Good Deeds & Tea
Chris & Rosemary took me to use the gift certificate for tea that she gave me for my birthday. First, we stopped by Natural Neighbors & I bought some lavender pump soap. She also gave me a sliver of soap in a small baggie, to try as an alternative to using commercial handsoaps. It does work, sort of. But I still want to try soap powder or flakes.

On our way to Tea-rific Spices, I stopped to finally get my glasses fixed. The nose pads have been slowly disintegrating, exposing the hard plastic skeleton, so they really needed to be replaced.

Once we got to the tea shop, I ordered some iced herbal tea while Rosemary had a cold fruity tea, raspberry I think, and Chris had some other iced tea. I bought a tea strainer and three teas with my gift certificate. They were out of the Peach white tea that I wanted, so I got some Pai-mu-tan, another white tea instead. I also got a nice vanilla chai for a wake up tea and something called mango mate.

I had some of the Pai-mu-tan last night & this morning. It's great iced, too. I brewed some and chilled it in the fridge to drink this morning.

After shopping and lunch yesterday we went went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens. It was an entertaining movie. I definitely liked Susan, and even Bob was kind of cute, in a brainless kind of way.

GAMING:
Saturday's game went well. At least I made it a little challenging for the players. I took one person down to negative hit points and had at least a couple people bloody every fight. I haven't reported it yet, but I will as soon as I find my notes.

after gaming cookout/holiday party:
Rosemary's house got a little crowded with everyone but we had fun, talking and eating. Since I only had one burger, I had enough room for watermelon & ice cream afterwards. It would have been a shame to miss anything. Mya had a hot dog. She's 2 and a half now and I had fun occasionally confusing her by asking her if she could say 'no.' Or not say 'no'.

*grumble* Where's my card reader?
I have some great photos to show but no way to download them from my camera. I have to find what I did with my card reader before I can show off.

Tatting: I finished the Eritrean flag & it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. There's a flickr group & I plan to post the picture as soon as I get it downloaded (notice theme?). Since that was finished and even mailed off, and I don't know how many bookmarks to expect from others, I started on the bookmarks for my company's adult literacy class. [I really want to finish AnneB's dragon. I have 2 of them started who just need wings.]

I decided to do something simple for my first one, so I chose the square motif from p 58 of Lindsay Rogers' Tatting Collage in variegated blue (I have a picture, honest) Olympus 40. I adapted the pattern with a split ring so that it's one round instead of two. But then when I got the end, I'd have to cut & tie and then put the tassel elsewhere. Ick.

Instead, I finally mastered split chain. I've only been trying to for 2 years. I am not kidding. I remember trying to take Karey Solomon's morning split chain bag class and just. not. getting. it. Then Mary S. at last year's Palmetto Tat Days showed me her cabochon ring trick for learning split chain. Nonetheless, when I tried it with thread my attempt yielded your basic rat's next. Yesterday, I finally got a chain instead of something that the cat threw up. See Arlene. See Arlene do the happy dance.

I am making the same bookmark again but in variegated brown Red Heart size 20. I am also adding 2 extra ds, at the beginning & the end, to the chains. My blue one cups a little and this will fix that. I tat tighter than Ms. Rogers, I guess.

Other craft: Technically the flag goes under this, too since I quilted the flag and only tatted the olive branch & wreath.

I made a quick fleece blanket for Rosemary's birthday. I bought 4 yards, 2 each of 2 different fabrics, of poly-fleece. I laid them out on the conference room table during lunch. Then I carefully trimmed them (to get rid of the selvages), clipped and tied them. It's a fairly simple way to make a reversible fleece blanket. One side is a dark tartan; navy, forest, garnet, thin yellow & thin white stripes. The other is a cheerful red with multi-colored snowflakes. It's big enough to cover her completely, and should be very warm.

Gaming: tonight is Mutants & Masterminds. Yay! I get to hit things and not think much. The funny thing is, my character Totem is very intelligent. But her ignorance of modern technology lead people to drastically underestimate her.

