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).

Gaming all day (Scepter Tower of Spellguard)

It's an adaptable (you buy the book thingy and makes the changes so that it fits the campaign world) for Living Forgotten Realms and takes about 30 hours of play. We are not playing 30 hours straight. We're playing 8-10 hours today and we'll continue later.

Tatting: I made my first attempt at the wreath. I don't like it. But it did give me a couple ideas for my next try. I've so busy taking notes during the game that I haven't got much else done.

It doesn't feel like the mid-40sF
I checked the weather before I headed out to catch the bus. It said 46F, so I was not careful about slinging on my scarf...until I got out the door. Ouch, it feels very cold. I had missed the bus (if I had known for certain that I was going to, I could have waited indoors for the next one) so I got pretty cold by the time that the next one arrived. Even the heat of my laptop was not enough to keep me warm.

Tatting: since I have decided to sew the flag, I will need to either find or buy the appropriate fabrics. However, I still plan to tat the wreath. I know that I have yellow gold thread, I just need to find it. Until then, I will use the plain ecru thread to plan it.

I could show pictures of what I'd done but it's very boring. It's plain ecru thread, just rings. It does not amount to anything. Although it is an idea for a simple bag. It would just be loads of tatting.

My office is still on the warm side, mid-70'sF, but at least the humidity is down and the stink is gone. It does make it difficult to clothe myself. Do I dress for the weather, or for my office? Layers help but there's a limit.

And my neighbor's tree has bloomed again. Or still. I'm not entirely certain which. It smells a bit like bananas, oddly enough.

Gaming: It turns out that I had partially updated Idril (my eladrin wizard) already. I just needed to choose her 2nd level spell and check her defenses, skills, and feat.b

Are my eyes burning because it stinks?
For the past two days, my office has reeked. It finally faded today but yesterday my eyes were burning all day. Was it because of the aroma?

weather: We've had winter, spring and then winter again today; in 36 hours. If it had gotten just a couple degrees warmer, I would say that we'd had summer too. Tuesday was cold and drizzly. Yesterday was warm (60sF) and very wet. Today started at freezing.

clothes: By the way, just as a tip, don't wear an ankle-length or longer skirt when it's raining. I dragged the hem of my skirt through a puddle on my way home. I could not juggle my umbrella, my bag and my skirt all at the same time. It would not have been so very bad if the wet hem had not dragged over my socks and gotten those damp, too.

reading: I've made it through Nov 07 Shojo Beat, but I can't find the next two issues. I have them, somewhere. I put them up, somewhere. I just have to figure out where. Other than that, I've been re-reading. A lot. It's that whole saving money thing.

tatting: I don't want to talk about my tatting. It is not going well. I have only two weeks left before it needs to be finished. If I had a pattern, I could do it. However, I am unable to go from a dead stop to full speed ahead in that time.

Tatting and Movies
Tatting: Saturday's meeting of the Triangle Tatters was great. We had three new people; one of whom came because she needed help getting started. Luckily, she sat next to Anitra; a really good teacher. I knew one of the new people, because she's a student of Anitra's who helped at the State Fair this past year. Then, earlier this week we (because three of us found her through different avenues) found another tatter. She hopes to come to the meeting in February.

They helped me get started on my Eritrea flag project. So far it is not going smoothly. I do have a back-up plan. If I am unable to tat the entire thing then I will sew one and tat the olive branch wreath.

Movies: Over the weekend I saw three amusing movies, none of them less than 20 years old. The last, and most recently made, one was Rustler's Rhapsody. It's a comedy-Western, and it's really funny if you've watched a lot of old Westerns. We also caught part of Beach Blanket Bingo. It's not a great movie, but it's light & entertaining (still blows my mind that Buster Keaton is in a lot of the beach movies). The movie that we watched Friday night, the one that no one in Triangle Tatters had ever heard of (what is that, an instructional video?); How to Murder Your Wife. It's a funny movie; starring Jack Lemmon.

weather & shoes: The weather has turned warm. I'm wearing a cotton blouse and the cord vest over it feels like a bit much today. Monday I wore a pair of shoes that I thought was broken in; not enough apparently. Ouch. My Mary Janes hurt because although they are broken in; they hit the spots that the loafers abraded.

Books: I haven't read anything really new, except an old L. Sprague and Catherine de Camp book (The Stones of Nomuru) that I picked up at the USB. Although I do have the latest Lois McMaster Bujold waiting for me at the bookstore. I am up to October 07 in my Shojo Beat magazines. Sabrina Jeffries was at a library near me last night. I had planned to go but once I got home I was unable to leave again (the reasons are TMI).

Gaming: this weekend will be the first session of Spellguard. I need to make certain the my character is up to date. I know that a couple of them leveled at Wukon but I did not do the update because things were too rushed. I'll be playing my eladrin wizard (the ice queen, or wannabe ice queen).

READ THIS BOOK!
Sorry about the shouting, but I'm very passionate about the book that I finished reading Wednesday night, Three Cups of Tea. It's one of the few non-fiction books that I've read this year and I am so glad that I did. In 1993 David Mortensen tried to climb K2 in Pakistan but failed. On his way down, he got lost and found himself in a small village. Moved by their kindness and by the sight of the village children studying outdoors, he promised to build them a school.

Several times during this story of one man's attempts, triumphs and tragedies, I was moved to tears. True, that's not a very high bar, I've been known to cry at Hallmark commercials. The fact remains that this is a fabulous, hopeful book.

On to less serious matters...
Gaming: Last night we had an Annual edition of our Mutants & Masterminds game. As in comic books; Annuals are an episode out of the story line, usually focusing on particular members of the group. Diana had to work last night because she had Monday & Tuesday off (she went to DC for the inauguration). Rosemary wasn't up to gaming (Toby, her shelter-adopted sealpoint Siamese? died Wednesday - he was about 14 and had thyroid problems. She couldn't get him to the emergency vet because of the snow on the roads; she had to wait until the vet near her opened..and he died on the trip. Despite all her efforts, she feels guilty) so it was just Dr. Marvelous (Nate), The Wraith (Chris) & Totem (me).

David put together a pretty good plot, with a few threads to pick up later in the campaign, for only a couple hours of work. Some powered suits, with non-fatal weaponry but capable of being fitted with lethal weapons, were stolen. The military, or possibly some intelligence agency, was involved so they were keeping the local police and the supers out of the investigation.

The Wraith however, is everywhere. He read the manifest of stolen goods over the general's shoulder, for example (love that OMG hide skill). We did some investigation, sorely missing our PI, Lady Celtic. Dr. Marvelous got into some databases, Wraith spoke to his contacts and Totem chased down her half-brother to work on his training.

