Rain! Finally!

We got some rain this weekend. We're still almost 7" below our normal rainfall for the past year, but considering we've gone about 10 days with nothing appreciable, I'll take it.

I finished another half-braid bracelet. This one is Lizbeth size 20 in Caribbean, with bugle 11 in Purple Iris and 11/0 Aiko in Iris beads. this picture is from when it was in progress. I still need to hide the ends on it.

I've made a couple bookmarks recently. One of them used the same thread and one was black and white. I need to get photos of them before I mail them off.

size 20 Lizbeth thread, Caribbean, from Tatting Times, from A Tatter's Workbook

Same bookmark as below, but different background for contrast

size 20 DMC tatting thread

 I went to the bead show with a friend last weekend but I didn't buy much. Here's most of what I bought (except for a strand of black beads, obsidian, maybe?).

Bone disks and lapis beads, to go with my earrings

charlottes and seeds, for my bracelets

I've made some progress on my sock. I'm past the heel now, so it's finally starting to look sock-like.

We were supposed to go see the Captain America movie this weekend but we had a small mishap concerning movie times. Instead we went to see Cowboys and Aliens. On the fortunate side, we discovered that the movies at the hour we went (4 pm - 5:30 pm) were about half-off.

I had to get a new car key cut this weekend. Friday, I got my key caught in a metal mesh and it bent. I managed to start my car and get home but I was worried I would break the key off in the ignition if I tried more than that. The new key works fine. Whew.

Our Forgotten Realms game is progressing. We've gotten rid of the big bads in the castle, now we need to get rid of the guards in the barracks. We did have one faintly humorous moment during Sunday's game. My character is a sword-dancer of Ellistraee. For the non-gamers, I'll explain. She's a half-drow (dark elf) who worships the only good-aligned drow goddess. Most of them are some flavor of evil. Part of Ellistraee cleric (& sword-dancers have some cleric) mission is to convince drow to give up their evil ways and return to the surface and be good people As part of this, my character has been making this offer, via monologue, to every drow we've met. We're currently in a drow city and it's gotten to the point where the other characters can recite it along with her.

In Sunday's fight, we're facing a vampire drow and my character spent part of action trying to decide: does vampire trump drow? If she's undead, I'm not making the offer, but I'm supposed to make the offer to all drow. Hmm, nope sunlight and vampires don't mix, so no offer. I can just kill her. Yay!

This Thursday will be our first Traveller game back in the GM's house. The repairs (post-tornado) are done and he's moved back into it.

All Safe

Don't worry. Yes, tornadoes hit nearby but none of them came that close to me. We just had to deal with some heavy wind and rain. There aren't even any fallen branches, big ones, close to my house.

The storm did give me a migraine, but some migraine meds and a nap took care of that. It does mean that I didn't get as much done as I'd planned on Saturday. I did get my oil changed, so that's one thing off my to-do list.

Sunday's game went well. I arrived late (took another nap) but we got through the fight. My character managed to royally peeve an NPC,which was a good thing. He decided that she had to die; instead of breaking her very valuable sword, which was his favorite tactic. He did almost kill her, but one of the other PCs is a paladin with a unicorn mount, which has healing spells. That kept my PC alive long enough to finish the guy off and go help kill the half-fiendish huge displacer beast. I hate mis-chance.

After the game was supper for one of the players. It's about his birthday so we took him to this nice Chinese place (he chose it). His daughter was a bit grumpy, but she'd gotten woken up from a nap.

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.

Rainy Morning Monday

The day started out very windy & wet. What I didn't know is that there had been high wind & tornado warnings overnight. There had even been about 2 inches of rain in 12 hours. It was lightly raining while we were at supper and it rained on the way back from the game, but it must have intensified after we got home. It was windy enough that some of our recyclables blew out of the bin. I hope that they dry out before pickup tomorrow. One oddity, I swear I could smell the sea sometimes, in the morning. I'm about 300 miles inland, so that seems a little unlikely.

My friend & I got lost on the way to meeting Chris for the movie Friday night. We got there before the movie started, but not with enough time to eat. Instead, we went out for a nice supper, not fast food. We left the restaurant at about the same time the movie would have been letting out. We're going to try again next Friday.

