Yes I'm blonde: I really wanted to be on the road by 6:30 pm. Alas, I had to gather some books for Mom, and I had other distractions. Thus, I did not get going until 7 or so. I stopped for gas on the other side of Raleigh and promptly locked my keys in the car. Since I had my purse, I was able to get some change & use a payphone to call Chris (left my cell phone in the car). He came & picked me up (yes, I'm Southern, deal with the idiom) and we went back home to get his copy of my car key.

By the time we returned to my car, it was 10 pm. I called Mom (at my aunt's) so they weren't expecting me any more. I got something to eat at a Taco Bell (about the only thing open by that time), yes, I'd planned to stop to get something on the road; after I got gas. I crashed at Rosemary's (she was closest) and left soon after 6 am on Saturday.

I made an assumption and ended up going cattywumpus before finally getting on the right road. I did get on the right track by 6:30 am. There was a new route to my aunt's on the map and it got a little odd as I tried to find/follow it. It said 'turn left' and there was no need. Despite that, and stopping for breakfast, I made it there by 9 am. Too bad no one was really awake yet. Guess who was suddenly regretting the large diet coke she had for breakfast?

Mom fixed me something else for breakfast and we started working on the clothes that I took to get repaired. She shortened the two pairs of scrubs that I wear for pj bottoms, the loose bits on my beautiful green wrap skirt, and we worked on my jacket (the man's jacket that I decorated wth calico rose/flower appliques). It still needs some gluing to re-attach the flowers but it's much better & she fixed the torn pocket.

Aunt Shirley & I tried to get her rolled hem setting to work on her serger machine. Mom wants some scarves and it should be possible. We also learned that Aunt's Singer rolled hem foot does fit her machine. She thought that the shank was the wrong size. It fit my sewing machine, just fine.

Mom & I went by Hancock's to pick up the fabric glue & other supplies. I also picked up some trim and other stuff that was on sale. They did not have any size 16 crochet hooks, but then I was hoping not expecting.

When we came back from shopping, I had to have a nap. I was so friggin' tired. We had also stopped for groceries & Chinese food for supper. After supper we continued to work on my clothes until we'd gotten everything done (except for letting fray check & fabric glue dry).

We ate ice cream and then played chicken foot dominos. Despite a good start, Aunt Shirley beat me. Poor mom, came in last. We had two rounds left to go when Uncle Albert stopped by to say good night. And to mention that it was almost 2 am.

Pity me- I woke up about 7 am this morning. It was only 5 hours of sleep but my body knows that I'm supposed to be awake by then. I watched most of 'History of English' and then tuned into a video channel. I worked on my necklace (I have 3/4 done). I also re-did my 2nd bauble. I had to retro-tat and then tat the ring properly. I listened to some of my iTunes library & listened to one of Carry's podcasts & shared it with Aunt Shirley (who finally woke up).

While my aunt & uncle went to church, Mom & I worked on clothing repairs and I played with her new tiny serger (she picked it up for $5, new it was $80). We had left overs for lunch and then I took another nap.

Mom & I set out later than we'd planned. I got home by 7:30. About the same time Chris was leaving to check on Rosemary's animals. Driving into the setting sun is not real fun, by the way.

I still need to finish unpacking my car but as I was about to, I got a phone call. So I'm typing and talking at the same time.

I didn't get any reading done. Big surprise. Listened to lots of music though.

clothes: t-shirts yesterday & today (Celtic cross on burnt orange & burgundy NC flint arrows chronology), jeans both days & navy loafers. I even wore the same Celtic knot jewelry.

News: Oh, Myanmar worries me. I worry what will happen to all of those monks & protesters. I weep for the family of Nagai, the Japanese journalist who was killed.

I managed to miss the bus this morning. I got halfway & realized that I'd left my id & pass in the car last night (it was the 1st time I'd driven my car in a month, I think). By the time I made it to the stop, it was too late. I caught the next one and got to work only 20 minutes late. Short lunch for me today.

Tonight I'm going to see my mom, who's visiting her sisters down at the coast. Then Sunday afternoon, we'll go to the reunion for descendants of Eugene & Suzy Johnson (my great-grandparents). After that, I'll be coming home. And frantically doing laundry & packing for my trip to Virginia. I do not have enough clothes to get through 10 days without laundry. None of us (Chris, me, Rosemary), so we'll be spending part of one day of our vacation, doing laundry. Whee!

Supper at a Cracker Barrel: I managed to get my car problem straightened out and even made it to Cracker Barrel on time. My problem was that I wasn't certain if it was the right Cracker Barrel. There were two possibilities: the one that I've been meeting my Dad at & the one that we met at last time. The latter is closer to me so I stopped there, thinking that if I didn't see him, my Dad was probably at the other one.

He pulled in as I was pulling out. Good timing, that. We were seated right away & I gave him his birthday present, in a wrapsack. The waitress came to take our order and when she'd left, his present had disappeared. No, she didn't take it & it didn't drop of the floor. He hid it. Like I've long said, if I'm a smart aleck, blame my family; it's their fault.

We had a nice supper, then afterwards we sat in rocking chairs on the porch in the lovely weather. The moon was full, though not visible from the porch. Kathy, my stepmom, knitted, I tatted and we all talked. Dad gave me a picture of himself & my brother from my brother's wedding day and an old stone tube bead necklace. The pendant had broken but I think I can replace it. The stone is a dark blue, I suspect it might be sodalite.

They also found a bookmark with my initial that they'd meant to give me for my birthday.

Dad & Kathy identified the nut that I found the other day (that I've been using as a worry stone type thing). It's a hickory nut. They come in this thick rind (that can be dried & used for dye). The nut is then about 2" across. Once you break it open, it has this little dab of nut meat.

site of the day: Kiva, an organization that makes it possible for people who have money to lend money to people who don't (so I can lend money to someone in Mexico so she can expand her grocery store business. She expands her business, she repays the loan, I get my money back with a little interest. I can either keep it or loan the money out again). This rocks!

tatting: I've made progress on my necklace. I decided to enlarge the rings after the 1st five and after 10 I started adding the beads to the chains. That may have been too soon. I hope not. I'v also decided to only use 48 beads and my next choice is whether to do a couple bald chains to frame a chain to suspend a pendant. I don't have anything suitable but I have to figure out what I'm going to do in only 3 more chains.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks, dark green Geoff polo, green amber jewelry (ring, necklace & post earrings), ~rope band, hematite band, floral band ring, & my hair pulled back, about half in a ponytail & the rest loose. Over the ponytail elastic I'm wearing a hair slide, except mine is a simple leather cord in a figure 8 with a green black & green cabochon set in 'brass' filigree over the center. It also has brass rose bead, brass coil & another brass rose bead on either side of the bottom part of the '8'. Descending from the rose beads are the same black & green cabochons set in 'brass' filigree (one from the 2 center rose beads & then to a triangle of 3, 2, 1 & a total of 6 brass dangle drops from the outside of the triangle of cabochons). The stick is simply brown wood capped by a rose cap the same as the rose bead & a brass dangle drop to match the others.

