Friday, February 29, 2008

I started seeing daffodils this week. I really love those flowers.
I have a headache. I took an aleve an hour and a half ago, so it's only painful instead of excruciating.

tatting
: finished the 3rd round on my way into work this morning. As I rode home last night I had the opportunity to show it to a couple people. One has seen me tatting before; the other one had never seen tatting before & had never heard of it.

books: started reading Willing, the sequel to Ready, last night. I brought a Dick Francis book to work with me but I may not have a chance to read. I'll be doing my taxes at lunch. Whee.

TV: we watched the 2nd episode of Coupling last night. I hadn't seen that one before. It's funny. Then we watched The Princess Diaries, but I went to bed before the end.

clothes: same old same old from the waist down, black Origins shirt, grey cord vest (that covers up the Origins logo), dragon jewelry (Welsh dragon pewter earrings, silver pendant & 2 rings), and braided hair. So far I don't need a bandage this morning, but if I do, I'm pulling out another fairy one.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Two cool sites: One is perpetual kid, they have all kinds of neat knickknacks, including a footwarmer that hooks into your USB.

The other is from Burda, free sewing patterns. How neat is that! You just have to register, & that's free, too.
tv: Watched an episode of Alias Smith & Jones and then a couple episodes of Coupling. I was laughing so hard that I literally had trouble breathing. Either I'm very tense or that was intensely funny. I think it might have been the 1st episode because it had the group of 6 meeting/getting together.

Books:
I read a little bit in a pocket prayer guide (suggestions on positive thinking really) since it was too cold to tat as I waited for the bus yesterday. I tried but only managed one chain & one ring before giving up. I finished re-reading Ready this morning.

Computer games:
I finished another stage in Age of Empires & fully upgraded all the equipment in my 4th or 5th store in Paradise Pet Salon.

tatting
: I think my thread is size 20, not 10. I need to find some that is definitely 10 & check. I finished the 2nd round yesterday & made a good start on the 3rd round today. The commute this morning was particularly long. The shuttle that I'm using holds 4 yards so it takes 4 yards on the shuttle to do the 1st 2 rounds (plus one itty bitty butterfly - 4ppp4 & 2p2 wings).

I've also gotten the idea to do the snood again, with beads! I can see already where the beads go; on all the free picots. The 1st round would have 8 ~larger beads, 16 seed beads for the rings & 8 seed beads for the chains. No beads on the 2nd round; all the picots are for joins.

clothes: same as yesterday from the waist down but it's lot colder so it's grey cord vest & bright pink turtleneck, same jewelry, except ~rope band instead of onxy ring, and pink fairy bandage over my hand where I scratched it yesterday. I drew blood & it still stings.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Looks like we're going to suffer further water restrictions. We got a little rain yesterday, less than half an inch; it's not enough. We'll be going to stage 3 by the end of the week. And it's quite chilly today (almost freezing this morning).

tatting: finished the 1st round of my snood & started the 2nd.

books: been busy doing my taxes and playing computer games. I haven't read anything more than a few pages of re-reading Ready.

computer games: started playing Age of Empires last night. I'm almost through the Learning (Rise of Egypt) campaign. I've bought the 5th store in Paradise Pet Salon.

clothes: same shoes, duplicate jeans, different forest green polo (Geoff), dark purple sweater, Celtic knot earrings & ring, andromorph pendant, onyx ring, flower ring, hematite band & braided hair.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Chris's game: Last night the fight with the Salt Baron continued. One of Kelis's last actions was to cast sleet storm, which blocked the merchant from targeting our PCs with spells (sleet storm does not do damage, it blocks normal sight and makes it hard to walk). Joe's cleric, Gaius, hit the area with a dispel magic a few rounds (& some healing) later. That revealed the merchant & his closest salt golem, which was half-destroyed. Turns out, when Chris wrote up the salt golem he included a specific weakness: vulnerability to 'create water' & 'sleet storm'. That was also true for the salt merchant's salt staff. It was half-gone, too. That had the unintended side effect that the next time he used it, it blew up. One more destroyed golem later & the fight was over.

