Weight Loss and Other Matters

Just about a month and a half ago a friend, upon my request, recommended that I try Spark People for my weight loss/health. In that time I've lost about eight pounds, 2 inches and gotten a lot more exercise.

I haven't been tatting like I would like to be. I misplaced my copy of the butterfly pattern and I had loaned out the book. No tatting that pattern until I found it. Plus, I would really like to make a couple more bracelets, for my niece and for my namesake.

I bought some new gaming books. I finally got a hardcopy of Spirit of the Century and I picked up one about Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies, plus the absolutely lovely fourth edition of the Legend of the Five Rings game. I also bought the PDF of the 2nd edition of Ironclaw. I'm alternating reading Ironclaw and Spirit.

I know that this is short and pictureless but I just wanted to get a post up.

Have You Said Thank You?

           This seemed appropriate for just after American Independence Day.

Tatting and Stuff

Remember Angelica? I gave up and started over. And then, a friend on InTatters asked for help with beaded tatting. Now I want to pull out some beads, my camera and do some tatting instructions for her.

Here's the phone case that I ordered. It arrived last week but I had to go to the Post Office to sign for it.

 

kuutydruk on Etsy made it. Isn't it purty.

And apparently someone went off the road last night. This is my bus stop sign

And I have to head home. It's going to take longer than normal because the road home is barricaded. There's a possible bomb been sighted.

Weekend of Gaming and a Movie

Saturday, we played another Pathfinder adventure. This one was part 4 of a story arc. The game was a lot of fun but somehow the 'I'd love to play on Saturday but my tatting group is meeting 1:30 - 4:30 & I want to go to that' got missed. I ended up missing the meeting entirely.

Sunday was Rosemary's game. Thanks to Chris's character getting a speak Undercommon language pearl, he was able to handle scouting the wizards' tower with minimal back up (mine & Mike's characters). The roleplay was so entertaining as he pulled the whole 'poor, put upon male' act to question the guards in the tower (including the 'do you think you'll have any openings here in a couple months?').

Saturday, after gaming, we went to see Knight and Day. It's not a great movie but there's some great dialog/banter and it's very entertaining. It has a lot of Hollywood physics, so if you want realistic action sequences, look elsewhere. I was expecting Cameron Diaz's character's name to be 'Day', though & it wasn't.

Tatting: I'm still tatting Angelica (from LadyShuttleMaker's book). I'm a good way into the 1st wing and I've noticed a problem a couple rings back. I've been toying with the questions: Open the 2 rings? Cut and add new threads? Start over? If I start over, I'm probably going to put it aside and make another bracelet. I really want to start anothe bracelet.

Where Did the Time Go?

Seriously, where did it go?

We went to see Iron Man 2 and Jonah Hex recently. Neither were ground-shakingly incredibe but both were enjoyable movies. IM2 was not quite as good as the first IM but it was acceptable. And Samuel L Jackson rocks at Nick Fury.

Tatting-wise: I got Sherry Pence's The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies. I made Seven, the 1st butterfly. I started to do it in navy but I ran out of thread after one wing. I went back and did the whole butterfly in navy and green. It's in three pieces; first you tat both wings & then the body joins them.

I started Angelica, the 2nd butterfly. It starts with the body and then the wings. I had gotten to the first wing and realized that I'd read the pattern wrong and would need to start again. I ran out of green (shuttle) thread anyway. That ball of size 20 green is getting quite small, by the way.

I gave Seven to Anne Claire (my mom's friend) in a letter that I sent today. Her mom passed away and I sent a sympathy card to Anne Claire and her husband. At least this time, I remembered to take a picture first.

I'm going to miss the Triangle Tatters meeting tomorrow. I've had plans all week that meant that I would show up towards the end, but then the plans got pushed and now I'm going to miss it entirely. I'll swing by Anitra's and loan her my butterfly book so everyone can drool over it without me. *deep pensive sigh*

Gaming: Mutants and Masterminds last night was great. I missed the last game because of my car breaking down. The GM just ran an 'annual.' That's a one-shot storyline that has no connection to continuity.

