So the weather went odd here in Tucson with temps 20 degrees below normal. Its rained most of my drive into work and was raining last night too. This is strange but hopefully the wind from Sunday/Monday and now the rain will make the pollen wash away and I can get back to not dying by trying to breath. I'm much better but still tired and this morning I was a bit dizzy again. My apple watch doesn't give the best O2 readings but with my rescue inhaler I've gotten back up to okay.

Managed work yesterday, mel had to go in for his PMR prep, so I was by myself. I was busy but not hectic which was nice. I even managed to mend a sock for Mel using my katrinkles darning loom. Its a bit fiddly to use and if I'd used a thinner yarn to darn with it would probably been easier. I also have like the first iteration of the loom and now they have multiple sizes and features. I may need to get a few more heddles once I figure out what size I have. I think its the smaller one? Dunno. But that is done and I now know how to use the tool.

I worked on the shawl a bit after work while watching the National Treasure TV Show. Its cheezy and fun and just the shlock for knitting to...though we just had "the big plot twist!" and I'm sad about it. But we shall see what happens next I've got an episode and a half left of the season. The series did get cancelled after this but honestly that is their loss. I like it. Course now I want to go through the Librarians series but its not available on anything i subscribe to for free. So later I guess. But I will shortly have to get back to Ghost Whisperer and Buffy watch throughs.

I got packed up and got moving to Ari's for scribble. It was just us since Bridget is finishing school work, Poe didn't read her texts and I'm not sure if Spork was working or had school stuff. But Ari finished cleaning and fixing two more of Brian's scrolls that his cunt of an ex let rodents get into. Bleah. But they look good and you really can't tell there was damage. I sat and wrote up the scroll text for the knight scroll I need to do calligraphy on this week. I hope I can get to that later this week since I now have text and can manage to see the fit and then start the text. I also got to meet Curly who is Ari's uncle Jay's cat. He's temp staying with Ari while Jay is in Cali with his wife who is in hospice. Not sur e if he will be a permanent addition to clowder or just hoteling it for a while.

It was a nice time to spend with Ari and when I got home it was pretty quick to into bedtime routine. Mel was tired from the weekend and he biked that day and I was tired. I did stay up a bit reading. The story got good.

Today is touring a possible high school for Benton. We are waitlisted on his first choice, did get into his second choice which I just found out, and this is option 3. Personally for travel time its the better choice but we shall see what he thinks and what we think. I want this all handled before he has his 8th Grade graduation on the 22nd or at least before we leave for SD so we know when we have to come back. Sighs.

Anyhoo. That is todays thing. I hope to get some knitting or spinning done tonight. But we shall see how my brain is.

Sunday (21) finished getting Benton setup and had him pull his clothes for the trip and get laundry done. He has serious executive disfunction on clothes washing. Sighs. Not sure how to fix that but I know that we need to purge his clothes when school gets out which is in less than 18 days. Yikes. Maybe Sunday then for clothing purge. Anyhoo..I was feeling less than stellar and it wasn't any one thing but I was tired and kinda strung out on people and errands and it was fecking wimby out and I was just done.

Woke up Monday with a throat that felt like I had swallowed golf balls and I couldn't talk...at all. I was trying to cough and couldn't and almost threw up trying to cough cause my throat hurt so bad. I tried my saline rinse for my sinus, I tried gargling with hot salt water. I took all of my allergy meds and crawled back into bed after a quick text to work hubby. It was bad. I slept until 2pm and then snuggled up reading etc. I drank what I could but stuff hurt. When Mel got home with the boy I managed to pack snacks for the boy and then headed to urgent care. Hours later I was diagnosed with acute allergy attack, given a pack of steroids and a lidocaine syrup to apply to my internal throat pieces. IT was not strep, they tested and I got home miserable at like 930 pm. We had to get up at 3am the next day to make sure Benton got to school by 4am for his trip. I got up with them after some horrible fitful sleep, gave hugs and saw Benton off and slept in. I managed to have a bit of voice and was able to work off and on. I took a very large nap after work and that was basically the week for me. I was a lump on the couch. But the steroids worked and then that mean I was a snotty fucking mess cause my body could finally expunge all of the mucus it ahd been storing in my lungs and in the back of my sinus. Additionally, my hand swelling went down so I got rings on I haven't in a while which means my allergies really aren't under control. So I think I need to get tested for food stuff and see what else I should be eliminating. cause inflammation sucks.

