Yeah. Work. Almost no one was actually there. It was like a ghost town these past two days. Nonetheless I've had work to do. Not much but there was some.

Going out of town tomorrow, so laundry tonight. All the presents are wrapped.

books: Wallflower vol 5 &6 and I finished Death & Thraxas. & Captain's Fury.

clothes: yesterday it was black ribbed knit top under fuschia silk blouse, black jeans, black trouser socks & ~slippers. My hair was in a ponytail with a pink & grey scarf tied around it. Today it's pale grey sweater (embroidery on neck & drawstring waist), black slacks, black shirt, silver jewelry & loose hair.

Okay, it's been awhile. But, hey, it's Christmas.

Let's see: done - presents to family, present to Joe, presents to Mike, presents to Chris, presents to co-workers

not done- presents to neighbors, present to Rosemary (well, it's 1/2 done), present to mailcarrier, cards to aunts, cards to card exchange, wrapped presents to James & clan

presents received: FE gift cert (From Joe), 2 corduroy vests (forest green & dark red) from Dad & step-mom, 2 pairs of earrings (from Chris, turquoise & silver & then emerald & gold), multi-strand necklace (from Marck & kin), jacket/sweater (ditto), bug sweeper (from Mike - long story), target gift card (Mom), tea stick (Kathy & Dad), Oh My Stars (from Rosemary), & a pair of olive wood praying hands.

tatting: snowflakes, snowflakes, snowflakes

books: Don of the Dead, The Chick & the Dead, Tombs of Endearment, Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel, Crazy in Love, & half of Death & Thraxas. Also read Cursor's Fury, before I gave it to Chris (cause I wasn't sure if he already had it or not; turned out he didn't even knew it was out).

I had a couple lightheaded events recently. Rosemary told me that that's symptom of diabetes. Oh. Yay. That reminds me, time to check WebMD. Well, that says that dehydration is a common symptom (along with bleeding but I know that's not it). It was probably a combination of hunger & dehydration.

I am such a liar. First passenger I spoke to on the bus, I completely & bald-faced lied to her. She asked how I was and I said, 'fine'; okay it was a social lie. Cause I'm so frickin' tired & depressed that I was choking back tears on the walk home. She didn't want to hear that. It took me over an hour to try and find the energy to fix something to eat.

I only worked half-day yesterday & that helped me get through today. Despite not sleeping for shite (love that non-drowsy cold formula, don't you; so non-drowsy I can't sleep at night), I felt more rested than I had in days. I don't know what it was but by the time I got off work, I could barely drag one foot in front of the other. I tried to do a little retail therapy but couldn't even manage that.

Now, I turned to a computer game to cheer me up & it screwed me. It's a real-time game & it suddenly jumped 790 years. Needless to say, everything was dead but what I had in storage. I was hoping to get some money for in-game improvements, too. I've submitted an error report. We'll see what they say.

Greyhawk Ruins is tomorrow. Chris is staying with Rosemary tonight. He's going to try to get her to sleep. She's been literally worrying herself sleepless over her grandmother, who's very ill. I'll be catching a ride with Diana.

Re-read This Heart of Mine and March Upcountry. I think I re-read something else but I don't remember what.

I think that I'm going to run out of yarn before I get a full scarf out of that white/color yarn. Don't know what I'll do with what I've got.

I really need something to pull me out of this funk.

I have a cold & I feel crappy. Finished Thraxas & Thraxas and the Warrior Monks. Achy, sore throat. No fun.

It has gotten cold today. It's been colder but with this wind it feels much colder. I wore my ear protection & a scarf today (the recycled silk one).

Gaming: Chris's game is starting to come together last night. We got a clue about the source of some of our problems. Turns out we have (accidentally) undermined the Salt Baron. He used to provide the army with salt from his mines but we provided the army with 2 giants who grind salt out of a magic wheel. So the army canceled the contract. He blames us. *sigh* We still have problems with the blood cabbage and the Executioner. We've started asking, 'what do we have to do to get sent to the front, anyway?'

books: I've read part of the 3rd Sisters Grimm book & I've started Thraxas.

tatting: I made some progress on the silver & white snowflake. It's a pain because I'm working with a shuttle & ball, but reversed. The chain thread is on a shuttle & the ring thread is on a small ball. Hey, it's working. Slowly, but it's working.

clothes: black suede shoes, black jeans, same belt, ring & watch, green turtleneck, striped embroidered black, burgundy & cream vest (that's really too small, I should get rid of it), black stone ring, flower band, quartz & moonstone pendants necklace, silver hoops earrings & braided hair.

site of the day: Every word that you get right, donates rice.

