Sewicked

Raptorcon! It was fun. I played two core LG games & the rest were Geoff mods. Unfortunately, the first mod of Sunday (core) I (& the rest of the table) had to deal with the notorious JC. Gah. And the people at Trinic-con can blame me if he comes. I wore my 2006 shirt & he saw it. *sigh* He may be a very nice man but he's, how should I say this, less than accurate in some of his statements. And he ignores what other people say, interrupts, etc (ie Rosemary said, 'even with the web spell there, can I step to get the cleave?' and JC said, as she stepped into the web that he cast in her way, 'if you had cleave, you could just hit that guy.'). Just a very rude guy.

Zavin, my first level Geoff druid, finally made 2nd level. It took 2 more intro mods to do it. I 'met' Eric's new 1st level PC. His old character is currently plugging some portal, so he got a cert to play a fey. He's playing an ice fey warleader, female. She's been informed that she should go scout (to get her out of the tribe/clan's way).

The roleplay interactive on Saturday night was lots of fun. There were games, mini-missions & some good roleplay. I played one game; smash the candy man. I need to find a copy, maybe 2 or 3. It's a Candyland variant where when you pass the other players you can 'hit' them. When they take 6 hits in one area, (head, limb or torso), they lose that area. If you use gingerbread men & frosting tube to score; you can eat your opponent's limb when you finish it off. Delicious.

As usual, I didn't get enough sleep and napped on the way home. I got to sleep late this morning, too. Unfortunately, the hotel didn't manage to get the number of towels right at any point past the first day. Luckily, I learned that I can dry off with just a hand towel.

tatting: I finally picked up my shuttles this weekend. I made the two apology brooches (all I had was white thread), now I need to work on the primary ones. Here's what I made:
I managed to get them done, starting Friday night and finished Sunday morning. I started another one with more beads but I screwed up on the first round of chains & just put it away. I'm not even going to bother posting a picture of it as it's only going to be cut up.
I started to make a silver/white choker with clear seed beads:
It's from Lyn Morton's book (as is the brooch above). That thread is really pretty but it's a pain to work with; eventually I screwed it up & gave up on it. Can you see what I did?

So I used the rest of the thread on the shuttles to make a couple butterflies & some simple flowers.


books: I finished both books that I took with me. Quelle surprise. My Fair Temptation I finished today on the trip back. So I read more of The Pillow Book.

clothes: Obviously it was jeans & t-shirts this weekend. I wore white tennis shoes all week because my left loafer sole tried to come off. It was half-off by the time I got halfway to Maryland. I couldn't wear those shoes. That left the black tennis shoes that I packed, both left ones. Or the white ones. I wore them with black jeans (red Meepa Con tee), blue jeans (Geoff 'Against the Giants' tee & 2006 trinic-con tee). I finally wore my 'strawberry' with dangles earrings on Saturday.

Today it's blue jeans, black 2003 NF conference Panthers champs, feather charm & quartz chip earrings, quartz point/feather pendant on long chain, ~rope band & fem-power band.

Labels: Living Greyhawk, My Fair Temptation, pictures, Raptorcon, tatting, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, Zavin

posted by Sewicked @ 7:17 PM 0 comments   

tatting picture:
this is one of the ornaments that I made last year. Looks like size 80 with seed beads.

weather: why, when the temperature is almost the same, does it feel so much colder this morning? Is it because the ground temperature has cooled (it's been cool during the day & cold at night)? Yesterday, as long as I wasn't in the wind, I was fine; bundled up but fine. Today I was just as bundled up, or close enough, and I was cold - hands & face.

books: Read Beauty Pop, vol 1 & Wolf Speaker (vol 2 of Immortals). Finished Immortal in Death. Reading Ouran High School Host Club, vol 2 & Beauty Pop, vol 2.

clothes: navy slacks, suede boots (which match less well than I thought that they would), cream turtleneck, cream & country blue brocade vest, heart-shaped clay/pottern pin imprinted with a dragon in blue & cream, honking big silver pendant (almost the size of my palm) abstract in design on silver rope chain, blue bead & silver heart dangling earrings, flower band & ~rope band. Braided hair because loose hair tangles like mad when I wear the nylong coat & it's too cold not to wear my hat (bun & other styles won't fit).


update: yep, I have a cold. Head feels stuffed.

Labels: Beauty Pop, Immortal in Death, Immortals, Ouran High School Host Club, tatting, weather, Wolf Speaker

posted by Sewicked @ 8:20 AM 0 comments   

Nebraska Ice Storm: This guy has photos that just have to be seen to be believed. We get ice storms around here, but not like that! The multitude of trees helps to prevent that.

knitting: I now have over 3 feet of scarf made. The ball of yarn is perceptibly smaller. I've been tucking it into the middle of the loom; I have to be careful doing that now, lest it fall into the scarf.

tatting: I found my picot gauge. Tatting can re-commence. Once I've joined the new thread in...again. Once again the variegated red thread broke.

stuff: The power cord that I left at James' & Liz's arrived yesterday. Thank goodness. My laptop battery only has a few hours of life in it.

I was only able to meet Carry briefly yesterday (just after the building closed). I didn't even get to show her my scarf (but I showed my neighbor Nancy this morning, on the way to the bus stop). She had a dvd for me & her SO's old palm. I haven't gotten it started yet but maybe I can do that this weekend.

books Betsy the Vampire Queen arrived the other day, but since it's hardback, I'm only reading it at home. I'm also reading The Devil's Bride, Nothing to Fear but Ferrets & I just finished Star Soldiers at lunch. I'm having a hard time sticking to one book, does it show? Plus I've got Sherrilan Kenyon's latest started.

clothes: I really need to do laundry. Part of the reason (plus the weather) I'm wearing a denim jumper over a blue & white striped shirt, with short sleeves, yet. In January! I'm not even wearing boots, I'm wearing white tennis shoes (w/ navy socks). Turns out that they opened the road early, Monday I'll resume wearing loafers & other office appropriate footwear to work. No more extra 10 minute walks before & after work.




comments

Labels: Betsy the Vampire Queen, Devil's Bride, knitting, Nebraska ice storm, Nothing to Fear but Ferrets, Star Soldiers, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 2:19 PM 0 comments   

Website: Health Info I've only scanned this, but it looks interesting.

Okay, I can't argue with this;

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Tatting: I made another tiny snowflake with the size 12 thread leftover from Ben's snowflake. I started the rose ornament from Monica Hahn's book of Christmas tatting. But apparently I tat tighter than she does so it's not working very well. I'm going to have to increase the chain length.

Today's excitement: We had a fire alarm right before I was about to head out to lunch. So that got delayed until after the building was cleared. But on the bright side, I ran into Phil again. I haven't seen him in awhile, so that was kind of cool. Since he was wanting lunch, we had time to talk until the fire alarm was over.

Bus re-routing still: I'm still trying to find a shortest route to an alternate bus stop in the evening. So far I have yet to catch the previously 5:10 bus, no matter which stop I try. Whatever route I take, I have at least one hill to climb (stairs or incline, it doesn't matter). After three days of this, my legs are starting to ache.

clothes black slacks, grape Geoff polo, silver feather & quartz chip earrings, flower band ring, ~rope band ring, three ages of women pendant, tennis shoes, & braided hair (needs to be brushed).

Labels: bus, fire alarm, Health info, Phil, Reader quiz, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 4:45 PM 0 comments   

Blog of the Day: Okay, this guy, Aaron, has a much cooler blog than I do. He can only update periodically, something about a 56k modem being shared by about 20 people, but he's a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo. Read about his project, too. I think it's great.

Tatting: almost done with Ben's snowflake, I only have one more point to make. Correction, make that 3 rings to make.

Gaming (D&D): Chris finally gave us experience last night. We also finally finished the watery plot. Now we go to our new assignment (our characters are scouts in the Imperial army) at Skyreach (mountain). We're joining the cavalry. This really upset the dwarf before Chris told him that of course the dwarves don't ride horses. They ride cave bears.

Present: Chris & Rosemary gave me Christopher Hart's book on drawing manga villains. I brought it work but haven't done anything with it yet. I played with it at lunch, well that & Draw Great Manga. I really need to practice more.

bus: So yesterday I caught the bus at one of the 2 possible stops. It's 13 minute walk, more or less. This morning I got off the bus at a different place & decided that I didn't like it. It may be the same distance but it's all up & down. By the School of Government is all a straight shot. Today I will try to catch the bus at the hospital. We'll see how that works. I definitely need to leave earlier though.

Book: I finished Worlds of Honor. I don't know what to start next.

clothes: black tennies (still have the extra 20-30 minute walk), black slacks, black ribbed knit shirt, moonstone earrings & ring, tri-moon moonstone pendant & ~rope band. My hair is braided because I washed it this morning & I didn't want to do anything else to it.

Labels: bus, gaming, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 12:09 PM 0 comments   

Long week Is there any longer week than the one preceding a major holiday? Physically, it's just 5 days; the same length as any other. But I know, at the end of it, I'm getting a 5-day 'weekend.' It makes it a trifle difficult to concentrate.

Add to that, today was the department holiday luncheon. The food was good (chicken wings, shrimp, jalapeno poppers [none for me, thanks - I value my taste buds], loaded/mashed potato skins, raw veggie platter, beef on a stick, cheese & melon. Dessert also included cookies & chocolate covered strawberries. The giveaway/department present this year was a four-pack of frappucinos. Since I'm not a big coffee drinker, I wasn't interested, until I learned that there was also strawberry & creme/non-coffee flavor. Yum.

The door prizes went well. We had about 30 things & about 90 people. So there was a fairly good distribution on who/section got what. The items ranged from a key chain to a $300+ bike (let's hear it for donations). I got a 2004 tire bowl UNC football t-shirt.

Presents: I delivered most of the Christmas presents to my co-workers. Most of them got the Carolina Stars made by one of the basket-makers at the Village of Yesteryear. A few others got origami cranes. I still need to find & mail the purple snowflake earrings that I made for Linda.

Mike has received his e-certificate. He was quite appreciative. I still haven't received anything that I ordered. I did mail Mitra's present, to her grad school address. I don't know if she's coming back to this coast for Christmas, but this way she has a max of 3-week delay.

