Well, i'm sick and have been a lump and talks with the doc haven't done anything yet. My symptoms: scratchy throat, exhaustion, stuffy ear and now cough from post nasal drip. Nothing is blooming but the airquality is moderate. Not sure what the heck is going on. Hopefully will hear back from the doc today.

My plan to reorg my studio did not happen and now I have a sewing challenge starting Thursday where I kind of need a workable space. Sighs. We will see how I get started on things and If I move a table into my studio that may work or I just suck it up and move my work setup out of the way to sew...We shall see. My plan is to use my feather weight machine so that is easier to move around. We shall see.

I did finish the Blanket of Doom and wow did it turn out nice. Its not really an afghan any more but it is now a bedspread. Its awesome.




And he likes it. Its on the bed now...its too warm to use yet but it keeps the feet warm at night.


In books
40) Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato which i obviously got from the author at PHXCC since she's a PHX resident.

Now I'm in a quandry...ready the next book in that series or read Battle Ground by Jim Butcher which I guess is heavy. Do I want to get myself down versus reading fun? I dunno. I will probably suffer while I'm not feeling good and read Dresden. I'm kinda scared though.

Friday I had the day off and that was lovely. The week had been horrid. So much stress but lots of stuff was accomplished by my team. I stayed off social media and read and worked on my shawl. I was working on laundry and realized that the dryer died. Now the dryer we bought used in December 2002. I looked up serial numbers at one point and it was 40 years old. So us having 15 years of use I'm not too suprised. I was actually going to buy one in March as we all got shut down cause it had been making really weird noises starting in December. I had wet laundry that I was able to take to Willa's to get in the dryer. They have carport laundry room like we do so no contact was easy but we did chat later when I got back to switch things out across the carport which was nice.

I bought a SpeedQueen with a 5 year warranty. They have all really good parts and no fancy electronic stuff. It gets delivered today. I could have gotten the match to our washer (LG) at Lowes but I supported our local appliance place who has always treated us well. Got the floor model discount and the govt employee discount on the delivery. It gets here Monday. I then took a quick trip to Tuesday Morning and Bev Mo cause I just needed to walk and live a bit. The stores were quiet even though it was Friday afternoon. I got some planner stickers and a gift at Tuesday Morning and then a really good bottle of Gin for myself, a very nice and strong bottle of Rye for Mel and St. Germaine since we were out. Then I stopped off at a consignment shop to look for antiques and found something but we need to figure out where it goes and it was more than we wanted to pay. Lol. Then it was home after stopping off at Willas. I made dinner of Korean beef which was tasty.

Saturday I woke up really sore and tired and cranky and read a thing online about motivation is not dedication. you need to be dedicated not motivated. So I dedicated myself to get my butt across the hall to do my HIIT class. We go back to in person classes next week with social distancing and masks. Unlike last time I'm okay with that. I'm scheduled for HIIT since my goals right now are to loose some weight not build muscle as much. My joints are telling me all about things and less stress on them would be nice and will be better for when I get back to strength. We as a family will try out me doing things since its at the same time as kung fu stuff and that means Benton is sitting at the dojo reading versus being home. We shall give it a few weeks to see.

Then I read and worked on my shawl and watched tv a lot. It was nice. The new Phineas and Ferb movie was hilarious and it was a good family time to watch it.

Sunday I got up early to drink coffee and finish a book before I got in on cleaning. The house has gotten...disturbing. The cat fur on the floor was becoming sentient. I'm not kidding. So I got the family room tidied up and then went to work on the front room. At the beginning of lockdown the cats had knocked mel's laurel scroll off the wall and damaged the frame. We got it back a few weeks later but never hung it back up. I had put his duchy up in its place and just let things pile up on the piano. Stuff for good will has sat for months by the door. Cardboard boxes have piled up and in general it looks like ass so I spent some time purging and going through the mail and putting things away and cleaning and then with Benton's help I got on the piano and rehung pictures so I could rearrange things and get everything on the walls. And it looks great. The next task will be to clean the other book cases by the Stereo since there piles of art for the boy's room which needs to be hung up. I got all of the goodwill stuff loaded into the car minus one thing from teh porch I need to load and then things will be fully done but it was a good effort. I also swept the tile floors and did kitten box maintenance. It was tiring but nice to have done that. And the house kinda breathed happy about it. So I guess it was also annoyed by the clutter.

We had a nummy chicken and rice soup from homemade stock and rotisserie chicken and it was soo good. It was also kind like fridge clean out soup and that just made it better.
Today I'm feeling good and looking forward to fixing a few things around the house and getting the new dryer a spin when it gets here.

I did finish a book this weekend.