What a weekend. Friday night sucked. I mean, there are a few ways that it could have been worse, but it takes effort to find them. Everything was going smoothly, until the 3rd bus never showed. I waited for 2 hours, in the cold & dark (sun set 30 minutes after I arrived, no streetlights, temperature dropped, next to 4-lane road with moderate to heavy traffic). I was dressed okay for a 20-30 minute wait. Not for a 2-hour one. My toes were starting to get numb when I finally gave up, made arrangements, and headed for the nearest warm building.

books: Venus Versus Virus vol 2, Key to the Kingdom vol 2, re-read Knight of a Trillion Stars and read The Raveled Sleeve Friday night.

Saturday was the Greyhawk Ruins game. It was at Richard's and Kathy wasn't feeling well. As a result, I ended up with a lap full of baby for a perceptible percentage of the game. It was less important for me to take notes than it was for Richard to be able to run the game. Due to technical issues, we only got part of the way through the 2nd adventure. We'll finish up as much as possible this upcoming Saturday. At least Kash got to 2nd level (time to start using 2 swords).

We did manage to stop by FE on the way home (so I picked up my Manga order). I've only read 2 of them so far.

Sunday was Rosemary's cookie party and the last Forgotten Realms game of the year. First we baked cookies to send to her grandmother (who isn't feeling well). She probably won't be able to have any but at least she'll know that we were thinking of her. We had mulled cider & mulled mead to each with the cookies & chips. We started playing after the baking. It was a nasty little fight.

After the game, Kathy, Richard & Mya joined us for supper. Rosemary got lasagna, appetizers and sides from Olive Garden and we chowed down. We had a great time, good food & great company. For dessert we had tiramisu from this great new deli that opened near Rosemary.

I still didn't do my laundry.

tatting: I started Jane's tree & realized that I need some way to get the beads onto the picots for the joins. I'm not sure what to do next.

Clothes: Saturday & Sunday it was jeans and tennis shoes. Saturday it was a Geoff t-shirt but Sunday I wore a turtleneck & my holiday vest. Today it's black slacks & shoes, same belt, watch & hematite band, onyx pendant, black stone ring, black knit top embroidered with white Roman numerals & gold studs, triangular white shell earrings rimmed in black (I've never worn them before) & braided hair.

Party this evening! My boyfriend's company Holiday party is this evening. Unlike in past years, they are having it after work (instead of 0n a Saturday) & it's going to be hors-d-oeurves instead a meal. There probably won't even be a bar. However, and this is the part that I'm looking forward to, it will be at the NC Museum of History. You know, the one with the Roanoke Exhibit, involving material from the British History Museum. Many of which have not seen North American soil since the 16th century. Yeah, that museum. So I wore my holiday vest today, since it's a holiday party.

books: I started reading the 3rd Sisters Grimm book.

tatting: I'm on the 5th point of the white/silver snowflake. Too bad I've no thread left on the shuttle. I'll have to reload it to finish the 5th point & to do the 6th one. I found some variegated green to do Jane's tree. It's 4-ply so I will have to separate it 1st. I might have time during the bus ride this evening.

Gaming: We started a new story arc in Mutants and Masterminds last night. I'm not sure where this one is going. It might be a short one. We got started late (Chris & Rosemary were late due to an accident blocking their route) so we had to stop in mid-battle. Chris's character, Wraith, is missing two of his duplicates but that's part of the next story arc. Last night we were fighting Crimson Katana, the woman (3rd generation) who wields the wakizashi made from the skull of the Human Tank (her grandfather forged the blade after killing The Human Tank). The previous Lady Celtic (Rosemary's character is the current one) was married to the Human Tank so she is really upset about that blade. A bunch of ninjas, some samurai type and a mage have joined the fight & it suddenly looks like Crimson Katana wasn't the bad guy, until someone or something took possession of her. Guess we'll find out during the next game session.

clothes: black ~slippers & socks & slacks, same black belt & silver clip watch, dark green turtleneck, holiday vest, moss agate bead bracelet, onyx ring (black stone at least), floral band, hematite band, emerald & gold earrings & pendant, and braided hair. Holiday vest: It's a bolero vest that I made years ago with silk ribbon embroidery & beads (poinsettias & mistletoe) on tone on tone white mistletoe calico, reversible with green marked with tiny gold dots.

