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Well work was tiring. I was tired, things were boring and I was tired. It drug on. But I did have my mid-year which went well but the complaints to HR about my "totally accurate things I said" (May 29th) may backfire on me but we shall see. I have a good case and performance and I forwarded my paygrade compare to my section head and my dept manager. But we shall see. Actions/consequences etc. Sighs.

But I finished work about 20 mins early and headed into town cause we were out of coffee. I also had a list for ace and got a few nice things we needed but then left one at the store. I will have to go pick it up. Sighs. But I was able to get home after 4 stops (Dollar General, Ace, Grocer, Gas) in a bit over an hour. The boys were in the garage rearranging things. Now this task really should have been on the to do before the family got here but oh well better late than never. I also did some digging and figured out how to put the kubota in neutral to push it forward. So now we can park another car in the other garage bay as long as its small. Plus they took the forge down and moved it to the side for easy storage and rearranged the shelves and cleaned stuff up. We were under a heat advisory due to the humidity. I managed to get us dinner from leftovers and then I disassociated while Benton was in the shower and Mel was finishing up the weed spraying. We will put that on the list for earlier in the stay so we don't have quite so much to do? We shall see.

I did spin for a bit and then worked on mel's shoulder once he baked in the shower. Its sore and had to have help lifting things but this morning he woke up and it was sore but not as stiff as the day before so that is good. We both slept really well and I only woke up at some point cause my fan had turned off? I may have hit the timer button when I set it back to level 2 when I went to bed. lol.

Today will be cleaning things (floors etc) and getting things set to rights. I really wish we had another week. But if wishes were fishes? Also, we need to not work the day before we leave. Cause there is just too much to do in general and its easier to do things not in a rush.

About 50% through #17 for the year and things are getting interesting. I think after this book I will get back into the other part of this world. This one is slow and I like it but I want more fast paced lead up and action.

I've left a message with Arsenda. I have not called cause my brain is dumb. Sighs

So I didn't hit the store last night. I was tired after work (final huge report was VAULTED!!) and I sat and spun for a bit while meat for dinner was defrosting. I made dinner (my panko encrusted chicken dish) and once we were done with dinner i trudged outside into the grey not raining evening for a walk. About 5 mins in it had started to drizzle but I trudged with a podcast in my ears just a bit over a mile. I was wet and bedraggled when I got in so I changed clothes and put my hair up before sitting down to spin some more. I finished up the 3rd bump of fiber out of the 5 and got the 4th started before it was bed time. I had a nice shower and then set down to finish my book. I was writing up my good reads commentary when mel came to bed and then I pulled up my next book #16 Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw which is a novella in the Dr Greta Helsing Series. I then crashed.

Today is a flurry of performance reviews and a data dive into an issue and then I'm off work for 10 days. Tomorrow will be a crazy train of banks, county offices. Tonight will be knitting. I hope to get going a bit earlier this week so I can eat dinner before going. The shop doesn't have a central table to sit at...just a circle of chairs and a coffee table so I don't want to be awkward. Heck, I may just grab a sandwich at home to eat on the drive. I also need to hit the grocer for milk products but will do the main shopping this weekend with Mel. I'm excited to see the family who will arrive some time on Sunday.

Well the drama of the dishwasher meant we headed up to Sioux Falls after work to check out what was available and what we like. I will admit I'm annoyed at prices and the dearth of selection of things I like like no buttons on the front and not shitty design button on the top and no handle that sticks out into the galley kitchen. I like the 3rd rack but Mel hates it, i also like adjustable second rack but Mel doesn't care. Also, their delivery radius is 20 miles, not the 50 miles we are used to. Sighs. we are 47 miles from the store. But we hit 2 stores, and then trundled to the local shire Archery practice.

The practice was small and we chit chatted. A doe was hanging out here and there around the field which was nice and the field is covered so the misting of rain didn't hamper us either. We stayed for quite a while before I made sure we could get dinner (Midwest downs, even when they are the largest in the state close things weirdly) at a nice upper scale place called Roma kitchen. It had bourbon and BBQ on the menu and Mel approved. I was happy to walk into a BBQ place that didn't have mesquite. I had a spiced pear mule and he had a beer followed by a top shelf old fashioned. For food he had the brisket mac/cheese and I had the panko encrusted walleye with wild rice and veggies. The food was tasty, the drinks were nice and we had a nice evening. Then it was a drive home and to bed by 11pm. I was tired.

Its raining again today a nice steady dripping with some more strong soakers. We are expecting almost 2" by Thursday night. I'm looking forward to the weekend cause starting Thursday at 5pm I don't work until July 7th and the family is coming in on Sunday. Depending on the weather will depend on if we do a tourist excursion to Desmet, Prairie Village, or Okoboji Lakes, IA. Or we could stay home and work on projects and clean house. We shall see.

We should have stopped by the grocery store last night on the way home but I can run into town for milk tonight. I will do a quick run and then back home to work on pulling out china to count for storage buys, pick out the ceiling fixture I want for the dinning room and get the pride shawl figured out from where I left off. we shall see.

I did get back into reading my book last night and that is good and am still reading #15 for the year Taming Demons for Beginners.

Still in the depressive episode. It may be slowing or just steady? I don't know. I've been trying to just make things and read and not doom scroll too much. Last week was emotional with Benton graduating from the school he's been at since he was 4 years old. He was part of the 26 kids out of his class that was there for the whole school. It was in the 90s when they finished the ceremony which was nice and the speakers were good from the class. The Kindergarteners brought a rose to each graduate and then the middle school (6 & 7) did the "clap out" by lining the walkway up the campus to the front gate and clapping as the graduates walked up the hill. I had tears for a lot of it. Think part of my emotional state is what the new normal is off of meds. OR its perimenopause of both or shrug.

We took a few pictures at the school sign. And then drove off campus for the last time. Benton requested brunch at Joe's. They were very busy with it being 1045am on a Thursday but it was nice to have a good breakfast/brunch. Then it was home where Benton relaxed and Mel and I started our work days. It was hard to get back to work but we managed.

Benton stayed home from martial arts so that let me relax after work without having to go do a pickup. I made him nuggies and mac as requested for dinner. I don't remember what I did on Thursday night but I think i was playing games. And asking Mel if he remembered x or y while packing for San Francisco. Friday he was up super early for his flight and I was awake when his alarm went off. I got working by 630 and had plenty to do for work. My to do list was off the page and I had a lot to accomplish. It was a lot and I had Benton managing things on his own which was playing video games. We had to hit the mall for bday presents for Mason. I got my massage and then it was out to Indian dinner for the birthday boy. Food was tasty at Indian Twist. We got home and again I don't recall what I did but watch some tv. I think I was in bed pretty late after going down a rabbit hole. I managed to started watching through the MCU I needed to catch up on.

Not day specific on the days but I watched and knitted through: Wakanda Forever, Echo, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. Wakanda Forever was beautiful tribute to Chadwick, Echo was beautiful for the First Peoples mythos and storyline. I know folks called it slow paced but I'm pretty sure that was cause you have to read the subtitles. She-Hulk was funny and the finale was a bit off the rails but I hope they do a season 2. Ms. Marvel was an absolute delight. Seriously fun and while they didn't go with her usual origins it was fun and hit the mythos/magic fun. I need to open up the blue-ray of No Way Home since its not on Disney+. Yes that was a lot of TV but I also knit almost the entire time. And with Echo you had to read so that slowed me down. And my arms have been killing me. so Slower to knit and taking breaks.

