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I've been reading steadily on books. I finished #23 and moved on to #24 Echoes of Honor and while reading that I've delved into the graphic novels of the Dresden Files which made #25 Welcome to the Jungle and #26 Goblin, Ghoul. I've also been reading a tremendous amount of fan fic and am currently devouring the "Stars and Scones Bakery" Dresden AU which is quite campy and delightful.

I keep setting the goal to have 50 books in the year....I'm not getting any closer to meeting that. I got to almost 40 last year but at least its still a goal. I love to read but only have a limited time to do it. I also like to paint and have been drawing a tremendous amount this year plus the knitting and crocheting. So, its all okay. Just different things.

Will do a recap of Dragon's Horde when I can get some time...but I've been reading and lost track of books.

So, back in the summer I finished book #20 Daughter of Smoke and Bone and then finished the next book in the series #21 Days of Blood and Starlight. Got back in the Honor-verse and read #22 - Honor Among Enemies and then just finished #23 In Enemy Hands. Holy crap Mr. Weber! That is not a way to end a book! Geebus!

Not sure what I will read next...probably more Honor and then I have books on the stack and I still have the goal to plow through Jonathan Strange.

Weekend was crazy busy with crafting. A big push was to get my pennsic clothes taken in and get trim put on them. I've actually, finally, been seeing a bodily improvement from my working out. My clothes are starting to fit way better and I've fit back into pants I haven't worn in quite a while. What that means for SCA clothes is that my stuff we've had made are way too big. I took 2 inches out of each side for my Pennsic clothes. I just had a fitting of my MEF clothes and those should be good.

I did quite a bit of spinning for Tour de Fleece.

Benton was sick all weekend poor kiddo. Not sure what with but he was running a pretty good fever all the time. He asked "snuggle me, momma" when I picked him up from daycare on Friday. He had just started to get hot. He's home today with Daddy and was sleepy but fever free and eating a bit which was good. We shall see how he is for tomorrow.

So here is the link dump to all of my photographs I've taken since October...I hadn't gotten things off of the camera at all which is my bad.

Mel's Promotion to 3rd Degree Black

Joanny and Brian's Wedding

Great Helm Court

Benton's Bday

Estrella War

Thyra's Pelicanning

Elsa's Laurelling

Tour De Fleece

I finished up finally after almost 6 years Flag in Exile as #19 for the year. I'm now in #20 which is Daughter of Smoke and Bone which is quite nicely written. The imagery is really nice. After finish it and its sequel I'll slog through Jonanthan Strange and Mr. Norell

So, let me start off by saying a big "THANK YOU!!!!" to

loosecanon for sending by way of

scribe_ari for sending us awesome handmade, hand fired spindle whorls!!!! SO AWESOME and unexpected.

This week has been okay. Been working hard, crafting/scribing a bit and catching up on reading. Mel is in OK for business and Benton and I have been having a good time. I think one thing that is helping me relax is the fact I have the rest of the week off after today.

My plans for tomorrow involve sleeping in, cleaning up the house and crafting/scribing.

Friday is also our day off so I'm going to relax with mel and have a good day before we have 40 year.

I finished Silver Borne, #17 last night and am now on to River Marked, #18. Its really good and I think I got half way through that book last night. I don't have the rest of that series on my shelves so it will be on to the next things in the stack which are books I've been struggling to finish. Oh, well, I need to though to get them out of the bedroom and back on the bookshelves.

All good though.

Wow, its been a bit since I posted. Sorry about that.

When last I wrote we were heading off to Highlands War in Alpine, AZ. On the drive we realized we'd been close to the area for the crown that was at Layman Lake when Phelan and Marianna won in 2007? So, its been a long time since we were on those roads. It took us about 6 hours or so to get there plus stops for gas, food and potties. I have to send a note to the Giant in Showlow for having the cleanest and nicest gas station bathrooms I've been in in quite some time. We only had one big bit of excitement on the road when a large RV in front us swerved off the road and back onto it just inside Showlow city limits and we realize why when a dog appeared in our headlights. We also did a swerve and dodge and it was okay. Benton didn't even stir. I have to say our kid travels well but this trip did push his boundaries. I think 5 hours is his likely max when he doesn't have a companion in the back seat.

The cabins we stayed at were very nice, the weirdness of only having power between dusk and 10pm was dealt with and the beds were comfy and the instant hotwater was heavenly. The site owners were fabulous and the event, though very small, was pleasant. We had a very nice down home, country court on Saturday night which reminded me of ones we've attended in Northshield. We gave out lots of awards and it was good and cozy. It was drizzling and windy during court but our populace rocks and took care of tents etc during a micro burst. Our Lights of Atenveldt were quite awesome too and surprising our Noble Cousin Saeunn with one was just awesome. I got to ride a horse for the first time in *cough* 25 years.