The next day, we went to Joe M's place for LFR (Living Forgotten Realms). Chris ran a game & a guy named Alex ran a game. We had a quick supper in between. We finally finished at about 1 am. It was a great time with some great roleplayers, but I was so tired. I played Black Raspberry Chocolate Tracks, of House Tracks for both games. She's 8th level now. She is just so entertaining to play when there're some good roleplayers at the table.

Needless to say, I was just a leeeeetle tired on Sunday. Pizza Inn, our usual pre-game lunch spot has changed. We need to go by to see if they still open at 11 am on Sunday, if not, then we aren't likely to go back there. We have time constraints, after all.

Poor R, she was running the game on about 5 hours of sleep. Plus, the incoming storms were giving her headache. We still got through some important stuff in the game. We didn't have a combat but we made progress. Joe J wasn't there, he was sick, and we didn't get so far that his character won't be able to catch up.

I didn't do much tatting. I made some white & silver butterflies. Day 9 of the TIAS came out, but I haven't started it yet.

TIAS, the weather and gaming

I just missed the bus last night, so I was working on day 6 of Jane's TIAS by streetlight. Or I tried. Both threads broke, not just the chain thread. I was disgusted by that point, so I tied in a knot and kept tatting. It won't be pretty, but it will be done. I got the point where I needed to add the bead and realized that I could not do that in the poor light. I finally finished day 6 at lunch today. I almost shredded the thread getting the bead onto the ring.

I managed to get day 7 done and was working on day 8. At one point, I was trying to make a join on ring 12 & realized I had lost a picot. It was a very small picot. Why, oh why did I choose black for my 2nd color? What was I thinking?








I finally finished day 7, but as you can see it's not pretty.

Here's part 8, done. Sort of. Sorry about the loose threads. Remember what I said about threads breaking? Here's proof.

The weather was really, really rainy last night. I had my wipers on full a few times, from the rain. There were also a couple instances in which tire spray played a role. There was a stretch of road where the lane markers pretty much disappeared. The only saving grace is that there's a median separating the two directions.

I made it to, and from, gaming last night safely. But my legs, arms and lower back ached with tension. At least my character was able to thoroughly whomp some bad guys. They were hard light constructs (ie no one alive in them) so no punch pulling, just slice, dice & whack.

Tonight a couple of us are going out to a quick supper and then on to see Avatar. It's not a 3D theater but from what I've heard you really don't want to wait for the DVD on this one. Unless you have a really big screen at home, of course.

Tomorrow, it's more LFR. I hope that I remember how. I ended up canceling the last time I had planned to play. Luckily, it's a really simple game.

Sunday, it's R's game. I've decided to enter the notes that I have as an adventure log on Obsidian Portal. That will make it easier for me to track NPCs etc.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month
aka Save The Tatas! Check out this blog; loved today's story. Really made me tear up. I've lost family to cancer, but not to breast cancer. Nonetheless, I check ever month & my mammogram earlier this year came back clear.

Gaming: More jokes last night about my character's inability to use tech. She broke her communicator, hoping that would summon her teammates. In our Mutants & Masterminds game, the GM rarely gives us true villains. For example, the last villain (not last night's, the one from 2 weeks ago), was targeting the Mob for not paying him for the computer security that he installed in their casino. The non-payment was legal; there was a clause about no backdoors in the program, which he didn't catch. Hey, he's an electronics/robotics supergenius, not a lawyer.

Last night's thieves are from another dimension that has been conquered by superpowered folks from yet another dimension. Seeing the way that our characters' world reveres its heroes made them believe that they couldn't trust anyone so they were stealing what they need to throw off their oppressors. Not exactly the Bwahaha School of Evil, huh?

Sunday is R's game. More fighting drow and maybe some undead. We have a Lolth-worshipping ally, much to my character's dismay & disgust (the cleric/holy warrior of the anti-Lolth).

After the game, we take C out for his birthday. His natal anniversary is not until the 15th but I'll be working at the fair over the weekends, so that's out. Maybe I'll get him this book. It's not on his list, but I think that he might like it anyway.

Presents: I ordered this book in mid-September for J's birthday. It was due out in August. The publication date has now been moved to Nov 1st. Maybe I'll give J a card & an IOU.

