Spaced Last Week and Forgot to Post

I played Deadlands again and caught up with what happened in the session I missed. Our characters are now in Sioux territory so the white characters are at a distinct disadvantage, my character at a lesser one. We made it to town at least.

My Starfinders book came in. I've been reading it a bit and creating a character. I haven't gotten through as much as I thought I would. 

Saturday was the mini maker's faire at Wake Tech. We had a good time. I made a bookmark to take to the family reunion as a door prize. The coverage Wake Tech had used our picture as the 1st one (see the link). Pretty cool, huh?

The bookmark pattern is from the Moonlit shuttle packaging. The fabric triangle was made by Katie (3rd from the right in the photo). She made one for each of us to catch our thread bits.

Sunday I made the apple and sweet potato dish for the family reunion and went to take a shower while it baked. I was all dressed and about to go out the door when suddenly I felt sick. I felt bad enough I wasn't up to going. I called my cousin Joy so they wouldn't be looking for me and getting worried.

The following Monday was the big sustainability event at work. I helped Claire man the table. Her husband made a really cool frame for the poster, out of bamboo.

I missed the 2nd exercise class. I missed the 1st one because I wasn't dressed appropriately. I made it to Thursday's class, and it was body sculpt. The instructor did a good job of providing instructions for the less fit (like me). She did occasionally use terms without defining them.

This past Saturday, I went to see mom. I took her a few things; some nuts, some chocolate, some chamomile tea, some soda, etc.

We went to JoAnne's. I'm looking for some j-hook beading needles. Michael's near me doesn't have them. Neither did the JoAnne's near mom. We picked up one or two items, because they were on sale, and stuff I'd get anyway. But mom got tired pretty soon, so we sat down and looked through the costume patterns. Some looked really good and some you'd have to pay me lots of money to make. And some I still wouldn't.

We also went by a thrift shop. Again, Mom got tired pretty quickly. I told her she needs to start walking the halls to build up her stamina again. 
 
Sunday,  CD and I ran errands. We also went with RG and her dog to the park to go walking. Well, they went walking. I wasn't wearing the right shoes to go walking. So I sat at a bench and tatted and read while they walked. When they came back to me, I went to the bathroom. RG's dog was very upset by this. From the noises she made, you'd think I was torturing the poor canine.

I'm almost finished my 1st Fair tatting project. I have about 10 chains or so left. I made progress on my beanile necklace. I don't know if I'll get my 3r project done or not. We'll see.

POLITICS
So #45 made more stupid comments, about Puerto Rico, NFL players, etc. Although his statements re: the NFL players were actually illegal.

And how many more mass shootings and terrorist attacks like the one in Las Vegas will it take before Congress grows a spine and stands up the NRA or the NRA gets some common sense instead of knee jerk 'all guns good, all gun control bad.'


I called the office of one of my senators (I called both, but left a message on one but no one ever answers in that office). I was upset when I called. By the time I was off the phone, I was furious. The person who answered the phone really needs customer service training. I started the call saying "I want to express my opinion" and he wanted to debate. When I interrupted him to tell him I wasn't finished and to let me continue because my time is short he interrupted me. I actually got rude and told him to shut up and stop interrupting me. He got snippy about me not being civil. I told him to stop interrupting me and I would be. I actually called back and told him that him interrupting me like that made him look sexist (which I doubt he believed, but since I doubt he'd do that to a man, I think it does).

Later on, I called the same office to leave a message and told them he needed customer service training on how to deal with upset callers. After all, Republicans are in the same dog bed as Trump and those who lie down with dogs will get up with fleas, so they need to be prepared to deal with flea bites.

Tri-Tatters and other matters

The forum meeting ended early but the community service committee meeting did not get moved up. Since some non-delegates are on the committee, that was actually a good thing.

The garden work day went pretty well. There was a good harvest and enough people to weed the paths some. The figs have started ripening. I helped harvest some cucumber and then took the cucumber vine off its trellis (darn those vines are prickly). I also helped harvest a couple figs. Mostly, I took pictures. Claire said I took over 100 photos, which gave her a nice choice of which ones to share.

Thursday was a bit of running around at work. I got to where I needed to be but was missing a key element of the paperwork, so I had to go back on Friday. I also went to the mail services open house. I finally got to see the sorting machine. It's impressive.

Virginia creeper?

Saturday was the Tri-tatters demo at Mordecai House. Four of us were there and we had some lovely interactions. There was a lady from Dallas who was absolutely thrilled to see us tatting. And one girl who loves making bracelets who wanted to try. Stuff like that makes us happy. I took a few pictures.

lanyard from Palmetto Tat Days 2017

My bracelet is not going as well. I made a mistake in the same place 3 times. Not the same mistake, a different one every time, but in the same place. I finally had to cut the ring instead of opening it....again. And I'm only on the 3rd repeat.

Somethingunderthebed had a great idea about using a coil from a comb binding to hold thread on a bobbin.

And here's one of the fans CD gave me. I think these are party members in China. He was disappointed that it's not prettier. I told him it makes a great conversation piece.

Late, but Hey, It was a holiday

We had our Deadlands game on Thursday. DC's son joined us, playing an NPC as a PC. We started causing trouble, by releasing a T Rex in the enemy's camp. Hey, they created the thing, they can deal with it.

Saturday's tatting demo was cancelled so I just did some stuff around the house.

Monday was very slow. I got most of my work done by noon and after that I just answered the phone and dealt with a couple visitors.

The edible garden in front of work is going well. The tomatoes and peppers are growing nicely.