Movies: We finally saw Santa Clause & Santa Clause 2 yesterday, plus Richie Rich movie. That's why (& because I was just tired) that I didn't get as much wrapping done yesterday. I did decorate the bags with the stars for my co-workers. I decorated them with Christmas stickers.

TattingI have a snowflake (3) exchange & a brooch (2) exchange to work on. I also need to make certain that I have a snowflake for Mark, Lisa, Hailey, Dad, Mom & Kathy. I'd also like one for Rita & Jeff (Chris's family). I have a doily for Chris's parents made.

Books: I read Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson. It's about a mermaid (well- 1/2) named Fred. It's really funny.

clothes: One end of the velvet riboon trimming my Christmas shirt has torn, so I couldn't wear that today. So I looked for something else festive. I pulled out the shirt that my mom gave me recently; black cotton gauze trimmed with silver embroidery & sequins. It's gorgeous. I paired it with black jeans & tennis shoes (hey, long walk from bus to work until Jan 8th). For jewelry it's Celtic knot earrings, 3 ages of women pendant, flower band, ~rope band & metal scrollwork hair stick. My hair is in a knotted ponytail with the stick to keep the knot from untying.

Labels: Department party, Richie Rich, Santa Clause, Santa Clause 2, Sleeping with the Fishes, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 4:07 PM 0 comments   

News! I don't have any. Well, except George Bush finally admitted that things aren't going well in Iraq & that a new strategy is required.

Tatting: I've made a few flowers & one snowflake yesterday. I gave it to Laura today (who didn't show up, so maybe I misunderstood & tomorrow is her last day this semester).

Clothes: black loafers, knee-hi's, black slacks, Harrington Steading ~green/black polo, green amber jewelry, paui shell ring & ponytail.

Books: Did I mention that I read Secret Santa? It's an anthology of Christmas-focussed romance stories. I also made it by Foundation's Edge to pick up my manga. I didn't pick up my entire stack (I still need to do Christmas shopping & eat, after all) but both of my Shonen Beat mags (Nov & Dec), the most recent Hana Kimi, two Threads of Time, Godchild & Genju no Seiza.
Lunch: Ate at K&W cafeteria for lunch. We took one of the co-workers out for her birthday (which was last week but she was out with strep throat).

photo Experiment: note that IMG did not work. Just link & be done with it. Two of Lyn Morton's flowers.

Labels: Genju no Seiza, Godchild, Hana Kimi, manga, Secret Santa, tatting, Threads of Time

posted by Sewicked @ 7:09 PM 0 comments   

Tatting: Well, I counted. I have at least 12 snowflakes made. I need another 7 or so, plus the ones for that I've made for my aunts.

Clothes: jeans & t-shirts the past three days. It's been long-sleeved t's Thursday & Friday & a short-sleeved one today.

Gaming: yesterday went well. At least one fight each was pretty tough. The other fights were either easy or just not as scary. But at least once per game, this one fight was very close. One of the fights even had smart bad guys...who used healing. If it hadn't been for that, each of their thugs would have dead twice over.

Books: Just re-reading, dipping into & dropping books.

Labels: gaming, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 2:22 PM 0 comments   

STEPS There they were, covered in plastic. So they still weren't usable last night or this morning. Tonight, the plastic was gone. The steps were steady and feel...different. It's because they're level.

Clothes: black loafers, striped black trouser socks, black socks, black short-sleeved sweater (with black beads & embroidery on the neck), onyx earrings, black stone ring, black elastic hair band & the flower band ring.

Tatting I've almost finished another snowflake. This one is size 80 five ring & chain with beads on the chain.

Books Finished a Christmas romance anthology.

Writing a letter to Mitra. Now to write the aunts. Called Mom last night. Maybe go to Jacksonville next weekend.

Tammy from high school emailed me. She's living in Georgia.

Off to get supper.

Labels: letter, steps, Tammy, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 7:49 PM 0 comments   

Steps! The entire time that we've lived in the townhouse, the stairs have had a slight tilt. As a result, they've been a little unstable. The HOA patched them a year or so ago but that didn't last. The real problem was the foundation under the steps. We tried pouring dirt under them (there was a discernible hole) but that did not solve the problem.

For about a week, there's been an orange cone next to the steps, either from a prank (?) or to alert us that they were going to do...something to the steps.

Typically, we do not leave the porch light on. It's too close to the door & bugs gather 'round it. During the warmer part of the year, it's light long enough that I can see the door fine. After the leaves fall from the tree, the light from the streetlight is enough during the colder part of the year. However, due, in part, to the earlier time change, the door & porch are very dark as the sun has set & the leaves block the streetlight. Still, I have a flashlight on my keys so it's not a great worry.

Except. Except last night when I came home, after sunset, the cone was moved to the walk. And there's a bucket behind it. I turn on my flashlight & also see that the rest of the walk is blocked by dirt & bricks. Oh look, to the left is another pile of bricks. Look further. No steps! Um. No steps.

Oookay, I can reach the porch. My legs aren't that short. I can just step on that freshly-poured concrete pad...um, is that wet? shine flashlight and tap with toe Why yes, it is wet. To reach the porch, I have to stretch over that pad? My legs aren't that long. And we have friends coming over for Chris's D&D game.

I hover indecisively. Diana's already arrived so I go to see if she has her cell phone. We may not be having gaming (again - we cancelled two weeks ago because I was sick). Chris & David arrive while I'm talking to her.

Chris, more or less, climbs around the a corner to reach the porch. Then he let us in the back door. After that, we turned on the porch light and stretched tape to warn people about the cement. John climbed over the porch rail to get inside.

This morning, I climbed down one corner to get out. It wasn't hard and I got a better look at the cement by the light of day. The edges had started to cure but it started raining by the time I get to work. We may not have steps for a couple days.

Tatting: I finished one of the 6 ring & chain ~wreathy looking ornaments, with beads, in size 80 yesterday. Then I started a 5-ring & chain ornament in size 80.

Clothes: Since I was cleaning at home, I spent a lot of time in a tee & leggings this weekend. When I did get dressed, I just changed to blue jeans.

Monday: purple pants, violet polo, burgundy sweater w/ purple & navy, black sequined flats & knee-highs. Plus dragon earrings, pendant, & band. Hair braided (needs brushing badly). Hey, my alarm didn't work properly yesterday morning & I had 20 minutes to get ready & out the door.

Today: black pants, black Origins shirt (w/ dragons), black socks & loafers, braided hair (still needs brushing, but less so), black stone ring, 2 dragon rings (1 band & 1 more obvious), dragon earrings & pendant. It's warmer today, so I didn't bother with scarf, hat or sweater. I just brought my umbrella.

Gaming: M&M on Thursday; we got captured. Bad villains, bad villains. Go sit in a corner. We're trying to help some South American superheroes, Chileans. It looks like someone has duplicated or mind controlled them to do bad stuff. We have to free them & prove their innocence.

Chris's D&D: we fought the 2 drow spellcaster, the 2 drow archers, 2 lizardmen & the giant. Luckily the giant focussed on our dwarf (monk), who can take it. He still had a couple close calls. But a stoneskin spell & his own "Wholeness of Body" ability did a lot to help. My druid got into melee more, in her own form, which is unusual. She didn't transform to a dire lionness until near the end & that was mostly for the healing. At one point she was down to -9 but the cleric had insignia of healing which saved her. Literally.

Election Day: What is it with elections & rain? The last three mid-term elections have been rained upon. Luckily this time I have a friend who'll give me a ride to the polls.

Books: Enh, nothing earth shattering. Just re-read It's in His Kiss & partially re-read a couple others. I'm having trouble settling down to one read.

Labels: Chris's game, election, gaming, It's in His Kiss, steps, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 9:05 AM 0 comments   

Election Day is right around the corner. I'm looking at the candidates. I'm signing petitions

I've already found one that I'd like to be voting against. Vernon Robinson was one
of the first ads of the season that I noticed. It was one of the most virulently
racist ads I have ever seen. I'm just sorry that I'm in a different congressional
district; he's running in 13th & I live in the 4th. David Price is one of the
politicians in my district. My other representatives are, well, I don't think I've
heard of half of them. Isn't that just shameful. But Representative Henry M. 
Michaux, Jr. certainly looks distinguished.

Tatting: I've finished another flake. It's the same one, from Lyn Morton's book,
but with clear beads instead of picots. It looks very good that way. Instead of
doing another one, I started a 4ring/chain motif, with beads. That one has 2
beads on each ring & 3 on each chain. I have one chain left to do & it's done, too.

Clothes: it's a lot colder today, so I pulled out a turtleneck, black. My pants,
tassled loafers, knee highs & hair elastic are also black. However, I'm wearing
my reversible print vest. That's black, brown & tan with Chinese coin button/frogs.
I decided to wear my yellow amber today but couldn't find my pendant. So, in
addition to the amber drops and the amber poison ring, I put the 14-cabochon amber
bracelet on a chain & am wearing it as a necklace. The cabs vary in color; green,
brown, gold & orange. It looks really good & goes fantastic with this vest. My hair
is French braided, again. I didn't feel like fussing with it this morning.

Books: I finished Damsel. Now I have to decide what to read next. Do I re-read
something or hit my to-be-read pile.

News: I've read some of the blog & forum entries about the fire. I posted one of
my own on the Greensboro News & Record site.

Labels: Damsel in this Dress, EGHS fire, election, politicians, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 12:34 PM 0 comments   

High school burned I cried about it today. To a certain extent, I'm not sure why. It's been 20 years. Okay, so it was a main component of my life for 4 years and I have a lot of memories. Still, while I was never tormented, at least not to the extent of actuall bullying, those were not my 'glory days.' For 2 of those years I had glasses & braces. I was not one of the popular or 'in' kids. I was too weird & too different for that to happen. I wasn't a complete outcast either; I'm too nice & friendly (it sounds egotistical but it's true, mostly) for that to happen.

work: I finally finished the org chart, complete with temporaries, students & vacant positions. Whee. That's done for at least a week.

Tatting I gave up and continued the snowflake/wreath from Lyn Morton's 6th book of Easy Tatting. You can barely tell that I made a mistake.