I got another 2007 quarter yesterday, a Wyoming. I collect 2 of each of the State Quarters. I'm up to date until this year. I have the 1st two of this year but not Idaho yet. I need another Wyoming, both Idaho's & both Utah's. I really wonder why I haven't gotten them. The year is drawing to a close, after all.

Morning commute soundtrack: In the Jailhouse Now, Somebody Told Me, Wasted Youth (prologue), Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On, BackDoor Lover, Bomshel Stomp, DuJour Around the World, You're A Star (2 Josie & the Pussycats Songs, out of 215, in a row, 2 total), You're My Sugar, I'm Just a Girl & I started I'm a Woman as I entered the office. I restarted that one for my evening commute soundtrack.

TV: I watched the new Bionic Woman & the new detective series Life. Alas, that means I was up to 11, just from watching TV. Then my depression kicked in & I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight. *sigh* Being short of sleep doesn't help.

books: I read more of Witch Hunter. And some of Grantville Gazette #6. That's pretty much it.

I met with a MetLife agent yesterday. We talked about life insurance & retirement investing (that's investing money to live off of when I retire). I need to see if I have whole life or term life (he defined what those were & now I even understand them. Wow). Once they see what I have, they'll advise me whether it would be better to move my investments to them or keep them where they are & whether I need different life insurance. Yep, I'm getting old.

I'm supposed to meet Dad for supper tonight. But first, I have to get some things done about my car.

tatting: My neck is about 17" (for purposes of the necklace length, it isn't really that long). 5 rings is 1". It's only 49 beads but for the sake of math, we'll call it 50, so about 5 beads per inch (1 bead per chain), that's another 10". I need about 3" (or 15 rings) of 'bald' tatting on either side of the beads to make them balanced. Now that I know that, I can resume tatting.

clothes: black ~slippers, faded black slacks, grey polo (2002 Ren Festival), black bead bracelet, onyx earrings, labradorite pendant (it's very small), hematite band, clip watch & braided hair.

Morning commute soundtrack: (my "Wake Me Up" playlist) Walk Away, Mr. Brightside, Me & Bobby McGee, You Wanna Get Me High, Too Bad About Your Girl, Roses Grow, I Want To Be Peter Lorre, Just Like a Pill, I've Got a Theory, & started Head Over Heels as I arrived at work.

TV: Watched the new episode of Bones & nothing else of real interest.

books: finished Sex & the Psychic Witch. It was a pretty good story but more sex than I found enjoyable. I really do read romances for the plots. I started Thraxas and the Sorcerers and read one of the ebooks that I bought. Started reading Witch Hunter (gamebook).

clothes: black ~slippers & jeans, Vorkosigan polo, plaited hair, silver pendant (which is upside down I just realized), Celtic knot ring, ~rope band, hematite band, silver chain bracelet, clip watch, & ~filigree earrings.

And I'm fighting off depression. Again.

Chris's game: It was kind of quiet, no combat. Instead, we went over what we'd learned with the dwarf commander and he told us the origin of the wheel of cities. He also got Deriot (Diana's character) very, very drunk. He offered the entire group this unusual...wine. Even immunity to poison only helped, did not avert the effects. Chris had everybody do all three saves, reflex (Deriot auto-failed and sprayed most of her drink), will & fort. Deriot ended up singing bawdy songs in funny languages, until she passed out.

Our characters also reported for their new duty. Their orders got mixed & they ended up in the port town, as constables. As in fact, the entire force of constables. Pity the poor confused constables being given scout duty, somewhere on the front lines.

Morning commute soundtrack: Hazy Shade of Winter (Bangles version), Eddie, Bat Out of Hell, Gone to California, Now You See It (Now You Don't), Let's Dance, 3 Small Words & Khavi: Marching Orders.

books: I bought & read Making Money last night, before & after gaming. The bookstore had it on sale, and signed. I only went in to buy a Divine candy bar, but alas, I succumbed to the lure of the latest Terry Pratchett book. And stayed up until midnight to finish it.

writing: I talked to John a little bit after the game & I thought of what to do next with my story. I'm working on the prologue. I don't want to go into too much detail.

tatting: I started the necklace (black thread & black/copper beads) and was only halfway through the first ring & realized that I had 48 of the beads on the ball thread & 1 on the shuttle. Oops. So I retro-tatted and moved the stray bead to join the other 48.

I've decided to do a simple 3 ds (3 p separated by 3 ds) 3 ds ring with 4 bead 4 chain edging for the necklace. I'll add a flower, or maybe a bead & flower at the center when I'm done. I got the idea from the the gold necklace in Lyn Morton's book. If I get really ambitious, I'll join a strip of split chain to it (based on Lyn Morton's choker from the same book).

clothes: black ~slippers, black jeans, dusty rose wrap blouse over grey floral tank (which I was little doubtful about because it's very snug & women of my figure should be very careful about snug, but one of my coworkers said that it's very slimming), silver harp pendant on silver chain, triskele earrings, Celtic knot ring, hematite band, silver band w/ silver ~cord impressed in it,

Hallucinations? For some unknown reason, I woke up & thought I saw light outside my window. I checked my clock, thinking that I had somehow slept through the alarm & was thus running late. Very late. I was more than a bit surprised when I saw that it read something after 4 am. I check the window again, it was dark. So I mentally shrugged, rolled over & went back to sleep. Then when my alarm clock radio did wake me up, I swear it sounded like the weather forecast was for a high of 58F. Since yesterday's high hit about 94F, that seemed unlikely. So I stumbled down to see the tv & check the weather news. The real high was supposed to be near 90F (actually it only hit mid-80's). Odd, huh?

books: I finished Fortune's Stroke. Now I need to find the next book. I read the prologue to Scion: Demigod.

tatting: I loaded the black/brass color Czech faceted beads onto the black size 12 perle. Now I need to decide what pattern to use. I only have 49 beads, I lost one.

writing: I've now written cards to both of my father's sisters. That just leaves 7 more to write.

Chris's game is tonight. I need to clear off the table first. It has the most recent mail and Chris's cds (he's looking for one that's gone missing) all over it.

clothes: black ~slippers (I saw a student wearing an identical pair at lunch), black jeans, lilac polo, almost matching animalrescue site silicon bracelet, fem/dancer ring, flower band, mostly hidden flower fairy pendant, hematite band, butterfly earrings & plaited hair.

Met Chris's mom for breakfast so it was early to rise this morning. After we stopped by to talk to his dad (& I got some rosemary clippings & a basil plant), we picked up the used books and headed out. I picked up my manga at FE (ouch, little $$) and I bought the new Scion gamebook. I also dropped off the Workbaskets for Leigh. We went to McKay's to sell some books; they took about half of them. The other half will probably go to Bookcrossing. We worked on Chris's birthday list and stopped by Target.

