Managed to get some of my to do list one. It was over ambitious as usual but I wasn't sure how long things with the quilt were going to take, what my motivation was going to be but I wrote things down and if I get time this week to check more things off that list than fine.

Friday I worked, took a lyft to pick up the car from the shop, and then enjoyed a beer while spinning and hanging out with Benton. He had had a fun water day at Camp. Mel had gone to see wander and get lumber for the ramp he and Jeff will be building. It was hot though and both Benton and I just didn't want to go anywhere or have the soup mel made...it was too hot. So I made us grilled cheese. (Mine was dairy free). It was comforting and tasty. Saturday we had workmen arrive at 6am (it was going to 108) and they continued to work on the trenching in the front yard and getting rebar ready. Mel had left at 8am to the event up in Thatcher for the Incipient Shire of Vallis Aeris's first event. I got working in the studio about 11am. Benton was going to a sleep over so I dropped him off about 1pm and then headed to the quilt shop (Quilter's Market) since it was just on the way home. I needed new small snip scissors since my gingher snips are too bulky to snip quilt seams. I found a cute pair of ghost scissors and a couple of patterns and a ruler I just had to have.

I got home, finished up putting a thick edge on the quilt block and then spaced out the memoriam calligraphy. I then got out my embroidery kit and was super surprised to find my embroidery scissors which I didn't remember owning in the kit...so I didn't need new scissors after all and the universe was being funny. The embroidery took forever cause I did about half and hated it cuase I used two strands and it was fuzzy. So I cut that off and then did it with 1 strand and it came out nicely...not perfect but nicely. Mel got home while I was embroidering and watching TV. He was hot and tired and hungry so I got us an order from Graze which included a dairy free vanilla shake for me! OMG!! Woot!


I then got the quilt block placed on the back of the quilt while Mel and I watched a movie. I've been on an archeology/adventure kick for things since I watched all of the Indiana Jones movies (except the new one), National Treasure 1 and 2. We finished up with Jungle Cruise which Mel had not seen yet and he loved the fun romp it is. Poor Willow was very confused at why Benton was not home and in his room in his bed. I let her in his room to sulk.

Sunday I woke up later than I planned but got going and dressed in my greek mumu for virtual classes for the Atlantian University. I'm 3 classes from getting my Bachelor's degree there which is kind of cool. that means I've taken 26 classes over the last few years. I'm hoping to teach this fall at the virtual one. Me and the SIL had a side discussion on one of the classes and I had more questions about that class than answers so I think I will teach the portion of it I do know (Northern European Beads). Becca encouraged me to teach it. danabren may know the lady that did a large overview on beads but didn't have it very organized. Though I did get pointed to a resource I hadn't seen which is Medieval Beads which is quite fun. Things to peruse there.

Once I was done with classes I changed into modern clothes and was supposed to take Benton shopping for shorts and he didn't want to go anywhere. So I decided I would hit Hellmart without him. I detest Hellmart but he's growing and I needed basic shorts that he will trash this summer and then we will need new for school again. I also got some other necessities and managed to find dinner (beer brats) cause it was damn hot and I haven't used my grill in a while. It was tasty with a spinach salad and some potato salad I wasn't too allergic to (mustard seed). Then I spent the evening watching TV with Mel and spinning. I'm about 1 ounce away from finishing my silk merino I started December. Its laceweight so its taking me sometime but I got into the rhythm. Hoping to finish that this week so I can get to not so thin things. I have plenty of stash to spin thru.

On the book front I'm almost done with Sir Patrick and will be finishing that tonight before I sit down to put text on my last scroll commission I had still open. I have scroll assignments for some back logs but this was a commission that has been too long over due. It will get delivered at Fabric War and I need to find the signatures I need for it as well. But that is easy. I can make it happen tonight.

Pick of the block in situ and not: block and on quilt


Also, thanks to blossom we have the best photo of Ivan ever...there was a mobile home fire just outside the park wall and it had ammo exploding too...good times.
Ivan Spinning while the World Burns

so last I wrote we were heading into June and my brain was sprialing. I took time to just try to relax and had dinner with Thyra and Ari and that helped. What has also helped is that we now are the caretakers of a 3rd cat. June 1st while at work I get a text from Benton and Mel saying that a kitten was on teh porch. They had left water for it and were waiting to see if momma. I got home after picking Benton up from the dojo and we inspected where the kitten had been and she was still there. She was hissing and spitting and hiding. So i got a glove and pulled the little grubby goblin out from behind some granite we had on the side yard. She was thirsty and hungry and dirty. She got some gooshy treats and water and a bath. At taht point I wasn't sure of sex but the next day we had an appt for Willow for blood work while on meds for not being spicy. So I had called and said can they take a look at a kitten? They were cool with that and fit us in for a vet tech visit.