Saturday I went to spinning at Grandma's and that was nice. Sunday I had a hair cut and grabbed some groceries, Monday I got drinks at Kon Tiki with Ari, Linnet and Percy. But that was about it. Benton spent a considerable amount of time sleeping and not cleaning his room. He did get some progress but its not where I had hoped it would be. We really, really need to do a purge.

Anyhoo...pretty boring and self centered weekend but I think it improved my mood a bit to be productive on a project?

I did a bit of cooking: Saturday night was ginger beef with noodles and Monday I did a potroast in the crockpot. It was perfect and the gravy was tasty. Go me.

Mel's flights were delayed so he got home at 1am but he had a good time and wants to go back to San Francisco to site see.

And yeah today I'm going to leave work and go to the gym. I'm the excuse for not going. It will suck but I will be happier doing it especially for how much I drank this weekend.

I'm still reading #15 for the year cause I read fanfic instead of my book cause it was making my brain feel slightly better.

But yeah is that.

I had a bad weekend.

But I managed to finish my #14 which was Lore Olympus 8. Then I started in on #15 Taming Demons for Beginners also by Annette Marie. This is in the same world as the *insert magic user* and a *insert a drink* series. There was a "order to read things in " at the end of the last one I read and this was in the order. I like the world though and downloaded that portion.

I also managed to knit more on my shawl and am almost done with the 3rd chart.

So yeah...
Mel's on business travel now so yeah. He's back on Wednesday. We got to Albuquerque for Linnet's graduation on Friday. So very quick trip to NM. Not sure what our plans are other than up and back.

I really wish people would 1) do their jobs and 2) think before they do things like tell us what the problem is first with data before you tell us what the corrective action is that engineering needs to approve. 4 times in one meeting I needed to ask for the basics of those issues. We never had the first simple of part of "what is the issue?" UGH. So damn frustrating.

The day just got more of the same so when I headed out it was lame that I walked into a dust storm and then the rain hit while walking to my car. Sighs. I grabbed poke and then hit knitting. I got one pattern row and one return row done in my time there between eating my dinner, chatting and then knitting. It was nice.

Managed to get home, relax and have beer while Mel was playing Dredge. I may have to start playing this...its neato. I'm trying to crunch through to perfection on Stardew but its a PITA. Animal crossing makes me sad cause its real time and weird and I'm still missing a few things to complete and yeah. Also, mel sucks so bad at driving that boat. Ugh.

I finished up #13 but there is an added story at the back which sets up the other stories in this world and locations we had seen in the previous books. But tonight I will start #14 which is Lore Olympus 8 which I accidentally ordered a second copy even though I had been given it for xmas by the BIL/SIL and it shipped when released. oops. Linnet gets a bday gift. Lol.

My goals are next week gym time. I'm letting my lungs get back on a good clip. I still have issues and have to hit the inhaler a few times per day. So we shall see. I may get a wild hair and go tomorrow afternoon since I need to be on site for a meeting in person (bleah). It will be dead but that will be nice to get things done. My inbox is crying.

I think being tired like an exhausted pigeon is just my vibe right now. I stayed home all week and just WFH and didn't go anywhere except school drop off until Friday afternoon.

So Thursday was just a long ass day. So much going on at work. I was very tired when things finished. I don't recall what I did but Benton was home cause he was also coughing with his asthma and I did...who knows. I did managed to read through Lore Olympus 6 and 7 so those are off the pile. I also read Black Widow comics by Kelly Thompson that Ari got me for Christmas and OMG was that good. so that is books through 12 of the year. Well behind my goal.

The list thus far:
1) The Gospel of Loki
2) Killer Cocktails
3) The Golden Enclaves
4) Captain Carter: Woman out of Time
5) The Lights of Prague
6) Dark Arts and a Daiguiri
7) Whispers of Death (stopped at 50% complete not finishing)
8) Two Witches and a Whiskey
9) Demon Magic and a Martini
10) Lore Olympus #6
11) Lore Olympus #7
12) Black Widow
13) In Progress: The Alchemist and an Amaretto

There makes it easier than trying to find all of that over the last 5 months.

This weekend was Coronation. I had no other plans but sit and craft and watch. And survive. I had things packed up and laid out and then the morning of I again switched clothes and I'm glad I did. Things were warm except in our portion of the hall. I was not feeling bonita, I was struggling to breath, but we made it out of the house on time and to site and got a nice corner of the hall to sit. My only regret was I didn't bring a cushion for my seat. I did spin a bunch and then knit on mel's socks. I did finish those after coronation while the knights circle was going on. We had a lot of good things during court they announced 2 of the 3 new folks for Order of Mark. Only 1 was on my list. But I understand the others.

Wander made it and that was lovely. I took a photo of Poe, Willa, and Dominique crafting. I didn't get one of Mel, Wander, Ari, and myself doing like wise. Lol. There was lot of filks, lots of laughs and just a good day. Sutton and Celeste are our new crown and things will be different but that is okay. I did get to sit and meet Genevieve's "daughters" and catch up with some Ansteorrans who were there for Genevieve's Laurel. Mel was nice and drove us there and home. I had planned to drive us home but I was tired and I appreciated him driving. We had Willa with us for the drive home. Benton had played boffer with all of teh kids all day and was tired. I finished weaving in ends on mel's socks and took the most stripey picture of my clothes I can remember. I didn't realize stripes was the theme but all of the 14th Century Mafia was in grey and white stripes for Genevieve's elevation. Lol. So I fit right in in my norse clothes.

We got home and I ordered food and Mel went to pick it up. I made a double tiki drink (rum, lime, demerara syrup, maraschino) and we had a nice meal and pretty early bed times. Mel and I did get caught back up on Time Team as they have been digging at Sutton Hoo again and they found the bottom of the Bromswell Bucket and that was neat to see. Mel and Benton had planned on returning to the event Sunday. I was going to see how I was feeling. I woke up tired and my throat was sore.

The wind had picked way up and I was not wanting to risk another week like last week. I masked all of Saturday, only took it off at lunch outside, and then in a very well AC'd cabin. I was still just wiped. So I stayed home. Mel brought me coffee before they left and I dozed for a bit before getting up and playing games for a while before getting dressed and putting pork chops in the crock pot for dinner, and worked on my shawl. I remembered I had a lap desk/table and used that to set my pattern and the knitting etc on while I worked and watched TV. I caught up on some YT before pulling up Episode III. I'd never watched it but with now having finished clone wars I figured I didn't have to watch it in rapt attention. I could be reading knitting pattern charts and placing beads in my knitting. And ugh I did not have .6MM hook that worked for the beads but I did finally remember I had bought superfloss and that works better IMHO per this tutorial .

During the movie I'm glad I've waited to see thing with the clone wars but yeah so painful to watch. The boys got home about an hour before the movie finished. I got dinner finished up by adding in rice and beans into the pot and we had a nummy salsa verde style pork with rice/beans. All in one pot. Mel loved it. Put in frozen crappy cheap pork chops, cook on high and hour without anything, once those had defrosted a bit break apart chops and then add a large can of green enchilada sauce, powdered garlic, other seasonings and cook on low for hours. Add a cup of rice, cook for a while, add two drained cans of black beans. Let the rice cook and and then serve. We had hot sauce to go with it but it didn't really need it.

