Gaming: Chris's game last night. We found the commander, with a few diversions. We fought duergar and only one got away. He's outlined in faerie fire so he may not escape entirely. Xiana (Rosemary's character that I have yet to get the name right) proved herself boom-y when she killed 2 of them with arc of lightning followed by ring of blades (which doesn't care if they're invisible - just that they're only 5' away) and then the other 2 guards & 2 trolls finished off with suddenly empowered fiery burst. Boom! I took some damage and wounded a couple guards. That's pretty much it.

book: I bought & read Legacy, book 2 of The Sharing Knife yesterday. I got it for half-price between my discount & the frequent reader card. You know Bujold, she reads fast. I also finally finished the Game Master Emulator. I think I'm going to try using it for a solo adventure tonight.

tatting: I gave up trying to get that knot out. I managed to make a ring anyway, by getting that knot in one of the double stitch/knots. It looks a little lumpy but it's not egregiously noticeable. I have now started the bottom leg of the cross.

Weather: Thunderstorms last yesterday. I managed to get home just as one was starting. I need to check to see where we are on the rain gauge. We may be only 3" behind now. I can't find that information but the lakes vary from 2" to 26" below full.

clothes: black ~slippers, jeans & belt, Vorkosigan black/brown polo, silver clip watch, flower band ring, hematite ring, Celtic Knot ring, triangle triskele pendant, knotwork earrings, & ponytail bun held with black hairstick with brown bead.

Good news! Richard & Kathy have their daughter. They haven't left Guatemala yet but they've posted pictures & she's adorable. She also scarily resembles Kathy.

Knee still hurts but not as much as yesterday morning (I can go up & down stairs, bending it, without screaming agony). I even walked from FE to Jimmy Johns for lunch yesterday & survived. I was limping a little bit by evening, but still. It was better than it had been.

Movie: Went to see the Harry Potter movie last night. It was only showing at 7pm, didn't really get started until 7:15 (7:30 if the credits are included in the movie running time), and out of the theater by about 9:50 pm. The girl playing Luna is indeed, reallllly good & Mrs. Umbridge was perfect. Their casting staff is excellent; not just on the main characters but on the bit parts as well (like Nymphadora).

The trailors for Enchanted make it look interesting. At first, it looked really cutesy, then they had a clip of the cleaning scene. The fairytale princess calls upon her 'forest friends' to clean the NY city apartment. Picture this: rats using toothbrushes to scrub the toilet. 'Nuff said.

news of the day: Homeowners make a grave discovery

sight of the day, or rather yesterday: men's shorts that look like a pair of dress slacks cut off just above the knee & hemmed.

tv: watched a lot of G4's San Diego Comic-con coverage. From 300 to 123,000 (sold out on Friday but at least that many) in just 38 years. We also watched some of 1st Season Buffy on DVD.

reading: I read the prequel comic to the new series The 99. Okay, so it's new in the US.

Gaming: with Chris's help I have the plots for my Ironclaw games this weekend. Now I just have to write up NPC's and organize the information. I also wrote up Caskashihar "Cas" Mil'Tiaion, my Greyhawk Ruins ranger.

One of my co-workers is back from visiting his family. His father had a heart attack a couple months ago & then they found cancer. They couldn't operate until his father's heart condition stabilized, which was last week. The doctors operated but were unable to remove all of the cancer. It doesn't look good for my co-worker's father, but the family is waiting to hear what the oncologist has to say.

clothes: black ~slippers, jeans & belt; white polo, no jewelry (woke up late thanks to the late night) & my clip watch.

Pain! I screwed up my knee somehow. It's been hurting all morning. I've put a cold pack on it, taken pain killers, etc. Oh, and I have a headache. Wheeeee!

I tried to go meet Anitra yesterday to go to the Bead Show at the state fairgrounds. Unfortunately the highway to get there was one lane & my sense of direction is not good enough to figure out another route. Soooo, I came back home & called Anitra so she wouldn't worry when I didn't show.

Chris & I did some shopping in town. We finally found some of those stretchable book covers at Michael's. We weren't sure if they'd fit, so we bought one (on sale, $.50) and learned that yes it does.

Mike called yesterday & we talked for a little about the upcoming Greyhawk Ruins. He's a little worried because his group is a little short on the artillery side (no heavy duty archer & the sorcerer might not be a boom-type).

books: I re-read Second Sight, All Night Long, and the first book in the Immortals Series, Wild Magic. Chris loaned me Furies of Calderon & I stayed up late to finish it.

clothes: yesterday it was pink & burgundy spaghetti strap tank printed with elephants under open weave knit shirt, black jeans & belt, black socks & tennis shoes, hematite ring, black elastic holding a ponytail, triskele earrings & pendant, & Celtic knot ring.

