of them on the blog for you to see what they look like. (thought I had some pictures already, but I guess I deleted them-rats) To quote Rachel Ray...YUMMO!

(Dangit. I'm now really hungry!)

Challenge-day two

Moving along here, I did get some progress on the blanket yesterday. It wasn't as much as I intended to do..but..there were reasons. Good reasons. OK, I procrastinated.

First of all, I was bothered by the feeling of this yarn. I said so yesterday. So, I spent a bit of time over in the yahoo groups asking for a bit of 'wisdom' from others who have used this yarn in the past. I got the answer this morning. Yvette says that once you're finished with your project, give it a bit of a swish in some shampoo and conditioner and it ends up very soft. Now, Yvette is a very wise knitter. Therefore, I shall renew my enthusiasm for this project and do as she told me in the BSJ earlier...follow directions, don't ask, and have faith. And then you'll like it! OK Yvette...I'm diving in, eyes closed...and holding on.




Secondly, the more I knit yesterday, the more I got the feeling that this was getting 'springy' or 'spongy' for another word to describe what I was creating. Remember back in high school, when you got to decorate the gym for the big dance? We would use all kinds of rolls of crepe paper. (Truth be told, I used it for my wedding, too..down the cars...in the reception hall-I think I can feel my daughters cringing now). Well, if you remember that stuff, as you unrolled it, it had some 'give' to the paper. That's how the blanket is beginning to feel. I found this interesting yesterday. Which makes me think all the more about this yarn being used for a 'Grandma's Favorite' pattern for a baby blanket. Spongy, springy, should make a very cuddly blanket when Yvette's advice come true!. Right?




Now I can't wait to get these two blankets finished and then the other two Feather and Fan blankets for the middle daughter so I can test my theory. Except it appears that I might have to redo another pink heart blanket. Oldest daughter picked up her last two blankets from the house over the weekend on her way to a gathering of sorts. ON the way, she had to make a sudden stop on the good old LA Freeways (Gotta love 'em!!!!!) and the red wine she was bringing broke and spilled all over the pink blanket. (OY!) At last contact the now red-pink blanket is sitting in a soaking solution.


Now to the procrastination 'reason'. I went to my Ravelry page to update the progress on the blanket. One thing led to oh about a hundred things (kind of like running into Costco and Sam's club when they were new back in the 80's for just one thing and coming out of the $100 dollar club with a car load of stuff in the large economy packages...) and I started adding up the books that I could remember in the book list. Let me just say, Ravelry is going to slow down my actual knitting here...but I'm going to be veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy organized!

Now, today I found a comment from Yvonne. She had a good question, too. She wanted to know if I had a favorite yarn. Well, Yvonne, yes I do! There are only two problems with this found treasure. #1-it's been discontinued and #2 - my wallet is breathing a sigh of relief that it has been discontinued. What is this loverly stuff? It is Plymouth's Silk Merino. I 'found' the treasure a couple of years ago at the Yarn Lady's Bag sale. I had no idea what I was going to do with it at the time, but I bought up all that I could lay my hands on that Saturday. I ended up with some light turquoise, navy, lilac and grey. What did I do with it all? Well, the first 3 things were to knit up some scarves for my mom and her sisters. Then I made a beanie, too. By the time I was finished with these projects...I wanted to frog them and start all over again. As Mike Myeres used to say on SNL in his best Barbara Streisand voice....it was like knitting with 'buttar'.!

In case you're asking, the lilac scarf is the feather and fan pattern in the book, Scarf Style. I can't remember the name of it. Sorry. The turquoise is from the 2005 Holiday issue of Easy Knitting (I think) and the navy one is a variation of the Irish Hiking Scarf that I found in a published book. It's nearly identical, but had different ends to keep them from flaring out. The Navy and Yellow scarf is made out of Regia's Nations sock yarn, and the beanie is the adult large size in my Cathy's beanie's patterns.