I have wrapped two children's books for my namesake. I want to mail them to her as Wednesday presents. They are wrapped in a promotional world map. I have more books to wrap & I'll send them in one box if it's not too expensive.

ebooks & hardcopy: Pathfinder had a very good idea. The hardcopy of their core rulebook is about $50. But the PDF of the same is only about $10. What does that mean? That means that I'll buy both. I already bought the PDF and I have the hardcopy on order. Other game companies: take note.

Holidays: It's October & time to break out the decorations. I have a resin witch that someone gave me; she went on some shelves in the corner of the office. I have a little ceramic jack o'lantern with marbles in his eyes, that went on the counter. My Puss in Boots mug has some candy in it now.

Great Weekend
On Saturday, I was driving down to see Felicia *wave hi* and I was about 15 minutes away when I got hit by rain. Not just any rain; this was a frog strangler.

Ever been in a summer Southern (US) storm? People do pull off to the side of the road to wait for it to weaken or pass. Some just slow down and turn on their hazard lights.

If you've never been in one, you may think, 'how silly, it's just a little rain.' Which just goes to show, you've never experienced one.

The road is a 65mph highway, 4 lanes on my side at the point where I got hit by the rain. Of course, that means that many people drive 75 mph, although you could occasionally find some doing 60 mph in the slow lane.

The sky darkened as the clouds rolled in. You could see the haze of the rain as it advanced toward us.

Then it hit. Soon, I had my wipers going full speed and I had slowed down to 30 mph; felt like I was speeding. I was profoundly thankful for the car in front of me. By following its hazard lights, I was probably still on the road, and in my lane. The sheets of rain on my windshield kept the lights blurry, despite my wipers whipping back and forth.

Sometimes the rain would let up, just a bit, enough to see the highway signs or for the wipers to actually clear my windshield. Then another wall of rain would hit and I'd be hoping that the car in front of me wasn't going to take an exit ramp any time soon. Luckily, those downpours don't last for long. It only seemed like forever.

Visit: Felicia & I had a nice time, talking over lunch. I certainly hope it's not another 23 years before we do it again. I'd forgotten how much I like her.

In the evening, Chris, Rosemary & I went to meet with Irene, et al. She lives on the West Coast, too. She emailed a bunch of people, whom she'd met at different times in her life (1st grade friend to me whom she met in college), to all get together for supper. We ended up going to an Ethiopian restaurant. It's been years since I've been to one. The food was great, although much of it was too spicy for my palate. Of course, that's why the injera (sourdough flatbread - kind of like a cross between a pancake & bread) is so important. You need it to ease the burn of the capsaicin.

Gaming: Sunday was Rosemary's game. We didn't have the technical difficulties this time; that made things a lot smoother. She also felt better about challenging us. She made the arcane in the patrols a warmage, instead of a wizard. That made the fire shields (spell that hurts the attacker who lands a blow on whomever it is cast upon) really, really dangerous for our characters. A wizard's version does X amount of damage, call it an average of 8 pts of damage (vs characters who can take 60 - 100 points). The warmage's version was doing a minimum of 23.

Thursday I'll be in an LFR game. I know which character I'll be playing & where I'll be playing & that's it.

Family: I'm going to see Mom this weekend. The local tatters are getting together on Sunday, so I'll do the Friday/Saturday thing. My dad leaves tomorrow, with his closest cousin, to go 'home' to visit graveyards. I finally found grandmother(his mother)'s grandmother's grave, Henrietta Marshall Sentiff. She's not buried with her husband so she was a little hard to find. I would like to thank the Illinois Genealogy Society for the material that they have posted. I would not have found her without them.

I'm trying to write my letters (to aunts, et al). I've only done 2.5. I just need to sit down & do it.

It's a cycle, a downward spiral
Yeah, I'm depressed. Again. It's not enough to prevent me from eating or working. I just have problems sleeping and I hit the Escapism button over & over.

Let's see what's happened in the past 3 weeks. Dinner with Dad. Dad's bootcamp 'yearbook.' Weekend with Mom. Breaker to my room flipped. Again (3rd or 4th time). I think it's the grounds maintenance folks, cause it's usually on a Tuesday.

