Wednesday I left work around noon, ran some errands and then put pies in the oven in between working on paperwork. By the time mel was home with Benton the house was smelling nice and they got some time in the shop to play. Had Ari over later that night for our own internal stitch and bitch. Mel got the bird ready and we had a nice night...really, nice.

Thursday we slept in a bit and got the Turkey on. Mel took Benton out to the shop and I proceeded to make stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked brie and green been casserole. I was on my feet for most of the morning and by the time everything was done I had to get back up from the couch and get things heated for the dinner. Oh, well. No rest for the wicked. We had Elinor, Ari and Mariyah for dinner and then later we had Wander over for pie. So good. We had pumpkin, apple crumble, ginger macadamia nut, custard and key lime. I also made a blueberry but that had accidentally got given to the girls at joes with their key lime pie. Eh, all okay though. The evening ended with sharing a beloved movie with Wander and lots of knitting/crafting going on. So good.

Friday Ari and I headed out for lunch/pedis and a trip to Grandma's. It was SCA day there with lots of folks having stopped by before we were there and during. It was nice. Saturday mel had a brewing day and I got a hair cut. Benton was acting kinda not normal. Sunday morning he was an uber crab and we ended up giving him tylenol for his teeth. I then took him by stroller to joe's for breakfast while mel relaxed on the couch. Got back and he was feeling much better and I got to working on some projects. I had to frog a lot of things the day before.

All in all it was a good weekend but I so could have used one more day to clean house etc. Oh, well. Monday night it was uber small scribble and I did not feel like sketching so I worked on some crochet. Tuesday mel went to Oklahoma and I got the boy taken care of and then put my feet up and started in on Cold Days.

So books so far:
#21 - Turn Coat
#22 - Gulliver's Travels
#23 - Proven Guilty
#24 - White Night
#25 - Side Jobs
#26 - Cold Days (in progress).

The last few weeks have been projects, projects, projects and nothing for me which makes it even more draining. I've lots a lot of sleep to these projects and mel's that even though I can see the end (sort of) in sight its hard none the less. I've been feeling very drained from all of the sickness in the house and I realized, rather esoterically that maybe I've been making too much stuff...putting too much of myself in things and its eating away at me bit by bit.

The scroll everyone will see on Saturday but the blanket most folks won't see unless the parents bring it out to events. Maestra Tatiana (Melissa) and her hubby Mike are expecting a boy in mid-November and I had an idea for a blanket and then went with it. Its not designed by me but I made some modifications and chose the colors to be bright and strong and not your average baby blanket. Its based on a quilt pattern and is 112 pieces crocheted all together. The finish work took me many late nights for over a week to accomplish and I was down to the wire on getting it blocked and having the acrylic yarn set but I was so happy with it. Here is a quick pic of it.
( Blanket! )

After being strung out on asthma meds for the last few days and staying up to finish it I was so toasted by the time the shower came around yesterday. So, I realized that today I needed to UNMAKE things. Now to unmake something does not mean to destroy it...rather get it back to where it started or get it out of the state of chaos its been in. I took time today to clean, to sweep, to put away to tidy and to organize multiple spaces in the house. The studio is usable (minus me wrapping xmas gifts), Benton's room is in top shape, the kitchen it clean and mostly tidy. The front room isn't too bad, still cluttered more than I like and in need of a good dusting but better. The vacuum's been run and things just look more tidy. I frogged two shawls. One of them I will start again with now a better understanding of the pattern. The other I will do the pattern in a larger yarn and larger hook but I UNMADE them and now they are just potential energy ready to start swinging in motion or start the build up to something greater. I swept the porch clean and got a circled candle burning to drive things out of the house. Get the chaos to settled and get back in line. Its cathartic, its zen, its necessary. Even though I'm now aching to make something I'm waiting until tomorrow. There are other things that are due that need my attention before I dive into my now stocked with two projects bag.

I've also been reading. I finished a 145k+ fan fic which I linked on my fic filter. I also finished #20 Small Favor which was completely new to me it seemed. I know I read it when it came out but I had completely forgotten things and when I've now read the most recent books in the series again...damn it Jim! You so set us up...OMG! Everything is obvious in the webs you wove! AGH!!! Thank you. Now I'm in Turn Coat and reading other fic.