Yvonne, thanks for asking! It was really nice to go back to remember those projects and the fact that I still have some of that yarn (especially in the light grey color) left. Now, how do I fit it into the list of things with deadlines, so I can enjoy it all over again?



Ahhhhhhh...ok..enough for today. I have some major knitting to be done. I should have been at the half way point yesterday if it weren't for discovering Ravelry parts! Thank goodness, I have some built in time of 'waiting' today where I can't be near the computer. Let's see how much I makes a difference this time. (ya...I know...I have my Paula Deen's book, Christmas with Paula Deen sitting here staring me in the face and I haven't cracked it opened yet.)

What's that expression? If excuses were dimes, I'd be rich by now? ahahahahaha ha.

Challenge-day one

I restarted the U of M colored Feather and Fan Rainbow blanket last Friday. I changed the number of yellow and navy pattern repeats and I think I like this set (at least for today) much better. With all the excitement of Mom's Birthday, I neglected to post the picture of the blanket. So, I wanted to get this done right off the bat.

While we were in Michigan we had celebrated Mom's birthday early. My daughter and my dad were the ones who decided to go to Bob Evan's for breakfast. First of all, it's Mom and Dad's current breakfast favorite 'hangout'. Second of all, Dad is able to finally eat some solid food, and third, since it's a regular thing, Mom wouldn't guess that we were going to sing Happy Birthday to her. And it worked! However, when I asked their regular waitress, Kim, if they had a cupcake or something for birthdays, she said that they only had cinnamon rolls and no candles. Now, I ask you ...how does a restaurant have no candles when lots of folks go there for family birthdays? Had I known that, I would have brought my own. I would really like a 're-do' on that one. However, like I told Mom...You only turn 80 once! Since we were back in California on her actual birthday we settled with a phone call. Sounds like it was a great day back there for her...a visit from a life long family friend of ours, flowers from my cousins, pasties from my daughter, and hugs from my niece and brother. Now, Dad, you're up next in July!

Yesterday started the challenge on the other niece's baby blanket. Had I not committed to this, I probably would have ripped this out by now. I'm not so sure I like the wiggles yarn for this pattern very much. I'm thinking this would be perfect in a 'Grandma's Favorite' type knit with all the 'wiggles' in the yarn. But, the more I continued on yesterday, the more the pattern began to show. I guess I'm just used to a much smoother yarn for this blanket. But, now that I've got the Internet connection smoothed out this morning...I'm willing to keep going and see if I like it better with a completed blanket.

Have any of you used this yarn before? I have a lot of this in my stash from back in July, I think it was. I'd hate to think I picked up a really good sale if I don't like this stuff. But, when I get off this island of requested blankets, I would like to try using it with the Grandma's favorite pattern. Maybe double stranded on size (US)11 (8.00mm) needles. I've made a few like that in the past - double stranded with sport weight/dk weight on size 11's and find that it comes out rather cuddly.

OK, enough with the procrastination! I have a couple of blankets to finish! KNIT WOMAN!

Who is up for a race?

I have at least 2 more baby blankets to finish in time to mail before Christmas. My brother's step-daughter is due with her little boy on Christmas Day. I really need to get that to her early. A) it's Christmas shipping time, so lots of non-baby gifts will be clogging the lines to delay her blanket and B) it's her first baby, so she should get the blanket BEFORE she has the baby...right?


At least that's what I'm thinking. It only seems right.


So, I've come up with a plan here. Technically it's Sunday am while I'm writing this. However, since I've not yet gone to bed, I'm still feeling like it's Saturday night. I'm in the mood for a race here. My "NMCRS Basketweave Baby Blanket, ver. 2" is listed on the left side of the page here. It's the pattern that I used a couple of years ago for a beginning knitting class when some ladies wanted to make something post first scarf. It proved to be a good pattern to teach 'texture' and switching the yarn back and forth for knits and purls without a lot of difficulty. It's also an easy pattern for experienced knitters who need something fast, or mindless to do (great for movie and TV time).