Books: I've finished the 6th Grantville Gazette, with the usual caveat about the fact articles. I've also read most of Sinful, a romance anthology. I had read one of the stories before & I haven't finished one of them (thus the mostly read). I re-read Mystique by Amanda Quick. Right now, I'm re-reading Damsel in this Dress by Marianne Stillings.

Clothes: black slack, black polo, black knee highs, black sequined flats, black stone ring, Celtic knot ring, dragon band, Celtic knot posts (found the earring back, yay!), & andromorph pendant on long silver chain. Once again, I've French braided my hair, using the metal Celtic knot on black elastic to hold it.

Gaming: I completely forgot that tonight is Mutants & Masterminds. Luckily, Diana is giving me a ride so I can stop by home to pick up my books & stuff.

Labels: 6th book of Easy Tatting, Damsel in this Dress, EGHS fire, Mutants and Masterminds, Mystique, Sinful, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 4:51 PM 0 comments   

Still tired. Maybe still sick.

News: my high school burned down today. When I say burned, I don't mean 'keep it closed for a couple days/weeks/months'. I mean, 'don't send in the firefighters, it's too dangerous because a wall just fell down' burnt. It gives me mixed feelings. I would not repeat high school for love nor money. But still, I have 4 years of memories tied up in that place.

I'm still working on that stupid Org chart at work. Oh yay. It's the 3rd format in as many years. I can't even get into the previous format, they lost the access/product code.

Tatting: I finished 4 snowflakes over the weekend. I started another one yesterday & screwed up on the 4th chain. I just have to undo the lockjoin to retro-tat 2 knots. Blech.

Clothes:
Monday: MepaCon t-shirt (red with black ~bird logo), blue jeans, white tennis shoes & socks & Celtic jewelry. French braided hair w/ Celtic knot on elastic.
Tuesday: Harrison steading polo, black pants, loafers & knee-highs. Celtic knot earrings, ring & pendant; rope band & black stone ring.
Wednesday: purple Geoff polo, black pants, knees, sequined flats, grey/black/crystal bead bracelets, rope band, black stone ring, double hash mark band, onyx earrings & French braid again.

More stuff: I checked my email Tuesday and there were >50 PAGES of emails (25 emails per page). A couple pages were spam (there were 278+ messages in my spam folder) but most of the rest was one of my lists...very active that one.

Gertrude Hawks: a lovely chocolate shop in PA. We stopped in Monday before checking out of the hotel. I bought some chocolate-covered pretzels for my co-workers & a peppermint patty for my student. If it hadn't been for the miniatures room, we would have kept to our timetable. It is usually closed on Mondays but the nice man let us in to see it. It is massively impressive; he's spent 50 years on it & it shows! He even turned the lights down & up so we could see night views & days views & take pictures. As it was, we spent so much time looking at it we were almost late checking out.

Labels: chocolate, EGHS fire, miniatures, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 10:20 PM 0 comments   

Time Change! And now it's dawn when I wake up at 7am. It makes it much easier to wake up.
Dream: the alarm woke me from a really cool dream yesterday morning. I won't recount it here because face it, most people don't find other people's dreams all that interesting. But it was very vivid & mostly realistic. It wasn't nearly as surreal as many of my dreams.

MepaCon We are at the Holiday Inn in Scranton, PA. The first games were Friday, and we almost died at the evening game. There were only 4 of us at the table & the high level arcane (who forced it to APL 8) was not a very effective spellcaster. The gm was nice to us or it would have been a TPK in the first fight. I think he pitied us; 1st game of con, our 1st Keoish mod & three of us drove 8+ hours (plus bathroom & food breaks).

The afternoon game ran late so we ordered to go from the Hotel restaurant; Manhattan Drive Restaurant & Jazz Club. It was okay food.

Yesterday morning we ate the breakfast buffet there. The food was okay but not '$6.95 + drink' worthy. Our waitress was nice but this one woman, maybe the manager was rude enough that Rosemary complained to management. The woman had a serious attitude. We will not eat there again.

We played the 3rd part of the storyline from the game Friday night (which was the 2nd, the 1st is an intro mod, so we didn't play that one). Edana leveled. Now I have to decide whether to take her on the track to the Halfling Outrider prestige class (13th level for her first opportunity to take that, due to Feat requirements) or Order of the Bow Initiate. I have to check to see the requirements for that one.

The afternoon slot was great fun. One of the local players has a gnome who frequently tells jokes. The player is constantly telling one-liners & puns. We chuckled frequently. Most people were playing the BI (Battle Interactive) but Chris, Rosemary & I wanted to play Baby's Breath & it was only offered during the BI's second slot.

That evening, we had the same players although Chris & Rosemary changed PC's. We also added a couple players. Keoland mods are tough! They have heavy duty fights. We survived by the skin of our teeth sometimes.

Mepacon has great t-shirts. I'm going to buy some today. I already spent a lot of money with C.J. Henderson, their GOH (guest of honor). I bought some presents & he threw in a Cthulu calendar & a keychain (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Pennsylvania Weather: Friday was frigging cold! A real 'yeah, we're up north & in the mountains in October' kind of cold. Yesterday, it rained all day but it was much warmer (about 60F high). At supper, over about an hour, as the sun set, the temperature literally dropped about 4 degrees. Brrr. It was much colder coming out of the restaurant, Friendly's, than it had going inside.

Clothes:
Saturday: grey 'Liberation of Geoff' t-shirt with full color image on front & back. The front image is the Brenin & his family (wife & son), Gaunt the fey, the silenced Giantess, the Geoff regent, the fey who helped Duchess Calisse (Brenin's wife), her fey stag guide, a monolith, King Bhrodie of the giants, The Storm Giant, a couple anonymous Gyri, two figures I couldn't id, Gorna & the giant's floating city. The back one is a tree showing all 4 seasons & 'The Brenin is the Land' in a banner above & 'The Land is the Brenin' in a banner underneath. Plus I wore black jeans & tennis shoes. When necessary I added the black sweatshirt. I wore the harp pendant (since I played Nadia my bard the last 2 slots), longer ~knot earrings, the ~deco female pendant Richard bought for me in Germany, & the same rings (knot, flower band & silver rope band). I put my hair in a ponytail for convenience.

Today:blue jeans, navy 'Song of 3 Summonings' tee with full color on front & white on back (Calisse, Pwyll the seneschal/bard, & Snowmantle her 2nd fey guide for the front & the summoning song on the back with her fey helper). Plus I'll wear my white tennis shoes. I've French braided my hair for a change. I'm wearing my lapis earring so they really show with my hair pulled back. I've got on the same rings but today's pendant is the star & moon entertwined with Celtic knotwork.

Tatting: I've completed another snowflake, despite running out of thread on 1 shuttle & having to reload. I started the 2nd motif for the tat-along but I was running on a can of Full Throttle & made a mistake. I'll have to either open the ring or cut it out. I was too tired to do either at the time. So I started it again in size 80 thread. Made a mistake on the 2nd clover & just started over. I made a good start on that one.

Labels: C.J. Henderson, dream, Living Greyhawk, MepaCon, tatting, time change, weather

posted by Sewicked @ 7:38 AM 0 comments   

Cold continues: I still have the cold, partially because I've only rested one day. My sore throat on Friday was probably from my sinuses draining (note, this is the first time that I've had sinus problems in 30+ years). Nonetheless, I packed Friday night & went to Steve & Anitra's early Saturday morning.

I spent some time with Carry Saturday morning, learning how to use a knitting loom. I used that thread that I bought to attempt tatting; white string with multicolor thread wrapping it, in segments. Since it didn't have a smooth enough twist to slide the knots, that experiment failed. It worked well enough on the knitting loom. I was asked multiple times if it was beaded, that should give a clue about how the multicolor thread wrapped.

When I boothsat for her at dinner & supper, I continued to work on it. We didn't use the entire loom; just a half-dozen pegs or so. It made a somewhat narrow scarf, made narrower by the fact that it curled.

By Saturday night I was so miserable. I had the full-blow cold symptoms; my back ached from shoulders to hips; clogged head & less than full faculties.

I felt better the next morning, especially after taking some alka-seltzer cold remedy. So I worked with Anitra again. Since it rained off & on all day, it was a very slow day. Nonetheless, we kept busy & I finished my scarf. It's almost 6' long; I plan to give it to mom. After Anitra paid me, I went shopping. I bought some stars for my co-workers & some origami cranes for some other folks at work; stuff like that.

Monday, I dragged around & read a couple books. Then Anitra & I found the Hold Your Own in Cameron Village & picked up a couple items. I found a folder to hold my spell templates for D&D plus a 'pocket' that clips onto the vent in my car; to hold my cellphone where I can reach & find it.

I called Chris to cancel gaming, because after all, I'm still sick. Then I called in sick on Tuesday. I went to work on Wednesday, despite still being ill because I had stuff that had to get done.

Get to work; my boss is pissed because I hadn't done the org chart the way that he wanted. I had asked Craig for help because I didn't have anything that could format the way he wanted it. Craig NEVER got back to me, not even a 'I don't have time to help you with this'. So I didn't do it. So my boss did, which pissed him off. The funny thing is; per the way he had it; it was already in OrgPlus that way.

Plus, a funding change disappeared. I know I did it, in mid to late June to early July. But there's no sign of it. The server had some hiccups about that point & I wonder if it got eaten. But my boss is pissed because in the meantime; it's been wrong since July 1. What a welcome back. Of course, this is the same boss who has said thank you about 5 times in the last 5 years. He's not real good with the positive reinforcement.

I cried a bit, because frankly, the way I felt I just didn't need that on top of it. Then I couldn't find my request for the weekend (Thursday through Monday) off. I thought that I had copied the email to my supervisor but no sign of it. I finally found it about 4 pm. Whee.

I got everything done except for getting some action confirmations & let my supervisor know what to expect Thursday, etc. I was sooo glad to get out of there; it's not even funny.

I washed clothes Wednesday night & managed to stain a number of items pink. The first load was white & delicates; including that red silk shirt with the bleach spots. I'll have to check once it dries & see if it dyed the bleached spots. The ultra-soft Japanese print tee that I bought in 'Japan' at Disney World is now pink instead of white; at least it's even.