You kind of wonder about thieves who 1) use rubber bullets to subdue the gaurds & 2) drain the oil and gas from the stolen truck before dumping it into the river. Turns out that they were vigilantes hunting supervillains who used lethal force. It was a good fight and I got a real good 'Totem' moment. One of the people the trio was fighting had the ability to drain abilities, or suppress them. She suppressed Totem's magic; so Totem couldn't heal or use any of her other spells (translation -not using that in a fight anyway, probably and some other stuff). That means that, to Totem, she cut the connection Totem had to the gods and to her Valley. On Totem's next action she crit'd and knocked out the woman. Wraith helped by stunning her and Dr. Marvelous had helped by taking out the power in the woman's suit. But it was so perfect.

Totem, righteously irate that someone has done the unthinkable - cut her connection to the divine and violted her divine mandate - knocks her out with a solid blow of her sai (think the fight scene between the women in the flashback during Mummy Returns). Aww, cinematic goodness.

Reading: I've been catching up on my Shojo Beat magazines. I'm up to May 2007. Once I finished Three Cups and the four Thursday Next books, I've been re-reading books. I'd like to buy an external harddrive, to back up my laptop, so I'm trying to save money by not buying any new books. For at least three weeks, anyway. It's going to be soooo hard, biblioholic that I am.

Crafts

work in progress, Viking wire knitting, off the hex wrench (copper leader on the left, hanging down)

Same work, on the wrench - you can see the leader on the left. I need to practice more, my joins are still very rough.

And here it is, ready to work on it.

Warning: Snow pictures ahead (& 1 pair of slippers)
Pictures from yesterday's snow (on the way to & from work). I did not realize until I downloaded the pictures, but the camera's clock hasn't been reset for Standard Time.


A neighbor's tree


Yep, those are my footprints.


I should know what these bushes are, but honestly. I have no idea.


There's an old, small graveyard near where I live. Poor thing is a little neglected but very picturesque.


Oddly, the sidewalk was almost completely clear.


This last one is at the end of the day; about 4:30 or so. After having a little chance to melt (it did stop snowing after all), here's some snow on holly.

And finally, the slippers my SO called, with some truth, uglier than deep-fried sin:

Weatherman was right; how unexpected
It snowed last night & it's still snowing. It's even accumulating.

I saw one car upended in a ditch (rear bumper in the ditch, front wheels in the air) but my bus was only a little late. However, that did not last as the police blocked one stretch of road, both ways, on my route to work. It was almost half an hour before they managed to turn the bus around and detoured it around the blockade, to take another route into work. Now I'm at work and I'm hoping that I'm able to get home again.

Everyone is full of tales of 'not coming to work', 'delays to work', etc. One guy was flying in and said that he spent 2 hours flying over NC & VA, just kind of circling.

Poor Chris got to work; stayed about an hour and then headed home again. He said that when he got back, you could not tell where his car had been parked overnight. It had snowed over.

I'm going to leave early; the only question is when. Since I rode the bus, my options are 2:40 & 3:30. Nothing sooner and I sure don't plan to take anything later.

Your Mother Always Thinks that You're 12
I have a holiday today. I plan to get a few odds and ends done; maybe go by Circuit City & see if any CDs or electronics are still there.

Came back last night from seeing my mom this weekend. Since the weather was possibly uncertain, I called my mom Friday night to check to see if we were still on for our visit. Okay, so they were only calling for maybe rain and flurries but it's been 9 years since the last time the weather guys drastically underestimated things and it was 7 years before that (1993 blizzard and 2000, year of 20" snow). It's due. And considering the cold I wasn't certain if she'd be home.

I called her Friday night & Saturday, but didn't leave to see her until she called me back; just to be certain. Turns out, she hadn't listened to her messages. Silly Mother. Anyway, the first thing that she said to me (after hello, honey, etc) "when did you last comb your hair?" I managed to not roll my eyes and replied, "Just before I left home." Which is true, but the ear muffs, etc had pulled hair out of my braid, so my hair looked a little disarrayed. Once a mother, always a mother.

Anyway, we did some straightening (helping mom pack stuff to give away) and watched Twelfth Night. It's a good play; but I wished that they'd use blue filter because the night scenes were incredibly hard to see. It's also a very confusing play; I had to explain to mom what was going on.

Last night was belated birthday for David M & Diana. We took them out to eat to Kanki's. The food was good but the pair of girls that with whome we shared the table... OMG, can you believe what he said, what she did,..and just on and on. I was right next to them & I missed most of the conversation s with my friends because these two girl just drowned them out. I think that they were in high school, I certainly hope that no one over twenty acts like that. I hope that I didn't act like that when I was their age. Oh gods, I'm old. *whimper*

Poor Chris is sick today. I mean miserable sick. So we're watching Kung Fu Hustle. It's a very funny movie, but I should warn you; there's a little violence in it. Saturday we watched Kung Fu Panda. A movie that was funnier than I expected.

reading: I also finished the 3rd and 4th Jasper Fforde Thursday Next novels. I wonder if there's a fifth one? I also need to find the 2nd Nursery Crimes book.

Gaming: Ideal game table

What a way to start the Day
I woke up, got up and promptly broke my glasses this morning. It wasn't a huge OMG moment. It was more of an 'oh crap' moment. I was running late and ended up wearing a jacket instead of my 'OMG it's cold' coat. At least I'm wearing layers. Only my head is covered only one layer deep.

However, breaking my glasses, or at least the nylon string that held the left lens in place, did mean a trip to get them fixed. It took longer to get there (20 minutes) than it did to get them fixed (5 minutes).

As anyone on North America can attest, it's frigging cold today. Around here it started in the teens F. It's gotten all the way into the mid-20's now. That's still too darn cold.

Do you ever watch Hogan's Heroes? That tv series was originally planned as a prison comedy but it made more sense when put in a POW camp. Have you ever read about the actors who were in it? Most people know about Werner Klemperer's story; his father was a famous composer and they were German Jews who fled the Hitler regime. John Banner, who played Sarge Schultz was an Austrian Jew who happened to be in Switzerland on a tour. During the war, he acted in Hollywood, ironically often playing Nazis. Robert Cleary was a French survivor of the Holocaust. Take a look sometime. It's very interesting.

Website of the Day: Small Challenges (click to donate for education & economic development)

Pity my neighbor's poor, gullible Bradford pear tree. It apparently believed that spring had arrived and it has blossomed. Just in time for the temperatures to dip into the teens (F). Our tree did not believe, that or its dead. It lost a massive trunk/branch and the tree company did absolutely nothing to protect the open wood. Or perhaps the woodpecker ringed it finally.