Benton had a great time in DC though he had a camera fail...he didn't know how to open the camera to charge it and didn't ask an adult or have them call me. So he only got photos the first day. I was pretty wiped all week and to add insult to injury a work issue of not my making reared up on Wednesday that resulted in my work phone getting shredded and my laptop was taken to be lobotomized. So I had no assets until about 3pm on Friday. I left work a bit after 5pm and then Mel and I headed to Kon Tiki for my belated birthday dinner. IT was nice, I had a few nice Tiki drinks, Mel got to have Tiki drinks and I went to bed early that night. I was so tired. Mel played video games till late. Lol. Saturday I slept well and got a really good shower and cleared up my sinuses and I took sudafed and Mel and I got out of the house and went out to antiqueing. We hit the new location for Midtown Mercantile and it was meh...more mid century stuff. We headed to the 8th Anniversary Sale at Speedway Antique Mall and got a few things, and then finally on to 22nd Street where we got the big hello's from their staff. They had missed us and were happy to see us.

Got home and I was tired so I spent a few hours working on trying to use my new Flair58 Espresso Machine . Mel got me it for my birthday and it is way more a thing than I expected. I was a design of experiments to finally pull two good shots of espresso and a slew of other things I needed to buy like a new grinder. Mel ended up hand pestle grinding the coffee into powder. But its tasty and kinda fun and fucking bougie and did I need this? No. Is it kinda neat and I'm glad he thought of it? yeah.

So we had two nice shots of espresso after dinner and then hung out until it was time to pick Benton up. His plane was late so they didn't land until 1145 and then the kids all waited for everyone else to deplan before mobbing down the concorse to baggage claim. Benton was happily carrying a bugle he had bought at Mount Vernon. We got hugs, he gave us our gifts when we got home (I got a book on the A10 and a trex key chain, MEl got a cook Trex coffee cup). He bought some other books and things but basically made money on the trip. Lol.

So, all good minus my allergies kicking my ass and being down for a week. This week is slightly better but I've taken it easy..though work has been a PITA. And setting up the new brained computer has been ugh. My new work phone arrived last night and I'm still waiting for it to download all of the apps.

This weekend is coronation and I'm going to get dressed, knit and watch the show. Sunday I think we are helping Wander move things.

Well, Sunday Benton was stuffy and just hung out in his room. he's been growing, we were out in the environment since its allergy season here. But he was still not feeling well on Monday and I started to take him to school and he was miserable. So I turned around and sent him to bed. By the afternoon he was not better and I made him do a Covid test and it just barely popped as positive. My test came back negative but it was expired and was kind of gooey on teh liquid. So I will retest today. I've had a headache for a few days and just tired as all get. Did we wear our masks? No we did not at the outside event. I'm regretting that now. It was just warm and well yeah. Pretty sure Benton got this from school but oof. We'd gone 3 years and now this. sighs.

I took Friday off cause 1)we should honestly get our birthdays off 2) Benton had "spring holiday" aka Good Friday/Easter Monday off 3) self care. So had a nice lie in, then we as a family headed to the zoo. We are members which means we just walk in versus the long line and got to see the dino exhibits that were spread all over. WE had a nice time. It was a glorious day for being outside. 80s and a nice wind, partially cloudy. We had a loverly time and then had lunch out on the patio at our fave hole in the wall Mexican place (el sur). Then it was home to hang out and I played Stardew Valley for quite a while. I honestly don't remember what else I did but finish Book 15 which was All Systems Red. I then started Crochet and Cauldrons by Nancy Warren.