I've uploaded some videos to Youtube from it and from our equestrian championships as well as a very small album of stuff on Flickr.

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After Highlands we had a crazy week of work. I'm working a failure review and its been long ours and experiments and paperwork and reports and yeah, I'm tired. We had a quiet but nice celebration for Mel's 40th Bday with dinner out with Bill and Sara and Faydra. Benton got to go to bed on time at home with Cristy. This past weekend we went to Fabric War in Suprise and then down to Sierra Vista for the Mons Polling. Both events were fun and relaxing and our courts were good. Got to give out our first youth awards and watching the quadrangle of little girls we gave tails to fighting with their tails cracked me up during court. We also got to offer a Pelican to a faboo lady (THL Gepa) who, is just all that and a bag of chips...srsly, we got an award recommendation from OUT OF KINGDOM!! while she was visiting family on vacation of how much she helped the local shire.

The polling went well and we had a wondeful picnic lunch and got to do some pick ups. I picked up rapier again and was working hard on using the queen's set of gear. Its not quite my taste of blade but it is what I have...its very fancy though.

Other than that I've been reading. I finished up Bone Crossed and now in Silver Borne and almost done with that. All good though.

Current Mood: calm

Last week I was kind of lamenting that things were a bit slow at work. Yeah, now I'm slammed. That is okay though. Better busy than bored.

I spent the weekend tired though and traveling up and back to Kingdom Collegium didn't help. But eh. Collegium was good and looked pretty well attended from our view. I had fun at classes. Benton played with his daddy a lot and I taught documentation. Our only sad was that none of the folks we wanted to give awards to were there. But that is okay. We have the B&B's to help us out as our representatives so I know they will be given their awards. We had dinner at Niro's Gyros after we figured out IKEA closes the resturant at 7pm and we arrived at 710pm. We did pick up things for

ickaimp to paint. We headed home after that and were very, very tired. 15 hours since we left the house we were home...long day. Sunday we all slept in. Benton was asleep until about 9am. Though he didn't fall asleep on the way home right away and probably wasn't asleep until just after Casa Grande/Picacho. I lazed around a lot on Sunday reading. I had finished #14 and started #15 Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs. I think I actually read this before but can't find a record for it. Sighs. But that is okay, its been long enough that I needed to re-read things anyway. I will finish up that series and then move on to the next stuff in the piles.

I did read quite a bit of Castle Fan fic on Ao3. Hit a good one.Alexander and Jane which is an Alternate History but follows cannon pretty well. Other than that I've been working on the blankie for Pirogi #2 and attempting to start a hat for mel.

Last night I picked up Ben from daycare and we hit the grocery store. He was really helpful putting the bags of veggies that I was picking up and putting them in the cart. When we were at the check out he was fascinated (like always) with the balloons. He exclaimed "Spiderman!" and pointed to a Spiderman balloon and then said "Happy Birthday" which was what that balloon said. It was the only balloon in that bundle that said Happy Birthday and then he pointed to another set of ballons with only one with Happy Birthday and stated it again. He's got shape recognition for words, at least specific ones. I was blown away. Seriously blown away. We then got home and had a good dinner and had a bath and off to bed after reading Katy No-pocket.

msgolda arrived a short time later (after I'd finished dishes and picking up the front room of detritus. We chatted up on various topics for hours and it was nice. Then when mel came home from Fighter practice we were up doing court planning (mwhuhahahah!!!) and then it was to bed very late.

I'm hoping to hit the gym tonight and then knit night. It will depend on how late my 4pm meeting goes. I hope not too long. Though I will probably not be able to meet Janelle. Oh, well. But I will go. My eating habits have gotten back to good and my pants are starting to fit better but I'm loosing muscle definition after a month or so off. (stoopid sick) but we shall persevere!

I had made a partial post using the lj app on my phone and well it got eaten by the phone. So, last weekend we went to Prescott for the Toreano de Belleza (Tourney of Beauty). Friday we got things packed up and picked up

lferion on the way and made it to the Prescott area about 2pm or so. I had made the executive decision to have Ivan sleep in the back of the truck since he was still feeling pretty poorly.

He snuggled up and was out somewhere in Marana. It was really cute as you can see.