On the bright side, there's about 10 hours of sunlight so there's about the same amount of light when I head home as when I leave for work. No more walking home in the pitch black.

Work's been busy. It's report time and that has picked things up a bit. No real surprise there, I guess. I should have expected it, I suppose.

I've lost more fingernails. I don't know if the dry air or if its just me. I'm trying to put moisturizer on my fingernails and I hope it helps them from getting worse.

I've started reading the next (pardon the pun) Thursday Next novel; on a Thursday yet. It's Lost in a Good Book and I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm also trying to catch up on reading my Shojo Beat magazines.

The con went pretty well. Sunday morning there was a church group/meeting two banquet rooms away. We were cautioned to be on our best behavior, or at least to watch our language. The addition of their noise was a bit much. If their room was the same size, and it probably was, then why did they need a microphone and amplifiers? The opening music was very nice. The preacher's voice was good. However, the soloist who followed was a little, um, flat. I mean, painfully flat.

We came home Monday and alas, I was not able to sleep at all on the way. I went to bed at 8 pm though. Did not really help, I was still tired this morning. And of course, work had piled up.

I finally read 1635: Cannon Law. I've had it for awhile but since it's so thick, I delayed starting it until I knew that I could devote some time to it.

I caught the movie School of Rock, or most of it. It was a decent movie. Not a great movie; but a decent one.

By playing in two low-games on Friday, my primary character (Lannashika "Lani" the feylock) is finally 4th level. That means that I could play the higher level tables today and tomorrow.

I ended up signing up to run Black Knights of Arabel tomorrow morning. I haven't played it yet but if I run, then there'll be two tables and everyone else can play. I've had fun this weekend and having the games in a Denny's has made it easy to keep fed.

We have spread word of the Tracks clan throughout the con. It has amused several people. That is after all, the point.

At the last table tonight, poor Jay has the coldest dice. He rolled like 8 misses in row, that I kept track of anyway. That does make the fight go a little faster.

I haven't gotten any tatting really done. I've been keeping notes so my hands have not been free to tat.

I was almost blown away yesterday, and I don't mean in a good way. Wind gusts up to 63mph in this area. Plus scatterings of rain, which made the walk home last night interesting. I was once again wearing not-quite-suitable shoes and the rain was enough that I took off my glasses and then often had to close my eyes to protect them from the stinging rain. Thank goodness Mom bought me that flashing safety light. The earphones on my iPod protected my ears and a scarf protected my neck. By the time I got home, I was damp and half my face felt frozen. At least the temps were below freezing. Of course, if they had been, I would have been dressed differently. With more scarf for one thing.

Tatting: I finished the body of the dragon and now it's time to start the wings. I didn't feel like pulling up the PDF to do them so I started another dragon in burgundy.

Nod to politics: NC has its first female governor. Or will, as of Saturday.

Gaming: Wukon's venue has been changed. The hotel changed hands and the new management have the option of honoring the contracts; assuming that they didn't get lost in the changeover. Something similar happened to two other cons that I know of in the past 7 years. One had to renegotiate the contract as the new management knew nothing about it and the other had to change hotels when the new management decided not to honor the contract.

However, the organizer was not able to find a new hotel when he found out last week that he no longer had a valid contract. So we'll be gaming at Denny's. At least there's no worries about getting food.

BTW, strawberry cider is good if very sweet. I wonder how it would work in cooking. Not that I have enough left to cook.

Weather: It rained this morning. It wasn't cold enough for snow or sleet or even freezing rain. It just came down wet and dreary. Alas, I wore the wrong shoes for this weather and ended up with one very wet foot. I had to set the sock and shoe aside to dry this morning.

Gaming: This weekend is Wukon. I was hoping to play some Witch Hunter but it looks like it's going to be an all LFR (Living Forgotten Realms) weekend.

Would you like to see a picture of a cloud-draped moon? I had the hardest time standing still enough to get this shot.

Last night was the New Year/Christmas party. We exchanged gifts and watched Hogfather. It was fun. I think that I could do a Susan costume, in her governess aspect anyway.

My namesake had a playmate; another little girl, daughter of two other guests. At one point, they were playing together in her bedroom when the other girl's mother stopped by to check on them. She asked a few questions (what are the fish's names, etc) when my namesake popped up with 'you're interrupting our game. Can we go back to it now', or words to that effect. Everyone agrees; she's her father's daughter.

Liz gave me a wonderful scarf that she wove. It feels and looks fabulous. Poor Alisa, she left my present at home. She plans to mail it to me later. A present that is kind of an extra gift; a jar of apple sauce. It's made from the apples from the trees that I gave Liz & James about eight to ten years ago. It's the first year that they've gotten a decent crop. Last year's crop was destroyed by a frost. It probably would have been a good year if it weren't for that.

If it had not rained so much this morning, I'd want to go take a look. But it's a bit muddy and I'm wearing loafers.

James introduced us to a new show; Rough Science. It's vastly entertaining. Every high school, and some elementary & some college, science class should watch this show.

I started AnneB's dragon, with just text directions. That didn't work, as I realized when I opened my laptop to check the PDF with pictures. So I cut it off the shuttle, gave it to namesake, and started again. I've had to stop because I'm using my 2008 wood Palmetto shuttle & I need a better hook to make the upcoming join.

I've decided, emergencies permitting, that my next big purchase is a portable harddrive. I was looking at them last week and that really is the best way to store and protect my data vs hard drive crash. I can get one for about $80 that should be big enough.

By the way, Americanas lay green eggs. Tasty eggs.

It's quarter to ten and I'm at the Jarrett house near Plyler. No idea where Plyler is? What about New London? Still don't know. Try Albemarle; not the county & not the sound, the town. It's funny. James moved closer, geographically, but it takes longer to get to his house.

Chris & I arrived after 11 pm. He had to work and we ate supper before we left. Our journey was slowed by heavy fog in places, until we got to the river. Keith was already here, and we stayed up talking until after 1 am. Needless to say, we all slept a little late this morning. It's still foggy, by the way.

My big excitement on New Year's Eve was watching Pajama Party & Guns of Navarone. Until 11 pm, when we went to bed, too sleepy to stay up farther.

New Year's Day, we played Living Forgotten Realms. We started a little late because of a miscommunication about where we were playing. We still finished both games by 8 pm. My Tracks character is now 2nd level. She's the 4'1" drow rogue. The entire House Tracks is a family of very short drow. Really. They'll tell you that they're drow.

My namesake really is cute. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Sad News: I have just learned that Eartha Kitt died. I never knew her, but I was a fan of her work.