I received an odd compliment today. One of my co-workers commented on my vest (asking if I had made it). When I told her that it was a thrift shop find, she said, "You always coordinate your colors so well, I don't know how you do it." I finally learned to accept a compliment so I just nodded & say thank you. But WTH? Yesterday I wore a dark purple turtleneck, a deep plum & tan tapestry vest, black slacks, etc, with amethyst pendant & purple Czech bead earrings. Today it's navy slacks, light blue turtleneck & Williamsburg blue and cream tapestry vest. Okay, they are the same color family & they do coordinate. But it's still an odd complement.

books: Sisters Grimm 2, And Able, Swimming without a Net, and Royal Mess. My Amazon order arrived & I've done a lot of reading. I've re-read one book by Maggie Shayne, The Brands Who Came for Christmas.

tatting: I've been working on an edging before sleep. The thread's only broken once. Not bad for old thread. I've given up on the last round of the latest snowflake. I screwed up the 2nd chain and decided that it looked fine without the last round and cut it off. I've started repeating one of the snowflakes but with a silver filament. I also found some variegated green to do Jane's tree.

other crafts: tried to use that odd cotton string/thread on the loom in a loose lattice knit. It didn't work. I need to read the directions again.

clothes: I've mostly covered this already but add in braided hair, Celtic knot earrings, ring & pendant, flower band, navy loafers and socks.

We used the Tivo for the first time last night. We saved a couple shows. I'll watch at least one of them tonight.

tv: we watched an episode from the 1st season of Bones, an old Mission Impossible episode & part of a Superman cartoon.

books: I finished Sisters Grimm. It's an excellent book. It uses a many of the traditional fairy tale characters, in a novel way. I think I'll get the next book. I started Willing and re-reading Making Money.

crafts: I finished the headband but this time it has more orange in it. That's not very flattering next to my face. I have some lovely ribbon yarn, I think I'll make a lattice scarf from it.

clothes: black suede shoes; black jeans; same belt, watch & hematite band; onyx earrings & pendant; braided silver ring & matching pair of bracelets; black short-sleeved sweater & braided hair.

I stayed up too late last night. The game (the 2nd one) ended at 9:30 but I still didn't get to sleep until late.

It's cool and rainy today. It's almost stereotypical fall weather. I'm not complaining about the rain. After all, I have an umbrella & a warm coat.

books: I finished re-reading Ready by Lucy Monroe. I started reading The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley. But I'll probably go back & re-read Willing by Monroe before I finish it.

clothes: black ankle boots/shoes, black jeans, same black belt & silver clip watch, brown/black Vorkosigan polo, 3 women pendant, fem power ring, same hematite band, & butterfly earrings. My hair is braided simply because I didn't feel like doing anything else to it.

Did a little straightening but absolutely no shopping. I did not even leave the house on Friday or Saturday. Today I left to get lunch & to go eat supper.

Tatting: worked on an edging from the old thread that I'd bought. The thread broke on the second big ring (doing a variant of the hen & chicks) and I had to do a rejoin.

other crafts: I have started another ear scarf on the knitting loom. This one I think I will manage to finish off without it binding me. I think that if I crochet it, I won't have the same problem. I have now finished 3 hot pads and the cotton loops have arrived to do more.

Today we played a game of Witch Hunter and a quick game of Blackmoor. The Witch Hunter was massive fun and apparently my character is the collector of 'bad' things. The Blackmoor was entertaining in a completely different fashion.

I have learned something. If you leave your shirt wrapped around a bag of scented candles (not such that the candles melt), the next time that you wear the shirt you will get a blast of scent every time that you move. It's nice but a little overwhelming at times.

By the way, green tea with pomegranate is absolutely delicious, hot or cold. I think that it's Celestial Seasoning brand but I won't swear to it.

BTW, how many ways can you say the same thing? Over and over? Ye gods, drive it into the ground. Yes, I'm complaining about someone.

We did it. We finally got TiVo. It's a used box because I didn't set it to record conversational Italian. Now comes the set up. Programming which shows to record and which channels are favorite, etc.

books: I re-read Demon of Undoing & Star King.

Tatting: I started making an edging with some of that size 10 that I picked up. It's a hen & chicks variant, at least until the thread broke. I've also started another snowflake.

clothes: leggings & then jeans; plus purple angel/moon t-shirt.

