MY Mardi Gras 'celebration' & other recent events
Since I turned 35, I've been meaning to get a mammogram. For my New Year's Resolution, I promised myself that I'd actually get one done this year. So, this year for Mardi Gras, I bared my breasts. And had them smashed by the radiologist. Yay me. In some ways it was not as painful as I feared; in some ways it was. Ouch.

The doctor that I saw later siad that my cough was probably a residual, 2ndary infection from the flu. She doesn't think that I had bronchitis but that I probably had the flu instead. Huh. Guess my flu shot was useless this year. Glad I stayed home from work for a week. At least that way, I didn't infect anyone.

Tatting: I did have time, between/during appointments to finish another bookmark. I have made three, found an older one and I'm on yet another one. That will bring the total up to 5. I still can't find the first one I made. It's variegated blue and it was my first, ever, successfuly split chain. This tan one is the exact same motif pattern but the tail is different. I made it in one round by using split rings and a split chain.

I made a spiral for the tail of the blue one (Josephine knots). I need to take pictures of the other ones. The green and burgundy ones are also from Lindsay Rogers' Tatting Collage. I took a motif and added a tail. The yellow one that I'm tatting now is from Rebecca Jones' The Complete Book of Tatting.

A note about split chains; they are much easier to do when the thread is a tightly twisted one. I gave up on the perle 8 one that I tried to do. I kind of fudged it.

Triangle Tatters will be meeting Saturday. After that, I'll know how many more bookmarks I need to make. I promised a total of 24. *crosses fingers*

Bad News: I somehow broke the cover of my Palm pilot this morning. I'm not sure how, but only one hinge is still attached. If both hinges were gone, then I could just re-insert it. If both were present, I could clip the cover back onto them. Soooo, it doesn't look good. I won't know how bad until/unless I find the cover.

I may be shopping for a new one. I don't want the latest & greatest (I don't need a cellphone PDA). I just want one that I can move my stored info to and that recharges instead of using batteries. Is that too much to ask?

Family: off to meet Dad & stepmom for supper tonight. I'm not looking forward to the drive, but I am looking forward to seeing them. I'm going to give 3 Cups of Tea to Kathy for an early b'day present.

Still no pictures
I was gaming last night so I had no time to look for my card reader. It was go home, get game books & character sheet, get to game. Game for 3+ hours and home again to sleep.

Tatting: And I have somehow lost the first bookmark that I made. I'm hoping that it's merely disappeared into the depths of my bag. I hope. I finished the second bookmark but it still cups a little, even with the extra 2 ds per chain. Maybe I need 4 extra ds? OTOH, I did manage to do a creditable split chain again.

Gaming: It was more fun with Rosemary's character, Lady Celtic, last night. We thought that the 'revived' Allies of Freedom (Lady Celtic, her husband The Human Tank, his brother Gunner, Sgt Shrapnel, Spitfire, & Red Fox) might be clones but it turns out that they were nano-robots. We had fun fighting them. We didn't get far into the fight but we got a surprise. Lady Celtic's (the previous incarnation) son showed up and shot the fake Lady Celtic. Since he went a little out of his head recently and attacked our Lady Celtic, it was good to him on the side of Right again. Although Wraith wants to see if Troy was let out or if he got out (look for the red stamp 'Sane' on one hand). We'll finish the fight in 2 weeks.

Rosemary liked her blanket. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. But it's a good size and her old fleece blanket was losing its border.

*grumble* Where's my card reader?
I have some great photos to show but no way to download them from my camera. I have to find what I did with my card reader before I can show off.

Tatting: I finished the Eritrean flag & it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. There's a flickr group & I plan to post the picture as soon as I get it downloaded (notice theme?). Since that was finished and even mailed off, and I don't know how many bookmarks to expect from others, I started on the bookmarks for my company's adult literacy class. [I really want to finish AnneB's dragon. I have 2 of them started who just need wings.]

I decided to do something simple for my first one, so I chose the square motif from p 58 of Lindsay Rogers' Tatting Collage in variegated blue (I have a picture, honest) Olympus 40. I adapted the pattern with a split ring so that it's one round instead of two. But then when I got the end, I'd have to cut & tie and then put the tassel elsewhere. Ick.