I bought Exalted: Lunars at McKay's, Avril Lavigne's cd The Best Damn Thing & the cd Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey.

books: read Tactics bk 2, Hibiki's Magic bk 2, The Key To the Kingdom book 1, Fantamir bk 1 & part of Devil Takes a Bride.

tatting: I worked on emptying two of my shuttles. I made another of the small scallop hearts then a single ring flower and a butterfly.

clothes: navy loafers, blue jeans, brown belt, blue & white tie-dye striped t-shirt with wolves on it, blue silicon hungersite bracelet. moonstone ring, hematite band, moonstone earring, moonstone cabochon pendant & braided hair.

Definitely needed my sleep last night; at least, based on the fact that I slept an extra hour leads me to believe that to be the case. I did have a dream though. This morning, we watched cartoons and vegged a bit. I also finished my laundry.

My fingernails are a mess though. I have maybe two that are better than decent. The rest are short and irregular. Even with filing, they're 'eh.' And most of my nails are so short; again. Ah well.

tv: Doctor Who was really good last night. I wasn't really in the mood for any other tv, and I was tired, so I went to bed early. And I slept late. Today, I finally saw Austin Powers: Goldmember, or most of it. The Batman cartoon was one of the coldest ever, Superman & Batman were one-lining each other.

books: I've started Fortune's Stroke, now and finished The Marriage Spell this morning.

tatting: I redid the bauble, using a plastic bead instead of a marble and it looks good. I did a josephine chain for the strand. I think I'll put it on a lobster clip to use as a zipper pull.

clothes: Gran March BI t-shirt, cotton lounging pants, Celtic knot ring, star/moon/tree pendant, hematite ring, blue bead on silver wire bracelet, chain mail earrings & plaited hair.

Somehow, between the time that I got off the bus & the time that I actually to work, I acquired a huge blue inkstain on the heel of my hand. Washing it at least reduced it to a smaller, fainter, purple stain. I just want to know where I got it.

It started raining on the way home last night. It was still raining, sort of, when I disembarked the bus & the car passed it, narrowly missing me. It's a 2-lane road, so the car crossed the double yellow line to do it. Apparently, the driver never learned the lesson about not passing a stopped bus, because you know THERE MIGHT BE SOMEONE GETTING OFF OF IT! The 2nd car that was passing it, stopped to let me finish crossing the road. Anyway, the rain wasn't enough for me to put up my umbrella. I had it out, but not up.

Gaming: Diana picked me up from home yesterday and we were on the highway by 6:54. Alas, traffic was really bad (everyone's forgotten how to drive in the rain, again - and this wasn't even a heavy rain). We stopped to pick up some supper & a couple sodas (Arby's & a gas station respectively) and made it to David's a little after 7. Chris & Rosemary showed up a little later, bringing supper for me, too. Ooops. I'll eat it for lunch today.

We were a little late getting started but apparently David has not finished mining my character's backstory for plot. For our first adventure involving the probationary Freedom Leaguer: Kodachrome (Diana's new character), we're trying to stop a robbery. Lady Celtic (Rosemary's character), while investigating the attempted theft of the Staff of Ra, has found more thefts dating back for months. The stolen artifacts are Native American & Egyptian, and they all have some magical connection or potential. In addition, they all have travel elements. She also finds newspaper coverage of an exhibit to open in Phoenix that has what looks like another prime target, a ceremonial coyote mask.

We guard, Kodachrome gets knocked unconscious by having all the air sucked out of her lungs. We fight 4 elemental types but are holding our own when time was called. We'll pick it up again in 2 weeks. Or whenever we meet again.

Morning commute soundtrack: Complicated, My World, You're My Sugar, Tuscaloosa, Turn Around, Gone To California, Run, Run, Run, & Roll Over Beethoven. They're all part of my 'Wake Up' playlist.

books: I finished In the Heart of Darkness & started Destiny's Shield. I dipped into Diplomatic Immunity & read a few more pages of The Marriage Spell.

tatting: I started undoing my bauble & I almost have the 2nd ring completely retro-tatted.

clothes: black loafers & socks (too bad the socks are thin & the loafers flop on feet cause they're a scoche too big), black jeans (that really need a belt), black Origins shirt, red bead bracelet, dragon earrings, pendant & 3 rings, hematite band, & braided hair held by grey elastic.

It's supposed to be warmer today and maybe we'll have some rain. There were a few sprinkles yesterday but nothing really worth calling rain, or even a heavy mist. It was more suggestive of rain than being actual rain. It's certainly overcast enough to indicate rain. But I've been fooled before.

I tried to forget my id badge & bus pass again today. I remembered my umbrella & walked out without the other stuff. I recalled the lack fairly quickly but it was enough to make me worried about catching the bus.

Mutants & Masterminds tonight, I must remember to email Diana to see if she can give me a ride. If so, I still need to go home to pick up my character stuff & my laptop (to take notes).

Morning Commute Soundtrack: Pep, Vim & Verve; You Thought; It's My Life; Along Came Jones; Coda; The Men of the West; Sweet Little Sixteen; You're in the Doghouse Now; Too Bad About Your Girl; Canadian Idiot; Pretend to be Nice; & Imaginary (or rather, part of it).

tv: we watched Man of the House; even as badly edited as it was, it was an entertaining movie. I think I'd like to see it without the commercial editing, at some point, though.

books: I finished String of Lies & started In the Heart of Darkness. I read a little more of the Shadowrun rulebook on the way into work.

clothes: lime green tank, black rayon blouse worn open over the tank, black jeans & ~slippers, clip watch, pewter cuff bracelet (hidden by the blouse unfortunately) engraved with dogwood blossoms on either end, Fem/dancer ring, flower band, hematite ring, silver hoops (but the clip fasteners for the posts is a little tight & uncomfortable), wet braided hair & 3 ages of women pendant worn on a short chain.

Interesting day; in several ways. I hit the snooze bar (stayed up too late listening to music & playing computer games) and then slept half ah hour instead of 9 minutes. I got out the door, barely in time. I did make it to catch the bus without having to run.

Alas, my efforts were in vain. I caught the bus & the bus got caught in a traffic jam. Apparently there was an accident & we were delayed, um I'd estimate 25 minutes. Since my boss had seen the accident on the way into work himself he knew that I'd be late.

books: I finished ready An Oblique Approach from the Baen library last night and finished Magic Lost, Trouble Found on the way to work. I read the 3rd volume of Wallflower at lunch & started String of Lies. I started re-reading Marriage Spell for my bedside book last night.

I started watching tv last night, realized that there was nothing on that I was in the mood to watch & just shut it off. Listening to music on my laptop (from my cds) was nice. I had a nice supper of leftovers. I should have looked over my Mutants & Masterminds character, Totem, though. I'll try & do that tonight.

