Work is still sucky but we are all in the midst of suck and working as a team to make it better. I figured some cool things out and I have a spreadsheet to save our little chunk of the world.  I know, lame, spreadsheet foo made me excited. I'm an engineer, deal!

Willa and I entered our failed viking glass furnace and it did very well. We won our category, though we were the only entry. We did receive a 55/60 for points so I think we would have won anyway even against other competitors so that was cool.  The organization this year was a bit weird and lists of winners had errors etc but in the end I think it was a successful competition. I judged the championship and that went well too.

In other crafty news, I finished the purple socks.


I have also been working on my "not bunnies" shawl and ran out of yarn.  Both Mel and I thought I had two balls but nope. So I pulled some left over cascade 220 out of my stash and its matching colors pretty good after a few rows.


Ben's been having better days.  We had him assessed by the school district and their only comments were he was high energy and bright.  But at least we know there is nothing wrong we hadn't already known.  Not that being high energy is wrong but we have to redirect it.

I started looking my planned to make for Xmas and seriously flipped out.  So, I guess I need to get myself organized and working on stuff. This weekend will be studio cleaning, sewing for Ben for Southern and winding yarn and planning projects. I also need to get rid of the two old carseats and get those sold as well as the stroller. Then that stuff is out of teh house.

I'm getting my fall enuii and depression.  I'm not sure what it is about this time of year but man I always feel like crap.  Add that to the I've been so tired, so sick or so busy to make it to the gym well, I'm sure that is not helping.  Next week is further screwed up since I'll have the boy at Theresa's due to school being out for Fall Break so well, we shall see.  Just frustrating cause I feel like this is all out of my control but then I realize it is in my control and its hard to take the reins to fix it.  Thus the depression lying.  Oh well. The show must go on.

My mantra will be to watch what I'm eating better. Limit the alcohol and make stuff.  I always feel better when I make things and if I can crank out some of these small projects I will feel accomplished and not so stuck in a ever ending loop of work.

Still trying to finish the treatise on Engineering in America and I started in an InCryptid novel by Seanan Macquire.  I got a load of books from Mughi last weekend to plow through.  Plus I'm also hit by a plunnie about grumpy cat, Bucky and Coulson.  Yeah.  crazy but it will get done in the wee hours this weekend I think. Its gonna be short and fluffy.  So crank it out and accomplish somethng to get it the eff out of my head.

It was inspired by this fic Wow, That's one Grumpy Cat... and the shirt I'm wearing today.  Silly but funny. I need that.

What ever has had me in the grips of pain, uncomfortableness and fatigue. I have some ideas but TMI would probably be the case here. I'm on the mend which is good but will follow up with my primary care when I see her in a few weeks.

My reading is going well and I'm thoroughly sucked into the awesome of the fairytale anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me where I just got to the story that is about the title...a German one called The Juniper Tree. Its very cool and creepy stuff and one of them as Audobon as the bad guy versus Baba Yaga.

Benton is not feeling tip top and is tired and awoke this morning with a spectacular dried up bloody nose. I had to change sheets and pillow cases due to the mess and mel got to hold him down and clean it out and saline it. Poor kiddo.

Other than that...I have knitting projects lined up for me to have socks on the needles at all times for me and mel and a new pair of gauntlets for me. Goal is to use of sock yarn stash this year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, work blew up some annoyances as I was trying to leave last night which means I'm having a busy busy day of paperwork, design archeology and validation of stuff. Lame but at least I'm busy. I'm also now very glad that I did not wait to start packing cause I now wouldn't have had time.

Last night was "Literacy Night" at daycare. It was also a Halloween party for the kids. Mr. Benton got into his "1st Halloween" jammies and enjoyed a song and a book reading and then it was time for us to go. He was tired and looking a bit overwhelmed and we still had lots to do before I dropped him off at Ed and Candace's for a few hours.
Here is the boyo looking a bit timid:( Read more... )

We got the book Cluck and Moo for Benton as our free book. Its cute and very neat. Plus he can nom upon it. Which right now is his appreciation for literature.

Got home and had just enough time to get him a bath, wash the helmet and get me changed and get things loaded. We headed out and dropped him off and then it was dojo night for the household. I had a good night but was very tired and sore when we were done. Got home and chatted with the neighbors a bit and then mel was home with the boy who was fast asleep after a diaper change.

Mel and I chatted while we got ready for bed and I was out just after about 3 pages of reading.

So lots going on this weekend but hopefully I'll have some time to do some baking and cleaning my studio. We now have "baby jail" for the boy to let him have good safe play space.

So, I'm not reading as much as I used to but I am driving a heck of a lot so I listen to lots of podcasts including:

Well, the work week has been taking its toll and I'm one tired engineer at this point. I think I have written more paperwork this week than any in a long time and there is still more to do. Sighs. But its for a good cause of finishing off tasks so things are done and not lingering while I'm gone. This is the last friday I will work until June...scary.

In non work news I am chunking away at the Podling sweater. I'm about half way through the first set of decreases in the pattern and its become potato chip knitting ala The Knitmore Girls. You finish a row and think...oh, just one more. Yup...addictium(tm).

I hope to make good progress on it this weekend as well as get the house in better shape. I will need to go grocery shopping tonight since we are out of everything. Mel has been working on the commission casting project and it was looking pretty good last night. I managed to get almost all of the Podling laundry done and now its time to pack bags for the birth and put all of the clothes away. Course I need a closet rod installed in the closet and I still need an organizer over the door and a few shelves up. Still also need to do a bit of shopping for myself which I hope to accomplish this weekend as well. Just want things in order before my leave starts and that means I can accomplish other things and rest. We shall see how my plan goes.