Today it's navy loafers, blue jeans, dappled blue shirt printed with a wolf head, hematite ring, flower band, ~rope band, moonstone & quartz charms necklace, rainbow moonstone earrings & plaited hair.

Have you ever been going along, getting through the day, and suddenly get hit with crushing despair?

Gaming: Poor Diana ended up working late last night & missing gaming again. So we had a little one shot of someone trying to steal Amenhotep's staff from the Freedom City Museum's Egyptian exhibit. Poor David trying to come up with villains at the last minute. We fought Arctic Blast, a fellow we ended up naming Jalapeno (fire-based), Talon & Archer. They weren't so much a villain team as a group of villains. When Arctic Blast encased Archer & the staff in ice to keep Lady Celtic (Rosemary) from grabbing it with her telekinesis again, it showed a distinct lack of concern for Archer's well-being.

I missed the Raleigh bus (that would have entailed maybe 15 minutes of walking, 5 minutes downtown & 10 minutes to Rosemary's house) & ended up doing the transfer at the depot. I ran into Robin who runs Lost Goblin with her husband Richard (who was in my Shadowrun game years ago-the gaming world really is very small).

I talked to them a little & picked up an M&M book that I don't really need but that I've been looking at. I also joined their reward program and saw a really neat gaming accessory. It's basically very well-made map tiles with the scenery (road, river, campsite, rocks, steps etc in the wilderness set) already printed on them, double-sided. Chris picked me up from their store & we were late for the game.

I talked to Robin and Richard about running an Ironclaw demo game at their store. They're having a demo day August 25th or any Saturday would probably be good.

books: on the way to Raleigh, I almost finished We're Just Like You, Only Prettier. I read the last 3 essays this morning. They are really very funny. I half re-read/skimmed Naked in Death & stayed up too late.

tatting: I didn't get very far on the size 80 ecru cross. I made a knot that I don't want that I think will take a needle to get unknotted. That's the problem with size 80.

clothes: black slippers (febrezed last night), black slacks & belt, lilac polo, silver dome ring, hematite ring, ponytail held by large black elastic, 3 women pendant, & ~stained glass (plastic) magenta & blue earrings.

I have a counter, I've been ignoring it. I think I'm the only person who ever visits my site & it keeps counting me. If this is incorrect, just let me know.

Greyhawk Ruins: Now that that documentation is out, I finally, really, started working on my wood elf ranger. The actual character creation is easy. However, I'm also looking at planned advancement (taking a level of fighter at 4th level, that sort of thing), instead of catch as catch can. That involves looking through books for feat options, deciding what stats to bump at 4th & 8th (I'll worry about 12th when she's higher level than pre-1st).

For some things I'm going to use options. For example; at 3rd level, take Power Attack OR take Improved Weapon Familiarity (so all her racial weapons qualify under her martial weapon proficiency). I want to see how the adventures go before I make a final decision. So far, she has a strength of 16 and a dexterity of 14. But, I may change that to reduce her strength & increase her dexterity, or reduce her dexterity to 12 & increase her constitution to 14.

tv: Ninja Warrior & a rerun of Criminal Minds while I was reading & working on my character.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds tonight, which I remembered this morning. Lacking a gas cap, I don't want to drive to Raleigh. So I'll be taking the bus & asking Chris to stop by & pick me up. I've sent an email to Diana to see if she can give me a ride but I doubt that she'll be getting off work early enough for that work.

sight of the day: ferns growing from a vertical surface (they have roots, where are they?).

books: I finished Caught Dead in Philadelphia last night. It was a short book but not a bad mystery. This morning I started We're Just Like You; Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark.

tatting: I finished the size 12 ecru by tatting two butterflies, one much smaller butterfly & one single ring flower. It was really too humid to do more.

clothes: black ~slippers, black slacks & belt, magenta & black check shirt, paui shell ring & pendant, silver hashmark band, hematite bang, lilac AnimalRescuesite silicon bracelet, black hair elastic (ponytail), & chain mail earrings.

Tatting! I did it! I finished the edging & finished sewing it last night. All that's left is to trim about 4 stray threads. I started sewing it on & realized that it would look better if I took out the gathering at the front, sewing the edging on & then regathered it. However, that meant that I was about 6 inches short. So, with the entire apron hanging off my tatting, I tatted another half-dozen or so repeats. And I ran out of thread two or three repeats short. So I had to reload the shuttle, join the threads & then keep tatting. I stayed up a little late to get it done, but it is done! And it looks good. I got a little worried that it was a little dark for the apron but it matches remarkably well. It also shows up very nicely against at least one of the dresses.