Here's the deal. I'm using TLC Wiggles yarn. Generally I use a worsted weight yarn for this pattern, but I'd bought this blue yarn for this blanket before I noticed it was listed as a 'sport' weight. I think it'll work fine. Probably similar to the cotton-ease in Red that I used earlier in the year for this pattern. I'm going to start with size 9 needles, as the pattern is written in and I've pulled 5 skeins of yarn to use. The 'math' said I'm only going to need 4 skeins, but I don't want to run short.


I promise that neither yarn or needles will meet each other for cast on until I've had a decent amount of sleep tonight. I won't cast on until at least 8ish am. Probably closer to 8:30 am. Anyone up for the challenge? Email me at bruinmom99 (at) yahoo (dot) com [remove the spaces and fill in the at and dot] with your pictures and I'll add them to the blog this week. I won't have my pictures up for tomorrow's segment until Monday, more than likely. This could be fun. I need something to push me along with this blanket...as I still have the U of M Feather and Fan Rainbow baby blanket to finish with a BSJ sweater to go with it, a navy Hail to the .... Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel with 2 dishcloths to go with it, 2 Flaunt your Colors scarves and a pair of slippers all due to be shipped before Christmas. AND I still need 2 more Feather and Fan Rainbow baby blankets for the middle daughter. Seeing as how those blankets were due back in August, I'm wagering a good guess I won't get it all done, but I'm willing to give it the old college try! Oh, and since this is a sport weight, I may have to rip it out to start over if I don't like the drape or the fabric I make, as happened with the Cotton-Ease. So, you guys definitely have the advantage here.

SO, who's with me? Who is going to finish before me? OK, even try this...how many of you already have the blanket started, but never got around to finishing it? HUH? There must be someone out there....fess up!


I'm off to bed...the needles will fly tomorrow...I want to make Christmas cookies next Saturday!

She's the Birthday girl!

Happy 80th MOM!!!

Feels like Ground Hog Day-updated

Do you remember the movie, "Ground Hog Day' with Bill Murray? I think I'm living it, only not with a particular day repeated over and over again, but with baby blankets. When did I develop that feeling? Last week while sitting in my parent's living room I started filling in some of my Ravelry account profile pages. Then I went over to the KEMP database from one of the yahoo groups that I'm apart of, and copied all of the 'Knitting Every Month for other People" list to my computer to compare with the pictures that I've been taking after I finish projects. I THEN had the brilliant idea to start a list in Microsoft Word of how many of each type of project that I've finished this year. (That Ravelry, I tell ya..it's going to make me really organized. Too bad it didn't have us all doing the spice racks, etc...in the kitchens, huh?)


Now, what did all of this use of time on the computer give me? Well....it means with the clipping of the ends off of this, this afternoon:

I can now tell that I've made 18 baby blankets for the year! No wonder it feels like I've been living on the Island of Baby Blankets along with staring in the Ground Hog Day!


Keep in mind, I still have 2 more Feather and Fan Rainbow Baby Blankets that along with most of those 18 were due back in August, AND 2 more baby blankets for family members to complete. One of those babies, came Nov 16th! The last one that I'm 'aware' of, is due on Christmas Day. After I go for a little walk here in a minute, I'll be casting on for yet another blanket. Good thing I'm NOT doing knitted gifts this year. They'd get finished by the 4th of July at this rate, I'm thinking.

UPDATE 11/30/07: The Pattern is once again from www.lionbrand.com, in their crocheted patterns section, called Crayon Ripple Throw. However, I've changed it from a full sized blanket to a baby sized one, but dropping down to an "H" hook, and shortening the number of pattern repeats. Mine come out to ~36" square. Thanks Missy for asking! Oh, and I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn.

How's YOUR list coming along these days?

More pictures from last week.

We got to have a bit of a heat wave after Thanksgiving Day-it went up to 30.7*F one night, yes, that was up from 19*F! For Thanksgiving weekend, that's definitely a bit cooler than I've been used to over the past 30 years.

