Judging is tomorrow (today)

I am composing this on Monday, but not publishing until Tuesday, after the judging. I doubt any of my readers (all 3 of you) are State Fair judges, but just in case. 

First, here's my Heritage Craft entry. It's a tatted reticule (style of purse) that's basically a bag with a drawstring. It's adapted from a vintage doily pattern. I used size 10 Lizbeth no. 182-spice cake.

I lucet braided the drawstring in dark brown crochet cotton and used the same thread for the single chain crochet to make the drawstring loops for the lining. The lining is satin (from a pillow case that died), and then, because I didn't feel like doing a French seam, I lined the lining with a sturdy poly-suede. I sewed the crochet chain between the layers of lining in loops. The drawstring is what's holding the outer tatting and the lining together.

Here's the only tatting category entry; Nonthreaded Needlework, Framed. It's Debbie Arnold's spiral heart pattern in Lizbeth white and metallic gold. I got the frame at a thrift shop.

For the first time, I entered the Art Trading Card category. Luckily, my partner had the sheet. Otherwise, I'd have had to buy a pack of 30 or a 100 sheets. I used a mixture of collage and tatting.

I used the same spiral heart for the Ornament category. I add the beads (both the white and the faceted) to the pattern and bent the hanger hook from an i-pin, after threading more beads on it.

In Mixed Media Jewelry, I entered this brooch. It's a 1941 pattern, Carnation Boutonniere in New Things Happen to Tatting, Book 159 (The Spool Cotton Company, 1941) found on Internet Archive. Inspired by Carolyn (one of our Tri-Tatters), I also used beads and added a button to the center.

I took my car to be inspected early Saturday, but alas, it would not pass without some work being done. And the part needed was not on site so they had to order it. They estimated it would take about 2 hours for it arrive. It took just over an hour, but then they had to squeeze my job in between other jobs and all told, I was there about 3 hours. So I decided to get lunch and run an errand. 

I went home to attach the tags to all my entries and didn't leave until about 3 pm. I didn't check the NC State Football schedule. I arrived just before tip off. AKA lots of traffic and detours. I also got to sit through a light cycle as I watched 24 police cars, with lights and sirens, 1 roadside assistance vehicle, and a motorcycle cop go through the intersection. 

Still got done dropping off my entries (all 5!) and home in good time. 

Had gaming on Sunday, that's why I didn't just wait until Sunday to deliver my entries. Our GM is no longer living in this area so we rely on technology. Which was not cooperating. But we still got through the expected encounter, plus. We nerfed the 1st encounter thanks to identifying what we were fighting and having an effective counter to their strongest (and most time consuming to counter) attack. Then someone had the right spell to counter their strongest defense and that's all she wrote.

So we had another encounter, although we had to handwave the last foe due to timing. It just the one and we were in good enough shape to take it out, with a minimum of consumables used and without any of use being too seriously hurt (player with the healer is really good).

I have also started a pattern that I am going to submit to teach at the next Tat Days. I thought it might be too similar to one of Karey Solomon's but I checked with her and she said it isn't.

Darkness Fell, and it was cool (literally and figuratively)

Last week, I went through some of the stuff in mom's car and took it to Goodwill. There's more yet, but it was so hot I couldn't stay out there for long and I wasn't going to bring it in the house just to take it out again.

On Saturday, I forgot to take my Civic to get the oil changed. It's not desperate, but the warning light is on. I'm just driving mom's car until I get a chance to handle that. And I have plans the next 3 weekends. I need to call the inspection place to see if I can get a ride to the bus stop and after work. If so, I can get it done on a weekday.

Saturday, I drove to  Chapel Hill to get my friend C.M. She's not been the best, healthwise and her husband has been worse. I offered to give her a ride to the tatting meeting if she wanted to join me. She finally took me up on my offer. Her son came with us, mostly to get out of the house and be there in case his mom needed some help I couldn't provide.

We went to lunch and then to the meeting. I'm not sure how much C.M. really learned, although she did finish a ring, with good tension, too. She said she needs to practice under circumstances better suited to concentration. The meeting went well. Thirteen people, not including CM's son, were there. Leigh of SomthingUndertheBed.com had some new books to show off. I made progress on the bracelet for Palmetto. Until the most recent ring decided not close. I haven't been able to close it since, either. I don't want to cut the ring and start it over, but I may have to.