Well the spicy kitten was the star of the day and even made it onto the FB of the clinic for riding around in the vet techs pocket. She was confirmed a she and healthy though underweight and 5 weeks old. She weighed 0.7 pounds. she can start her shots etc when she gets to her next appt the end of the month. She was a Spicy kitten and I had been calling her Spitfire cause she sounded like a spitfire airplane starting up with her hissing, spitting/coughing when I first grabbed her. she was angry/scared. Now she's just pointy and sharp and we are teaching her to play nice. I have scratches all over my form arms. So she is Spicy Spitfire Kemp. The Floofs are....getting used to the idea. After a few weeks Willow will play nicely with her and Tasha will be in the same room and just this AM she has been playing with her a bit. This is a big improvement when there was hissing and running away and getting "trapped" by the less than a pound of pointy against the door. le sigh.

But this little ball of spice has really lightened my mood. Ari says the universe finally brought me the cat I needed. I went away for the first week of June worried that she would forget me and have imprinted on Mel but she was squeaking to see me when I got home and immediately after getting let out of her kennel. We've kept her isolated in a large carrier with excursions out and about until this last weekend. Today we are letting her free roam while we work from home. Won't do that at night or when we are gone but it seems to be acclimating her okay. We shall see after we get her to the Northern house. Course that will be a change for all of the cats.

But yes the weasels have settled down a bit...its still in the background but I've been able to craft, I finished mel's birthday socks, got Ysolde's Musselburgh hat cast on and cast on another Beloved this time for Jackie so she can match Ruby. My leadership training allowed knitting time during and in the evenings. It was also a really good training. I did actually learn a lot and get to know folks. They also made a large effort to feed me as I need to be fed for allergies and that helped. There was lots of free booze. I managed to ball up yarn and cast on for the items while I was there and read. Plus rewatch Justice League Unlimited. Having time to myself, time to just craft and watch tv and have it quiet was nice. I left my laptop at home and only had my work phone so little stress there. I think that also helped me mentally. Got back and I was able to prove some financial stuff that I had suspected was weird was truly weird and we needed to fix things. It was rough communication with those functions at work cause I could see and issue but didn't know why. But got those answers and am figuring things out. So I'm not dumb on things which is what I thought...my data was messed up. Its an issue from things starting at the beginning of our contract and now finance is looking at every change from the beginning to make sure things are correct. So that was one worry bead that I had that has since been soother flat.

Got back from Texas and had the verve to keep knitting and reading. I even made it to knitting circles in Texas and AZ in the same week due to WWKIPD. The McKinney Knittery and Dry Goods (aka quilt stuff) was an amazing place with a very young circle of knitters. Our group in Tucson is a more older spread but still good. It was nice to get a kick in the butt and I picked out yarn and a project from a store sample. Its the Half and Half Cowl by Churchmouse Yarns . I'm going to knit it out of Woolfolk Får in color 33 which is a grey...yeah I'm predictable.

I finished reading book #22 for the year The Screaming Staircase and then read #23 The Whispering Skull which basically is where the only season on Netflix ended. Now I'm in #24 which is The Hollow Boy and oooh intrigue, teenage angst, and ghostly happenings.

We head north soon and that should be entertaining. Gonna have the cats traveling with us and then turning that house more into our house. move furniture, get more furniture and just make it a home again verus a holding of stuff.

When last I wrong almost a month a go. Things were progressing at work on things, the porch project had progress and my shawl was back on track. The now status is the last month has been busy and so short! Well, On the reading front. I finished #17 Mortal Danger which was a re-read from a long time ago and it was fun. I think read #18 Squirrel Girl and the Great Lakes Avengers which is comic pack of all of the SG and the GLA. So much fun in that...OMG. Then I started #19 Blood Lines by Eileen Wilkes and that is been okay thus far. I've been sucked back into some really long fanfic.