The day we all arrived, Dad took his Number One Granddaughter (by virtue of her birth order) to the Bay with her boyfriend. Some day I'll get my chance to get out there. I moved there in 1969, and still haven't been where they are in this picture. Can you tell how much he's loving having us there? We all wished the rest of my kids would have been able to make the trip. Some parts of getting older just stink, I tell you. Work, homework, finalys. Those, kinds of things. But my parents just love their grandchildren, and that's a very good thing!

Here is Mom and Dad the morning I left Michigan. This time I made sure to snap a picture of them with the camera rather than just with the cell phone. Despite the fact that he's lost about 50 pounds since his chemo, he's looking pretty dapper-eh? Mom will be 80 years old this Saturday! I'm hoping I'll be doing so well at that age!

Now, remember the Red Wings BSJ I finished back in September? Here's little Miss "B" modeling it for us. Now, is that a cutey patootie? Or what? WHAT A FACE! What a charmer.

Grandma in her 'element'...packing lunches for us to take on the plane. And her famous Blueberry Buckle. I'll have to post the recipe here, soon. I'm thinking...

We offered to help set up Christmas decorations while there, but Mom thought it was a bit too early. I found these in her china cabinet, and just couldn't resist. Therefore, I've added the first out of their hiding places all year. I just had to do it.

Didn't quite get as much knitting and baby blanket making done as I'd hoped, but the end is getting closer here. The Feather and Fan blanket has been ripped-when I went to pack for the trip, I realized I didn't have enough of the dye lot in Navy to finish the blanket, so I had to start over with another dye lot. That's alright. Ripping and frogging are a big part of my knitting. I'm used to it.

Flying into DTW, my suitcase came off the baggage claim belt with a busted wheel. Actually, that's not quite true. The wheel and it's 'bracket' for that corner was completely missing! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......so the 2 days after Thanksgiving found me searching for a suitcase to replace the 'broken one.' Now, being in Michigan where I know many of us travel back and forth quite often, I found it frustrating that the selection was so small to pick from. I did stumble into Kohl's and found a great sale. Happily I was able to get back and begin packing. However, you know how Mothers are...She was sending home some 'extras'. Of course, I wasn't going to say No, Thanks! Nope, the more I thought about it, the more I decided to head on back to Kohl's and pick up a 2nd suitcase. The sale was really good, and I'd be a fool to pass it up. After all, I was able to get everything into both suitcases to bring home, and not have to mail things back. So, imagine my reaction when I went to baggage claim on Sunday night...and found this on my brand-spanking-new-2nd purchased suitcase!

Yep. two suitcases in one week...wheels busted...and you know what? The airlines don't guarantee wheels. But...a suitcase that is less than 24 hours old to me? I wasn't thrilled I'll tell you. I watched the baggage guys on Tuesday last week pulling suitcases off the cart to load the planes. I watched a couple of them get pulled by long handles and let drop at nearly shoulder height. At the time I was thinking to myself, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm I'm glad that wasn't my suitcase. I can see why things get busted like that. Another time I watched 3 baggage guys taking the luggage off of a plane. The belt wasn't stopped when it was too full. They were busy talking and I watched at least 4 bags and boxes drop directly onto the floor. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

However, I think Kohl's might have a new customer. Without hesitation, they exchanged the broken suitcase without a single blink. And I'm thinking that 15 year guarantee might get a bit of a workout though. Now, I'm thinking...it's too bad that Kohl's doesn't sell yarn. EH?

I'm heading back to the Rainbow Baby Blanket, I've got to get this one finished asap. There are more babies on the way, and a few that are already here, that are without their baby blankets. TISK TISK TISK....I know, I'm knitting as fast as I can! I promise.

I think I can move now...

But I still feel pretty stuffed.

Ono of the things I have missed over the past few years, is the huge amount of food I get to make over Thanksgiving. With my children growing older, and not always at home for the holidays, when the opportunity came to go home to my parent's house came up...I jumped on it. A) I'd have the chance to cook again (I've not made Thanksgiving Dinner in 2 years) , B) I'd have more than just me for being the cook, and C) FAMILY! as in extended FAMILY! Because we moved to California back in 1980, it became the rare event to be with extended family for holiday events. I've missed that a whole lot.