Finally got my state tax refund. Played Rosemary's game, with the new plot. The one that she started the game in order to run (demon web pits or something). Interested in Shadowrun Missions. Writing 3 Jadeclaw adventures to run at Animazement.

Got my necklace repaired. Bought a couple (okay, 3) computer games. Played one to the end. May give it to my niece. It's a hidden object puzzle kind of thing.

Went to Harmony Hall Heritage day. Really hot again this year. Bought a couple history books. Gave my namesake her birthday presents (bookbag, flowerpot thingy, & books). Tatted a split ring rose & started an edging.

Gaming Weekend and other stuff
I'll be near Atlanta this weekend, playing Living Forgotten Realms. It's not a con, but it was supposed to be. The con dates got changed, too late to change vacation dates. But the locals stepped up and offered to run a couple games, since we were going to be in town.

We were going to leave this afternoon, and I would have worked a half-day. Instead we leave in the morning & I worked all day. That was good 'cause I was in a training class all morning and I had other stuff to do today, too.

The class was interesting. It's called "not from 'round here, are ya?" It's all about regional communication styles and stereotypes (positive & negative). It verbalized some things that I already knew.

I'm on the 2nd wing of AnneB's dragon. And I just ran out of thread on one shuttle. Oh dear.

Rosemary's game finally wrapped up the Time of Troubles storyline. Yay! Now it's time for the adventure that she started running for. The characters needed to be at least 8th to start it, so everything has been leading up to her running this module.

I read another good book recently, Amber Benson's. It's urban fantasy type & really good. I can't recommend it enough,.

Beautiful Morning
The time changed and I did not sleep well. I made use of being up 'early.' I went to the grocery, which was not open yet because the store manager had forgotten to change the time on his clock. I went to another grocery store instead. I didn't need anything major, just a few odds and ends, but they were necessary odds & ends.

It's a really beautiful morning at least. So it wasn't a completely annoying trip. And I bought doughnuts for breakast, Krispy Kreme of course. Not that there's one around here so I had to settle for grocery store Krispy Kreme, so not the same.

This afternoon is Rosemary's Forgotten Realms campaign. I really need it because having stuff to do really takes my mind off, well, Bill. I had a real crying jag yesterday, enough to give me a headache. I know, it's part of the mourning process. But the mourning process should not leave you with a headache & a clogged nose.

Tatting and Movies
Tatting: Saturday's meeting of the Triangle Tatters was great. We had three new people; one of whom came because she needed help getting started. Luckily, she sat next to Anitra; a really good teacher. I knew one of the new people, because she's a student of Anitra's who helped at the State Fair this past year. Then, earlier this week we (because three of us found her through different avenues) found another tatter. She hopes to come to the meeting in February.

They helped me get started on my Eritrea flag project. So far it is not going smoothly. I do have a back-up plan. If I am unable to tat the entire thing then I will sew one and tat the olive branch wreath.

Movies: Over the weekend I saw three amusing movies, none of them less than 20 years old. The last, and most recently made, one was Rustler's Rhapsody. It's a comedy-Western, and it's really funny if you've watched a lot of old Westerns. We also caught part of Beach Blanket Bingo. It's not a great movie, but it's light & entertaining (still blows my mind that Buster Keaton is in a lot of the beach movies). The movie that we watched Friday night, the one that no one in Triangle Tatters had ever heard of (what is that, an instructional video?); How to Murder Your Wife. It's a funny movie; starring Jack Lemmon.

weather & shoes: The weather has turned warm. I'm wearing a cotton blouse and the cord vest over it feels like a bit much today. Monday I wore a pair of shoes that I thought was broken in; not enough apparently. Ouch. My Mary Janes hurt because although they are broken in; they hit the spots that the loafers abraded.

Books: I haven't read anything really new, except an old L. Sprague and Catherine de Camp book (The Stones of Nomuru) that I picked up at the USB. Although I do have the latest Lois McMaster Bujold waiting for me at the bookstore. I am up to October 07 in my Shojo Beat magazines. Sabrina Jeffries was at a library near me last night. I had planned to go but once I got home I was unable to leave again (the reasons are TMI).