Chris is going to be late, working. So I'll start supper and we can eat as soon as he gets home. I'll also need to finish my laundry. I got the load of jeans & towels done last night but only put in the white/delicates this morning.

I finally clipped my nails, too. After the right thumbnail pretty much shredded, I decided that I needed to do some clipping so I could control how short my nails got; instead of tearing them off at the quick.

Another cool day; I'm hoping for more rain. There were leaves on the sidewalk today. I think it's not solely from the shorter days & the cooler temperatures (it's only down into the 50's after all), I think that the drought is partially responsible. I fear that the autumnal colors will be subdued this year.

sight of the day: some really huge honking mushrooms in one of the planters. Apparently, the groundskeepers have watered the rosemary & mint there enough to encourage some beautifully large fungus.

clothes: ~slippers, black jeans & polo, tatted necklace & earrings, black stone ring, black glass bead bracelet, clip watch, & hair up in ponytail/bun, held with reddish wood hairstick.

News: Robert Jordan died day before yesterday. Now The Wheel of Time series will never be finished.

Morning Commute Soundtrack: It's Raining Men, Get the Party Started, Love Song, Stupid Girls, Don't Let Me Get Me (4 in a row by Pink, huh), Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit), You Had Me & I started Pon De Replay when we arrived. I sat somewhere different on the bus & could actually hear my music this morning.

tatting: I finished the heart yesterday on the way home, plus a single ring flower (emptying one shuttle) & emptied the 2nd shuttle by doing a red butterfly. I loaded some beads on some pastel variegated Olympus to make one of Karey's baubles but without reading the pattern. That was a mistake. I started tatting, got through the ring, looked at it without closing & went 'uh, that doesn't look right. Guess what I'll be undoing.

I almost missed the bus this morning. I had to take out the trash, take the recycling to the curb & I tried to forget my id & bus pass. I remembered them after I had locked the door, so I had to unlock it, dash in & get my badge.

Food: Sunbelt has changed the packaging on their Oats and Honey & Chocolate Chip chewy granola bars. My breakfast consists of 4 chewy granola bars; one each of Oat & Honey, Coconut Fudge, fudge dipped Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chip. Instead of white with colored ends (green for oats & honey and blue for chocolate chip), the ends are more like pantone green & blue (colored but with white dots breaking it up).

We had chicken last night and broccoli. The broccoli had been in the freezer a little too long, but it was still edible. I think that I'll put some of the leftover chicken in the freezer. I'll be having at least one leg for supper tonight.

books: I finished my bedside book, Guards, Guards and I started Magic Lost, Trouble Found last night.

I had to wake up to empty my bladder this morning, one of the reasons that I have a nightlight in my bathroom. As I snuggled back into my still warm covers and started to doze off, I heard something horrifying. My alarm clock going off. My immediate thought 'oh hell, no!' Alas, it was yes.

And all this after having dreams of fighting with the copier. I dreamed that the original was set in place and the pages to be copied had to be fed. The stupid things kept catching and fan-folding on me. Driving me nuts. Of course, my boss is standing there, impatient to get his copies.

clothes: black ~slippers, black slacks, black Origins shirt open over grey floral tank, Celtic knot earrings & ring, Celtic knot star/moon/tree pendant, clip watch, hematite ring & hair in ponytail/bun held by two black hairsticks with brown leather decorative wrappings on the end.

It's cool! This morning my nose even got cold! I sat outside at lunch, in the shade (sun & black clothes still was a little too warm) and just gloried in the beautiful weather. Fall may finally be on its way.

Commuting music: Pon De Replay, Walkin' After Midnight, Before He Cheats & I started Get The Party Started before the noise from the bus drowned it out.

I have an entry for yesterday, I just need an internet connection with my laptop long enough to post it. If all else fails, I'll load it to my thumb drive and use a computer lab.

tatting: I failed, once again, to get anywhere on Jane's wheelbarrow. Apparently, I've forgotten how to read a pattern. So I've put it aside & I'm doing a heart from Martha's Tat's Amore. I've started the small scallop heart & by the time I finished my commute this morning, I'd finished the 2nd row.

Books: I read Excalibur Alternative online from Baen's library. At lunch, I finished on of the books that I started Saturday, Touch of Darkness by Dodd.

site of the day: fill out the form using the drop down menus

clothes: black ~slippers (I could have worn socks today, it's cool enough), black slacks, black v-neck tank, sage green rayon shirt machine stitch 'sketched' blocks of leaves & geometrics, emerald pendant & earrings, hematite band, red stone ring, silver clip watch & red wood hairstick in ponytail/bun.

This morning was almost chilly, not quite, but almost. Lunchtime, the weather was fantastic. For the first time, going outside at midday didn't feel like being slapped in the face by a hot, wet towel.

Late last evening, we got the probable address from Joe M. and looked at mapquest. Thanks to the wonky internet connection we only got partial map but full directions. Chris knew a shortcut, we took that, and then found where the directions began from there.

We went through a couple other small towns and stopped by a McD's to get breakfast. We arrived just a couple minutes after nine am. Then Joe was late but really, the GM is never late. John B was there, along with Dan W, Dave W & Rosemary.

We played most the Living Greyhawk BI, broke for lunch (ah, the thrill of Wendy's) & then finished up. It was loads of fun but later my stomach just was not happy about it. Apparently, yogurt for dessert and pizza for supper were both bad decisions. After the BI we playtested the premier that follows it. Very interesting. I meant to play Nadia but ended up laying Reed. Ah well. At least she didn't die this time.

I read a little of Guards, Guards but that's all the time that I had for.

Clothes: jeans, navy loafer, orange autumn fairy t-shirt, green/black bead bracelet, paui ring, fem/dancer ring, hematite ring, new lapis bead earrings, paui shell pendant and did have light blue hair elastic but loaned it to Rosemary & put hair up with red-brown hairstick in ponytail/bun.

/insert sarcasm/ Joyful news /end sarcasm/ my wireless card has died. The little light no longer comes on to indicate my laptop attempting to make a wireless connection. Don't know when I'll be able to get it fixed, either. Wouldn't be so bad but I'm supposed to be able to find out when the playtest tomorrow is, and where. Kind of hard to check my email with no connection, you know?

Update I got it turned on again. But it's acting kind of wonky and is having trouble keeping the connection.

Got home last night, turned off the alarm & noticed something a little odd; living room lights wouldn't come on. Don't ask me how I failed to notice a complete lack of lights for the last block. The storm (yay rain!) had apparently knocked out the power. I found one of the crank flashlights and read until Chris got home. He was late, thanks to the 43-car pile up on the highway.

Not wanting to go out looking for a restaurant 1) with power, 2) fight that traffic to find it & 3) one that wasn't socked in with everyone else with the same idea, we ordered pizza. The power came on before it arrived. Good thing; reading by flashlight was giving me a headache.

