I found one of my Ren shirts (the one with the yard long sleeves) and my bodice. My bodice now meets easily in the back, that whole 20# less thing. I also discovered a huge grease spot on the front of my back-up Ren shirt. Luckily my raw silk one worked instead, under the bodice at least. The bodice hid the blouse's buttons.

While Chris worked night call Friday night, I packed my bags; one for clothes, a small tote for tatting & my fanny pack holding purse-type stuff like checkbook, driver's license, money, cell phone & lip balm. I also packed 2 of the books that I bought at the Bullshead, thanks to the 25% off for staff sale. I read a little of Monstrous Regiment in between a little tv. I headed for bed a little after 10:30. Anitra called me to let me know to show up early at their house because they planned to leave for the fair by 8:30 am due to parking issues. The Village of Yesteryear doesn't open until 10 am & they don't have to be in place until about 9:45 am.

I stuffed Ruis, the plush raccoon I won at the fair last year, to sleep with at Steve & Anitra's house in my bag at the last minute. I woke up at 5:44 am. Why? I don't know. But that did mean that I had plenty of time to shower, get dressed, read a little & still leave the house at 7:40 am. I was still half asleep so I took Wade Ave to 440 to Capitol instead of taking 540 to Capitol. Oh well, I still made it to their house in just over 40 minutes. I would have been faster but I stopped at a stop & rob for a diet vanilla pepsi & some banana nut bread for breakfast.

We made it to the fairgrounds in good time. And some nice soul had brought home-made bread to the break room. I ate a partial slice of the banana nut, half a slice of the pumpkin & the orange. They were delicious. The weather was gorgeous & the fair was packed. I started on some little pieces in the bright yellow. I made one for Linda B, a tiny cross. I'm planning to try & give all the Village 'kids' a little tatted item. So far I've made a 6-pointed star w/ gold beads, a pair of candles, a lopsided cross (no one will be getting that, I believe), a bell, a gingerbread man in yellow & orange & an angel. I got so sick of yellow by Sunday.

Steve & Anitra fed me (they usually do on Fair weekends) & we all crashed when we got to their house Saturday night. Since her layoff in March & only finding part-time work since, Anitra has been under a lot of stress. As a result, she was tired starting Friday. Plus, since she's part-time she's at the fair on leave without pay. Sales have not been abysmal (last year was simply horrid) but they haven't been outstanding either. We demonstrated a lot & gave away a lot of those 4 picot flowers.

We use multi-color knit-cro-sheen to demo and it makes pretty flowers. People really appreciate it them, too, especially the kids.

One couple, Asian perhaps Chinese, whose son watched Anitra & I for quite awhile a couple years ago (we remembered his face), had their picture taken with us. I'm not certain why their son wantd a picture of his parents w/ Anitra & I, but we didn't mind posing for it. I always kind of wonder about these people who are visiting from other countries who come to the State Fair. Why did they come? What do they think of it? Anitra said that a lot of them have relatives in the area & they time their visit to coincide with the fair. I still wonder though. Anitra learned the Swedish word for tatting from one of those foreign visitors.

I filled in for Carrie Croghan last night so she could leave her booth & go eat supper. She makes these lovely knitted caps, shawls, and gloves. I wish I could afford one of those shawls. Last night she was making (for the 2nd time, the 1st one had been Saturday) a dog's sweater. This one was for a chihuahua; the owner brought him by the booth for measurements so that Carrie could knit the sweater allowing for his 'anatomy.' Carrie wasn't back from fetching her supper when I checked for her in the break room but she showed up soon afterward. Much to my relief. He was a cute dog but still. Carrie had started the sweater & she checked for fit over the little dog's head. It was perfect & it looked good on him. He was a pale dog with 'cow spots' and the black yarn with the multi-color/fawn threads contrasted/complemented him nicely. He was okay with the strands of pink in the yarn, according to his owner, because 'he's secure in his masculinity.'

This is already a really long post. I'll add more either later today or tomorrow, depending on my energy level. Oh, this weekend I wrote a letter to my mom, finally replying to her letter from late September & wrote another entry in the journal for Leela.

I still can't find my two Ren shirts (the ones I've been looking to wear this weekend). So I'll need to work on my back up shirt tonight. I have one more place to look for the bodice that I made. If I can't find it, then oh well, my loss. My friend Metra may have a bodice to loan me. She's going to try & locate it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I finished March Upcountry last night & started March to the Sea. I'll pick up Monstrous Regiment after work or on a break. I would get it at lunch but we (Angela, Linda, Cheryl & maybe Paula) are going to McAllister's for lunch today.

Chris connected his Xbox last night & played Halo for awhile. He seems to like it. He's threatened that he'll make me play it. He's going to look for more games at Edward McKay's this weekend, specifically Mech Assault.

I had trouble getting up this morning. As a result I have not had breakfast. I need to go get some cash & buy something.

