It's State Fair Prep season

 So I have been finishing my fair entries. I have 4 to submit, and 3 are done other than some final finishing touches. I won't post pictures until after they've been judged, just in case.

Plus, Mom fell down and got hurt so I've been trying to deal with that. Fortunately, there's multiple trains that run between my town and hers, for a bit more than the gas would cost, and the difference is well worth the hassle I've saved. And Dad has been very supportive by giving me a ride from the train station to see Mom. 

Our Pathfinder game progresses (we're playing Dragon's Demand). We scraped by the last combat by the skin of our teeth (and the generosity of the GM). We went somewhere we shouldn't have and ran into a very nasty fight. We totally misread the clues that said 'beware! stay away!' Oops.

Our 5e game also continues. Still don't really know how the combat works. But we've hit a level the GM likes so maybe we'll stay this level long enough to figure it out.

Chris and I started watching Shakespeare and Hathaway. It's a BBC mystery series set in Stratford upon Avon. Frank Hathaway is a private detective and Lu Shakespeare becomes his partner after investing in the agency. A lot of the episode titles are Shakespeare play references or quotes. They feel like Easter eggs for English Lit majors.

Whingeing ahead: maybe it's my Southern upbringing, but is it really hard to wave or say hi as you come into the office in the morning? If you're on your phone, then no, I don't expect a verbal greeting, but a half-hearted wave at least? Yes, I'm talkative, but unless I have something I need to tell you, I won't stop you to chat. I just want acknowledgment of my existence. Studies prove that people are more willing to do things for people they like. So, help me like you more.

(oops, meant to hit publish on Oct 4)

Confronted by ducks while getting take out

What's a Schedule?

I had started working on my blog and then Wednesday afternoon I got a phone call. My mom was going to the emergency room. It turned out not to be any of the really scary things but she was still in the hospital for a couple days while they ran tests to eliminate those things. They're still not certain what caused her problems, but they're working on fixing them. In the meantime, I'm calling her every day to check on her.

Thank goodness my boss was understanding about my absence. I left Wednesday after he was gone for the day so all he had from me was some emails and a couple voice mails. I finally talked to him Friday afternoon, and he was 'family comes first. Everything here will still be here when you get back. Um, but while I have you on the phone, there's an issue on Monday.' I let him know we didn't need to panic until Tuesday and I was working on stopgap to take care of it if I wasn't back before then. 

I found out I'm a stress faster. Although that's not quite accurate. I was hungry sometimes, but my stomach was so upset that food just didn't look attractive. I drank ginger ale and grabbed a few bites here and there but only had 2.5 meals from Wednesday through Friday. I'm not counting the dinner roll and other bits as part of that count. 

Her sister is back home; after mom got out of the hospital on Friday, I drove my aunt to meet her son. He drove her the rest of the way home. That reminds me, I need to call and tell him when the family reunion is.

Saturday I went ahead and started running Tears at Bitter Manor. I hadn't had a chance to finish prep but I had enough done to get us through the 1st day of gaming. It's a good module with a good storyline. There's a haunt in it, but unlike so many of them, there is a way to find out how the cause and find out how to stop it permanently.

Saturday night was the biggest meal I'd had since Tuesday night. It was a bit more than my system was able to handle. Erp.

Sunday the only thing I did was finish the laundry I started on Wednesday. I'm gradually relaxing a bit. I'm working on one of my birthday coloring books and testing some patterns for Anitra's book of tatting patterns.

Then Wednesday night a transformer blew and we lost power. This is the (I think) the 2nd time in a month. It lasted much longer this time. Power wasn't restored until after 8 am on Thursday.

Deadlands game was Thursday. I'm still playing Alys Reeves. She let herself get arrested (she was framed) and let someone else break her out of jail. Hannah caused a stampede to create a distraction and got us (Doc and Jason were in the jail, too) out. Jason added some oomph to the stampede and we went after the sheriff. The sheriff was actually one of the people we were sent to capture or kill.

One of my on-line friends is having a baby so a number of us are planning a blanket. I need to pick up some yarn to do my square.

I have a new phone. It's an older Android and it's not intuitive for me. It has 3 places to save contact info (phone, USIM, and google). And I can't move someone from one to another. As a result, most of my contacts are still in my old phone. Plus, it's a pre-paid and I'm having the devil of a time finding the number of minutes left.

