Happy Halloween!

Rather a trick than a treat? Enjoy this hilarious Bollywood version of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, a song celebrating it's 25th anniversary today. I really love Bollywood movies (although usually without impersonations of Michael Jackson!). Did you know, that Thriller is still the top-selling album of all time? (I heard that on the radio this morning...).



Well, I know it's Halloween in BC because this morning I woke up at 7am to the sound of some punk teens setting off firecrackers. (I assume it was teens - it could have been construction workers from the building across the street or even hobos in the alley I guess). I don't really understand the association with Halloween and firecrackers here - I mean, Devil's Night would be ok with me, but then again my fellow Vancouverites don't seem to know what I mean when I mention that! Think of all those unsoaped, egg-free windows and trees without toilet paper!

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween! Dish out lots of candy and remember to eat your share too. And if you still have a sweet tooth tomorrow don't forget to scoop up some cut-price treats!

Week 15!

PJs is now nearly the size of a softball! Hooray for team PJs!

I visited the Doctor on Monday for my regular check-up and at lunch am going for some routine tests that they do at this stage. I was told yesterday to relax because when I got there at 9am my blood pressure was a touch high... It came down once I laid down for five minutes. I suppose planning a wedding, honeymoon, working full time and being up to my elbows in various other things is kind of a lot? ;-) I am glad it's getting closer by the day and we can just about get our much-needed r&r.

What PJs is up to this week:
You may not know it when it happens, but your tiny tenant frequently gets the hiccups, which babies master before breathing. Babies don't make any sound because their trachea is filled with fluid rather than air. Starting this week, any stomach rumblings you feel may be your baby trying out some acrobatics, since she can now move all her limbs. She's also becoming sensitive to light. If you shine a torch at your tummy, she's likely to move away from the beam.

Although you've probably gained between 5 and 10 pounds (2.2 - 4.5 kg), the fetus weighs in at around only 70 grams. It measures nearly 4 inches / 11 centimetres long, crown to rump. Legs are growing longer than the arms now, fingernails are fully formed and all the joints and limbs can move. You may be able to find out the sex of your baby by ultrasound now, since the external genitals may be developed enough that the ultrasound technician can tell you if you're going to have a boy or a girl.

Lanugo hair covers your baby's body, but it will be gone when your baby is born. The hair on the eyebrows and head continues to grow. Some babies are born with little or no hair and others have a head full of hair! If you have an ultrasound at this point, you might be able to see your baby sucking its thumb.

As good as gold!

The Bella Band is fantastic! I had to wait another entire day to find out, because I didn't make it to the store in time on Sunday - they were closed by the time I got there unfortunately... After my doctor's appointment this morning I high-tailed it a few blocks over to Yaletown to Vie Maternity.

Basically the Bella Band looks like a stretchy spandex tube top and feels so soft and sproingy. And that's pretty much how it fits, but imagine pulling on your tube top only to give up when it's around your belly, over your pants. That's it! I went to try it on at the store and I had to come back out of the change room, holding it up quizzically and ask whether I was supposed pull it on from the top or the bottom! ;-) From the bottom, fyi.

And honestly, it worked great on the pants I've been wearing with the button open and the zipper halfway down, since they fit everywhere but the bump area. You couldn't even tell, and it made them so comfortable. Four thumbs up for the Bella Band!

Ancient Chinese gender prediction chart!

So, apparently this chart is an ancient Chinese method of predicting your baby's gender... It was discovered in an ancient royal tomb near Beijing (so the story goes!) and is said to be over 90% accurate.

To use it - match the age you were when the baby was conceived (down the left) with the month of conception (across the top). Voila!

Is it scientific? No. Interesting? Mais oui!! Somehow I doubt that every woman of my age (30) who conceived in July/Aug (right on the cusp) will have a boy. Seems about as likely as all Piceans (both our signs) having the same day today. I'll make sure not to go buying blue booties just yet!

Girl guide cookies - get 'em while they're hot!

Girl Guide cookies are out now! This may not come as a surprise to folks who live outside of downtown, but I am always surprised, since we never see any kids selling any here, much less braving the door-to-door routine of days of yesteryear (apparently I am old enough to use phrases like that!). I remember one year a bunch of us sold cookies outside of the liquor store in Ontario - we made a fortune that year!!