Saturday was my actual birthday, a full moon and just a heck of a lot of fun. I slept in, had coffee in bed, a ritual shower (washed hair, shaved, exfoliated etc) and then Benton and I ran errands. We picked up stuff for my mom for Easter, I ordered my birthday present from Mom (I got rollerskates Fame Suregrips in black with lLED wheels) at the rollerrink. We also had to get Benton new shoes and he's unfortunately in the largest kid size and the smallest adult size which means its slim pickings. He chose a pair of addidas laceups with sparkly stripes.
They are probably intended to be girl shoes but honestly I'm all about him expressing himself for what he likes. His other option were bright pink sketchers which were ladies size 8. We figure he can get those next since he is growing pretty quickly. I did order him new skates (amazon, along with my skate bag, pom poms etc) which also light up. We had a good time shopping and I bougth myself a pair of croc sandals. I know so weird but look how cute they are! Crocs Tulum It was fun. Then it was home to get ready for my dinner/carousing out with the girls.

( Birthday Shenanigans )

Sunday I slept in a bit and had birthday cake for breakfast. Mel had made Oatmeal Cake . It is like coffeecake and nummy. We then headed to visit my mom (Benton and I) and then we went Rollerskating. Mom was doing okay. She had had a visual egg hunt the day before and gave all of the candy filled eggs to Benton. She loved the fake flowers and chocolates we brought her. They had rearranged her room since the AC vent blew on her bed and she got too cold. Eyeroll. But she doesn't really have much body fat so I get it...its just funny to me. Skating was good. I am out of shape for cardio activities...sighs. But I skated more than I sat down for the 2 hours we were there. I can't wait to get my own skates. I was by the end doing good with my cross overs on turns. It did take a while for my legs to warm up. Sighs. But all good. We got home and played some more star dew valley. Mel was working in the shop and Benton and I were doing some of the weirder quests. I've been having to read the wikis for some help. But this is okay.

This week is busy with work and finance stuff. One other bright spot is I got my promotion. April 30 I will be a principal engineer. It came with more bonus and with a further increase in pay versus the one I got at the beginning of the month. I have no idea why they decided to separate things between merit and promotion cycles? Maybe we get more pay that way? I dunno but I'm happy. Finally making some progress on the career front. This makes me feel better, even if I only just beat inflation on the raises.

I finished up Crochet and Cauldrons last night so I'm number 17 for the year in books. I've now started Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore. So yay!

A month or so ago Mel and Dominique decided a household dyeing day was planned for this past weekend. We all expected it to be hot and sticky and yuck but they would manage to survive and make pretty things.  What we got was two of the coolest high temp days ever for Tucson in July and lots of good soaking all day rain.  So the porch of awesome was put into full use and I made a big batch of chilli and some cobbler to feed folks.  Ari, Dominique, Mel, Laegertha, Wander and Benton all made colorful stuff.  Candace and Ed stopped by for chatting and food.  Sunday was slower and me, Dominique Candace went to the farmers market and had a nice soggy time.  Candace arrived with her wellies on and we followed suit and that was a good plan.  

Then I hung out at home playing video games for a while and then Benton, Ari and I went to Skylars adoption party at Pauls. Benton got to swim with Inara and folks and it was a nice but loud time.  Ari and I hung out on the porch and I crocheted on my Virus Shawl.  Then it was home and hanging out.  I worked on the shawl more and we headed to bed almost on time.  LOL.  

So all in all a good weekend.  Friday was crap due to my head but it was a good weekend.  This week has been okay so far. I got back to the gym on Monday, Tuesday had dinner with Ari and today had a headache that slowed me down.

We did decide to get Benton a spacer appliance for his palette to stretch things out a bit to help with sleep etc.  Its a 4 month process and it will hopefully help with his ADHD and sleep.  He's going to need braces eventually so this is just trial run for that and having a sleeping retainer.  Its a bit of a process but it will be nice to try.  Plus Benton is willing to try things.

Well, I've sucked at keeping this updated since the world has gone so sideways in so many directions that my thoughts are usually WTFNOW? But well, there has been good along with the sour.