Sunday was errands. I got some laundry done and CD and I did some running around. Our Starfinder books are arriving today, so we went ahead and paid for them on Sunday. We just need to pick them up.

Yesterday, of course, was the solar eclipse. I didn't go to where I could see the totality, but it hit 93% here. I signed up as one of NASA's citizen scientists. Though, I wasn't able to take temperature readings all morning, because I had to work. And giving my thermometer time to register the outdoor temperature took a few minutes, each time. I took vacation time to be out there a couple hours before the eclipse and a couple hours after.

solar eclipse in my office, thanks to my boss

I went to a local solar eclipse activity (buttons and making pinhole cameras). I made a couple buttons but not the pinhole camera, because one of my coworkers got a pair of eclipse glasses for me. Alas, my iPad ran out of battery power only an hour after the eclipse.

I took some pictures. There was one I really wanted to take, but I couldn't hold my fingers in the makeshift pinhole camera formation and take the picture. My new coworker joined me for a few minutes before and after she had to be on a conference call.

tree leaves acting like pinhole cameras

it's hard to take a selfie when you can't see

sun and shadows

glasses, thermometer, after the eclipse

 the temperature fell from about 32C to not quite 28C, and you could stand in 'full sun' without baking

a few minutes after

I wish I had thought to bring a colander

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.

Ummm, really late post?

In the end, I didn't get the pictures until the weekend, so I decided to just post today.

I went to see mom for Mothers' Day. The day before was a bit stressful.

I went to get my car inspected while CD got the oil changed in his. Of course, both of us had stuff come up. Most of mine was recommended maintenance, not OH WOW GET IT DONE NOW, which is nice. I got some of it done. However, the stuff CD needed took a bit longer. So I said, I'd grab his stuff and take him to his Tai Chi class. Except, I somehow managed to bring the wrong bag. Instead, we went to lunch.

The dealer said his car was done so I took CD back. He could pay for the repairs, get his car, we could transfer his stuff to his car and make the afternoon class. Except 'ready now' meant still on the rack. By the time they got it down, etc, CD had missed that class, too. Quite a bummer.

I had to go shopping to get some stuff for mom. I had ordered a portable DVD player for her. I had to make sure I knew how it worked, get it charged, etc, so I could show her how to work it. I bought some of the other stuff on her list while I was out.

Mom loves her DVD player. It's not very big, but she watch her DVDs again and that's the important part. I'd found those half-dozen Last of the Summer Wine DVDs and she hadn't even seen them yet. I ask her if she remember how to use it when I call her and if necessary go over it with her. I specifically found one that's easy to use.

The Deadlands game on Thursday had one player missing. She and her husband were out of town. Since she plays our heavy hitter, we decided to avoid combat. The son of one of the other players came. He's a pretty good player.

I finished the tatting on a bracelet. And I've gotten past 2" on my stitch gauge for my mock cable wristlets.

One of my friends drew this and posted it, I colored it

Happy Memorial Day (US)

It's not really a happy holiday, but it is a good time to recognize the sacrifice of men and women in uniform and their families. I hope you took at least a few minutes to remember them.

No Deadlands game this week, the GM had tickets to a showing of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and for some reason he felt that was more important. Poozer. (joking of course)

Saturday was a meeting of our local tatters. I showed Rosemary (one day I should learn her last name) how to tat with beads. She's working her way through Kay Judt's book of stars. I also brought a box of thread to share (thanks, Stephanie). There were balls of size 10 and size 80.

On Sunday, C had a pie class. He brought home sample of his strawberry-rhubarb pie and it was delicious. I hope he makes it again. After that, we dropped off a bag to Goodwill, some books to sell at a UBS, and finished emptying my Saturn. I had forgotten to empty the glove compartment. No one keeps gloves there anymore, did you notice?