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We stopped off at a few antique places along the way into Prescott proper and bought a few things. I got some wonderful wool yarn and some napkins. Mel got another handcrank grinder. Wander got a senser/sprinkler thingy. Benton got to see lots of neato stuff. We got to A Good Yarn and had a nice time there. I bought yarn for two projects. One is for a cute cloche hat from the book mel got me for my birthday and the other was for the Stephen West Spectra Shawl. I've been wanting to make it but didn't quite have the yarn in my stash. I've been trying really, really hard to not buy yarn and have been doing pretty okay at it. We then trundled to Lady Eleanor Peregrine's house of Looms for our crash space. She seriously has looms everywhere. It was fiber geek heaven. We then headed back into Prescott to eat at the Prescott Brewing company. Good food and beer as always. We got some beer to go and then headed back to relax. Mel and Benton went straight to bed and Wander, Eleanor and I stayed up a bit chatting. I worked on my sock and it was nice. What was not nice was I could not sleep. Benton was crying a lot and complaining about the carpet for some weird reason which we figured out in the morning. Mel ended up snuggling up with him on the floor and I fell asleep about 330am. The next day dawned though and we had a nice leisurely breakfast cooked by HL Giles.

We got to site and mel was glad he had decided to not fight. The act of getting packed up and travelling the 10miles or so wore him out. We got settled into the event and had a nice time. We did not have good Brigade coverage and mel was very tired and sick so I watched Benton most of the day. That meant I missed out on the event pretty much except for the Knight's circle and court. Oh, well. Benton and I had a marvelous time playing on the playground and flying kites.
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The site was lush with grass and the weather was cool. We got back to Eleanor's and she made us Chicken paprikash from scratch and it was heaven! None of us were up too late that night and I slept way better. We had figured out that Benton had complained about the carpet because he kept rolling off his bed roll onto a plastic chair matt and it was cold and uncomfy. We got him settled better and when we went to bed we found this:
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His bed was by the closet....it was really cute. We all slept good though and that was a good thing. We dinked around and finally left Prescott about 11am. We got to Phx and headed to the Cornish Pasty Company for lunch and to hit Tempe Yarn and Fiber. Mel was feeling way better and drove and I was not feeling very good. I was very, very tired but I managed to finish my socks and cast on a hat for Sifu Paul.
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I've hit the gym twice this week and feel weak and flubby but feel good about going. I hit knit night last night and managed to work on my sock some more. I'm happy to be making progress off.

Benton has been having some behavior issues with listening and pushing boundaries. Its nothing too bad but noticeable. He's not biting so that makes us happy but by the end of the day he is crabby. I'm pretty sure he's growing more since he can trip over his own feet at any moment. He's tired and starving and well we've seen this before.

I finished book #11 for the year Discount Armageddon which was way more schlock than I'm used to. Wow...hilarious and fun and just a trip to read.

Now I'm reading Spade, Skirret and Parsnip: The Curious History of Vegetables which thus far is like Susan Vowell chatting about veggies with a side of extremely dry British wit. I'm happy for a departure in supernatural/preternatural/cryptid reading to something historical.

Current Mood: predatory

Mel is in OK for business this week. We thought he might be going and monday they confirmed, booked and set him to go on Tuesday effing early AM.

Benton had a good day at daycare though he was a bit poopy...I had no issues with him and we hit target and then home for dinner, speakerphone conversation with Mel and then bath and bed. I did dishes and picked up the house some more. I cleaned a lot on Sunday and I wanted to make sure things stayed nice.

We got going okay today and I dropped Benton off and was warned that if he was poopy again he was coming home....yeah during my 730-930 AM telecon I got the call to pick him up. He was not feeling good and we snuggled up on the couch with bananas and water and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV while I worked for a while and then he went down for a nap. I expect him to sleep for quite a while. Course I'm really, really tired and I didn't stay up too late....but I'm still tired.

On the book front I finished #8 Magic in the Blood and then read #9 Magic in the Shadows and started #10 Magic on the Storm. The books are such an interesting take on magic that they are intriguing...they are kind of cracky too which is the kind of schlock I like to read before bed. I still need to pick up a Mercy Thompson book so I can get that series to completion as well.

Other than that...working from home is hard cause I'm tired.

I really don't like not having things to the level I want them to be. I'm still finishing my seams on my dress and it takes time when doing it by hand. I always mis-estimate the time on that. I'm two seams done with two seams to go. Oof. I still need to get the trim on and the hem with trim done as well as pack for crown, get Benton's stuff packed for his weekend with Mary/Andrew/Inara. We are taking the truck to crown and that will be an uncomfortable ride I think. The gas will suck but oh, well. I just hope it makes it to and from Yuma since all of the maintenance is scheduled for next week. Luckily, we have Premium AAA. I'm probably being a worry wort but its still worrying. My truck is getting kinda old and needs some overhauling soon. Course I'm still looking for its replacement as well. So, eh.