Thursday morning I packed, my crate of books & PC notebooks plus the drink bag before Chris left so he could take them with him. After my laundry was done I packed my clothes & other stuff. Managing to forget my laundry bag, my tote bag & diddy bag. Luckily, our room & the con are in the same hotel so I won't have to haul around too much. At worst, it's around a couple corners & up a flight of stairs.

I rushed around & got to Rosemary's at 12:30. She & Chris worked til noon & I was first to arrive. We managed to leave her house about 2pm. We got to our hotel, Holiday Inn, about 12:30 am. We missed the last turn & ended up 16 miles (round trip) out of our way.

Books: a couple at S&A's; one was a 'Bad Boy' anthology & I'm not sure about the other one. I read all day Tuesday & don't remember many details; except Smoke Thief & Bad Boys Over Easy (anthology). I also read I Brake for Bad Boys & a Dick Francis novel, Knockdown I think, on the way to PA.

Tatting: I started a snowflake from Vida Sunderman's Tatted Snowflakes, the 2nd one, & finished it this morning. I also put tatted 'flags' on my D&D spell templates. Only two or three pieces lack anything & I might finish them during gaming.

Clothes: at the Village I wore my ~Colonial outfit all weekend (yay washing machines). Monday I wore jeans & some tee, I don't remember which one, plus the Salem Mass sweatshirt mom found; the black one with the cat eyes. Tuesday I schlepped around in leggings, UNC CAP tee & a chambray shirt, plus slippers.

Wednesday it was black slacks, black knit shirt (long sleeves), Celtic knot jewelry & loose hair. Thursday it was SheVa Con (2005 I think) tee, greyish blue jeans, chambray shirt & white tennis shoes. I wore the Celtic knot jewelry & kept my hair loose so it would dry.

Today it's my long-sleeved grey 'Evolution of the Bull's Head' tee, black jeans & tennies, moonstone ring, earrings & trimoon pendant; plus rope band & flower band.

The connection here at the hotel is pretty bad. So I'm going to try one more time to enter my blog. If it doesn't work; I'll wait until Monday..or later. Okay, I got this posted but I'll add the links later.

Labels: Bad Boys Over Easy, Carry, emotions, I Brake for Bad Boys, knitting, Knockdown, laundry, sick, Smoke Thief, State Fair, tatting, work

posted by Sewicked @ 1:46 PM 0 comments   

Fair Day! And I'm already running late. I wanted to be on the way by 8:30 but sleep is important.

I finally listened to Carry's podcast. Wow, she speaks very slowly, more slowly than she does in real life. I can understand why; it aids listening.

Good news My laundry is almost done so I won't be frantically trying to get it done Friday. Things I need to do Friday: go get thread for Anitra, stop by Borders or Walden for discount, pack (duh), and I know that there is something else that I need to get. I just need to remember what.

Clothes: greyish-blue jeans (lycra so they fit closely), white tennis shoes & socks, blue & white striped tie-dye Wolf t-shirt, blue chambray UNC shirt, Celtic knot posts & ring, dragon pendant, paui shell ring & eventually my hair will be braided; once it has dried.

Tatting: I made a white snowflake yesterday. Well, almost. I need to do the last join, cut & tie. Actually it's closer to being a white wreath.

Photos! I finally broke down & got a photobucket account. Since it seems that I cannot get photos to load onto my blog; well this is a decent substitue. I've already uploaded the cross I made for Dad (after how many tries?!) and some projects from '06 Palmetto Tat Days.

Labels: Carry, photo, State Fair, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 8:38 AM 1 comments   

State Fair: or Oy, I'm Tired!
Friday night was the 'make certain my clothes are ready for next week, pack clothes for weekend, grab tatting thread, books, etc' night. I got everything done & under control (minus one or two things) and I was in bed by 10:30, planning to wrap up the last couple items the next morning. My alarm was set for 6:00 am (blech).

All well & good, except I slept for crapola. At one point, I dreamed that I was on Hillsborough St (the road in Raleigh that fronts the NC State University campus) & suddently realized that I had only half an hour to get to Steve & Anitra's. side note, that location is less than 10 minutes from the Fair Grounds. So I frantically wake up to get started, look at the clock & realize that it's only 3:45 am; roll back over & try to sleep. I finally woke up for good at 5:50 am. Even so, I was about 5 minutes late leaving. Even with all of that, I managed to get there on time (by cutting out one side-errand).

It was a brisk morning (frost on the grass, I think). However, I was wearing thigh-high boots, leggings, underskirt (okay, 1/2 an underskirt), overskirt, sweatshirt, fleece-lined wool cape, & fleece-lined knit cap. When I got to Steve & Anitra's I changed to the bodice (2-3 layers of cotton with fake underblouse), fichu & shawl instead of the sweatshirt. I remained warm.

We got started early on the day; Steve loaned me Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris. It's the sequel to Grave Sight. It's about a young woman who survived a lightning strike and ever since she can find dead people; not ghosts, corpses. In addition, she can tell what their COD's are.

Steve read aloud in the car from a Debbie Macomber book. It's funny & beats morning radio. As soon as we arrived Anitra started trying to catch up on her stock. She'd sold out of one or two of her earrings, the wreaths & the candy canes, I believe. Plus, she wanted to do another version of her chandelier earrings. We tatted & demonstrated and had fun. There were no truly bizarre question.

Judy, another tatter from Clayton, had been by to see her on Friday & told her that my jewelry had won third. Yippee! Anitra's unicorn did not get anything. *snarl*

I relieved Carry so she could go eat lunch. The woman next to her, Carolyn the pen & ink artist, was also alone in her booth so I said that I'd booth sit for her, too. No bribe necessary, I do it for friendship. Although I might buy one of her cards for my step-mom (in addition to the gourd/bead thing).

Other than seeing people in the break room, I did not get a chance to see anyone in the Village. :pout: We were just too busy. If I wasn't demonstrating, I was putting butterflies & other items on earring wires.

We got back in good time Saturday night & I was headed for sleep by 11:30 pm. Slept very well. I had to get up & go once in the night but overall slept until 7:30. What a relief, especially after Friday.

Another rousingly chilly start to the day. It turns out that the lovely white linen blouse that Anitra found last week is too small for both of us. [mild expletive deleted]. So I wore my undyed linen blouse with the country blue & cream tapestry vest, plus the same skirt & underskirt from Saturday.

Sunday was just as busy but I found a couple minutes to talk to Schottzi (name misspelled, I'm sorry), the hat maker, before things got started. While I was booth sitting for Carry & Carolyn, I got a chance to talk to Senora. She didn't realize that I work so close to the brick area, "The Gift," that she designed. I walk by it every day, to & from work. It makes me smile, even if it's not as striking from ground level.

There were a couple of absolutely wonderful & amusing people who came by. One was another tatter to whom I gave my snood pattern to last year. She hasn't started it yet, but that's okay, she still has the pattern. Another was a woman who understood immediately when I said that I couldn't break her $20 bill unless I froze it & had a hammer. Then there was the quite precocious young man who scolded his mother, or tried, for touching one of the snowflakes & then for taking one of Anitra's brochures. Anitra & I had a hard time keeping a straight face on that one.

At one point, lunch I believe, when I was booth sitting for Carry, I tried drop spinning again. I was, ahem, less than successful.

I got a chance to talk to Beth in the break room & finally met her husband. Oh, they are such fun people.

I made it home after the fair by 11:30 pm. Chris drove in right after me, coming home from his parents' (it's his birthday yesterday). However, I was still wound up & ended up finishing Grave Surprise before I went to sleep, at about 12:30 am.

I'm just a little tired today. I took a long lunch but not to nap. I went to a transportation forum. I found out that you can take regional bus from Chapel Hill to Boone. And, if I understand the prices right, for about $22.

Today's outfit: black tassel loafers, knee-highs, black jeans, black polo acid-washed & overdyed green then embroidered in green 'Harrington Steading', green amber jewelry set (earrings, necklace & ring), silver band & my hair up in a ponytail/bun held by two leather-wrapped hairsticks.

I won't see my assistant again until after Fall Break. She has class all day tomorror, she never comes in on Tuesdays. Then I'm at the Fair on Wednesday & she'll be gone for the Break after that.

Tatting update: One more ring on the purple necklace and the other end of the fastener has been threaded on. So I have one or two more rings to do & it's done. I've saved two of the beads; I may do matching earrings. Plus I've tatted a butterfly to try & clear a shuttle.

Books: I'm still reading We Few on my eReader. And I've already talked about Grave Surprise.

Labels: bus, Carry, dream, Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, State Fair, Steve and Anitra, tatting, We Few

posted by Sewicked @ 3:57 PM 0 comments   

Sleep, marvelous sleep Last night I skipped CSI and went to bed early. I woke up. I woke up on time. I have energy! Sleep is a wonderful thing.

I got my flu shot yesterday. That was chore. It's a 20-minute walk to the building where they scheduled it & that building has a different label on the campus map. I find the building & enter, learning that I'm one floor down from where I need to be. So I take the stairs. At the landing the sign says 'exit only, no entrance'. So down the stairs, find a different set & up I go. Find the room & learn that they've moved! Now I follow the directions, through 2 other, connected, buildings to find the correct room. Miraculously, I was only 10 minutes late. Needless to say, that took up most of my lunch hour (50 minutes of it, I spent 5 minutes in the Ram shop checking out their iPod sale).

Tatting update: I've almost finished the purple & grey bead necklace. It needs one more ring; with jump ring & fastener. I've already put the fastener on the jump ring. I just need to thread the jump ring onto the thread and tat it into place.

I got the bookmark from Lotus (etatter). It's lovely. It's a variant of Rebecca's (tatmom03) cross with a split chain tail & a tassel.

BOOKS: I read Seducing the Spy by Celeste Bradley. It was good, I enjoyed it. The heroine was quite atypical; a ruined woman who's not bitter. I've been reading March Upcountry on my Palm but was really in the mood to read We Few. So I went ahead & bought the latter for my Palm. I'm having a problem with it, with all my ebooks, though. The formatting! I can see every html command & it's very distracting. It's the worst in We Few, though. A three word sentence is surrounded by three lines of text. I'm trying a different ereader to see if that helps.

Outfits: Yesterday's; blue 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Champs polo, my 'new' navy blue slacks (White Stag brand), brown half boots, braided hair, moonstone earrings & cabochon pendant, paui shell ring & flower band.