The session before that ended on a cliff hanger. Centurion, a hero back from the dead, who we suspected to be an extra-dimensional villainous version called Praetorian, stood up in the middle of the debriefing of our heroes' most recent adventure, said something nice and put a device in the middle of the table. When the heroes roused, it was just like waking up to any morning. Except: no one had any powers, Lady Celtic's revolving closet with her costumes was gone, was her magic circle, my character was living in the dorm instead of in her townhouse/temple and her technology inept self was late for computer class.

It was a great session as our characters tried to figure out where they were and how to get out. Chris was the one who found the key.

Third 'great weekend' Post

Last weekend (June 4th & 5th), I took off early from work on Friday and drove to see my mom. Her older sister is visiting so I got to visit with both of them. I drove home again Saturday afternoon.

This past weekend, we went to the DC area to visit Mike. We did it to see him again, to celebrate his recent work success (his company made a tremendous announcement last week, the reason he hasn't been able to talk about work for months) and his new girlfriend. We drove up Friday and she met us for supper at the Indian place that Mike likes so much (they have southern Indian food and their tv shows Indian music videos & movies). Crossed fingers that it works out for them.

Gaming: We played four games of Pathfinder. Each of us took a turn running. Chris went all out for this, "Mike-Con". He made badges for all of us, had con programs printed up and schedules for each of us. Plus, he had shirts available. Mike-Con: The ultimate in dining & gaming experience. The only disappointment was the free breakfast that the hotel provided. It wasn't absolutely horrible, but the less said the better.

Tatting: I started on the Tardis bookmark for Rosemary. I got all the way to the split chain and realized that I didn't remember how to do it. Since they charged for the internet access at the hotel, I wasn't going to look it up. I've made pretty good progress, though, if I do say so myself.

I have about 3 feet of navy blue edging. I'll try and post a picture later today.

Oh, and despite my less-than-healthy overall eating over the weekend and almost complete lack of exercise, I've lost 2.5 pounds in the last week. Yay!

Another Wonderful Weekend

It was a busy weekend, too. First, we had the "Yay, David Didn't Lose His Eyesight" movie marathon. We watched Support Your Local Sheriff, The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors. The last three were Doctor Who specials.

Sunday was Rosemary's game followed by going out for Indian food to celebrate the May birthdays.

Monday was a Pathfinder game followed up by a cookout. We spent literally hours, sitting around and talking. I haven't done that in ages.

Great Weekend

I drove down to White Oak Friday night. I left a little later than I'd planned but on the bright side, I didn't get lost this time. This is despite my TomTom telling me that no route existed to get to my destination. Liz gave me good directions and I wrote them out with a magic marker on notebook paper in really big letters. I knew it was going to be dark by the time I needed to look at the directions so I wanted something that I could see by streetlight.

The Living History weekend started earlier than the Heritage Day, so we got ready earlier. I washed my hair and immediately put it up. The water weight did make a difference but I managed to get it all to fit in the bun cover anyway.


There were more people and vendors at Harmony Hall this year. There was even one fellow who was a stonecarver.

I didn't get as many pictures as I'd planned. I completely missed, again, getting a picture of Liz's mom in her outfit. I barely caught Squirrel and Liz. Once again, no picture of me. I only got “Capt James Robeson” from the back. The gent in question is a descendant of the real Jim Robeson and was presenting a picture from the era, to Harmony Hall. He based his outfit on that same picture.

I got a lot of tatting done, but it didn't amount to much. I made a few butterflies and tried to some pieces from Beetons Book of Needlework. Translating from 1870 to modern tatting lingo is not as easy in some ways, and not as hard in others, as you'd expect. For example, on one motif, there's bare thread between flowers but modern tatters are more likely to tat a chain there.

I had planned to come home Saturday but I stayed a little to help Squirrel with the book of embroidery that I gave her. She took her first stitches. By the time that she was finished, I was suddenly exhausted. I left early Sunday morning.

I spotted a wild turkey alongside the road about the time that I got to I95. There wasn't much traffic until then, either. Despite TomTom not being able to find a route to Liz's parents' house, it could find the route home. It started raining when I hit I95 but it didn't get bad until I hit Raleigh. Then someone opened the floodgates. I was doing 50 in a 65 zone, with my hazard lights flashing. The flash ended by the time I got off the highway to go to David's.

I met the others at David's house. Richard was running chapter 5 of the Embers series (Living Forgotten Realms). I played my bladeling druid again. It's the last chapter until the level 11 special at Origins. Or maybe it's at Gencon.