It's the mint chocolate ones this time of year (aka, the "good" ones... aka, the ones that didn't exist back in my day as a Guide!) and they're just the thing to go with all the organic milk I'm guzzling lately! If you don't see any girl guides out in your neck of the woods, I can hook you up through with my "source" at work! ;-)

Buying a box is a great way to support the Guides in your area.

A sad (and hilarious) tale of maternity clothes shopping...

This story about one woman's experience shopping for maternity clothes was too funny not to share. The descriptions of the heinous clothes alone are worth a read for the laughs they generate! An excerpt:

So on a crisp morning during my second trimester, she and I entered the sacred realm of the maternity store. Immediately we were set upon by a smiling saleswoman (not pregnant) who spoke to us in the voice of a kindergarten teacher during story hour. "And when are we due?" It wasn't simply an act of buying clothes, I quickly learned. No, we were all going to give birth in April. A private person by nature, I winced but sallied forth. What came next, however, was not to be endured. All the maternity clothing displayed was unspeakably tacky. It seemed I had just three options: I could become Battleship Mom, Bunny Mom or Playground Mom. [more...]

The kit mentioned in the story is Belly Basics, a set of maternity clothes that look like, if not the most imaginative clothing ever, some perfectly serviceable pieces. Although if I buy a kit I'll have to wear some great shoes and jewellery or something, to keep from looking like Funeral-Director Mom. ;-)

And oh my goodness, I neeeeeeed this Bella Band something terrible!! That looks like the best invention ever. Bless the kind soul who thought of it! I have just called to put one on hold at Vie Maternity in Yaletown - all my jeans, except for the one-size up ones that I just bought and haven't hemmed (and hopefully still fit) are too small!!!!!

Baby stuff!

New sidebar area on the site! Baby supplies good stuff list - this is just an ongoing and developing list of things I love and am keeping in mind for little PJs arrival. I thought I'd post the list so that I could share the things I love with everyone! I'm noticing that the big-box baby store isn't going to be the only stop on my travels. Many of the things I really want to buy for PJs arrival are from all sorts of random places...

Recently I read an article about the safety issues around the use of polycarbonate bottles. Glass baby bottles are an option, but I am also clumsy and somehow glass seems less safe for a baby too.

These Adiri Natural Nurser Ultimate Bottles are the ones I'd like to buy for PJs. They're 100% polycarbonate-free and bisphenol-A free, soft, ergonomic and the design is gorgeous!

Interesting tidbit

John Cleese has had a species of lemur, Avahi Cleesei, also known as the Bemaraha or Cleese's Woolly Lemur, named after him. [more...]

Bee-utiful lotion!

Love, love, love this Baby Bee Buttermilk lotion from Burt's Bees! It smells delicious, like milk, honey and some kind of softness that I can't put a finger on. I've been using it my hands lately, in the interests of trying it out for PJs, of course. I figure if it can deal with my sensitive skin, that's a good sign before putting it on a little baby...

They have some other tasty baby items too, and this sweet kit is adorable. I love the Burt's Bees line in general particularly the beeswax lip balm and their other body lotions (not so much the facial lotions & toners - too vegetable-y for my taste).

And great news - the packaging is made from 96% post-consumer plastics from recycled milk jugs, soda bottles and the like. Available at Capers locally (other places too), online everywhere!

Hiding in plain sight in Japan

Interesting article in the fridge on a growing trend in Japan - camouflage clothing and accessories that allow the wearer to hide in plain sight in the hopes of avoiding street crime. What happens when someone wants a Coke? And the shoes kind of give it away, as well as the unpacking time... You can see how it works (along with some other things from the article) in this quick slideshow.

I love the innovative spirit in Japan! Some crazy inventions for sure, but lots of interesting ideas.

Week 14!

Whoops! I mistakenly said earlier that PJs is the size of a small gerbil - however adorably creepy that is, I was wrong! (Just this once - won't happen again!). I must have some pregnancy fog yet (I suspect in my case it might be permanent!) because I mixed things up and that isn't for two weeks... This week PJs is the size of a fist. A normal-sized fist, I presume, since they didn't specify. That means that gerbils are larger than I previously thought!

With all this confusion in size, I am including health-class style sideways tampax-esque shot of human lady body. Look at the baby in week 14!!