One of the errand we ran was to try and get my purse fixed. It's a teardrop purse, cross body sling, of leather and nylon. It's an excellent bag but the back of the strap is nylon and wearing to pieces. The guy took one look and said, 'nope, can't do anything with this.' I think he could have, if he had asked what I wanted him to do. I didn't expect him to replace that lining, I wanted him to sew leather over it. Ah well. I have sewn fabric over it and hopefully that will work. (pictures to be added later)

Monday, C and I went by Jo-Anne's so he could buy my birthday present. He bought me a new pair of embroidery scissors. They didn't have exactly what I wanted and if I hadn't gone with him, he would have had no idea what to get for me.

For supper, we met some friends at Casa San Carlo. I had wanted sushi but the sushi place was closed. It's not exactly a hardship to go to Casa San Carlo instead. I had the blue crab ravioli again. And for appetizers we had escargot and the fried mozzarella. By getting leftovers, I had enough room for a slice of the orange patron cake. So. Very. Good. RG had my birthday presents; a copy of How to Get Dressed, Mer World Problems (coloring book), and a corner paper punch. She did very well, didn't she. The funny thing is, they arrived at her house while I was visiting her. She had paid for all 3 to be gift wrapped but only two of them were. I had to plug my ears and hum while she called customer service to get a refund. They handled it quickly and well, at least. But they taped the wrapping to the book. SACRILEGE!

DR gave me a gift certificate to B and N. Hmm, books, how did he know?

Today, my co-workers took me out for lunch and my supervisor brought in chocolate cake. I brought half of it home.

Fun and Games

C, RG, RW, MC, and I are playing a Pathfinder module. C is running. I'm playing an elf bard (diplomat), RW is playing a dwarf fighter, MC is plying an elf technomancer (wizard with some tech added, like electricity, etc), and RG is playing a human oracle/paladin. RW is doing an excellent job of role playing his dwarf's low charisma.

RW has started playing Lord of the Rings online, with me, RG, and C. We try to play together once a week. RW has a kid so, of course, childcare gets priority.

I am unloading my Saturn. I had let things accumulate, so I am taking this opportunity to get rid of some stuff and decide, 'do I really need/want this?'

Tropical Storm Anna hasn't done much here, just rain, rain, break in the rain, and rain. She's our first named storm of the season and she's really early. Is that an indication of how bad this storm season is going to be?

I'm still packing my lunch every day. Car payments have really cut into my spending cash.

Car Shopping

Looking for a new (used) car is not really my idea of entertainment. I know something about cars, but I don't remember when put on the spot. I've been looking on-line but you can't get a feel for the cars. Plus, I want a standard transmission and that's getting harder and harder to find; unless you're buying a new car and make it part of your build.

However, my 22-year-old Saturn broke the timing chain. It can be repaired but at this point, it's cheaper to buy a new car. I spent about a week shopping around on-line. It gave me an idea of prices, at least. But I all the sites I looked at wanted me to narrow to manufacturer and make first thing. My wants are quite basic: electric or hybrid (which are still too expensive for me or the ones I can afford won't do what I need them to do), sedan/small car, four-doors, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, and a good maintenance record. I finally just landed on one that had a good maintenance record and looked at those.

On Saturday, C and I went to Crown Honda to see what they had. The salesman was good, he took us to one that was in my price range and below my mileage limit. I test drove it. Cars have changed in the 17 years between the manufacture of my Saturn and the 2010 Honda Civic I drove. The one I dislike, but accept, is the larger bar between side window and windshield. Apparently, that's where an airbag is stored so it's not going away. I'll just have to duck and bob when looking that way. It's smaller than my Saturn, both in body length and in trunk.

Having the speedometer right below the field of view through the windshield is great. Daytime running lights are a good thing, although no substitute for using headlights in poor visibility conditions, like fog or rain. As a new(er) car, the gas and brakes are more sensitive than on my Saturn.

Here's my new car. I had my Saturn for 20 years. It's going to take time for me to adjust to the new car. And hello, car payments.

I have 32 inches of my edging made. Soon, I'll have to start comparing it to the scarf to make sure it's the right length. I'll have to make a decision then, sew on one end or leave it until both ends are ready.