We spent the rest of the session dealing with our PCs correct orders (make a 6-week trip in 3-weeks, since they weren't where they were when the orders were cut). Also, the undead knight sent a little 'gift,' 6 black heavy warhorses with matching tack. The dwarf developed a distaste/hatred/antipathy towards riding so he certainly wasn't going to take one. None of the other PC's except for the fey-ish warmage & my half-elf druid took one. They are very nice warhorses. My cavalry characters would be drooling (so to speak).

tatting: I finished the red butterfly that I started, from the Palmetto Guild's book of butterflies, while trying to donate blood. Now I've started another snood, red this time.

dream: I was working at Piece Goods and Louise was the manager. There were just 3 of us working and it was almost closing time. We could see snow falling outside in the lights of the parking lot so we were trying to hurry. 3, or 4, people came in through the back door (storage room) and were stacking up fabric from the remnant tables, mostly camo and heavy fabrics. The handwritten sign on a nearby table said $4/yard. I just knew that they were going to claim that sale price for the fabrics that they were buying. At least they weren't too horrible about it, just irritated.

We finally got everyone out the door & started cleaning up. Someone had left a box of kittens as well and I was trying to put water out for them when this lady barges into the store (oops, forgot to lock the door). We tried to tell her that we were closed, 'but I need this for my job. I won't be long.' Finally we showed her that the register was empty and closed, we couldn't sell her anything. She finally left.

In the meantime, 2 others came into the store but they helped us clean up when they saw that we were closed. We locked the door but accepted their help because we really needed to be out of there before the snow made it too dangerous to drive. First lady came back, pounding on the door, demanding to know why the other 2 customers could buy stuff but she couldn't. We had to explain to her that they weren't shopping, they were helping us straighten & pick stuff up.

Was that an anxiety dream or have I been reading the Customers Suck forum too much?

clothes: black half-boots, black jeans, black belt with Celtic knots, silver belt buckle with Celtic knotwork, hematite band, onyx band, emerald pendant & earrings, dark green Ocean City MD polo, & braided hair.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Blood donation failed. Again. They managed to get a good stick in one arm, but not the other. At least I didn't miss much work. That's good. Right? Right?
The tatting get-together on Saturday was fun. About half a dozen of us were there and we chatted and tatted. I finally finished my bookmark, by cheating. I gave up on that knot and joined to the ring itself, then finished up. I fray-cheked it to death & hope it holds. Guess I won't be giving that one away. But I have the idea of it now.

I finished the single thread block star yesterday. It looks pretty good. I've started the split chain star but I need to practice the split chain just a little more.

Went to FE's sale yesterday & kept to my budget. I bought 3 game books, Girl Genius manga vol 1, and my regular stuff. That was it. I wanted to pick up some of those used videos (Here is Greenwood & Ranma 1/2) but I just didn't have the money. Witch Hunter still hasn't showed up. I talked to Rick, the owner, and he was telling me that they have 9 game books on backorder with the potential of it being 12 when the order arrives on Wednesday.

books: read Goblin War, Sizzle & Burn on Saturday. Goblin War might be the last book but there's potential for more. Sizzle & Burn is the 3rd Arcane Society book and it's good. I'm looking forward to the next one.

TV: I watched an old (taped) episode of Psych & a couple episodes of Tactics (anime). We watched a new (to US) Japanese game show, Unbeatable Banzuke.

Saturday, the washing machine decided to break. I think it's just the lid switch but that means that I need to order it & then we need to replace it. In the meantime, we can't wash clothes because the water from the last load is still there. The spin dry function is broken.

This morning I'm off to donate blood, or try. My appointment is early so I'm going to work afterwards.

clothes: On Saturday I wore a Palmetto Tat days t-shirt with my jeans. Yesterday it was a knife and blood-red roses t-shirt. Today it's black jeans, black half-boots, dark green Gettysberg souvenir polo shirt, Celtic knot jewelry.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tried to go out to PF Chang's last night for our belated Valentine's supper. It was completely socked in. The parking lot was full, complete with parking space vultures. We couldn't figure out why, so we just went to Ted's Montana Grill instead.