Tuesday, the 4th, I spent relaxing. In the evening, I had supper with CC. MB was supposed to join us, as she's been trying to do for months, but she's still unpacking from a recent move. Despite sleeping 10 hours Monday night, I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I found a neat crosswalk just off campus. It amuses me.

Wednesday was volunteering at the Carolina Campus Community Garden. The Employee Forum sponsored the workday, so I had to be there early to meet the caterers. Employee Forum provided tea, lemonade, fruit, and snacks. I took pictures with Claire's camera. I did get a few with my iPad, though.

Today, my boss and I had a meeting with the finance people about how to do travel vouchers. It's a new process but it looks pretty simple. And we got a look at the new form which may go live as soon as Monday.

I am finally washing my stitch gauge piece. Once it's blocked, I'll count the stitches and plan my mock cable wristlets. I made another ice drop but made a poor choice in thread color and it's kind of meh.

May Change to Posting on Wednesday

Anyone care? I didn't think so.

packaging for wireless mouse, why does it have space for the cord?

While I was at NCRL Day

more advertising the event

On Thursday, they were doing the reading of the Holocaust names in The Pit. I can never listen for long, unless I feel like having a painful cry.

I finished the bracelet for the door prize for North Carolina Regional Lace Day. But I forgot to take a picture. Shame, it's pretty. And they had so many door prizes, not all of them were handed out and they're saving them for next year. Both the ones I provided (bracelet and a crocheted bag by my mom) will be seen next year. I guess.

 I showed up early so I could add the hearts I made to the goodie bags. Instead, I put them out on the table so people could pick up their own. I took Carolyn Kotlas's bling your shuttle class. We put decoupaged origami paper on plastic shuttles. These are the two I did.

I also made a few purchases. I bought some thread (of course), a couple of lovely shuttles, and a few books.

in hardback, even

this started very small and has almost died several times

I'm getting someone else to do my taxes this year. One less stress for me. I'm getting the same people to do my mom's. Although I had to gather all of her documents, first. Including her driver license, which was in Greensboro. That was a trip. Literally.

I had a lovely evening with CC. I was up too late afterward, though.

Oh, and my alma mater won a sportsball thing. Ya know, if anyone's interested. Yes, I will get a polo shirt if I can find a nice looking one.

Gaming and Lace

I found this website last week but forgot to mention it. If you are vulnerable to cute puppies and dogs, proceed with caution.

And the source of that edging turned bracelet is The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. The one on page 29.

It's not a good picture, but you can see the key points

On Wednesday, I worked in the Community Garden. I did some harvesting (spinach mostly), photographing volunteers, etc, and some weeding. I was so sore and frankly, a bit sweaty. Then I got onto the wrong bus. Luckily, I realized before the next stop and I got off the bus to catch the correct one.

Thursday, I was still sore so I skipped yoga. Went to the Deadlands game, though. Traffic was horrendous and I got there late. We spent a lot of time and care to 'kill' some standing skeletons before they attacked us. Turns out they were just normal skeletons that had been articulated. We amused the GM (DR) at least.

Sunday was the next game of Shadows of the Century. After last session of pregens and fight, the players decided they wanted to try a full session, complete with pitch. Part of the game is creating the setting as well as characters.

The pregens from the last game were all  fight-y or spy types and mostly they had a fight. It was a sort of running gun battle down the streets of LA at 3 am, climaxing with a rocket launcher.

This time they decided they wanted to play a fairly low weirdness level (same as 1st game) and the main plot was an invasion in a small town, a la Twilight Zone or X-Files. The subplot, and reason they're there, is that their car broke down. They tossed around ideas about a tour bus, etc and finally decided they were a loan-out act from Cirque du Soleil. They had done a show on the East Coast and were driving back to Vegas. One character is the bus driver/manager and another one is the special effects 'enthusiast'/artist. The other two are performers; knife thrower and underwater ballet dancer. The gear of the special effects enthusiast is the reason they're driving; some stuff just isn't permitted on planes.

Three of them had some kind of secret. The bus driver/manager was on the run for (possibly, she says she didn't) committing some crime, the knife thrower is an undercover Interpol agent (is the bus driver the wanted person? She's so nice, maybe it's the special effects guy, they're both tall and blond), and the dancer claims to be from the Bolshoi ballet (but really he's ex-KGB).

They got clued in by all the people whose names started with 'j' and who all had black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. Except the leader, who had bleached his hair and wore color contacts. Since they were in Arkansas, with the preponderance of Latino and Native Americans that coloring would not look out of place (if they had been in Nebraska, the invaders would have been blond).

They used their smarts, their stunts, and their aspects to get out of trouble (like finding the planted drugs before their bags got searched), find the clues (like only the lines in the sheriff's office working to reach out of town), distract the sheriff and other interested parties (boom, goes the gear), one punch the only person between them and escape, get on their bus and get out of town, with evidence of something hinky going on. I need to type up my reports and submit them to the publisher.


And since we're going to Ravencon this upcoming weekend, I also spent time making sure all my Pathfinder characters were updated. And apparently, I'm missing a character notebook. 

We're trying to eat up our groceries and it looks like Wednesday will be leftover night.

Dad called and Yvonne and her mother will be having a layover in Raleigh a Sunday in May. He thought giving them each a lace cross would be nice. I do hope I get to see them. I've only met Yvonne once, when she came with Bill Toledo to North Carolina for the big Marine Corps Reserve gathering in Greensboro, and I've never met her mother. Dad and K stopped by to see them the last time they went to Colorado.