I still have thread on the shuttle so I'll probably make ecru butterflies & flowers until it runs out. I might make one of Rebecca's (Tatmom) crosses with the size 80 that I accidentally loaded. I have the pattern & everything else ready to go.

tv: while I tatted last night I watched the taped episodes of Burn Notice & the Closer. They were pretty good. When those ran out, I watched an episode of Pop Up Video that I'd seen before. I really don't like the song Waiting on a Friend, but they also had Touch of Grey, so that was good.

books: Finished Curse of Chalion on the way home yesterday. I pulled out Caught Dead in Philadelphia, one of the books I picked up at the thrift shop to read today. Although I also need to read the Living Greyhawk Greyhawk Ruins information & finished reading Currents. The good thing about Currents, is unless the players radically change, I will be running APL 2 or 4, maybe 6, but 4 is the most likely.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks (forgot the belt today), burgundy knit shirt, 3 women pendant, ponytail/bun with the same hairstick, silver bracelet, hematite ring, fem/dancer ring, circles ring & silver filigree earrings.

Platelet donation - I almost forgot. I was literally yards from work when I remembered. So I turned around & was only about half an hour late getting there. Despite drinking two glasses of milk (fat free & chocolate, but still milk) beforehand, about an hour later I was feeling distinctly ill. I bargained, if the bus was less than 15 minutes late, I'd go in to work. Once I got to work; I'd stay until 2 pm to see if I improved. As it turns out, I made it in okay.

website of the day - celebrity cafe has loads of contests

books: I read Surrender again. Then I went back to Curse of Chalion.

Gaming: We played another zero round last night. I might run this one at the con, too. I also notified the non-RPGA game coordinator that I'd like to run 2 sessions of Ironclaw. On Friday night, it will either be character creation & a short fight, or if there's no new players, I'll make something up. I moved my regularly planned adventure, The Duke is Dead, Long Live the Duke, to Saturday afternoon.

clothes: white cotton texture check shirt, black jeans, belt & slippers, hematite ring, dragon band, moonstone ring, rainbow moonstone cabochon, rainbow moonstone earrings, & ponytail/bun affixed with brown/black wood hairstick.

ARGH! What is with the big 2 soda companies. Just as I'm really starting to get addicted to a soda, they discontinue it. They're all gone: Diet Coke Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Jazz Strawberries & Cream, Diet Jazz Caramel & Cream..and now Diet Coke Plus. At least I still have the Coke Zero Vanilla...but for how much longer?

Sunday was a little lazy. Since we got home late, we both slept in, at least some. We went by FE to pick up our comic & manga order. Thanks to the flood Tuesday (construction next door to blame), the owner needs all the help that he can get. I also bought a couple Shadowrun books & ordered the two most recent D&D complete books; Scoundrel & Champion.

Unless for the first time in my driving career I drove off without it, someone has stolen my gas cap. Guess this means I'll check the auto store, find out that they don't have it & end up ordering from the dealer. Oh frickin' yay!

We did some grocery shopping & some laundry. That was pretty much it for Sunday. When we got back after the shopping, I took a nap.

tatting: I got a lot done Saturday night. I didn't even get one repeat done on Sunday but I did measure out what I'd gotten accomplished & I had about 5 repeats to go. Those I did this morning. Next step is to sew it to the apron, with the edging still on the shuttle, in case I was wrong & I need another ring or five.

Today it's been more personnel issues. I think everything is squared away now, I hope. I've been massively hungry though.

reading: I read the most recent issue of the Devil's Panties comic book and re-read Daja's Story (of the Circle of Magic series). I started re-reading Curse of Chalion. I started to read Inubaka but Casey was right, it's a little too scatological-focused. I should be reading the module that I will be running at Trinic-con.

clothes on Sunday: Fenton Menace t-shirt, black jeans, ~slippers & belt, Celtic knot jewelry, and ponytail.
Monday: black ~slippers, jeans & belt, forest green Geoff polo, Celtic knot jewelry, ponytail.

Books: Second Sight & Witch Hunt. It turns out that I'd read Second Sight before. Oh well. I liked it. Witch Hunt is a mystery series & I really like it.

tv I taped Burn Notice, all 5 episodes were being shown. I watched the pilot & most of the 2nd one.

Met Cassie, gave her the box of cookbooks. Turns out she teaches food & only has two cookbooks in her classroom. So the addition of 8 or 12 is a very good thing. Someone else in north Raleigh also had something for her. We met at the Fairgrounds & while I was waiting for her I went to grab something for lunch. While there, I asked a couple venders if they had ever seen a tatting shuttle. None of them had, but one of them went to high school with my brother. Small world, huh.

Gaming: Played my mostly cleric, Reed, in the playtest. Despite the fact that most of us have not worked together before, we are doing well with teamwork. It's not short. It's after 11 and I'm hoping that this is the last combat. As it is, I'm very tired & not certain how I'm getting home.

