It's Cooler this Week

It's not cool; just cooler. And it finally stopped raining.

Went to see Mom. We had a nice lunch and then I had to rush home to try and beat the rain (I failed). I cannot seem to find a floor lamp for her. I did find some beige socks (she can't stand white socks with brown loafers) and some other things she wanted.

Sunday, CD and I ran errands. And we went to see  Guardians of the Galaxy, vol 2. It was entertaining. I don't think it passed the Bechdel test, but there was at least one conversation between two women, not involving a man in their lives.

 I delivered the bouquets I made for Kathy. She seemed to like them. Yay! I didn't tell her I included 21 instead of 20.

I  started another ice drop. It's going to be...colorful. I did work on the red linen thread bracelet but my hands really need to be dry for that.

CD's mom gave me a box of old tatting thread.

The power cord for my tablet that I use overnight isn't working very well. I'm lucky to get a few percent points of battery charges (like 14% to 18% is good). I think the part that actually plugs into the outlet is dead.

Here's the knit cat I made. I finished knitting an icord for the tail. I haven't attached it yet.

assorted photos

more coloring

Looong Weekend

Thursday was my natal anniversary, aka birthday. I decided to take it as a vacation day. And since it was the Thursday before a holiday weekend, I took Friday off as well. This was a good plan.

Thursday, CD also took the day off and we just spent time together. We went out to lunch, played games, and just enjoyed each others' company.

Friday, I went to get my jewelry cleaned. This used to be a minor task. CD bought insurance on my jewelry when he bought it from a chain. I take it to get cleaned and inspected every 6 months and all repairs are free. Except. The two closest stores closed. On the bright side, the next closest store is in Greensboro.

After, I met part of my family for lunch. They picked a place close to where I was going to be and close to the highway, so I could make my way home again. It was a lovely. Dad and K gave me a bracelet he bought in Texas in 1977. It's turquoise and coral chip Kokopellis silver cuff bracelet. They also gave me a book about the Acoma people. They gave me a phenomenal photo of some Acoma pottery for Christmas.

CD gave me the soundtracks for the 1st two Hobbit movies and RG gave me Elle King's cd, and a book from my Amazon list.

Saturday was TriTatters. I managed to make one ice drop and got some sea glass from Carolyn. I started an ice drop with one of those but they are larger than my usual glass and I'm adjusting to fit. I don't think I've made it large enough.

I want this book (one of the tatters brought it to the meeting)

It was a lovely meeting. I helped someone with a current project and showed her how to make Martha Ess's half-braid bracelet. She wants to make one for her daughter, to recognize her daughter's getting her prize job. The tatter, we'll call her R, is still learning and this is a pattern well within her skills. She was so thrilled. I love helping people like that.

Sunday was Pathfinder, Tears at Bitter Manor again. We haven't played since February and one of our players had to bow out (his wife is sick - I hope it's nothing serious, but he just wanted to be there for her). We played without him but we spent lots of time socializing and didn't get a lot of play in. We did get through 2 battles and I almost killed the barbarian. Concentrated fire is very bad. Of course, I targeted her because she was the most likely to survive.

Monday, a few of us got together and did some computer gaming in Lord of the Rings Online. It was lots of fun. We hadn't had a chance to play together in ages.

Today, a new staff person joined us at work. I finally have another woman in the office.

Pictures

more pages from the coloring calendar

storm clouds

mock cable stitch gauge in progress

I cooked!

Yes, this is somewhat remarkable. No, I don't have pictures. I cook a couple of entrees and a couple desserts, but I do not experiment, as a rule. But the SO came home really tired last night, so I cooked. We were out of shake and bake/oven fry so I browned some ground bison and we had ~burritos/tacos. The SO had brought home a couple fresh zucchini and some okra; and per his instructions I dredged them in panko crumbs and baked them. They were pretty good, although next time, 400F for 20 minutes and zucchini spears instead of medallions.

My visit with my stepmom and Dad went well on Sunday. We met at 11:30 and I headed home at 4pm. We didn't take up the table at the restaurant (Ted's Montana Grill) the entire time. We moved to a bench in the mall so Dad and I could talk, out of the weather, while Kathy shopped. I couldn't find the ornament I'd bought Kathy in Savannah but I did give her the watermelon tea, which should be a good summer tea. I also gave her a glass angel. It's clear glass with space for a tealight behind it. Dad liked his Marine Corps dress hat ornament I bought from the "Feed a homeless vet" store at Hungersite. I'm not sure if he really liked the coffee table book about tintype photography, but he might as he looks into it. He did really like the 'what the heck' present; an illustrated dictionary of the Marine Corps.