So I finished up the second chart and got into the Third chart. Only issue I had was I had to place a bead over the area that I had spliced the yarn together and I had to be creative with an extra stitch but I don't think that will be noticeable. But I got into the third chart which was nice. We finished Episode III, convinced the xbox to play the disk with the Theatrical Release of Episode IV. Enjoyed watching that. Benton was not cause "it was fuzzy" and played with our Disney droids. During the later part of teh movie, I heard a noise in the kitchen and saw Willow scurry off after she kicked my Maggie Coffee mug off the counter. Thanks cat. That was my favorite mug. Sighs. But we picked up the pieces and put them in a ziploc. I will see if Ari wants to try to fix it. Finished up the movie and mel was in bed early. He had fought the heavy King's Champion and won. And then fought the C&T tourney and finaled. So he's doing well. (wink) My brain was busy when I tried to calm to my evening routine. I was annoyed with the cat, it was windy and making my head uggy. I finally crawled into bed around 11 and then played on my phone a bit before just turning things off and trying to fall asleep. Mel was dead to the world.

Getting up today I'm still tired but managed to get moving. Benton was on the struggle bus with an allergy flair after being outside all weekend. When we were leaving I went to put coffee in my travel cup and I pulled the lid off and the cup came apart. Bye-bye 10 year old tervis cup. Sighs. I'm now have my old travel cup from a leadership conference in 2014 and I pulled an Ash and Griffin custom Novgorod mug down for coffee. It still sad though.

Well that is the update.

lungs are still fighting me. I've taken to taking my rescue inhaler every 4 hours or so to help with the dilation but if this keeps up I may need either a nebulizer treatment or a does of steroids. My blood ox is around 93-94 which is pretty normal for me. I'm just on the struggle bus of breathing and it makes me tired. I managed a long work day yesterday. Got a few things done which was good. Things are still just weird there and I'd really like my fellow coworkers and suppliers to take more than 1 dot in reading comprehension that would make me happier. :(

But yeah I've mostly been existing and playing video games when not working or sleeping. I managed to only take a 30 min nap yesterday. I'm not sure I will be that lucky today. My lungs hurt.

I did finish Book 7 for the year Demon Magic and a Martini (Guild Codex #4). I pulled up the next book on the kindle but I need to read through some physical books on my TBR pile cause its precariously above my head on the windowsill. So I hope to pull out my Lore Olympus hardcovers, some cozy knitting mysteries. and a few other items in between reading the ebook. I also need to figure out my summer reading while at the northern house. Dragging physical books is a PITA but I'm trying to not feed the Amazon pockets. I need to look at the other apps and get my library card working again on their app.

So yeah surviving...and bleah I want a nap.

Work was work and I finished early on Friday and sat down an immediately finished the viking age necklace I had been working on and then did a modern one for myself. I wore the modern one when I went out to get my waxing appt.

We had leftovers for dinner and I got my spinning wheel back up and operational. I hadn't spun since September so things were dried out and needed oil and adjustments but I got it up and running. Spicy did take an unhealthy interest in my wheel which I caught in a series of three photos 1, 2, and 3.

She really wants the fiber and keeps running off with the batts or she batts at the bobbin when its not spinning. I have no idea what she's trying but she does it with Mel's wheel too. She's been around spinning wheels since we rescued her and she's sat on my lap while I've been spinning. I just think she wants trouble.

I knit on mel's socks a bit too. I'm about 3 inches from the toe decreases. I went to bed pretty much on time. I slept well. Managed to sleep in for a bit which was nice. The boys went to the dojo early so I managed to make myself some chorizo breakfast tacos, play some video games and relaxed. I got things together and chatted with my cousin Jason while he checked on things at the north house for me. We are going to do a BBQ when we get up there since I haven't seen his girls since they were tiny or non-existent.

I then trundled my stuff off to Grandma's for the Local Yarn Store Day for Spinning day and to support the shop. They also were running an Odyssey of the Mind lemonade stand fundraiser for the kiddos trying to go to nationals. The kids were cute but I didn't need the lemonade but I did drop them a $25 donation.

I spun most of the afternoon on my wheel but I did stand for a while and do my drop spinning...slowly making progress on the purple that has been my SCA spinning. I have just one bump left of the pink I started in Sept on the wheel. My setup at the shop which shows the mug I bought with some fiber cause reasons. If you can't read it it says "Spinning cause knitting wasn't weird enough". which yeah.

Saturday was nice. I was very tired when I got home. It was peoply, even though it was a lot of my people but I did talk to folks who were visiting for LYS day and demo'd drop spinnning for folks too. But I was tired. Got home and vegg'd. We managed to have dinner and watch some TV but I was tuckered I think.

Sunday I woke up not feeling right. I cancelled my blood donation cuase I was just not feeling it. I'd been off my asthma controller for a few days since I couldn't get the order in on the app but figured out I could on the website? So weird but then due to things since covid the pharmacy hours are hard to get into for me to pick up. I thought they were open until 5pm on Saturday but they close at 4pm. Sighs. So I got it picked up on Sunday after I did a bit more spinning. I then headed to my hair cut appt but I'd been having weird dizzy spells. I felt weird when I was at the haircut but got it and did a return at Old Navy. I got home, the boys were playing borderlands and I went to take a nap. I was so tired and my head hurt. I thought it was a migraine and may have been but I slept till well passed 6pm. I got up and made a drink and had popcorn cause that was all that sounded good. I went to bed early and woke up feeling tired and lungs were unhappy. I made it through most of the day and at 3pm I finally just laid down for a nap and woke up at like 6pm Still very tired. I had dinner and then early turn in where I just rested and read until mel came to bed.

Today I'm very tired but and my lungs ache. Took my rescue inhaler when I woke up and let that settle for a while and then the controller. I'm work from home today cause yeah....just bleah. so yeah...ugh.

I'm almost done with #7 book.

Well, We all slept in a bit for Sunday AM since we were tired from Saturday. We made a plan to hit the Minecraft movie. We chose a new theater to us called Galaxy Theaters. They had the size of screen I wanted and the comfy seats and we had a nice time at the movies. Minecraft was so silly and terrible in the best ways. If you are a minecraft fan there is lots of fan service and respectful legendary cameos. Jason Momoa and Jack Black stole the show..I would have liked more with the ladies in the cast (Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks). Jennifer Coolidge in general was just kinda sad and creepy but I think that was the vibe, so okay. But it was fun.

I was tired and my brain wasn't really enjoying anything but I played some games and knit on the sock while mel and I watched things in the evenings. I think I put another inch on it. We did have a nice dinner. Mel sous vide a turkey breast he had smoked. I made fried spiced potatoes in the air fryer.

Monday work was way annoying. everyone was dumb and I had a meeting with my lead chief engineer. Yes things I was doing was someone else's job but for the time being I needed to do it until we replaced said person with someone who would do the job. I spent my afternoon crafting emails to get ahead of that task and get information to get things working. So that felt nice but it was a lot of work to get my brain to pull things together. I had a few tasks like that but turned on some tv to let my brain calm down and listen to that while I made the magic happen.

Once I clocked out for the day I kept watching TV and went through the jewelry making supplies on the table, consolidated and threw out trash bits and finished up laying out the necklace from Feed the Ravens. Mel had said dinner was ready when I was finishing up resorting beads that had gotten dumped on my floor during my making ari's earrings. I had just piled them into my bead tray and then took the time to fix it and put things together. Dinner was good, mel made stew with some leftover turkey breast, potatoes, leftover corn etc. I'm glad he's handy in the kitchen. We had dinner and then since all of my scribal stuff was packed I put it in the car and went to Ari's.