What PJs is up to this week:
Crown to rump, your baby is around 9 centimetres long and 43 grams. The body is now growing faster than the head. This week, its parchment-thin skin covers itself with lanugo (ultra-fine, downy hair that usually disappears before birth). Though eyebrows are beginning to grow and the hair on top of the head is sprouting, this hair may change in both texture and colour after birth.

About now, the fetus can grasp, squint, frown, and grimace. It may even be able to suck its thumb. Researchers believe these and other movements probably correspond to the development of impulses in the brain.

Stickers + Presidents = Hours o fun!

Jamie bought this little gem in Dallas last week. He had flown in for a meeting which ended early, leaving him several hours to while away before heading back to the airport. He spent some time at the JFK memorial (second in popularity to the Texas Schoolbook Depository, oddly) and found this dusty little prize among the offerings at the gift shop.

Our favourite part? Gee Dubya looking all thoughtful (as can be) on the cover rounding out the group of Washington, Lincoln and JFK. I sense a new Mount Rushmore in the works. Except I might recommend three other supporting characters... It's like that Sesame Street game and song "Which one of these things doesn't belong?".



The cover boldly claims that inside there are "facts and true trivia!" - perhaps an overstatement? I really doubt that statement is actually true in the truth sense (as opposed to Colbert's truthiness sense) but if you would like to warp a young child's developing mind, you too can buy the Presidents Sticker Book. Truth and stickers go hand-in-hand.

Too true...

Good quote this morning on the side of my tall non-fat decaf no whip half sweet pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks:

"There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."

-Madeline K. Albright, Diplomat

Gee Whiz...

50 million disposable diapers enter the landfill every day. The average baby goes through 5,000 diapers before being potty-trained. It takes up to 500 years for a disposable diaper to biodegrade in a landfill. Just in time for your great, great, great, great, grandchild's birth.

Sick. So, obviously, I've been thinking a lot about diapers lately (whoo - exciting, eh?!) and wondering how I could get around the whole smelly pail of diapers/messing up the place thing with cloth but absolutely avoid the vile plastic disposable route. It's not like PJs can roam in the nude! I recently learned about gDiapers (shown above) and need to find out some more first, but they sound like an interesting option.

gDiapers consist of a washable, cotton outer pant and a plastic-free flushable refill. Flushable refills contain tree farmed fluff pulp and Super absorber SAP. The outer material of the flushable is all natural fibre and is 100% compostable.

They've received a great review from the non-profit environmental action group, Natural Resources Defense Council:

This month's edition of the NRDC's This Green Life revisits the environmental diaper debate. The article states: "gDiapers seem to have the environmental edge over more conventional choices because they send no material to the landfill, use no elemental chlorine or plastics, and require much less washing (therefore, less water and energy usage) than regular cloth diapers."

I am not sure about the SAP absorbent stuff, and they're made in China so honestly I'm concerned about the impact of the shipping distance. I will probably go with cloth in the end, but I like the idea of using these outer pants things on top and having a few of their inserts for travels and nighttimes - at least until I get a better idea of the whole diapers-in-action thing! Any Mom's in Vancouver know of a good cloth service?

Orbitz apologizes - I appreciate it.

I am a hard sell. Once blacklisted, you're usually gone for good. An example - I haven't eaten at McDonalds for nine years - even when it's the only thing available.

Some of you may know from reading the blog of my negative experience (and subsequent boycott) with Orbitz when we were booking tickets for our honeymoon. That boycott costs any travel company quite a lot, when you consider that Jamie travels 50% of the time for work and we do tend to fly around a lot, what with me meeting him places, my own occasional work travel, visits back home etc.

Well, we were contacted by Orbitz recently and they have offered us an apology. Here it all is (long - I've only removed the rep's name and details on how to get the rebate):

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding your experience with Orbitz. On behalf of my colleagues at Orbitz, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience which you may have encountered.

In reading your comments, I can understand why you might be frustrated with your experience.

Please allow me to explain how this may have occurred. When you make a reservation through our site, Orbitz makes a soft charge against your account which validates the credit card and puts the money on hold. In this case, your bank provided a code to Orbitz authorizing the amount of the ticket charges. Unfortunately, the airline you chose was not available, and the soft charges should have been immediately removed from your account, since no tickets were available to complete the purchase. We believe you might have used your debit card for this transaction, since the banks of debit cards, take a little longer for the pre-authorization or, soft charges, to be removed from the account.

