The subject line was uttered by Benton this AM.  I agree and mine was 3 days long and still not enough.  Especially when I've been waking up at like 430-500am and having a heck of a time getting back to sleep.  Today I woke up and never really fell back asleep. Ugh.  I've made some med changes to try to help me get up a bit earlier since I keep getting up later and later and well I guess maybe this is my body weaning off of them? Or I'm worried about my mom in the frigid cold or its Monday and work anxiety...all of the three?  No I'm not messing with my brain meds, I'm messing with my allergy meds so don't worry about that.  

So I got up and got dressed up in a new dress I got from Karina Dresses and put on matching leggings and felt better.  I've also been putting on perfume daily cause I like to smell nice and why let it just sit not being used.  Mel likes most of them and I love the Pacifica Himalayan Patchouli berry I got at Ulta...he doesn't.  I wore it all weekend.  Meh.  Today is their Tahitian Island Vanilla which is nice as well.

The weekend was nice.  Friday I worked on replacing elastic on some masks for Mel and reworked a mask we got for him early on that just didn't fit.  So I cut it into two masks and fitted the elastic and now he had 3 good working masks that are comfy.  His head is large, his beard is big and normal off the shelf ones just don't work well for him. So it was small fiddly stuff and I spend more time getting my machine to work than anything else.  I had put the needle in with the flat on the wrong side and that makes a huge difference.  oops.  But I crafted a bit that day.

I made a huge vat of chicken curry that was a hit with the boys.  Benton had two bowls and ate quicker than either Mel or I. Which if you've eaten with the boy you know that is not normal.

Saturday I got up early and dressed in SCA clothes for the Atlantian University and the West Kingdom Service Symposium. Trying to get onto a website I couldn't remember the password for and my phone knew but every time I typed it it was wrong was annoying but I got it figured out by the second class.  The first class I did was on the phone though but all good.

Fascinating class on Bog Bodies,  The Overview of book binding was super cool, My SIL taught pickling and that was fun to see.  I got to chat with a college friend before the class started which was also nice.  Plus I was chatting away with folks on text, dicord, IG who were all in various classes and that was just super fun.  The Alchemy 101 of Dyes and Mordants was really helpful in basic understanding of the chemistry.  I had a disappointing time in the Viking Hair Class and it really should have been titled Early hair styles since only one of them was documentable Viking and the other were Iron/Bronze age...just cause its before the year 1000 CE does not mean its Viking even if it was found in Scandinavia.  Sighs.  I caught Baroness Eileth's class on being a Baroness.  She is one of my Queen's Graces from Citadel in Outlands.  The Bling of Rome was well researched and by Accidental Scandian and super fun to geek out on the bling. The Scythian Tattoos class was really well documented as well and the gent showed off his sleeves.  A gal from An Tir who is working on hand poking these designs and developing tattoo ink was also in the discussion which was fascinating.

I then zoomed back to the West Symposium and caught the last part of Giving Good critique and then took Taking Critique.  Good discussions there and had the apprentice sit in on the last one.  So a good day of classes.  I slowly knit through a lot of them and got a full pattern repeat done on my shawl and then sat watching TV with Mel in the evening.  I was tired from learning so much but still stayed up reading.  But I almost finished a book so that is good.

Sunday we all slept way in.  I got some chores done and also made delivery of fruitcake for valentines day for folks.  It was nice to get out, get some air, drive with the windows down/mask on and leave presents in mailboxes and fun text messages.  I also got us donuts for valentines day and picked up pizza for the family.  I sat down and started working on the painting the friendship bench.  It was super annoying though that the stain keeps creeping through the paint.  So I got a few layers of acrylic gesso on the areas and then do some sanding I hope that is all it needs.  If not...mel will scrape it off and we will shellac it and then get the painting on top of that.  Folks who do panel painting suggested that on the West Kingdom Scribal Zoom.  Which was neat.  I also learned to paint butterflies which is not something I've ever tried to paint I don't think. I also don't paint like others for how my paint palette is.  Most of us in Southern Scriptorium use palettes with dried paint in them and rehydrate. A lot of West Coast folks use new paint each time to mix colors and set things up.  It all valid but for me it seems a waste. I have lots of colors I've made in my palettes but the "puddle of paints" is just weird to me and seems more like a oil painting technique or a water color technique. I may try it out but it just hurts my brain a bit.