Instead, I finally mastered split chain. I've only been trying to for 2 years. I am not kidding. I remember trying to take Karey Solomon's morning split chain bag class and just. not. getting. it. Then Mary S. at last year's Palmetto Tat Days showed me her cabochon ring trick for learning split chain. Nonetheless, when I tried it with thread my attempt yielded your basic rat's next. Yesterday, I finally got a chain instead of something that the cat threw up. See Arlene. See Arlene do the happy dance.

I am making the same bookmark again but in variegated brown Red Heart size 20. I am also adding 2 extra ds, at the beginning & the end, to the chains. My blue one cups a little and this will fix that. I tat tighter than Ms. Rogers, I guess.

Other craft: Technically the flag goes under this, too since I quilted the flag and only tatted the olive branch & wreath.

I made a quick fleece blanket for Rosemary's birthday. I bought 4 yards, 2 each of 2 different fabrics, of poly-fleece. I laid them out on the conference room table during lunch. Then I carefully trimmed them (to get rid of the selvages), clipped and tied them. It's a fairly simple way to make a reversible fleece blanket. One side is a dark tartan; navy, forest, garnet, thin yellow & thin white stripes. The other is a cheerful red with multi-colored snowflakes. It's big enough to cover her completely, and should be very warm.

Gaming: tonight is Mutants & Masterminds. Yay! I get to hit things and not think much. The funny thing is, my character Totem is very intelligent. But her ignorance of modern technology lead people to drastically underestimate her.

Apparently I failed my Perception roll
(it's a gaming joke) As I watching the news this morning, to catch the weather, I heard about a couple local housefires. There was one, a big one, not too far from where Chris works. The other one really surprised me; it's on my street. I was quite puzzled, because the fire took place yesterday afternoon and I saw no sign of it when I came home. How tired was I yesterday?

Turns out, to see the places (2 townhouses) that burned I had to take a half-dozen steps past my door. They are down the hill and around a curve. One place is so badly burned that it's been condemned. The other is not as bad, more scorched.

I'm going to send a note to the ones in the badly burned place. After all, I know their address. I'll see if there is anything I can do for them.

I'm still coughing but not as badly and most of them aren't as deep. I still do not have any energy, though. I'm going to have to call my mom and cancel my visit.

I worked on my project last night. Too bad I sewed the layers in the wrong order. I had to take it apart again. I got some done tonight. I'll finish it tomorrow and add the (tatted) olive branch & wreath.

After stressing about it for a little for over a week, I finally found a V-Day present for Chris. We don't do the stereotypical cards & flowers (although Chris did buy me a personalized 1# chocolate bar once). We try to find something that the other really, really wants. I found copy of Jim Butcher's Princep's Fury.

Back at Work
I managed 4 hours of sleep last night, plus one hour. I laid down and for the next 40 minutes I coughed. I finally got up, fixed a cup of hot tea and went to sleep more or less sitting up. I woke up an hour later, tried a cough drop, and drank another cup of hot tea before drifting off to sleep, still sitting up & half expecting to wake up in an hour, coughing again.

It's probably redundant to comment that I'm tired today. I didn't drag my usual 'OMG it's heavy' bag today. I resorted to a moderate-sized craft box/tote (I got it at 2005 Tat Days; it's about 6" x 10"x 4" deep). It's enough to carry a paperback, my mini-lunchbox of tatting, my zippered tin of tatting, my camera, and yesterday's receipts (so that I can make my reimbursement claim).

Here's a hint, if you weren't already aware, that you might be sick. You look lustfully at a pack of cough drops with the sort of yearning that you usually reserve for your favorite chocolate truffles.

I checked this morning on the tea chest that I got last year for Christmas. I have used some of the tea bags in the past year but I've really hit it hard the past week. It's 3x5 divisions with 5 tea bags per section. It's 1/3 empty now. That's a lot of tea.