Gaming: this weekend will be the first session of Spellguard. I need to make certain the my character is up to date. I know that a couple of them leveled at Wukon but I did not do the update because things were too rushed. I'll be playing my eladrin wizard (the ice queen, or wannabe ice queen).

Gaming: The main villain Thursday night was Derailment man. We got a little playing done but not much.

The game Sunday went a little smoother, partially because we really, really want to get through this phase of the adventure. We're all sick of wild magic.

Ren Festival: We drove down to Christopher & Alyssa's on Friday and watched Bubba Ho-Tep while we talked. The next morning Christopher went to work while the rest of us went to the Festival. We got there about the time that the gate opened. Alyssa had to leave early to get some stuff done but she watched a couple shows with us. She loaned me a chemise to wear under my bodice, plus a scarf to give my some waist definition.

She recommended the Nun show and poor Chris's face was hurting by the end. He literally hurt himself smiling so much. We bought a cd; it was that funny. I think I found someone's present.

I also saw part of London Broil, more of Don Juan & Miguel, the artiste du jour (Ceol Leinn), Cast in Bronze, and part of Dexter Tripp's show that I had not seen (the link takes to a YouTube video of the set that I saw). Cast in Bronze absolutely rocked. I have heard of Carillons but never seen one, much less heard one.

Miguel's birthday was the 31^st, so I gave him the black fast heart that I made on the way to the Festival. He seemed to like it. We saw the Royal Piper (Royal because she was the only piper), and she piped Happy Birthday to Chris (I volunteered him) and another woman in the audience.

I ran into Alex, her father & her friend at the Festival. They had been watching Dexter Tripp's show (The one with the duct tape & firecrackers). That was fun.

Purchases: mug, canvas bag with Celtic knotwork, mug strap, cloth bag, leather mug, hair spiral with clip to fit over elastic (elastic was included in purchase of spiral), and cd's. I bought two from Cast in Bronze, one from the Nun Show & one from Ceol Leinn. I also bought a sticker from Ruth Thompson. I really need to look through the pieces I have bought from her to see what I already have. There are pieces that I would like to get but I do not know if I have them already or not. Rosemary owed me a t-shirt, for pilling her cat while she was out of town, and bought me a Ren Festival tee.

After gaming, we're taking John out to supper for his birthday, much belatedly. He's decided on Crazy Fire.

Tomorrow night is Chris's game. Will we reach the elf city safely?

Gaming: The game on Sunday was entertaining. My character finally met her goddess, or at least her goddess's avatar; that's a thrill. There was a lot of humor found, between her teaching the little drow orphans to pray (much to the dismay of the Torm paladin, who couldn't find a reason why he should a object, just felt vaguely that he should) to the tiefling's appreciation of the Drow dancig..aaaaaand the revelation that some god had already marked the agnostic/atheist tiefling. Rosemary is still chortling about that; she won't tell him who.

Tonight we're still invading the giant's keep. We've found the artifact, sort of. We just need to fight/trick our way through several giants and some scorpion-worshiping drow. Yeah, that'll be easy.

Work: the end is in sight. I've managed to shrug off the easier part, and the data entry, onto my assistant. Now I just need to do the other stuff that's been on the backburner & get it done.

Tatting: I finished the 4th round! Yeah! Only took 12-13 yards, too. I thought that it was going to be 16-19 yards. I started the 5th round but put it on hiatus while I work on the eTatters March monthly challenge. So far I've tatted 2 3-leaf clovers, since yesterday. It's Rozella Linden's Celtic knot shamrocks and works up really quickly. It's all chains.

gaming: Rosemary's game went well. We've hit another plot point so we're making progress. We had to call the combat because we were running short on time. We'll pick it up next session.

Tonight is Chris's game and they'll be taking up duties at Flagstaff. Good news, our characters are not being court martialed, for being AWOL. Okay, they didn't come back after leave but they did send messages about what was going on & they did get back in time to report.

Tomorrow I'll be zero rounding some LG. It's gonna be APL 6 so I'll be playing my sorceress probably.

The day flew by at work today. I had the monthly reports to finish & then a billing spreadsheet enter. Plus emails & phone calls about HR stuff.

books: Um, I read something. Dark Melody....and I don't remember what else. I'm still reading the ShadowRun book. I picked up my manga & started reading that. But I haven't finished anything.

clothes: suede shoes, black jeans, black belt with silver buckle, white waffle polo, purple sweater (my office was cold today, I never took it off), feather earrings & quartz point pendant, fem power ring, class ring, hematite band & braided hair.