It is my understanding that the authorization has since been removed from your account. Although these situations are rare, Orbitz can certainly contact a bank to explain the circumstances and request removal of a soft authorization. I am sorry to learn that our agent failed to properly assist you as you had asked.

We value you as our customer and for that reason, we have taken two steps.

First, I have forwarded your e-mail to the management team at our Customer Service Center for review. We take great pride in providing professional and prompt customer service and we will immediately address why your e-mail was not properly answered.

Secondly, as a gesture of goodwill, we would like to offer you a $250 rebate on your next Orbitz.com booking. This compensation is not intended to place a value on your experience. It is meant to emphasize our commitment to you as a customer and to encourage you to continue using Orbitz for your travel needs.

Thank you for telling us where extra attention is needed. We appreciate your business and hope you will provide us with a future opportunity to fully restore your confidence in our products and services.

Mrs. Gillespie, congratulations on your upcoming Baby !

We could have solved the issue much sooner if my requests had been forwarded to a higher level initially as requested. But, I do appreciate this gesture. In light of this, I will give them another shot. We'll see how that goes first. Thank you Orbitz, I appreciate your help (and baby congrats!).

Perfectly spacey

Today bought a couple songs from this album, Spaced Out: the very best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Particularly good in the cheesiest of ways: Visit to a Sad Planet (predictably, Earth) and The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. I almost choked when I listened to Shatner do a rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. So. ACHINGLY? terr-ible...

What with becoming a parent soon, am I suddenly getting all legit with the music downloads? Nah - just can't find everything I want for *free*, so occasionally I'll buy from iTunes. Problem is they only carry 20% of what I'm looking for! I suppose if you're downloading whatever they play on repeat on [insert local radio station call letters here] or whatnot you're in luck...

I totally have something in mind featuring one of these songs.

They're grrrrrrrrrrrreat!

Sheila brought this lovely book in for me today as a gift - Great Expectations (pregnancy version, rather than Dickens!). My all-in-one resource for pregnancy and childbirth. Just skimming it so far, it looks chock full of information, tips and interesting stuff.

Can't wait to get home and really start reading it! Thank you!

Super delicious!

Yesterday while I was making dinner and chatting to Jamie on the phone, I asked him what he thought of mixing pineapple juice and Canada Dry together. He was skeptical, but good gracious, it is delicious!! Added maraschino cherries too, and cherry syrup and it's the best thing I've ever had! I'm thinking of naming it the PineFizz. Here's the "recipe":

In a highball glass:
-1/3 glass of 100% pineapple juice
-2/3 glass of gingerale
-2 maraschino cherries
-3 tsp maraschino cherry syrup (let it settle to bottom)

I bet it would taste great with some vodka or rum as well (I will experiment with this in six months!)... Enjoy!

Just peachy!

Back to the fruits & veggies this week! According to one website, PJs is the size of half a banana, while another says a peach is about right. It's a right fruit salad in there!

They say that I will start feeling better soon, which is great news. I could seriously do without the massive tiredness and inability to focus on things. Then again, if I am supposed to get "better" what will I have to blame for my flibbertigibbety ways?

What PJs is up to this week:
The fetus is now nearly 7 to 8 centimetres long from crown to rump and weighs 23 grams -- about half a banana. Its unique fingerprints are already in place. And when you poke your stomach gently and she feels it, your baby will start rooting -- that is, act as if she's searching for a nipple.

As for you, the fog may be lifting, so to speak. For many women, the side effects of early pregnancy -- frequent urination, intense fatigue, nausea -- diminish sometime in the second trimester. Your uterus, while large enough to announce to onlookers that you're indeed pregnant, isn't so huge that it gets in your way.

Sweet, sweet memory...

It doesn't take much to make me happy! Well, I guess that's not exactly true... Yesterday, after driving Jamie to the airport, I booked it out to White Rock to take photos of the totem poles out by the beach promenade. No matter my own personal preferences, totems are my best-selling subject on iStock, so when we spotted new ones recently I had to make a trip back with my gear. I think I got some great shots. Sky was brilliant blue all morning while I took pictures out and about.