CD and I have been watching Miss Fisher's Mysteries. It's interesting. Some of the screenplays are from the books, but the murderer is not necessarily the same. It means even though I read the books, I have to watch to figure out whodunit.

I'm reading about 3 series right now. There's the Dark Heavens series, and its sequel Journey to Wudang, written by Kyle Chan. I just ordered the 2nd book of Journey. I've also started a series, The Others, that started with Written in Red, by Anne Bishop. I have the next 2 on order but they're grouped with a pre-ordered book so I won't see them for some time. Both are sort of urban fantasy but very different settings.

The 3rd series is historical romance. It's the Dressmakers by Loretta Chase. Funny thing, I read book 4 and then went back to read books 1 and 2. I have book 3 on order. The same order as the Others, so I won't see it either for some time.

almost full house in Necko Atsume game

For Pulse, in Orlando

possibly edible

roof plants, outside mom's hospital room

Where did the weekend go?

Weekend

Most of Saturday was the Pathfinder game. We did some housekeeping (how much money do we have? What loot are we keeping and who has it) and then continued to explore the structure. We started at the top, so we're working out way down. We had two fights, one of which had a funny incident. If a magic beast has grabbed someone, then both are on the lip of a spiked pit, and the person who has been grabbed misses their save not to fall into the pit, what happens? CD decided to work it as a bullrush variant. Instead of my CMB, he used my character's weight, with gear, to see if both my bard and the foe would be dragged down into the spiked pit. That beastie was strong, and played a quick game of 'dangle the bard.' Then the oracle/paladin teleported my character away and she was safe to cast spells at the beasties from a distance.


Then RW and his family had a Christmas party to attend, so we wrapped up early. MC had to go home to let his dog out and the rest of us went out to supper. We went to our favorite Mexican place in Raleigh. CD and RG used to eat there once a week. Now that RG is working somewhere else, CD goes by himself.


Sunday, it was do some tidying around the house, CD did some laundry, and we played Lord of the Rings Online and caught up on our tv. We're down to about 3 shows on the DVR right now, less than 10%. I need to watch one show on-demand, I'm behind on that one. We're caught up on everything else. We watched a few movies we had recorded, too. We saw Jumper, Super Troopers, and then American Ultra on Netflix.

Movies

• Jumper wasn't bad. It's in media res,which is fine, but it never got resolved. We got a glimpse of the history of jumpers and the people who hunt them, and a hint about why they're hunted. But only a glimpse.
• Super Troopers is kind of stupid and funny, but not 'only 13 years old will laugh at this' funny. And the cast is not 100% white people. It's still absurdly low on the number of women in the cast, but hey, Lynda Carter has a cameo as the governor of Vermont.
• American Ultra was a little better than I expected. It's not an 'omg, you must see this movie' but it's pretty good. There are not very many women in speaking roles, and it wouldn't pass the Beschdel 'test.' But the women are really awesome. 

Games

And CD and I talked about how you could play a character like Mike Howell in an tabletop rpg. It would be a little easier in a flexible system. In Champions for example, you could have a variable skill pool. Need a skill? Bam, you know it.

He came up with a way to do it in D&D (3.0 or 3.5) and Pathfinder. In that one, you have an 11th level character. You write up the 1st level, as a commoner or expert or something. You have, call it, d8 hp for 11 levels. The rest is a mystery. The player would have to know the system pretty well, though. Because they'd have to know what's possible. IE, player goes, "I want to cast Magic Missile." The GM responds, "How many?" The answer determines who many levels of spellcaster you have (1 magic missile means 1st level for example). The player notes down how many levels of that class.

Skills, you can fill in up to 11 on any skill. Know a language, put a point in linguistics. Keep track of how many you spent on what, because as you get classes, that will determine skill points.

Your stats would start at all 10, and you'd spend to buy them up as events occurred. So for that level of sorcerer you gained when you realized you could cast Magic Missile, you have Charisma 11. After you spent all those points you still have 2 stat bumps (4th & 8th level).

Oh, you want to cast Fireball? That's a 3rd level spell, 5th level caster. What class, sorcerer, wizard? Boost the appropriate stat up to 13. How does that affect the skills you've bought? The number of skill points you have so far?