It was just her and I. She was "deleting" a person from a scroll that had been given out a long while ago and is now no longer a part of the recipients life for reasons. I sat down and pounced the two scrolls I had in work. The pounce stuck to a few places so I made sure to let it sit for longer. I did the calligraphy and it only smudged on erasure on two spots 1 on each scroll so yeah. I'm glad I'm getting these scrolls done and out of the case and now I know how to "fix" oily perg but that was not how I wanted to learn it. But I got those done and I have one other scroll in my case from an unknown scribe which is not completed. I have a knighting scroll get text on and hoping I can get that done on Saturday. Its been nice to get back in teh swing of things and yeah make shit so the brain weasels just don't win.

I'm hoping I can get that shawl moving as well but I will see how much brain power I have. I might just plug and finish his sock. Then I have a hat for him to do. But I'd like that shawl making progress.

So yeah. making stuff...seems to help the brain or at least postpone the panic a bit. not sure what else I can do...right?

The knee going out was indicative of my week. I'd like a refund on last week and to eject it from the timeline.

This will be whining and sorrowful I'm sorry.

Work was so many stoopid meetings that could have been an email. If people actually did their jobs, or could yanno, have more than a dot in reading comprehension that would be great. It was super frustrating and made me very angry and just annoyed.

Mel came down with "spring sleeping sickness" which was not covid or flu (we tested) but he was exhausted for Monday afternoon through Friday. So my routine was off for when he is home and when he is not and Benton was worried and then got a bit of this sickness. I'm pretty sure its allergy driven. Everything is blooming and my histamines are high but I also take 3 separate meds for allergies/asthma so I think I'm ahead of things.

Tuesday during the day I got a message from my High school friend Amy, and our mutual friend Andrea had taken a turn for the end. Her cancer had come back, she'd been silent on things since January and I'd checked her caring bridge monthly but no updates and I hadn't gotten to it this month and missed it. She was put in Hospice on Wednesday and then she passed on Friday morning. Her parents got to talk with her and say goodbye and her son did as well. Her brothers have been there the full time. I only know she passed cause Amy is on FB...the caring bridge hasn't updated about it. She was 46 and leaves behind her wife (Jane) and their son Ayden who is 12. I'm sad and mad and just damn it. Fuck Cancer seriously. I don't know if there will be a service or a place to send donations? Its the only thing I could do, I guess. I'm not sure if it will be in DC or SD or what. I just don't know.

So Tuesday through Friday AM I was worrying and sending messages of comfort but still very depressed to lose a friend. Mel was sick and I wasn't bothering him with things and I had decided on Monday that I was taking Wednesday afternoon off for my birthday. So on the day I got Benton to school and when I got home and after a meeting Mel was like " oh I was going to take you out to dinner" and I just looked at him. I'm like...wouldn't that have been a convo for earlier in the week? "Well I was sick yesterday so I forgot and I still don't feel well so we will have to do it later?" I had already done planned things since he hadn't mentioned anything other than handing me my bday present early so I could make espresso. Sighs. Well I was annoyed but at least he had thought of things just didn't say anything. I was sad too...cause his plans sounded nice.

But I worked a very stressful "half" day and took 3 hours off and went antiquing by myself. I hit up the girls estate sale and I had been watching a purse style lonaberger basket drop to 50% off, a few stamps for 3 for $5 including a fancy price tag/gift tag cutter. I then headed to the Broadway mall and found one of our salad plates and a rose embroidered lamp scarf and the 1979 Battlestar Galactica blue prints. Then I went for a bit to the 22nd street mall and found a neat concho belt and a very pretty ring dish. I had been texting with Ari and we met up at Kon Tiki for dinner and drinks. We were treated to a very drunk guy at the bar. The bartender was not amused by his antics. But we had good food and drinks. Good conversation and a balm to all of my issues. She did get me yarn (goth rainbow) and cute needle minders that are gnomes and shrooms. Plus a slanket of wool.

Thursday I was back at work and it was bonkers and stressful. But i was able to leave the boys stayed home from kung fu so I picked up pizza before I came home. Thank you Mod for making it easy to order. We had pizza and all of us were in bed early. I was just done from the week. I did manage to get the Monster hunter badge for Stardew but yeah early to bed for all of us. Friday was an off day for all of us so the boys slept in and my brain had me up at 630. So I read and finished my Two Witches and a Whiskey. I then started in on Demon Magic and a Martini which has been quite good. Everyone was slow and I had a massage and then came home to make dinner after a shopping trip. Then I made some earrings for HRH Celeste and of course didn't take pictures. I got all of my stuff packed for the event the next day. Mel had already done his earlier in the day and that was his energy for the day.

Saturday we were all tired but awake and the boys felt a lot better. Got on the road with burritos and on the I10 by 7am. I wish it had been earlier but meh. We got to site and realized we should have packed the damn cart but after a few trips we managed to get to our tables. I got myself setup but was inundated with people and I had to very kindly ask for time to set up and then I could come talk. I had started teh morning in one outfit and mel nixed it as not looking nice. This was a good plan cause I had forgotten until I was sitting at the elevation I was speaking for a candidate (head desk). I also forgot for a bit how to use the cruise control on the van as I was driving. I got setup, went to the bathroom to put my head on straight (in more ways than one). Willa came with me and at the same community center was also a rally for the local republican group. (puke). I made some very pointed comments to will about how I was worried about Jane losing first her wife and then maybe her job cause of Trump in the ear shot of the woman next to me washing her hands. She immediately left the bathroom. good riddance. They were done about an hour later so we didnt have to seem them and their nazis. Ugh. Anyhoo...I then spent time before my first meeting of the day doing calligraphy. Hugh sat next to me and borrowed stuff from my kit and drew up a scroll and started on teh painting. I got the previous three scrolls I had callig'd erased finally. The ink had finally set. This new batch I did that day I pounced and they still started to smear so I just handed them to the signet (without photos cause I'm a dumbass) with instructions to erase in a week. I do think its this version of paper is the issue and I need to pounce it before. But my callig did well. I started on a third one too but with a Laurel Meeting, and hour break, a Princess's Tea and then a Pelican meeting? I didn't get much time at my scribal desk but I did manage throughout the day to put 4-5 inches on mel's sock. So I guess I crafted. Court was long...5 peerages included two on the spots but all were deserving and I gave a very very extemporaneous speech sitting there and realizing that I was speaking for a Laurel candidate and I had forgotten with all of the things this past week. But I made people cry so i think I did good. We had 20 mins to pack up and leave once court finished but we managed, got changed into modern clothes and then drove to dinner at Cornish pasty Co. I got a 32 ounce beer and good convos with Ari, Dominique, Benton, Stephen, and Mel. We drove home and it was 10pm when we pulled in. I got my night meds and collapsed into bed.

And that is where I'm leaving it....Sunday was ok.

What I had hoped would be a wonderful productive weekend was not at all. I managed to make dinner and knit 3 inches on a sock. That was it.

Friday was a big day and I think I just over did thing? I had a facial which ended up being a derma plan session which was fine. I needed that. Then I got my toes done and my fingernails stripped of the manicure from Bob's wedding. This meant I was running about 15 mins late to my tattoo appt. I figured out during the pedicure my nerves were very sensitive. Everything tickled which was weird. So heading in I did warn Gail and man did things hurt. We did not finish. But I think we have 3 hours left which are scheduled for May 30th. Its pretty and I like it but damn did it hurt. The coloring on the raven is amazing and the Glads turned out lovely. New photo here with a comparison of where we left off in December. That was 5 hours plus of work. Maybe I was having a hard time since Ari was working and I was by myself and my book which I've not just deleted was bad. Whispers of Death is a 1/2 read for my total. I got 48% and it hit a scene I could not deal with and made no sense for where we were at and made too much sense and I squicked out. I then pulled up the 3rd book in the Guild Codex (#8 of the year)and that was just fine and I'm now 56% though it and much happier.

