Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years

Thanksgiving was spent with my mom, my aunt & my uncle down at my aunt's & uncle's house. Mom picked me up Thanksgiving morning and we drove down. We got there after lunch. Mom and I hit a few stores before heading for the grocery store, just to learn that they closed before lunch. My aunt had not been able to go before we arrived, either. Guess what we had for Thanksgiving supper? Tuna salad sandwiches!

We laughed about it. After all, we had shelter, something to eat, and each other. It wasn't as bad as some people had it and we considered ourselves lucky.

We had a nice visit and I took an extra day to spend with them. I did learn. My mom really loves to shop. We went shopping every single day; Thursday, Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday & one place on Monday. We went out 'late' on Black Friday; not until about 7:30 am. We missed the crowds except in 1 store. It was nice.

I spent the weekend before Christmas with my Dad, brother, etc. It SNOWED! I don't remember the last time it snowed in December. Everything was fine, just cloudy, until I was only a county away. It went from 'hey is that snow?' to 'OMG it's snow!' just that fast. My vision went down to only about 6 car lengths. I was not happy. I was frankly mad at my dad for not warning me. Then I got to the county line for my Dad's and the snow almost disappeared. There was some snow there but not that bad.
Dad's yard:

I drove down to my aunt's and uncle's for Christmas weekend. It snowed again! Luckily, I had Monday off or I would have taken a weather day. I drove home on Monday instead of Sunday, as I'd planned. Here's the progress of the snow.

 I cleaned off my car about mid-afternoon.


The week between was very slow. New Year's was so exciting (/end dry tone). I went to a friend's house and we watched movies until after midnight. The next day C and I went to my High School friend's house. After we spent time dealing with a broken dryer. We ended up leaving home about the time we meant to arrive. *sigh* We got to there, finally.

We opened presents; and Namesake loved her lace tiara and scepter. J gave me a bromeliad in a re-used lightbulb. A & L loved their Gingher shears and scissors. All around, popular presents.

We had a great time and drove back Monday.

I made a few bracelets.

Black size 20 thread, seed beads and moss agate cube beads. These are 2 different bracelets, check the seed beads.

Here's a bracelet with green outer beads and silver/clear inner line of beads

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 Here's a bracelet that I started with the moss agate beads but I didn't like it with the red thread

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I've started Jane Eborall's latest TIAS.So far, it's just the introduction

Supplies: thread & beads

testing technique

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Filler

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything. I'm having laptop issues The power cable only charges the battery and powers the laptop when I have it shoved into place. It doesn't take long for my hand to cramp, so until my new cord arrives. I'm not doing much on my laptop (where my pictures are).

Remembrance Day

It's Remembrance Day. Do you have a poppy? I don't. I haven't seen any VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) or other folks around to get one. My boss printed one for me, but it's not the same.

I went to the Veterans Day ceremony this morning, at 11 am. It was cold and I sat on a stone wall. There was a mix of people; veterans, students, ROTC, military, etc. I cried.

I should post pictures, but I'm still triste from this morning.

I've had a cold. It's 2 weeks now. It started as a sore throat, caused by sinus drainage. A week ago Tuesday, it was a cough, so I went to the doctor. She confirmed that it was a cold and advised me about what palliatives to take. They've helped but I'm really sick of being sick.

Mace is this weekend, in High Point. I'm running Ironclaw (2nd edition) & a Pathfinder Society adventure (Perils of the Pirate Pact). I've signed up to run Spirit of the Century, too but no one has registered for that game. I don't feel prepared.

We took John J out for a much belated birthday supper on Saturday. He loves a good steak so we took him to one. It was expensive, but the steaks were -really- good. Too bad the steak fries were disappointing. The onion rings were okay, but nothing exceptional. The sweet potato casserole was very good and they had a nice selection of hot tea. However, while the teapot held two cups there was no way to keep the tea from continuing to steep the 2nd cup as you drank the 1st. I had the Jasmine pearl tea; and the 1st cup was great. The 2nd cup however was extraordinarily bitter and completely undrinkable. 

My State Fair entry got Honorable Mention

websites and my doily

Here's instructions for a little plush skull; great if you celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Or even if you just wish that you did.

And now you know why cannonballs are dangerous, especially when dredged up from the sea.

 Here's the unblocked, untrimmed heart doily; my entry for this year's State Fair. I still haven't found a presentation for it that I like.

I finished tatting a 2-color cross bookmark for my family reunion. But then I got a migraine right before leaving and didn't go.

I'm working on a burgundy cross bookmark; still Tatmom03's pattern, still perle 12. I'm using the thread from my doily. The 2-color uses the 2 outer colors from the doily; but no beads. As soon as I get my camera downloaded, I'll add those photos, too.

