A Day Late, but hopefully not a dollar short

It was my monthly date with Autumn Breeze and we lingered over supper, talking. I got home late and then I was dealing with some of mom's paperwork. By the time I got done, it was late and I was tired, so I went to bed.

I bought a birthday card for my sister-in-law and then found out it needed extra postage. It is a lovely card but it meant a trip to the post office. First I found out how much I needed and then decided to get some extra stamps while there. Guy pulled out the new solar eclipse stamps.

solar eclipse stamps from post office

You see the stamp in the lower right hand corner? That's how they look normally. See the stamps in the upper left corner? That's how they look with a little heat applied, like someone put their hand under the sheet. I immediately wrote letters to my usual correspondents; 'hi, how are you? Hope your summer hasn't been too hot? Have you seen these stamps? Aren't they neat!?'

I will be a teacher's aide in two classes at Palmetto tat days. I've started one project, the longer one. It's a name badge lanyard and uses about 170 beads (yay, beadspinner). I've completed it. And I made many, many mistakes. So I will make another one before Tat Days. First, I'll make the bracelet for my other class.

Mom's phone charger had definitely disappeared. CD and I went to jumpstart her car and get it inspected. I decided we could go get her a new charger while it was being seen. It took a looong time to charge her car enough for it to start. It was 'five more minutes and we stop before CD's car overheats'. CD sat with mom's car running (to charge up the battery) while I got her phone and did another look round for her charger.

The plan mostly worked. We did drive it to be inspected. We did get lunch. We did find a charger*, although the Radio Shack I went looking for had closed. However, they were not able to inspect the car. Because the car had been jumpstarted, the computer gave a 'not ready' answer to most of the emission questions. The car had to be driven 50-100 miles to reset the computer.

I plugged mom's phone in with the new charger and then drove home. I immediately drove it to the inspection station near me. The guy was 'oh, it's only half-hour til we close, there's no way we can get it inspected today,' and he was very relieved when I said, 'I wasn't expecting you to inspect it today, I thought tomorrow.' That they could do. Although they already had a line up for Saturday and it might be midday before they got to it.

*The salesman at the phone store was quite insistent on giving me a quote. I had to tell him, "If I have to deal with one more thing, even that, I'll break down in tears" to get him to stop. Even then, he gave me his card, etc.

CD had class on Saturday, so if the car wasn't ready by the time he had to leave, he could drop me off and I could drive to my tatters' meeting from there. It turned out, he had to go buy new shoes. They were both whistling due to holes. He had to go a bit out of his way, but he got a good deal.

The Tatters' meeting was nice. I made good progress on the lanyard (despite screwing up a floating chain). Carolyn had brought in some old workbaskets and I got one from the 1940s. Neat!

Anitra's husband had seen a listing on Craigslist for a woman who used to own a bead store who was gradually selling off what remained of her stock. He made the arrangements and a few of us went to her apartment after the meeting. I got some lovely beads, including some silver(ish) drops that are metal and a tiny bit heavy. They'd be good for something that needs a tiny bit of weight to hang right.

She had two lovely foster dogs. The newer one stayed isolated most of the time. She has a tendency to jump on people, but she's a lovely, friendly, Pit/Lab mix.

Monday, LotRO was supposed to have an update, opening Mordor and High Elves. An annoying bug cropped up and they delayed it until Wednesday. So our LotRO date will be postponed, too. It's going to take at least an hour for the update to load so I'd better take a nap when I get home.

Tuesday, was my monthly date with Autumn Breeze. We went back to our usual diner. It's under new management. They've painted the walls and put a new mirror in the bathroom. It's nice to see more than my face from the nose up while I'm washing my hands.

Wednesday is also the monthly Forum meeting and the committee meeting will be afterwards. Then it's about half hour or so at work, take lunch, and then out to the garden for the Forum sponsored workday. It's going to be a hot one, so I'll really need that nap.

Another picture. I think it's Virginia Creeper.

I'm feeling better - of course I slept most of yesterday, whether due to illness or the medicine I don't know.

sight of the day: a very bad accident involving 2 cars & a transit bus. At least one car's airbag deployed & in the second car I saw a passenger supporting the driver's neck. I sincerely pray that it's only a precaution that she is not that badly hurt. My prayers to them and all those involved.

