Random Acts of Appreciation

Yesterday, one of my coworkers randomly brought me flowers. It was so nice of her, and I was totally not expecting it. She said it was because I showed her how to concatenate (in Excel), and she's been trying to figure it out for over a year. Christyn and I have both tried to teach her in the past (and Christyn originally taught me. Twice...before I got it). Apparently, this time it took, and she was feeling appreciative when she was out shopping that day and came across these tulips: The vase is one of mine. I forgot I had it, and like the shape. It may be the vase I got from the only time my ex sent me flowers. I'm not sure though (and it doesn't matter). It reminds me of an old milk bottle, sort of. Anyway, you know how tulips tend to droop after they're cut? Another co-worker shared the penny trick with us (the flower giver and me). Put a penny in the water and the tulips perk up. It worked overnight on the white tulips, but the purple ones still looked a bit droopy when I left for work this morning. When I got back from work though, they were all standing at attention (as in the above photo). So, if you ever wondered...the penny trick really does work!

The invitations for my friend Christyn's baby shower have gone out. These are the ones I worked on a few weekends ago with her sister-in-law. (Did I blog about that?) I think they came out cute. They are all different, homemade cards. Maureen (Christyn's SIL) finished them all up last week, since she has Mondays off, and sent them all out last weekend. I got mine today (I asked her to send me one if we had enough to go around). Maureen made this one:

The Oh Baby! Stamped paper peeking out of the envelope has the directions and registry info on it. And the RSVPs have already started coming in. And still more planning to be done! (But the rest of the planning shouldn't be too bad.)

Now, since you all know how much I love my extreme close up photos, I'll leave you with this (I actually really like this picture!):

Shower Season

Shower season has begun - only this year it will be baby showers instead of wedding... I have 3 friends that are expecting. And they're due in March, May and June. Perhaps my lenten sacrifice (no more buying for crafts until Easter) wasn't timed well.

Luckily, I had already purchased the materials for the first afghan of the season. I made the Diagonal Baby Blanket pattern offered on the Lion Brand Website. I really like how it will stripe diagonally with a variegated yarn (I used Homespun in Delft). Here's a shot of the finished blanket:
And amazingly, I finished it in time. I ended up ripping out the first half, since my guage was too tight and it was going to end up way too small, even for an infant. (Which is why I should have done a guage swatch.) I ended up using a hook 3 sizes larger to get the size right. I then ended up ripping out half of the second half, since I read the pattern wrong and wasn't decreasing enough per row. But, I still had time to try a nifty technique I stole from someone else's blog, and I made a label for it, of which I am inordinately proud. Here's a picture of the tag on the blanket.
The shower was Saturday, when I presented the blanket to expectant mother Jodie. She seemed pleased with the gift. So, I am too. Even though I'm not impressed by how I attached that label. Oh well. :) The shower was fun, and so was the food (always an important part of a party). It was mostly Jodie's neighbors (most of whom are pregnant) and a couple of friends. Her sister and step-mother were the hosts, and I'd say we were a pretty lively group. I'm so used to being one of the organizer/hostesses that it's almost weird to just be a guest! I did stay and help a little with the clean up. And possibly overstayed my welcome (I hope not though).

So, to close, here's a shot of me and the expectant mother. Let's all wish her a healthy delivery of her little baby boy!