Mel and I managed to get packed and rolling to GWW with only forgetting one thing and that was the banners. Oops but of all of the things to forget that was one of very minimal impact on our enjoyment of the war. Lol. We took a very different route than we used to and it did not involve crawling up the I5 for hours. It was nice and through country we haven't seen before. It went up the 215 and then onto back highways to meaner north and west to the I5 which we were on for like 15 miles. It was nice. Found out our site with Gullibursti was in the same spot we always camp. The rest of Atenveldt was over on the other side. It was nice and having flushing potties and sinks right next to us was awesome. Well, the ladies had that. The men's room was out of order and they had a priv and handwash station. I brought projects to work on and money to spend and that was my plan. We had a really nice time camping with Roger and Rochelle. Their new little storage trailer with integral kitchen was super neat. Our camp was nice and period looking and just cozy. Without the banners folks couldn't find us but meh, it works okay.. It was so nice to sit and chat with people. I hit up the fiber area and taught Rochelle to spin. The class lists weren't much of anything I wanted to learn or didn't know and that was okay as well. I bought a new necklace from Maggie that has period beads in it. We got trim and things at White Wolf and Phoenix. I picked up a few pairs of earrings from Mistress Morgan and just a lot of other things. We had breakfast and lunch in camp and then hit merchants for dinner. The meat pie vendor...OMG.from Oscar's Meat Pies and wow. We ate a lot of them.

I managed to help marshal the field and castle battles on Saturday. We were there for Bjorn's knighting and they were short marshals and well, I'm authorized and can marshal its all good. It was a good time and very weird being on the Caid side of things. I did get to yell at my husband for fighting around a corner and explain very nicely to archers that no, you can't fire across the field in the direction they were since it was into spectators.(head desk). The scenarios were not complex we just had to remember when archery was and the shooting conventions. Keeping it simple which I really like. Sat and chatted with lots of folks and just enjoyed being at an event with no responsibilities and no requirements to do anything. It was so good. I put in 4 hours for marshalling and then handed my volunteer tickets to a newcomer who was there to find out about the auction. :)

All of my photos are at 2021 GWW Album

I had fun with some night photography and just in general had a nice time.

Got back and the porch project is now done except for minor cleanup and painting. Woot! I did have a very down week though last week. Not sure if it was allergies (fuck california) and the let down of fun times or hormonal or moon stuff or mercury being mercury? but I was off last week. Better now but still annoying cause I was doing good before that. So we shall see how this week goes.

Coronation is Saturday and we drive to Prescott Friday. Should be a good time.

There gets to the point that my house gets weird and I can't stand it. I used to just send Benton and Mel off somewhere and clean and clean and clean and then it would be fine. But with the pandemic I only had Mel out of the house since he was volunteering at the POD. But I made a list and I stuck to that list for two days of work on the house. I did get some video games and some knitting in so I it wasn't all work and no play.

But my house is not an embarrassment to me. Others may have had different opinions. But our bathroom is clean. I double washed the shower curtain, replaced the liner and used Mold Armor which stinks to high heaven but it works. There is still some staining from dirt etc but maybe in a few weeks I will try the Dawn/vinegar trick that danabren posted about. But its clean and I'm happy. I made Benton help with the floors which I still need to mop but its way better. The amount of cat hair in the carpet...wow. We vacuumed two weeks ago. But everyone got fresh linens in their beds, I refreshed pillows and just need to do a bit of vacuuming in our bedroom but mel needs to put his clothes away. I also finished up with jewelry making stuff, put that away and moth balled the stash. We had a sudden emergence in the living room of moths and we tracked it down to my birthday gift from the apprentice. oops. So its in the freezer and will be put into he trunk of the car for a few days at the end of the week. We've also noticed that the cat fur really attracts them too. So I think we are good now and everything has been mothballed for this quarter. They naturally occur in AZ so they are a major pest. Grump.

Its a good thing the house is cleaned. We have a termite inspection today so the guys will be searching in the nooks and crannies. Wooho! but the house does feel happier...whether that is all in my head or not its a settling feeling. Mel does enough cooking and baking that things are good but the bedrooms and family rooms have been a bit weird to me. So now things are brighter. which is good.