Been reading and finished book #7 Timeless which is the last in the Parasol Protectorate. It was a nice closing to the series and I do hope that the author writes more with some of the werewolves she setup for the future. A book 5 years from Timeless would be nice. I'm now back to reading the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk. #8 of the year is titled Magic in the Blood. Oh, well. Reading is good. Probably going to be some late nights tonight and tomorrow.

Mel and I and Benton are heading out to dinner early on Thursday so we can get things done afterwards and pack. Plus it still works with Benton's bedtime. I have so much to find and put together and some projects aren't happening. I still need time to clean my jewelry...bleah. Oh, well. Back to the grind.
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Well, I have to say. This weekend was not how I envisioned it but it was really good. Seriously good in some respects. I managed to fit in lots of projects, got to spend some good quality time with family and friends and got to hit people with sticks. Not too shabby.

Today we were not rained out but Mel was feeling less than stellar.

public_shaylan, Benton and I went to Joe's for breakfast and had a really nice time. We relaxed, had nummy food and then got home to pack up for various and asundry. Mel stayed home and Benton and I went to War Practice. I had arranged child care and it was a good time. Ben had an awesome time with Aelina and Asteria and I had a really good time fighting. I stopped before the last scenario when Magdalen had to ask me a land question and I realized the world was kinda spinny and that I was DONE. So I did the land thing and then got changed out of armour, got soup from the soup kitchen and then got everything packed up and loaded before picking up Benton at the playground. Some notable things: Caolin, Aelina's Sister got her AOA, Anya was offered her Laurel and little Duncan who I've known for years from gaming conventions got offered his knighthood. He will be the shortest knight in the kingdom and that is awesome in so many ways. He's such a sweet guy and an amazing spearman. He is pretty fearless too. Anya, well, seriously, if you haven't been paying attention to the awesome, well, sorry...start now! So happy for my deputy...wait, I'm her deputy now! LOL!

Got home and

ickaimp was painting away on my banner. Its spectacular! While she was finishing up I got the Laurel banner traced out and got

public_shaylan's sketched out too. We managed to get her's all base painted and ready for detail work before we called it a night.
( Banner Pictures )

Mel was very glad he stayed home but he's feeling somewhat better. He's already in bed..course I'm going to be heading that way shortly. I'm tired, sore and I took a knee shot that I had ice on for quite a while that is just starting to ache. The buy apologized but still it hurts. Really happy with the weekend. I know things SCA-wise in Atenveldt are still a bit squiffy due to the BOD but there wasn't much any of us can do about the situation but wait, be patient (I know, its hard) and keep on keeping on until the March 6th date.

Also on Friday night I finished up "Blameless" #5 of the year and started #6 "Heartless" in the Parasol Protectorate. So much steampunk fun!

In the words of my SIL,

fibergeek Go make stuff.
It seriously helps with your mood.

When last I blogged I was getting my gears rolling on the Crown/Estrella preparations. I've been working on new banners since I messed up the linen technique when I made Mel's banner since some nuances weren't clear in Ari's instructions. Not a big deal. She's going to get an awesome new handout out of this and we are heading in to teaching many more folks through the barony.

This picture shows you the vibrancy of the banners and I'm not done with the detail painting but the base colors are spectacular!

This is 3 separate pennants. Its part of the bling for the Franchise Bomb for the Hrafnheim. There are more of these pennants coming and of course my personal banner as well. I do think that after Estrella I will be redoing mel's banner since its pink versus Hrafn red that you see on the pelican section.

I start work on mine today after I pick up a frame from Ari and Benton and I have some errands run. I'm excited to see mine ready. Yay!

Over the weekend was the Heroes of the Silent Angels Tourney and B of A war practice. I was very happy with my tourney performance. My first round was against Lady Rosalind. It was a basic step in block and wrap to the head. My next round was against Lord Balldrich, the current Queen's Champion, and I made him work for it. He got me with an off body but I think I did well. He did not treat me lightly and that also made me happy. My last round was against Lord Nader, Division 1 Commander, and I was getting tired and he got past me when I dropped my sheild a fraction of an inch. All in all good.