So realize that if you keep putting your energy into making things you also have to unmake them to keep yourself sane. Mel and I sat and talked out next projects and how it will make the house better and easier and that made me happy. Keep moving forward.

The weekend was....okay I guess. Benton had come down with some sort of tummy bug on Wednesday so we had him home with us for the duration of the week and weekend. I don't think I changed that many diapers the first week we had him. Seriously. He was snuggly and cute though and only a bit cranky about not feeling good but he was getting up very early, probably from being hungry but not wanting to eat. He's almost better now but still a bit loose in the drawers so to speak.

I worked from home for as much as I could handle...thank you Cox for having Phineas and Ferb and Avengers On Demand. He sat quietly snacking and watching tv. I know...bad parenting by using the TV to soothe and babysit but I got work done and that was okay.

Mel has been very busy working on the baronial thrones. I managed to work on the first of 3 baby blankets some more and that was good. I read more fanfic (for those on that filter, I've done a data dump). I realized that I'd ready about 200k+ words in fan fic in the last few weeks. That is a lot of reading. Speaking of reading I had finished #16 a long while ago and then I read #17 The Secret History of Moscow which was quite entertaining...odd but entertaining. I'm now re-reading Changes by Jim Butcher so I can get caught back up on the universe before Cold Day when it arrives in October. So I will read though Changes and then re-read Ghost Story and be caught up. I need to pick up Iron Kissed to be able to keep reading in that series. I bought another copy of the book I already read...oops.

On Sunday we went to american_knight and duchess_asa's for Holly's 4th bday party. It was a nice time and Benton had a good time playing in the yard. I was having allergy issues and what had started as just my nose moved to all over itchies, swollen fingers and feet and general anaphylactic swelling. We got home and put the boyo to bed and I crocheted and finally almost fell asleep on benedryl as Benton woke up from his nap. I groggily got him up and changed and I read him a lot of books.

I was finally just loosing it and called mel in to watch him. I was getting really ditzy. We had a nice dinner, mel gave him a bath and then it was bedtime for the Benton. I probably should have gone to bed but I sat reading on the couch while mel played Borderlands.

I have to say I'm way groggy today. Focus is shot but I'm coping. Been reading reports and taking notes. Gonna be good to myself tonight and get my toes done and some other pampering before heading home. Long week ahead.

Last Friday I managed to pull patterns and yarn out for a variety of things I want to make coming up and put it in my uber knitting bag. I've been steadily cranking away on knitting scribe_ari's xmas present. I'm making her a hat cause the one I made her previously is dying a slow death due to hard usage over the last few years.

I'm knitting this one versus crocheting it, though I'll probably crochet her one too so she has a variety to wear. Its always good to have a few good hats.

I'm going to be casting on for my first sweater tonight at knit night and I'll also try to cast on a hat to have something for myself going. I also pulled out things to do my first colorwork to make a dice bag for my Cthulhu dice game. I've also got some baby blankets to make for upcoming SCA kiddos and I've ID'd all of the patterns and I need to pull the yarn now to complete them and I'm mod'ing the pattern on one (which I need to figure out) to make something uber spiffy.

Now what I'm not doing is making myself clothes for Pennsic...which is something I should be doing...we shall see after I get the armor mods made this weekend if I have time to do some sewing...we are quickly running out of time.

Also, I finished Unseen by Rachel Caine and that makes #14 for the year and then I started in on #15 which is Unbroken which is the last in that series which is a side series that takes place during the same continuity of the last few books of the her Weather Warden Series. Fun and interesting.

Well, Mr. B got his check up yesterday and he had a good time playing at the doctor's office and just being cute.

He now weighs in at 25 lbs 10 ounces and 31.75" long. He also got shots which he did not like and then to make matters worse I accidentally smacked him in the face with the folder I was carrying his medical papers in...oof. Poor kiddo. Got him home and mel was awesome made dinner and we had a nice family dinner and then played in the living room until bed time. He was out after a bit of a scream though cause Mr. Elephant was in the wash. I checked in on him and he was passed out like he did when he was a baby all flopped back with his arms and legs akimbo. So cute. I tucked a very clean Mr. Elephant in with him and later when I checked on him before I headed to bed he was clutching him all cute.

Just amazed every day at what we have made.

Over the weekend we had a nice evening in with some folks and games for Mel's bday on Friday. It was a good time to chat and we played muchkinthulu. The kids had fun (Inara, Faydra and Benton) and the adults did too.

