I’m not one to bake a cake very often, not even for a birthday, until now. I decided I needed to practice since Samuel will most certainly need/want a cake for each of his birthdays. I was reading Anne Hanson’s blog in which she and Cookie baked this amazing looking chocolate fudge cake. Recipe, check. And what better time to try out this recipe than for an actual birthday. Lucky for me, my Christopher’s birthday was coming right up. Birthday, check.

It took me two days to put the cake together because I had to fit it in between taking care of Samuel. On Sunday, I baked the cake and on Monday, Chris’s birthday, I made the frosting and frosted the cake. While I was making the frosting for the cake, Samuel took a nap (or, more accurately, while Samuel was napping I stole the opportunity to make the frosting and finish the cake).

Samuel Snoozing

I made a single 10-inch layer cake. (I discovered that I do not own two 8-inch cake pans to make a two-layer cake. I’ll have to remedy that before the little one’s first birthday.)

Chocolate Fudge Cake

The recipe was very easy to follow and I highly recommend it. The cake is moist and the frosting divine… a chocolate lover’s dream.

Well, I was writing this while Samuel was napping, but he is telling me it is time to eat so I’ve got to go!

A lot has changed since my last post. On October 20 I looked like this…

The End of Nine Months

And today I look like this…

22 Days Postpartum

I still need to lose a few pounds to return to my pre-pregnancy weight, but who cares if they ever come off when something so adorable and positively life changing has entered your life as this little guy.

Frog Legs

His name is Samuel and he is incredible. He eats, sleeps, poops, pees, cries and has the cutest facial expressions. He has stolen our hearts. His birth weight was 8 pounds 14.7 ounces and he is 20.75 inches long. He was born on October 21 at 7:25 PM.

22 Days Old

Since Samuel has arrived we have learned that it is possible to operate on very little sleep. We do, however, try to sleep when he sleeps.

Nap Time

There has been little time to do anything but take care of and stare in wonder at Samuel.

Yesterday started out with a very yummy breakfast – the most important meal of the day! Chris made an omelet with cheese, fresh garden tomato and some leftover grilled zucchini and red pepper from dinner.

Omelet

We then decided to labor, not me, but we, and put together the baby’s crib.

Step 1: Survey the contents.

Step 2: Enjoy the process.

Step 3: Making progress!

The Finished Product

The mattress is at Walmart waiting to be picked up. Chris would like to paint. He is thinking about shades of blue. Cosmo likes the new setup, only once the mattress is installed he’ll probably think we made him a bed.

The rest of the day was spent rather lazily on the deck and in the house doing miscellaneous chores. We finally have a few ripened berry tomatoes. They are much smaller than cherry tomatoes and very sweet.

Berry Tomatoes

I also resurrected another long-time WIP.

Wisp by Cheryl Niamath

I would like to finish this today, but I don’t think I’ll have time. We have grand plans :)

I also worked on some spinning. The fiber shades change quite a bit as I work on it. It’s gone from blueberry buckle-ish to black cherry-ish to zombie brain-ish. In this photo, I’m working on the zombie brain.

Zombies on the Spindle

It is spinning up very thinly. The finished product (someday) will be a two-ply.

We ended the day by seeing a movie: The Time Traveler’s Wife. It was good. The book was even better. What I like best about it is the other stories it tells, my favorite one being to live each moment you have to the fullest.

Friday late afternoon I discovered this guy snacking on a couple of our heirloom tomatoes.

Caterpillar Munching

I wonder where he came from. He just seemed to materialize out of nowhere. I didn’t find any other caterpillars hanging around.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on Saturday. I’m almost at the end of my eighth month of pregnancy and despite continual denials that I should operate any slower than usual, I often have no choice. I wanted to help Chris reseal the driveway and there is also a lot of yard work I would like to do. I tire easily, though that is due in large part to anemia, which I’ve developed since pregnancy, and because I’m carrying around a big boy.

My friends saved me from feeling guilty knitting at home while Chris was working hard. We went to lunch which was lovely and fun. And then we went to a place that sells frozen custard among other things. I had an Italian soda. We sat and ate/drank our goodies and knit. I’m still not sure how it happened, but one moment I was dry and the next I was soaked and I was just too tired to care. Instead of drinking my Italian soda I was wearing it. It helped cool me off anyway. Everyone helped clean up, saved my sock from being soaked, and saved me from discovering a puddle in my bag later on as a couple ice cubes had fallen into it.