I'd like to take a look and see how it would work in Fate, too. Fate is pretty flexible after all.

We went to the Italian restaurant near us for supper. Their lobster ravioli isn't quite as good as Casa san Carlo but it does have the option of adding shrimp. CD baffled the waitress. They have a tasty chocolate dessert that has a base layer of cheesecake. He asked, 'what kind of cheesecake, New York, Italian, or (some 3rd kind I missed)?' She had to go ask to find out.

Tatting: 

I can't find my green thread for a certain present, but I did find red, white, and green thread. Think I'll be using that one. Jane has posted the intro for the next TIAS. Yay!

website/articles

Have an interesting article on the future of self-driving cars. corrected article link: https://www.lifewire.com/waymo-self-driving-cars-4171314

Here's an article about recent grave digs revealing information which calls into question earlier conclusions about gender roles.

And scientists in Japan have a process to make glass about as strong as steel. And they hope to have it commercialized in 5 years. 

Pictures

Found a 'paper toys' website, and here's a box; print, cut, and fold
from http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

roses are still blooming

Blood Donation

I volunteered at the half-day blood drive. I was in the canteen so I was 2+ hours walking around and standing. This is after I had to run to catch the bus this morning. Once I finished my volunteer stint, I grabbed some food and then off to donate. It took longer than I expected, even with the rapid pass.

Rapid pass is a new thing. You go on-line the day of donation to read the material and fill out the questionnaire ahead of time. You print out the report or email it to yourself. They scan it as part of the pre-donation process, but it saves time.

She had to test my blood twice to see if my iron levels were high enough to donate. I barely made it. But I had plenty of water and the donation itself went pretty quickly. Back to the canteen to grab some food and then back to work.

My knees do hurt tonight. All for a good cause, though. And tomorrow is the garden committee meeting, so I get to leave early.

Lettermo and boots

Lettermo is well underway. I've already gotten three letters and sent out about 10. And those are just letters to family and replies. I have a list of new people to write, too.

My ankle high boots, developed a hole in the insole, right under my heel. That's incredibly uncomfortable, so I bought gel insoles. They are quite comfortable and I think they make me about a quarter inch taller. At my height, with the low heel on the boot, that's important.

I've been watching Agent Carter tv show and enjoying it immensely. (link is to a great blog post about reasons to love the show)

We're behind on Sleepy Hollow but we're catching up. I do enjoy the historical namedropping; it's just so entertaining.

I've made a couple heart bookmarks, using that earlier heart pattern. I used the cord idea from Kersti, of using a lockchain. Then I ended it with a simple clover, with or without a tassel.

color: Scottish Thistle

color: Red Burst

I've been having problem finding stationery. I finally bought a pad of decent quality paper and some washi tape. Voila, instant stationery, as many pages as I need. Right now, I'm using old calendar pages with white address stickers for envelopes.

Month of Letters, and other matters

From the title, you may have guessed this but..

So far, so good. I've mailed out a letter every day. I've also earned some achievements; first letter, week of letters, Girls Love Mail (send a card to a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer through the organization Girls Love Mail), and parcel post (I sent the late Christmas present for my niece, must remember to email my brother for confirmation that it arrived).

I've tatted one of Anne B's dragons. I have a picture of it, but it's completely untrimmed. I'm going to trim the loose threads, take another picture, and post that.

I need to locate my baby booties pattern and the appropriate thread. One of my friends is expecting a baby in July.

I have a cold that just won't quit. I've been coughing since Jan 8. I went to the doctor on the 9th and he said it was a cold; nothing to do but palliatives. He quite literally prescribed rest, push fluids, no sudafed, steam, and no whispering. The sinus drainage was giving me voice issues and the sudafed and whispering are both bad for that.

Still playing Pathfinder. R is running Dragon's Demand and we're playing about once a month. It looks like we'll be finished around June.

I did go to a local con, met Mary Robinette Kowal and found out one of my friends went to high school with her. I've been reading her Glamour series and quite enjoying them. The first one is Shades of Milk and Honey. If you like Jane Austen, I recommend them.Got interested in Month of Letters and found out she's behind it.

I've been watching Sherlock and Elementary and Marvel: Agents of Shield and Foyle's War and The Big Bang Theory and The Crazy Ones and Castle and CSI and um, I forget. Thank goodness for DVR.

