Food! Oh, yum. Chris had the greatest idea for supper. Brown some meat (doesn't really matter what kind, as long as it's ground). Cook some peas and some mashed potatoes. Pile some of the meat in the bottom of a bowl, add peas, add a little cheese, and top with mashed potatoes. There are some spices involved, too. It's a simple version of shepherd's pie, one of my favorite dishes.

Gaming: My registration for Regulatorcon hasn't gone through yet. Until it does, I can't register for games. Apparently, I'm not alone in that. That's some comfort.

Tomorrow night is Mutants & Masterminds. I'll have to see how I'm getting there.

Pictures! I have pictures. This one is the top of the pendant for my Fair Entry That Almost Was.
You can see the tatted ring very clearly. There are actually 2 rings on this bauble, but of course you can only see one clearly at a time.







This is the 2nd necklace. You can just barely see the blue/gold flash on the black beads. I have more drop beads than round ones. That limited just how long the necklace could be. This is a fairly close up shot of the main component of the necklace.






This is more of an overview of the necklace. The area where I changed over from small rings to large rings to beads is more visible in this shot.





Last, but not least, the site of the pendant. I made the chain a little longer than the chains with the drop beads.

Blood donation: I tried. I ate something and drank a smoothie (anti-nausea calcium & liquid in one dose) beforehand. None of it worked. They couldn't find enough of my veins for me to donate. They stuck me but then lost the vein. Three phlebotomists looked but oh well. Maybe it was too early, the food, etc hadn't reached my veins yet. I'll try again in a couple weeks.

I cooked last night; nothing huge, just mini-calzones. I used a small squash & a jar of sliced mushrooms instead of a small zuccini & half a bell pepper, then forgot to add the left-over chicken into the mix. I ate 2 of the calzones for supper last night & ate one for breakfast this morning. That leaves just one more. It's a quick, only half or so in all, and pretty easy recipe.

tatting: I did get past the halfway point on my necklace while waiting to donate platelets. I debated pendant or not & finally decided on a pendant. I have some of the teardrop beads left, I guess I'll use those on earrings. Thanks to the commute in & an errand for work, I'm now well past 3/4 done. Alas, I'm short about 2 teardrop beads. Somehow I miscounted while I was threading the beads. However, two problems together solve each other. I'm also almost out of thread on the shuttle. Thus, I will have to take some of the thread off the ball & transfer to a 2nd shuttle, giving me the opportunity to add beads, before re-loading the 1st shuttle.

I've already seen a couple students dressed for Halloween. I will probably wear my Colonial outfit to answer the door.

books: Read Truly Yours, as I liked other books the author had written. This one was pretty good, too. Her characters are not perfect, even though this heroine was a little closer. I also bought & read Fruits Basket vol 3 & 4.

clothes: yesterday, black jeans, black suede shoes, purple polo, grey knit sweater, amethyst pendant, purple Czech bead earrings, and silver ~rope band. Today I'm wearing the same shoes, black jeans, black Origins shirt, black & red stone rings, dragon earrings & harp pendant. My hair is braided again for simple convenience.

I have a post from Saturday, I'll insert it later.

FE had their 20th Anniversary sale yesterday. I spent too much money. What a shock. I got a neato navy Battle of the Planets t-shirt for $5 and some old gaming books. I also picked up a couple manga to try.

Since a migraine woke me at 6 am, I took a nap after we got back home (we also stopped to buy candy for Wednesday). I woke to watch the end of Thirteenth Warrior. Then we watched Heartbreak Ridge but I went to bed soon after we started watching Midsummer Night's Dream.

books: I read the 7th volume of Her Majesty's Dog.