I thought about walking in the door and telling Chris that my water had broken, but the timing didn’t work out when I arrived home. Instead I told him how klutzy I am and he, of course, believed it :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting on our deck relaxing. I knit and we listened to something on NPR. I finally finished a sock that I have had in progress since May. The second sock was super quick once I purchased a 2.25mm circular from The Knitting Experience (love that store!).

Simple SKYP Socks

The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Velvet Grapes. It is very soft. The pattern is Simple SKYP (slip, knit, yarn over, pass) Socks, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. They were fun to knit, despite the length of time it took me to knit them. Now that I have finished these socks I only have two other supposedly short-term WIPs and one long-term WIP on the needles. I may need to start another project – ha!

Before dinner yesterday I prepped my latest fiber from Spunky Eclectic: Zombies, 100% Falkland. I don’t have any particular prep method yet. In fact, I really have no idea what I am doing, except making the fiber a bit more manageable to handle while spindling it.

Zombies

The colors are gorgeous and it is spinning up nicely. I’ll share a photo in my next post.

I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m surprised that I am even finding the energy to write this post. I think it must be the excitement of finishing a fiber and receiving a new one that has motivated me to make the effort. Warning: This post contains a spoiler for this month’s Spunky Club Fiber.

I finished spinning last months Spunky Club Fiber, Beach Day, on my Kundert 1.3 ounce spindle yesterday. It is currently drying after a good wash and whack, but I couldn’t wait for it to dry to share it with you, so here it.

Spunky Eclectic Beach Day

It is a 60% merino and 40% bamboo blend. It was a joy to spin.

Spunky Eclectic Beach Day

Before I share my photo of this month’s Spunky Eclectic Club Fiber I have to share with you my baby belly. It has really grown in the past couple of weeks. He’s a very active little guy. We are going to meet him in about six weeks (or whenever he decides to arrive).

Baby Boy Belly

We have finally ordered a crib and mattress, an infant car seat, and a stroller. They should arrive at our local Walmart in about a week. He can’t come out and play until we have the infant car seat.

I also have picked a few more tomatoes. Some are green, but have fallen off the vine. In fact, a lot of the tomatoes are still green and I’m not sure if they will ripen. Even though we had a bumper crop of tomatoes on our tomato plants it has not been a good year for tomatoes.

Assorted Tomatoes

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for… the Spunky Club Fiber of the Month: Falkland in colorway Zombies.

Zombies

I’m looking forward to giving this fiber a whorl on the spindle.

Today I picked the giant killer tomato.

Giant Killer Tomato

I cut it up to go with our lunch: lobster rolls, cucumber, cottage cheese, kettle chips, and strawberry shortcake. The tomato was delicious as was all the other food because it was enjoyed with my mom, and grandparents who are visiting from Florida.

Mom brought Cosmo a new toy which he loves very much: a felted mouse stuffed with catnip.

Cosmo in a Catnip Coma

After lunch we chatted for quite a bit and relaxed on the couch. We were all a bit tired from the big lunch (at least that is how I remember it because I was really tired). Chris shared some of his photos from Iraq and Italy with grandma and grandpa.

Chris, Grandma, and Grandpa (and Mom's legs)

Grandma and grandpa also brought me a gift of some mushrooms. Grandpa jokingly said they found them at a good price only I didn’t get the joke. I started to put them in the refrigerator, but grandpa thought I should open up the bag first. Yes, they are mushrooms, but they didn’t need any refrigeration, silly me.

Decorative Mushrooms

We had a really nice visit. After mom, grandma, and grandpa left, I tried to stay awake but it proved to be impossible so I took a short 30 minute nap. I then decided we needed to use up some veggies, so I diced eggplant and put it in the oven to roast. I then diced onions and zucchini and put them in a pan to saute. In the meantime, I decided to go fold laundry and put the next load into the dryer. I discovered a broken pen and a car key. Fortunately the broken pen didn’t leak all over the clothes. I should check the pockets before I put clothes in the laundry, but it is something that I stubbornly continue to refuse to do.

After the laundry episode, I added the eggplant to the zucchini and onions and finished it off with some diced tomato and a bit of feta. This was our dinner.