Saturday we headed up to Twin Moons to see the investiture of Bran and Deletha. I spent most of the event watching Benton with a few breaks. He walked up and down the stairs of the hotel over and over and around the lobby endlessly. We then headed to IKEA, had lunch, bought a few things and Mel crashed. He was feeling great (that was the drugs for his infection talking) and his body said "REST DAMN YOU!" so he slept almost the entire way home...course so did Benton cause he was pooped and needed a nap too.

Sunday we headed to Tom's for the household gathering and had a good time playing in the pool. Benton was not about just floating with us in the pool. I had to hold him and "superman" him around the pool. We splashed in the cave area and had a nice time and then he had had enough when the waterfall got turned on. He got very scared. I hung out with folks for quite a while and then it was time to go home. I was increasingly having a sore throat and then my voice was going. Mel and I were in bed pretty darn early.

Also on Sunday I manged to finish #12 for the year (Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine) and then I started #13 which is "Lost in a Good Book".

Monday brought work and scribble. I was really loosing my voice by the time the work day ended and we hit the doc appt for Ben. Got home and well, we had a nice evening with Scribble folks giving a very good send off to msaimeesue for her trip to St. Louis. We shall miss her but being scribes we sent her off with a sugary/coffee rich evening of ATC's (artist trading cards and lots of sweets).

Here is the album for Elsa's ATC Album.

Additionally, I made these:

Sunday morning the sink backup. Mel started trying to unclog it. Took things apart and about the time he started sawing and smashing drywall he ended up with a mess he needed help with. He had figured out where the clog was but was perplexed at how to get there.

So, we called in Rudiger and after a pretty short amount of time he found a corroded piece of galvanized pipe that was so clogged that even though it was rusted out it wasn't going to leak. Mel has never liked plumbing and he's not the greatest at it but Rudiger was able to really show mel what he was doing, why he was doing it and how to do thing that I think the next plumbing mishap we have things will be better. I was very happy to have him come over. As you can see in the picture below it was kinda ( icky )

I was also really happy to have Domnall and swordmage help me get the Time Capsule drive setup and get me on my way to upgrading the OS on my laptop. Things were a bit dicey for a bit but luckily some brute force on the OS got things going and I need to do a bit more tweaking before things run completely set but all in all its good. I'm very happy to now have a backup of my harddrive and that makes me feel good. Using Time machine is just neato and I'm very glad to have a backup now.

I ended up finishing the TARDIS Mitts for Wil Wheaton who I will give them to on Saturday. YAY! I will post pictures of them on him! I also got going further, though the pictures don't show all of the progress I made on another fish hat. This one for little Anna. It matches Sid the Cephalopod and will be cute.
( TARDIS MITTS and Fish Hat )

I also started book #11 which is The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. So far so good.

And to end the picture parade Mr. Benton likes Peanut Butter Jelly time!

The beginning of the week seemed kinda dire and Tuesday I was having panicked moments of thinking I'm going to fail to get anything accomplished. Well, I just buckled down and got things done. It wasn't easy but I managed. So, by the end of today I will have released the 4th report of the week (medium sized 10-15 page things) and I've read a lot this week.

I was reading book #6 of the year which was Dragon Bone and I'm intrigued enough about the world to read the next one when I find it. I also finished listening to Dracula on the Craftlit Podcast. Faboo story telling there. Seriously. Bram Stoker had a knack. So I'm counting that as #7 since it was a full book and I did more reading around the world and the text since its Craftlit. BTW, if you want to miss the crafty stuff in Craftlit, Heather is doing Just the Books which is just the audio of the book discussion and chapters. Go look it up on Itunes or her website Just the Books. The next book is Gulliver's Travels and it starts in April.

The next book I read I read to Benton last night. I wasn't going to count kids books but this one is popular right now due to its movie and I had never read it as a kid. So #8 is The Lorax by Dr. Suess. I picked it up at Toys R Us for half price on Wednesday. I started thinking about it and I didn't read a lot of Suess as a kid. I read almost all of the "I Can Read" Series but not Suess. Not sure why but I think part of it was that they weren't available to me and second...going back to reading them I think my dad probably didn't like them due to all of the nonsense words and my take now is some of them are a bit creepy and not in my normal creep I like. I don't want to limit Benton so we are reading all types of things but I'm sure we will have to have discussions about the themes of some books etc.