Quickie post to day: lots to do.

Read 3rd bok in Immortal Series & the 4th. Finished reading Moon Fever anthology.

Finished another snowflake.

Lunch with Dad at Maggiano's Little Italy. Not cheap but very good & lots of food. I ate leftovers for breakfast & lunch today. I have more to eat. Supper with Chris & his family, I ate lightly there. I had to.

Dad & I looked over old pictures. I could almost start telling my my grandmother's siblings apart. The photos dated back to 1906 (great-grandmother). I think that the most recent photo was 1970-ish. Wait, no, I lie. There were some pictures from Dad's birthday party in 2002.

clothes: jeans & t-shirt. Yesterday it was long-sleeved Carolina Panthers & today it's blue with flag & wolf.

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, I was still tired & I had a lot of work to catch up.

Gaming: Chris's game Monday night. We found the cabbage thieves. And judging by their reaction to our inquiries: they've already used it to poison their weapons. It's a bar brawl, with dire wolves (okay, singular dire wolf; that would be my Druid, Kelis).

I sent the notes from the Witch Hunter game, that she ran, to Paige. She replied that they were pretty funny. I tried to write them more from Solange-Marie's point of view, rather than just generic notes.

tatting: I screwed up that snowflake. Luckily it was only the last point, really. I had to cut it off & start again. End result: a less than attractive snowflake, in my opinion anyway. I'll know more once I finish it.

Other crafts: I used that metal frame from Harrisville to make a couple potholders. I bought the frame & starting loops from Spin Blessing. They were great. They shipped quickly & without any problems. I think that I'll give them to my neighbors, along with my mini-calzone recipe.

Tired me. I slept about 10 hours & staggered around when I got up this morning. We dawdled around a bit but still got out by the time Chris had wanted to. He had a massage appointment at 1 pm and I would not enjoy idling around waiting for him. He dropped me off and I did a little cleaning this afternoon and read, etc.

I still napped for an hour in the car. I started a 4th snowflake. I have started the 3rd point when we got home.

I re-read the 2nd book of the Sharing Knife. I also read a little bit of the Witch Hunter rule book.

I watched a few of the Falcon movies on TCM. They are pretty entertaining.

clothes: black tennis shoes & jeans, black belt, same watch, dragon pendant & rings, chain mail earring with grey roses, ponytail & black t-shirt with "stained glass" knight & dragon fight.

We finally finished playing about midnight or so last night. My character almost died but it was a great game. And frankly, my character is so ineffective in combat that it's much better for someone else to be awake and her to be down.

We got to bed about 2 am and got to the con again this morning in time for our game of Order of Underworld Travellers. It's a painful adventure. It really, really is. Reed is going to be in a pissy mood for some time to come.

The second adventure of Sunday & the last one of the con, we're playing the 7th Witch Hunter adventure. Rosemary & I ended up at one table & Chris is at another.

I've been too busy gaming, taking notes, etc to read or to tat.

clothes: black tennis shoes, blue jeans, black belt, grey Siege of Yorktown t-shirt, Celtic knot earrings, flower band, hematite earrings, ~rope band, knot pendant & ponytail held by bronze jewelry clip.

Today it's Mace. We played an intro LG game this morning. I played my Greyhawk Ruins character for the 2nd time. Her name is a little complex so I use the nickname Kash. The GM & the other players appreciate that. It's her last non-Ruins game.

This afternoon we played the core special. It's basically a 2-rounder game that we played in one round. We played out Cattails & there was another one at the table. It was an APL 14 table and we pretty much took the table. The other CatTail went negative but I had Delay Death prepped & saved "her". I got to use one of my Blessed Relief cards. We finished up about an hour after the round was supposed to finish, but then again we started late.

We sat around while Chris & Rosemary updated their characters; they both leveled. We sat around and socialized while we did so and finally headed for supper & to walk Duncan almost about the same time that the evening round started. As we were leaving, someone commented that a second table of Witch Hunter had been formed. We were three of the players. So we had to hurry to our hotel, Rosemary walked Duncan while Chris got food from McD's and I changed character stuff.

We got to the game about half an hour after the game was scheduled to start. But that's okay. They knew that we were coming & were waiting for us. Again, Witch Hunter is lots of fun.

