A new month begins with a birthday, a good read and a yarn a long.

Here we are starting a whole new month, summer is well underway here in Florida with lots of hot humid days and thunderstorms rolling through just about every afternoon.

On the 1st of July I celebrated my 63rd birthday, enjoyed a lovely day with my son and some birthday cake in the afternoon.

The day before my sister and great niece Tessa came for a visit, Tessa made me a sweet birthday card and bookmark.

I am using my new bookmark to keep my page in this week's read Hardcore Twenty-Four another fun Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich, I really enjoy her Plum novels they make me laugh out loud and always bring back memories of my home life back in NJ.

We spent a few hours at Silver Springs State Park, took the 30 minute glass bottom boat ride which Tessa just loved.

fish seen through the glass bottom boat

I finished stitching the Green Woman hand embroidery piece last week, now I am trying to decide whether to frame her or make her a wall hanging or pillow cover.

In the meantime I am crocheting a continuous granny square afghan for Tessa using Lion Brand Mandala yarn in Wood Nymph colorway. It's odd for me to be crocheting an afghan, usually the summer months in Florida are too hot to have a large project on my lap even with air conditioning yet I have been itching to crochet and so far the heat isn't bothering me. 

growing granny square

When Tessa saw the afghan she rubbed it on her face claiming it was so squishy and soft it was like fluffy clouds.  She says she loves pink and purple so I told her it was a good thing I was making it for her.

So yesterday I spent 45 minutes at the DMV to renew my driver's license and to my surprise the birth certificate I have had for 63 years is no longer acceptable and I will have to send for a new copy. Which I just finished doing, hoping it is processed quickly but I have the ugh moment of ordering a new birth certificate from NY.  In the meantime, I have an exception letter so I can drive using the new license for the next 60 days and if I don't have the new certificate by then I just bring in proof that I sent for the birth certificate and I can get an extension.  I'm fairly confident I'll receive it in time since the place I ordered was actually an outsourced company, which take up to 3 weeks to process and I paid $17.00 for UPS express shipping rather than the US Mail.   Our local DMV office is quite helpful, the employees are friendly and I always have a pleasant experience. Oh and the eye test was a breeze.

For my birthday one of my friends sent me some lovely Shawl in a Ball yarn in the Prism colorway

I love this blend of cotton and acrylic yarn and I love the colors. I'm not sure what I'm going to make yet though I was thinking of trying the Virus Shawl pattern, I've watched much of the YouTube video and think I will use it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOQ6GBjTjO8

I am linking today at Super Mom No Cape https://www.supermomnocape.com/embroidered-felt-christmas-baubles/
And also here for Yarn Along http://www.gsheller.com/2018/07/yarn-along-july.html