So, I've written and released 4 reports this week, finished 3 books and I even sat down and worked on the Ravens for the Hrafn cloaks last night and got a reasonable ways in the 2.25 hours I put in. I'm feeling much better about that task than I did even Thursday am so I think if I work hard I can manage to meet my goals on that for the war.

Tonight is laying out the baronial land with zippydclown and Aleyd and then that task will be done. The land layout will be interesting since its the first time we've laid things out at that site and its always odd the first year while we figure out the dynamics of things and movement of vehicles etc. I hope the roads have good turn radii for large vehicles and trailers..that is always and issue. Well, off to work and release that final report and get some emergency paperwork flowing down the pipe. All good.

Wow, what a weekend....

I have to say it was a whirlwind of things this weekend.  I've been working really hard to make sure things were good for us and Benton for the weekend and it worked out great.  Friday I was able to get off work early and got everything packed and ready and keys dropped off t0 ickaimp  for kitty sitting all before mel was home with the boy.  We got in the car and on the road with good time and then up to our hotel.  We got settled and then headed out to have dinner with the college crewe at a little hole in the wall mexican place.  Very nice.  Little boy was a bit crazy toward the end but he was up way late.  We got to bed and he babbled for a while and then was crashed out. He did wake up a few times and I had to cover him back up or get a binky.  We got up a bit early and then got down to the hotel breakfast before getting dressed and heading out.  If I'd been smart I would have gotten up earlier myself to get ready but we made it to site exactly with the rest of the household which was good enough.  The one thing that was a theme for the rest of the weekend though was that both mel and I were not the best at driving this weekend....more on that later.

We managed to get the boy situated, the house shade set up and people gathering for the day pretty well.  We seem to have a good rhythm for setting things up now and we also figured out a plan for our new shiny sunshade.  Its gonna be painted and neato.

The rest of the day was a git of a whirlwind.  I was a good consort, got the boy what he needed when and tried not to be a hovering mom with Benton.  Ari and the rest of the Hrafn crewe took good care of him and he slept through the most stressful part of the day which was the finals.  Mel was in the finals versus Thomas and Dongal.  I held onto Ilora's arm through the whole thing and I have to admit it was a bit surreal watching from that view point. I didn't have a marshal butt in my face but I also didn't have a camera to record things as I normally do. It was odd.  Thomas beat Dongal and then he fought Ivan and I  will have to watch the tapes of the fight to see what happened but we were not the winners that day. I'm okay with Cheesecake.  Got off of the field after the oaths and was dead tired.  oof.  I snuggled up with Ari during court since the boy was still out and Avis was a dear and continued to watching a cute sleeping baby.  I was weary and I think the only thing that kept me awake during court was our banter back and forth and watching Mariyah get the shield of chivalry for her courtesy and then the laurels getting hauled up for the offerings of Tatiana and Raven.

We packed everyone up after court and then headed off to the hotel with Ed to get cleaned up and then head to dinner at Spinatos with the college crewe.  This was the first time that Ed had gotten to meet Mughi and it was geektastic.  Jessie's mom was also there so it was good to chat with her.  Little boy was tired but was too spun up to snuggle up for a nap even though it was late and he had full tummy syndrome.  Got in the car and Mel ended up backing into a black SUV crunching our bumper.  We couldn't find the owner and ended up leaving a note but we were all a bit weird after that.  Benton was screaming cause the seat had tightened down on him and scared him badly. We were all tired but the car, though dented and having a taillight crunched is okay.  We got to Ez and Gile's for a get together and to drop Ed off for the night and had a nice hour chatting with folks before it was time to go back to the hotel for us.  Benton was crashed out and we got home and gave him a bit more to drink and then we all crashed hard.  Little boy didn't say a peep all night and stayed snuggled way under all of his blankets.  We did too come to think of it.