After the game, Richard got out Maya's unicorn and, per a contest, I took a picture of the shirt that I'd won, with the unicorn wearing it. It's a large unicorn. It had a chain shirt, but that's disappeared.

Ow!

I tried pilates last night. I am not ready for that; unless there's a beginning pilates. I was fine for the first 15 minutes. After 20-25, I started feeling 'odd.' At 30 minutes, I just lay there and breathed. When the nausea kicked in, it got really unpleasant. I ended up having popcorn and sprite for supper. Not fun. It didn't hurt though, not until today.

At least I have Mutants & Masterminds to look forward to, tonight. I'll grab some Chinese food and head for the GM's house.

Mother's Day Report Plus Pathfinder Weekend

Mom loved her present. I printed out the certificate to make a card and added a mother's joke inside. The joke was The Mama Test: She enjoyed the joke and shared it with her sisters (Aunt Dot & Aunt Shirley, Aunt Carole couldn't make it).

Websites that I found interesting:
Oh, Random Pulp Fiction Titles website. These are reallyfunny. Perfect for Spirit of the Century

Here's a fantastic time lapse video of...um, that volcano in Iceland.

And an entertaining speech to high school graduates from Jaret Reddick's blog (Bowling for Soup).

Thrifting Kit (I like this idea, have to share with mom)

A great, fantastic post on one author's writing process

Funny shopping post: SHOPPING MAN. The sad/funny thing, my BF is a very good shopper.

New, less polluting ways, of making bricks are being developed. This one has a lot of potential, if they solve that pesky poisoning the groundwater problem.

Oooh, Oseberg ship. I'd vaguely heard of this. Now I want to learn more.

Ooh, giveaway for sewing, crafting stuff.

Gaming:
Pathfinder Society is retiring some year 0 adventures on the 24th. This past weekend, we got together and played three of them. Three of us ate (ran without playing it first) a module. We had a pretty good time. The only drawback that I had is that all of us had previously played, with those characters, together. We didn't do character introductions, which I have learned makes it a little harder for me to 'get into character.'

On the bright side, my druid is 7th level now & her tiger Blake has reached his full growth. Now I need for her to find/buy a collar of animal reduction. It's a lot easier to travel with a medium tiger than a large one.

Tatting:
Next weekend I'll be near Fayetteville on Saturday for Harmony Hall's Living History Weekend. I won't be there all weekend because frankly, it's too tiring. I drive down Friday night, after work. I'm there, tatting, on Saturday. I drive home Saturday night. It's usually hot and I'm in c. 1812 dress.

I've almost finished my bracelet. I only need to (locate and) add the findings.

Mother's Day Is Approaching

I've been torn about what to get my mother. On the one hand she doesn't need any more stuff, but I want to get her something. I suddenly remembered what I got her last year. This year, I bought her something similar; a clean childbirth kit for Burmese Midwives. I thought about getting a chicken or something from Heifers International but decided this was more 'motherly.'

Tatting: Using Jane Eborall's beaded picot instructions, I did a test of a bracelet design. I started with the plain rings on the left with simple split rings. At the 4th ring I added a bead on the picot, holding the picot 'open' with a paper clip. On the 6th picot, I did another one, but couldn't find another paperclip. I managed to use the same one.

I was too impatient to delay until I got more paperclips, so I doubled back and did the 'other' side of the bracelet. I made certain that the join worked and declared the test successful.

I've started the real bracelet now. I put a picot on the first ring; so I'll have a place to put the jump ring and fastener. I've also started single picot rings before I get to the point that I'll add beads. The bracelet will be assisted by the fact that I bought a pack of paperclips to hold the picots.

My scrunchy is on hold. I'll pick it up when I need some more brain dead tatting.

Platelets! I have donated!

Here's a tragic story. I hope it ends on a better note than it currently enjoys. When people take every legal step that they can and then have their wishes ignored...it's enough to make me chew nails and spit out tacks.

Want to knit your own Doctor Who scarf? This woman is a geek after my own heart.

I finally managed to donate platelets. Now I know, give up on donating in the morning. I need to have more food in my system, ie I need to do it after lunch.