So as I was leaving I asked Mel the dinner plan and he asked what I wanted and I said little fishes and Benton was game so they met me at Sushicho and we had a nice dinner. We got home and I think I made it just a little bit before heading to bed at 9pm. I slept badly and could not get comfortable. I was miserable from sitting for the tattoo and my leg and hips had already hurt before that. I tossed and turned and had stoopid not scary nightmares but anxiety inducing ones. I could not get comfortable and I was miserable. Mel woke me up at 8am asking if I was heading to teh college event, which I had planned on going to, and I said no cause I had slept so bad. I could have dealt with the discomfort and aches but not the not sleeping part. He was okay with that and said "okay, leaving you home."

So I slept for a bit longer, had a very luke warm, slow shower and got the back cleaned up from the tape and saran wrap. It felt good even though I would have liked to bake in a hot shower...my skin was not up for that. I then ensconced myself on the couch with some coffee and read on my phone or played games for quite some time. Then Benton walked into the kitchen. I was very confused. Mel had said he was leaving me home, not Benton as well. And Benton was mad he didn't get a wakeup to get going. I don't blame him at all for being mad but I'm glad I didn't decide to walk around the house nude or something since I thought I was home by myself. sighs. We vegg'd on the couch watching things on TV I don't even know what at this point. Benton played on his switch and built lego stuff. I got a text that Mel had gotten the Glory of Atenveldt for the Chivalry. I'm sad to have missed that but i was miserable.

Mel got home about 445pm and I got to making dinner at 5pm. He was tired, had fought both a heavy and rapier tourney and wasn't slouching at all in either. I made pasta with ground beef and fresh basil and yeah it was tasty. Mel was very happy to not cook. We watched something that night but I don't know what. I had a few beers, food and then hit bed earlyish again but I still slept like crap. I could not be comfortable and I woke up at like 7am and was just done with trying to sleep. I lazed about reading after rubbing more hustle butter into my tattoo. I had plans that just dissolved into Stardew Valley and stuff on my phone. We did start watching movies with Emperors new groove, followed by the Princess Bride. Mel was starting dinner prep in the kitchen when he heard the nintendo music and went "oh! Princess Bride!" and Benton was so confused at how he could get a move from weird electronic noise. lol. he did not realize it was 8-bit "take me out to the ball game".

We had nummy pizza for dinner that mel made in the ooni. It was tasty and he's really gotten the round on the dough down. I appreciate him immensely. We then started watching Willow cause Disney+ suggested it and well Val Kilmer just died and yeah.

Benton started watching and then headed to the shower and then wehn he came back was confused the movie was still on and then started asking questions non-stop. The teenager got sent to their room after we repeatedly told him asking questions and talking during movies is forbotten and there is a special place in hell for him. When you willfully leave in a movie you don't get to ruin it for the rest of us. Yes your dad and I have seen it more than you've been alive. That doesn't matter. I had pulled out the second sock of mel's during Princess bride and I kept plugging away at it off and on and put 3 inches on it. So I at least did something productive. I know...I'm healing but I was so useless.

I did manage to sleep good last night I think I need to flip our mattress and get new pillows again. I used my big squishmallow for my knees and wow my hips don't hurt this AM. Course besides Costco, I will check there first, where does one get pillows now that I'm boycotting non DEI places like target? Sighs. But I woke up feeling less like ass and my hips didn't hurt which has been glorious and I slept.

But work is a mess and I'm suriving and my spreadsheet and the finance spreadsheets don't agree but its their fault not mine! But then I had to wait two hours while they fixed it so now I can use things correctly. Sighs.

My weekend in San Jose was amazing and fun and I'm still tired. Lol. Early mornings, late nights, lots of drinks, lots of walking/standing and chatting.

So, I got up a bit after 5am on Friday to get to the airport. Everything was super smooth from pickup at the parking, to bag drop, to security. My bag did get pulled for the jewelry and the gent who did the inspection asked nicely if I wanted him to repack and I said I would take care of it and he said thank you. I was able to get to my gate and have coffee and donuts before my flight. I relaxed and finished my book #4 for the year "The Lights of Prague", #3 was the previous weekend and was Captain Carter: Woman out of Time Graphic Novel, on the flight and at my gate in San Diego. I got a beer at a bar. The gates were packed but it was nice to relax with that. The flight to San Jose was nice, I started #5 Dark Arts and a Daiquiri by Annette Marie which was awesomely fun. I finished it on the way back.

Anywhoo...arrived in San Jose, the airport was nice, got my luggage, got my rental car easy peasy. Though the Kia Soul I got was base model but it had Carplay which I've never used but was super helpful. The first stop on my trip was Winchester House which has been a bucket list item for me since I was little. Its kitschy in the right ways, well maintained and the staff was all super nice, very well informed, and did a wonderful job talking about the house/history etc. I had a nice burger for lunch before my tour. The tour was nice, we got to see 110 out of the 160 rooms. The seance room was way smaller than I realized and I also didn't realize that none of the original furnishings are with the house. Also, when the 1906 earthquake hit Sarah closed the front 30 rooms of the house for damage and they were sealed until about a year after her death and preserved as they were with the damage. They did repair the fireplace in her bedroom which had had the 5 story chimney collapse in it and fall through to the basement. There are other areas around that have black painted supports/covers which is repairs/restorations later for structural concerns from earthquakes etc. My pictures are here.

I then traveled the 44 miles in 2+ hours (gods I hate California) to my hotel. I dropped things off, hit a super mercado for snacks/dinner/lunch. They had a taqueria attached so I got a torta for dinner and a burro for lunch. When I got back I ran into Zippy and Siobhan(from Sweden). We then ran into Tullia and Thorfin and we made a plan to all travel to the vigil. There were predrinks and the like and then I drove the girls and then boys had their car. It was hilarious. Cassandra had no idea that Siobhan was going to be there. So we had to hide her and the screeching was hilarious. We stayed and partied till quite late. I got home with Tullia at like 115am. oof. And that is where we will leave things until tomorrow.

Well, on Monday I finished up the rose embroidery. I had to sit and stare at it cause it looked done but my plan had been more but I felt it would be too guady. I got some Peer Review from Ari, Thyra, Eyvor and

danabren and they all agreed I can be done if I think its done. The negative space usage was making me happy...is it period? I have actually no idea, this is well out of my wheelhouse for time and craft. But I'm super happy with it.

The finished Rose

The finished pair with scale

I made sure to put it in the post this AM so it can get to her by Saturday or Monday. So all good. I also need to get through my studio...get things cleaned up from war prep (do my damn laundry) and pull fabric for a quick new outfit for her elevation. I know the under-under dress will be this fun plaid linen I have but over dresses not sure and its the bay area so the weather can be super weird. So yeah. It will be simple and have trim and I will be using my serger for reasons. But yes, a simple dress, simple placket and some trim. But I need to look at fabrics and see what I have and what can look right in a short amount of time.

I also need to pull clothes and see what fits (queue body dysmophia tango) for Mexico. I need clothes for hot humid and hiking....and my swimsuit. Sighs. I'm not happy especially with this jowly picture captured by Sigrid. I look old and I don't like it. I know I've been not good on all the things with gym/eating/drinking and my knee is not helping me. But things have got to change.