The morning came early but we were happy and rested.  We headed out after getting the car packed up to Cupz n' Crepes and enjoyed a great breakfast.  Little boy had a ham and cheese crepe and he ate most of it.  He stuffed himself silly on it.  So cute!  We got him in the car and he was out for the count.  Got to site and got unloaded and had a really nice day hanging out in under the shade.  Little boy was happy to play in the dirt and play with the other kids though Perry, Odde's youngest didn't get you aren't supposed to throw dirt on toddlers.  There were tears and little boy refused to nap.  We had a good time and then loaded everyone in the car.  After a quick stop at the Scnepf Farm store (the boy was crashed out hard) we drove home.  It was a good drive and we got home and I was tired...course we all were.  Little boy was in clingy whiney stage so he got put in his crib to cry. He was pretty inconsolable for quite some time so we unloaded, got him a bath (still tears) and then got dinner for us and then he got put to bed.  We watched TV for 20 mins and then we worked on putting things away so scribble clean up would be minimal.  I fell asleep on the couch and we were in bed and showered at a pretty decent time. I finished #5 for the year The Hob's Bargain and was asleep really quickly.

( To Do )

Well, my weekend was pretty busy. Friday was dealing with the cats and the vet. We've had to make some changes to the girl's litter box setups and I'm not convinced its working. Time will tell I guess. We were all very tired by Friday night. Little boy has been teething hard on his top front teeth and mel is still getting over his crud. Saturday morning mel got up and ready to head to Bumble Bee Ranch for MWW with the Knights of Hrafn and the his squire. Benton and I had a good day where we played I sewed off an on all day. After his nap we had a good time shopping and we picked up a new pair of shoes for him and a new outfit. I had pulled one off the rack and he looked at it and did his happy noise about it. Other outfits he didn't comment on so the one with little blue monster's going "ROAR" came home with us. (You can see a pic of the outfit here.

Mel got home a bit late and I had sat and worked on Tony's TARDIS mitts. I had ended up frogging them back to the start of the stitch pattern because I couldn't read my own pattern. Lame but true. I'm happy with them now and should be able to work on them pretty well. On Sunday I did a bit more sewing and knitting while mel was in the shop. Benton was a bit crabby by the end of the day and would not take a second nap though he needed it. By the end mel and I were pretty strung out and tired. But little boy has been sleeping good (though a bit of whimpering at night) so that is better than the previous weekend. His walking is much improved and he's been walking across the family room quite regularly. I think all of his effort to move while standing is wearing him out.

Over the weekend I finished #3 book of the year Steal the Dragon and moved on to reading #4 which is When Demon's Walk by Patricia Briggs. I relaly like that these stories are all independent but if you read them all you get a very large at least 40 year history of the area from very different points of view.

Monday dawned early and when I got to work I was working hard when my phone went off to tell me I had a blood donation scheduled. I did my first "double Red" donation. I have to say that is weird and I did not like tasting medical saline all day in my throat. I was really tired afterwards and throughout the whole day. That was normalish but I was wiped. Got home late after working late to make up the donation time and a wonderful lunch with the work husband Pete. Benton was a bit cranky when I got home but it was the "i'm tired" kind of cranky. He ate a good dinner and I guess was out shortly after his bottle. Mel had a nice evening home while I headed to scribble and almost finished a scroll. We all made good progress on things and got to chat with Gael on her new position. The Southern Scribble Hive Mind is weird for lots of people to conceptualize until they see us in action. We all work really good as a team and have a good time doing it. Plus we push ourselves which is also really good.

I got home and mel was getting ready for bed. I was a very good girl and put away my laundry that had been sitting in baskets for a week or so. I need to do laundry again so...maybe I'm not as good as I want to be.

Today is St. Valentine's Day and the Arizona Centennial. Last year at this time I posted this picture :

Of mel at Joe's before he headed off to Estrella. Wow, its been a crazy year since then.

Oh, well, time for some meetings.

Well, the Xmas projects are almost done. I know we are almost 3/4 through January but better late than never!

I finished a hat for Santiago which is some cable-y goodness. Here is mel modeling it for me.




On the book front I finished book #1 of the year "Trading in Danger" by Elizabeth Moon. Moral of the story...eat your fruit cake. Good young adult style sci fi. Might read the second one, might not. We shall see.

I started Book #2 which is "Kitty Goes to Washington" which is a kitschy werewolf book and #2 in its series.

Tonight I hope to finish the shawl for public_shaylan and I'll post photos of that. That will then end the Xmas crafting for 2011. I already have a queue for Estrella and for a friends baby. Plus a birthday gift for fiber_geek and a belated one for argent_lupin. The crafting never ends LOL!


In other news Mel is doing much better and the cold is breaking up in chunks. Sick but true. Hopefully he's better by the weekend. I've got sewing to do.