Got a surprise this morning (as I finished my book). It's about 3 days earlier than last month. What a wonderful way to greet the day.

Books: Read vol 4 & 5 of Ranma ½ and also Dead Girls Are Easy. That was pretty good; kind of chick lit paranormal. I half re-read Goblin Hero. I started to read another book but just couldn't get into it.

TV: saw Burn Notice & Monk and then off to bed early. I watched Dr Who & Torchwood this morning after an hour long Batman. I also watched 2 Boston Blackie movies on TCM.

Clothes: blue jeans, violet butterfly fairy t-shirt, butterfly earrings, flower fairy pendant, flower band, hematite band, silver band with silver 'cord' laid on it, 3 pale purple bead/elastic bracelets, 2 darker purple bead/elastic bracelets, & pale blue elastic on my ponytail. I'll probably add navy loafers when I go out.

Update
1) My right knee really, really hurts. I wonder what I did to it.
2) There is a leak right around the corner from my office door. It started the morning as a small film, it's gotten to small pond proportions. There is someone trying to fix it. The wall is really, really thin & the opposite of soundproof. It's not noisy, just distracting.

Ahhh, Friday. What a wonderful thing. I have two days off. Tomorrow, Chris has asked me to go the mall with him (I'm not sure why, unless it's to take notes for his upcoming birthday). Sunday we'll be playtesting an LG adventure. My bard will sing again.

It's going to be a high APL playtest of the Mace BI - GRM7-IN4 By Right of Conquest, part 5 of the Shattered Reflections Series. My knight is very concerned (her stepmom & siblings live in Shiboleth, site of the BI).

TV: Last night the president made a speech. Since I didn't feel like wading through the rhetoric, but then I rarely do, I skipped it. I'll catch the summation later. However, as expected, his speech preempted regular tv programming. It's a good thing we watched that CSI rerun, that we'd missed, when it showed on Spike (cable channel) an hour earlier.

I also watched most of the History channel's program on the American highway system. Wow, it's changed in the past 100 years. The first, continent spanning highway was planned about 1900. However, when the celebratory convoy attempted to actually use the Lincoln Highway after WWI, it was less than laudatory. It did publicize the very poor condition of the road systems though.

We also caught part of the Barbarian special on Saxons and then we watched Burn Notice. I stayed up too late to watch it; again.

tatting: I worked on the wheelbarrow & found out this morning, as I was working on ring 30, that I had made a mistake on ring 11. Arrrrrgh! So I started it again. Or tried. It took two attempts that I just cut off and then another 2 or 3 attempts before I finally got started again. I just keep reminding myself; I do this for fun & relaxation, I do this for fun & relaxation, really. I mean that.

Mail/letter/etc: I have a little something to send to Mitra; I just need to get it into the mail. And I just realized that I left the stationery that I use for her, at home. Guess I'll try to send it Monday, then.

Saturday Evening At Palmetto Tat Days 2007 (& Sunday)
I went by the Vendor's room to pick up some thread. I took all those neat beads that I picked up at Panopoly to match them. I got Karey's help; since, as I've mentioned, she has such a good eye for color. Matching the faceted jasper drops was a little difficult. I think we finally succeeded though. I did do one stupid thing; I forgot to pick up a beading needle. I got the bead spinner, a small one, but no needle. None of the vendor's had size 16 crochet hooks either; and that's nigh onto vital for Jane's beaded picot technique.

After supper, it was time for more fun & games. My group's card set did not win, alas. But there were some very nice cards made. Palmetto's will sell them for $2 each to fund their activities & supplies.

The first game we played was a Bingo variant. Everyone was given a list of tatting terms & a page with 4 daisies printed on it. Each daisy had a sticker dot of a different color, red, blue, yellow or green. On the daisies there were 9 spaces to write those terms, you could choose wherever to write them. Then Janice went through & called out terms. There were 4 rounds, one per color of daisy. You used stickers of the matching color to fill in the flower. If you got all 9, you had 'full bloom' & won the round. If I had gotten 6 again in the last round, I was going to ask for a consolation prize for getting the exact same number every time. But I got 7 instead of 6.

The next game had us in teams of 8. There was one team that didn't have enough people, so Janice pulled people from other teams; I volunteered to leave Anitra & Stephanie. Poor me. The group that I joined had only 6 people; two of whom had already packed their stuff for their flights out 0n Sunday. Since it was a scavenger hunt-style game - do you have the item from the list in the possession of a group member? - that was vital.

Nonetheless, my team was only 3 points behind the winning team; guess which team that was. You guessed it - Anitra & Stephanie's team! The funny thing was, the items that I had, I had bought that day & had thought to take back to the room so I wasn't hauling it around. It's a good thing that I got lazy, or something, and didn't do so. It was a great game even though we lost & I hope that they do it again next year.

I spent the rest of the evening chatting. I talked to Tonya & her husband; they're from Georgia. She's a teacher (on Sunday I told her about Mali's oration on Youtube about what teachers make) and he's in animal control. He had some great stories. Jane's a former teacher so she & Tonya swapped stories about that. Martha didn't talk much but I think she enjoyed the conversation anyway. I think she's shy.

Anitra & Stephanie had gone to sleep by the time I got to the room. I slept like the dead but still woke up in plenty of time to be starving by the time breakfast was served. I saw Jane & Martha looking for a table as I entered, so I was faux-huffy about them not sitting with us and invited them to sit at our table. We had great convo over breakfast & Jane showed me where to find the hot water for my tea. It had been there all the time; I'd just missed it. Bleah.

After breakfast, we packed the car, turned in our room keys and badge holders, said a last goodbye to everyone & was on the road by 10 am. We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel (I have no idea what town we were in), my cold had returned and I was a bit dazed. Reading was helping because I was not up to anything requiring concentration.

I found a string of Christmas bead garland that may work very well for Karey's baubles, just lighter than marbles. We'll see. I also found a book on raising chickens for Liz. It's safe to mention because she never reads my blog.

Once at Anitra's, we admired the work that Steve had done on her craft room (clearing it out - his birthday present to her). I realized, after I had unloaded my stuff from Stephanie's car, that she lived near me and could just drop me off at home with only a slight detour on her part.

Chris wasn't home when I got there so I just vegged. I got my stuff in the door and that was all I was good for. I was so tired.

I felt bad enough that I called in sick on Monday. I slept most of the day (as I mentioned on Tuesday) & I think that made a huge difference in my recovery.

clothes: black ~slippers & jeans, Vorkosigan black/brown polo, clip watch, dragon band, hematite band, amber cabochon bracelet, amber drop earrings, amber 'poison' ring, fem/dancer ring, & (hidden by my color because it doesn't match the rest of my jewelry) moonstone cabochon pendant on heavy silver chain. My hair is loose because it's drying.