I'm trying but mentally the work load and the everything else going on with the USA is hard. I had liquid dinner last night. We had dropped hardware, not ordered hardware, people completely going off the rails on a request, folks not understanding things that are simple, the white house block all news orgs access to info (see here, I left work late and had to walk all the way around since my gate was closed and it was just a day. I could have made a better choice and I just could not. Sighs. Tonight will be better. I have knitting group and projects in the bag. Trying to shift my attitude but man its hard. Sighs.

We shall plod along.

I am still reading book #3 which is The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik and its gotten so good. I need to pick a few books for travel next week.

Current Mood: bitchy

I was/am still in withdrawal hell but much better. Right now its mostly the "persistent headache" and occasional dizziness. The headache is annoying but I'm managing with some meds. The dizzy I just need to not move too fast from bending down to standing up. Which okay..fair. Hopefully that finishes up soon.

While we had planned trailer prep this weekend Mel had dojo renovations on Saturday that took the day and I had projects for the war and beyond so next weekend will be better.

So Saturday I got up early and attended a calligraphy class from at the Atlantia University and then did some stuff around the house like take returns to the UPS store, clean up all of the cardboard detritus for the recycling and get my studio back to rights to start a project the next day. Then I tried to attend my next class and the teacher was a no show and we all hung out for 30 mins and chatted scribal stuff around the world and yeah I could have taught the class on "how to work with other kingdoms" and so I gave some pointers from my years of experience. Then Willa picked me up and we headed to the bead show at Casino del Sol. I got stuff for the embroidery project for Cassandras Laurel dress, I got some other findings I needed for necklace stuff and bought some earrings and a glow in the dark spindle whorl from Branwen. Now she sold it as a bead but its totally a whorl if you know what to look for. Mel's comment when he saw it was "i would have bought that too!"

It was nice to hang with Willa and we got to scope the site for possible coronation site. It is a casino but the hotel is nice, it has a separate from the casino entrance but the path to the ballrooms does brush the edge of a slots area without much demarcation and that makes me worry about kids etc. So we shall see. I have many other sites that are casinos and aren't so we shall figure it out.

Got home and Mel had only gotten back from the dojo at 5pm and was taking a breather so I took the suggestion from Benton who has a cold and wanted comfort food to make mac and cheese for him and Mel, Chicken nuggets in the air fryer and a nice side salad for me. It was a good meal and I cooked so yanno I call that a win. Benton basically played video games all Saturday and drank lots of honeyed tea and then went to bed after a long bath at like 730pm. Poor kiddo.

Sunday I tried to sleep in but mel had left the bathroom door open and the light woke me up. so I got some coffee and played stardew unhampered for like a hour before Mel got up. I then I played for longer than I should but it was okay. I then got dressed, sorted laundry, then after a break from being dizzy, got it into the washer for an afternoon of laundry. I then went through wools and found a brown wool for a bog coat for Benton...I used basically this pattern though I still don't know why they want the little slit for join to the body but meh. It worked. I dug through the tablet woven stash and found trim from an old caftan of Mel's to recycle and then sewed that on. I only used my serger for the 4 seams since my machines are still in the shop. Hopefully I can pick them up tomorrow when I take my serger class. I also pulled out the items I bought at the gem show, downselected them to what matched the gold needed and then pulled supplies from various places, dug out my embroidery stuff and realized it needed its own bin, found a bin but it needs a location and I don't want to rearrange things yet until the machines are back. So, I then attached the silk squares to a backing cotton and then tried two different embroidery frames that did not work for my sizing or needs. Then I put it in time out while I put the trim on the bog coat and then came back, took things off the frame, stored the frames (for now) and found my hoops. It fits my one hoop nicely and won't get weird for switching to the other design which I've snuggled up and pinned. I do need to get a nice bag to keep this in while I'm not working on it. After the war I will deal with my studio behind the door book case and the closet. Cause I need some of that space redone and being able to get to some of my drawer thingys would be nice since there are notions I can't get to. So I was happy that the only other thing I need to buy is some yellow felt to go under the gold in places and that is a quick michaels trip. I hope to get started on the laurel wreath tonight.

But for my viewing later for ideas on the rose etc Goldwork Rose

I think on the laurel leaves I will get a ground of yellow stem stitch and then do satin for the leaves with pearl/bead accents for the veins? I will have to play a bit I think. Or I will do this? Fly stitch which I quite like. I will just have to see. I will have to probably have a side hoop setup to practice on.

Anyhoo..productive weekend. I'm abit over 50% done with Killer Cocktails (#2) and about 5% on my treadmill book. So not too shabby...can't wait for the final with drawal stuff to finish. Ugh.

Current Mood: busy

Not sure what happened on Tuesday but I'm not feeling normal. It feels like post migraine hangover but I haven't had the migraine yet? I'm dizzy and nauseous off and on but food makes that better? I dunno. I took a nap after work (no gym) and then went to bed early. Like lights and me out by before 10pm.

Today I woke up okay but I'm dizzy if I turn my head to fast or walk to quickly. So I'm taking it easy. If it gets worse I'm going home and heading to bed.

I wonder if this is hormone related...my sense of smell is through the roof. So we shall see. I'm tired though but alert. But tired. ITs knitting tonight...I think I will stay home and knit at home and hit bed early.

So I did start reading my xmas present from Shanda which is Killer Cocktails. Which is from one of my fave podcasts Criminalia. Good history and fun drinks. I also started my treadmill book The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. Its the third in the series and I can't wait to see if where it goes.

Other than that yeah, trying to not be sick or weird? The weather is weird. Its cold for us like 50s for highs and 20/30s for lows. we are usally in the 69-72 H / 35-40 L and the pressures are weird and we have random rains. Its still too far out for the war forecast so we shall see. Plus PHXMetro gets weird weather patterns anyway.

So yeah. life and stuff and taking care of me.

Putting gold stars in my bullet journal does make me happy when I clear a day of tasks. I've also not been trying to do too much though my weekend would say otherwise.

Friday was our off day. I had to work a bit to make up an hour I had missed due to something or other I don't recall now. I worked, updated my work goals to something more than "I will not kill stoopid coworkers or managers" and then I sat and watched tv and worked on my shawl. I got through the first full chart and had even transitioned through to the next color before I was finished for the day. I also played some star dew. Mel was at the dojo working on the new flooring and then headed off after he came back to do actual martial arts. I had my massage at 5, I thought...but I was wrong and got to do my shopping before my massage. So I hit ulta for an eye cream I missed in my online order, hit ross looking for a new duffle for the boy, got cat food all before my appt. The massage was lovely and after hitting the gym twice and pushing things it felt great. Though my hamstrings were ANGRY AF.

Got home and the boys had hot sammies for dinner. Mel was effing zonked and went to bed early since he had to drive to prescott in the AM. I didn't go to bed too late but was up at 730am due to my brain being on. So I played star dew, attempted a very hard quest and missed it by like a hair. Ugh. But all okay. Then Benton and I got our errands on. We headed to Ross to return the pants I bought him (too tight in the knee for movement, fair complaint). We then had to get lunch so we hit Sonic which was a much better experience than we had in NM the previous weekend. Then it was a home depot trip to get things for boffers and I wanted to check out the Ryobi stuff. I bought myself a battery fan attachment and a box to keep all the Ryobi stuff in, I also got us small tool bags for teh lag bolts for the tents. We then went to At Home to get a lampshade for his dino/volcano lamp. I'm going to reverse it and paint it like the volcano plume. We then hit Dollar Tree for pool noodles and then checked in at the Girls Estate Sale before we got home.