I took part in the spring walk/run at work on Friday. It's 1.5 mile walk or 3 mile run. There was a group of 4 people behind me. Everyone else was in front of me. At certain points in the walk, I could have been completely alone. I'm glad I took my iPod. And while it was raining a bit, it never poured. I don't have any pictures from the walk because my iPad would have been awkward.

Despite the fact I missed seeing Ironman 3, I went with friends (C, R, & JJ) to see Avengers: Age of Ultron on Sunday. We went to an Irish pub for supper. We had quite good service, even with the less than obvious stuff, like turning down the music when we asked. I quite enjoyed the movie, even with some problematic stuff, which is open to interpretation by the viewer.

New desk phones at work. Something else to get used to. These are computerized, to the point there's a way to restart them.

And I hop everyone had a good May Day.

RolePlaying Game with a child and the rest of my week

Saturday, we played Mermaid Adventures. Our last game was two years ago, much to M's frustration. It was up to her dad to schedule the game and the time passed faster than he had realized. Don't tell M, I'd lost my character sheet and had to make up my octopus spell caster again. M has been wanting to 'play games with Daddy' since she was four. R and I gave her child-focused RPGs for Christmas before she turned 6. She decided she wanted to play Mermaid Adventures. We played two years ago and she really enjoyed it. She enjoyed Saturday's game, too. We may have gotten her bitten by the RPG bug.

I've lost my tatting; both the bracelet I'd finished tatting and my TIAS up to Day 5. Jane has up to Day 7 out and I'm behind. Again.

I'm tatting a heart from a Japanese webpage to keep my tatting fingers busy in the meantime. I'm using Lizbeth seashell in size 20.

My car has been back into and out of the shop again. Maybe this will keep it out for a few months. I would really like to have a fully functioning car for awhile.

I've been playing Pathfinder Online. It's still early enrollment. I've discovered a problem with their graphics. It gives me a headache after a couple hours. And then, while in my character's home town, crafting, three players came up and killed my character. And the local guard (NPC) did nothing. I have no reason to go back into the game. I was just starting to figure out how to fight and how to craft. If it had happened outside a settlement, well, travel is risky. It will take some serious convincing to get me to play again.

Monday, I read someone's blog post about their first troll. And that getting a negative comment on their blog meant their audience had spread, beyond their 'comfort zone'. And that they had expressed an opinion, strongly enough, it grated on someone. It's rather like Jim C. Hines essay about the value of a negative review on his books. I've never gotten a negative comment on my blog. That's because this is a journal rather than an opinion piece.

I have no idea what to say

Really. Okay, there's some stuff about my car's AC dying on Saturday. I thought it was a little screwy but didn't realize it was completely out until Sunday. By the way, at ~12:30 pm, when it's sunny and the high is hovering around 100F, you really can sweat in an embarrassing fashion. I had an ice pack at my back, but my legs sweated heavily. I'll let your imagination fill in the rest.

What else? I'm still playing in the Stargate: 1889 game. I still need to research 19th century technology and Edison's family.

The two Spirit of the Century games at Con-Temporal went well. And apparently, the Friday Pathfinder Society game, We Be Goblins, went well enough that one of the players was still talking about it on Sunday.

Palmetto Tat Days registration has opened. Now I need to sign up.

I'm currently tatting a snood. It's from an old Workbasket magazine. I'm on round 5, or maybe 6, of 10 rounds.

Anyone want to know anything?

Month of Letters and other matters

Heh, found this and out of curiosity, filled it out. There is one that I shouldn't have on there, I only dipped into that state while traveling. There's a couple more I've been to but I don't remember so I didn't count them.

visited 22 states (44%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Caerfai Chemical Simulation

Someone decided that February is a month of letters. Every postal day, mail something; a letter,  a card, a package. In February, there are 24 mailing days (no Sundays & 1 Federal Holiday). Some friends on a forum decided to have a list of people who wanted to receive (&/or send) letters. So far, I have written 5 letters to them and two letters to family. I have received one letter, a reply from my first one.

I still haven't set up my Etsy page. I'm stressing a little about my store policy and stuff like that. Plus, I want 2-3 really good pictures of my bracelets.