My supervisor is so good. He handled most of the time-sensitive stuff for me while I was out. Considering one of the things that almost had me coming to work on Monday is this mondo huge monthly report; I am so happy I did not have to work on that today. I'm feeling wiped just catching up on the other stuff. That in addition, might have been too much.

Doctor Visit
I got some misinformation straightened out and went to see a doctor today. He gave me a prescription and I should be over this soon. Wow, all I've talked about is my health. For a week. Is everyone (okay, all, um 12 of you) bored yet? Back to work tomorrow.

It's a change from TV
I read an interview with Caitlin Kittredge at Bitten By Books. Thank goodness they've given me something to do beside try to find something to watch on TV. She wrote Nightlife. I know that I've read it but with my memory, is it any surprise that I can't remember much. She has two other series that I'm going to have to investigate, too.

Health: I was going to go to work today. Then I woke up coughing so hard that I was torn between throwing up or falling out of bed. And Chris reminded me that I have a tendency to overestimate my recovery; go back to work, manage for a day or two and then relapse. I used to do that almost every December. Get sick about the 2nd week of December and stay consistently sick until about Christmas. This year, I made it to February and even then; I've been sicker.

Knitting (loom): It took me 3 failed tries to get this scarf started. I'm hesitant to do the frog stitch and start a 4th time. But to get the scarf the length that I want I need a 3rd ball. I'd accept another color (I could put it in the middle and have matching ends); but I want it to be the same (apparently discontinued) variety of yarn.

Mom: I was wrong, she was on the way home yesterday. She brought me some very pretty cards and a very nice leather jacket. That reminds me, I need to write my letters.

Reading: I re-read Mary Jo Putney's The Marriage Spell. It's a delightful alternate history historical romance. In this world, during the Great Plague, witches and wizards came out of hiding to help heal the sick alongside the clergy. The book itself is set during the Regency and it shows potential for a series (the Stone Saints). Alas, when I emailed her shortly after I read it originally, she said that she was unable to sell the sequel stories without losing the magic aspect. I keep hoping that some agent/editer will see the potential and approach her again.

Still sick & coughing (what a surprise)
I've rested. I've drunk about a gallon of hot tea (with commiserate results). I've hacked and coughed. I've taken ibuprofen for the body aches. I've napped. I'm still sick. I'll be going to work tomorrow anyway, I think. but you better believe I'm going to try & make it a half-day. Even though I may have a caught a head cold in addition (sneezes don't go with bronchitis).

Knitting: Out of boredom, I pulled out a couple balls of yarn and the rectangle knitting loom. It's the 2nd to smallest (yellow) one and the yarn is 'bounce.' The yarn is by Premier Yarns, called Bounce, in color D8. Alas, it seems to be discontinued. It's light blue, medium blue and black. So far, the scarf is about a foot and a half long, eight inches wide, and I've almost used one whole ball. I really wanted a longer scarf, maybe I needed a third ball; or put another yarn for the center of the scarf with Bounce ends. It has a marvelous texture; velvety.

We watched L'il Abner yesterday. It's a funny movie. It's really funny, Chris looooves musicals. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. But he can't stand Barbara Streisand. Nothing against her, per se; just doesn't suit his tastes. I have managed to really clear a lot of the stuff saved on DVR (from 53% to 37%). I've also watched my copy of Twelfth Night again.

I finally managed to sleep a full night's sleep Friday night. I still woke up so dry that my lips hurt (that's not an exaggeration), but at least I had enough sleep.

Mom is coming by on her way to visit her sister down east. She should be here any minute. I"m watching Diners, Drive-ins & Dives until then.

It looks like bronchitis
Which pretty much ruins Sunday's & Monday's gaming plans. I certainly can't expose anyone else to this; especially anyone with asthma. However, I need to go to work Monday; there's stuff that I need to do. The prescription for bronchitis is rest, liquids, and humidity (and coughing, that's vital). Guess I'll rest this weekend. That might be enough for me to recover. I hope.

I don't have a humidifier so I have sort of rigged one out of an old teakettle. I've propped the spout, so it won't whistle & I check it every half hour.

Since I've been housebound, I have no other news really. I could talk about what tv I've seen but frankly, that gets boring.