Siteseeing, Family Matters, and Games I Play

Do you sometimes feel awkward about people in wheelchairs or with service animals? Here's a serious, albeit sarcastic, etiquette guide.

Time to hit the local farmer's market this weekend. They're gathering food for the local food banks.


 I'm still looking for a frame/mat/something to display my heart doily. So far, no luck. I have Saturday, and that's about it. Cross your fingers that I'll find something suitable. Next weekend I'll be busy (no time for craft/etc shopping) and weekend after that the birthday and; State Fair preparations start (and oh, the entry is DUE).

I'm almost finished the cross bookmark that I'm taking to the family reunion on Sunday. There are door prizes and I try to tat something every time that I go. I will be the only representative of my granddaddy's line who'll be there (unless one of my cousins surprises me). My mom is with her older sisters celebrating the 80th birthday of the younger one this weekend. Of course, those cousins will be at their mom's party. My other cousins are out of state.

I volunteered a snowflake for a charity auction. I need to finish that, too. I swear, I didn't think about the deadlines or over extending myself.

The Dresden Files games were so much fun. We entertained ourselves, the Storyteller (or whatever the GM is called in that game) and the other players. There were 2 tables and the players mixed up some, so we didn't play with the same people all three games. In one game, our (C, R & I) sailors made friends with another PC who was very, very rich. He had an aspect (game-relevant descriptor) about 'wants to believe, but doesn't'. It was our PCs who 'broke' that aspect. I don't remember what we did, but I think it was when C's character put a glamour up to hide us as we broke into a house (to look for clues, nothing nefarious). Suddenly, Wayne (the character) couldn't see the other characters. Player sighed, picked up an eraser & started erasing and re-writing. Anyway, while riding in his limo, we suggested that he get a cannon. In the next game (though he was at a different table), he did! Our characters have a small cannon, complete with stone shot. No powder, though.

Oh, our characters? They're all sailors from the Flying Dutchman, stranded on shore leave. My character is the oldest; she's 250+. Yes, she remembers the political upheaval of the 1770's. I could go on, but there's a reason 'No, I don't want to hear about your character' is such a popular button.

I volunteered to run 3 games at Mace. I'm running one Ironclaw (either 1st or 2nd ed), 1 Spirit of the Century and 1 Pathfinder Society. But I'm being mightily tempted to run a 4th game; Hellcats & Hockeysticks. I blame the game's author.

Happy Sigh

I had a rocking time at Palmetto Tat Days! I made it to Anitra's house later than I had planned. My car key slipped off the key ring/fob and I spent half an hour or so looking for it. Chris finally found it just under my car on the passenger side.

I met Anitra's and Steve's new dog: Yoko. They have reason to believe that she had been abused in the past. Now they know something of the physical type of her abuser. She growled and barked at me whenever I was in sight; except for a few minutes when I was feeding her treats. She even snapped at me once. I just kept my distance from her, my presence obviously stressed her.

Anitra and I left early Thursday morning. I showed off my bracelet
I'd show you a picture if I could

That afternoon, as I looked for the bracelet, to show Martha, I couldn't find it. Anitra and I looked through my tatting gear, my bags, etc; even went through her car. There was no sign of it. I started a new bracelet with the thread that I had; variegated green with dark green beads.
(again, pictures won't load)
I found it Friday morning, with my jewelry. Bright side, I had one complete bracelet and one partial bracelet to show in class.

On the trip down, I finished my amulet bag. I just had to finish the neck cord; I put in a split ring to add a new thread when the thread on my shuttle ran out.

I took Erin H's onion ring guitar (there was more to the name, it was very Elvis, but I don't remember) class. I think I finally know how to do an onion ring. Yay me & Yay Erin. My guitar soundbox is rather floral rather than smoothly rounded.
(yep, still no picts)

I took Sharren M's Southern Star class. I was doing well and had almost finished one repeat when a knot unflipped and the Self-Closing Mock Ring was not so ring-like. I ended up retro-tatting. There's a floating ring so I'm not sure whether I should just start over. I had to put it aside to get some other projects done.

I did finish the thyme leaf pattern that was in our packets. I finished the green bracelet and started a bracelet from Martha's kit; navy blue with dark 'oil slick' beads.


The food was great, if not exactly low-cal. The scenery was lovely. The convention center was very close to the middle of nowhere, at least three times on the way there, Anitra & I thought that we might have missed the turn.

So Excited

Tonight I finish packing and stay at my friend's house overnight. In the morning, at some excessively early hour, we will leave for Toccoa, Georgia. Why are we going to Toccoa, Georgia? That's where the Palmetto Tat Days is being held this year. It's a longer drive so we have to leave earlier.