We watched the movie, Warm Bodies, the other night. It's a little lame, perhaps. But it's funny, and sweet, and even a little romantic. Psst, spoiler: it's Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending.

Mom is recovering pretty well from her broken elbow but she's been having trouble seeing very far since she had her eye surgery (was it cataract? Or something else? I don't remember). At first, her eyesight was better than ever. Now she's having trouble reading road signs.

We had snow a couple weeks ago. That was interesting. It's been a few years since real snow, as opposed to a powder sugar snow, fell around where I live. Thanks to public transport I made it work just fine. I did leave early, to get home before the slush started freezing. It was...interesting enough walking on the road when a car went by on snow. I didn't want to repeat the experience in the dark, on possible ice. They're predicting more snow on Wednesday. We'll see if it amounts to anything.

Tendonitis sucks

Back in February I started have shooting pains in my right wrist. It got so bad a couple times I couldn't even sign my name (luckily, the store knew me and accepted my SO's signature). But I couldn't tat, knit, type, write, or do much of anything. I could read, but with my current eye issues (I can read better without my glasses but I'm nearsighted so I can't see much else without them), I couldn't even do too much of that.

It was frustrating. But I wore a brace or elastic bandage on my wrist. I stretched my tendons and eventually my wrists improved. I can now tat for more than five minutes in a row and I can hold a pencil. I still need to be a little careful, but it's better.

Of course, other stuff happened. My camera card died. A very nice person sent me a new camera, I just had to buy a card for it. And the screen promptly died. My car's steering has gone wonky. That's going to be expensive.

It's not all bad. We went to Savannah, Georgia for Gnome Con and spent some time touring the city. We found this great little shop (our shopping plan: 'hey, we've never been down this street, I wonder what's down here?') with scented soaps and knick-knacks. I found a couple of fans for myself (summer is coming, eventually) and sample sized Tiger Balm for my co-workers.

I also went back to the Frayed Knot and bought some yarn (grey and purple) to make a cowl for myself. I bought some beads from Perlina, the bead shop in back, and made 2 bracelets, one for me and one for R. I took a picture of hers, using my cellphone, so it's not a very good picture.

I

I mis-typed. It's a horrible picture.

My SO and I have nearly caught up on our recorded shows and we finally got a new remote. One that reacts when we press the button instead of one that insists I hold it down for five minutes, or press it repeatedly and then it still doesn't work.

My mom is doing much better. Her arm is out of the splint and she is recovering use of her arm.

I went to the spring meeting of the regional lacers chapter of IOLA (International Order of the Lacers?, I should look up what the acronym stands for, shouldn't I?). It was nice. I'd never been and I made some new friends.

I'll try to keep up a bit more, now that I can type again. But I make no promises.

Um, Been Awhile, Huh?

Didja miss me?

Okay, what should I cover?

Here's a hankie edging I'm making: Well I was going to show you, but I'm having trouble adding pictures today.

I mailed off the commissioned bracelet. I hope she likes it.

Tomorrow, I'll be running the Beginner Box for Pathfinder. Hopefully, I'll be able to run by the sewing machine place and drop off my sewing machine to get fixed.

I was at Mace and I signed up to run a Spirit of the Century game (Around the World in 80 Murders) & an Ironclaw game (Me and Vittorio, Down by the Graveyard). But no players showed up. For the Ironclaw one, it was the 1st session on Friday & at least two players just didn't get to the con that early. A 3rd one misread the schedule and thought the game was Saturday. Oh well. It happens. I can try to run them at another con, then.

I've been watching Once Upon A Time and Whitechapel. Radically different shows, but both have kept my interest.

TV, Gaming & Tatting

TV: I have now seen 2 episodes of the TV show Justified. For those who haven't seen it, or the ads for it, it's about a US Marshal who gets sent back to Kentucky, where he grew up. The reason he got sent there? He gave someone associated with a drug cartel 24 hours to get out of Miami. When the man showed no sign of doing so, he met the man at the restaurant where the 'gent' was eating. The man drew his gun and the Marshall, Raylin (sp) Gibbons shot him. “It was justified.”

After two episodes, I have to say, in my opinion, they have really captured the flavor of the south. The woman, tired of getting beat up by her husband who fixes his favorite meal and while he's eating, she pulls out his deer rifle and shot him. Maybe that happens in other part s of the country, but it seems really Southern to me.