My Dad

Here's a flower patch in a planter near work on  Friday:

And here it is yesterday:

We had some lovely weather over the weekend, even though yesterday started frosty.

Here's my current tatting project (does the pattern look familiar?)

I'm waiting for a phone call today. One of my mom's friends called me last night, right before I went to bed. Mom broke her arm last night and I contacted another friend who was on her way to go see her. I'm waiting to find out how bad it is. So far, nothing. I'm hesitant to call, because she might be in the middle of something (or have a dead phone, or be somewhere they tell you to turn off your phone). No news is good news?

Saturday was 'return stuff and use gift cards' shopping day. I didn't have anything to return but my SO did. We shopped for stuff to use the store credit and it was a little frustrating. We were in Bed, Bath and Beyond (and he's a little scary in the kitchen area) and saw the perfect wooden stirrer/paddle to replace the dying one we have (cracked wood in kitchen/food = bad). It was in a display, so we looked through every package of wood tools/spoons/etc they had. And it's wood, not bamboo. We finally found it; it's part of a tool container/tool package. Neither one of us liked the container so we weren't going to buy it just to get the 1 tool we wanted. (insert swearing). We did find a new (dishwasher safe) cutting board to replace one of ours and a couple other items. I also found, in the Christmas clearance area, some finger lights. I wore one last night and it was perfect for my walk home. It wasn't just a light, it's a flashlight.

After BBandB, he took me surprise boot shopping. The good side: new boots! The bad side: I was wearing completely the wrong jeans (tapered leg) to try on boots, unless they were ankle boots. I have ankle boots, I want some calf-high ones. We found one or two possibilities but we'll have to go back when I have the right jeans on. We did find some high-heeled Mary Janes. I wore them for a couple hours to start breaking them in.

BTW, the harvest fruit tart at Red Robin is really, really, good.

One Fair weekend down, one more to go. Yes, two 12-hour days of tatting. Anitra is there for all 11 days. Whew. But she loves doing all that tatting so it really is a vacation for her. It was so cold that I wore my Colonial era outfit. I just wish that I had not forgotten my fichu; I really could have used it.

Incidents of note- an ambassador, either to or from Japan, came through & bought 2 Trantham cds. Cool, huh. A tiny turtle, either a painted or a yellow-stripe was rescued. I learned that someone who's observant and is truly interested in what you're doing is just as pleasurable as inspiring someone to learn your hobby/craft/obsession. No one that I've talked to in the Village has seen the embroidery hoop/trivet (wagon wheel rim/rug) weaving. Dad & Kathy came by and we had lunch on Sunday.

I have heard that I did not get a ribbon for my bookmark. I'm not really surprised. It has color.

Discovery yesterday: Monster brand energy drink keeps me up for hours. I drank it about 7 am & was still awake at midnight.

I've started reading the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. Thanks Steve for the loan. I also read Nation, Pratchett's new book.

Supper with Dad & stepmom last night, at the Cracker Barrel located between us. They pulled in soon after I did. I managed to get one chain of a shamrock done as I waited, and most of that as they were walking toward the door. We had a nice meal & conversation. They told me about the route & stuff planned for this summer. We'll be crossing the Great Divide twice and seeing one of Dad's college friends.

books: finished The River Knows and kind of re-reading All About Passion.

tatting: Finished the 7th shamrock this morning. I gave one to Kathy last night so that leaves 6 for my co-workers. Maybe I'll go back to my snood/bun cover now.

sports: ACC conference, UNC won their game today.

Genealogy: Dad gave me a bunch of stuff with grandmother's grandparents & family on it. It was put together by his sister. It's all 20+ years old but when the person died >20 years ago, it's all still accurate.

clothes: black ~slippers, black slacks, black texture-stripe trouser socks, black belt, Harrington Steading polo, Celtic knot jewelry & sometimes, plaited hair.

Supper at a Cracker Barrel: I managed to get my car problem straightened out and even made it to Cracker Barrel on time. My problem was that I wasn't certain if it was the right Cracker Barrel. There were two possibilities: the one that I've been meeting my Dad at & the one that we met at last time. The latter is closer to me so I stopped there, thinking that if I didn't see him, my Dad was probably at the other one.