Afterwards, we stopped by B&N so Chris could use his gift cert. I bought 3 books, restrained for me. My knee was hurting & the incoming storm front was playing havoc with my headache.

books: I finished the Hourglass. It was good, unexpected & unusual. It was a supernatural Regency. The Earl is an agent of death, a former knight in the Crusades (aka the Frankish Invasion) who has cheated his way back to life. Now he has 6 months to regain his humanity or be the Devil's pawn. Her reputation is in shreds, her family has disowned her and her unlamented husband just died, leaving her penniless. Now I'm reading Dancing with Werewolves.

tonight it's Mutants Masterminds, I think. David hasn't sent out a reminder.

clothes: black halfboots, black jeans, same vest, purple turtleneck, amethyst ring, amethyst pendant, purple Czech crystal earrings, under-French braid, purple/frost bead bracelet, Celtic knot ring, hematite band & purple elastic on the hair.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

My bus was early last night. The buses are never early. I was at the bus stop at exactly the scheduled time & the bus was nowhere in sight (I can see for a decent distance down the road). I ended up waiting half an hour for the next one. Or rather, half-hour plus, because the next one was late. Grrrr!

Watched Saturday's Torchwood again, didn't feel like explaining to Chris that I watched it already. I'd been futzing with my laptop so I'd missed quite a bit on the 1st watching anyway.

Finished my books and started another one from the UBS, The Hourglass by Metzger.

clothes: Celtic knot post earrings, Celtic knot ring, triskele pendant, hematite band, braided ring & matching pair of bracelets, Frech-braided hair, burgundy turtleneck, black 1/2 boots, & black jeans.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Laptop update: I started digging out my program disks and reloading programs. At least, the ones that I could find. I need to find my photo-editing software & my Palm software. I also need to talk to iTunes to see if there is some way to pull the music from my iPod to merge it with the music library that they have on record for me. I did find my backup disks (however old) but some appear to be blank! *insert screams of rage & frustration here*

tatting: I'm still trying to untie that knot. I forgot to bring it to work on it today.

tv: I watched some of the Ranma 1/2 DVDs that John gave me, and an episode of Lois & Clark. And last night I learned that there was apparently an episode of Firefly that I missed. That was a nice surprise.

books: Read Bunnicula, it's a cute kid's book. I finished Gilt by Association (2nd Den of Antiquity book). The lead character is Abigail Timberlake, & she's so Southern. I enjoy her & the mysteries.

I started Shakespeare's Secret. It's about a 6th grader (about age 12) whose family has moved again so she's starting a new school. Her new neighbor tells her that everyone in town believes that the previous owner faked the theft of a diamond (to pay for his wife's medical care) and hid it in her house. It's a young adult book & pretty good so far. The young lady is named Hero for the character in one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.

clothes: light purple turtleneck, black slacks, grey cord vest, dark grey socks, black ~slippers (with the sole coming loose at the toe on the right one), rainbow moonstone earrings & trimoon pendant, moonstone ring, ~rope band, hematite band, Celtic knot ring & French-braided hair (with two clips toward the back to catch fly-aways).

Monday, February 18, 2008

My laptop arrived on Friday. Don't tell James, but he sent me the wrong power cord. The one he sent me does not fit my laptop. So I went & bought a new one on Saturday. Ouch, they are expensive. I spent some time loading software this weekend, and some time playing video games. My trip to see my mom didn't happen, so I had the time.

The weather today is absolutely gorgeous. We got a little rain last night and today it's unseasonably warm. The clouds cleared out by late morning, giving me a beautiful sunny day to enjoy at lunch.

books: re-read Goblin Quest & then read Wild Horses by Dick Francis.

scarf: now reaches from fingertip to elbow with just a tad bit of stretch.

tatting: still trying to get that knot undone. It was too damp & too bumpy this morning. I'll take it to the meeting on Saturday.

clothes: jeans & t-shirt on Saturday, jeans & sweatpants on Sunday. Today it's ~slippers, black slacks, thin black socks, brown/black Vorkosigan polo, dragon jewelry (2 rings, necklace & earrings), hematite band, black Celtic knot belt & buckle, French braided hair.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Ahh, the day after Valentine's Day. The day that all the Valentine candy & cards go on sale.

It's been a day already. I walk out my door without my bus pass or ID so I go back. By that time, I'm running late enough that I'm going to miss the bus if I walk to my stop. So I drive to the next stop & catch the bus there.

I get to work & my phone is ringing as I walk into the office. I answer it & work on the call as I'm taking off my coat. I finish the call, partially unresolved, and head back to the closet to hang up my coat. As I comment to my co-worker 'it's not even 8 am & it's already started,' the fire alarm goes off. I spend 20-some minutes in the cold as we wait for the firemen to arrive & take care of whatever the problem is (it's unlikely that it's really a fire).