Gaming: The Pathfinder GM screen that I ordered from Paizo arrived. Wow, that spud is sturdy. Pick up your average, glossy cover hardback book (you may have to go to a game store to find one). The GM screen is two hardback covers hinged, to make 4 pages of helpful charts and tables. The obverse side, the side facing the players, have the iconic character portraits from the core rulebook. I'm just trying to figure how geeky it is that I can name all but one of the character classes from sight alone.

Tatting and Reading: I tatted a single butterfly yesterday, because I was busy reading a mystery. I don't know if I like it yet. It's a PD James mystery. I like the tv movies made of her books, but I'm not certain that I like the book. Perhaps, I simply haven't read far enough.

I started another TotusMel cameo pendant. This time I'm using Red Heart size 20 in green. Considering my previous experience with this Red Heart thread, this might be an exercise in frustrations.

Tatting, TV & a great Haiti essay

Tat It And See is done. Heeeeere's Norman:

Short & Sweet

Short post because I really need to catch the next bus home. We got about 6" Friday & Saturday, of snow & sleet mixed. Went to supper with J on Friday, instead of going to see Avatar. By the time we left the restaurant at 8 pm, it had already accumulated about 2 inches.

When I took the trash out on Saturday, I barely made an impression in the snow/ice. Scarier, neither did my boyfriend on Sunday when he cleaned off the cars.Today, I could hear the layer of ice creek under my feet.

I had no problems getting to work because I take mass transit & the highways were completely clear. Stuff melted today, and will freeze again overnight. Plus we might get more freezing rain tomorrow night. Winter weather & how.

I only made a single, although large, motif from A Tatter's Workbook. It's more or less square in blue size 10. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I'm thinking. I need to work on Norman (Jane's TIAS).

We watched quite a bit of our recorded tv and we're still only down to about 70% on our DVR. We also watched DVD 3 & 4 of the Season 1 Two & A Half Men.

Time to go, I really don't want to be walking home any later than necessary.

(No time to do links, sorry)

Looking Forward to Supper

Does that sound odd? My stepmom has an appointment this afternoon, here in town. She and Dad plan to stick around afterwords to have supper with me. Not dinner. Dinner is eaten at midday, at least by locals. We don't know where we'll be eating yet, Dad made some joke about me cooking.

Friday, I'll be driving down to spend the weekend with my mom. It's going to be a family filled week. I'll take Mom's Christmas presents and give them to her early. Don't tell her, but I found a plain, white ironing board pad. You think that's a mundane present? Believe me, she'll be glad to have it. Have you ever ironed something white on a printed ironing board cover? It always looks like you've gotten a stain on the garment. I also found a polka music cd. I'm not sure if she'll like that as much, but I hope so. She enjoys fast-paced dancing music, of almost any stripe.

I buffed my nails this past weekend. They're all pretty and smooth, except for the length of course. Naturally one has chipped and one tore down to the quick; not into the quick, at least.

It's gotten dark enough on the way home that I'm using my lights again. The one on my bag is still working fine, but the other one is almost dead. I need a new battery in it. At the moment, it kind of, sort of lights up.

I'm gotten through most of the exercises in Chapter 4 of Teach Yourself Gaelic, but I only have my flash cards up to Chapter 1. The main purpose of the flash cards is to fix the vocabulary and rules in my mind. So far, I have not really read through them. I've used more than half the pack of cards already. I am definitely going to have to buy more.

Gaming: Thursday night I'll be running an LFR game at Sci Fi Genre. I guess I should read the module soon. I have played it once, that helps. I'm not exactly stressing about it.

TV: We're almost caught up on Sanctuary, only 1 more episode. The Big Bang Theory last night was hilarious. We're down to only 39% memory of the DVR. We had a problem last week in which it was randomly eating memory. It was up to 95% for no discernible reason. We reset it and it dropped to the 60's.

Books: I'm still having trouble settling to a book. Normally, I'm a book a day person. Recently, I manage half a book, maybe, and then I put it down. This includes books by some of my favorite authors. Except for a couple manga, I only finished one book last week. That's just sad.

1st Spam Comment & Mythic Frustration

I'm been making blog entries for..awhile. And this weekend I got my 1st spam comment. Huh. It's a milestone, of sorts.