Last night, I started preparing. I loaded my shuttles for the two classes that I'm taking (I'm not worried about the two classes with which I am assisting) and one for the Friday night activities. I didn't get enough of my clothes packing done. I got the shirts, etc set aside, but my jeans weren't ready.

Last Sunday's game didn't really happen. Our home Forgotten Realms D&D campaign is going strong but one of the players hurt himself late Saturday and couldn't make it at the last minute. Since his character's nickname is 'Rail Gun' the GM had upgraded the combats to match. Frankly, the rest of our characters wouldn't survive them without him. Our tele-player (thank you Skype & um, whatever our on-line mapper is, I can't believe that I've forgotten the name) took off to get some errands done. The other player stuck around while C, R & I worked on Dresden Files characters. Yes, I play multiple role playing game systems. Don't get me wrong, I love my D&D (although 4th e will never be my best love), but I also enjoy other systems & settings.

They've almost finished our deck, only a few flourishes remain. Now if they'd finish replacing the damaged boards on the walls, I'd be even happier.

We got some much needed rain yesterday. And Hurricane Danielle is far out to the Atlantic and is not predicted to hit North America (not before Monday anyway) so it won't interfere with this weekend's plans.

Gaming, Tatting & Visiting Mom

We started creating/rolling our Traveller characters last night. With the Mongoose edition, you no longer run the risk of your character dying during the generational process, although mine did end up badly scarred. We were running late so the 'how our characters know each other' stuff is going to be handled over email. Ri & T are going to Dragoncon so we won't be playing in 2 weeks, instead we'll play in 3 weeks.

Mom's birthday was Saturday. I finally bought her present on Friday. I bought uniforms and school supplies for two girls in Afghanistan. Mom really likes that sort of gift; it doesn't add to her 'stuff' quotient. We had a nice visit. We hit the thrift shops and I found four pairs of pants for work. Of course, I forgot them at her house. *sigh*

I'm going to Palmetto Tat Days next weekend. I'm so excited. Plus, they asked me to be a teacher's assistant for a couple of the classes that I'm taking. More excitement. I've done the bracelet & it turned out fabulous (link is to a picture on flickr). I'm not as happy with the pendant that I made, but only because of poor color choice.

Here's a dragonfly that I spotted yesterday.


Oh, want to see some turn of the (19th) century pictures of Russia, in color? Go here.

Pictures, Finally

Because I've had a hard time loading them. I finally got the camera to work and to find the reader, now I can't get them to the blog; or anywhere else.

Here's the bookmark that I made for the literacy program at work. The pattern is by Karey Solomon, from an old Tatting Times. The thread is DMC size 12.

The bracelet that I made for my namesake. I bought a little bracelet with plastic beads for $1. I still have a few flowers left, but the rest of the round beads. The thread is perle 5, by Star. The pattern is my own, using Jane E's beaded picot method.

Bookmark, from DMC Book of Needlework. I made a slight error, the center chains are supposed to be twice as long and join in the center. I like it better this way. DMC size 12 perle.

Cross bookmark from Rebecca Jones's Complete Book of Tatting. Same thread.

Brief Note

Great weekend with some great gaming. Two sessions of Pathfinder on Saturday, with two brand new players (long time D&D players, but new to PFS). Home game on Sunday.

Bad stomach on Saturday, lingered through Sunday and visited again today. Bad headache today.

Read Black Dust Mambo by Adrian Phoenix and Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Should finish Blood Rites by Butcher by tonight. Still reading Dresden Files game book and tatting my lanyard for Palmetto Tat Days.

 

update (5/28/23) I had links to those books and to Palmetto Tatters Guild but Blogger flagged this post as spam or something. So I removed the links.

12 Pounds Down and Tatting

Okay, so maybe I'm bragging a little, but it's really nice to see my clothes fitting again. Except today's skirt. For some reason, the back zipper makes an 's' shape, like I have a tail stub poking my skirt.

I would post pictures, as I finally got my camera to work again. Except, I can't find my memory card reader.

Tatting:
Finished a bracelet for Namesake, but I think it's too small. It's blue perle 5 cotton with plastic flower beads.

I guess it will be a doll's bracelet. I made two DMC perle 12 ecru cross bookmarks, for a WWII vet and his companion (he's in his 80's, after all). The vet is a Navajo Codetalker and he's coming to talk at the Marine Corps League National meeting next week. I made a bookmark for UNC's adult literacy program (burgundy & mauve DMC perle 12).