I finished a scarf and sent it off (part of a Pay It Forward challenge). The recipient likes it and said it's quite timely considering the current weather. I have 4 more things to make. One person wants a face scrub. I've been waiting until we've had colder weather to make & send it. I'll see if I can over night it. I may send the ingredients separately, for her to mix, to avoid expiration problems.

My sock is progressing. The heel looks good and I'm working on the ankle. I went ahead and took off the scrap thread used to start the toe. Thank you, tiny, sharp, Gingher scissors. That's the heel, there.

I don't have a picture (because it's not blocked) but I finished my tatted chicken. Here it is, close to finished.

And just because, here's a sky picture.

The timing chain on my car had slipped, although not broken, so I got it replaced last week. Yikes, that's expensive. I also got some other, needed, work done. Now it's showing signs of wanting a new battery. Greedy thing.

We played Pathfinder all weekend. We played one of those sanctioned modules on Saturday and it was hard. We had 2 paladins, an inquisitor and an oracle. Did you see arcane? Healer? Rogue? No? We went through some cure light wound wand charges. Lucky for one thing, we were dealing with fatigue but one of the paladins had the 'gets rid of fatigue' mercy so he dealt with it.

Our Sunday 3.5 got cancelled so we played Pathfinder instead. It ran a little late and we missed the 1st half of the Superbowl. I didn't really care, since, as they say, 'I don't have a dog in that fight.' Although I am going to have to go see what commercials I missed.

Friday, I went to see Red Tails with a friend (John J). It was a good movie, although if you don't enjoy war movies you won't enjoy this one. I found out the next evening that another friend had worked with a Tuskegee airman. Apparently there had been a show about them about the time the two were working together and this fellow would provide commentary. "This guy? Oh, he was pretty nice. That one? Complete womanizer. The other one? What an @$$hole." and so on. Red Tails is more fictionalized.

This weekend, I'm going to see my mother. It means I miss a great sale at the local game store. But c'est la vie.

Viral Video and a Car Scare

Net Stuff
Do you know who Isaiah Mustafa is? If you watch TV, you probably do; even if you only know him as 'that Old Spice guy'. There's an entire YouTube channel devoted to his videos (including a wedding proposal and one supporting libraries).

Here's a parody of one, by New Spice guy. It's really, really funny.

Life Stuff
Last night, I met some friends and we went to see The Last Airbender movie. It's sort of obvious that they were squeezing an entire season of half-hour shows into 1 hr 45 minutes (including credits, I think). Certain characters were whitewashed, too which I found distracting. It's still not the worst movie that I've ever seen and the action sequences were entertaining.


When we got back to my friend's house, my car was no longer parked in front. All that I had with me: my journal, my tatting, my wallet, and my phone. My laptop, camera, work id, checkbook, house keys, and bus pass were all in the car. PANIC! Distress! Then Chris and I both spotted it, a couple houses down the street, on the other side and up on the curb. I checked it. All the doors were locked and the parking brake was on. It was not in gear and the brake was not pulled up to its fullest extent. My best guess? The brake didn't hold and it rolled to where it stopped. Here's the incredibly lucky part: no damage. The car is fine. It didn't hit the mailbox that it landed right next to. The only 'damage' was some crushed grass between the curb and the sidewalk. Blows me mind.

Ironically, I need to pay the property taxes on my car. Today probably. I plan to get my car inspected tomorrow.

Tatting Stuff
I've gotten more tatting done. I'm more than halfway through the Angelica second wing. It's going to require some major blocking.

I'm trying to decide what to make for my State Fair entry. Ideas: doily, necklace/bracelet, framed heart. I bought some DMC 12, three balls of coordinating colors and some coordinated seed beads last night from Lazy Daizy.

Weekend: Saturday was a visit to a lovely bead store that regrettably is going out of business. Anitra & I stocked up. I was good though, I stayed in my budget. I also got the oil in my car changed. The mechanic was quite disapproving as my car was almost dry. ooops *blush*

Sunday, Mom came by for a visit. Too bad that it was so late that I couldn't get anything else done. I did have a nice time showing her some of my pictures.

But we did not go see movies as we had planned. 8-{

tatting: I screwed up the checkerboard doily. I am so sick of that thing. I am more than half-tempted to just simply stop. I might sew it onto something, someday, once I no longer want to throw it across the room.