Television: This weekend, Chris and I watched the History's channel special "Search for the real Wolfman." It was broadcast before Halloween but it took us awhile to watch. They had a retired police detective & a cryptozoologist examining the case of The Beast of Gévaudan(wikipedia article includes information from show). I was disappointed and frustrated by it. Partly, I blame editing. There was a lot of repetition. How many times do you need to repeat '102 villagers, mostly women and children were killed'? I really don't think that you need to say that more than once every 15 minutes.

The cryptozoologist would say something that made sense, like 'extinction may not be what we thought' or words to that effect (see coelacanth as example of 'extinct' animal). Not two minutes later, although probably taped days apart, he'd say 'it looks like the attack could have been by this animal; but it's extinct.'

The were 2 incidences in the show though that really, really frustrated me. They tested the silver bullet, to see just how deadly one is; as Jean Chastel is credited with finally killing the beast with a silver bullet; the attacks stopped after he killed it. EXCEPT! They tested a silver rifle bullet, not a silver musket ball. That is a tremendous difference that makes their test nigh onto useless.

The other was the way that they stated their conclusion. If they had said 'we are satisfied that we have found the most likely scenario', I'd accept that. I may not agree with it, but I accept it. But they did not. They stated categorically that they had found the solution and frankly, I do not think that is realistic, especially with the History Channel showing a disclaimer in fine print below them. They have a hypothesis which seems to fit all the evidence, but they did not find categorical proof. At this late date, categorical proof would be hard to find indeed. Even the bones of the creature that Chastel took to the French court may not be enough.

Celestial bodies: I would love to catch the Leonid meteor shower, but I'm just not awake at that hour. And definitely not awake & far enough away from light pollution at that hour.

Do you like gargoyles? Then you should see this page of examples, both classic and modern. I did not realize that some of the gargoyles that I had seen so often were from the Notre Dame in Paris.

Music: FYE is having a CD sale right now. I don't remember why we went by the mall yesterday, but when we spotted that we stopped in to look. I bought a few. *ahem* Although one of them is a Christmas present.

Murder of Crows
I saw it again yesterday. I think that if I lived in one of the places that they've been around so regularly, I'd be worried. 6 crows is enough for a murder, right?

I was running late so I drove to the nearest park & ride to catch my bus yesterday. I'm glad that I did. A couple of the other people already there, pointed out a rainbow overhead. I just don't see enough of those, so the opportunity to see one shouldn't be missed.

I got another 2 rings done in Your Grape Big Heart. I do tat slower with size 80 thread.

I learned a lesson last night. No more watching episodes of Harper's Island while I'm alone in the house. It's just too creepy.

Met someone interesting at lunch yesterday. His vocation is with Fisher Scientific, but his avocation is storytelling. We had a nice discussion while I ate. He's still in the area, so I'm going to try to meet him for lunch today.

My attempt to cut down on soda is not going so well. Ah me, habits can be hard to break. If I brew the tea the night before, I'm more likely to drink it chilled the next morning. However, I have to remember to brew it.

Weekend plans: Tonight I'm playing an LFR adventure. I don't remember which one. Saturday, I'm running one and then we're having buffalo burgers on the grill. These will be Chris's stuffed burgers, with the 'toppings' inside the burger. They are so nummy. And Sunday I'm going to try to donate platelets at noon. Wish me luck with that.

Blog experiment
Blogging while dosed with painkillers, and sleep-deprived. Thanks to my toothache (the one that woke me Sunday), I had 4 hours of sleep last night (8 restless Tues, and ~6ish on Sunday). It got so bad yesterday; my ear started hurting; that I called and got my appointment moved up. I have a great dentist.

I took what I needed to get to the app't. Dentists stress me almost to the point of panic attacks and I need drugs to take the edge off so that I can go. I had no brekkers so it was empty stomach. When Chris saw me staggering to my car, he decided that I should not be driving. So he drove me. He was not able to call his work because our phone's out. He was 'a little late.' I got back home at 11 am and still had to grab lunch and get my pain pills. So I emailed my boss that I wasn't coming in. I don't think that he was surprised. I hoped that I'd make it but this root canal just took it out of me.

I had stuff that I was going to write about. I don't remember what though. I messed up my "Bill" edging. I finally just cut that ring & I'll work in a new thread. Theshuttle is almsot empty anyway.