When driving back home, low and behold - I remembered about the Krispy Kreme donut shop way out in the middle of nowhere, which was conveniently right where I was! I should know better, but there's just something about hot fried sugar dough that is extremely appealing. Honestly those donuts should be illegal. But PJs wanted a donut too, so I had one for each of us. ;-)

Next up on my list - errands. Returned broken dvd player that work gave to us as a gift (recalled - apparently they catch fire!) and bought the sweeeetest CF card for my DSLR camera. We don't want to bring a laptop to Ireland, and I needed more memory so I can shoot all those green rolling hills, ancient landmarks and pubs to my hearts content. I had a 4GB card in mind which would be four times my current card, but I couldn't stop from buying the 16GB card instead... What? It was on sale (of a sort). I could not stop my evil giggling when I realized that I can now shoot over 2500high-res jpgs (or 800 RAW + jpg)! On one card! Mua-ha-ha... Jamie bought me a 2GB SD card for the pocket camera on Saturday (700 high-res shots) so I am pretty much all set for massive amounts of photo memory! Trust - I can take 3000 photos in one trip.

See - all it took was that to make me have a great day! Oh, and I bought a new bra (always good!), had a great pasta dinner (homemade good) and enjoyed 3+ hours of new teenage melodramas that Jamie had Veoh'ed for me (Gossip Girl - so bad it's good)... That and an interesting 911 documentary, Confronting the Evidence, (ignore the intro segment - it's cheese) late at night. Good, good times.

Run, Al, run!

This was too important to simply post in the fridge, where it sits now along with a couple of funny tongue-in-cheek/serious articles that you may also enjoy.

OSLO, Oct. 12 — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Al Gore, the former vice president, and to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work to alert the world to the threat of global warming.

The award immediately renewed calls from Mr. Gore’s supporters for him to run for president in 2008, joining an already crowded field of Democrats. Mr. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, has said he is not interested in running but has not flatly rejected the notion. [more...] and [more...]

*Lost.* Ahem... Let's skip over that one now, shall we?

Anyone who hasn't seen his Oscar-winning documentary or is from the moon, check out An Inconvenient Truth, the movie that marks the moment much of the public became aware of his work on climate change. Out on DVD now. Walk to the video store and rent it. ;-)

Get 'yer scissors & cameras out!

Making your own hand-made Halloween costume this year? Check out the Etsy costume-a-thon competition. With 18 prizes totalling $2000 worth of Etsy gift certificates, donations, goodies and more, you can enter in the following six categories: Pet, Kid & Baby, T-Shirt Costume, Sci-Fi, Green, and General Awesomeness!

I hadn't been planning to make a costume (and honestly probably won't anyway, what with lack of time and all) but if you are feeling ghoulishly crafty, try your luck! At the least you'll end up with an original handmade costume and hopefully scads of sweet, sweet candy.

An aside... Just remember - despite what low-rent online costume catalogs will have you believe, adding "sexy" in front of anything else isn't really a good costume (see: sexy firefighter, sexy pirate, sexy bee). Dressing like a tramp really isn't much of a costume! Unless by tramp you mean hobo, and even still, it's been done. ;-)

Week 12!

Well, breaking the tradition of using fruit and veg as a measurement gauge, this week I've found out that PJs is the size of a medium goldfish! What constitutes medium, I don't know... And how to compare a goldfish this week versus the lime from last week? Regardless, in the last three weeks, PJs has doubled in size and is really going to start growing bigger now.

This is the week that those with bad morning sickness can start to look for relief. Luckily for me I haven't had to deal with that so far (just a little queasy on occasion and one day of being sick). Maybe it runs in the family - Mom didn't have any!

What PJs is up to this week:
Your baby's face is beginning to look more human, even though she is only about 5.5cm long from her crown to her rump and weighs slightly less than 14 grams. The eyes, which started out on the sides of the head, have moved closer together. The ears are almost in their normal position on the side of the head. The liver is making bile and the kidneys are secreting urine in the bladder.

The fetus squirms if your abdomen is prodded, although you cannot yet feel movement. Fetal nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly and synapses are forming. The fetus has acquired more reflexes: touching the palms makes the fingers close, touching the soles of the feet makes the toes curl down and touching the eyelids makes the eye muscles clench. Your midwife can now feel the top of the uterus, also known as the fundus, low in the abdomen.

As you enter the second trimester, you may find yourself donning looser, less restrictive clothing. Soon you won't be able to fit into your regular clothes any more.

Drink up - they're deee-lish!