Growing up back in the early years, we didn't always live near family. Most of my cousins lived during their school years within a few moments of our Grandparents. When you have a dad who is a minister, you don't take Holidays off to travel to join in with the rest of the family. Once we moved closer in town to my mom's older sister, that all changed. Christmas time would find us at either of the houses with 30+ people. I really miss those years. Holiday decorations, great food, lots of people around, and my aunts pretty much all did the dishes! Moving away made those days virtually impossible except on the rarest of occasions.

This year wasn't as large as the old days. First of all, only one of my children at the last moment was able to come along. She did bring her boyfriend. The daughter whose brainchild this was in the first place, was denied vacation time by her boss. (BOO HISS). It felt really strange to be coming here without her. The other two live in other states and couldn't be here, either. One for homework/finals reasons, the other for another boss issue. I guess this is the part of having adult children I'm going to have to learn to deal with. But I don't' have to like it, right? I miss having them all around.

Late Wednesday night (or early Thursday morning if you count the actual time on the clock) the pumpkin was cooked down.

We even had enough pumpkin for 2 pies! Mom added an apple and a blueberry pie to the bunch, too! (YUMMMM.....)

I'm thinking that making pies post midnight, isn't so good for the thinking skills. I read the book incorrectly (now that's a shocker-huh?) and made enough crust for 3 pies. So, remembering from my childhood I gave my daughter the chance for some 'baking' like my mommy gave us as kids. When she had too much pastry, she let us roll it out and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and then bake it up. I don't remember her doing it for a veryyyyyyyyyyy long time.

OK. We'll not talk about her being 26 and a really great cook of all things Rachel Ray and Gourmet Magazine. Somethings just have to be experienced at some point of your life. Right? It completes your childhood, and as a mom 's raising of a daughter.

After sitting up and talking (isn't that also a part of the holiday deal? Sitting up late and visiting?) I headed for bed with my alarm set for early in the am. Guess what I found in the morning?

SNOW!

Notice the rainbow flip flops in the first picture. I ran right out to get pictures, as it was evident that this snow wasn't going to last for long-it melted on the driveway.

Once I ran back inside (it was 19*F after all....) I got right to work making the stuffing. Celery, onions, apples, and bread cubes. mmmmmmmmmmmm good stuff I tell you. (HAR..stuff...groan...Ok, so maybe I'm still hurting from all this food.)

Use a bit of cheesecloth to make removal much easier and then tie it up. And pop it into the oven before anyone else is up. Then I went back to bed for a bit.

And I slept a bit longer than intended. It's snugly warm here in this apartment, I tell you! But the turkey was bit slower than I felt when I got up. It did, however, manage to 'melt' off the layer of skin on the top. I should note here, that I always start my turkey upside down. Years ago I was told that this helps the white meat retain much of it's moisture, and it hasn't failed me yet.

MMMMMMMMmmmm, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy.



Fruit salad, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, relish tray, jellied cranberries....(I'm still feeling full..)

Table was set, and we started in with brother and niece joining us. It might have been a smaller version of my childhood, but it was good. Later on we went over to my aunt's house to visit with a 'few' of her family. These might be the 2 best pictures of the night! The youngest family member in attendance (the youngest in the family was just born on Nov 16th, but wasn't in town) and my mom and her 'big sister.' She's the aunt that taught me to knit!

I did manage to get a dishcloth finished tonight.

We just HAD to spend a wee bit of time at the mall. Mostly it was in the movie theater, but I did pick up a surprise...after all ... Mom's 80th birthday is December 1st. While we won't be there..we're going to take her for a Birthday surprise in the morning. So with that, I'll wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and weekend - at least what is left of it. I have to get some sleep so I don't miss the ride over for candles in the pancake time!