We then got the xmas light off the house and packed up. Then we got the blankets from guest all put into bins and back in the trailers. My family room is nice an clean is now. Then I went and took a box of kids books to bookmans (got $9 in trade for the 10 books they took) and then dropped the leftovers and a trunk of stuff off at Goodwill. Then I decided that I didn't want to cook and grabbed pizza at Papa Murphy's to cook. Their vegan cheese isn't too bad and pizza would be good when Mel got home from prescott. We had dinner, I played video games and just relaxed. Mel got home about 730 and was tired but not too tired since he only fought rapier but he had a good time.

Benton had made a few pretty cool boffers which was also good.

Sunday I slept in and then had coffee and pizza for breakfast. Mel was making waffles later. I got my undercut trimmed up, got my eyebrows done, hit the liquor store, and then costco. Dropped things off from costco and then drove to pick up a few more things for Wander and dropped those off. I also managed to get soem of the embroidery supplies I need for Duchess Cassandra's dress. Which was good cause the fabric and patterns arrived today from her and I have to have them back to her by March 1st. I got home and then Mel and I headed back to the Girls to show him a cool old drafting table..its huge but well made and if we had space...maybe but he did pick up a 1900 rocking chair for 26$ including tax. Its his porch chair now. Then I made dinner of chicken coconut curry. It turned out great. I also made some cocktails and over indulged so I woke up at 5am with a killer hangover. So been dealing with that but why not, its monday.

I did finish my first book of the year #1 is The Gospel of Loki. I liked it but not enough to read the rest of the series. I'm going to have a hard copy and a soft copy going for books so I can read on the treadmill. So I've got "Killer Cocktails" for hardcopy and I think I'm going to read "Golden Enclaves" for my ebook. All good.

But today I managed to sort all of the paperwork on the piano and in my studio into 1) to be filed and 2) to be dealt with tomorrow and 3) tax prep. The rest went into the trash. Woot. I also got the holiday cards ready and will drop them at the post office tonight. Yes, they are late but ya know what? Its still january so meh.

Work was a lot of meetings and finance ick but we managed and I got my slides in for the monthly review.

After work I managed to make it to the gym for the first gym workout for the year. I have logged a few walks but wanted the gym to clear out of the "new" people. I had a 5 min wait for a squat rack and started back at the levels from October which I thought was okay. Then I did dumbbell dead lifts at 60# and it should have been heavier but yanno...not killing myself the first time with weights in 6 weeks. So yeah I did good, lifted well, got complimented on my skull leggings and then went to the treadmills. I cracked the incline to 4, hit 2.5 mph, turned on my book and did a mile. My ankle seemed to be cool with that. I will try that again with a bit more speed tomorrow and see how I do. Incline is good and hard and stead is better than crazy running I think.

I've also started back in on trying to watch my macros. And looking at my food choices. So I made a big salad with a very light dressing, tons of veggies and then had pork chops with that. Today for snack I made hard boiled eggs to have with thin sausage and triskets. Trying to get the protein there, watching my portions and snacks and booze. Not being too stringent...just trying to make better easy choices.

I'm on the last week of my anxiety meds and the magnesium drink in the evenings has been good too so I think that is helping my brain a lot. I'm also trying to pebble myself with my to do list. I set a few things per day to do and that is it. If I get more done, shiny, but if I do everything I actually put a fucking gold star sticker on the day. Silly but its nice.

Last year

danabren said to cull your inbox and unsubscribe from things you don't want to see. And I've done a lot of that, as well cancel or pushout subscriptions for coffee, shampoo and undies etc. Trying to simplify things in my life and that is also helping.

I did not do anything but meal/snack prep last night when I got home after 7pm with Benton. I did catch up on some YT. But tonight is knit night. I'm super happy about that and glad to have the time to go. Last week I was just too tired after the week and car shenanigans and was cold and peopled out. The week before that was recovery from my elevation so first time back so yeah. So glad to go to knit night.

I do need to find time to hit yoga oasis at least once, better would be twice a week for yoga but I will get what I can. It maybe once a week on one week and twice on another due to being able to go on off Fridays and Sundays. Little steps.

Gonna try for Sunday and to make Willa go with me.

Current Mood: determined

Friday was very slow at work in some ways but busy with others and I needed other folks brain power on finance stuff and they were toasty so today will be more of that. :P We got on the road at 4pm and after a frustrating stop at a Sonic in Deming, NM (seriously messed up our food and then finally got it right after a complete reorder) we arrived at the hotel in El Paso a bit after 8pm. Mel and Benton were zonked so Ari and I went to the lobby to hang with SCA folks. It was so nice and the hotel staff were very gracious. We of course are nice and always pick up things and are clean and not obnoxious so I think that helps. I brought my knitting and a beer and that got other folks to bring our projects. We had 3 knitters, one embroiderer and a crocheter working on things and chatting. Catching up with Nikki was wonderful, seeing folks I haven't chatted with in a decade was great, Duke Irel. She was nervous since her last reign was 20 years ago and she was worried she wouldn't know what to do. I giggled at her and said after the oaths...it just comes back. Which it did and they did awesome! But Ari and stayed downstairs until about midnight and then back to the room for bed. The boys were snoring and I slept okay. The wind was howling outside and the weather was clear but cold when we woke up.

The site was 7mins away so we had a nice breakfast with all the SCA folks down in the lobby and then up to finish getting ready. Got to site, unloaded and got our seats for court. The local group didn't realize the amount of folks coming from out of kingdom, we had I think 20+ of us from Atenveldt. but a lot of folks (ivan included) were hanging at the back. The hall was a bit community gym room of a church with concrete floors so I spent the morning very cold on my feet and legs. Im very glad I brought my new hood and my cloak. I should have worn leggings...stoopid missing veins. But it was fine. They had a coffee truck come in the morning and they were wonderful. I hope we all tipped well, they had really good coffee. Morning court was nice but they didn't do like Atenveldt where the transition happens and then we break for lunch. They transitioned and then there was a lot more court so lunch didn't happen until 2pm. I headed out to get burritos at a place Zachariah suggested and OMG. This place is amazing. I got carne asada burro, got the el pastor for Ivan and got the carne fries for Benton. Mel's comment was "I didn't know I needed that food experience in my life, I'm changed". Yes, it was that good. Benton was outside in the cold either drawing with Sophia (walrick and Cecilia's daughter) or playing boffer with all the kids. Which included 2 packs of feral children who were not watched well by their older than Benton brother. But he did good, ate his food without comment and played through all of the courts and time. One things the Outlands does is meet with the circles the day of and I did not attend though the Laurels would have been fine. Going to my first, as a Pelican, Pelican circle would have been weird out of Kingdom. Mel went to the 3 mins Knight Circle. When things ended about 430 we made the decision to not stay for feast. The Aten crew wanted quiet and steak and had a lovely time in small packs at the Cattle Baron. Good steak, tasty salad bar and nice beer. And attentive service. We got back to the Hotel and dropped Benton off (he was crashing after food) and went back downstairs with crafts and booze. Some folks had doordashed or gotten pizza and beer back to the lobby and it was a lively affair until about 1230 when we cleaned up and left it cleaner than we found it.