Gaming Convention & stuff

The Siege, in Chattanooga, was fun. However, due to the rockfall that destroyed part of I40, we had to dip down to Atlanta, instead of driving there directly. Naturally, the trip was a bit longer as a result; but not too bad until a power line fell across both lanes in SC. We were stuck in one place for about 3 hours. Really, we didn't move more than 1/2 a mile.

It was great to see Diana & Colt again. I gave Diana the present I had not wanted to mail. It's a framed section of hieroglyphics and mailing glass like that makes me nervous. She liked it; even more she liked that seeing it had made me think of her.

Last night's Mutants & Masterminds game was combat-less. We explored the dome city and figured out what they were doing. Mostly, we talked about the upcoming Traveller game. David is wrapping up is M&M game and wants to run a Traveller adventure over the summer. After that, he wants to run a sort of Space 1889 Stargate game.

I was a little tired at the con, so I started a scrunchy. I've loaded the shuttle 4 times (3 times in the picture) and I'm only about 1/2 way around the elastic. I can't remember who came up with this pattern (I've given her credit elsewhere but I'm too tired to look it up) but I love it. It's just 2 rings and I can do it half-asleep.

One of my friends asked if I could make a bracelet using some beads that she has. I came up with a design, but I need to test it before I start using her beads. I'll make that my next project.

Here's a pretty picture. If I was more coherent, I'd post more, but I've been shorting myself sleep all week. It's caught up to me. Hard.

A Literary Cause & other stuff

Feel like helping someone read? Why not help fill the wish list for one, or both, of the high schools here.


After the complete lack of success at going to the gym on Friday (no gym shoes), I was quite relieved to go walking on Monday. Since the weather is so nice, I decided to enjoy it by walking outside. My walk got interrupted by some work stuff. I walked about 20 minutes, but it was not continuous.

Yesterday was more successful (no interruptions). I walked for 20 minutes before my arches started cramping quite painfully. I will stretch  more today & stick to the dirt paths. That seems to be better for my feet than the brick sidewalks. The scenery is better, too, as I was walking through an arboretum. I saw a few photographers, a couple other walkers, and some folks just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Promoting a cause, Gaming & Links

  Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.
I'm a sucker for a good cause.

Gaming: Looking for some old school D&D fun? Here are some classic adventures, available for download.

I ran a 4th edition (D&D for those who aren't in the gaming community) last night at a FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store). I got there late, thanks to missing my bus. I started as quickly as possible as the mod looked like one that would run a little long. I was right, but managed to wrap things up 4.5 hours later, more or less.

I managed to bloody someone every combat, so I did my job. I challenged the PCs and gave them a fun game. We were well into the second combat when the warlock (woman seated next to me), finally managed to hit something. She needed some help, but she connected. I led a round of applause for her. It drew the attention of the other tables, especially the one in the next room that was playing the same adventure.

Crafts: Autobiographical tapestry (I bet you never thought you'd hear those words applied to anything this century)

Websites I found interesting:
I drool over this house
She posts a Gaelic phrase everyday on Twitter, & now she's offering a song on her blog
Know someone who loves photography? Then maybe you should get this book, Who Shot That?, about the photographers taht shot some of the most iconic photographs.
I watched this video & I'm still not sure that I believe it. It's mostly in German, but words are pretty much unnecessary. It's about 9 minutes long.
This is a really neat (& fairly easy) way to do watercolor stencils. She did a portrait, but I could see trying other scenes, too.

Lots of links and some pictures

Ouch, sad blast from the past. I was checking my email address book and saw the address of a deceased friend. Sudden, sad reminder of the fact that he's not on this plane anymore.

Oooh, contest to win books and stuff from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

This is an incredible idea and shows what two people can do and how they can change the lives of other people; one stove at a time.

Some geek soaps and stuff. Personally, I love the d20 soap on a rope.

Hey they have School House Rock on YouTube. Here's My Hero, Zero.

Chatty DM has a thoughtful and reasoned editorial about traitors in the geek population.
And another great editorial on racism in sci fi/fantasy. Take your time. Read the editorial and the links. It's worth it.

And here's before and after pictures of a bench.

BEFORE

A

AFTER

T

The bench as a whole

And here's my loot. First is one of the bags from dragonchow. It's stuffed full of sugarfree hard candies, to fight the drying effects of the pollen.

And here are the threads from LadyShuttleMaker. They are Plum Tickled, Raspberry Mousse, and Marina. All of them are size 20 cotton. You can see why I'm drooling, can't you.