I've been want to go to sleep but the phone people might be senind gsomeone out. I don't think that I care anymore.

good blog for GMs: Gnome Stew

Neat shows: Time Warp & Deadliest Warrior. I don't always agree with some of the statements made in the latter. But it's still a neat show.

TV Shows I'm Taping (& Watching)
Ashes to Ashes. BBC drama about a police inspector who is shot and finds herself in 1981. This is sort of a sequel to Life on Mars. The other inspectors are there, including the infamous Gene Hunt. Inspector Alex has been reading Sam Tyler's file (thinking he's a complete nutball) when it happens to her.

Eleventh Hour: American crime drama. Dr. Jacob Hood is an FBI consultant who investigates scientific crimes. Okay, it's not a great but it's decent.

Bones: another procedural crime drama, this one focused on forensic anthropology, etc. Luckily, thanks to my upbringing, I have no problem watching it, even while eating spaghetti. Thanks, Mom!

The Big Bang Theory: Another success by Chuck Lorre. Per Chuck's formula, he contrasts two social types, in this case highly intelligent geeks with a wannabe actress who's making her living as a waitress. I have trouble watching sitcoms because they are just so predictable. Not anything by Chuck Lorre.

Hogan's Heroes: Okay, so it's been off the air almost as long as I've been alive (almost), I still enjoy the show.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: Chris started taping this and I'm enjoying it immensely. A wonderful part of it is the bit at the end when the guy is on his own.

Diner, Drive-ins, & Dives: I enjoy this show but it really makes me want to take a road trip. Or five. I want to visit those places Guy F 'reviews.'

Adventures in English: BBC show about the history of the English language. Why yes, I am a word geek, why do you ask?

Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: again, one that Chris started watching & now I watch, too. You have to be careful about watching, though, or you will never, ever, eat out again.

CSI, CSI:NY & CSI: Miami: yeah, three shows; more or less the same premise but the flavor is very different. Funny note, the city of Miami has no CSI unit.

And that's enough for one blog. Ye gods, I watch a lot of telly. That's not even glancing at stuff that's not in season.

tatting: I finished the Celtic Cross in Rozella Linden's Celtic Tatting Knots & Patterns. I should have done it with 2 different threads, though. Even with variegated, switching off so that the colors contrasted where I could, it just didn't contrast enough.

Now it's back to the burgundy dragon. I want to have it done by next weekend. I started the 1st wing.

Gaming: this weekend it's back to Scepter Tower of Spellguard. This weekend will finish it. If need be, on Sunday.

The weather's turned cold. After almost a week of unseasonable high temperatures, it's plunged down to the mid-40's. The high today was only in the 50's. Tomorrow will be even lower. And it will be raining. Um, what season is this again? I've lost track.

What a way to start the Day
I woke up, got up and promptly broke my glasses this morning. It wasn't a huge OMG moment. It was more of an 'oh crap' moment. I was running late and ended up wearing a jacket instead of my 'OMG it's cold' coat. At least I'm wearing layers. Only my head is covered only one layer deep.

However, breaking my glasses, or at least the nylon string that held the left lens in place, did mean a trip to get them fixed. It took longer to get there (20 minutes) than it did to get them fixed (5 minutes).

As anyone on North America can attest, it's frigging cold today. Around here it started in the teens F. It's gotten all the way into the mid-20's now. That's still too darn cold.

Do you ever watch Hogan's Heroes? That tv series was originally planned as a prison comedy but it made more sense when put in a POW camp. Have you ever read about the actors who were in it? Most people know about Werner Klemperer's story; his father was a famous composer and they were German Jews who fled the Hitler regime. John Banner, who played Sarge Schultz was an Austrian Jew who happened to be in Switzerland on a tour. During the war, he acted in Hollywood, ironically often playing Nazis. Robert Cleary was a French survivor of the Holocaust. Take a look sometime. It's very interesting.

Website of the Day: Small Challenges (click to donate for education & economic development)

Last night was the New Year/Christmas party. We exchanged gifts and watched Hogfather. It was fun. I think that I could do a Susan costume, in her governess aspect anyway.