It's almost 70F, 87% humidity, we've had almost an inch (.82) of rain since midnight & yes, this is December. Theoretically, this is winter, no matter what it feels like outside.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds tonight. I had completely forgotten, so it's good thing that David sent his reminder email on Monday. Now if he'd just review those changes to Totem, I'd be ready for tonight's game.

David is running his first LFR game on Sunday. I think he's nervous, but he has no reason to be. One) LFR is the closest thing to a pick up roleplaying game that I've ever seen. Two) He's running the game for friends, who will gladly help him.

I found my Palm Pilot. Now to locate my phone & my iPod mini. My shuffle decided to freeze up Tuesday but letting it run down & then charging it up fixed it.

Saturday is Rosemary's annual cookie party. She cuts out the sugar cookies (or these days, just buys the precut ones) and we spend the time decorating, baking & eating them. She serves mulled cider, mulled mead (for those who aren't driving), and soda. It's a nice, quiet party. We often unwrap presents, too.

I've mailed off two cards to Holidays for Heroes, including a small snowflake in each one. Now I need to finish & mail the cards going to relatives.

The contractors who handle the dining/cafeteria had the luncheon for their office staff today. Since they're just down the hall from us, they invited our office to join them. OMG, what wonderful food. Apple & raisin salad with some kind of vinaigrette; pumpkin & something bisque; pork medallions with sweet bbq sauce; mashed sweet potato with honey & pecans; 'mac & cheese' (bowtie pasta) with lobster; greens; dinner rolls with apple butter; and pear tart and chocolate cookies for dessert. Yum, yum, yum. Plus, one co-worker brought in some Danish pastry that someone sent & someone else brought in a baklava platter. I am so full. *burp*

tatting: I've been trying to decide what variation to try next. I may do another Cebelia size 30, but without beads this time.

Saturday's game of Greyhawk Ruins went well. Rosemary's healer was able to be effective in combat (empowered cure moderate wounds does bad things to undead). Kash, my ranger, is 4th level. I decided to stick with ranger for 4th & take fighter at 5th.

We were planning to go to Firebird for Rosemary's late b'day supper but they had 2-hour wait. So we went to Red Lobster; net gain - half an hour. Chris is talking about running L5R again. Supper was nice, we socialized, ate and Rosemary opened a couple presents.

Sunday Chris & I played Age of Empires. Mom & Dad both called, that was unusual. Then I got sick. Really sick. Chris fixed the washing machine, well, it works anyway.

I'm stuck at home today because I fear going more than 30' from a bathroom. Yeah, being sick really sucks.

tatting: I did more of the snood, about half of the 4th rounds.

books: I re-read Willing, All Night Long, The Grand Sophy and most of Holidays are Hell.

clothes: Saturday was jeans & wench t-shirt, yesterday was tank & sweatpants. Today is more of the same.

Friday night: I made it to the Books-A-Million just fine on Friday. At about 7:30, there was a fire at a substation (found that out later) & the power went out in the entire strip mall. So I left the store. And the power came back on. And went off again. And came back on again. It was still on when Chris found me & we left for the restaurant. There was a delay before we got seated (had to wait for the people ahead of us to leave) but it was a great evening. The conversation (between the 7 of us, Colt, Diana, David R, David C, Chris, Rosemary & me) ranged from children (only David C has offspring but most of us have nieces/nephews); to car accidents; to animals; to movies, 300 & Ghostrider; professional wrestling; Star Wars, is Obi Wan an Orthodox or Reform Jedi; Christianity, Bible as literal or guiding truth; concerts; & theater. We gathered at the restaurant starting at 8 pm & didn't leave until about 11 pm.

TV: Watched the pilot for The Riches on Saturday. Eddie Izzard is a lot shorter than I thought he was. And he looks really good with facial hair. The pilot description isn't quite as the actual show unfolded. It's more interesting than that.

Last night we watched Christopher Titus's 5th Annual End of the World Tour. He is a really good comedian and some of his stories made me leak tears. Because he doesn't always talk about funny stuff. Heck, a lot of his subject matter is decidedly unfunny (9/11/01, anybody?) but he finds the humor.

Radio shows: It was a long bus ride on Friday and I had to watch where I was going, so I listened to Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. I got all the way through episodes 13, Kang's Treasure & the Ghost of Tangolan Bay, & 14, The Beautiful Girl in the Bargain Basement.