36) The Kane Chronicles Book 1: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
because of the way the book is protrayed (recorded story versus written journal) I think I don't like the characters as much and things are really really fast paced...like way too fast. But the story and how it intertwines with the other books in the Rick Riordan universe is still not fully known. I have this series to read and then Benton and I have the Apollo Chronicles to start. There are 5 books but only 3 in paperback right now. I also get the new October Daye novel tomorrow but I will wait for the weekend.
37 in work) The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

I did have a really long chat with my apprentice on what the peerage really means. It was probably an overdue convo but getting a peerage means you have the skill set to now really learn your craft. Its not the end of the journey..its the beginning of a new journey. I think folks really need to see that. I wrote the following during my elevation and that I put in our Baby Laurel Box:

Thoughts on Masterworks:

Greetings to the newest to-be Laurel in the Kingdom!

Relax and don’t panic if they ask you to do a masterwork.
On being told that I was to receive my laurel and then being told to produce a masterwork for my laurelling I was in quite a tizzy. Here are my thoughts on a masterwork that I spoke at my laurelling when I produced an 11th Century Viking Chatelaine for HRM Asa.

Sincerely,
Posadnista Ianuk Raventhourne
Laurelled March 2007


HRM Eduard commanded that I produce a masterwork and as he predicted it began the pulling of hair and the gnashing of teeth. I asked advice of my favorite laurels. One proclaimed "What, don't you have a masterwork lying around?"

I was puzzled by this but it gave me pause. What had I made that I was most proud of? Being a scribe many of my favorite things hang upon other peoples walls. I know I would have to make something new but what?

What is a masterwork? Some believe that it is the best the artisan can do; the ultimate showing of their talents and while this is true its not the end all be all for the artisan, in my opinion. This masterwork is just a snap shot in time. I believe at this time on this day this is the best of my talents. I challenged myself with this piece, leveraging off old skills and applying them in a new medium. This is my masterwork for now at this time.

Well I've managed a walk and a session of HIIT this week. Gonna do another session of HIIT tonight even though I've got a bit of a headache. But its okay. I changed my vitamin D to twice a D and that I think has helped me feel better too.

I'm still reading and I finished

34) The Unkindest Tied by Seanan McGuire
35 in progress) Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson
I had bought this book from the author at PHXCC a few years ago and was half way through it and stopped...its choppy and its set as kind of a pulp noir with zombies/witches/werewolves and its an interesting premise. I'll finish this book and then probably won't read any further in the series.

Last week on Monday I was run down and then Tuesday I couldn't get out of bed....no fever, just chills and exhaustion....feeling better now just still a bit woozy.

On the reading front:
25) Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
26) One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
27) Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
28 in progress) Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire

Mel's blanket is now big enough to use as a couch blanket while I'm working on it. I still have no motivation to work on anything else. sighs. I think its just my brain being "finish the old stuff" before I can work on anything.

With me being sick the house has fallen into gross..I need to work on that this week. The carpets are grey with cat fur and my bathroom is scary.

In cat development, willow has figured out how to use the pull chains on teh lights in the living room and how to open Benton's door. She seems to go in about 630 every morning or so to snuggle with the sleeping boy or to just hang out on his bed.

Additionally, my fitbit died the previous weekend and I just need to order a new one since I get them free from my work wellness program I just need to do that. Its not free per se I have to get points by doing things but since I do work out regularly its easy to get the points and I still get taxed on the amount but its "free" enough I don't care. of course I go to order one and they are out of stock on the website...sighs...so it will be an amazon card and then buy it there.

Books I've read this year:

1) The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross
2) The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
3) The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross
4) Prudence by Gail Carriger
5) Imprudence by Gail Carriger
6) Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
7) The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
8) The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
9) The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
10) The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
11) The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
12) The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
13) The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
14) The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
15) The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
16) The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
17) The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
18) The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan
19) Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
20) A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire
21) An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire

So you can see I'm working my way thru the DEmigods series by Rick Riordan and these books are awesome, well written and inclusive! Gay characters, Gender fluid characters and they are awesome.

I'm also going through Bridget's copies of th October Daye series since I've been wanting to read those for ever. I will also need to re-read Skin Game by Jim Butcher before I read Peace Talks in a few weeks when it gets delivered. Yes, he's a hot mess but I've liked the books and he's not the hot mess JKR is and I'm never giving that scrunt another dime. I also want to read more of the Vivian Shaw books...that was a fun book. Plus I need to finish the Cupcake Chronicles and then go and read the Etiquette and Espionage books from Gail C. I found out during my art zoom from Mistress Merideth that they are prequels to Parosol Protectorate so I need to go read those now. LOL. But I'm in the quandry of having mix of paperbacks and digital which makes my organization brain trip. Sighs.