Chris is so sweet. I was in a pissy mood on Saturday so he bought me an art book. It's drawing samurai & ninja manga/anime style.

It's late & I'm off to bed.

ARGH! What is with the big 2 soda companies. Just as I'm really starting to get addicted to a soda, they discontinue it. They're all gone: Diet Coke Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Jazz Strawberries & Cream, Diet Jazz Caramel & Cream..and now Diet Coke Plus. At least I still have the Coke Zero Vanilla...but for how much longer?

Sunday was a little lazy. Since we got home late, we both slept in, at least some. We went by FE to pick up our comic & manga order. Thanks to the flood Tuesday (construction next door to blame), the owner needs all the help that he can get. I also bought a couple Shadowrun books & ordered the two most recent D&D complete books; Scoundrel & Champion.

Unless for the first time in my driving career I drove off without it, someone has stolen my gas cap. Guess this means I'll check the auto store, find out that they don't have it & end up ordering from the dealer. Oh frickin' yay!

We did some grocery shopping & some laundry. That was pretty much it for Sunday. When we got back after the shopping, I took a nap.

tatting: I got a lot done Saturday night. I didn't even get one repeat done on Sunday but I did measure out what I'd gotten accomplished & I had about 5 repeats to go. Those I did this morning. Next step is to sew it to the apron, with the edging still on the shuttle, in case I was wrong & I need another ring or five.

Today it's been more personnel issues. I think everything is squared away now, I hope. I've been massively hungry though.

reading: I read the most recent issue of the Devil's Panties comic book and re-read Daja's Story (of the Circle of Magic series). I started re-reading Curse of Chalion. I started to read Inubaka but Casey was right, it's a little too scatological-focused. I should be reading the module that I will be running at Trinic-con.

clothes on Sunday: Fenton Menace t-shirt, black jeans, ~slippers & belt, Celtic knot jewelry, and ponytail.
Monday: black ~slippers, jeans & belt, forest green Geoff polo, Celtic knot jewelry, ponytail.

Car: I made good time getting home last night & was headed to meet Chris for supper before gaming. Less than a mile from home, the car started squealing. It sounded almost like the brake pads about to wear out noise but I wasn't applying the brakes. I called Chris while I was stopped at the red light and he couldn't id the noise (over the phone? no surprise there). Then it stopped as I accelerated away from the light. And it started again, so I pulled into the nearest parking lot (an apartment complex). By that time, I also saw smoke & smelled something burning! I put up the hood, carefully but no fire. I also couldn't see the source of the noise or smoke. Radiator fluid was dripping from under my car, in 2 places so I waited until the car cooled. I called Chris to tell him that I wasn't driving to Raleigh & called David. No gaming, I wasn't the only canceller. After my car cooled for 20 minutes, I started it, intending to drive home. I pulled out of the parking space & pulled right back in again. The squeal & the smoke had started up immediately.

I called AAA & got my car towed back to the house. Chris arrived not long before the tow truck did. We almost had a 'America's funniest home video' moment as the driver was putting the towing apparatus in place. My car, once I'd backed out of the space again, was on a slope, thus the parking brake had to remain engaged until the last minute. Otherwise, down the slope, probably into other cars, it would have gone. With the way the tires were turned though, it was remotely possible that it would have rolled into the one empty parking space.

It's probably a belt problem & probably need to have many of my belts & hoses replaced. It's been awhile since I've done anything with them & even as infrequently as I drive, stuff needs to be maintained. At least belts & hoses are cheaper than a new engine.

This does play havoc with my schedule for next week. I need to make a few phone calls to figure out how to re-arrange things.

Sports: My alma mater plays Fla State in the ACC basketball championships today. I hope that they do well.

books: finished The Ruby Knight & started The Sapphire Rose this morning. It's book 3 of the Elenium.

clothes: black suede shoes, black twill slacks, pink raw silk blouse (& black faux-suede shirt over it for warmth when needed), Celtic knot earrings & ring, knotwork moon/tree/star pendant & silver ~rope band. Hair is loose because the waves below my shoulders are pretty & I don't feel like doing anything else with it.