Been trying to get back into reading a book before bed. The electronic reading just doesn't make me sleepy enough and that is a problem. I've been up much too late reading fic. Its all been good but need to fix it and get going on reading...so I'm still reading #5 of the year which is Trapped by Kevin Hearne. I'm almost done with that and then I will work on my TBR pile on my end table. I have a lot to read. :)

So I'm happier and I've been playing a video game on xbox called Graveyard Keeper...its like StarDew valley but goth. Its been fun and I've been sinking a few hours into it every few days. Its my treat for working hard. So all good.

Here is a pic of the last necklace I made which is all from beads given to me while I was queen and my own green beads from really long ago. Its huge and very SCA.

A while ago weavedancer gave me a set of books called the Paper Magician (http://amzn.com/B00HVF7OL0) and the Glass Magician.  I finished the first one. Looks like there is a 3rd one.  Its a very neato world and an easy read.
So, back to fluff reading after I finished the large tome of Holmes-inspired fiction. I still have an engineering treatise to return to a coworker so I need to buckle down and read that next I think before I get back to The Warded Man and start the Mistborn Series.

Pennsic was good, Pennsic was wet. I didn't fight much due to blistering my heels in my boots but took a lot of classes and shopped for books. The tally of purchases: 32 books (+ 2 books for Benton on the way home), 2 CDs, 1 pair of earrings, 8oz of fiber, 1 ringed pin, 2 balls of wool/cashmere sock yarn and a few presents.

Mom had an interesting time with Benton who 1) got moved to the 2 year old room (he's 16mos), 2) got another case of hand/foot/mouth, 3) got bit by a spider and 4) enjoyed grandma time.

More and better posting tomorrow when I have more of my brain but pictures are uploading as we type.

Upcoming projects:
1) New banner for Ivan
2) New dress for crown
3) msaimeesue's Scroll
4) thyririgain's Scroll

Well, I left work yesterday and headed straight to Grandma's to get a bit of knitting time in before the officer's meeting. The meeting was good and we got lots accomplished with some good laughs all around. I got home to a very quiet house and mel was already in the shower. He had forgotten I was at the meeting and just thought I was out late at the knit shop. LOL.

I needed to wind down so I got a beer and my crochet and relaxed watching tv with mel. I got to bed late and then got sucked into my book.

Looking at books I only ready 18 in 2011. That is horrible for me...though with a kid I'm not too surprised. 2010 was the best year where I read 40 books...so with a kid I read half. Of course I'm not counting the audio books I've listened to: Woman in White and now working through Dracula. So, it was odd for me to get sucked in last night.

So the first book I'm reading in 2012 I did start in 2011 but its gonna count is Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon. Its a space/naval/piratey thing and I just got to the "action parts" and the plot moved along at a good clip and I couldn't stop reading.

So I was up way too late. I finally just had to put things down and go to bed. I got up mostly on time and Benton was awake...but it was the "AH, I'M COLD AND CAN'T FIND A BINKY!!!" so I remedied both and he crashed right back out.

Today started out really weird at work...lots of issues right off the bat that needed my attention and I finally got coffee at 9am. Gah. After a late night that hurt.

Well, work was just a bit crazy with paperwork and meetings and I have to have my cubicle packed up for a "mass move" by 4pm Friday. So I started with a few boxes late in the day and purged some old stuff that had been hanging around since my days at Caterpillar. Yeah, that old. Mel texted me that he had gotten a $50 gift cert to Claim Jumper for doing a good job and offered to take me to dinner for our anniversary. So after I picked up the very happy boy (who had just had a poop-splosion(tm) at daycare we headed out to dinner. It was nice and Benton did really well up until just the end of dessert. We then headed to Babies R Us for more Benton stuff and picked out what we want to get Viktor for christmas.

Got home and did bottles, we got the baby washed up and then he wasn't really ready for bed even though it was 2.4 hours past his bed time. I was a bit cranky by that point and he finally fell asleep a bit after 10pm. The one funny thing was when he was rolling around his crib his velcro on the helmet got him tangled in his afghan and he had to be rescued. Funny but true.

I got to bed just a bit late and then read more. I finished up "Kitty and the Midnight Hour" a bit ago which was #17 for the year and I started All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. Stephanie makes me realize I'm not crazy or maybe not too crazy and I'm okay with my fiber/crochet/knitting addiction. I really do need the shirt "I knit so I don't kill people".