I spent all day yesterday working on data entry stuff. Due to some changes in the spreadsheets, last month's was all screwed up for a couple of them. Trying to figure out what had gone wrong & then fix it, plus taking care of the usual preoccupied me all day.

It was cooler yesterday, about 10 degrees or so. When I left work, I honestly thought that it was going to rain any minute it was so overcast. Alas, I was wrong. Maybe we'll get something from the edges of Hurricane Humberto (which hit Texas this morning).

sight of the day: college-age girl with a dowager's hump. I don't know if it was a deformity, if so then my sympathies; if not, then for deity's sake girl straighten up!

books: I finished the last of The Viscount in Her Bedroom this morning, then read vol 4 of Ranma 1/2 on the way in to work & vol 1 of The Wallflower at lunch.

tatting: I finished the Fantasy Flower & I'm very unsatisfied. It's because I did a lousy job with the long picots. I really want to try it with beaded picots now. I think that will work much better, thanks to Jane's technique. I've decided to try & redo the bauble and I've retro-tatted to the 2nd ring. I also finished the wheel on Jane's wheelbarrow and started the body.

Palmetto Saturday Classes
I woke up at 5:30 am so I got up and went to the Early Bird Tatters session (Beaded Baubles with Bling, with Karey). As I left the room, I think I heard bats still flying around. Its late enough in the year that 6 am is full dark; no sign of the sun yet.

Unfortunately, the doors to the buildings were locked. Fortunately Karey had the supplies with her (kits, both preloaded with beads & without - proceeds to go to the ASPCA) and the pattern is simple enough that she didn't need to have it in hard copy. For at least 15 minutes, we were busy trying to tat by the exterior lights of the buildings.

Once they opened the buildings, we relocated inside. It was still comfortable, temperature wise but tatting really works best when you can see. At least, if you are doing an unfamiliar pattern that is true.

After a few false starts, some help from Carole (married to the leather crafter at the Village of Yesteryear) and lending a little advice to the tatter next to me, I finally got my bauble done. Alas, I tat a bit tighter than Karey and mine does not fit nearly as well as hers do. She has fantastic color sense though, all the kits thread & bead colors do so well. Although I did see one with bead colors like a coral snake (red on black, friend to Jack; red on yellow, kill a fellow') but Karey didn't know about that. I picked up an extra kit just because she did such a marvelous job with the colors.

I spent the rest of the time, before breakfast, working on the cards. Since they were due at 10:30 am on Saturday, I was a little worried that I wouldn't have them done in time.

I met Anitra & Stephanie in the dining hall and enjoyed a nice breakfast. I still didn't find the hot water for tea, to my disappointment. Happily, Palmettos provided pots of hot water & tea outside the vender's room.

We separated again for our first class. I took Sharren's mini-snowflake. It's a simple pattern, as I expected though, I learned something new. Sharren taught me a new lock join for the SCMR. I spent the rest of the class finishing the cards.

For my second morning class, it was off to see Mimi for the Cluny Flower Bookmark. I was late because there was a 5 minute difference between my watch & the classroom clock. I wish that I had had a chance to practice making my clunies beforehand. My lack of practice was obscenely obvious. Luckily, Mimi had included instructions and hers are just so clear and easy. I did not get very far but I really like the pattern. I want to try to start again and oh, I don't know, get it right this time.

Off to lunch, to eat quickly. I met Anitra & Stephanie again and then rushed off to load my shuttles for Jane's class. I tucked myself onto a couch facing the dealer's room and got to work. I used red thread with blue bugles (from Fire Mountain) & paler blue seed beads (from a dealer) for the toes. Anitra gave me two hematite-looking drops for the frog eyes. I actually used a poison dart frog coloring but it's soooo vivid.

Once I had that done, I finally got a look at the display, aka brag, room. There were some marvelous pieces & I took pictures.

Jane is absolutely marvelous and has a great sense of humor. She enjoys learning American; last time she came she collected the word 'lollygagging.' Her frog is quite interesting & looks harder than it is. I was one of three people to get theirs done during class & I took a picture of all three together. We chose such different colors of threads & beads.

Saturday evening gets its own entry.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks, white polo (machine crochet chain edging), black tatted earrings & necklace, black glass bead bracelet, hematite ring, black stone band, clip watch & braided hair. I really need to shampoo but luckily it doesn't show in the braid.

As I walked home yesterday I managed to somehow step on a pine needle in such a way that it penetrated the leather on the arch of my instep (not through the sole of the shoe, through the side). That sucker was sharp!

Last night I mostly played computer games, as I watched part of a tv movie & then watched CSI followed by Brit sitcoms and then Justice League Unlimited.

books: I bought Claimed by Shadow yesterday & finished it at lunch today. I exchanged my extra copy of Kitty Takes a Holiday for The Viscount in Her Bedroom.

tatting: I only have one chain left to do of Jane's fantasy flower. Too bad it's an oopsy. I figured out that I have messed up two of the chain joins & I'm just not up to redoing all of that again.

Spurred on by Jane's report of Palmetto fun, I'll try & recount my view of the weekend.

Thursday:
I went to Anitra's after gaming & arrived about 10 pm. We started going through the Workbaskets as her birthday present was to fill in some of the gaps in her collection. We finally headed to bed around midnight. I didn't sleep so well but on the bright side, we were both awake by the time the alarm rang at 5 am. So we did not oversleep.

We got dressed, while Steve (the sweetheart) went to get breakfast for us from Biscuitville (or was it Bojangles?). We doublechecked that we had everything and when Stephanie arrived at 6:55 am we were ready to go. We loaded up her car with the two computer paper boxes of Workbaskets, our clothes & our tatting materials and we were off to South Carolina.

We had brought music but ended up talking most of the way there. I played the Once More With Feeling album/music from the episode of Buffy but that was pretty much it. At the two hour mark & then an hour & a half later we made pit stops; my bladder & everyone got a chance to stretch her legs.

We arrived at White Oak Conference Center just before noon. It's in the middle of farmland and very pretty. We registered, unloaded the car in our room and then off to lunch. As we were headed for registration, I spotted Mimi and she not only recognized me; she remembered my name. From when we met two years ago! Of course, it was all to the funny story/joke that I told her about the 2 Southern belles on the veranda. 'Thaht's verah nahse.'

After lunch, we split up to go to our individual classes. Anitra & Stephanie went to one & I went to another. My first class was Jane's Fantasy Flower, which I may actually finish today. I like the beaded version better. Working with gauges and long picots is definitely a weakness of mine. And my flower shows it.

For the second class, all three of us were in Karey's Flower Wreath class. I finished mine but it's a little sloppy. If I use a smaller thread & don't mess up the flowers, I can do better. As I reached the 3rd flower, I realized that I had managed to put the 1st two flowers on opposite faces of the wreath. Ooops. Karey showed me how to fix it and it works, but I'm not 100% happy with my workmanship. I think Stephanie finished hers late Saturday or early Sunday; and it looks much better than mine.