Today's; braided hair, burgundy silk shirt (that I've just noticed has some bleached spots on it - collar, pocket & a couple small ones on one sleeve cap..and a spot on the same sleev's cuff), black vest striped with embroidery in burgundy, tan & black, black jeans, black socks & black tassel loafers. My jewelry are the simple onyx & silver earrings, three phases of womanhood pendant, flower band & the red stone & black stone bands.

Labels: CSI, flu shot, March Upcountry, Seducing the Spy, Sleep, tatting, We Few

posted by Sewicked @ 10:34 AM 0 comments   

Cool Website of the Day: Get Well Gamers, a charity that provides game systems & games for kids in long-term care. Apparently, there's some study that shows that playing video games give sick kids a feeling of normalcy & other good stuff. So these folks try to provide them. Take a look for yourself.

Stuff: Last night John & I took his mom out to Bali Hai for supper. They've changed the rating system, now it's 1-20 instead of 1-10. I got the non-spicy while John & his mom got #2. John said that his was a little closer to a 3 or 4 than a 2 but it was still good. Mine was a trifle spicy, I think it was perhaps carryover from an earlier diner. I successfully managed to eat without stuffing myself silly.

Afterwards, we went to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. I had the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, in the 'I like it' size. Even then, I only ate about half of it. I put the rest in the freezer when I got home. Mrs. J had chocolate & vanilla with roasted almonds while John had chocolate chocolate chip.

Tatting update: I finally made the join with the newly loaded shuttle. I only tatted a couple rings but that's a huge hurdle that I was avoiding.

Today's outfit: black tassel loafers; black broomstick skirt with brown & tan flowers & ~floral stripes; black v-neck knit top with 3/4 length sleeves; Celtic andromorph pendant on long coiled chain (almost clashes w/ neckline); Celtic knot earrings (well, Celtic-looking, they're actually from Williamsburg, a Christmas present); Celtic knot ring; flower band & braided hair.

Books: Yesterday I finished The Gourdmother by Maggie Bruce. It's another mystery, this one set in upstate New York. Since I was sitting next to Gloria Small this past Saturday, this book seemed apropos. Other than that, I finished the 3rd volume of Shaolin Sisters & read a bit more of War God's Own by David Weber. It's one of my 'emergency' books on my Palm's ereader.

Labels: Bali Hai, Gourdmother, ice cream, tatting, War God's Own, website

posted by Sewicked @ 8:22 AM 0 comments   

Tatting Update: I finished my display this morning. Did I get a picture of it? Not with dead bagtteries. I'm charging them now & I hope they have enough charge to take the picture by the time I leave.

Today's clothes: black jeans, sneakers & socks; grey "Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff" t-shirt; silver harp pendant; Celtic knot earrings & ring, flower band ring; & rope band.

I'm off to get my entry in & to play Forgotten Realms at Rosemary's.

Update on the Update: Okay, so I stop at the usual building to turn in my entry & based on my statement, they sent me down the Hobbies & Handicrafts building (near the Holshauser building). I arrived there, and they looked at my entry & thought it should go back to the main building (Household entries), but decided to call up there to figure it out instead of sending me back & forth. It turns out, if I had one item, it would be in the Y category (under tatting), however since I made a set it has to go into the EE100 jewelry category. That took over 20 minutes.

Then we stopped by Foundation's Edge to pick up our comics, & Chris picked up his Star Wars miniatures. They're having their fall sale so I picked up the Rurouni Kenshin that I'm missing (13-19) plus a 5 manga series & a 3-manga series. I spent just a leeetle bit o'money.

Labels: Forgotten Realms, Rurouni Kenshin, State Fair, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 10:25 AM 0 comments   

Frigging Cold: okay, maybe it wasn't that cold today, but between the overcast, the drizzle & the wind it sure felt like it. I had a piece of banana bread for breakfast & when I went to lunch at 12:30 I got dizzy and had to sit down. I spent the morning shivering & trying to tat. Numb fingers make tatting more difficult, fyi. But, nonetheless, fun was had.

The lady next to us, Gloria Small, makes gourds. By that, I mean that she plants them, grows them, then hollows & decorates them. Some she weaves pine needles, other have thread coils & some she uses beads or wood burning. She takes small one & decorates with beads to hold scent oils for air aroma. Very pretty. I bought one for Dad, one for Kathy & one for me. Luckily, they don't read this, so I don't have to worry about spoiling the suprise.

Oak View Historic Park is great. The garden was in full bloom and smelled terrific; rosemary, geraniums, etc.

A couple brought a couple Belgians. Those horses are huge! My head hit them about the shoulder; so call it approximately 5 feet.

Tatting
I finished Linda's necklace & started a choker for myself. I found Hailey's earrings & clipped the threads. The choker for myself is light purple with grey, Czech beads, split chain 5bead5/5. Very simple, but I think it will turn out well.

Today's outfit: blue/lilac polo with "Arlene" & a shuttle (gift from Steve & Anitra), jeans (that are just a little large), socks (duh), my new Reeboks (bought a year ago on sale but never before worn), moonstone cabochon pendant, earrings & ring, flat rope band, flower band & flower ring set with a lapis lazuli & I did have my hair up in my tatted bun cover. Plus I wore a chambray shirt & over that my old man's jacket decorated with calico roses.

Shopping: After the Heritage Day, Anitra & I stopped by Goodwill. I found 2 pairs of black slacks (one desparately needs hemming), one pair navy blue, blue knit top with beads & embroidery & a very thin gauze cotton blouse (that requires an undershirt or a vest). Yay! I can finally get rid of my crappy navy slacks.

I have a 50% coupon on 1 item to Joanne's so I went to get the fabric for my entry display. They had black velvet $19.99 a yard, um, no. No black panne velvet & no velour. But they did have some black ~suede. They piece I found has cut edge along one edge. So, I'll take the rest of the fabric (I went ahead & bought 2 yards) for a skirt. It turns out that everything I bought was on sale. So I still have the coupon.

Now I need to prep my entry for display & I think it goes into category EE54 or 55. I'm just not sure which.

Labels: gourds, horses, Oak View Historic Park, presents, shopping, State Fair, tatting, weather

posted by Sewicked @ 9:16 PM 0 comments   

Apex Chemical Fire
Okay, so my only connection (that I know of) to Apex is that it's where one of my family reunions is held. Still, it's not that far from the family farm. Luckily, only 18 people (at last report) have suffered ill effects, unless you include being evacuated.

Platelet donation: went smoothly yesterday. Since I've had time crunch issues in the past, they went ahead & did the faster version, that you apparently cannot do if you've given whole blood within the past 8 weeks. Sure enough, with the yogurt two hours before donation, I didn't even need the Tums. Yay! The movie, Dreamer, had started when I sat down but I didn't feel like watching it. Instead, I meditated, watched it without the earphones, a little. I was proud of myself. I recognized Oded Fehr, even if I couldn't remember his name.

Mutants & Masterminds: The game got started a little late. Between my late arrival and Diana's late, her new job lasts until 8 pm & the game starts at 7 pm. It was her first day on the job & maybe it won't always be until 8 pm. Maybe.

Anyway, we did a little clean up from the last session; raided the villain's secret identity apartment with the police. Of course, it was really a cover & not her home or hide out so only some stolen artwork was found. Although the magic formula letting Green Ronin find Totem's valley & getting her past the valley defenses was a good find. Those went into the Freedom League vaults.

Then we started the next story. It appears that the former warden of the Blackstone prison (supervillains only) has gone a little nuts & has taken Freedom City's mayor, deputy mayor & the senior Federal Judges hostage. Now it appears that maybe it's him & maybe it's not. We had to stop in the middle of the fight; that whole 'have to work the next day' thing.

Today's outfit: I decided to dress up a little; basically because I don't really like the last pair of clean slacks. Anyway, I'm wearing the bead & sequin black flats; navy knee-hi's (which just look dark); black, ribbed, short-sleeved sweater; ankle/floor-length crepe skirt, more-or-less vertically striped, printed to look sort of like zig-zag strips of different fabrics in brown, olive, tan, black, tan, dark teal & burgundy; silver cobra-link bracelet; female figure ring; silver band of flowers ring; silver fairy & flower pendant on silver chain; silver 3-hoop earrings; & my hair is in a bun/ponytail held by a carved, almost purple, wooden hairstick.

Tatting: I managed to fix my error from the other day. It only required completely unwinding one shuttle & one thread winder...twice. Once to unthread the misplaced ring, then again to re-thread it once the missed tatting was completed. Whee!

Mild Rant: Stupid pedometer! It's reset itself. I just don't believe that it only took 85 steps to get from home to the work. Now it's at 60 steps. Grrrr!

Labels: Apex chemical fire, blood donation, Mutants and Masterminds, news, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 8:50 AM 0 comments   

Semi wreck
Thanks to the oddities of the bus schedule, I had to drive to work this morning. I'm donating platelets this afternoon at 3pm & the closest the bus comes to delivering me on time is to deliver me at 1:30 pm. And for that, I'd have to leave work at noon. That's just a little much.

I was running a scoche late anyway (stopped to sync my Palm after changing the batteries - I miss my re-chargeable one) but not absurdly so. Then traffic pretty much stopped for 2-3 miles. I thought it was because traffic is just that bad at that time of day. But it turned out to be an overturned tanker semi. The local news still don't have it on their webpage so I don't know if the driver's okay or not. It looked pretty bad but by the time I passed by, there was no ambulance & the doors were off the cab.

I ended up being about 15 minutes late to work. I missed one bus at the park & ride; it left just as I reached it. Another one was coming up just then so I boarded almost immediately. Since I'm not really getting a lunch hour today, maybe a lunch 15 minutes, it's not a real time issue.

Today's outfit: black jeans again, lilac Carolina Renaissance Festival polo, black loafers (tasseled), nude knee-hi's (I'll be glad when the weather settles down to one season), amethyst & silver pendant, same flat rope band, female figure ring & 'stained glass' earrings with a mauve center & blue points. My hair's loose until I get it brushed again.

