One thing better

I opened up the box my Twitter friend sent me.

King-Cake inspired yarn

The "blue" is actually purple; bad lighting. And you might see the tiny baby in it - it came with one. I am thinking of doing a hat and maybe even sewing the baby on to it. (Hat and mitts, probably: there's the standard sock yardage there and I can usually get a hat and mitts out of a regular skein)

And then this, which made me gasp-scream like Tina Belcher (except with delight, not apprehension):

SNUZZLE! The reproduction My Little Pony I wanted the VERY most but could not find at Target (or anywhere else other than for inflated prices from third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay). So yes, that made things better.

(And yes, I am taking Snuzzle out of her box. As I said before, I am an unboxer rebel and I think toys need to be freed from their plastic shackles).

Dinner was better than hoped - I just baked the chicken thighs with a little poultry seasoning (and Pruett's chicken is pretty good) and I had some red cabbage and a bowl of noodles with it. And the cinnamon roll I bought as a birthday-cake stand-in was pretty good, too. And I have a thigh left over for another night....

From my parents, I got a few things: the pound of maple sugar my mom bought for me for Christmas, and then got busy, forgot to wrap it, and found it later on, and one of those copper nonstick pans (they seem gimmicky, with their "as seen on tv" vibe, but they actually are pretty good), and a dust mop with a wool head - so presumably, you can shake it out and eventually wash the head when it needs it. And a new set of Vermont Country Store's "Clothesline Crisp" sheets to replace the set I've used so much it's getting thin (Seriously: these are my favorite sheets, at least among "affordable" sheets - I have never had any of the super expensive kind so I don't know how they compare). And a copy of "The Chilbury Ladies' Choir," an historical novel I saw in Bas Bleu and thought sounded interesting. (It may be next on my to-be-read list, once I finish "The Cruelest Month" or the Churchill book).

My brother and sister in law (Am guessing my sister-in-law as she is more diligent about such things) sent me a copy of "A New Leaf" from my Amazon wishlist (A very funny, much-loved-by-me Elaine May and Walter Matthau movie - this is the one where Warren Wagner is name-checked, and he was my Systematic Botany professor when I was a student at Michigan). And "Prairie Fires," which is about Laura Ingalls Wilder (it looks to be more of a scholarly tome than I anticipated, but that's still good).

So now I guess it's time to relax a little and try to make some more granny squares. (I also realized I will need to get a white wool or wool-blend; there are more white squares than anything and the slightly-off-white I originally bought probably won't be enough, and also, slightly-off-white is less pleasing than a bright white would be....)