Finally finished the Egypt campaign in Age of Empires yesterday. Did a bit other stuff, but frankly, not much. Chris wasn't feeling well & I was too freaking tired. I slept 10 hours Friday night.

Rosemary's game today. I need to make sure that I have my stuff together. We're starting a little later because she's taking Duncan to a dog class.

TV: we finally started watching the 2nd season of W*I*T*C*H*. It's really good. It's got this thing called continuity. Adult shows should take note.

books: re-reading Dark Melody & the Shadowrun 4th edition book.

clothes: jeans, t-shirt, etc.

I ran into not one but two nice people today. That just perked up my morning.

One was the woman who called out, letting me that someone was trying to get my attention. Of course, the person trying to get my attention is the guy who works where I usually pick up my breakfast (I'm toting my breakfast this week). We made faces at each other through the window.

The other was the woman who let me know that I was missing my hair elastic. Not that she was to know that I had removed it because it clashed with my outfit today. So I thanked her and let her know that I had removed it and thanked her again for letting me know, 'cause if it had slipped off that would have been well, not a lifesaver, but something to tend.

Chris's game: We finally had the showdown with the Salt Baron (expletives inserted by our PCs who are really pissed at him). He had at least 3 salt golems and all his spells are salt-themed, like he got elemental substitution: salt. We had finished off his 2 guards and were working on the golems when 10 pm hit. Kelis, my druid, slowed down that spell-slinging idiot by casting sleet storm on his half of the room. At the same time, Gaius's (Joe's cleric) spiritual weapon is whacking on him. His 3rd salt golem is defending him but so far not 100%.

I spent most of Saturday getting the table & environs cleared for last night's game. It's a shame, I had wanted to go to What the Hell Con. Oh well.

Sunday, I took more books to the Used Book Store & bought more. But I also found V'day presents for Chris. I bought him season 1 & 2 of Veronica Mars. That was half my book bill right there. My Witch Hunter book still has not arrived. *wah*

I still need to get a birthday present for Rosemary. Chris sent me her list so I have some things to find. Joe seemed to like his Christmas present last night. I went ahead & gave the 50 comic book villains book to David. He really liked it. Joe gave me season 2 DVD of Ranma 1/2 & he utterly thrilled Rosemary by giving her the Isis tv show on DVD. He got a good D&D book for Chris & the latest Shadowrun book. Diana got the next book in a series that he'd recommended to her. I don't remember what or if Joe & David got anything from him.

Sunday, was Rosemary's game. Richard brought presents, too. He gave coffee to Chris, a couple candles to me, a Munchkin game to Joe & I can't remember what he gave Rosemary.

Those stupid undead cursed & gaunts came back to attack our characters in Rosemary's game. She had designed that encounter thinking that we'd have a 9th level cleric with us. We don't because Diana had to pull out of the game due to her irregular schedule. But Richard managed to turn the mounts (cursed, I think) & that got rid of half of the combatants. When we killed all the riders (gaunts, I think, I'm no longer certain which is which), the remaining mounts fled. They're smarter than the riders and both are nasty, icky, undead things. Midnight & Aidon only stayed alive thanks to plot immunity. Otherwise they were both just soooo dead.

The wind was intense Sunday evening. I was quite glad not to be driving.

tatting: I finally got past adding both new threads on my bookmark. I did that yesterday & last night. Then I forgot to bring it work with me today.

books: Read vol 1 of Magical JxR, Reluctant Rogue, vol 2 of Pantheon High, White Lies, & Larceny and Old Lace.

clothes: black or blue jeans, t-shirts over the weekend, polo shirt yesterday & turtleneck today.

Poem for today
Crunch of frozen ground,
Frost-limned grass snap
Under trudging feet.
Monday workward bound,
Half-moon rising
Shares the sky
With the dawning sun.
Wintry air bites
At open skin
Nipping me awake.