Tatting: [note: expletives deleted] earrings that I made this weekend have disappeared. They aren't in the bag with the necklace or the bracelet. I finished putting the fastener on the bracelet & fray-checked everything. But it looks like I'm remaking the earrings. They're aren't hard & I think that I still have some beads but it's [expletive deleted] annoying.

Donating Platelets: It takes longer than donating blood but they get twice as much of the good stuff. I am type O+ so I give as often as I can. Things I have learned: 1) drink plenty of fluid beforehand (this means the blood flows well & you donate quicker); 2) eat something (the red blood cells are carrying nutrients & this increases the size of the blood veins, making finding & sticking them easier) & 3) get some calcium into your system. They give you Tums but I hate that taste. The calcium prevents nausea (they use something to help the blood flow that causes that reaction, it's temporary but I get it worse than many people). If I get some yogurt or other high calcium source before I give, I feel a lot better.

Labels: blood donation, tatting, traffic

posted by Sewicked @ 9:20 AM 0 comments   

Ugh, I stayed up late last night to read Thud by Terry Pratchett. I've read it before. I knew who did it. But I was enjoying it so much and I'd had an otherwise crappy evening.

I caught the next to last bus home so at least I wasn't walking home in the dark but I still like to get home a little earlier than I did. I'd ended up staying at work just long enough to miss the first possible bus and somehow missed the 2nd bus, too. I was packing up to leave when my phone rang. I could have ignored it but something told me to answer it, despite the fact that I'd already turned off my computer. Frankly, if it had been a call to someone else in the office I would have transferred the call & just counted myself as being off work at 5pm. But I had to sit down because it was a call for me to handle (which I did this morning). However, if I'd let the guy go to voice mail I'd be so frustrated this morning. He has a good command of the English language but a thick accent and talking to him, being able to ask him to repeat key portions was massively helpful.

When I got home I found some unexpected fall-out to my roommate's loss of checkbook. He hadn't paid the power bill. So they'd cut the power. Luckily, there was still some light & I have a flashlight on my keys. Plus, Mom gave me a really fabulous flashlight for Christmas (wind up & LED). So I called my roommate, got his credit card number & called the power company to get it switched back on. Did you know that they do not post their phone numer on the disconnect notice? It's very annoying. Once the bill was paid & the connect fee the voice said 'your power will be connected by midnight.' Oh frabjous joy. That blows my evening.

So I went to get some supper & by the time I got back it was dark. I pulled out a couple candles & the flashlights to read & eat supper. They actually got the power back at about 8pm, just before my Mom called. Luckily we have an old-fashioned phone with a cord because the cordless was out of juice. We made plans to meet, in November probably. My month of October is tied up already.

Today's outfit: braided hair (I didn't feel like doing anything else with it), green amber post earrings (lost the back to one this morning), matching green amber necklace (5 cabochons), matching ring, same flat silver rope band, black & green Harrington Steading polo (acid washed black overdyed green), black jeans, 'nude' kneehighs (another cold start & hot finish day), black flats with sequins & beads.

Tatting News: all things considered I got very little done on Linda's necklace yesterday, just a couple rings before work. Nor did I finish the bracelet or get started on blocking. Guess what I hope to accomplish tonight?

Books: Re-read Stephanie Laurens's The Truth About Love yesterday then, of course, read Thud, as I said. Now I'm reading The Hero Strikes Back, by Moira J. Moore. It's a sequel to Resenting the Hero. The cover art is very different between the two books. Resenting looks more Renaissance while Hero looks later, maybe as late as 18th century.

Speaking of books; some authors have gotten together & started a charity help other authors with emergency assistance. They've started auctions on eBay to seed the charity. That way if an author gets hit with a disaster, or long-term illness, there's a fund to help see them through it. This is intended to be a longer term assistance than the usual short-term (like the assistance web comic artists are compiling for Lea Hernandez). Not to dismiss the value of such assistance by no means, but having funds in place for long-term problems is also a good thing.

Addendum to today's outfit: I'm also wearing an owl pin in my collar. I picked it up, & two others, on Saturday at a discount store. It's an enamel pin & pretty good quality.

Labels: Lea Hernandez, Sleep, tatting, The Hero Strikes Back, The Truth About Love, work

posted by Sewicked @ 8:25 AM 0 comments   

Vent Ahead: I have very brittle nails, a trait that I inherited from my mother. I keep them short (no longer than the tips of my fingers) to prevent breakage & splits. Last week I broke both thumbnails, partially or almost to the quick. They have just now begun to recover.

This morning, I jammed my index nail again a cabinet door & it completely tore. The only nail left is that covering the nail bed. It doesn't hurt (other than the unaccustomed pressure of fingertip no longer protected by fingernail) but it's just so annoying.

I just needed to vent about this minor annoyance. Losing the thumbnails was worse, it made it more difficult to tat (shoving knots into place & neatening them as I went).

Today's outfit: soft, black knit polo; faded black cotton slacks; black tassle loafers; nude knee hi's (too cold for sockless this morning, too warm for socks this afternoon); black stone ring; flat silver rope band, small labdourite pendant on silver chain; braided hair w/ a black elastic; & 'silver' & black bead earrings round black bead on double loop wire that connects from earwire to 2 duplicate double loop wires [with sead bead, faceted bead & seed bead] that each hold one end of a 'silver' bas relief crescent, set with a centered fasceted bead, that dangles 5 faceted beads).

My bangs are still very short from last weekend's chop. I swear I cut them even with the tops of my glasses. The lighter weight allows them to spring up & only reach halfway to my eyebrows, if that.

Tatting: I finished my fair entry, almost. I need to add the other end of the toggle fastener to the bracelet, cut loose ends & block all the pieces. I also need to buy display supplies (black velvet & foamboard) & see in which category tatted jewelry belongs.

This weekend, I bought a little more thread & a lot more beads. I have some great ideas for jewelry. I've started a pale & paler purple necklace for Linda's Christmas present. She adores purple & I made her purple snowflake earrings last year.

Labels: fingernails, hair, State Fair, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 9:18 AM 2 comments   

Car Free Day and as usual for me, I took the bus to work. I managed to catch it this morning. Good for me, right?

Tatting News I'm 3/4 through that Konior cross. I would be farther but I had to retro-tat an entire chain last night. And I've just noticed that I've tatted about 2 rings & a chain too far. *sigh*

today's outfit: light grey Dendarii Mercenaries covert ops polo, black jeans, black ~trouser socks (these are only ankle-high, thicker & have flowers woven into the texture), black tassel loafers (the brown ones are the ones that disintegrated), moonstone earrings & ring, trimoon moonstone pendant, fem-power ring (female figure) & my hair was braided but I unbraided it after lunch.

Today has been a good day considering it started out as a morning after. What's really sad is that I didn't have a night before. We just played Mutants & Masterminds (rescued my character's homeland from an unscrupulous archealogist). I had no alcohol, just water & diet soda.

Since I get 10 minutes of walking, before & after work all I have to do is get an extra 10 minutes somewhere during the day to get 30 minutes. I managed to do that at lunch today. Yay me.

Books: I just finished Kick @$$, an anthology. Speaking of which, what happened to my ability to underline? I really enjoyed all 4 stories. I wasn't certain about Jacey Ford but her story grew on me & I'm glad that I read it.

Now I've started Death Waxed Over, a mystery by Tim Myers. It's the 3rd in the Candle Shop mysteries. I rather like them.

Labels: bus, Death Waxed Over, Kick A$$, Mutants and Masterminds, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 5:06 PM 0 comments   

Okay, either the bus has been running late all week or it was definitely early this morning. Result? I missed it. Since I had a spare 20-30 minutes before the next one, I decided to walk to the next bus stop. By the way, people notice if you aren't at your regular stop. At least two people, one of whom is a 'bus acquaintance' asked me about it. Since the next stop was only 7 minutes away I was going to walk to the one after that but when the sidewalk crossed the road (ie instead of on both sides of the road it was only on 1), I decided to turn back. Turns out the next stop is at the shopping center. Now I know.

Today's Tatting: I screwed up the Mary Konior cross. I tried 'adjust' it to eliminate the thread ends & ended up with something very odd. It will take some examination to fix & since I'm on a little time crunch, I put it aside & started over. I'm still waiting for Karey to reply to my question about my UFO. Hey, some people don't check their email every, single, day.

today's outfit: plaited hair (black elastic); dark green Geoff polo, black jeans, black trouser socks (it's cool enough), black fabric flats (as yesterday), black stone ring & my one really good set of jewelry. The emerald & gold earring/necklace set that Chris gave me. Okay, the emeralds are really small; but they are visible.

Looks like I'll be working on Saturday. It will be overtime at least. I need to clean up my office/desk area and face it, during the week there are too many interruptions.

I finished cards to all of my maternal aunts, I need to address envelopes & mail them. My problem is that I have the wrong address for one, since her last card bounced. I need to fix it before I mail the next one (enclosing the bounced one).

Labels: bus, letter, tatting, work

posted by Sewicked @ 11:26 AM 0 comments   

Woohoo! First really cool day since May. It really feels like autumn approaches now.

Tatting Projects
I finished the cross for the family reunion door prize (I'd like to know where the button to upload photos disappeared to). I've resumed work on a UFO, the button bag from Palmetto Tat Days. I've emailed Karey with a question so it's stalled again. In the meantime, I'm using the thread left on the shuttles to do a burgundy cross, one of Mary Konior's this time. Problem: I tried to make an alteration in the pattern to reduce ends & screwed it up. So I'll be cutting some off & then resuming tatting.

I finished & mailed the two bookmarks for the bookmark exchange. Wally should get hers by Monday (I think) but I'm not certain when Lynn will get hers. Wally's in Puerto Rico & Lynn is in Hong Kong.

Today's Outfit: burgundy, sleeveless, v-neck t-shirt (neck edged in double row of single seed beads); burgundy crocheted, long-sleeved sweater; black slacks; black, flat shoes (the cloth ones with sequins & beads); black tatted earrings & necklace, with beads; black & red stone rings & hair in a ponytail, mostly for the sake of not getting it caught in my messenger bag strap.

Books: I read Gunpowder Green yesterday. It's part of tea-themed mystery series set in Charleston, SC. I also read volume 8 of Rurouni Kenshin. Today, I'll read volume 9.