Chris gave me three wonderful books yesterday. One is for drawing horror manga, one for magical girl manga & one for fantasy art. Cool, huh? I gave him season 1 & 2 of Veronica Mars. He seemed to like them.

We went to a fast food burgers last night. Neither of us felt like cooking but we didn't want pizza & anything 'classier' than fast food was going to be packed.

tv: watched part of Kiss Me Kate. I love that movie. And Howard Keel is just so hot in that movie. Yum. After that we watched Scooby Doo, Where Are You & CSI. Chris had seen that episode; horror movie star murdered, but I hadn't.

books: I reread Scandal & started Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. It's kinda funny & definitely different. I also skimmed through the books that Chris gave me and a book on making plushy little softies.

tatting: still on that last ring. I need to undo a knot & then retie it before I can go further.

other crafts: that ribbon yarn scarf is almost the length of my forearm now, almost.

clothes: black jeans yesterday, black slacks today; black half-boots yesterday, black suede shoes today; same black belt with Celtic stamping & silver Celtic knot buckle; same grey cord vest; same hematite band; same plaited hair; different shades of green turtleneck; different set of emerald necklace & earrings; and today I added my labradorite bracelet.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008



I was so tired last night, partially because I went to bed late after
gaming on Monday & partially because incoming storm fronts sometimes
do that to me (I practically slept through a hurricane due to that).
I went to sleep about an hour early.

tv: I watched another episode of Lois & Clark and not much
else.

books: I finished Touch of a Highlander last night & finished Baroque
& Desperate
on my way into work.

letters: sent Valentine Day notes to the usual suspects, plus my dad &
step-mom. Dad got out of his 2nd knee surgery yesterday. Kathy said
that the surgeon said that it looked good.

tatting: one more chain & ring; that's it. If it's not too damp or cold, I'll
get more done on the way home.

clothes: black shoes, black jeans, burgundy turtleneck, grey cord vest,
labradorite bracelet, triangle triskele pendant, Celtic knot earrings &
ring, ~rope band, hematite band, braided hair & elastic with Celtic knot
on it.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

book reviews from weekend's reading:

Magical JxR starts somewhat picaresque. It's the story of 2 wizard students who are partners despite their powers being complete opposites; fire & water. The end story/chapter seems to indicate the rest of the volumes will follow what happens to them just after they graduate.

Reluctant Rogue is mostly a typical Regency romance. There are a few differences; he's (almost) blatantly desperate for an heiress; so he can get out of his father's domination. She's the much plainer & much-less well-dowered younger sister. Her dowry is really just as big, but it's land & horses, not cash. It's an enjoyable but not unforgettable read.

It's time for Pantheon High homecoming. Too bad most of the students are still asleep from the spell in the 1st volume. And two of the students who saved them all are still stuck in the Underworld. Volume 2: Hades & Homecoming.

My copy of White Lies, by Krentz & book 2 of Arcane Society, arrived and I read it Sunday. It's pretty good. Good enough that I went to zooba & put book 3 on buy immediately.

Larceny & Old Lace is either the 1st or 2nd book of the Den of Antiquity mystery series by Tamar Myers. The protagonist is Abigail Timberlake of Rock Hill SC & Charlotte NC. I've been to both so I recognize the patterns & some of the places. This is a very Southern culture & I loved it. I bought a bunch of them at the used bookstore & I'll be looking for more.
I ran into not one but two nice people today. That just perked up my morning.

One was the woman who called out, letting me that someone was trying to get my attention. Of course, the person trying to get my attention is the guy who works where I usually pick up my breakfast (I'm toting my breakfast this week). We made faces at each other through the window.

The other was the woman who let me know that I was missing my hair elastic. Not that she was to know that I had removed it because it clashed with my outfit today. So I thanked her and let her know that I had removed it and thanked her again for letting me know, 'cause if it had slipped off that would have been well, not a lifesaver, but something to tend.

Chris's game: We finally had the showdown with the Salt Baron (expletives inserted by our PCs who are really pissed at him). He had at least 3 salt golems and all his spells are salt-themed, like he got elemental substitution: salt. We had finished off his 2 guards and were working on the golems when 10 pm hit. Kelis, my druid, slowed down that spell-slinging idiot by casting sleet storm on his half of the room. At the same time, Gaius's (Joe's cleric) spiritual weapon is whacking on him. His 3rd salt golem is defending him but so far not 100%.