Work has been so boring. Without many people around, I just have a lot less to do. The buses have even been running on time. Ah well, that will change next week when things pick up again.

Thursday, I'll be playing more Living Forgotten Realms. Friday, I'll be shopping again; picking up a few last presents. Then that night, Chris & I are off to the annual party.

Chris insisted I watch Hot Fuzz. Man, I really enjoyed that movie. It was a little slow to start but it was very funny. It's good enough to watch again.

Gaming: By the way, Menace of the Icy Spire (Living Forgotten Realms) is rough with only 4 players. We survived, barely. That does mean that it took a little longer. That first fight was the roughest (14 rounds of combat, with only one opponent on either side for the last 2 or 3).

On the bright side, my dragonborn cleric is now 3rd level. On the dark side, that means that she's too high to play Spellguard. I now have 2 third-level characters and three 1st level. Sigh. Whoops. I'd better play a 1st level character to get her to 2nd.

There's some bad news on the gaming front. Lost Goblin is closing its doors Wednesday. It's another victim of the crappy economy.

Family: Breakfast this morning with Chris's parents, and sister-in-law and niece. I felt a little sorry for the niece. She was probably bored silly.

After breakfast, we went to the grocery store. Finally. We've only been stopping by, 'to pick up one or two things,' for months. We got some of the staple items today. Then off to Best Buy for Chris to spend his gift cards.

I bought a game for myself; Polly Pride: Pet Detective ($10, whee). It's another find the hidden items game, with a variety of mini-games.

And tomorrow it's off to work again. I am not looking forward to it.

Gaming: We're worried about Diana. She never came to gaming last night & she didn't call or email. That is very unlike her. She didn't answer her cell or her home phone (okay, sometimes she doesn't do that, but still). Hopefully she'll be at the game this afternoon and we'll find out that she's okay.

The game (4e D&D) itself went pretty well last night, but that penultimate fight got kind of rough. Half the group was bloodied by the time it was over and everyone had used their encounter healing. We even took a long rest before dealing with the final encounter. My cleric is 2nd level now and I plan to play her again today.

I'm off to see my friend, Mitra. She's in town this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing her. We're meeting at the bookstore nearby.

Crafts: I've made another cotton potholder. I need to make another one & I'll be done, for now. It's also blue & white. I suppose I should take a picture..but how interesting is a potholder after all?

Christmas-y stuff: One thing that I forgot to mention about the drive home from Dad's. One of his near neighbor's has those cement deer in his yard, three of them. As I was making the turn, sweeping my headlights over those cement deer, the fourth one leapt away and into the darkness.

Mom got off work early on Wednesday so I drove down to her place Christmas Eve. I still haven't found her present, but she's okay if it's late. We spent Christmas Day watching my Mae West movies, John Wayne movies and Casablanca (which I had never watched all the way through before). We also spent time sorting mom's stuff into 'keep' and 'give away' piles. The give away stuff went out to her car, so it's really ready to give away.

We got up really early this morning and went out to breakfast before Mom went to work. I drove home, unsurprisingly traffic was pretty light. When I got home my smoky stuff went into the washing machine & I washed my hair. I love my mom; I do not love the smell of cigarette smoke.

Instead of baking the Amish friendship bread, I split it up & gave two of the starter bags to my neighbors, along with a woven potholder. I still have two neighbor presents left to give. I have enough loops to make at least two more potholders, thank goodness.

This afternoon, Chris is running a Living Forgotten Realm game; Barrow of the Ogre King at David M's house. Joe is riding with us, saves gas.

Movies: The Bachelor Mother is one of my favorite Christmas movies. It's just so funny. I could see it really well because Chris went and got the new tv last night.

We'd been talking about it since the last one died in July but we had a workable one (that Dad gave me last year) so just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Then a friend of ours had her tv die and frankly, it's her 3rd breakdown (equipment-wise) this year. So she gets the workable tv and Chris bought a new flatscreen LCD 40". It was really eye-opening.

Christmas stuff: Went to see Dad et al on Sunday. I forgot to take dessert though. *sigh* I remembered Friday & forgot afterward. I was late because just as I was about to leave, I dropped an open 2-liter bottle of soda. That took half-an-hour to clean up, it would have taken less if I'd remembered my sham-wow. Chris did remember & when he got home he finished cleaning up the soda. I'm just glad that it was diet. It reduces the stickiness; a little.

The presents that I gave mostly went over well. The block of initial post-it's went over really, really well (much to my bafflement). So did the cellphone charm (hers had just broken recently & the one that I got went well with the phone bling). Hopefully she'll read the copy of Good Omens that I gave her. She needs to read more.

Dad loved both parts of his present. Since I didn't get the information to Mike in time (to have the Koshare album made), I went & bought a photo album with the Marine Corps emblem.

That was part 1. Part 2 is for me to spend the weekend with Dad as we go through & set up the photo album/memory book. He is to pull photos and I'll put the pages together. I got a pad of Marine paper, US emblems and other additives; plus a strip of palm trees. That last is because he was stationed at 29 Palms. I may have to cut the strip to get 29, but I think that it will work.

Kathy liked her pendant, which is good since I've had it September, the same time that I got the cell phone charm. I'm uncertain about how she liked the book of knitted bags.

I need to go get Mike's present & mom's present today. It was just so cold yesterday that I couldn't make myself go out.

I have been reading a lot. I've read the 1st two Stephanie Plum books and about three other books.

Weather: 3rd day of fog. Whee. How very...seasonal. Somewhere.

Chris made me almost squee today. He gave me the final present from him; Manga: the Monster Book of Manga Girls. Of the presents from co-workers, one and only one has not been chocolate-based food. One person just came back from visiting Hershey so that really should not have been a surprise. Actually, I lie, I got 3 non-food gifts. One is a lovely ornament (handmade and dated) and the others were hand lotion & scented liquid handsoap. But the latter came with candy. So I'm undecided whether to really count them.

I gave Chris the tin of ginger cookies tonight (after he gave me the book). He likes ginger cookies and there are at least 6 packages/tubes in the tin. He usually gets a single one from the booth at the State Fair and makes them last a couple weeks.

I gave out the hangers that mom made yesterday. They were a real hit. It's not cheap to get good hangers. Mom takes good metal hangers and then weaves/covers them with yarn. That pads them and makes them quite pretty. She also puts tubing or something similar over the hook. I gave out 3 per person, but Emily got an extra 3, child-sized ones. She announced, last week, that she's pregnant.