I sort of read yesterday, they were re-reads that didn't take much attention. I did not try to tat, I didn't trust my concentration. Cold medicine makes me so foggy. I watched tv when I wasn't napping.

Gaming: Chris's game was last night. We finally rescued the dwarf commander, getting through one more fight while exiting the city. In the first fight, in the tunnels, the trolls transformed back to duergar when they died. This time, the trolls remained trolls but the dead duergar transformed to dark elves. We grabbed their corpses and ran. Maybe we'll get some information; if not at least we'll get loot.

Tat Days extra: I took the extra Workbaskets from Leigh, and gave them away at Tat Days. We ended up putting them out on Saturday & everyone loved them. The Palmetto Tatting Guild filled some blank spaces in their library & a woman who had lost the issue with the Barbie wedding gown to flood damage replaced it.

tatting: I worked on Jane's fantasy flower this morning on the way into work; it's from one of the classes this weekend. But I screwed up a ring again. I'll have to take it out & try again.

clothes: yesterday I wore sleepshirt & robe most of the day. Then I pulled on a t-shirt & leggings for the game. Today it's black jeans (despite the 97F heat), thin cotton blouse (texture check), Celtic knot ring, triskele earrings, knot pendant, ~rope band, braid, hematite band & black ~slippers.

Yeah. Morning. It's a good thing; overall. It's just really hard to appreciate with a distinct lack of caffeine in the bloodstream sometimes.

No Valley neighbor today, but Jill was there. She's teaching a class today & was feeling nervy. She had a leak, too. Called the same guy to fix it, so she got good work. She still has to clean up the mess in her crawl space. She had boxes down there. They did not fare well. Neither did the insulation under her townhouse. That will be expensive.

books: Started re-reading Dawn in Eclipse Bay last night. Brought it for my commute read today. I've been reading the 4th edition Shadowrun book recently. At least, the character creation info.

tatting: Almost through one column of the Workbaskets, at least enough to list them. I have at least 2 that Anitra doesn't.

Writing: Since I can't actually remember any of the runs we did when we played Shadowrun, I'm going to create one & run Short Fix 4.0 through one w/ some of the archetype characters. John suggested that I start the story with a run, to introduce what kind of person SF is. Even if I don't use it for the prologue, I need at least one run, with some details, in the story.

tv: More Knight's Tale, a repeat episode of Bones, more Ninja Warrior (that ballet dancer is a kick, he always wears a thong) and then a small dose of professional football before bed.

Chris cooked some of the chicken he bought at BJ's last night. The other half of the package went into the freezer. Tonight it will be spaghetti as I finish cleaning up enough room for Mike to sleep.

clothes: ~slippers & slacks, white woven texture check, all black jewelry - stone ring, hematite band, glass bead bracelet, tatted necklace & earrings & hairstick (with a diamond of 4 rhinestones) & hair in a ponytail/bun.

I think that I finally got enough sleep last night. I think. I had a headache bad enough that only migraine meds toned it down, I don't know why. I tried to call Mom last night but for some reason my cell phone didn't charge on Sunday. So I had to plug it in last night. No charge=no call. That will be fun to explain to Mom tonight.

tatting: I started the Workbasket database. I think I'm going to need 2 of them. One will be a straight list of issues & the other will have what's in them, at least briefly.

books: I bought & read The Mirror Prince. It's a very good fantasy novel. The premise is that there was a war in the lands of the Riders (aka Faerie) and the Prince that lost got exiled to the Shadowlands (ie our world). Unfortunately, part of the Banishment removed the Prince's memories, so he's been living as a human all this time. Over & over. Now though, it's almost the end of the Banishment & someone (or someones) are after the Prince. Only the first few chapters take place in our world, the rest is all in the Lands. The writer did a good job of world-building. I think I'll keep an eye out for the next book by Violette Malan (it does not look like it has any connection to the Mirror Prince). I tried to read Newton's Cannon but just couldn't get into it.

tv: We watched Bones and Ninja Warrior. I listened to an episode of Pop-Up Video; it was one I'd seen before so I didn't watch it.

clothes: ~slippers, black slacks, green Harrington Steading shirt, moss agate bead bracelet, clip watch, green amber ring, flower band, hematite band, green amber necklace & post earrings. My hair is up in a ponytail/bun held by 2 chopsticks, black with a band of tan & black ink painting wrapped around the ends.