Labels: Gunpowder Green, Rurouni Kenshin, tatting, weather

posted by Sewicked @ 8:36 AM 0 comments   

Okay, it's been a month. I'm sorry.

I've finished 2 bookmarks (Kersti's Tabatha), forgot to take a picture of one. That's for the etatter sponsors' bookmark exchange. I also made one for Ira Simon as a good-bye present. And I made a third one as I lost one of the ones that I made. So I made one in variegated blue with a burgundy tassel (Carolina blue, Western Washington navy & Alabama red), the one for Ira.

One in variegated pink, almost white to dark pink; no tassel. Then in buff & burgundy, with burgundy on the inside & lined with buff. Then I did the reverse for the replacement. The only tassel I put on those are the loose ends, tied off.

I was going to finish a ufo next but decided to try & use up the thread on the shuttles first. So yesterday & today I worked on a cross by Lyn Morton. That will be a door prize at the Johnson family reunion in Apex. That's on Sunday.

I've lost 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks. Yay!

Labels: family reunion, tatting, weight loss

posted by Sewicked @ 9:10 PM 0 comments   

iPod update:
Good news! It's not dead. On my way to visit Steve & Anitra on Sunday, I was going to stop by the Apple store to see if I could buy a new battery from them. On a whim, I plugged it into the car outlet. Whee, it worked, immediately. When I got home, I plugged it into a house outlet & let it finished charging.

Yesterday's outfit: lime green 2006 Palmetto Tat Days shirt, blue jeans, sandals, dragon pendant, Celtic knot earrings, etc.

Today's outfit: new black polo, black slacks, black loafers (heels survived), dangly Celtic knot earrings, star/tree/moon pendant, ring, flower band ring & braided hair.

Errands: mailed Liam's present
Left Mom's card at home, so I'll mail her present tomorrow
finished laundry yesterday
Mostly finished packing clothes
Mailed Hailey's letter
Picked up new bus pass
Put covers on game books to make them easy to ID at con

Mood:
Irritable. I'm voraciously hungry and Chris wasn't able to bring food home. He had to pick up Duncan & without ac he couldn't stop to get anything without endangering the dog. I've been starving since 4 pm & it's almost 7pm. Supper won't arrive until 7:30, if I'm lucky.

Fun with Steve & Anitra:
Steve let me read his latest novel. It's a first draft but very good. He also had a bunch of books that he brought back for me, including one signed one. Anitra & I complained about our jobs and discussed about our current tatting projects. She has glow-in-the-dark thread. It looks like lots of fun.

Tatting:
And now that I have batteries for my camera, I can take pictures of the tatting I've done recently. For example, my teacup so far; the tat-along (which came out very different); & the triangle motif.

Labels: emotions, errand, iPod, Steve and Anitra, tatting, writing

posted by Sewicked @ 6:45 PM 0 comments   

Errands run:

• Go by post office to mail Liam's present - not done
• Build-a-bear to get snow leopard - done
• Get padded envelope to mail Mom's present - done
• Ditto for Mitra's - done
• Mail Mom's present & Mitra's present - not done
• Mail Hailey's card - not done
• Apple store to investigate getting new battery - not done
• Laundry - in progress
• Pack for trip - once laundry's done

Today's outfit: I was wearing black shorts & my black 'Warning Mood shift in 5 minutes' t- but it seemed to cool for that. So I changed to blue jeans (not one of my favored pairs), purple 'Fear the 4, Busch Gardens' t-, sandals, dragon pendant, silver fem-figure ring, silver band of flowers ring, & three layer earrings (patterned ~silver upside down teardrop base, brassy patterned crescent moon & coppery elephant on top; small ball hangs from teardrop & tiny coil from crescent). I've just pulled my hair into a ponytail with a navy elastic.

Plush snow leopard: I named her Frivolite, for the French word for tatting. Hey, it's a lovely plush & $1 goes to World Wildlife Fund. And that never sucks.

Tatting update: I ran out of thread on the shuttles while working on the teacup. I did 2 sides & part of the 3rd side before it happened. So I worked on this triangle that I printed out on Friday, in the same variegated blue.

While we were at the mall, I stopped by Sears & picked up a couple of polo shirts. They are lighter weight than most of the ones that I already own. I really wanted a new pair of navy blue slacks or black skirt. No luck there. I found one black skirt that was close, but the bottom 2 layers are unhemmed nylon. Ick.

More Tatting stuff: Wally aka Needledreams has started a Tat-along project. So now I have to decide what I'm going to do. What variant?

1st attempt: failure. The thread is/was an experiment. Result: not entirely suitable for tatting. Thread doesn't slide very well.

Labels: clothes, errand, plush animal, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 8:59 PM 0 comments   

iPod Disaster
My iPod mini remains blank. It charged not at all in 24 hours. I weep, I moan, I wail. I may be about to spend $60 to get the battery replaced.

Car Update:
They have ordered the parts to fix the AC in Chris's car. They can get 6 of the 10. The other 4 are on back order. Guess who's renting a minivan to go to Tallahassee. Time to make phone calls & double check websites.

New Taste Sensation (for me):
Nestle Crunch Dark Stixx; I bought a package last night on the way to my Mutants & Masterminds game at David's house. I finally ate it for my morning snack. They're small but tasty. I love dark chocolate, that makes a difference.

Today's Outfit:
Burgundy slit/keyhole neck tank with a double row of single seed beads lining the neck under (indoors where it's cool enough) a v-necked, black, crochet sweater with diamonds of 4-petal flowers on the torso & closely crocheted rows on the sleeves, over lightweight black, cotton slacks and the leather sandals again. The sandals don't really match, they're buff & tan but until my heels heal.... Right now, my hair is loose but I will braid it again later. I'm wearing the silver Celtic knot earrings (the dangles, not posts) with the smaller Celtic knot ring (4 loops), silver flattened, ~rope band, and the silver pendant with Celtic knot, tree, moon & star tangled up together on a short silver chain; so the pendant rests just at my clavicle.

Tatting
I did some tatting last night. I started the tea cup from Contemporary Tatting by Judith Connors. I made the saucer from variegated blue (the same blue that I used for Dad's cross for Father's day). I didn't have enough thread on the shuttles to start the cup so I made some flowers instead.

I worked on it again at lunch (after reading a little of Oath of Swords by David Weber). I've wound thread onto the shuttles & done 3 of the 6 rings that go up one side. That leaves the top, the other side & as a separate stage, the handle.

CC, a gentleman who works for facilities, came by while I was working. So I showed him what I was doing. He had never heard or seen of it before. I also gave him a little 6 picot/7 knot flower.

Mugged?
The squirrels & sparrows around here are quite bold, almost tame. A squirrel came up to my table while I was eating lunch. He was about a chair-length away and kept watching me, to see if I was going to drop anything. Then another diner started throwing bits of the tortilla from her wrap and the birds went wild. I was busy tatting so I don't know if the squirrels manage to grab any.

Labels: animals, Chris's car, Food, iPod, Mutants and Masterminds, Oath of Swords, tatting, tatting book

posted by Sewicked @ 11:04 AM 0 comments   

Three Blue Roses

Diana, a dear friend, and her BF Colt, have a custom of giving blue roses, made of unusual materials, to Colt's mother. After seeing me tat one of Lyn Morton's flowers, Diana asked if I could do a rose for her. Here are the three, hurriedly photographed before I gave them away. I also plan to do a couple in Lyn Morton's design.

Update: After 2 attempts, the picture is not loading properly. I have hopes & will keep trying. Now I'm off to check the help topics.

Okay, I can the picture to load. It's visible but um, just a little big.

Labels: Diana, photo, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 10:36 PM 1 comments   

Last night I actually made it to bed more or less on time. I also walked 20 minutes to catch the bus farther down the road than I usually do. Lindsey was on that bus. She's reading Good Omens as I recommended. She's enjoying it immensely. If she wasn't working on Monday she could play RPGA:LG with us. Oh well.

Chris is playing Beyond Good & Evil still. He's farther along than I am, now. I have barely entered the factory & he's deep inside it. I have lots to do to catch up.

I spent a few minutes last night going through some of the books in the basement. I have them in 3 piles. One pile is take to sell at a used book store, if they don't sell then take them to Goodwill or the like. Second pile is old paperbacks that belong to a library, I need to return those. The third pile, & the largest so far, are books that I plan to keep. Hey, getting rid of any is progress.

Today's outfit: navy slacks, brown loafers, brown belt, floral (sort of) silk blouse (it has large red flowers, iron gates/benches, yellow flowers, green leaves and wood bench/fence), silver band - 2-strand braid, green amber ring, earrings & necklace. I had my hair twisted up in my large brass hair 'clip' earlier. But I took it down a few minutes ago. The loose hair wasn't hanging straight & it was starting to drive me nuts.

My brother, sister-in-law & my niece sent me a great b'day present. They sent me 2 old tatting shuttles. One is a Just-rite, it's not in as good as shape as my other Just-rite but I suspect that it's older. I dashed off a quick thank-you email to my brother & when I wrote a letter to my niece today, I added thanks there too.

I need to do another 5 points to finish the lace for Anitra. I've done 22" on the white lace. I may have finally decided what to do for my State Fair project. I will add a lace edging to some gloves. I have a lovely 1920's pattern I can use. It's a 2-color pattern. I just need to decide what colors.

I'm looking forward to my 3-day weekend. I'm gaming tomorrow, Living Greyhawk; home game: Forgotten Realms, on Sunday then another Living Greyhawk game on Monday & then another home game of AD&D 3.5 that evening. Wheee. Tonight & tomorrow I have to clean up the living room & dining room enough to play. Not so whee.

Labels: Beyond Good and Evil, Chris's game, Forgotten Realms, Good Omens, Living Greyhawk, Sleep, tatting, tatting shuttles

posted by Sewicked @ 4:27 PM 0 comments   

Today's oufit: short sleeve, collarless chambray shirt; denim vest, navy broadcloth skirtv, brown loafers; stamped leather hair clip; turquoise & coral earrings; both turquoise rings, & two different styles of braided silver bands.

It's hot & muggy. I'm glad to be wearing a skirt, even if it is very heavy & fully lined. I didn't go to lunch until 2pm. I read the entire time. Except when I talked to Steve (AC guy) & Gillian (English photojournalism student, whose mother's from Salisbury, NC).