Mom called tonight. Thank goodness. I've been trying to reach her unsuccessfully (once was a busy signal so I wasn't worried or anything). I'll be seeing her Christmas Day. All her friends are working (yeah, nurses) so she's free. And I had hoped to see her Monday & Tuesday (go see Dad on Sunday, then spend the night with her Sunday and go home Tuesday) but she's working.

Saturday I go get Dad's present & wrap everything. I really meant to wrap stuff last Friday but just didn't get it done.

Plans are made for the New Year get-together. I'll need to make certain that we have everything for that. I haven't bought Keith's calendar yet. I've been buying him a T&A calendar for over a decade. I'm not certain how he'd react if I didn't give him one. I have most of them but I need to check that I haven't forgotten anyone.

Gaming: I've registered for WuKon. I changed one game; in part so that the game that Chris & Rosemary are playing will make. I emailed one of the organizers and it looks like I will get a chance to play Witch Hunter. He asked for games that I had not played, as suggestions for what to get.

Tatting: I'm still doing snowflakes but Jane, that naughty Jane. She has tempted me. She has a new technique for beaded picots & I soooo want to play with it.

Donation: successful! My arm hurts like the dickens (worse than the time that they hit the nerve bed under the vein in my arm) but it's like 2" from the stick site. How weird is that. I wore my I Bleed Carolina Blue t-shirt under my turtleneck. I knew that I'd need short sleeves for the actual donation & the turtleneck is 'cause it's supposed to drop temperatures all day (& has).

Donation went fairly smoothly, no dizziness, bled quickly, etc. Then once I was done, I checked in as a volunteer. I helped steer the people (1 woman, rest were men) who were donation double red blood cells. I'd do that myself but I'm 2" under the minimum height requirement for women.

I saw some people I know (big surprise, right?) and met a couple more. I picked up my free t-shirt & back to the office.

Work for an hour or so & then off to the department holiday luncheon. Really good food again this year. I sat with some of the folks from the Card office. Mike (Department Head) joined us. He's been sick again, poor guy.

Back to the office, where it's really, really quiet. I managed to get one point of a snowflake done today. That's it. It's hard to tat with only one hand and well, I needed to pay attention when I was volunteering.

Oh, but how cool is this! LadyShuttlemaker is giving away one of her fabulous shuttles. She makes the most delicious hand-dyed threads, too.

Christmas party was on Saturday. I finally met Rosemary's nieces; they are so cute. We made decorated cookies and ate them. We also exchanged presents.

John & I already gave Chris his camera. I also gave him a Blue Planet t-shirt. I gave Rosemary her "Help, my dice are trying to kill me" t-shirt and Diana her "Pwnage" t-shirt. Alas, Thinkgeek's women shirt sizes are just a lot small (XXL is 16-18? WTF?). Chris gave me a cute little soft plush kitty, couple cute t-shirts, and Rosemary gave me Mae West Glamour Collection and the latest Pink album. David R gave me a DVD of classic Loony Tunes. Chris & Rosemary, together gave me the complete set of Elfquest comics. Mine were destroyed by water and I was devastated. How fabulous that they found the replacements. You can't see me, but I'm squee'ing.

Maya seemed to like chewing on her present, or at least the case. We got her a Backyardigans DVD. David M got FE gift cert & a 4e book for Christmas & birthday.

After the party, some of us stayed and ate supper from Olive Garden. Alas, I fell asleep on the couch (clutching the kitty that Chris gave me). Hey, I was tired!

Sunday we played LFR. David R ran it; his first time ever. He did a pretty good job. He's run games before & that helps a lot. Rosemary & I both wore our new t-shirts.

The weather was very seasonal. Cool to cold at night & almost warm in the afternoons.

Today was very slow at work. But tomorrow I'm donating blood & then volunteering so I'll be out of the office most of the day.

Website of the day: list of shops participating in bookmark drive in 2008. I will look back & see if they participate again in 2009. I have some bookmarks to make.

Okay, winter is back. And the moon is gorgeous. I tried to take a picture but every shot was blurry. *sigh* I also want some steamed milk & honey.

John came by and we gave Chris his birthday/Christmas present. He's thrilled. We gave him a digital camera, extra memory card & batteries. It's just in time to take pictures at the party tomorrow.

We gave John the cd, Gaelic Voices. We got lucky; he doesn't have that one.

I finally got registered & signed up for games at Wukon. I'm mostly going to be playing LFR with one game of Witch Hunters.

I ordered some presents from hungersite.com today and picked up a few things from the Student Stores (today was their end of the year sale).

It's almost 70F, 87% humidity, we've had almost an inch (.82) of rain since midnight & yes, this is December. Theoretically, this is winter, no matter what it feels like outside.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds tonight. I had completely forgotten, so it's good thing that David sent his reminder email on Monday. Now if he'd just review those changes to Totem, I'd be ready for tonight's game.

David is running his first LFR game on Sunday. I think he's nervous, but he has no reason to be. One) LFR is the closest thing to a pick up roleplaying game that I've ever seen. Two) He's running the game for friends, who will gladly help him.

I found my Palm Pilot. Now to locate my phone & my iPod mini. My shuffle decided to freeze up Tuesday but letting it run down & then charging it up fixed it.

Saturday is Rosemary's annual cookie party. She cuts out the sugar cookies (or these days, just buys the precut ones) and we spend the time decorating, baking & eating them. She serves mulled cider, mulled mead (for those who aren't driving), and soda. It's a nice, quiet party. We often unwrap presents, too.

I've mailed off two cards to Holidays for Heroes, including a small snowflake in each one. Now I need to finish & mail the cards going to relatives.

The contractors who handle the dining/cafeteria had the luncheon for their office staff today. Since they're just down the hall from us, they invited our office to join them. OMG, what wonderful food. Apple & raisin salad with some kind of vinaigrette; pumpkin & something bisque; pork medallions with sweet bbq sauce; mashed sweet potato with honey & pecans; 'mac & cheese' (bowtie pasta) with lobster; greens; dinner rolls with apple butter; and pear tart and chocolate cookies for dessert. Yum, yum, yum. Plus, one co-worker brought in some Danish pastry that someone sent & someone else brought in a baklava platter. I am so full. *burp*

tatting: I've been trying to decide what variation to try next. I may do another Cebelia size 30, but without beads this time.

Facebook kitty

It's warmer today, above freezing all day. One of the ways that I can tell is that I have not needed to turn on the heater in my office.

Bitten By Books is running a contest, 15 Naughty Nights of Christmas. Lots of fun ebooks.

I've been busy all day today. What did I do? I don't remember.

I think this should be a dragon egg. I think.

Chris was stroking my arm and commented, 'you're so soft. You're even better than Sears. And they have Craftsman tools!' I still don't know whether to be insulted or complimented.