Gaming most of the weekend. We did the next 2 parts of Greyhawk Ruins on Saturday. Then we took Diana out to supper for her birthday. The t-shirt was too small so I'm going to have to return it & order a size larger. Sunday it was Rosemary's home game. We had a short fight & Mike's character really pissed mine off. Note: Mike did not piss me off. Amber is mad at Dratsab.

tatting: I finally started Jane's Tat It & See. I got through Day 7. I don't think that it's an elephant because she's already done one, but it's distinctly elephant-shaped at this point.

I took a load of books to the Used Book Store. I picked up 4 with the store credit plus I bought Season 1 of Lois & Clark (since I didn't get it for Christmas). Now I need to get rid of the books that they didn't buy.

My copy of Witch Hunter still hasn't arrived. It looks like it won't ship until the company puts out their next product, which is supposed to be sometime this month.

books: I finished Accidental Vampire, read The River Knows and re-read Wait Until Midnight. The latter 2 are from the Used Bookstore.

I did a few more rows of the ribbon yard lattice scarf. It's starting to look like something. I'm still not 100% certain it's like a scarf.

clothes: t-shirts, jeans, tennis shoes & sweatshirts this weekend. Today it's white turtleneck, new dark red corduroy vest, black jeans, black suede shoes, black tatted earrings (the ones that I made), black stone ring, hematite ring, & black plastic bangle bracelet.

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.

site of the day: Lucy Monroe, romance author. I've read a few of her single (as opposed to Temptation, etc titles) & I've enjoyed them. Here's a video trailer of her latest book:

Ren Festival: Well, we arrived about an hour later than we'd planned but we did get really good parking. Rosemary remembered her walking stick so her leg didn't give her as many problems. Her leg is getting worse though.

We watched the Art of Falconry and boy that's an interesting show. I came in half-way through the Redtail Hawk (I went & fetched some lunch). Igor, the black vulture, and the Lannae (?) Falcon (it's related to the Peregrine Falcom) were great. And since all the birds were less than fully co-operative, the falconer filled the time with interesting tidbits of information. For example, according to the latest DNA studies, Igor is more closely related to the stork than to other birds of prey. Looking at him walk, it's quite clear to see.

I bought a new black belt, from Bald Mountain Leather, to replace the one that I broke. This one is wider & heavier with a heavier buckle but both leather & buckle have Celtic knotwork. I'm trying to wear the belt a lot in order to soften it up. I was sorry to learn that they are retiring about 30-some years of Ren'ing.

I didn't have quite enough money for a new bodice but Chris loaned me the difference. So, I bought a new, fabric bodice from Ophelia's Fynery. Rosemary bought the Juliet chemise in a gorgeous blue washable silk. My bodice is a reversible brocade/black one with a triangular panel.
I watched part of the belly dancers performance & then we all watched the Manolete' with Gypsy Boleadoras and fire cords, etc. I think I got some good photo's of what he did. We missed Dextre Trippe, except what we could see from Fellowship Foundries. I bought a rune pendant & Rosemary bought a necklace, too. I picked up a new hair clip from Bronze Jewelers. This one appears to have oak leaves & acorns on it. Chris bought two of the latest prints from Ruth Thompson. I also bought some scented candles, they're votives & they're supposed to last 8-10 hours each. We'll see.

All in all, we had a good day. Although Rosemary decided against buying anything from Pearl's Revenge. The head clerk, while working with a difficult customer, reached over Rosemary's head & flipped shirts in her face. Without even an 'excuse me' or an apology. Rosemary thought about selecting what she had been planning to buy, taking it to the counter & telling her 'this is what I was going to get. But due to your actions, I'm not.' But the clerk in question was still occupied and Rosemary didn't want to take it out on the younger clerk on the register, who had been helpful.

Gaming: Yesterday was Rosemary's game. We finished off the fight, finally. We were doing pretty good, considering that we were fighting the avatar of the god of murder. He did kill 5 of the Purple Dragon guards, alas. But Midnight did something deific and sealed him in an amber shell. We don't know how long it will last so we booked it out of the castle. The Lord of High Horn offered to make any of us members of his personal guard of the Purple Dragons. Guess who took him up on it? That's right, the half-drow cleric/fighter. Amber will never take the prestige class (for one thing, she's chaotic) but she rides openly as a half-drow now. That Purple Dragon tunic, sword, helmet & other accoutrement really catches the eye. In addition, she keeps the writ that the Lord wrote, vouching for her by specific description, close at hand.