What is with me? I woke at 4 am, hungry enough to eat my left arm. The only thing I could do was get up & get something to eat. Alas, there was nothing ready to eat; I had to fix something. Okay, it only took about 10 minutes; that's enough for me to thoroughly wake up. By the way, the only thing of interest on at 4 am was on TCM. They had a Roy Rogers' movie. Alas, I missed the beginning so I switched over to catch the weather. It's going to be hot. Again. Shock. Surprise.

I finished reading Harmony's Way though. It's a decent read but very explicit. I'm not often comfortable with that level of language.

I've had 5 hours of sleep and I'm tired, even now. I am not quite certain how I'm going to get through the day. I guess we'll just have to see.

I forgot my bus pass yesterday. Luckily the morning driver recognized me & let me on anyway. I realized just as the bus arrived. For the commute home, thought I had the fare, especially since I wasn't catching my usual bus.

Now I'm going to work on a database of the Workbaskets & their contents. Or maybe I'll work on my writing. We'll see.

dream: something about Rosemary, horses, carriage rides and starting a business of 'old-fashioned' carriage rides vs modern? carriage rides.

clothes: black slacks, black belt, ~slippers, white polo (UNC), moonstone earrings, pendant & ring, ~rope band, fem/dancer ring, hematite band & braided hair.

Chris stopped by BJ's on the way home & picked up a couple steaks. He paid about $2 less than for the last ribeyes that he bought at the grocery store. That doesn't sound like much until you realize that these two steaks were each about the size of the two ribeyes. Even as hungry as I was, I only ate half of my steak. I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. Today, it's my supervisor's birthday, so we're taking him out to lunch, so no need to pack one today.

tv: We watched The Closer last night. I almost didn't stay awake long enough to see the end. I only made it because it took me longer than I thought to slice up the leftover steak & put everything away. Kyra Sedgwick is, as typical for an actress, an attractive woman. Their makeup & costume people do a good job of making her look average, or only moderately attractive.

They finally had a couple new episodes of Pop-Up Video last night. We also watched Storytellers on VHI, with Ringo Starr & the All-Stars. The only problem with that group is I get a nagging feeling that I should recognize all of them by sight.

books: I borrowed Academ's Fury from Chris yesterday & I finished it last night. It's the sequel to Furies of Calderon. For some reason, Chris acted surprised that I finished a book in one day. I'm not sure why. I usually finish a book in one day.

Tatting: I've started flipping through the Workbaskets & noting down which ones I have now. I left a message with Steve for Anitra to send me the list which ones she is missing.

clothes: ~slippers, black jeans, black golf shirt (what is the difference between a golf shirt & a polo shirt? Which one am I wearing?) embroidered with 'The Carolina Renaissance Festival 2001' in purple, thin silver chain bracelet, fem/dancer ring, hematite band, ~rope band, Celtic knot star/tree/moon, triskele earrings & braided hair.

Chris stopped by BJ's on the way home & picked up a couple steaks. He paid about $2 less than for the last ribeyes that he bought at the grocery store. That doesn't sound like much until you realize that these two steaks were each about the size of the two ribeyes. Even as hungry as I was, I only ate half of my steak. I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. Today, it's my supervisor's birthday, so we're taking him out to lunch, so no need to pack one today.

tv: We watched The Closer last night. I almost didn't stay awake long enough to see the end. I only made it because it took me longer than I thought to slice up the leftover steak & put everything away. Kyra Sedgwick is, as typical for an actress, an attractive woman. Their makeup & costume people do a good job of making her look average, or only moderately attractive.

books: I borrowed Academ's Fury from Chris yesterday & I finished it last night. It's the sequel to Furies of Calderon. For some reason, Chris acted surprised that I finished a book in one day. I'm not sure why. I usually finish a book in one day.

Tatting: I've started flipping through the Workbaskets & noting down which ones I have now. I left a message with Steve for Anitra to send me the list which ones she is missing.

clothes: ~slippers, black jeans, black golf shirt (what is the difference between a golf shirt & a polo shirt? Which one am I wearing?) embroidered with 'The Carolina Renaissance Festival 2001' in purple, thin silver chain bracelet, fem/dancer ring, hematite band, ~rope band, Celtic knot star/tree/moon, triskele earrings & braided hair.

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).