I hate being sick
But then most people do. I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat & body aches. I lay there, trying to decide whether to go to work; leaning toward calling in sick. Suddenly I realized, I couldn't hear my alarm clock radio. Hazily I looked over at; 2:41 am. WTH!? I groaned and tried to go back to sleep. Unsuccessfully. I finally got up and went to drink some oj and take some painkillers. I don't feel human yet; but at least I don't feel like the walking dead. I'm catching up a little on my internet reading (groups, lists, etc) and watching Yankee Doodle Dandy.

I found a contest to win an iPod shuffle. I'd certainly like to win one. They're giving one away every Friday.

I had a blog for yesterday. I wonder what I did with it. I think it's saved on a flash drive somewhere.

Happiness is...an unexpected present
And by unexpected, I mean, out of the blue. Someone who meets with someone else in my office gave me a pendant. It's a pretty little silver piece with a lovely moonstone cabochon. It really brightened my day.

The bus was mondo late tonight. I sort of wonder why. I had a late afternoon snack and the jerky ride almost gave me motion sickness. The last time I really got motion sick was when I was 5 (coloring in the car). I cleared a shuttle though, not easily. I made a tiny little butterfly (5 3p 5, 3p3, 3p3, 5 3p 5). By the time I was on the last ring, it was not even small enough to go around two fingers. I gave it to my seatmate; she recognized that I was making lace.

I managed to get to the fabric shop tonight. I bought three fat quarters; solid red, mottled green and mottled blue. I also bought some perle 8 in golden yellow (tangerine) for the wreath. For LFR, I bought some chenille stems for markers; glittery fuschia for Lani's curses and so forth. I can get 4 markers out of one stem.

They're forecasting snow tonight. I wonder if it will really happen. We did have 2-3 days of warm weather to thaw the ground and only one day of cold weather.

Just in time, I've caught a cold; that is if my itchy, scratchy throat is any indication. I'm fine at 7pm. 8 pm, throat hurts. 10 pm, even after hot tea & soup, ouch.

Something is wrong with my office temperature setting
It should not be 78F in my office in the middle of winter. Meanwhile, a co-worker down the hall opens his door to a freezing office every morning. He has to run a heater half the morning just to get it comfortable.

The tree by my front door has relieved my mind. I saw buds on it this evening. I was getting worried because my neighbor's tree has blooms and there was nothing on mine. Since a large branch broke off last year, it was a possibility that something had killed the tree.

My knees really hurt today. I have no idea why. My knees have hurt before, so this is nothing new. Usually though I can blame conditions like, driving for hours, walking in bad shoes, etc.

I've started typing my game notes for my LFR blog. Whenever possible, I type my notes into my laptop but sometimes that is not, so I'm left trying to translate my scrawl. I'm trying to keep them in order. Yesterday, I started the blog by introducing my characters.

The days have really gotten longer. I can walk home without turning on my safety lights.

I am going to look for my Lindsay Rogers book. I think it will really help with my wreath.

Sleep is a good thing
Game ended a little late than Chris expected. He thought it was almost 11 pm. We left the house at 12:30. I was really tired and I was only playing. Running a game is much tougher. Poor Diana had to work this morning, but she planned to take a nap after work.

This morning I re-read Windrider's Oath. I really hope that he writes another book in that series.

We had pizza for lunch but something about it set me off, painfully. Oh well. I could go on but it would be just TMI.

I got word that I won a Lynsay Sands from Yankee Romance Reviewer. I squee'd. Is that too fangirlish?

Gaming: I'm thinking of starting a blog for my game notes. Since LFR is a bit more like a video game (you can play the same game over & over, as long as you play a different character), there's no worry about letting info slip. Unlike LG, you can run a game and then play it. For example, I ran Black Knight of Arabel at Wukon. I haven't played it yet, but I hope to do so.

If I do this; I think I'll keep one blog for all my characters instead of one blog per character. I have 5 characters so far, and there's a limit of something like 100, or is a 1000. That's a bit much.

TV: We're watching the Superbowl. #92 just hit the goal line, along with two Cardinal players. It looks really painful (end of the 1st half).