Plan today: I meant to get an early start & go to the flea market. Then they ran the entire season of Burn Notice. I have time enough to watch the pilot & most of one episode. I'll tape the rest.

I'm meeting someone who'll take the cookbooks, then I'm off to the Living Greyhawk Battle Interactive play test. I started more laundry. I really let it pile up this time. Oops.

tatting: need to see how much more to do.

clothes: lilac fairy t-shirt, black jeans, black slippers, black belt, Celtic knot jewelry

Ye gods what a day! The stuff with today as the deadline is done. I only had to ask 2 more questions before everything was complete. Then I discovered that I had left a vital page out of someone's employment documents. Argh.

The weather is quite different today. It's overcast and it keeps threatening to rain. As it is, every time I've gone out, it's been sprinkling.

Richard & Kathy got the word. They'll be going to get their new daughter at the end of the month. Looks like I'd better find a baby present.

website of the day: 7-year-old article about the globalization of English

Tatting: I ran out of thread so I reloaded my shuttle. With the wrong size. So I have a shuttle full of size 80. No problem, thinks I. I'll just put the variegated purple (my ecru relief) back onto the ball & fill that. No time this morning; I'll do it at lunch. Except, I somehow managed to not pack the thread. *sigh* At least, while waiting in line this morning I got an entire size 80 ecru butterfly done & started on another one.

Books: I finished the player section of Scion: Hero. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this information though.

clothes: navy loafers, khakis, brown belt, blue UNC polo (2005 NCAA, etc), turquoise band ring, fem/dancer ring, hematite ring, magnet & bead bracelet, dyed howlite pendant (I really doubt that it's real turquoise, not that shade of blue), turquoise feather earring & loose hair. I washed it this morning & haven't bothered to do anything with it since.

Dental visit: I have a small mouth ulcer instead my upper lip on the right (stress & hormones probably). It was a root canal & I'm out of dental insurance for the year. This sucks! And there's a nasty aftertaste that keeps hitting me at unexpected moments. I go back in 3 weeks for the follow-up. No more for me until the new year & my insurance renews.

Oh, & I'm cramping. Less today than yesterday at least.

Family: My Aunt Evelyn called me tonight. What a lovely surprise. We had a lovely talk and once again Chris says that my accent dipped deeply into the South.

Dreams: I woke up from a nightmare this morning, about 4 am or so. I woke up before I got scared. I stayed awake long enough to fix the details in my memory & wrote it down when I woke up later (after daybreak). The situation: about 8 of us stuck in a house of death (haunted it's believed) to disprove it (or something like that). As we are about to leave to pick up photos that one of us had taken the day before, the metal shutters slam shut over the windows & doors. Even that wasn't what woke me. When the haunt/demon/devil thing was about to force me to drink blood – that made me wake up.

Books: I read most of Flirting with Pete by Barbara Delinsky while I waited for my appointment & afterwards. The dentist was running late; it happens.

Tatting: I'm two repeats from having both straps & back done. That will just leave the front area. I've also tatted three butterflies & some flowers, mostly while I was in the dental chair.

TV: catching the CSIs that we missed. Not much else on. Watched a little X-play but I was on the phone for most of it.

Weather redefines hot. Temperatures in the 90's and humidity to match. Being outside for very long is an exercise in endurance.

No internet connection tonight, so I'll be uploading this tomorrow (probably via usb drive). I also need to email that teacher about meeting her to give her the cookbooks.

Clothes: black jeans, belt & slippers; white polor, black tatted earrings & necklace, clip watch, black stone ring, fem ring (seen as a dancer by the dental assistant) & plaited hair.

NO PLUMBER! I got home at quarter to six. At six I shut off the water, in preparation for the plumber. At 8:30 I figured that he wasn't coming, turned the water back on & started my laundry.

books: still reading the Scion: Hero rules. I've created a character, now I'm seeing how her stats apply in the game.

tv: didn't watch much. Couldn't even watch the movie dvd that I put in.

webcomic: Weregeek - where geeks go bump in the night

Computer Game: Stayed up too late playing a new computer game, Escape from Paradise.

clothes: black jeans (last pair), cotton texture check white shirt, black ~slippers, loose hair (It was braided & it may be again), quartz point feather, feather & quartz earrings, fem ring, flower band, hematite ring & clip watch.

2 sights of the day: bozo riding his bike against traffic on a narrow 2-lane road (with parking on one side) meeting a cyclist riding with the traffic head on (no collision)

woman's suit in greyish check, jacket with capri pants & coordinating blue blouse - worn untucked.

Chris's Game: We finished off the other two trolls (duergar) and the last three kobolds. Our poor dwarf monk, Vertum, was so upset when he woke up (From being -55 hp with a delay death spell), that he hadn't killed a troll. He was happy that he'd killed duergar though.