A bulleted list of the weirdness of the world:
1) MIL does not have cancer but now has a temporary colostomy bag. Mel spent a few weeks taking care of her right before Pennsic.
2) We went to Pennsic which was an adventure with a 7 year old. There was drama with cancelled flights at the start of our trip but Dom was with me since Mel was in Washington.
3) Got to spend time with Bertana who surprised us with coming to Pennsic
4) Wander got into a car accident and totaled her Fit, but she now has a shiny new HRV.
5) She also got a shingles flair which was awful and coincided with her Worldcon trip
6) My deputy got a shingles flair...I'm seriously thinking of getting the vaccine early wtf.
7) We had a crown tournament where we surprised Dom with a knighting.
8) Invested Andromeda as a Laurel and that was fun including hosting Cayswan.
9) Work literally blew up...it made youtube...not pretty.
10) Work sucks in other ways with a design that was very very poorly done and now we have to fix it to get paid....basically doing 2 years of work in 2 months. Lots of OT, zapping any mojo for anything I have
11) Went dairy free after Pennsic...I feel better in a lot of ways
12) Been consistently hitting the gym and running about a 5k each time I go. Its hard but satisfying when I get it done. Been getting 2x a week for the last month. I hope to make it to 3x a week.
13)Benton has been having some issues at school. They switched him to a different teacher (there was another kid whose energy made both of them spin up high) and also will be putting him into 3-4 grade reading and science since he's above where his classmates are. That is going well but man it took a bit to get him settled.
14) Been catching up on Great British Bakeoff and started Lords and Ladles on Netflix. I also highly recommend Power of Greyskull which is the He-man how it became a thing story. Very intriguing and engaging.
15) I'm waffling on fabric for my stepping down clothes and found a combo of fabrics that looks like Strawberry shortcake....which would be funny...and apropos and I'm not sure. Getting second opinions tonight.
16) The only thing of the last week I have been able to accomplish has been some knitting on my Spectra Shawl and its turning out. I'm now on the second ball of Noro.


So, in all things are stressful and weird but we are surviving. That is the important thing. Right now my sanity is being replaced by to-do lists, spreadsheets and booze.

The weekend was good and productive and Monday was great minus school calling cause Ben was running an almost 102°F. Wow. So, Mel picked him up and brought him home and worked the rest of the day at home. I got off of work at a reasonable time and we were set for scribble since the house was already cleaned! I did not sew after getting yelled at by Ari. I did the calligraphy on my own Queen's Champion scroll which was fun. The running joke is I'm not the queen of grace and beauty....I'm a klutz so we had to come up with a cool turn of phrase and we decided Valkyrie Queen was good. I then helped paint on the cyphers "GOLD GOLD EVERYWHERE!" and it was nice.

Tuesday Mel stayed home to take care of Benton and he was still feverish and sick. By the end of the day he went to the doctor who found nothing wrong except the fever and headache. So I picked up Mason at school so he could get to martial arts. On my way back from the dojo I was bopping along, glanced at my side mirror as you do and looked back ahead to then crash into the car in front of me. I had slammed on the breaks but it was so sudden there was no time. It wasn't very fast and the car was drive-able but I'm sore and they are looking to see if the car is totaled. Sighs. I see my chiro today to get accessed for personal damage. I think I just need a good reset and I'll be good. This is not like the last crash where I had some whiplash.




So I have a rental car (Kia Soul) and am waiting for the collision center to figure out if its repairable or beyond economic repair. Sighs. We were hoping to get 2 more years on it before looking for a new vehicle. Sighs. The problem is we have no idea what we want in another vehicle. We can't get another fit since they've changed it so much I don't fit in it any longer. Which is sad but lowering the internal headroom 4 inches doesn't work for us. I kinda like the Subaru Forester or the Outback but need to test drive them. Anyway...no need to go down that route until we hear from the collision center.

Ben is still sick...we thought it broke yesterday but he again spiked a fever 7 hours after he had meds. Sighs. Luckily today and tomorrow is off of school. Thursday was called off on Tuesday due to a statewide teacher walk out #redfored. Friday was already a grading day so the boy is off school while we are off work for our "off friday". Though due to all of the rigamarole yesterday I may be working part of it.