At some point, I managed to stop by the venders to pick up the thread & the seed beads for Jane's frog on Saturday, as well as two Aero shuttles to load for it. At the banquet, they announced the top donors of butterflies, flowers, etc for them to hand out at the SC state fair. The 3 runners up had 500, 600 or thereabouts, each. The winner had 1002. That's a lot!

At supper, a nice couple sat with us along with um....someone I've met whose name I cannot recall. The older couple had retired and this was part of their vacation. They were leaving Saturday to go visit family in Virginia, I think. She had just started tatting. So we had a 25-year tatter, 19-year tatting, 20-something, 7-year tatter & one who could measure her tatting experience in months, without doing multiplication.

The Banquet is always fun. The one drawback, at this location if you didn't drink tea or coffee, there was only water available. The food was pretty good although we were the next to last table to go up to the buffet. We had salads to munch on and they lasted almost long enough.

Georgia Seitz was the keynote speaker and she's good. She covered a lot of the history of tatting and was amusing by turns. I think I'd like to hear her again, and that specific address.

After supper it was time for games and night owls. What a hoot, if you'll pardon the pun. Riet (who's Dutch) taught a song about an owl, in Dutch. You heard people humming or singing the chorus all weekend. She also had a number of owl patterns, for people to work on.

One of the games was teams of 4 would decorate 4 cards. We kind of drafted one person, she provided a few flowers & that was it. Anitra, Stephanie & I made up the rest of the team. We made two scenes, one day & one night. Each had a line of grass on the bottom, a tree on the left and flowers. The night scene had a moth (ecru butterfly), a crescent moon, a bunny, an owl (from the night owls), stars and a couple pale flowers. The day scene had a sun, more flowers, a couple of Anitra's daffodils, a half butterfly alit on one of the flowers. I drew in the stems for the flowers for the day & the night sky for other.

Stephanie tatted a long brown chain which I used to outline a basket; filled in by 3 brown flowers. Then it was 'filled' by assorted flowers, that's where I used most of the ones donated by our 4th team member. The fourth one I did at the last minute, almost by myself (I had separate classes from the others) from an idea that Anitra suggested. It was a wreath of flowers (ie a simple circle) with a bow at the bottom. Alas, we did not win.

I only tatted two owls before I started fading fast. I used one on the card & gave the other one to Riet. I wonder what she did with them. Probably gave to the Palmetto Guild to hand out at the fair.

I headed to bed to be asleep by 11:o0 or so.

clothes: today's outfit is a black tank under a black, long-sleeved rayon blouse, black jeans & ~slippers, onyx pendant & earrings, braided silver ring with the 2 matching bangle bracelets and braided hair.

I'm feeling better - of course I slept most of yesterday, whether due to illness or the medicine I don't know.

sight of the day: a very bad accident involving 2 cars & a transit bus. At least one car's airbag deployed & in the second car I saw a passenger supporting the driver's neck. I sincerely pray that it's only a precaution that she is not that badly hurt. My prayers to them and all those involved.

I sort of read yesterday, they were re-reads that didn't take much attention. I did not try to tat, I didn't trust my concentration. Cold medicine makes me so foggy. I watched tv when I wasn't napping.

Gaming: Chris's game was last night. We finally rescued the dwarf commander, getting through one more fight while exiting the city. In the first fight, in the tunnels, the trolls transformed back to duergar when they died. This time, the trolls remained trolls but the dead duergar transformed to dark elves. We grabbed their corpses and ran. Maybe we'll get some information; if not at least we'll get loot.

Tat Days extra: I took the extra Workbaskets from Leigh, and gave them away at Tat Days. We ended up putting them out on Saturday & everyone loved them. The Palmetto Tatting Guild filled some blank spaces in their library & a woman who had lost the issue with the Barbie wedding gown to flood damage replaced it.

tatting: I worked on Jane's fantasy flower this morning on the way into work; it's from one of the classes this weekend. But I screwed up a ring again. I'll have to take it out & try again.

clothes: yesterday I wore sleepshirt & robe most of the day. Then I pulled on a t-shirt & leggings for the game. Today it's black jeans (despite the 97F heat), thin cotton blouse (texture check), Celtic knot ring, triskele earrings, knot pendant, ~rope band, braid, hematite band & black ~slippers.

Back from Tat Days! It was near the small town of Winsboro, in White Oak Conference Center this year. Anitra, Stephanie & I drove down in Stephanie's Outback, starting about 7 am. We arrived in time for lunch & the first class at 1:30 pm. We all three took 2 classes (though it wasn't the same one, I think) and then it was off to the banquet. After supper, we went to the fun & games, once again, Mark won the speed tatting competition, 17 triple flowers (pre-set pattern) in 15 minutes. All three of us went to night owls (the until midnight tat & chat) and learned to sing a Dutch song, led by Riet. I left about 10 or 11, tired. Anitra & Stephanie followed soon after.

The next morning I went to the early birds, it started at 6 am. Too bad the buildings were still locked. So we started tatting by the exterior lights. I'd gotten started, made a mistake, and started retro-tatting by the time they unlocked the doors. I did complete my little bauble that Karey designed. Off to breakfast, meeting the other two, and then off to more classes. I did not finish my cluny bookmark, barely got started good. I really needed to practice my cluny leaves before the weekend. I did finish Jane's frog, red with blue toes. It's tres cute.

More fun and games after supper. First was tatting terms bingo. We played 4 rounds. I was about to ask if you got a prize for having the same number every round (6, 6, 6 & then 7) but then I didn't the last round. The scavenger hunt was fun. I was on a team with Steve & Anitra; but then went to another team so they'd have more players. My team had 6 people, my former team had 7. Two of the people in my group didn't have any of their stuff; they'd packed to fly out today. We still finished only 3 points behind the winning team (guess who!). Janice called out a list of items, then people searched through their stuff to see if they had it. Which reminds me, I need to buy a curved beading needle. I bought a small bead spinner, and it did not come with one.

I bought a few books, some thread and some other fun stuff. I have a present for Kathy now (hand dyed sock yarn). I also have an idea about some gifts to make. Karey's bauble has some great potential. I am much better on self-closing mock ring & I might finally have a clue to mastering the split chain. The continuous join method of Jane's adds an interesting touch to edgings.

After breakfast & some more chattering this morning, we finally left. It was great fun, but I think I've succumbed to another illness. Not so whee. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch and I found a present for Liz (book on raising chickens) and a package of beads that might do Karey's baubles but lightweight enough for earrings.

video of the day: Jo Brand, aka Sea Monster, British Comedian

books: On the trip, I read bk 2 & 3 of Mamotte! Lollipop and bk 4 of Pet Shop of Horrors (I thought it was book 1, oh well) and then Kitty Takes a Holiday.

tv: yeah, right. Saw Serenity on DVD tonight and before that Torchwood & part of Dr. Who this evening.

clothes: Friday it was aqua tank under white net, blue jeans, navy loafers, chain mail earrings, etc. Saturday I wore black jeans, Palmetto 2007 Tat Days tshirt, flower fairy pendant, flower pendant, and a braid. Today it was the orange Carolina Ren Festival t, blue jeans, navy loafers & celtic knot jewelry.