We backtracked them deep into the mountain. There, in the depths, we found another one of those cities. But it's apparently an earlier effort because it's not as well constructed and in worse shape.

Just as Deriot (Diana) & Vertum (David) were about to retreat from the city full of kobolds & duergar, they saw most of the kobolds being herded out of the city by duergar (dark dwarf) commanders. That's not enough to get even our characters to attack an entire city. But the sight of the Commander of the Imperial dwarf legions (ie our current CO) being dragged into the city in chains is. In two weeks, the next game session, we go try to rescue the commander, without a chance to rest up from our last fight. Kelis (my character) still has two wild shapes left and a number of spells: note - badger is really not the right shape to fight anything big. You just don't do enough damage (ooh, both claws & bite connected, raging, max damage, that'll be 10 points of damage).

Bus Pass: Still can't find it. Guess what I'll be doing at lunch.

book: finished the character creation section. Now on to the rules section of Scion: Hero.

New Comic: Chivalry & Knavery - the art is really simple but the story is entertaining; somewhat D&D centric.

clothes: black slacks, slippers, belt (silver tone belt), white polo, Celtic knot ring, stone ring, triskele earrings, triskele pendant (new), black glass bead bracelet, & plaited hair with white elastic at the bottom and brown/white/black glass bead elastic at the top.

Here's Sunday's post:

Church Street Fair: Had fun. Talked to Christopher H & Anitra. Got to see a few more people but not much chance to chat with anyone else. Met a few more people though. It was hot but I was in the shade & there was a breeze off & on. It still wore me out though. I went to bed at 9:30 & didn't wake up 'til 7:30 am. Even then, I slept badly (kicked off the sheet & one blanket); Chris said that he heard me talking and I sounded disturbed.

Books: I finished the first book in Rogues' Reform & part of the second one, Lady of Expectations. I read the third one on Sunday, Unwilling Conquest. I started How to Engage an Earl. I bought a new gamebook: Scion Hero.

Tatting: THREE FEET! Plus a few inches done. I'm almost halfway done; maybe 3 repeats to go to be halfway.

Gaming: No Mike at Rosemary's game and we did lots of roleplay. We managed to get the game back on track.

Trinic-con round zero: Currents was fun. It's not a hack & slash module, so that's always more fun.

Clothes: Saturday's outfit: burgundy flower tank under white gauze blouse with embroidered flowers (I realllly need to change the laces on the drawstrings though); bright pink, etc floral gauze skirt; black ~slippers; dragon pendant; pewter moon & star pendant; Indian silver scroll-y earrings (the silver is wearing off); both dragon rings; fem ring; hematite ring; ponytail with the silver & beads spool knit elastic; magnetic bead bracelet & bloodstone ring (that I broke).

Sunday's outfit: Dralion t-shirt, blue jeans, brown belt, navy loafers, dragon pendant, silver scroll-y earrings (the new round ones), fem ring, flower band, hematite ring, & plait.

I have a blog entry for this weekend but I haven't loaded it to blogger yet. I will try to do that tonight.

Meanwhile: Another restless night. I have had vivid dreams the last two nights (& fairly realistic). Last night, what I remember, was influenced by reading the Scion: Hero rulebook. What I remember involved getting the evidence to prove a felony against a college student; named Keith or Kevin. I was worried about having all the documents in one place in case he managed to get his hands on them. The other is one of my co-workers getting a new phone; she was showing it off while we were in the lobby of our new building looking at the damage caused by several of the large square panes of glass/windows falling out/destroyed. When she made a call from the phone later, it somehow caused some of the hexagonal windows/panes of glass to fall out. Because of that, I had to fire her.

I know it doesn't make much sense here. But there was a larger story & it was all connected. I just don't remember the details.

Bus Pass: I managed to lose the badge holder with my work ID & my bus pass. I had it when I got home on Friday. I could not find it this morning. I honestly don't even remember seeing it since Friday. I checked the pocket of the jeans that I wore on Friday (& the ones that I thought that I had worn), the laundry room, the couch, my purse, my pack, etc. No sign of it. I will check again tonight.

clothes: black jeans, ~slippers, polo shirt (Geoff), belt (w/ silvertone buckle); dragon band ring, Celtic knot ring, hematite ring, dragon pendant & earrings; ^ plaited hair.

great news of the day: This journalist decided to live up to her training & try to actually cover news! She tried to ignore the faux-news of Paris Hilton's release from jail. Frankly, I don't care about Paris Hilton & I do not know why she's famous (other than media nonsense).

Mutants & Masterminds: We had the final stand-off versus the Cosmic Brain last night. Poor Diana didn't get off work until 9 pm so she never made it. Troll will be staying in Far Side City (on the moon) to help them rebuild. Our next session will introduce Diana's new character, Kodachrome. Since Diana wasn't there for the introduction, we ended the game early.