I spent most of Saturday getting the table & environs cleared for last night's game. It's a shame, I had wanted to go to What the Hell Con. Oh well.

Sunday, I took more books to the Used Book Store & bought more. But I also found V'day presents for Chris. I bought him season 1 & 2 of Veronica Mars. That was half my book bill right there. My Witch Hunter book still has not arrived. *wah*

I still need to get a birthday present for Rosemary. Chris sent me her list so I have some things to find. Joe seemed to like his Christmas present last night. I went ahead & gave the 50 comic book villains book to David. He really liked it. Joe gave me season 2 DVD of Ranma 1/2 & he utterly thrilled Rosemary by giving her the Isis tv show on DVD. He got a good D&D book for Chris & the latest Shadowrun book. Diana got the next book in a series that he'd recommended to her. I don't remember what or if Joe & David got anything from him.

Sunday, was Rosemary's game. Richard brought presents, too. He gave coffee to Chris, a couple candles to me, a Munchkin game to Joe & I can't remember what he gave Rosemary.

Those stupid undead cursed & gaunts came back to attack our characters in Rosemary's game. She had designed that encounter thinking that we'd have a 9th level cleric with us. We don't because Diana had to pull out of the game due to her irregular schedule. But Richard managed to turn the mounts (cursed, I think) & that got rid of half of the combatants. When we killed all the riders (gaunts, I think, I'm no longer certain which is which), the remaining mounts fled. They're smarter than the riders and both are nasty, icky, undead things. Midnight & Aidon only stayed alive thanks to plot immunity. Otherwise they were both just soooo dead.

The wind was intense Sunday evening. I was quite glad not to be driving.

tatting: I finally got past adding both new threads on my bookmark. I did that yesterday & last night. Then I forgot to bring it work with me today.

books: Read vol 1 of Magical JxR, Reluctant Rogue, vol 2 of Pantheon High, White Lies, & Larceny and Old Lace.

clothes: black or blue jeans, t-shirts over the weekend, polo shirt yesterday & turtleneck today.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Been busy. Much work.

Mutants & Masterminds last night. Saved mobster's life & life of Crimson Katana, again. Now fighting Sword of Heaven again & we hates Crimson Katana's wakizashi, yes, preciousss, we hates it.

books: re read the following: Rejar, Owlsight, & Surrender. Read the subsequent: Masquerading Mistress, Under Orders, Timeswept Rogue, Death of the Office Witch, Miss Treadwell's Talent, A Debt to Delia & The Edge.

tatting: a little progress on the bookmark. But ran out of variegated blue. Trying to figure out how to get it to the right point in the thread.

other crafts: scarf now the almost 1/3 up my forearm.

clothes: mostly black jeans. Worn a skirt on Wednesay. Looked good. It's been absurdly warm. We set a record, by about 8F yesterday.

Friday, February 01, 2008

*(&%&^$ I tried donated platelets today. Few things make you feel quite as worthless as failing to donate blood. They just could not get a good stick in my arm or hand. Their two most experienced phlebotomists tried.

As I was heading there I had a run-in with a jerk. It was mild but it did irritate me. As I'm pulling into the right turn lane, the right arrow goes amber. So I slow down & sure enough it's red by the time I get there. No problem. I stop, I check to see what traffic's doing & then I start my turn. As I'm checking on traffic bozo in the pick up truck behind me beeps at me. "Dude (not that he can hear me, but I talk to him anyway), red means stop, not slow down!"

Back to work & lots of doings. It was only one morning but one guy came in with a stack of HR stuff to do, both on-line & copies to make. Whee! Yeah, not so much. Then it's lunch time & my stomach is still not entirely happy from the Tums. They just don't sit right with me.

tatting: I finally turned the corner on the bookmark. It looks interesting. I'm not entirely confident about it, though.

books: I started going through some books to go to the used bookstore & set more aside for Bookcrossing. I finished reading Desire & started Shadow Fires. Once I've read it, it's going to the UBS. I'm also re-reading, because I thought that I hadn't read it, Caught Dead in Philadelphia.

clothes: black ~slippers (despite the heavy rain), knee-highs, black jeans, black belt with silver Celtic knot buckle, Celtic knot ring, earrings & triskele pendant, flower band ring, black stone band & hematite band (on left & right ring fingers respectively), braided hair & waffle weave white polo. Right now, I also have a blue bandage on over the attempted needle sites.