We are starting to have some running gags. M'sieur Rumor is guilty of much and Louis really likes his clothes. Katherine is charming and Richard is, well, English.

tatting: I have made a couple snowflakes & given one away.

books: I've read a couple tatting patterns & that's pretty much it. Other than some game stuff.

clothes: black suede shoes, blue jeans, grey Gran March t-shirt over long-sleeved burgundy t-shirt, same watch, Celtic triangle pendant, Celtic earrings & ring, flower band, ~rope ring, braided hair with Celtic hair elastic at top.

It's chilly & windy, getting cold. The games have been fun. The grilled chicken sandwich at Bojangles was dry.

I'm playing my second game of Witch Hunter and it's lots of fun. It's the second adventure and we have had some great lines. Louis mourns the death of the only tailor in town. And that she did not leave him a set of clothes. Or at least a recommendation of another tailor.

We pulled a good one on Paige. She was originally going to be running tonight's game. After we played our 1st game, we got the idea of asking her, 'what happened after the 1st fight. She looked a little puzzled, 'oh there's the whole half of the mod.' We led her to believe that our entire party died, aka a TPK. She was utterly horrified and started half-sputtering, does the campaign coordinator know? Has anyone told the author? etc. We finally admitted that we were yanking her chain. She took it in good part, we got her good.

Just in time for my trip to MACE. Yeah, I get further proof that I am definitely female & I am not breeding. Bring on the cramps. I knew it was coming, it's not like this is really a surprise; but still.

I'm only working half a day today. I'm leaving at noon to go to Mace. I'm looking forward to it, even though it's been so long since I signed up, that I don't remember what games I'm playing.

Mutants & Masterminds game: We finally wound up Totem's storyline. She has a very resentful, younger half-brother who's agreed to start his training & become her successor. We finished up the fight with pigeon Totem flying back into our reality, taking human form, calling up Isis for new magic to teleport to the Coyote/Anubis mask (used a Hero Point to stunt of her Magic Power). She reached the lodge where Jason, her younger brother, and the notables of the tribe were doing a ritual to talk to Coyote and find out what he intended for Jason. Jason came out of the lodge, wearing the mask & carrying a tomahawk, still really resentful. Coyote is perhaps, not the most comfortable person to reveal one's destiny.

They teleported back to the gate (using Totem's last Hero Point) and back through it. Totem became a pigeon again (I had some really good rolls with the acrobatic bluff, causing Eyekiller to destroy some of his own demons) and Jason snuck by everybody, thanks to both his own gifts & the mask. He got a Wraith duplicate to take him to Eyekiller's fetish. He destroyed it & ended the Eyekiller threat & closed the gate. The Wraith duplicate managed to throw him through it before it closed. Lady Celtic found the key phrase to help Jason deal with his new life: chicks dig it when you save the world. Hey, he's a 15-year-old boy.

tatting: I almost finished the first snowflake. I have one more point to go. I had to finish packing this morning so I had no time to tat before work. And then it was too durn cold to tat while waiting for the bus.

Letters: I plan to mail them today.

clothes: black suede shoes, black jeans, black belt (yes, the Celtic one), same clip watch, same hematite band, ~rope band, silver feather charm & quartz chip earrings, feather-carved quartz point pendant on long silver chain, braided hair & burgundy turtleneck.

Rain, we have RAIN! Okay, so the temperature dropped the rest of the day. Surprisingly, the incoming pressure front did not give me a migraine. I am very pleasantly surprised, and pleased. On the other hand, I don't know whether to blame the weather, my dash down the hill to catch the bus yesterday, or just my own ill-health for the way my knees have been aching for the past day. Last night was agony. Today, it only hurts.

book: I read a little bit of Almost a Princess but didn't have time or hands for much reading (balancing a jacket, an umbrella & the book made it difficult while waiting for the bus).

tatting: I finally got the shuttles loaded but I had to pack last night & didn't get any tatting done. I got a little bit done tonight. I am about halfway through one snowflake from Sunderman's book.

gaming: My registration for Regulatorcon still isn't showing up. *sigh*

The rain cleared by lunch but it had gotten cold & windy. So when Julie came to meet me for lunch, we stayed in the building.

clothes: black tank top (covered when I buttoned shirt), black Origins shirt, black slacks, black belt, same watch, same hematite band, hair in a ponytail/bun with black/brown hairsticks, Celtic knot earrings & ring, flower band, triskele in triangle pendant, & black half-boots.