Traffic to Raleigh was backed up due to an accident on an on-ramp. Luckily, I left in plenty of time, stopped by Lazy Daisy to pick up some beads, a ball of black size 12 & the next in the needlework mystery series (A Stitch in Time). The stop & roll traffic made my legs hurt though.

Then I got home & possibly due to the energy drink I consumed at 9 pm, I didn't get to sleep until almost midnight. I'm a trifle sleepy this morning. While waiting for stuff to happen (we waited a little while for Diana), I created a Facebook entry.

letters: I sealed all but Leela's letter this morning & dropped them in the mail. I'm almost out of that sealing wax. I have the disks but I'm not certain how to use them.

books: re-read The Promise of a Kiss after I got home last night. That's might also be why I had trouble getting to sleep, I was reading.

tatting: I finally joined threads on my edging & tatted a ring or two this morning. I also finished that trio of variegated purple butterflies.

clothes: usual shoes & belt, black jeans, magenta & black check shirt, amethyst ring, ~rope band, hematite band, magnet & beads bracelet, amethyst pendant, purple Czech bead earrings, & ponytail.

Phone: My mom called last night (I had left her a message on Tuesday about my cousin). We had a nice little conversation. She's going to get me a certified copy of my birth certificate so I can go ahead & get a passport. I do not actually need one, but it's handy to have.

I called Anitra to squeea at her about my genealogy treasure trove. She's the sort who'd understand my glee. And she did. She also told me about a bead show towards the end of the month.

Chris got home late last night. He was feeling pretty bummed. All in all, we didn't eat until almost 10 pm. We watched another episode of The Wild, Wild West (Criminal Minds was a repeat that we'd seen).

Plumber: Finally we have someone coming out to find the leak, tomorrow. So I have to hurry home from work to meet him/her. Hopefully, Saturday they'll be able to come by & actually fix the leak.

Of course, that means that the round zero that Chris will be playing in on Saturday will have to be at our house. So I have to get at least the dining room table cleared for that. I also have to get my stuff together for the church's street fair on Saturday. I think I know what I'm wearing at least. I think.

Gaming tonight: Mutants & Masterminds at David's. I'm driving myself so it's lucky that I have an energy drink to keep me awake.

Books: Finished re-reading The Viscount Who Loved Me & started the 3 book omnibus: Rogues' Reform.

letters: I have finished all but Leela's now. I'm going to go ahead & mail everyone else's even if hers isn't ready yet.

clothes: I had an outfit picked out, using one of my new tank tops. Too bad it turns out that it's itchy as all get out. So instead I'm wearing a black polo with my black slacks (with a white spot near the hem where I dripped sunblock this morning), black ~slippers, black belt (gold tone buckle), black stone ring, bloodstone ring, hematite ring, Celtic knot ring, thin silver chain bracelet, Celtic knot star/moon & tree pendant, knotwork earrings & hair up in a ponytail/bun.

Quiet Night: I read and futzed a little on the laptop. I listened to a couple songs on my iTunes library, too. Turned off tv for a couple hours & missed 15 minutes of Veronica Mars. It was a repeat but I'd missed the 1st airing.

books: I read Safe Harbor by Feehan & part of Gruel & Unusual Punishment. The latter is part of a Pennsylvania Dutch-themed/setting mystery series. It includes recipes from the protagonist's inn. This is the first book from the series that I have ever read. It's somewhat odd to see their take on Southern recipes (grits, etc).

clothes: black ~slippers; dark teal or peacock blue broomstick skirt (lined); white, long-sleeved, gauze blouse with lace inserts at waist, elbow & cuff (& a band down center front), faux drawstring neck (it's actually elastic, the drawstrings are purely decorative - good thing because the two wooden beads at the end have a tendency to pull the bow out); light blue, spaghetti strap tank top; wet hair (loose & then braided as it partially dried); moonstone earrings & ring; cabochon moonstone pendant on heavy silver chain; ~rope band; fem ring; pale teal TheChildHealthSite silicon bracelet & hematite ring.

All Family Post - You have been warned

Dad & Kathy:
The box of books was a big one. I brought them all home, for Chris to look through, too. Whatever we don't want, will go on Book Crossing.

Dad seemed to like the set of Roy Acuff cd's. I'm glad that I finally thought of that. I had the hardest time coming up with his present. Kathy liked the Breast Cancer Awareness pink ribbon pin. I'm not sure how she felt about the historical knitting patterns from the Red Cross.

Dad also gave me the answers to some family questions that I had posed 5 years ago. Now I need to connect the questions to the answers.

We had a nice supper & some good conversation & then I headed home.