I'm woefully behind on sewing. I couldn't even brain on Tuesday night I was soo shook up and disappointed in myself. Wednesday we had dinner with Marek and Golda to go over the stepping down/state of the kingdom. We have some fun shenanigans planned. I just need to get stuff to the finish line over the weekend. I have people coming to help which is good. I need to be productive Friday and get the final things cut out as I have someone who can sew them. Course my main machine is growly right now (of course) and we've pulled out my featherweight and may pull out the 1951 machine as well just in case. I can do this...it will be fine. The weekend will be productive, I believe this and we shall overcome...I just had hoped to be further along so I can go see Infinity War. May still get a baby sitter for Saturday night or Sunday AM to do that.

Managed to do some relaxing, some antiquing, some adulting, some parenting, some knitting, some spinning and heading out to the fair. Not too shabby.

I got a new to me spinning chair:


Mel and I hit a newer antique mall and had a good time. Got Benton from school and had a nice Friday night. I may have had too many margaritas.

Saturday I relaxed while the boys went to the dojo and then we headed to the Pima County Fair again to do rides and carnival stuff as well as the exhibitors hall. I bought shoes...at the fair but how could I not?
I also ordered them in blue....

We got home and had a nice evening in. Sunday dawned at 345 in the morning with Benton falling head first off of his bunk into his trash can. I stayed up with him until he could sleep which was about 5am. He's okay, a bit bruised and reminded of why you need to put your head at the head of your bed. He had flipped around and slid down the opening at the ladder. Sighs. At 6am the cat broke int the bedroom, at 630 mel got up for Black belt testing for the dojo and mercifully I and teh boy slept in until about 830am. I was still zonked though and I managed clean up my library corner of books, patterns, yarn etc. I tidyied everything and now its useable as space. I also got out things for projects since Saturday night I finished my Darth Rainbow socks.



Mel got home at 345. Icka was over chatting since I found her something cool while shopping friday. I ran errands and then was home to cook dinner and then to work for a while before setting my spinning wheel back up to spin some fiber while we watched a movie.

All in all an okay weekend....wish I had more done but it was nice none the less.

Thursday:
Thursday was crazy working and then leaving early to get Ben for his group therapy appointment. We were 30mins early so that meant we headed to Fabrics that Go around the corner. I got a pretty veil for me and a gift one for Baroness Brighed for her stepping down on Saturday. I got some neat sun batik for Benton and a really nice red black and white plaid. Got done and headed back to his appointment. Ben did fall in absolute love with a soft leopard print that if it hadn't been $30+ per yard I would have gotten him some.



So Thursday is group therapy day and she has 2 sessions, younger boys and older boys. The older boys start coming in while the little guys are in session. I need to bring headphones and to sit against the wall cause boy are they loud and disruptive while I was working on drawings. We headed to Beyond Bread for dinner where Benton ate his fill. And then home for bed by 8pm. Mel's flight had been delayed and delayed and finally touched down about 1030pm and he was home by 11pm. He was tired but he got me presents of a double decker bus coffee cup and the brit version of The Cursed Child. Ben got a Brit Lion, a GB Olympics Team t-shirt and a Gruffolo book.

While I was waiting for Mel to get home I finished the cyber dread falls for the convention. Though I won't be wearing the one set with the Lolita...danabren is right...it looks like a jelly fish.



I also worked on Socks this weekend. I was inspired by finishing the Slytherin socks and pulled out Mel's Caution Socks and put a cable down the center which I'm liking.


And I cast on 2 pairs for myself since my second set of Signature sock needles arrived. I am making a rainbow/black striped ones and a pretty sparkly set.





Friday was busy with errands, the van driverside window mechanism breaking (thank you Jack Furriers for fixing it fast!) and my hair cut/color and errands before we picked Ben up for his followup appointment about his lungs. He got put on Singluar to help with the asthma and allergies. Additionally, we made the followup appointment to get him eval'd for ADHD meds. This is a preemptive strike since the school already hit him with a referral, he gets 3 before he is suspended. Sighs. Ben did not have a good day, he hadn't the day before so when we got home and I made dinner of lamb chops, mel took all of his toys out of his room. He was not happy about that but tough cookies. He went to bed whiny but well fed. He really, really likes lamb chops. I worked on the socks friday night. I was just not into starting anything else. Though I did get to sewing the crown under dress seams so I could have hand work the next day.

