It's SPRING

And Impossible Astronaut day. Why do I have these hash marks on my hands?

It's the day after Earth Day. And today I remembered my sunblock.

The strap on my purse broke. The thread holding the strap to the purse just gave way. I have some sewing to do tonight, don't I?

I have almost finished the baby booties. I am about halfway through the last row. I'm almost done with another minor Norwegian dragon, too. The first wing is done, I just need to do the 2nd one. I have a teapot to tat and some other odds and ends, for the Palmetto Tat Days charity quilt. I need to email Georgia Seitz and let her know I'm going to be late.

The Pathfinder Dragon's Demand game is going well. We have one or two sessions left. In late May or June, I'll be staring to run Skull andShackles. I've started prep. I've done things like sent an email to prospective players, telling them what to expect and what things are and are not explicitly permitted. I've also started an Obsidian Portal wiki/campaign doc.

Mace West, Atomic-Con, and Gnome-con all went well. I ended up running Race for the Rune Carved Key (for level 3-4) at Atomic-con with 2 days notice. According to the players, I did a good job.

This guy makes one suit a year, and it takes him 3 months to a year to make one

We spent some time sight-seeing in Savannah during Gnome-con. And I discovered that Badger Balm's shake & spray anti-bug does work. And quite well. We had one meal in the Pirate's Tavern and sat at the exact same table as last time. This time I sat with my back to the blocked door. And Chris thinks he can make Artillery Punch, in less than the 10 gallons mandated in the recipe.

My laptop was stolen about a month ago. They broke my car window while it was at a park and ride and took my messenger bag. The bag had my laptop, power cord, iPad cord, journal, and a USB lamp. Plus a bag of dice and my steel skwire forms. My iPad needed an OS update but I didn't have the memory on the iPad to do it. I booted up my old laptop, the one I haven't opened in 3 years.

After a week of updates, updates, and updates, I managed to finally get to the point I could update my Ipad's OS to 7-something. Yay!

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.

Definitely needed my sleep last night; at least, based on the fact that I slept an extra hour leads me to believe that to be the case. I did have a dream though. This morning, we watched cartoons and vegged a bit. I also finished my laundry.

My fingernails are a mess though. I have maybe two that are better than decent. The rest are short and irregular. Even with filing, they're 'eh.' And most of my nails are so short; again. Ah well.

tv: Doctor Who was really good last night. I wasn't really in the mood for any other tv, and I was tired, so I went to bed early. And I slept late. Today, I finally saw Austin Powers: Goldmember, or most of it. The Batman cartoon was one of the coldest ever, Superman & Batman were one-lining each other.

books: I've started Fortune's Stroke, now and finished The Marriage Spell this morning.

tatting: I redid the bauble, using a plastic bead instead of a marble and it looks good. I did a josephine chain for the strand. I think I'll put it on a lobster clip to use as a zipper pull.

clothes: Gran March BI t-shirt, cotton lounging pants, Celtic knot ring, star/moon/tree pendant, hematite ring, blue bead on silver wire bracelet, chain mail earrings & plaited hair.

/insert sarcasm/ Joyful news /end sarcasm/ my wireless card has died. The little light no longer comes on to indicate my laptop attempting to make a wireless connection. Don't know when I'll be able to get it fixed, either. Wouldn't be so bad but I'm supposed to be able to find out when the playtest tomorrow is, and where. Kind of hard to check my email with no connection, you know?

Update I got it turned on again. But it's acting kind of wonky and is having trouble keeping the connection.

Got home last night, turned off the alarm & noticed something a little odd; living room lights wouldn't come on. Don't ask me how I failed to notice a complete lack of lights for the last block. The storm (yay rain!) had apparently knocked out the power. I found one of the crank flashlights and read until Chris got home. He was late, thanks to the 43-car pile up on the highway.

Not wanting to go out looking for a restaurant 1) with power, 2) fight that traffic to find it & 3) one that wasn't socked in with everyone else with the same idea, we ordered pizza. The power came on before it arrived. Good thing; reading by flashlight was giving me a headache.

Got a surprise this morning (as I finished my book). It's about 3 days earlier than last month. What a wonderful way to greet the day.

Books: Read vol 4 & 5 of Ranma ½ and also Dead Girls Are Easy. That was pretty good; kind of chick lit paranormal. I half re-read Goblin Hero. I started to read another book but just couldn't get into it.

TV: saw Burn Notice & Monk and then off to bed early. I watched Dr Who & Torchwood this morning after an hour long Batman. I also watched 2 Boston Blackie movies on TCM.

Clothes: blue jeans, violet butterfly fairy t-shirt, butterfly earrings, flower fairy pendant, flower band, hematite band, silver band with silver 'cord' laid on it, 3 pale purple bead/elastic bracelets, 2 darker purple bead/elastic bracelets, & pale blue elastic on my ponytail. I'll probably add navy loafers when I go out.

Back from Tat Days! It was near the small town of Winsboro, in White Oak Conference Center this year. Anitra, Stephanie & I drove down in Stephanie's Outback, starting about 7 am. We arrived in time for lunch & the first class at 1:30 pm. We all three took 2 classes (though it wasn't the same one, I think) and then it was off to the banquet. After supper, we went to the fun & games, once again, Mark won the speed tatting competition, 17 triple flowers (pre-set pattern) in 15 minutes. All three of us went to night owls (the until midnight tat & chat) and learned to sing a Dutch song, led by Riet. I left about 10 or 11, tired. Anitra & Stephanie followed soon after.