I got the books that I won in the drawing from participating in the author chat about a month ago. Whoot!

When he got home, Chris convinced me to take a nap. That really helped. I was soooooooooo(repeat for a couple paragraphs)oo tired last night. I couldn't even manage to start my packing until after the nap (& a bath). I felt a little guilty about the bath, drought & all, but it was really medicinal. I feel better this morning, although hungry again. My nose & eyes just started itching at about 8:30 am.

I went to bed a little later, due to the nap but I woke up at 5:40 or so this morning. I finished packing my clothes this morning. Now I just need to load my shuttles & that sort of thing. I'm getting a ride to David's game from Diana tonight. From there, I'll go to Anitra's to spend the night. We leave at 7 am tomorrow.

My good, reversible, belt broke yesterday. Apparently the strain of containing my stomach was too much for it. Do you know how hard it is to find a brown/black reversible belt with a silvertone buckle?

books: I finished the Bastion Club book yesterday at lunch. I read Housewife for Rent & Husband for Hire by Michele Bardsley last night (reversible 2 in 1 book). I'm reading the other book that I got; Daddy in Training & Bride in Training.

clothes: navy loafers, khakis, white polo (UNC), brown belt, flower fairy pendant, silver ring (silver twisted 'cord' over silver band), flower band, hematite ring & hair up in a ponytail/bun affixed with a brown wood 3-prong hairstick. I forgot the earrings, though.

site/story of the day: My dad sent me an email about a truck accident, I checked it with Snopes & if it didn't happen exactly like the email said, it's still pretty impressive.

I completely forgot my keys yesterday. Luckily, I was going out to eat with John & his Mom (a much belated birthday supper) but I still got home an hour before Chris did. I tried to read by streetlight but that made my eyes hurt. I was so tired, I was almost asleep, leaning against the front door.

The supper was nice. We went to Bali Hai, which has very good Mongolian barbecue. They've been around close to 20 years. Afterwards we went to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. They were training so there were lots of people waiting to help but not many customers.

I guess I didn't eat enough though because I woke up at 2:30 this morning absolutely ravenous. It was 2 hours before I went back to bed. I'm a little tired, in addition to the lack of energy caused by my cold.

books: I bought Beyond Seduction after work, knowing that I'd need to kill some time. It's the 6th in the Bastion Club series by Stephanie Laurens. I finished Hero, Come Back at lunch. I think maybe I hadn't read all three of the stories in it.

tatting: I finished off the pink thread from the shuttle. I made a couple butterflies & the flowers from this year's Palmetto tat off.

clothes: black slippers, slacks, & belt; silver clip watch, flower band ring, hematite ring, white tank top under rose surplice top (that frankly is a little snug for a woman of my girth, & the sleeves aren't more than caps - I'm wearing my shawl in the office I'm so cold), silver hoop earrings (wide, edged with ~silver beading), doubled silver chain (matching bracelet made it long enough to double, single it was at the same height as my neckline), braided silver ring (2 strands of 2 silver wires & 1 twisted silver wire braided together) & 2 matching bracelets. My hair is up in a ponytail/bun affixed with the smoke/black hairstick with rhinestones. The earrings, necklace & bracelet are more of those that I just got from my mom. I've had the ring but not the matching bracelets, til now.

A Tuesday that feels like a Monday. That's the problem with a holiday; right?

I definitely have a cold. I woke up about half-a-dozen times before my alarm clock went off this morning. I went to bed about 9:30 & the first time I woke up was around 11 pm or so. My sinuses are draining, which makes my throat hurt. This is probably the same cold that Chris had last week.

I need to pack for this weekend, after doing laundry. Chris almost finished fixing the downstairs toilet last night. He needs a second pair of hands for the last bit. I need to refresh myself about which classes I'm taking & what I need before class (shuttles pre-loaded etc). We'll be leaving about 7 am, so I'll be staying at Anitra's overnight. Since Thursday is the Mutants & Masterminds game, I was going to get a ride from Diana. If I do that, I need a way home on Sunday.

books: That other one that I read this weekend was Wintersmith. Yesterday I re-read Eater of Souls. Today, I pulled out the anthology Hero, Come Back to re-read.

I tried to write some last night. Trying to create a run (using Shadowrun 4.0 & The GM emulator) but my brain feels like it's wrapped in cotton batting.

tatting: I finished the 30" of edging & then we realized, after I'd ended it, that it's not enough. I finally found the formula to figure out the circumference of an oval & we (I) need another 3-5". I may fake it by doing a bow or something of the like.

clothes: black slippers, slacks, belt & polo; 2001 Renaissance Festival one, purple & frost bead bracelet, ~rope band, flower band, hematite band, flower fairy pendant & butterfly earrings. The earrings & bracelet are the ones mom gave me when I went to see her.

I seem to have a cold. My throat hurts (up to my nose), my head hurts, the usual. I've taken something for it; maybe I'll be able to make it to Mya's party. I'm still waiting to see if the cold medicine works. If not, Chris will have to deliver the presents.

books: I reread The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever and ...something else. I just can't remember what. Head hurts.

tatting: I'm doing an edging for a cross stitch project that Kathy is doing for Mya's room. I got 11+ inches done on Saturday but only another 8" yesterday. I need 30" total. It's a simple 3ds 3 p separated by 3 ds, ds rings with 3ds p 3 ds chain edging from Rebecca Jones's book. It's a very simple, traditional one in soft pink DMC perle 8.

Gaming: Saturday we played the final session of Red Hand of Doom. However, with the new end of LG rules, it cost no TUs. So I can continue to play my Bright Lands barbarian this year after all. Mike drove down Saturday morning to play it with us. With his arcane caster, it went a lot better than the last 3 parts. We still needed at least one delay death & only a well-timed Bears Endurance made my barbarian's rage last long enough to get through the fight.

clothes: In honor of the Red Hand session, I wore my new dragon t-shirt plus my dragon jewelry (earrings, necklace & 3 rings) plus black jeans. Yesterday I wore blue jeans, a Geoff t-shirt (the one with the major NPCs of the past 5 years) and navy loafers, plus clear rainbow bead posts, pewter star/moon pendant on burgundy satin cord & ~rope band. Today it's blue jeans, navy loafters, purple fairy t-shirt (I bought at Trinic*con) paui shell pendant & earrings, flower band ring, silver ~filigree earrings, blue silicon child health bracelet. I've kept my hair braided the past 3 days.