My tatting got bizarrely tangled last night. It happened just as I was about to disembark from the bus & I didn't notice when I dropped my shuttle case. Bleah! I've called the bus company & see if it was turned in or found by the driver yesterday. I had to leave a message.

I have to leave now, I still need to find cards for Kathy & Diana and get to Copelands in Cary by 7:30 pm. Tah.

Labels: Copelands, tatting, weather

posted by Sewicked @ 5:23 PM 0 comments   

Saturday's oufit: Ironclaw t-shirt & jeans
Sunday's outfit: Celtic tree t-shirt & shorts
Monday's oufit: Dendarii covert ops polo & plaid crinkle gauze skirt
Tuesday's outfit: Vorkosigan polo & black slacks
Today's outfit: blue knit shirt & multi-colored gauze skirt

I've done over 22" on the white lace. Last night I started some ecru in the same pattern for Anitra. I'm going to make enough to put on the top of her apron. I've already done about 3" or so & I only need 8-9".

I finally fixed my fanny pack. I went to Jo-Ann's last night to get the buckles, thread, & to price canvas. They also have linen, a possibility for a new chemise for October. I got all the way out to the car before I remembered that I was also going to look for ecru thread in size 80. They had it. They also had red, green, white & variegated pastel. The red's on sale for a $1. They are apparently discontinuing it.

Labels: sewing, tatting, tatting thread

posted by Sewicked @ 5:49 PM 0 comments   

It's supposed to be even hotter today (expected high, 90F), but I'm still wearing black. Today's outfit: black slacks & loafers, black heavy wrinkled gauze blouse (3/4 length sleeves & round neck), spoon ring, silver 'braid' band, moonstone ring, rainbow moonstone pendant & earrings & my hair is in that half bun/ponytail fixed with the steel hairstick with bells.

I started a new length of tatting. It's thicker thread so it doesn't require my crochet hook for joins. I'm trying some of the 19th century patterns from Flitting Fingers, the book that Anitra loaned me. I've been trying to translate the 'buttonhole stitch' & other instructions into modern tatting methods. The current length is for 'a chemise band' and it's just rings, not even any joins.

I changed my mind about what I'm getting my mom for Mother's day. I was going to send her a gift certificate for a manicure but I found a book at the Bullshead bookstore that I think she'll like. So I will go deposit the check from Saturday's tatting, buy the book & mail it at lunch. Busy lunch, huh.

Something yesterday really upset my system. I was tired when I got home last night & Chris was playing a video game. So I laid down on the couch for a nap. I answered the phone every time it rang, Richard & telemarketers, but I slept. Chris realized what time it was at 10 pm & cooked supper. He woke me when it was ready at 10:30 pm. I'd slept about 4 hours. I ate half of my steak & then had to go to the bathroom for half an hour, or so. Came out, ate my broccoli & then headed to bed by midnight. It wasn't the steak that upset me, it was too soon. I realized that my stomach started bothering me a little by 5pm. Maybe it was the burrito I had for lunch yesterday. It was a little spicy.

Bill called while I was eating. We chatted a bit. I must remember to contact Wes to tell him to call Bill. Bill doesn't have Wes's email or phone number.

Labels: Bill E., Flitting Fingers, mom, tatting, weather

posted by Sewicked @ 8:17 AM 0 comments   

Much warmer today so the outfit is also a little lighter weight (no jacket): black slacks, black loafers, silk blouse (red, rose, green floral with blue iron bench/fence look plus yellow something), black tatted necklace & earrings, onyx band, silver braid band & silver rope braid band (much wider, more like yesterday's braid band in width). My hair is loose because I washed it this morning.

My chest still stings from Tuesday's sunburn, despite repeated applications of aloe gel. Pbbbbt.

Time to go home. Maybe tomorrow I'll even post something interesting. Although I have to comment that my tatting has reached 17". I barely touched it Tuesday.

Instead I Tuesday & yesterday I read 2 of the Dark Hunter books by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Labels: Dark Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, sun, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 5:29 PM 0 comments   

Today's outfit: (when I'm cool) black ~sweater w/ 3/4 length sleeves & bateau neck, black ~suede slacks, black half-boots, onyx ring, dragon ring, silver band, onyx & silver earrings & braided hair. When I'm warm enough I take off the black sweater to expose my "I've lost 20 pounds" burgundy blouse with the faux surplice & split petal sleeves.

I think I may have gotten a little sunburned today. I forgot to put on sunscreen (didn't think I'd be outside, frankly). So I sat out in the sun at lunch for almost an hour.

My lace is at 13.5". I worked on it last night & during the meeting this morning. It's past time to head home.

I was listening to the Breakfast Club. It's from early December 1941. It was full of late-breaking news regarding the declarations of war against Japan by Great Britain, etc.

Labels: radio shows, sun, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 5:27 PM 0 comments   

Saturday's outfit: black skirt, black half-boots, muslin blouse, red plaid bodice, cream colored apron, and muslin cap. Can you tell that I was garbed ~Colonial? I was at Harmony Hall in White Oak, NC (near Fayetteville) as part of the yearly celebration. I tatted on the front porch (facing the river) while Liz wove on her inkle loom (that I gave her years ago). Leela was greatly admired. There weren't great crowds as it rained off & on. But a few people showed & were greatly admiring. I did get a new question: 'is that real lace?'

Sunday's outfit: new green Celtic knot tree (w/ sun & moon caught in branches), jeans and loafers. I had fun at the picnic, after I woke up. At quarter til 4, I had to get up & answer mommy Nature. Then when the tank started to refill, the air in the pipes made them knock. It sounded like someone hammering on the wall. It completely woke me up, especially as I couldn't i.d. the noise at first. By the time it was over, I was starving. So I got up & grabbed a bite to eat. Chris dragged me to breakfast at Bob Evans (yay French toast). After that I napped. I woke up when the sun almost came out & didn't get to the picnic until 12:30 or so. Saw people I hadn't seen in months. Denise is moving back to Oregon & she's 5 months pregnant. It's a surprise as she'll be 41 next birthday.

Today's outfit: black half-boots, black slacks, lavender polo, Bronze Rose hairclip, onyx ring, silver braid band, flower band, violet bead earrings, & tri-fem pendant.

I got 9 inches of lace tatted since Friday. It's the really small white thread, too. I think that this year I will have trim on my clothes (Village of Yesteryear). I lost my little crochet hook though. I'm back to using my full length one.

When I was lying there, sleepless Sunday morning I thought of a direction for the time travel story that I started. So, it wasn't all bad.

Labels: Harmony Hall Heritage Day, Squirrel, tatting, writing

posted by Sewicked @ 4:53 PM 0 comments   

I've lost my small crochet hook, the pendant one. Well, crap! That means I have to get the other one & its longer length is very inconvenient for portable tatting.

Still trying the 19th century patterns. Not going well. Buttonhole stitches,....pbbbbbbt.

Today's outfit: black boots, black button down skirt, white silk brocade shell, cream & tan checked silk jacket, rainbow moonstone earrings, moonstone ring, silver band, onyx ring, tri-moon moonstone pendant & hair in a half bun/ponytail, affixed with a bone (faux ivory) hairstick.

I mailed the letter to Nick today. Maybe Nadia (my rpga living greyhawk character) will finally be a knight.

Labels: Nadia, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 5:06 PM 0 comments   

*snarl* BMAC & other noises of complaint & irritation.

I got stopped up in stop & roll traffic on 15-501 towards Pittsboro last night. The last 1.5 mile before my storage facility [1] took 20+ minutes. I get home. I start to do my laundry & realize, the only detergent we have is what a friend left when he borrowed the use of our washer when his was broken. Well, I have to pack tonight, so I went ahead & used some. I washed 2 loads (1 light & 1 dark). I even managed to get the light one completely done. The dark load was drying when I went to bed.

This morning: I kept waking up (2 am, 5 am, 5:30 am, until the alarm clock). Now I'm dragging. I comb out my hair before washing it (cuts down on the amount of hair that I shed in the shower) & get all that done. Luckily I had figured out what to wear last night. Chris, my bf, finally tells me what time we are leaving tomorrow morning, so I can plan what time to get up, etc. [2]

I grab a frozen dinner to eat for lunch & an ice cream cone for breakfast. This is usually safe because the bottom of the cone is plugged with chocolate so the ice cream doesn't leak. This morning, the cone broke. So I spilled/splashed chocolate all over the nice cream colored polo shirt I'm wearing. I'm so tempted to go buy a shirt [3] to wear today. *insert another snarl*

I finish the white test tatting,[4] Gullan by Blomquist & Persson, while I'm stopped in traffic on 54 this morning. The area where I usually park is full, I find another one not toooo far away. I start winding red thread on the shuttle while I wait for the bus. Get 1.5 ring done on the bus, it's a crowded morning, we're packed like canned sardines. I get off the bus, barely, and then learn that I dropped my shuttle case. The one Mike [5]made for me last year. And despite the fact that I left the house @ 7:15 I make it to the office at exactly 8 am instead of having at least a couple minutes to stow my lunch, turn on my computer, etc. *repeat snarl*

I called the bus company. No one's turned in my shuttle case yet. I left my number. Hopefully they'll call.

I'm catching up on the DTH I missed while I was out. I read to catch articles dealing with my department. I finished up to the 30th yesterday. Today I can't find the paper for the 31st.

Please let this day improve. I wonder if part of the problem is the weather. Normally I don't mind the drizzly weather....but it may be a contributing factor.

[1] the one where I rent a locker

[2] We're going to Hochcon, a gaming convention in Virginia. Leaving tomorrow, coming back Monday.
[3] that involves going over to student stores & trying to find a UNC polo shirt. Guesstimate: $30.

[4] I'm trying to figure out what edging to use on the dress that I'm buying for next State Fair. So I'm testing a few patterns to see what I like. Gullan is kind of plain. I'll use it to trim the jacket I wore yesterday. Inga looks nice. I did 2 repeats of it in red yesterday.

[5] Mike Lowe, the leathercrafter at the Village of Yesteryear

Labels: BMAC, laundry, tatting

posted by Sewicked @ 8:42 AM 0 comments