He pulled in as I was pulling out. Good timing, that. We were seated right away & I gave him his birthday present, in a wrapsack. The waitress came to take our order and when she'd left, his present had disappeared. No, she didn't take it & it didn't drop of the floor. He hid it. Like I've long said, if I'm a smart aleck, blame my family; it's their fault.

We had a nice supper, then afterwards we sat in rocking chairs on the porch in the lovely weather. The moon was full, though not visible from the porch. Kathy, my stepmom, knitted, I tatted and we all talked. Dad gave me a picture of himself & my brother from my brother's wedding day and an old stone tube bead necklace. The pendant had broken but I think I can replace it. The stone is a dark blue, I suspect it might be sodalite.

They also found a bookmark with my initial that they'd meant to give me for my birthday.

Dad & Kathy identified the nut that I found the other day (that I've been using as a worry stone type thing). It's a hickory nut. They come in this thick rind (that can be dried & used for dye). The nut is then about 2" across. Once you break it open, it has this little dab of nut meat.

site of the day: Kiva, an organization that makes it possible for people who have money to lend money to people who don't (so I can lend money to someone in Mexico so she can expand her grocery store business. She expands her business, she repays the loan, I get my money back with a little interest. I can either keep it or loan the money out again). This rocks!

tatting: I've made progress on my necklace. I decided to enlarge the rings after the 1st five and after 10 I started adding the beads to the chains. That may have been too soon. I hope not. I'v also decided to only use 48 beads and my next choice is whether to do a couple bald chains to frame a chain to suspend a pendant. I don't have anything suitable but I have to figure out what I'm going to do in only 3 more chains.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks, dark green Geoff polo, green amber jewelry (ring, necklace & post earrings), ~rope band, hematite band, floral band ring, & my hair pulled back, about half in a ponytail & the rest loose. Over the ponytail elastic I'm wearing a hair slide, except mine is a simple leather cord in a figure 8 with a green black & green cabochon set in 'brass' filigree over the center. It also has brass rose bead, brass coil & another brass rose bead on either side of the bottom part of the '8'. Descending from the rose beads are the same black & green cabochons set in 'brass' filigree (one from the 2 center rose beads & then to a triangle of 3, 2, 1 & a total of 6 brass dangle drops from the outside of the triangle of cabochons). The stick is simply brown wood capped by a rose cap the same as the rose bead & a brass dangle drop to match the others.

All Family Post - You have been warned

Dad & Kathy:
The box of books was a big one. I brought them all home, for Chris to look through, too. Whatever we don't want, will go on Book Crossing.

Dad seemed to like the set of Roy Acuff cd's. I'm glad that I finally thought of that. I had the hardest time coming up with his present. Kathy liked the Breast Cancer Awareness pink ribbon pin. I'm not sure how she felt about the historical knitting patterns from the Red Cross.

Dad also gave me the answers to some family questions that I had posed 5 years ago. Now I need to connect the questions to the answers.

We had a nice supper & some good conversation & then I headed home.

Mom:
Ended up running late to see Mom because of the plumber. He called that he was on his way (& thus we turned off the water in preparation) just as I was about to take my shower. Finally made it there & Mom didn't answer the door. That worried me a little but I moved to get a phone signal & called her. Turns out, she just hadn't heard me.

We went to lunch at the Chinese buffet and then to a good thrift shop. We found some very good tank tops for me to layer. I made some better choices this time, I hope. I also found a couple books & a new pair of black heels; a pink plaid skirt, a gold brocade vest, a Pooh mug for Rosemary, but no light-colored summer shoes. I love thrift shops.

Back to Mom's apartment. I went through her blouses, selecting what fit that I liked. She's trying to weed out her clothes & I'm one of the first stops. We also 'fixed' the problem with her DVD player. She has Cyrano de Bergerac on DVD, it's one of her favorite movies.

Weird coincidence: while writing at lunch, a gentleman piped up about how furiously I was scribbling away. I mentioned that I was writing relatives & mentioned, among the others, my aunt in Harnett County. He mentioned that he was from Harnett County. So I asked if he knew my grandmother's family. He replied in the affirmative. I asked about my great-aunt specifically. He mentioned her husband's name (to make certain that we were talking about the same person). He's her nephew. So he & I are cousins by marriage.