Donating platelets tomorrow. Whee!

tatting: almost halfway done now, I'm on the 20-something teardrop bead.

clothes: yesterday I wore my brown Hal-O-Scream shirt, jeans & white sneakers. I was going to wear brown loafers but my socks were too thick. Today (Autumn has finally arrived), black ankle shoe/boots (that I need to take to be re-soled, I want to do that on the way home), black jeans, burgundy knit shirt, heavy grey long-sleeved knit shirt, & Celtic knotwork jewelry.

packing: I finished this morning (my laptop & books to read & tatting to, um, tat) but my suitcase & game crate went into the car last night. That reminds me, I need to charge my iPod. It's going to be a long trip.

Gaming: David took steps to work on one of my character's subplots. She's the hereditary champion of the Valley of Moon & Stars and there are supposed to be 2 champions, Moon Champion & Star Champion. One of them is sort of an apprentice Champion, also a spare in case something happens to previous one. The Moon Champion died early, leaving Totem as the Moon & Stars Champion so she's been looking for successor, or the priests of the Valley have. Totem found him, sort of by accident.

Last session we were guarding a tribal mask found in Northern Arizona and loaned to the museum by the Navajo Nation (before you ask, no it wasn't completely Navajo, that's part of the reason they weren't too concerned about it being on display - other than the usual security concerns of course). Turns out, Totem's father, the previous Totem, had done a little accidental time travel. Needing to return to 'the present' (aka 1960's). He got help in doing that from local, early Navajo shamans (so the mask was part Coyote & part Anubis).

One of the thieves, which we caught last night, traded information for reduced sentence. He revealed that he knew where to find the next Totem, as there were indications that the position is in some fashion hereditary (at least through a bloodline). Turns out that he's this 15-year-old kid who thought that someone else, deceased, was his father. So the kid's a little upset & next time we resume, Totem will be trying to explain things to him. Oh yeah. That'll be fun. Totem has *ahem* an interesting take on the world.

Jokes that arose out of last night's game: all the previous Totem's slept around, is that part of the position? Hmm, you don't but your father & grandfather did. Maybe it's a sex-linked trait. That's right, your dad was a Himbo (derivation from the word 'bimbo').

And there are indications that this may in fact be true. David also revealed that there is possibly another bloodline from a child sired while Dear Old Dad was 1000+ years in the past. It's also possible, that the offspring went East & journey with certain Easter Band as they sailed across the ocean (& ended up in the Valley of Moon & Stars).

tatting: I filled out my entry form & left it all with Anitra. She very kindly agreed to turn it in for me. The necklace turned out very well, if I do say so myself. I can't wait to wear it.

Books: On the way into work I read Wallflower vol 4.

letters: I finished the letters. I just need to make copies, put stamps on the envelopes & drop them into the mail. I already mailed one, I had the postage for it.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks, black glass bead bracelet, hematite ring, 3 dragon rings (all three that I own), dragon earrings & pendant, hash mark ring, braided hair, brown/black Vorkosigan polo. Oh, & my clip watch, I found it this morning as I fixing my laptop bag.

I got diddly-squat done last night. I got one load of laundry as far as the dryer & that's it. And it's a heavy load that needs two runs of the dryer to finish, so it's of limited usefulness. I did put a load of delicate laundry into the washer this morning but I didn't go looking for beads, or to use my discount (that ends today) at the bookstore. I didn't even eat supper. I finally fixed a tiny cake dessert just so I could say that I'd eaten...something.

tv: Watched some M*A*S*H*; the 2nd episode of the new series Chuck, too bad I missed the pilot. After that I tuned into cartoons. I didn't have the attention span for anything more committed than that.

tatting: I finished my necklace, except 1 ring, the findings & the pendant. The bauble is done, I just need to do the decorative bit. I did get an idea for the pendant though, I'll do a bauble. I need copper and black beads though. I have a gold bead/marble to put in the center. If that doesn't work, I'll use the clear marble that I have.

clothes: black slacks, clip watch, black ~slippers, burgundy tank/woven check over shirt embroidered with autumnal leaves set, onyx pendant & earrings, black stone ring, hematite band, & flower band. Yesterday I wore my hair loose until it dried & then into a ponytail/bu affixed with square black hairstick. Today, I think I'll just braid it.