Thank you all so much for the compliments on my humble little bookmarks! Anyone who'd like to contribute can contact Cathy for more information. Her guild is making and collecting the bookmarks for an adult literacy drive.

Today I tried for something a little more gender-neutral with a cute little gecko designed by Jenny Rasmussen. I love reptiles, but Niek doesn't ... so we stick to the pets with fur or feathers. LOL. And on the other end of the spectrum, I started a very girly-pink bookmark using Stranded by the Sea overdyed floss. The pattern is One Dozen by Bent Creek. I've pulled one or two other patterns to make bookmarks, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. Other commitments begin to press in - including some wonderful upcoming SALs, round robins, and more exchange stitching. Yay!

The other really good news today resulted from our conference with Max's teacher. Max is repeating group 4 this year (I guess this would correlate to third grade) and the school year started off rather poorly. Niek and I were more than a little nervous about going in this afternoon. Fortunately, Max has begun to knuckle down and is showing progress in mathematics and penmanship. His reading is still pretty far behind, but he's enjoying it more and tensing up less, so hopefully that will begin to improve. And he's been more outgoing in large group settings, which was great to hear. Basically, it was a half an hour of good news. Phew! While we met with the teacher, Max and the wee beasties played on the playground. When Niek and I went out, we found Rowen running around in her bare feet and without a coat. Nicky couldn't get his coat off, but had managed to free himself of his boots. In October!! They went straight into a warm bath the moment we got home!

Many people are ill with colds, flus, and the like. I hope you're reading this in good health!