After I got done with painting last night Mel and I watched some TV after benton went to bed.  It was nice and we got to bed a bit later than I should have but I finished my book.

So Book 2 for the year (I'm so behind...:)) is The hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan from the Trials of Apollo. Can't decide if I want to blow through that series or start something else next.  We shall see.


So in EXCITING NEWS!

Friday I got a text from my SIL stating I had won part of the sponsored prizes for the CCC!  I co-won the "Head" for the "Head to Toe" portion!  Yay! I get a gift cert to the Yarn Barn of Kansas!

Sunday was the NorthShield Court where they announced the winners of the Queen of Doom's A&S Prize.  I won the Queen's Choice for All things Geek (i.e. out of Kingdom submissions!) Woot! I don't know what I won on that one but I got a prize and it was announced in Court and on IG!  SQUEE!!!

Just super proud my thing I made was appreciated.  I've been in a rut for a while and this was good.  Very good for the muse.

Ankle is doing better and my hands after the bit of work I gave them this weekend are good. Just need to not over do things.

So, talking with one of our "really smart dudes" somehow we got onto fabric and his comment was "well, everyone wore burlap until the italians learned to pound fabric in the Renaissance!" and I lost it....Seriously, boggles my mind that a guy with a PHD could be so out of wack...now if anyone knows about the fabric technique he was talking about, I'd like to know but I ejumacated him a bit on the finer points (ha, ha FINER as in THREAD!!) of textiles and prehistoric/medieval context. Then I sent him on to look at books...cause he asked.

Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber.
5,000 Years of Textiles by J. Harris
Prehistoric Textiles by EJW Barber

Yeah, need to start working on this class and I do think Estrella would be a great place for this to preview at....yup.

So here is the list thus far..need to more for the general class....just can't quite put my finger on the last 2...btw, I'm teaching 10 Books Every SCA Person Should Own and this is the general for everyone list...I'll have other lists for specifics but this is the everyone list. Any suggestions? I thought I had asked this before but I can't find the post.

1. Sara Thursfield. Medieval Tailor’s Assistant: Making Common Garments 1200-1500. Costume and Fashion, Press 2001.

2. Theophilus. On Divers Arts: The Foremost Medieval Treatise on Painting, Glassmaking, and Metalwork. Trans. John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith. Dover Publications, 1979.

3. Marc Drogin. Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique. Dover Publications (1989)

4. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies. A Complete Guide to Heraldry. Gramercy (1993)

5. Cindy Renfrow. Take a Thousand Eggs or More: A Translation of Medieval Recipes from Harliean MS 279, Harliean, MS 4016 and Extracts. C. Renfrow 1997

6. David Edge and John Miles Paddock. Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages. Crescent (1993).

7. Geoff Egan. Dress Accessories c. 1150- c.1450. Bydell Press (2002).

8. Greta Arwidsson. The Mästermyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland. Larson Publications (2000).

Work was...well work. I managed to get a few things done and others started. The CM group is instituting a new process of review before the CN gets to the actual review. I'm reminded of Meet the Robinsons and the frog and the dino when they say "I have a big head and little arms, has this plan been thought all the way through?"

Got home tired but I got things packed up for the class and then get more things packed up for the trip. This is such a hard thing to pack for since 1)I've never been to this type of workshop and 2)its not the normal SCA or crafty stuff that I'm packing. But I got most of it I think. I guilted mel into getting us pizza and then enjoyed way to much of it, he got my back resettled and then I loaded up the car and headed to arts night in my "scruffy" viking. (its one of my more comfy linen ensembles which is good for teaching and doing dishes in). I had awesome help getting things set up for my class and we got 9 people making banners. We had all of the dye on by 9pm and things were loaded in my car by 930pm. All good. I got home, finished packing all of the toiletries and clothes, drank a beer and stayed up to wind down while watching CSI and Ghost Hunters. The ghost episode was kinda freaky. They had a FLIR image that they couldn't debunk. o_O

So, I work until noon, run three errands and then we pack and leave for CA. Its gonna be fun I hope plus its a weekend of doing stuff that isn't medieval for once...though it is medieval-ish for arts.