Mel crashed immediately, I got my make up off after Ari hit the bathroom and then my brain was on so I read for a while. I'm about 40% complete of Gospel of Loki which is delightful. I slept well until about 7am and then was up. I got the first shower and we all mosey'd through our morning. Benton was super hungry at breakfast (no surprise). We chatted with the last two SCA folks there who were going to the crazy fabric store in town before the drive to Farmington NM. We finished up packing and got on the road a bit before 11am and arrived home without incident at 330pm. So good travel weekend. Very much a cup filler for the heart and am now prepped for doing things this weekend while Mel is away up north.

Today is work, crafting, ignoring socials/news, getting that temp crown replaced with permanent and then a pedicure. I have a sock to finish and maybe some time on the shawl. The magnet board really only works well with one sheet of paper and that is disappointing.

So, ya...I thought I would have a relaxing weekend....but didn't.

Friday was a bit of relaxing but I did car stuff, laundry of the bedding from the guests, getting the tree down and put all the insides xmas stuff down and away. I need to pull lights off the house still. I had a wonderful massage and then home for a nice evening.

Saturday I slept in a bit and then got moving with getting Benton to a friends house for some play time and then emptying my studio shelves and moving my fabric tubs so mel could put up new shelving and put a board on my filing cabinet to let the totes sit better. It took about an hour to empty everything into the front room and it was dusty and ugh. I then headed to Costco and got sundries...course everyone else had the same idea but I stuck to the outskirts and got my necessities and then headed home to unload and then pick Benton up from his fun. Once home Mel finished up with the shelving and I started to go through all of the stuff, organize things, put like with like and then I labeled every bin/container/drawer. I got everything back on the shelves and set minus a few small shoe box size things of SCA detritus I need to cull through. Its 30 years worth of site tokes, favors, tchotchkes etc. That is a Tuesday night problem. I also in the middle of organizing made chicken mole with store bought mole sauce. Tasty and less work than making my own though I may try to find some paste versus pouch version so I can make it thicker. But I finished this all up at 11pm. Mel was tired and had gone to bed a bit earlier and I was wired cause I was "PRODUCTIVE!!!" and my brain and body were wired. My back was also not happy with me from stoopid on Friday wrestling the tree etc.

Sunday we got up early, got dressed, loaded the van and were on the road with burritos by 730am to war practice on the NW side of Phx Metro. We got there with the right amount of time to get setup and sit down for court...which was exciting cause they offered knighthood to a gent who has been awesome and that made the Southern Baronies so happy cause he's from our neck of the desert. It was the whole reason I went to cheer, give him and his lady hugs and tell him how much he deserves this. I posted about it and his cousin who participated in his youth was like "HOLY HELL!!!" It brought such a smile to everyone. They also called up my KWHSS travel buddy Mistress Genevieve for the Laurels. Her 14th century is ON POINT and amazing. And her hubby is also amazing and funny as shit.

Anwhoo. After court I managed to get my 'errands' which were getting fiber to Skadi, delivering the bag Blossom left at Boar Fest, and getting my fighting card up to date. I still plan on getting back on the field. Just trying to get my health settled and get my endurance up and a few pounds off.

Anyhoo. The rest of the day I hung out under our shade, knit on mel's sock and attended the Bard of the Sun Competition. I did film a few of the performances. Dom singing his filk of "the mob song" from beauty and the beast and Sayyida Keesa dancing a prayer for rain for Caid . It was a wonderful time of song and stories and even sock puppets. I know I would have had a hard time choosing. But in the end Dom won! Woot! I think he's the 4th Bard of the Sun from the household. Yay!

Also, if you ever need THE RULES you now have the link of Ari reciting them at my vigil. :)

It was a nice day and I got a lot of knitting done. There were more peerage offers and good awards and then it was pack up and go time and Mel was no where to be found but I had household folks to help. I had to finally wrangle Benton away from where he spent all day playing with other kids on the opposite side of the site. He had ate and drank so that was okay but he was MIA all day. Meh. Anyhoo, got everything packed up and moved with help from Dom, Zoe and also Khalil who used to be a household member. I just asked him to put all of mel's armor in the bag and then Dom got the bag on a return trip. I was just about to call out a search party when mel arrived. He had gotten talking chinese sword with a gent who I had seen coming out with his family all in very nice chinese clothes including the kiddos (omg so cute) and he had talked jin for like 45 mins. So, mel got changed into a tshirt and into the van for me to drive around phx to Rudys BBQ before we headed to IKEA. We had dinner with Thorin and he's always a delight.

IKEA was pretty chill. Not very many folks were there and we had wonderful help from "Sir Mark" in the mattress area. We only picked up a few items not on our list (new collapsable laundry hamper to replace the one with the torn bottom, an octopus drying thingy for ivan's socks, a cupholder for my desk, cinnamon rolls cause reasons). We got the mattress for Benton (he got a plush one and loves it), we got a new mattress for our camp bed, A mattress pad for Benton and a new fitted sheet for him. Still was spendy but all good. We got back on the road by 730pm and home a bit after 9. We only unloaded the essentials, Benton showered and went to bed. I had a beer and then showered and we were all asleep by 11pm I think.

Yesterday was a light work day but a heavy car day. I picked up the civic after all the work they did. Got home and about an hour later Mel and I took the van and the civic to the tire place to get tires and wiper blades. We walked home to work and they called about 20 mins before mel had to leave for school pickup. We walked back (yay a whole mile walked) and I got back to work. Today Mel took the van to Jack Furriers to get the AC fixed, I will be calling them to do the alignment on the car tomorrow and then we should be done with car things for trips/war etc. We drive to El Paso for Outlands Coronation Friday so fixes were needed. The car I was going to do over break but I didn't drive it much and they had to order parts for the recall and the hatchback pistons. But its all good now. Just needs the alignment now that I have new tires, the strut fixed, new brakes, the fuel pump replaces (recall) and the hatchback working properly again.

So I'm trying to simplify things in 2025 and part of that is unsubscribing from email lists from various suppliers.

danabren suggested it and damn does it feel nice to do it. I had so much email over the break its crazy so yeah hopefully that makes things easier for me.

I had planned on heading to scriptorium and putting the rest of the weekend away and I was toast by 530pm. We finally broke down and turned on the heat yesterday cause it was 27 when we work up and 57 in the house. I ran my space heater in my office for half the day. And by evening Mel was toast and it was video game time for the boys. Since the family room doesn't have heat we snuggled up with afghans and the boys played Borderlands3 and I had cocoa and sat with my ipad playing stardew in the reading chair that is now facing the couch. Thus the TV wasn't distracting but it was fun parallel play with the boys and we all enjoyed family game time. I also like the new chair position (its where the cat tree was and we moved that to the window in the front room and the cats love it there).

Today is calling on appts. I can't find my gym bag..oops...so I'm going to clear out the weekend SCA gear and put it away and go through the 4 bins of SCA detritus while watching TV. I need to make dinner and do laundry as well but this should be doable and all good.

On the book front I had started #1 the last few days of 2024 and its "The Gospel of Loki" which is odd and I like it thus far.

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ianuk

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trying to accomplish things?

Rain don't get me down...

A random date night....

Brain swirls and catching up

Not doing awesome...

so much dumb....

Better but still tired...

Stoopid pollen

Pollen counts of stoopid and the wind is blowing too much

Sunday and Monday

very little good, very bad week....

I'm surviving....

Why is this week so long?

Finished things, started things and frustrations

Pretty good weekend

Dear Bus....

Little treats, and overdoing.....

Tuesday was okay...

Lovely SCA weekend

Busy ass weekend...OMG....