Tonight is the first officer's meeting I will have attended since stepping down from being Baroness. I'm a bit nervous. But I think things will be okay and I have a good deputy to train up. Its not like I haven't done this job before (seneschal)but its still shiny and new with this regime of B&B and officers set. I'll try not to be too scary.

The new car seats for the boy arrived yesterday and I hope to try to get them installed in at least the fit on Thursday. Gonna have to make sure the pack n play is set up in the mornings to corral Benton since he's been a terror and getting into EVERYTHING he can and can not readily grab. But it will be nice for him to have more room.

I also booked our trip home for Thanksgiving. We are flying a discount airline that has a direct flight from Mesa's Falcon Field to Joe Foss Field in SD. Its discount but they sure hit you with fees throughout the process. Its still cheaper than American Airlines and its a night flight and direct no stops but I still wonder if its worth the hassle of the drive. We shall see.

Been really tired all this week. Not sure what is up with that other than the fact that I have been staying up a bit late reading. Well, last night I didn't do that but managed to hit the sack by 1030pm.

I was having a really strange dream when I woke up this morning. It involved going to a supplier and there was a hostage situation. It wasn't really a tense one since they let us in and out of the building but I was traveling with our chief engineer Rob and he had a gun in his car. It was strange and we got the gun and were developing the plan of attack when my alarm went off. Not sure where this came in from my subconscious but it was weird.

Ghost Story continues to please me. Very good in depth thought into actions and consequences which is fascinating to read since I've been with the characters for 12 books already. Butcher really is giving us a very well written book and i'm glad he took the extra time to make it that much better.

The gym yesterday was hard. I was so tired I had to physically motivate myself to get there and to keep going through my sets. Once I got to the floor exercises I had a hard time not trying to nap. My intervals were okay. I figured out how to get the treadmill to set them for me minus the timing and that was okay as well but tiring. The last interval was hard and my sides were aching from the running so that was good for me.

Knit night was crowded for Mike's B-day. I didn't remember and found out while reading email at a stop light. I came and worked on mel's shop mitts and chatted with one the ladies who is due with her baby soon. It was a nice night but I was tired as I said before.

Well, hopefully soon LJ stuff will get sorted out.

Well, its been a really, really busy few days. Wow. Thursday and Friday I wasn't feeling well, digestion has been very icky and I was tired. So, I was a home body. I'm way behind on books. I finished #23 which was Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, then I read #24 which was "The Riddle of St. Leonards" and I read #25 which was "Dyer's Consquences" and I'm now in #26 which is "A Gift of Sanctuary" which continues the Own Archer series. So, reading has been good I guess.

We headed to Mace and Greatsword with Storvarr and had a nice time. The weather was warm which wasn't making me feel better. I kept up on water but it was draining. I had a very nice time at the feast, though I really which the Mon's cooks guild could understand they really need to list all of the ingredients..hidden surprises are not fun for folks with food allergies. Having the wine in the pear soup did nothing for my stomach since now getting sulfited seems to make things just pass through me rapidly. Oh, well. I felt much better on Sunday (maybe getting sulfited helped, who knows) and I got to weaving on my A&S project. I'm about a foot or so from done. But was too tired to finish it after 8 hours of weaving.

Monday and Tuesday were me, a team of people being presented by 6 suppliers presentations of why they should build some hardware for us. It was a grueling 3 hour process for each vendor and then the scoring took time. I was home after 8pm both nights though they did take us to dinner on monday night and that was nice. I highly recommend the Little Mexico Steakhouse on Cardinal and Valencia (way southwest side of town). Last night was the final down select and we finished up at 8pm. So tired. Plus, I couldn't work on any of my other stuff the entire time we were sequestered so today has been pretty messy.

For those of you who haven't' RSVP'd for pampered chef, please do so today. Also, if you are out of town you can click on the link in the invite and go to the website and put an order in. If you have questions on that, email me. I or Joy can walk you through it. Orders are due by COB monday.

So, tonight I'm going to head home from work, take a nice relaxing nap and work on the house and do some shopping. I just want some me time to relax and not be working or interacting with people. I've been "on" too much in the past few days. Tomorrow, due to all of the OT I've been doing I get to leave at 11am for the weekend which will be nice. More time on the house and just getting things in order. Friday will be A&S arts push day for me. Which will also be awesome...and sleeping in. Though with the work this week I've ended up making it into work almost on time for what I used to get into. I need to keep that up. Its nice. Well, time to push some paperwork.