Friday Mishmash

Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes!  Between Monday's post here and Facebook so kindly alerting everyone I know that it was my birthday, I got to see what it must have been like to be popular in high school...if only for a day.  Regarding that, my cousin Jill said it best:  "We shall never know...what it would have been like to waste your entire lifetime's worth of cool before you even became an adult" - so here's to not peaking early!

Speaking of my birthday, treats were had.  Sure, there was a very nice dinner, but afterward, dessert.  I mean, DESSERT:

Flourless chocolate truffle cake with molten chocolate ganache filling...drool.  Jeff and I shared it - yum, yum, yum!

The next day, I split a fudge brownie from Blue Baker - holy moly, it was good:

I took a bite before remembering to take the picture.  Obviously chocolate was the theme for this birthday! 

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Not related to flea medicine application, but this shot of Henry made me laugh.  Also, could there BE a bigger size discrepancy between his fangs and his wee front teeth?

It's flea season here - luckily, my pets only seem to get fleas for a short time in the summer, but maybe that's why my cats get so angry when I put the medicine on them - they aren't used to it.  Earlier in the week I treated all three animals, and the day after?  I'd been out for several hours and came home to tufts of cat fur all over the house.  I think they both decided to scratch the medicinally-tainted fur off.  Vacuum cleaner to the rescue (and to Paco's distress...he hates that thing). 

 Really do hate dis ting, Mom.  (this was as close as I could get him to sitting by it)

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Nothing substantial to report on the knitting front - I continue to make progress on that pink shawl.  I treated myself with some birthday money to a magnetic pattern holder and now I'm wondering why in the world I waited so long to get this.  Previously, I was using extra large Post-Its to mark the link I was knitting - I had to unstick, move, and restick it for each row:

Old school...

Now, a few magnets hold the pattern on the board, with a long magnet to mark my place - I just slide it down each row as I knit:

This has a cover, which is why it can stand up, easel-style.  I got it from Amazon (free shipping) but it's a Knitpicks product.

I started knitting a hat but it's the second thing I'm making with some yarn I received as a gift, and while I like the colors, I don't like them in this yarn - it's variegated and it's just not doing anything for me.  I think I'll unravel the hat and try making a felted bowl with the yarn, and if it works, I'll probably unravel the finished cowl and do the same:

They can't all be winners.  Actually, I like both patterns, but this yarn is just meh.

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Tomorrow I'll be running 5.1 miles for my 51st birthday.  It's already very hot and humid, so this ought to be interesting.  I wonder how many of my runner friends I can convince to go the distance with me? 

Have a great weekend!