Mom:
Ended up running late to see Mom because of the plumber. He called that he was on his way (& thus we turned off the water in preparation) just as I was about to take my shower. Finally made it there & Mom didn't answer the door. That worried me a little but I moved to get a phone signal & called her. Turns out, she just hadn't heard me.

We went to lunch at the Chinese buffet and then to a good thrift shop. We found some very good tank tops for me to layer. I made some better choices this time, I hope. I also found a couple books & a new pair of black heels; a pink plaid skirt, a gold brocade vest, a Pooh mug for Rosemary, but no light-colored summer shoes. I love thrift shops.

Back to Mom's apartment. I went through her blouses, selecting what fit that I liked. She's trying to weed out her clothes & I'm one of the first stops. We also 'fixed' the problem with her DVD player. She has Cyrano de Bergerac on DVD, it's one of her favorite movies.

Weird coincidence: while writing at lunch, a gentleman piped up about how furiously I was scribbling away. I mentioned that I was writing relatives & mentioned, among the others, my aunt in Harnett County. He mentioned that he was from Harnett County. So I asked if he knew my grandmother's family. He replied in the affirmative. I asked about my great-aunt specifically. He mentioned her husband's name (to make certain that we were talking about the same person). He's her nephew. So he & I are cousins by marriage.

Lack of posts: I had a problem with my blog & I wasn't able to post the past few days. There's a little bit of catch up as a result (I may have to break it up into multiple posts).

Movies: We went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer on Sunday. I wish we'd waited until it hit the $1.50 theater. It wasn't a bad movie, it was just 'eh'. Once again, they tried to cram too much into it. It was a drama movie with superheroes, not a superhero movie.

weather: spotty thunderstorms. So muggy this morning ( before 8 am) that when I got off the bus, my glasses fogged up. I had one thin strip of clear vision on the right lens.

Sight of the day: Two African-American friends greeting each other - one man says to the other, 'Give me that Negro hug' and they do the male hug (clasp hands, hug & pound twice on the other guy's back). After they hugged, the other guy shook his head & laughed, "Same old Keith*" and they both laughed. *not his real name.

books: Resurrection Man, vol 1 MeruPuri, vol 1 Venus versus Virus, vol 1 Me and My Brothers, vol 6 Her Majesty's Dog, vol 4 Satisfaction Guaranteed, vol 6 Versus V2, Dragon Heat, re-read Silver Lining & [fill in later].

letters: New cards (pink flowers & organza bows); pack of 8. Finished letters to my Dad's sisters & both great-aunts.

clothes: blood donation t-shirts Saturday & Sunday with blue jeans & navy loafers. Monday black jeans with white cotton gauze blouse (very 70's peasant, with drawstring at neck & sleeves, & elastic ~waist) embroidered with pastel flowers around the shoulders & front, plus ~slippers, & moonstone jewelry. Hair worn down & loose until too hot, then up in a ponytail/bun.

Today: black gauze blouse embroidered with silver & sequins; stripe/floral/print gauze skirt in black, purple, grey, burgundy & teal; ~slippers, black stone ring, flower band, hematite ring, silver hash mark ring, tatted necklace & earrings. My hair is up in a ponytail for lack of anything better.

July 4th: I slept late, had Chick-fil-a for lunch, went to the movies with 7 friends (David C, David R, Diana, Colt, Chris, Rosemary & Joe), then back to Rosemary's for grilled bison burgers followed by sugar free ice cream & a game of Monkey Arena. I was the baboon & the first one out, followed by Joe. Rosemary won. We should have the read the FAQ, though.

Tonight I'm meeting Dad & Kathy for supper at the Cracker Barrel. I do need to call & confirm which one. They have a bunch of old cookbooks (belonged to Kathy's mom) for me to look through. See if I want any of them.

books: I read Master of Dragons Tuesday night while I had insomnia. I finally got to sleep around 3 am. I woke up at about 9 am because Chris cooked muffins. Between everything else I managed to read Archer's Goon.

tatting: finished up the green butterflies & had enough for two 1-ring flowers. I need to reload the shuttle with ecru to continue my edging.

movie: Transformers - excellent movie. It had enough plot to be interesting but not so much that it bogged down the action. The special effects were incredible and action scenes were great. There were a number of small in-jokes (like the logo on Barricade) The theater handed out small bags of popcorns & small US flags, too.

letters: I finally got the sealing wax on them this morning, before work. They are off to my aunts in the morning mail.

clothes: dappled navy tee with eagle & flag on it; blue jeans, navy loafers, quartz point with feather carved on it, lapis earrings, flower band ring, ~rope band, hematite ring, ponytail with a twist (pulled the ponytail through the hair above the elastic to cause the hair to twist above the elastic). Added the flag into my hair.

Today: navy & white print blouse, navy slacks & loafers, flower band, hematite ring, Celtic knot ring & pendant, knotted earrings, & loose hair (just washed).