Very cold last night & this morning. Chris was trying to cheer me up & took me to Kanki's. The water in the fountain outside was starting to get a sheen of ice, at about 7pm. Brrrr.

I saw a woman who works down the hall from me, so I stopped by early this morning to ask how she'd enjoyed Kanki last night. She had the most delightful 'um, how did you know that?' expression on her face.

Should I? Write or Die!

Tatting: snowflakes, all of them are Ribbon Floss snowflakes from Sunderman's Tatted Snowflakes. They aren't blocked or fully finished yet.
perle 5 thread, no beads

same thread, with pearl beads


Size 80 DMC, variegated blue

variegated blue thread, but I've lost the label


size 10 thread; it's from a ball that I picked up at a thrift shop in a bag with others so I don't know the brand.

Same thread, with silver beads

I've made a couple other snowflakes, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet. I've also made some butterflies & flowers from the leftover thread on the shuttles.

Yesterday at work we had the annual Jingle Bell Jog. It was a mile and a half walk (or three mile jog) with snacks to follow. I didn't win anything in the door prize drawing but I did give some stuff to the Food Bank. I don't know if that's why but I was so tired last night that I went to bed at 9 pm.

I planned to get more done, like another Viking wire knitting bracelet, my Christmas cards, or wel, anything. So far, I've done diddly and squat.

Unusual, old style, doll
This is one of three or four that I have that were made at the Harmony Hall Heritage Day
This one is a square of muslin, with the edges cut and tattered. Then tie a knot in the center of the square and reverse the fabric of the knot, concealing it inside. Take a scrap of other fabric and tie under the knot; that forms the head. The rest of the square forms the dress. If desired, tie a knot in two of the ragged strips, to form ~hands.

Okay, this is kinda silly, but there's this game on Facebook and I tried something but it didn't work.

shopping: I didn't make it to Staples in time. I did get to K-Mart but I should have bought one of those robes on sale. I need a good warm, robe. They were out of the flannel sheets that I wanted. I got a couple new 2GB flashdrives ($7.99). They are kept locked up so the cashier had to page the person with the keys.

The same person also keeps the keys to the cameras, games, etc. Needless to say, she was in high demand. Between her getting my flash drive and getting me to the check out line, she got things for at least two other customers. After I was finally in line, I just stood there, smiling slightly. After all, why not? Being irritable wasn't going to make the line move faster. That really struck her, that I was shopping on Black Friday & looked happy.

Since the other stores that I wanted to visit were on the other side of my house, I went home for lunch. The mall was a little much but Michael's wasn't bad. I had read the sale wrong though & the case I wanted wasn't on sale yet. The thing that worried me is that I as I was parking my car, I saw a sundog. I love my mom, but I didn't want to get trapped in Greensboro by bad weather.

Mom: I had a nice visit with mom....except for the fact that I woke up with a migraine on Sunday. She and I did a little shopping on Saturday. She bought my Christmas presents early; things like very nice earmuffs, a new pedometer, etc. I also have two new, very soft & fuzzy towels. They are so soft they feel like velvet. Mmmmm.

She packed stuff to give away and I helped her sort things. We ate leftover turkey for supper and watched tv. It's pledge week on PBS so her usual shows were not on, but they did have Celtic Women. For that particular show, we both want to have a long, possibly violent, talk with the costumer.

Mom doesn't keep much pain medicine in the house so we had to stop and get some on the way to breakfast. I think mom goes to that restaurant a lot (it's good and inexpensive and real food). The waitress came by to refill her coffee and when she saw that it was not necessary, commented that mom wasn't drinking as fast as usual.

Mom told me more about her teen and college years. I knew some of it; like her dorm had no real doors. It was a hall with the dorm rooms on either side & the hall was open to the elements. The rooms had louvered doors and even the bathrooms had only curtains for the shower stalls. It was built in the early '30's and even though it was in Miami, it still got cold at night. For warmth, she & her roommate put their beds together. The girls in the rooms on either side joined them & all six slept crosswise on the beds, with every blanket that they could gather. Brr. I did learn that my mom worked in a bank until she was old enough to get into nursing school without her parents' permission.

We picked up a couple things at Walgreens on the way back to mom's apartment and my head still hurt. I left a few painkillers, including that bottle of migraine meds, at mom's; for the next time I visit. I get headaches, etc more than mom does. She gets headaches less than a handful of times a year. She's in remarkably good, and pain free, health.

I stopped at KMart on the way home but the robe sale was over. At Michael's I found the case on sale so I got one. I also bought some colored wire and as I was checking out, the woman in line behind me asked about it. She's an art teacher and always on the lookout for new arts to teach, especially that will appeal to boys. She liked the sound of Viking wire knitting; I recommended Lacemakers for the kit.

gaming: Chris was still playing the Living Forgotten Realms game and he didn't get home until late. I finally put my halfling character on a character sheet instead of a page of notebook paper. I think I will add a post-it note with her attack information with all of her weapons and powers. There's not enough room on the character sheet for that sort of thing.

Bus: Monday was the first day of the new bus schedule. My stop is now ten minutes earlier in the morning. Monday, it was on time. Yesterday it was more than ten minutes late. It took quite awhile, after I arrived at work, before I warmed up. At least I had my new earmuffs and I wore my leather jacket.

Tatting: I've made another snowflake. I'm sticking with the same pattern, oddly enough for me. I'm varying thread & beads, though.

Thursday, I'm meeting Dad for supper. I finally found his scrapbook. I really wanted to get it scanned but I don't have the money for that right now.

Have you ever seen a character on tv and gone, 'oh my god, I know that guy/girl!' I don't mean, 'I know that actor', I mean that you know someone just like that character. Sometimes, if you're unlucky, you are that character. There are two characters, one on The Big Bang Theory & the other on Criminal Minds, that really remind me of a friend. Even though he will never read this, I'm still being discreet and not mentioning names. Reason for discretion? The two characters are Sheldon & Reid.

It was cold this morning again. Frost limned the grass and I really needed my scarf & gloves. For once, I didn't wear the multiple layers, though. Gosh, I'm talking about the weather a lot recently.

I did get home a little early today. So I watched some of the older (October) shows that I have on tape.

Happy Thanksgiving.

It's still cold and it feels even colder when it rained; despite the fact that it was actually a little warmer. It was warm enough tonight that I didn't need to wrap my scarf around my head. I have a lovely blue & white scarf that is long enough that I double it & pull the ends through the fold to wrap around my neck. When it was really cold on Monday, I pulled one layer up over my head & ears while the other layer stayed around my neck.