I had hoped to see Joanny sing tonight but I think its in my best interest to rest. I probably won't be getting home until late or at the least I will be taking work home to do over the weekend and this morning both me and podling are tired. Plus, I really have nothing to wear in my current state of body so eh. There were will other chances...just not before the baby gets here I don't think.

Well, time to put my headphones on and slog through another report. I do wish I could listen to podcasts (I'm months behind on listening) and type at the same time but it doesn't work...music on random is the way it is.

EDIT: OH For DRESDEN FANS!!!

CHAPTER ONE OF GHOST STORY IS UP HERE. Spoilers abound btw.

Work was pretty dull. I read lots of reports and worked on a report. Pretty snooze worthy. I got home and took an hour nap. The cats were happy about that. Mel got the kitchen picked up while I was sleeping and made dinner too. He's the awesome. I didn't have that dinner though, cause I had left overs from the weekend and really only heat up well in the toaster oven so I had that. Today I will have the pasta and sauce. Nummy. Got going on cleaning up the house and watching CSI. I got to see the episode with the Mythbusters. I had only seen the Mythbusters episode so that was a treat. weavedancer arrived for scribble first and she helped me get the table all set up while I vacuumed. I didn't get much scribing done. I sketched a couple of things but my mind was not being creative on that. Need to work on that some I think. I did watch tv, chat with folks and work on my mitt. Folks left just before 10 and I stayed up just a bit watching Ghost Rider. God, I luv that movie. So much fun and they were doing lots of behind the scenes information at the commercial breaks.

Got to shower and bed pretty quickly and then read some more in The King's Bishop. I so like the world that Candace Robb creates in the 14th Century. Very realistic and not too bad on accuracy of clothing etc. Not sure on the history but I'm recognizing names etc. Oh, if you go out and buy the newest Honor Harrington book you get a CD with almost 30 books on it free for reading and sharing all by David Weber. How cool is that? Mel is stoked. I'm sure he'll have lots of reading material on his iphone now. I will need to look up how to get that loaded into stanza.

I slept really good last night which was nice but I didn't want to get out of bed. I did though, that whole job thing. Was making my breakfast and went to get ice out of the freezer and noticed that things were melty. I think the door got left open a bit or the freezer controller is going out. I took out the stuff that was spendy to replace and put it in the big freezer and turned up the control to max and shut the door. I should have emptied the ice tray...ooops. Oh, well. Hopefully it was just the door. If its not, I get to call a repair man...joy.

Work was okay. I spent a good chunk regurging data from six reports for a final report. Got done with things and worked late to make up some time. Then got home and mel was on his way out. I sat down to watch more sherlock holmes and realized that I think the DVD player is trying to die. It got to the edge of the disk and couldn't really manage. Richard helped me put it into the xbox and get it working but it looks like I need to be researching replacements. Got another row or so done the blanket from hell and I headed to scribble. I finished an Armenian scroll and pondered the scroll I had been working on at demos. I decided that I would leave it as my demo scroll for now. I started in on another one and I think I got a bit carried away in base painting. The red was a bit seething. Eh. I finished that and knit on my sock while everyone else was painting or working on stuff. Got to show the girls the luv of Paraabnormal and they showed me Least I Could Do which I will start reading today.
Got home and mel was working on a new nalbinding stitch. He'd had a good time teaching kung fu in Paul's absence and then it was time for bed.

I'm rather enjoying the book. Its odd though in that, yes, there are main characters but you are in the heads of everyone. Its a bit predictable right now in the middle and I suspect what will happen next. The writing is engaging though and though I know its kinda a fluffy feel good book, its intriguing in the characters. I stayed up late reading again.

I awoke when mel shook me awake with a snuggle attack. I was in a very, very vivid dream. We, I'm not sure who is "WE" but it was a plural feeling, were trying to kill kill a guy. It involved electricity and cold freezing...very odd. Its a repeat dream, I've dreamed it before but I didn't get to the part where I normally wake up. Very odd.

Since I got to work my nose has been running and I've been sneezing a bunch. They just cleaned the carpets outside of our area and I'm sure the cleaners have something that is affecting me. It did smell good, kinda like pina colada. Eh.

Gonna be a busy day. Lots of meetings and then I will hit the gym, damnit. I don't care if my side hurts afterwards I'm going to the gym. Though its only been sore when I wake up and I've been trying to stretch it out during the day, so hopefully this is the end.

Wednesday was busy. I was appalled at some things I found on wikipedia about what I work on. Hmmmm...interesting. But it was also neat to hear the podcast from How Stuff Works on the uses for Wikipedia and how you shouldn't use it for research papers. I'll have to put that in my class handout. I got more tasks in the new job and that makes me happy. I'd rather be busy than bored and that is a good thing.

( workout specifics, skip if you don't want... )

Knit night was fun and Ari luved her t-shirt and new coffee mug. I got her a "I knit so I don't kill people" shirt and a "knitting genius" mug. I thought it was apropos. She brought in still warm red velvet b-day cake. Nummy. I had a piece. I cast on for my new sock while at knit night. And I'm pretty happy with it so far. I got about 1/2 of the cuff done last night. Zippy and Reynier were over working on projects. Things looked like they were going good for them. I put aside my history book and started reading Changes by Jim Butcher. Wow. Uhm. Wow. Must resist going home and only reading. I have packing to do for the weekend and more baby projects.

Well, work continues...lots of meetings today and a dept BBQ. It will make things go quickly though and that is good.

Yesterday I got an email from a gal in Ansteorra about how much she enjoyed my class and she found the Mastermyr find book for way cheap. I then started looking around the site...oh, I can see our library grown very quickly from this website.

So, I want everyone else to see the AWESOME that is there

Astragal Press

Have fun.