The next morning I went to the early birds, it started at 6 am. Too bad the buildings were still locked. So we started tatting by the exterior lights. I'd gotten started, made a mistake, and started retro-tatting by the time they unlocked the doors. I did complete my little bauble that Karey designed. Off to breakfast, meeting the other two, and then off to more classes. I did not finish my cluny bookmark, barely got started good. I really needed to practice my cluny leaves before the weekend. I did finish Jane's frog, red with blue toes. It's tres cute.

More fun and games after supper. First was tatting terms bingo. We played 4 rounds. I was about to ask if you got a prize for having the same number every round (6, 6, 6 & then 7) but then I didn't the last round. The scavenger hunt was fun. I was on a team with Steve & Anitra; but then went to another team so they'd have more players. My team had 6 people, my former team had 7. Two of the people in my group didn't have any of their stuff; they'd packed to fly out today. We still finished only 3 points behind the winning team (guess who!). Janice called out a list of items, then people searched through their stuff to see if they had it. Which reminds me, I need to buy a curved beading needle. I bought a small bead spinner, and it did not come with one.

I bought a few books, some thread and some other fun stuff. I have a present for Kathy now (hand dyed sock yarn). I also have an idea about some gifts to make. Karey's bauble has some great potential. I am much better on self-closing mock ring & I might finally have a clue to mastering the split chain. The continuous join method of Jane's adds an interesting touch to edgings.

After breakfast & some more chattering this morning, we finally left. It was great fun, but I think I've succumbed to another illness. Not so whee. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch and I found a present for Liz (book on raising chickens) and a package of beads that might do Karey's baubles but lightweight enough for earrings.

video of the day: Jo Brand, aka Sea Monster, British Comedian

books: On the trip, I read bk 2 & 3 of Mamotte! Lollipop and bk 4 of Pet Shop of Horrors (I thought it was book 1, oh well) and then Kitty Takes a Holiday.

tv: yeah, right. Saw Serenity on DVD tonight and before that Torchwood & part of Dr. Who this evening.

clothes: Friday it was aqua tank under white net, blue jeans, navy loafers, chain mail earrings, etc. Saturday I wore black jeans, Palmetto 2007 Tat Days tshirt, flower fairy pendant, flower pendant, and a braid. Today it was the orange Carolina Ren Festival t, blue jeans, navy loafers & celtic knot jewelry.

Weather: big shock & surprise, it continues to be hot & humid. I'm fairly certain that we've had 19 days of 90F+ so far this month. We're about 2" low on rain for the month & 4.77" low on rain for the year; just in this area. Farther west in the state, it's worse. Even here, you can see the effect that the drought is having on the trees.

books: Finished The Four Forges. It's really good and there were a couple surprises. I'm looking forward to the next book, because this one is obviously book 1 (even besides it being mentioned on the cover). I re-read Pyramid Scheme. That's a really good adventuresome, and sometimes thought-provoking, romp through mythological Greece with a short visit to Egypt. I also found & re-read Accidental Goddess. I really need to find some more of Linnea Sinclair's works. Mom has discovered Catherine Asaro. I brought Nora Roberts Night Shift & Night Shadow (2 books, 1 volume) to read on the commute, etc.

Ran into my new neighbor again this morning. She's going to try to get her bus pass today. We had plenty of time to talk on the bus as we had a short breakdown this morning. The back doors wouldn't close so we had to have someone from TTA come out to fix them. I made it work before my office door unlocked but I didn't have time to stop & get a soda or my usual granola bars. At least I had a bite of danish & part of my soda from last night to sustain me.

Movie: Went to see Stardust last night after coming back from seeing Mom. Wow, what a great movie. It had adventure, romance, humor & a little magic. Chris & I have both decided that we want a copy of that movie. Robert deNiro was fabulous in this movie; he plays a pirate captain. It was also nice to see that none of the women were OMG beautiful. They were attractive, but also human looking. Maybe it's all my exposure to British tv but I get really tired of all the 'perfect' actresses & actors that you see in Hollywood productions.

tv: Watched Dr. Who and not much else. I was quite tired Friday night. Mom & I watched a couple episodes of her Christmas/Mother's Day present: Last of the Summer Wine, one movie from her birthday present (10 Hollywood classic movies set) My Favorite Brunette & a couple episodes of the Irish RM that she had checked out of the library.

clothes: This weekend it was all t-shirts & jeans. Saturday I wore a Red Cross blood drive t- & on Saturday it was my Trinic*con 8 t-. For jewelry: paui shell pendant & ring, ~filigree earrings, moss agate bead bracelet, red silicon Ronald McDonald House bracelet, flower band, hematite band, navy loafers & plaited hair.

Just as an aside: my mom & brother argued over 11 years ago. They still haven't made up. They don't speak to each other. My mother has never met her granddaughter. She didn't recognize my brother when she saw him on Saturday. I want to shake both of them until some sense falls into their heads. The really sad part? I'm the one in the family without common sense.