Mom gave me two new knit caps when she stopped by on Saturday. One is a little small but very tightly crocheted. The other is longer but loosely crocheted. She ran out of thread on the 1st one. When it's cold enough for hats again, I'll probably wear the tight one inside the loose one. At least until I fix the seam on my fleece cap.

I've made the same snowflake in size 30 Cebelia, with silver-lined seed beads. I'm working on a second one with beads on the chains, too. I need to take pictures of the ones that I've made so far.

I think that my fingernails are committing suicide, now. I had one tear off at the cuticle. Even with a bandaid on all day, it still hurts. And the ones that remain are so thin that I can't even open 'open this with your fingernail' fasteners. *whimper* Maybe I need more sage & gelatin in my diet.

Mom stopped by on her way home today. She couldn't stay long though, or she'd get caught in football traffic. And that is not something that anyone wants to mess around with/in/etc.

I managed to get the entry way a little better. And fill up one small box of books to take to the USB. Plus another small box to go to a thrift shop (shoes and Christmas lights). Now I can find my rack of shoes, instead of one small portion. I still need to do something with the books there, though. I need to do a more thorough gleaning.

Who turned on winter? It's about 20F below seasonal right now. That's just 'unnatural' for an excessively loose definition of 'unnatural' of course. I've been cold pretty much all day.

I need to go now. I still have a character to create for tomorrow's game.

Fingernails: I have broken four, or more I kind of lose track, this week alone. I wonder if it's the dryness in the air. Goodness knows I've been drinking water like it's about to be banned.

Health: I'm torn, is there really something wrong with my jaw (it hurts a little and it's more painful when I open my mouth wide to eat) or am I being a hypochondriac again. And which is worse; to be a hypochondriac or to be a self-aware hypochondriac? This is also my third day with this headache. Or maybe it's been three different headaches, just sequential.

Saturday, mom is stopping by on her way home from visiting her sister. I hope that she found me some sheets to use for chemises (old cotton sheets are the best). Sunday, I'm going to the used book store before having lunch with friends and playing some more LFR.

Gaming: Living Forgotten Realms on Sunday. I almost forgot. I need to have my halfling,ahem 'scuse me Drow, rogue, Black Raspberry Chocolate Tracks, written up by then. Looking at halflings in 4E, they are wimpy. They're small and their weapon damage sucks. So Chris & Rosemary had the idea of creating the Tracks family. It's a large family of halflings who claim to be really, really short drow. One Rosemary's character is a warlock with the Dark Pact (pact made with Drow, I think). Chris's ranger has burnt cork smeared, unevenly, over his face and I can't remember if his white wig is constantly crooked, or if he bleaches his hair. I'll find out Sunday. I haven't fully decided upon my rogue's peculiarities yet. Although I think I'll have her jealous of her cleric younger brother (he's already 5th level, or so I hear).

Weather: It's almost warm today. It's clear, hit 50F and very little wind. It's not going to last, though.

Additional information

Holiday cards should be mailed to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD. 20791-5456

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10. Cards should not be mailed or delivered to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

For more information, visit www.wramc.amedd.army.mil or www.redcross.org/holidaymail for Holiday Mail for Heroes program guidelines.Walter Reed is not accepting mail addressed to "A Recovering American Soldier."

Thanks, Kathy for the heads up.

Weather: Gah, it's cold. Yesterday only hit the 40's (for those used to colder weather, yeah, that's nothing but for us, it's cold for this time of year) with a wind chill making it feel like the 30's. It even snowed yesterday. Of course, it was mostly just flurries and nothing even made it to the ground but it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

And yes, the walking group met & we walked outside, all three of us. We did the Gimghoul route. We just went along Gimghoul Road, not up to the castle. I wore my sweater, even though my coat's heavier, because the sweater has a hood; a vital necessity considering the wind.

Christmas cards: it's about that time. And here's a little something to think about when you are making out your Christmas card list this year; send one to the following:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Carolina Troop Supporters were in the Pit last night, gathering letters for our soldiers. I stopped to write one. It meant that I missed my bus & had to wait half an hour for the next one, but I think that it was worth it. My toes disagreed (until they warmed up).

Tatting: I have finished one small flake in perle 5 and started another one, with pearls. The pattern is from Sunderman's book, p 12, Ribbon floss snowflake.

I took advantage of the rain on Friday, I wiped down my car. I used a shamwow that I bought during the State Fair. I may have ruined it, as it's now quite black. We'll see how it comes out of the washer. On the bright side, my car looks much better. It's no longer black & I got all the leaves off of it. That did not last of course, it's right under a Bradford pear, but it did make a difference.

I got 9 hours of sleep Friday night. Guess I was tired, huh? Then I took a 3-hour nap Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, not much cleaning. Managed to at least get the kitchen to where we can cook again. We've been on the go so much, the house is just plain cluttered.

Gaming: Sunday, since one of the player's bailed on Rosemary's game, I ran Nature's Wrath, a Living Forgotten Realms game. Only one of the player's had ever played it. Since there were only 4 players, two who had planned to come got sick, the fights went quickly. They had no healing so the fights got quite challenging. At some point, all four characters got bloodied (1/2 hit points). Rosemary won't be running her home game again until January. It's just too difficult to arrange a time around the holidays.

Last night was Chris's game. We didn't have a fight; our characters delivered the magic artifact to the elf queen, got the treaty from and got the chance to do some research done in her library (working on a dangling plot line). Then the characters managed to sneak back through enemy lines to their own side.

After our characters had two weeks leave, and got paid for rescuing the Baron's children, they got their new assignment. They get to go sabotage the enemy supply depot and supply line. That's what happens when your characters are 12th & 13th level scouts; not the character class, the branch of the Imperial army. If we don't play again after Thanksgiving, then this will be the last game of the year.

Tatting: it's past time to start tatting snowflakes and stars for Christmas. I've pulled out my Oh My Stars book and the Sunderman snowflake book.

I spotted a redtail hawk on my walk to the bus stop this morning. How cool is that?

Remember

Weekend at Mace:
Friday’s schedule: Do reports that usually take 8 hours in 4 hours so that I can leave at noon. Wait about 5 minutes too late & miss the bus. Catch the next one about half an hour later. As a result, I was too worried about being late to stop to get a drink or gas. I arrived, about dead of thirst and running the car on fumes, but right before registration opened.

I played Nature’s Wrath, Living Forgotten Realms game, in the 1st slot. If Rosemary’s voice doesn’t recover by this weekend, then I’ll see about running that adventure on Sunday instead of her game. Chris & Rosemary arrived while I was playing.