Gaming:
I almost finished Spirit of the Century. I really like it. I want to run a session at Mace. Other game books that I've picked up: the second edition of Ironclaw, Dresden Files, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, and a gaming aid Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters.I want to run a game of Ironclaw, too but I haven't figure out which edition.

It was hard but I did it

I didn't go to the gym but I did get some exercise. I took a walk in a nice air conditioned building. And I did 5 minutes of a 10-minute cardio workout.

I still haven't found my paperclips *grumble*

Rosemary's game is Sunday. I need to do a character sheet for my character's cohort by then. He's an Awakened warhorse (given sentience), with two levels of fighter and two levels of barbarian. Cause a frothing horse is just fun.

I read Carol Burnett's autobiography/memoir. It was surprisingly interesting. It started a little slow and disjointed because it was simply a collection of her memories of childhood; with all of it's bit, pieces, good parts and bad parts. While she was quite honest about her family, she was pretty careful about not naming names in a negative way (except for stuff like Malcolm threw a rock at her kite and tore a hole in her school shoes).

I'm sorry that here haven't been any pictures but I think that there's something wrong with my camera. I tried new batteries but I need to try brand new ones instead of rechargeables before I give up completely.

Exercise and a contest for gamers

Here's the contest, if you play Pathfinder I think that you should at least take a look. I think that the project sounds very interesting and so does the project. They're using Kickstart to get the money to print the gamebooks. If I had the money, I'd go for the $500 pledge. As it is, I'm unreasonably tempted by the $100.

Exercise
Today was my  3rd day in a row at the gym. I'm handling the exercise better (I really like the newer bike; it has a place for bottle of water, my iPod and a fan built into it). However, my legs ache a little today.

Tatting
I started the bracelet last night. I was about to put the 1st bead on a picot and realized that I didn't have my coated paperclips. I cannot go further without at least one paperclip.

Gaming
Tonight's one of the last sessions of Mutants and Masterminds. In August, we theoretically start the Traveller game.

Movies and Used Bookstore

Movies
We went to see Despicable Me in 3D this weekend.  It was a really funny movie. I had heard good things and it lived up to what I heard. There was one little joke in the movie; very subtle. But from the laughs you could tell where the adults were sitting. Very few children would have gotten that joke.

We also saw an trailer for a movie that looks even better in 3D than in 2D. The one about the owls. In 3D it rocks; like Elvis Presley's hips.

Tatting
I finally finished the Angelica butterfly. I need to do some major blocking for it to look proper. I think I'm doing my lockjoins wrong or something. It won't lay flat.

I registered for Palmetto's. There went my money (what the car repair didn't take).

Used Bookstore
I took a bagful of books to the used bookstore. I spent some money, but took home fewer books than I took. I count that as a success. I got two of the Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson books, Five Red Herrings, a gamebook, and at least two others.

Gaming:
My Dresden Files game books came in (yes another place that my money went, but not nearly as expensive). I've almost finished reading Spirit of Century. I'm so tempted to run a 1 or 2-shot game now.

Viral Video and a Car Scare

Net Stuff
Do you know who Isaiah Mustafa is? If you watch TV, you probably do; even if you only know him as 'that Old Spice guy'. There's an entire YouTube channel devoted to his videos (including a wedding proposal and one supporting libraries).

Here's a parody of one, by New Spice guy. It's really, really funny.

Life Stuff
Last night, I met some friends and we went to see The Last Airbender movie. It's sort of obvious that they were squeezing an entire season of half-hour shows into 1 hr 45 minutes (including credits, I think). Certain characters were whitewashed, too which I found distracting. It's still not the worst movie that I've ever seen and the action sequences were entertaining.


When we got back to my friend's house, my car was no longer parked in front. All that I had with me: my journal, my tatting, my wallet, and my phone. My laptop, camera, work id, checkbook, house keys, and bus pass were all in the car. PANIC! Distress! Then Chris and I both spotted it, a couple houses down the street, on the other side and up on the curb. I checked it. All the doors were locked and the parking brake was on. It was not in gear and the brake was not pulled up to its fullest extent. My best guess? The brake didn't hold and it rolled to where it stopped. Here's the incredibly lucky part: no damage. The car is fine. It didn't hit the mailbox that it landed right next to. The only 'damage' was some crushed grass between the curb and the sidewalk. Blows me mind.

Ironically, I need to pay the property taxes on my car. Today probably. I plan to get my car inspected tomorrow.

Tatting Stuff
I've gotten more tatting done. I'm more than halfway through the Angelica second wing. It's going to require some major blocking.

I'm trying to decide what to make for my State Fair entry. Ideas: doily, necklace/bracelet, framed heart. I bought some DMC 12, three balls of coordinating colors and some coordinated seed beads last night from Lazy Daizy.

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.