Saturday we got going for Mon's Investiture. Mel was very out of it. The jet lag was catching up fiercely but he was maintaining being awake etc. Ben did good during the day playing with Mason and keeping out of trouble. I sat at the back corner of the event and let it pass by while I sewed and chatted with Ari, Jules and various other folks. I got half way through the dress during the event before I called a time to go home cause I was toast. That site makes my allergies really bad. Got home, had leftovers and a whiny kiddo. Mel didn't even get through dinner before he passed out. Ben went to bed and then had screaming terror fears from stuff he over heard on the playground. It was lots of cuddling, snuggles and signing "My Favorite Things" to get his mind off of the scary things. Sighs.

I sat and finished the dress and knit on socks until late. My left tear duct in my eye was very swollen so I took some benadryl and hot compressed it. Which means I woke up horribly drugged out. Sighs. I got coffee and breakfast before I started to feel better and then I avoided paid work to clean up my studio from the crazy cosplay frenzy for the crazy crown frenzy, cleaned up the front room from the detritus of the previous days event and got my test fabrics out for Choli sunday building with Ari.

I managed to get the neckline cut/ pinned and machine sewn with the bound edge machine sewn ready for the hand stitching on the turn as well as the racing stripes on the sleeves before I headed for errands then to Ari's. I did not find what I wanted at Kohl's but I did hit a jewelry sale (SHINY!). Then we sat and got things worked out for my choli/vest/bolero patterning. Yay! I now have a plan. My goals are Tuesday, finish the under dress for crown, Wednesday Finish the over dress for Crown, Thursday night cut out the choli/Vest/bolero and maybe sew but I'm not guaranteeing it. I may drag the sewing machine with to sew on Friday/Saturday nights but not sure. I hope to get the choli done at least before we leave. But we shall see. I may just stay up way late the next few nights and get things done. We shall see.

( To Do List )

Work was work worky work work. I found some issues and now I have a lot of work a head of me. Oof. Luckily I need more things to do (LOL). Got done, got home and the boy had not had a good day at school and that made all of us tired. Plus a random no-sleep text from my mom made me in a further foul mood. Sighs. I ended up in bed by 10pm. I was so tired. The whole family was grumpy so nuf said.

Saturday morning I got up way before I wanted to since Mel and Ben were talking on the porch while mel got ready for his ride. Sighs. I got up though, had coffee and attempted to stay on task and get things done. Which I did, overall. But the one thing I wanted to figure out was a spectacular fail. Ooops. I made a choli and it did not fit and was not what I wanted for the Zatanna. Its not even useable for a pattern itself. Sighs. But that clouded my brain when I finished a skirt, finished putting trim on the sari, Finished a scarf and didn't kill people. It was an almost thing at the pizza place cause they were dumb. But I ate pizza drank beer and went to bed much happier than when I started.





Mel had a productive day and finished the entertainment center. He will shellac it next weekend so we can get it installed into the house the following week. That means I have 1 piece of my parent's furniture left and that is the curio cabinet. We are looking for an antique to replace it.



Sunday AM mel woke up early for his flight and I snuggled in bed until Ben kept banging on my door from 630-715am. I was not happy. I told him that I would not accept that behavior and sent him to his room after he immediately threw something I told him not the throw. I left him sit there while I drank a cup of coffee and then planned the day. After that he was right as rain. We had breakfast at Prep and Pastry, did errands and came home for snacks etc. He played well, watched a movie nicely and was in general just awesome to everyone. Willa came over in the afternoon to help me cut out crown clothes. I had to do fabric kung fu and was left with a tiny bit of scrap. My under is short sleeved due to fabric but I think it will be very comfy.




Had a wonderful dinner with Ben and we watched more Olympics. He really liked watching the skeet earlier in the day, we watched some golf, synchronized swimming and volleyball. He got a good shower and bed shortly there after. I was tired but I sat and was watching the Olympics until the cable went out so I turned on Hulu and started watching Sleepy Hollow and finished my socks.



( To Do List )