My stomach's bothering me again. I don't know why. It's more drawn out than the usual issues I have. Also less painful. Just as annoying.

books: I read Princess of Wands & then loaned it to Chris. it's so refreshing to see a fantasy in which the heroine is strongly, devoutly Christian without being either preachy or Bible Thumper. She tries to Witness by example, by being the best person she can be. I find that quite admirable. While I don't agree with her on some matters, I respect the depth of her faith & feelings.

Today I finished re-reading Blame It On Cupid (must remember to write author).

clothes: Saturday it was bright mottled blue t-shirt with fancy bird & quasi-Chinese knotwork, blue jeans, tennis shoes, lapis earrings, silver chain with paui shell pendant & lapis ring. I kept my hair braided due to the wind, but used one of my Bronze Jeweler clips at the top of the braid.

Sunday I wore dark night sky & woman t-shirt, blue jeans, loafers, flannel shirt, feather & quartz chip earrings, rune pendant (black cord), & same hairstyle.

Today it's my newly mended black ankle boot/shoes (we picked them up on Saturday before we left, not cheap but worth it), black jeans, new black belt, clip watch (again), onyx earrings, dark sage green rayon shirt embroidered with leaves & flowers on the chest, labradorite pendant, black stone ring paired with ~rope band & hematite ring. I was wearing my hair up with 2 chopsticks but I started getting a headache.

Didn't get much done on Saturday - But then I'm dealing with borderline depression (again - everyone heave a sigh of weary resignation). I played on the computer some, read some & that was about it, once I finally woke up. We did go see a movie with Rosemary and get the part to fix the downstairs toilet. That's something, right?

Movie: Underdog; surprisingly good. I was expecting, at best, something mediocre. I was pleased to be proven wrong. While a bit Disney-fied, they did manage to carry the chief concepts of the cartoon over to live action while making a pretty good origin story.

We ate late, just kind of a late night snack after the movie. I had the yin yang boneless chicken. It was pretty good but the spicy kind of crept up on me. It's an appetizer, so if I'd been sharing it, instead of eating it as my meal, I probably would not have noticed it. As it was, about 5 am Sunday morning, my body decided to express its displeasure with my choice. I did get a lot of reading done, though.

Speaking of which, Books: I tried to read Small Town Girl when I first bought it but just hadn't been able to get into it. I tried again on Saturday & really enjoyed it. It all comes down to mood sometimes. I finished it Sunday morning, along with re-reading Witness in Death, finishing re-reading Rapture in Death & More Than a Scandal. I also read Vineyard Shadows (a mystery set in Martha's Vineyard - one of my thrift shop purchases). We went by FE after lunch on Sunday & I bought 3 manga & Shojo Beat. I've read the 3 manga already; Tail of the Moon, vol 6, Hana Kimi vol 19 & Atelier Marie & Elie: Zarlburg Alchemist vol 1.

Gaming: Rosemary had her game on Sunday, as usual. We finished fleeing Cyric, mostly by running into some Purple Dragon guards. My half-drow had the good sense to immediately pull up her Purple Dragon issued weapon/adventurer permit from Centarum (or someplace like that). Since she was vouched for, being lawful types, they immediately accepted her. Of course, the group still didn't get to sleep in peace. The god of murder came calling and they had to fight him. He killed all four of the guards at the base of the tower steps (where the party had been quartered), possessing 2 of them. We stopped at 6 pm with our 'priest' (aka sorcerer/monk of Mystra) grappling him, while explaining to the newly arrived guards that their compatriot had gone mad.

Tatting: My friend Leigh is cleaning out her storage unit & gave me 3 boxes, computer paper-sized, of Workbasket magazines. There are some duplicates but I can find good homes for them all. Just looking at the first box, they date from 1951 to 1995.

clothes: jeans & t-shirt all weekend; big shocker. I wore the Trinic*con Battle Interactive t- on Saturday & one of my Origins t- on Sunday. Today it's the same old shoes, black jeans, black tank under the ochre tunic, and dragon jewelry (3 rings, earrings & pendant).