Get your own flash movies at Toufee.com

Bought & read Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire this evening.

Christmas in July Diana remembered, after a call from me, to bring the presents to gaming last night. She bought them on her trip to NYC, back in December/January. Chris & Rosemary got fabulous dragons (his is red with gold & silver horns & spikes while hers is green/white jade). John, Joe & David got good luck knot/charm things (Joe with 12 sides of jade discs lashed together, John with the Chinese Zodiac & I didn't really see David's). She gave me a chest of tea (6 varieties, 2 stacks of each, perhaps 6 bags per stack) and then an embroidered fan for my birthday (black embroidered with a peacock).

Gaming Chris's game was last night & we got a late start. So we began the fight with the kobold scouts, kobold sorcerers & the duergar disguised as trolls, but did not finish. We took care of the first wave and almost all of the kobolds of the second wave. There's one left and he's flanked. But everyone is concentrating on the other 2 troll/duergar (only 1 down so far & one's barely wounded & unseen since the 1st round after he showed up). David says that it's a fabulous fight (only the Delay Death is keeping his character Vertum from really dead at -55 hp). He usually says it's not a decent fight until Vertum loses half his hit points.

website of the day: Quilt of Belonging - each block represents a country or ethnic group

books: stayed up too late after gaming to finish The Silver Ghost. This morning I will start Shooting at Loons by Margaret Maron. It's another of the books that I picked up from the used bookstore.

new drink: tried the Monster M-80 monster energy this morning. It tastes loads better than Red Bull (but then what doesn't, other than pepto bismal). It's still not something that I would drink other than for the energy, though, and not just because it's 180 cal per can.

clothes: black slacks, ~slippers, belt with white textured plaid cotton shirt (3/4 length sleeves & band collar), fem ring, ~rope ring, hematite ring, chainmail earrings, art deco flower maiden plaque/pendant (on black cord), clip watch & hair up in ponytail/bun with brown wood hair comb with mother of pearl star.

website of the day: Hope for Hokies - this lady is organizing the creation of quilts for the families who died in the Virginia Tech tragedy; plus a quilt for each of those wounded.

What upset my stomach? Okay, so it wasn't actually my stomach, it was my intestines. Still, it was about 6 pm....so long after lunch (at 11 am) so it's doubtful that was the problem. I had soda (diet Coke Plus) & a candy bar between, that's all. I sent Chris & Joe off to eat supper while I 'meditated.' I popped out long enough to get my clothes out of the dryer & then right back in again.

Chris brought back supper for me but by the time that I got to it, it was tepid. I just wasn't up to eating much anyway. I put it in the fridge, planning to have it for lunch today. That didn't work out.

Being up late last night threw me off this morning. Thus, when I had to start looking for my bus pass & work id, I had no real time to find it. At least, not before missing my usual bus. Luckily, my boss is understanding. I caught the next one into work and was only 20 minutes late.

Book crossing: Another one has been picked up. Whoot!

writing: A little bit more done but not very much.

Books: The Plain Old Man by MacLeod is my book today but I also brought The Silver Ghost, just in case.

clothes: black ~slippers, belt & slacks with green/black Harrington steading polo, bloodstone ring, hematite ring, Celtic knot ring, knot earrings & pendant, clip watch & hair up in a ponytail/bun affixed with a brown/black wood hair stick.

Migraine woke me up this morning. So I took my migraine pills, otc, and sat down to read. I want to straighten out my PDA issues but knew that trying to do anything on the computer while I have a migraine is just asking for trouble. The pain has faded to just a headache now and since we leave in an hour, I don't have much time to make it worse.

books: Something in the Water & Family Vault by Charlotte MacLeod & Wizard in Absentia. All three are re-reads & the 1st two are mysteries. I was weeding through my books (decided to sell all my Anita Blake books; it's not like I'm following that series any more) and suddenly caught the mood to re-read Wizard. Bought a number of Charlotte MacLeod books at the used bookstore; re-read Vault yesterday & Water today. Today I read Bilbao Looking Glass.

PDA: Am I cursed or something? I'm running the install (again) & I've reached the registration point. I get the 'checking for internet connection' & it stops. I get the 'not responding' & it won't even let me cancel. It looks like the only solution is to shut off the laptop & try again later.

tatting: got a little more edging done; maybe 2 or 3 repeats. wound some variegated purple on another shuttle; probably more butterflies.

movie: went to see the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. I don't understand the bad reviews. It had a lot of plot & some really good action/fight scenes.

Ran into Garrett & ate supper with him at 5 Guys. I probably talked too much, as usual.

Gaming today, Rosemary's game. Her internet is out (*&%$* Earthlink) & has been since Wednesday.

I had more post but accidentally wiped it out. Oh well.