Yummy Veggies

I’m still feeling really tired, so after the last load of laundry is done I am going to sleep. That was my Saturday. I hope yours was just as good.

Finally a ripe tomato… well, two…

Roma and Cherry Tomato

We must have fifty or more green tomatoes. A couple more are starting to turn and the giant killer tomato is almost ready as well, but they certainly are taking their time.

We had some estimates done this afternoon for some more work on the house. This time we are hoping to install an automatic standby generator. It is unfortunately a necessity if we want to keep our basement dry, especially if we aren’t home to hook up a portable generator (believe it or not besides being home when the power outage occurs you actually need a portable generator for that to be an option… hmmm… anyway, that is why we are looking at a granddaddy solution). In the late spring we lost power due to a car accident. A van rolled over and took out a telephone pole about three poles away from our house. The driver was thankfully okay. And while we were busy checking out the excitement and making sure he was okay so we (okay, me) could feel better, our basement started to fill with water. It turns out that you need electricity for the sump pump to keep running. Who knew? So, a generator is a must. We also do not have an alternate heat source so a generator will keep us and our baby-to-be warm in the winter should the power go out then (it did a few times last winter).

The baby and I certainly are plenty warm today. I feel like my blood is boiling. My fingers are swollen and all of my veins are popping out of my skin trying to catch a cool breeze. It’s looking like rain so maybe it will cool off a few degrees… maybe.

First, welcome to the new home of my blog. I started with  Typepad, gave Blogger a go, and am now onto WordPress. Sorry for all the jumping around, but Blogger just wasn’t working for me.

Following is what I had intended to post last week, but I didn’t get around to it. First, I wanted to share with you the progress of our giant tomato. In the photo below it is green. Since we have had so much sun this week it is finally starting to turn red and may be ready for picking and eating soon.

Giant Killer Tomato

We also have a decent sized pepper growing. It is currently green. I think it is supposed to turn yellow, but we may end up picking it before it gets there.

Green Pepper

There has also been some spinning. I am working on Spunky Eclectic Merino/Bamboo (60/40) in colorway Beach Day. It was last month’s club fiber. I am really enjoying spinning it. I really like my spindle, too – a 1.3 oz. Kundert Maple Donut.

Beach Day, 60% Merino/40% Bamboo

I have also started a new project on the needles, Mud Season by Elizabeth Smith, a local designer. I am using Spud & Chloe Outer in Blue/Grey. I have made a few modifications because I do not have gauge. That seems to be happening to me a lot lately. My stubborn insistence on using a yarn other than the one suggested by the pattern has been getting me into trouble. I am much further along than the photo suggests. I’ll take some updated photos at some point.

Mud Season by Elizabeth Smith

I put Mud Season aside, however, because it is too hot to work with such heavy weight yarn (says the girl who is currently drinking chocolate raspberry hot cocoa). Instead I resurrected an old project that has been on the needles for over a year: Pear and Trellis by Anne Hanson. I don’t know why I ever put this project aside because I am really enjoying knitting it.

Pear and Trellis by Anne Hanson

This past Friday, August 14, was our ten year wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it has been ten years. They have been the best ten years ever… of course, filled with challenges and tribulations, but the best because I have shared them with my best friend. I am so looking forward to the next 10, 20, 30, and so on years.

We celebrated by going to the Robinhood Free Meeting House in Georgetown. It is a truly special dining experience. I wish I had taken photos of our food, but alas that would have interfered with the ambiance. Let’s just say that I never knew the lobster I have eaten all my life was overcooked until my meal that night. We started with their trademark cream cheese biscuits with chive butter. For an appetizer, we enjoyed five different mushrooms in a light creamy sauce over puff pastry followed by a lemon sorbet for palate cleansing. Then our meals: Chris had blackened halibut over black beans, avocado and tomato and I had lobster hash (diced potato, corn, leeks, bacon, chantal mushrooms, two lobster tails, a lobster claw, arugula and some other greens all mixed together – yummo!). Unfortunately, we didn’t have room for dessert, but we did have a very enjoyable dining experience in which we talked about current activities and reminisced… remember when we went to Borders that time and you asked me if I wanted to try dating? And the rest is history…

And now I’m trying to decide: cloth diapers or store-bought?