I'm really, really thankful for the ladies of Del A Roc. Lady Eilina and Mistress Tigra were awesome on Saturday and watched Benton and then on Sunday Eilina and her sister watched him. He had such a good time and even without a nap he was doing so well. He ran around and played and chased a balloon with much abandon. I got some nice items at the auction and the laurel's circle was very nice too. Had fun tossing the ball for Sir Elias's dogs and knitting next to Ari for the duration.

We really enjoyed staying with Mughi. He was so good with Benton and we just relaxed and had a good time. Benton was thoroughly enthralled with Skylanders and Uncle Mughi gave him a VooDood figurine. I guess we will have to pick up the game. Which is pretty cute. We also got to have dinner with Tony and Sarah. It was a nice dinner, even with the brand new server at Mimi's Cafe. Benton was starting to melt down though at teh end but he was out like a light when we got in the car. All in all it was a good weekend. I'm tired and sore and have those little bruises you get from combat that you have no idea where they came from but you have them. I did okay with war practice. I didn't have the best day but I'm a bit rusty. I'll get more practice coming up though next weekend.

In other news I finished Pulchritude. My comments are this: If you are going to put your Nanowrimo novel out for print. Have an editor read it. Have it actually flow and make sense and then also don't have another 75 pages added that are you "research" to the novel, the character sketches etc. It was just very flat and left me feeling bleah. Plus the timeline of the entire book was 2 weeks which made it seem even more rushed.

Oh, well, I'm now half way through Blameless and I returned from the household meeting last weekend and from Mughi's this weekend with lots of books to read as well. I will be finishing the parasol protectorate and then a few more in the stack before getting to the borrowed books.

Last week I got a cold. I was able to mostly kick it with a bit of rest, liberal use of my neti-pot and just kinda resting. I stayed home from dojo night and just sat on the couch reading. Speaking of reading I finished Book 2 & 3 of the new year. Carriger's Parasol Protectorate first two Souless and Changless. I started in on #4 Pulchritude by Ana Mardol. Its a feminist retelling of the Beauty and the Beast mythos. So far so good.

On the projects side I have been trying to get a crochet scarf started and the pattern has a few large errors that I've been trying to manhandle into a pattern. Bleah. I've gotten to the heel flap on my sock and I worked on household banners this weekend with the linen technique. I will hopefully have everything to the full paint step by Thursday night so I can get my banner started and get Sym/Magdalen going on theirs.

The list for Crown/Estrella is getting large. The household needs more flair, our fighters need some bling and I have also need some bling and flair for crown. I think that was what kept me awake at 1am when I woke up with a start and finally had to get up and look at a calendar to stop having a panic attack about timing. I'm better and I have a household to help and I just need to use my resources. I think part of the panic is that CROWN is before Estrella again and that is annoying. I miss the old schedule. But a deadline is better than anything...I just need to buckle down.

The To Do List:
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So, other than that we've been good. Mel got over the flu, Benton got over his cold but has been not wanting to nap. HE has taken to wearing a crochet hat that I had made a while ago now that it is cold. Cause DAMN its been cold in the old Pueblo! But he is so cute...just remember that pancakes are RAWR!!!

We have a new little Hrafn in the house but that is

duchess_asa's news. All is good on that for them though.

In the last week I have completed the first 2 books of the year.

#1 - Cool for Cats by Andrew Ordover - Noir-ish mystery set in modern day Atlanta. Nice and quaint with interesting characters and jazz.

#2 - Souless by Gail Carriger - Uber fluffy steampunk/victoriana novel with supernatural stuff. Quite the genre but well done in the world. It is fun and enjoyable with more sexy flirty than I expected from Victoria but was quite fun. I have the second book coming next.

The weekend was helping Benton finally recover, minus a cough, from his cold and watch Mel succumb to the flu. I finished his sox and then made Bunny Nuggets.

( Pictures of Knitting )

I kept the white bunny and the rest went to co-workers. The Squee's from the gifties were awesome. Mel wore his socks on monday too and was very cute with them.

I think his fever finally broke last night so he was looking better. I'm now a bit drippy in the nose but I did hit the gym yesterday and that was good. I only ran a mile but my water bottle was...special (still had a shake residue in it from weeks ago EWWWW!) but I did good.

Scribble last night was nice and we were really productive. I finished another letter for our scribal alphabet and and then sat sketching out banners and looking for inspiration for "R is for Royalty". Not finding something I really want to sketch with that yet. Will have to keep looking.

Lots of projects on the horizon. I've got the studio cleaned, I've ordered fabric, I've scheduled time to finalize learning a technique and I think that is a good start. Just need to stay on task from now till crown.