My weekend: stay up a little late Friday night (don't even remember why). Tried to get going early, I had errands to run. But I got caught up in a discussion about which characters I could play at Hochcon. My primay RPGA Living Greyhawk character, Corporal Sr. Obedient Master Nadia Xianalannae, veteran of the Cleansing of the Oytwood & the Siege of Gorna (wow, what a string of titles), is down to 2 time units (vacation). Between her training as a junior squire, staying with the Fey king & then having a daughter, plus actually playing games, her time units have been eaten up. She's 7th level, almost 8th.

Then there's what started as my tertiary character but she's now my 2ndary: Combat Specialist Reed of the CatTails. She has 4 time units left. I've just played her a lot, and spent some time units with her clan as part of her qualifying as a clan protector (rank w/in the clan).

The other two characters are Edana Tiernan & Isolde. Edana is in the scouts; she's a 2nd level halfling rogue & has about 38 military & 11 vacation time units left, maybe more. Isolde is a human sorceress & has 39 military units left. I've only played her once.

Nadia is a half-elf bard/ranger who's a senior squire with the Knights of the Watch & Dispatch. Reed was a human cleric/fighter. Then she died & was reincarnated as a wood elf. She's still a cleric/fighter, though. All of my characters are in the Gran March military. Frankly, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Back to what I was saying, since my two primary characters are so short of time units that meant I was probably going to play Edana. Since she's 2nd level I had to check because not all the games had APL's low enough for me to play her. So I canceled one game (Rites of Spring, a double rounder - I want to play Nadia in that one because she played in the 1st one in that series) & signed up to play one of the core modules with Edana.

All told, that took about 2 hours, including email. So I ended up driving through part of the early game day traffic at Carolina on my way to Pittsboro to pay the rent on my storage unit.

I made it to Southpoint, bought the stuff at Victoria's Secret (yeah coupons). Then I passed by The Body Shop. But I had spent more than I had planned at VS so I didn't buy anything there. After that it was into Barnes & Noble to spend my $25 gift certificate. Ran into 2 people I knew. I managed to resist Monstrous Regiment by Pratchett. It's still in hardback.

Chris & I picked up Rosemary (yeah it was out of our way but she's having brake issues) and we all went to see T3 at Blueridge. In some ways, a predictable movie but it did have 1 or 2 surprises & it was well-done. Definitely worth matinee prices so we got a real bargain. We still plan to see The Medallion & Matris Reloaded, both of which are also playing at Blue Ridge. After the movie it was Ten Ten Diner for the buffet. Yum, great buffet. But I did not like their crab rangoons. I loved their sesame balls (with red bean jelly inside).

I finished one book I'd bought that day & started another one.

Woke up Sunday with a headache. We went to Pizza Hut for their buffet & I dosed my headache with food, caffeine & an ibuprofen. They never did have a chocolate chip pizzert, much to my sorrow. I had some salad, apple pizzert & blueberry pizzert, though.

Then we went to Southpoint. Chris wanted to see how much Sears was charging for ovens. Ours took 30 minutes to heat Friday night, averaging about 10 degrees per minute. He wants (& I agree) a double oven. We looked at Maytag's Gemini but the Sears' Kenmore with the tri-use drawer (storage, warming & baking) was $200 cheaper and had a half-removable rack for cooking tall items, say a roasting pan with a lid. It had 2 double burners on the range top. It has one of those flat top ranges instead of the burners we have now but that's a common feature.

While there we also checked out dishwashers (ours is probably as old as the oven so could go any day) & small fridges for when we have the game room aka the basement done. We decided that the 4+ cu. foot was bigger than we needed. And that there are a lot of dishwasher features that we just don't like.

Then it was home to finish working on our characters for Rosemary's Forgotten Realms campaign. I had lost my character sheet & the part of my notes that had the stats I'd rolled up so I had to start over. I remembered what sword I wanted; I need to make 2 notes on my character sheet though, -1 damage on the sword & that my character reacts less-than-well to sudden bright light (part of the whole 1/2 Drow, Darkvision thing). Chris had his stats & notes, he just had to fill out his character sheet, equip & name his character.

I picked up the living room a little. Disposed of the box (recycling) from Wizards of the Coast. I kept most of the stuff they sent, other parts of it ended up in recycling too. I finished another book that I'd bought Saturday (that's 3 read plus 1 additional book: A Gentleman's Honor, to Sir Phillip, with Love, Blood Price, and Blood Trail). Was up until almost 11 between finishing that book & picking up around the living room & kitchen.

Kept waking up with nightmares all night long. Most of them were different, too. Apparently I turned off the alarm clock at some point 'cause I woke up at 6:45. Only about 45 minutes late, & I needed to weigh myself, pick out clothes & pack my lunch. It was a little close this morning & I was 10 minutes late to work. On the bright side, I've lost 2 more pounds.

Ran into Shaw again, on the bus. He lives in Cary & parks at the same P&R lot. I saw him on the bus home Friday, too. He was late for an exam in his African-American History class.

Wow, this is a long post. I'm reading one of the stories in Changer of Worlds, again. It's the 3rd of the Honor Harrington anthologies. I picked up the 1st one on Saturday. I bought 5 or 6 books. If I actually stop & think about it, I'll remember how many & what their titles were.

Now I have work to do (I've been working - I started this post at 9 am & finished at 10:15 plus 10 minutes for editing)