My namesake had a playmate; another little girl, daughter of two other guests. At one point, they were playing together in her bedroom when the other girl's mother stopped by to check on them. She asked a few questions (what are the fish's names, etc) when my namesake popped up with 'you're interrupting our game. Can we go back to it now', or words to that effect. Everyone agrees; she's her father's daughter.

Liz gave me a wonderful scarf that she wove. It feels and looks fabulous. Poor Alisa, she left my present at home. She plans to mail it to me later. A present that is kind of an extra gift; a jar of apple sauce. It's made from the apples from the trees that I gave Liz & James about eight to ten years ago. It's the first year that they've gotten a decent crop. Last year's crop was destroyed by a frost. It probably would have been a good year if it weren't for that.

If it had not rained so much this morning, I'd want to go take a look. But it's a bit muddy and I'm wearing loafers.

James introduced us to a new show; Rough Science. It's vastly entertaining. Every high school, and some elementary & some college, science class should watch this show.

I started AnneB's dragon, with just text directions. That didn't work, as I realized when I opened my laptop to check the PDF with pictures. So I cut it off the shuttle, gave it to namesake, and started again. I've had to stop because I'm using my 2008 wood Palmetto shuttle & I need a better hook to make the upcoming join.

I've decided, emergencies permitting, that my next big purchase is a portable harddrive. I was looking at them last week and that really is the best way to store and protect my data vs hard drive crash. I can get one for about $80 that should be big enough.

By the way, Americanas lay green eggs. Tasty eggs.

Have you ever seen a character on tv and gone, 'oh my god, I know that guy/girl!' I don't mean, 'I know that actor', I mean that you know someone just like that character. Sometimes, if you're unlucky, you are that character. There are two characters, one on The Big Bang Theory & the other on Criminal Minds, that really remind me of a friend. Even though he will never read this, I'm still being discreet and not mentioning names. Reason for discretion? The two characters are Sheldon & Reid.

It was cold this morning again. Frost limned the grass and I really needed my scarf & gloves. For once, I didn't wear the multiple layers, though. Gosh, I'm talking about the weather a lot recently.

I did get home a little early today. So I watched some of the older (October) shows that I have on tape.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mom: Had a nice weekend with Mom. I had insomnia Friday night which made getting started Saturday somewhat problematic. Then of course, there was the problem of finding gas.

When I got to Mom's she had the tv on & couldn't hear me knock. I finally had to call her to get her attention. We went out to lunch & we found the beads for the tatted pendant for my state fair entry. I got one bead for the pendant & two to make matching earrings (after the state fair).

We went through Mom's stuff, helping her sort and throw stuff away. At 8 pm we broke off so we could watch Mom's shows. She loves PBS's Saturday night line up.

This morning we went and had a traditional? Southern breakfast. We went to Your House & had waffles. Their pecan waffles had the pecans in the waffles, not just on top. That makes a huge difference to the taste. And to make matters even better; they had hot tea that wasn't Lipton's. Yum.

We went to Big Lots & I got a replacement for my double outlet device (so I can plug two items into the cigarette lighter). Naturally, we picked up a few other items as well.

On the way home, I had two traffic incidents. One was a jerk who sped up when I switched on my turn signal, nearly causing me to run out of merge lane. The other was a nice guy who pulled over to let me pull over to make room for the folks trying to merge onto the highway.

I also saw a lovely rainbow on the way home. It was a 6-color one; red, yellow, orange, green, blue & indigo. The colors were a little blurred, but they were there.

I brought my stuff inside and immediately had to wash my hair. I love my mom but she still smokes and I can't stand the smell. I gave her the 1-800 stop smoking line; a not very subtle hint.

Tatting: I've made a couple more of those easy hearts designed by Barbara H. Friday is 'appreciate your operator (bus driver)' day & I wanted to give them to my favorite drivers. I ran into an old co-worker and he's having a rough time with his soon to be ex-wife (she's a moron btw, if half of what he says is true), so I gave him one that I had made. He teared up; it really touched him. It really is the little things that mean a lot.

sight of the day: Muslim on his prayer rug, doing his noon prayers.

I got to work just as it started to sprinkle. Turned out to be a false alarm; it's just really windy really.

TV: Watched The Big Bang Theory & Bones last night. What can I say, I like tv shows with geeks in them.

Tonight I'm supposed to meet Dad & Kathy for supper. We'll see how it goes. I copied my pictures from vacation onto a cd to give them.