Thank Goodnes It's...Tuesday?

It's hard coming back to work after a long weekend. And the weather was so beautiful. I would like to have seen more of it, but I started my spring cleaning. I've been so tired since October that not much got done. I started with the boxes that I saved for Christmas, 'to wrap presents.' We have a small bin and large rolling trashcan for recyclables (yay, no sorting). Even broken down, boxes take up a lot of room. By Monday, if I'd filled that bin full one more time, it would not have all gotten into the trashcan.

Tatting: I finished a couple of TotusMel's cameo pendant in that green. The second one turned out better than the first. That's not surprising, is it? Which do you think looks better, the round one or the ~oval one?

I started another one in red, but half way 'round the chain, the core thread is unraveling. I'm worried about it breaking, now. The thread is about perle 5 & very old (see the label? That company apparently went out of business in the 1940's). The color is 12505, sort of a Christmas red.

 See the threat? See how untwisted it is?

Here's what I do with the thread left on the shuttles. 

Gaming: We found where a loose end went at Thursday's M&M game. We just need to tie it off. The GM (David R) plans to wrap up the campaign this summer. Then he wants to run a short Traveller game. I haven't played Traveller since I was in college, or maybe high school.

And that's all, for now. Dun-dun-dun

TV, Gaming & Tatting

TV: I have now seen 2 episodes of the TV show Justified. For those who haven't seen it, or the ads for it, it's about a US Marshal who gets sent back to Kentucky, where he grew up. The reason he got sent there? He gave someone associated with a drug cartel 24 hours to get out of Miami. When the man showed no sign of doing so, he met the man at the restaurant where the 'gent' was eating. The man drew his gun and the Marshall, Raylin (sp) Gibbons shot him. “It was justified.”

After two episodes, I have to say, in my opinion, they have really captured the flavor of the south. The woman, tired of getting beat up by her husband who fixes his favorite meal and while he's eating, she pulls out his deer rifle and shot him. Maybe that happens in other part s of the country, but it seems really Southern to me.

Gaming: The Pathfinder GM screen that I ordered from Paizo arrived. Wow, that spud is sturdy. Pick up your average, glossy cover hardback book (you may have to go to a game store to find one). The GM screen is two hardback covers hinged, to make 4 pages of helpful charts and tables. The obverse side, the side facing the players, have the iconic character portraits from the core rulebook. I'm just trying to figure how geeky it is that I can name all but one of the character classes from sight alone.

Tatting and Reading: I tatted a single butterfly yesterday, because I was busy reading a mystery. I don't know if I like it yet. It's a PD James mystery. I like the tv movies made of her books, but I'm not certain that I like the book. Perhaps, I simply haven't read far enough.

I started another TotusMel cameo pendant. This time I'm using Red Heart size 20 in green. Considering my previous experience with this Red Heart thread, this might be an exercise in frustrations.

Gaming & Craft links

I manage to tear another nail today. Don't wince, it didn't go down into the quick. It's just 1/3 the length that it used to be.

I also finished (minus the charm/bead center) the TotusMel cameo pendant with beads.

Fun links
combat tracker for 4e D&D
A wonderful steampunk clothing vendor
Adopt a word site
transform an old book into a new journal
I found a great site with blank postcard templates & now I have lost it. Bummer.

And just cause, here's a cloudy dawn picture.

Great Weekend

I didn't get as much done as I would have liked but I did get a couple things done. What made it a great weekend was some fun gaming (D&D 4e, mini campaign thing) on Sunday and then taking Dave M out, quite belatedly, for his birthday. Plus, I finished that pair of grey wristlets that I started after Christmas.
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I made another Kiva loan today. This is my 8th one. Four of them are already repaid & two of the are about 80% repaid. I'm on two Kiva teams, UNC & eTatters.

Very interesting article for writers, on writing the Other (racial, ethnic, gender, etc).
Fantastic photographs of insects
These headbands look interesting & maybe they wouldn't tear my hair like so many headbands do.

And thanks to Craftzine, I'm collecting lots of neat projects.
Here's one for a fabric covered portfolio.
I never thought of this, an egg cozy; simple project & cute
Looking for new & unusual ways to wrap presents? I really like the woven magazine page wrap.
Light transmitting concrete? What will they think of next?