Bonnie, Jamie's mom for those not in the know, has found the best new juice ever - it's organic pomegranate and blueberry from Happy Planet. It's the tastiest! Pomegranate is the thing, of course, and so good for you.

I also love POM's pomegranate peach white tea iced tea - it's fantastic, and comes in a glass! Kind of like Nutella did, back in the day!

Thumbs Up!

Visited the doctor today for my check-up and all is well, I am happy to report! This month the check-up was mainly to follow-up on my blood tests from last month and check my general health. Got the thumbs up too on traveling - apparently I should walk around a lot on the plane, but that was the only warning I got!

Speaking of Ireland, we booked our flights yesterday. We tweaked the departure date by 2 days to accommodate Jamie's hectic work schedule, and I rescheduled the hotels too. The best part about rescheduling is that we've actually got better departure times and we ended up with an extra day over there, craftily, and buffered weekends on both ends of the trip to get ready/decompress. Still have to book our car and also our hotel in N.Ireland, but we have everything else booked now, which is a relief! And the best part - the tickets were an even better deal than the ones that Orbitz screwed us on!

Project round-up

My problem (one of them anyway!!) is that I love to brainstorm up new crafty projects and find new favourites faster than a blink. The other is that I love love love to buy fabric! It's good that they go hand-in-hand, these vices! Here's what I have on the go:

- Small baby quilt from Last Minute Patchwork.
- Sock monkey.
- Knitted blanket - slow going, but good while watching movies at night.
- Tweed skirt (maybe - might shelve for post-pregnancy project!).
- Secret item for Robyn (shhhh!).

These should hold me for maybe three weeks! Then, I have a few more things in mind, including that chenille pillow & bed linens and much more... So, I am not not busy, that's for sure! Good gravy - I wonder what on earth the nesting stage will be like if I'm this bad now!

Free knitting pattern!

Another cool quickie project - once I'm finished knitting my first baby blanket for PJs I'm going to knit up one of these chenille throw pillows for our bed. It looks so warm and cozy... It's from the same Knitting to Go deck.

I feel the urge to update our bed linens - I'd like a new comforter, accent pillows and toss quilt - I'm thinking totally cream. Not sure if I have time to make them all, but chances of finding something unique and exactly what I have in mind are slim (especially at my ideal price point!). I want our bed to be fairly neutral because PJs crib will be in our room and too much colour on everything might be overwhelming! Also, I think cream would brighten up the room - I'm over all the dark brown in our bedroom. And finally, a chance to recycle our ill-closing IKEA comforter into something more useful!

The pattern is also available as a freebie online - check it out!

Week 11!

According to the good old Interweb, PJs is the size of a lime now! I love limes!!

It's still a while off until PJs movements will be felt, and until we can find out the baby's gender (if we decide to - we're on and off the fence about that one!), but it's truly amazing that there's another whole person doing all sorts of growing while I go about my business! Our next doctor's appointment is on Thursday morning - think lots of good thoughts for us (I get the nerves!).

What PJs is up to this week:

You're getting close to the end of the first trimester. Your fetus now looks like a baby, with tiny but fully formed fingers and toes. As his body grows and becomes more developed and functional, he'll start twisting and turning like an acrobat, cushioned and protected by your amniotic fluid. Most of the baby's critical development will be behind you after the next couple of weeks, and the odds of miscarriage will soon drop considerably. Measuring from the crown of his head to his rump, your 4-centimetre fetus has all his parts, from tooth buds to toenails and some bones are beginning to harden. Your baby is busy kicking and stretching; his movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. Fingers and toes have fully separated. Now the fetus's main task during the next six months will be to grow larger and stronger until it can survive on its own outside the womb.

Good timing

Just when I was thinking about which short-term project to start next, the postal service answered my thoughts and brightened my Monday morning.

My monkey socks arrived from New Jersey! I guess you can't say that nothing good comes from Jersey. These socks will be transformed into a sock monkey doll for PJs... If you want some monkey socks of your very own, I recommend this place.

I also have thought up a few more projects of varying durations: flannel baby blankets and quilts from Last Minute Patchwork (let's hope the directions are better than those for Peanut Jr!), a mystery project that I have in mind for a Christmas present to my niece, Robyn, and a few little things for myself, like a tweedy wool skirt from some terrific brown fabric with gold flecks that I bought a while back... I'll keep on posting the photos as they come around!