We all played Graven Images, a Witch Hunter game that we had heard good things about, in the 2nd slot. It was a fun game. One player was brand new to the game and we all had a blast. Solange-Marie, my character, learned a new spell, sort of alarm spell. She immediately used it on the cursed book that she’s been carrying around. It’s already sealed with twine & wax, to keep out the unwary. But she was glad to add the additional security.

Saturday morning, Rosemary & I were both in the same LFR game, Elder Wisdom. It was
entertaining. My half-elf Warlock, with the fey pact, is finally 3rd level. She’s my highest level character. For the 2nd slot on Saturday, all three of us played another LFR game, Rotting Ruins of Galain.

For the evening game, I played a Witch Hunter adventure, Red Tide, that Chris & Rosemary played at Wicked Harvest and Solange-Marie is finally Tier 2. It was nice to see a connection to an earlier adventure.

Sunday was the double rounder (2 slots) of the last Living Greyhawk adventure. What a meatgrinder. It was almost the shortest LG adventure ever because the way the plot hook is presented at least 3 of the characters were of the ‘this plan sucks & screw you’ mindset. meant that we almost walked away without actually playing the adventure, just credited for it (& thus unable to ever really play it).

Frankly, surviving to the final encounter was a bit of a victory. My character, Nadia, my first LG character, died in the first round of attacks in the final fight. I wouldn’t have been upset about it,
well not very much, but she exploded which hurt the other characters. One of the others would probably have survived if it hadn’t been for that. As it was, three of the six characters died but the goal was achieved. Our characters were so outclassed in the final fight, that just surviving a round was a victory. Surviving 3 rounds and achieving our goal was a massive victory.

I drove home after the game to do laundry. I had to. I wore my last clean pants at the con.

I did get some bad news. Animazement & ConCarolinas are the same weekend. That really sucks. I was going to run Jadeclaw at Animazement but I told Chris last year that I’d go to ConCarolinas and I told John B (Animazement game coordinator) that I’d run games for him. Now I have to cancel with John. At least it’s not at the last minute; considering that they conventions are not until late May.

On the bright side, I ran into someone unexpected, a fellow tatter. She spotted me
Saturday and spent the rest of the day trying to remember my name. Then she found out
which game I was playing on Sunday & came looking for me. Wasn’t that neat?

It’s another NC autumn day. There’s frost this morning & it’s supposed to hit 60F this
afternoon. I accidentally dressed in Christmas colors this morning, at least from the waist
up. I’m wearing a red & white striped top but then I thought it might a little cool for
that this morning, so I added a forest green corduroy vest. I realized that it’s a little
Christmas-y but hoped that no one would really put it together. It’s not even
Thanksgiving yet, after all. Alas, my hopes were in vain. I won’t be wearing this
ensemble again until after December 1st. It’s a quirk of mine. I like for one holiday to
be over before I start celebrating the next one. Although I do admit that I start buying
Christmas presents as early as September.

Gaming: We did not reach the elf city Monday night. Instead, we ran into the previous diplomatic group. Sort of. Two were undead & the other four were somehow broken, via magic, etc. Since they had very similar abilities; a warmage, a cleric, etc plus a bard, it was not easy. We did try to capture one but that was a failure. They were too far gone. At least we know what happened to them, although unless we find some clues we won't know who did it.

This weekend is Mace. I'll be playing the last Living Greyhawk, with my bard Nadia; some Living Forgotten Realms & some Witch Hunter again (finally). I have to be packed tonight because I'll be leaving from work tomorrow.

Politics: The election is OVER! Finally, the campaign ads will be gone. You have no idea how happy that makes me. It got to the point where I had the urge to do laundry twice a day, just from the splash caused by all the mudslinging. Blyech.

I voted in October, but on Monday, November 3rd I saw an ad that made me almost made me wish that I could vote again. I saw an ad for a Judge on the appeals court that only talked about her qualifications & what she wants to do. It said absolutely nothing about her opponent. I am so glad that I had already voted for Linda Stephens. Unless she changes, I will vote for her again.

I wrote letters to my Mom's sisters on Tuesday. Since they are all at Aunt Shirley's, I just put them in one envelope & sent them together. Hopefully, they have them by now.

I was so tired yesterday that I laid down for a nap before Chris got home. He woke me at 9:30 and an hour later he woke me up enough to eat supper. We ordered Domino's and half an hour later, I went back to bed. I got about 10 hours of sleep and was still sleepy this afternoon. I have no explanation. The weather is sunny & gorgeous. I had two cups of tea.

Gaming: The main villain Thursday night was Derailment man. We got a little playing done but not much.

The game Sunday went a little smoother, partially because we really, really want to get through this phase of the adventure. We're all sick of wild magic.

Ren Festival: We drove down to Christopher & Alyssa's on Friday and watched Bubba Ho-Tep while we talked. The next morning Christopher went to work while the rest of us went to the Festival. We got there about the time that the gate opened. Alyssa had to leave early to get some stuff done but she watched a couple shows with us. She loaned me a chemise to wear under my bodice, plus a scarf to give my some waist definition.

She recommended the Nun show and poor Chris's face was hurting by the end. He literally hurt himself smiling so much. We bought a cd; it was that funny. I think I found someone's present.

I also saw part of London Broil, more of Don Juan & Miguel, the artiste du jour (Ceol Leinn), Cast in Bronze, and part of Dexter Tripp's show that I had not seen (the link takes to a YouTube video of the set that I saw). Cast in Bronze absolutely rocked. I have heard of Carillons but never seen one, much less heard one.

Miguel's birthday was the 31^st, so I gave him the black fast heart that I made on the way to the Festival. He seemed to like it. We saw the Royal Piper (Royal because she was the only piper), and she piped Happy Birthday to Chris (I volunteered him) and another woman in the audience.

I ran into Alex, her father & her friend at the Festival. They had been watching Dexter Tripp's show (The one with the duct tape & firecrackers). That was fun.

Purchases: mug, canvas bag with Celtic knotwork, mug strap, cloth bag, leather mug, hair spiral with clip to fit over elastic (elastic was included in purchase of spiral), and cd's. I bought two from Cast in Bronze, one from the Nun Show & one from Ceol Leinn. I also bought a sticker from Ruth Thompson. I really need to look through the pieces I have bought from her to see what I already have. There are pieces that I would like to get but I do not know if I have them already or not. Rosemary owed me a t-shirt, for pilling her cat while she was out of town, and bought me a Ren Festival tee.

After gaming, we're taking John out to supper for his birthday, much belatedly. He's decided on Crazy Fire.

Tomorrow night is Chris's game. Will we reach the elf city safely?