Music: I've almost listened to & rated all the purchased music on my iTunes (lots of Free Music Tuesdays). Once I've finished that, I'll burn them onto a cd as back-up. I also bought Pink's CD; Try This while we were at Best Buy yesterday. The new one near us opened up last month but we were waiting for a flyer announcing it (which never came).

books: I finally finished Shelters of Stone. It's historical fiction set in pre-history; about the time Neanderthals & Cro-Magnon men were both extant.

Books-A-Million had a table of buy 2 get a 3rd book free, so I picked up a few. I read A Babe in Ghostland on Friday. It's a paranormal romance. She's an inexperienced psychic who helps the male lead get rid of the ghosts in his house. I finally read Outrageous by Christina Dodd, a medieval romance set just after Richard the 3rd's reign. I don't know how long I've had it. I also read Penelope & Prince Charming (Regency era but at least half the action takes place in Nvengaria) and Just Desserts on Sunday. The latter is a contemporary mystery.

clothes: I forgot to put on green clothes on Saturday (purple turtleneck & jeans), so I wore an emerald necklace & earrings instead. Sunday I wore another turtleneck with jeans, this time with the feather quartz point & feather charm & quartz chip earrings.

Today it's green turtleneck, black slacks, black belt (silver buckle), black suede shoes, silver flower band, black stone ring, silver feather charm & quartz chip earrings, braided hair & quartz point pendant with a carved feather.

Yesterday was very Monday. 1) A lot, to all, of Woodcroft lost power sometime early in the morning. So no alarm clock, get dressed by candlelight (yeah, it is black & not navy), dare not open the fridge 'just in case' so can't pack a lunch, and get to work only a little late, with no coherent idea what kind of weather to expect for the day.
2) Jammed the 'supply' drawer where I keep the stamps & the mail key. 3) Broke my necklace while trying to open it. 4) Overate at lunch (all you can eat, Top of Lenoir). 5) endured a nasty headache all afternoon - bordering on migraine as I drove home
On the bright side: drank @6 glasses of water, walked for 15 minutes, finished catching up on Queen of Wands and there was power when I got home. We cancelled gaming, just in case. Chris made hamburgers (outdoor grill or indoor stove depending in conditions).

The weekend was great. Saturday, the weather was beautiful and I played 2 RPGA Living Greyhawk games on Saturday, walked Rosemary's dogs & had a great lunch & supper w/ Chris & Rosemary & other gamers. Lunch was with Lyman G., Joe J, & Mike M. Supper we had with people whose names I don't know really well. Lyman is a ova-lacto vegetarian (ethical-based) on the Atkins diet. He eats lots of vegetables he says. Greek food for lunch & Japanese food for supper. Yum. Earl was very nice to me, partially because I gave up my seat in the second slot to let a complete newcomer play. I admit, it was nice of me, but someone at some point has done something similar for me. Just because I don't remember it, doesn't mean that I shouldn't repay that debt to someone else.

Sunday I ran Diane Y, Steve F., Chris, Rosemary & Doug W in the LG game "When Orcs Attack", or as Steve called it 'When Orcs Get Sodomized." The big bad foes in the game were Diane's character's favored enemy; Keelin's a ranger. So she wiped them from the board before they even managed to close to melee range. Everyone had fun & did some great roleplaying.

Yesterday's outfit: black slacks, black half-boots, black bateau neck summer sweater, Celtic knot pendant on long chain (now broken, literally split 2 links), knot ring & knot earrings, plus bronze rose hair clip (the larger one) holding my hair in a knot. I also wore my black leather UNC baseball cap & the tan trenchcoat that mom gave me.

Today's outift: plum slacks, black loafers, white shawl collar blouse (collar drapes over my shoulders), tri-moon rainbow moonstone pendant, rainbow moonstone earrings, moonstone ring, 'M' spoon ring, silver flower band, Fem power ring, & the same hair clip holding my hair in a fall. Lately I've been wearing the pocket watch that I ordered from publishers clearing house. It's a watch that my skin will not eat the chrome backing.