So Friday was long but I got things done for work...not enough but a large chunk. I then relaxed while the boys headed to kung fu. Mel was teaching since Paul was taking Skylar to a beach sanda tournament. I then got into less shlubby clothes to head to Kon Tiki with the girls. Erika was home for a bit, Ari just closed on her house and we needed some girl time. I ate too much and drank the right amount, hit At Home on the way home and found a spoopy glow in the dark skull. I was in bed early and didn't hear mel get up on Saturday but managed to get us all out the door on time. I felt bad that mel loaded all of the heavy stuff but made sure we had help to get things going since our folks were late. Mel was grumpy and tired. I was tired and a bit stressed just cause of things but we got setup and ready. It was also bloody hot and we had subterfuge to do. Wander arrived with Poe/Dominique and that was nice.

So a few weeks before we had been told there were going to drive-by our Count Thomas and with so little time to prepare we did a bit of fun to get his cloak and Ari was awesome and did a wonderful laurel wreath for the top of his cloak. Much thanks to MAgdalen for helping get the cloak and my super sneakyness for putting a note on the list that we needed the royal peers of the house would be hearing from Magdalen to pick up their cloaks for embellishment. Ha! But we were nervous and waiting and there were other peerages that day. But it all went off without a hitch and he was gobsmacked. He had no idea it was happening and taht is the best. I hate drive-bys but this worked really well. The other driveby Mel spoke at for Sir Thorin and that had some drama which I think I've finally hit my point with a certain peer and will be having a discussion. Don't break the fucking rules.

Anyhoo, it was hot, court was long with 3 peerages and then the weather started to move in. Its monsoon season and the south Eastern part of AZ is lush green right now. But that means rain daily. The wind picked up and I'm glad at that point Wander was done with the heat and Fiona took her home. They managed to get caught in that storm on the way home while we only had wind and then a very nice drop in temperature. I relaxed a bit once that happened and we moved cars closer. Chatted with folks, planned some things. Also, talking with Poe she will be my student. So we shall need to plan when that will happen. She needs some shoves in the right direction cause she has the skills and now its going to be to make them more period for the art.

We did not stay for closing court cause by that time I was done. I'm sad we missed the offers of MOD and Chivalry to 2 of our local folks. My head was aching and my allergy meds were stopping working. All that green made me itchy as well. We managed home without issue. Got unloaded, including me help getting the tent etc unloaded to the porch and then I got a shower after Benton. He had had a wonderful day of shooting archery and then the kids had a huge boffer battle behind the royal tent. So he had fun and didn't grumble about helping with setup. He got all of the benches moved and assembled and the table up before going off to do teenager things. But he was allergy snuffly and sore when we got home.

I've been feeling off I guess but not sure why. Got my uranalysis back and it was all abnormal and then the culture positive. So I need to call the doc today and see what I need to do. I either have a UTI, a kidney stone or something else. This could explain the back pain I had in SD and here and the general malaise? I dunno. I just know I need to slow down on the alcohol thing so I'm trying...but ugh. So we shall see. Just surprised honestly.

So yeah that was a weird thing to find out on Sunday.

Anyhoo. We all went to bed early on Saturday night. I was zonked. I never heard mel get up on Sunday morning and was up about 830-9am. I was still tired but bladder and coffee said get up. I played animal crossing and had fun for a few hours before I headed out back to SE AZ to pick up my coworker's daughter to get her to the airport. Bob had his knee replaced and his daughter was visiting. So I was a good friend and got to see his farm, meet the doggos, see the chickens and the horse barney and meet his fiance. Plus had a nice time chatting with the daughter who was 10 we first started working and she's now a junior in high school. So it was a fun drive back (Highway 83 is fun to drive in a sporty car). Got her dropped off and then home and I was exhausted. the boys hadn't even gotten out of pjs all day. But Benton had cleaned his room and we had a nummy pasta dinner (thank you honey) and then they played video games and I took an early shower and went to bed early again.

I slept hard and was still so tired when I got up and have had weird twinges of pain and now the burning sensations...so yeah at least a UTI, maybe kidney stones, maybe kidney infection...we shall see. Fun times but at least that would explain the tired...cause man I can sleep for a week.

On the chicken front I finished sewing the small black one for bob, and the crocheting of 2 squares for the toxic one for Graham at work. The Hrafn ladies helped me pick things out for a big ESC for Blossom and I cast that one but have been just beat so its still on the first part of teh tail. Hoping to have some energy tonight we shall see. A lump in bed is really sounding good.

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.

This week is the first 5 day week I've worked in quite some time. Yes I know woe is me. But due to the 9/80 schedule and the holiday its been like 4 day weeks and then a 3 day and now this week and ugh. Plus things are dull...not horribly dull but ugh. So much paperwork I could really not care less about but I have to do it.

I'm losing my deputy at work which I figured was going to happen this year but its still going to be a burden. Le sigh. Things are slow for right now but its still going to suck. And I'll miss Bob. He and I worked really well together. But he needs to have a position like mine and that is what he is going to do. The nice thing is he gets to have one of our former team members as part of his team so that will be a familiar face.

I ended up getting some nice time last night and cooked dinner of shrimp and grits. This time we actually had bacon for me to do it right. It was so good.

I did finish a book
39) The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

I need to figure out what I'm going to read next. I do have a bunch of fic to read.

The blanket squares I'm almost done with the third one and I should be able to finish them by the weekend I hope and then I can start with seaming them into the corners of the blanket. I need to do some research to find the best method for that today. So many options though for most of them I need to have a SC edge around the other part I'm seaming which I don't right now. So I will have to do that first I think.

Zipper Method

Invisible Seam

Zigzag

I woke up yesterday with 11 new bug bites and the swelling and itching was so awful I took some benedryl at lunch and then lost the afternoon to sleep and I was still itching. Like nothing worked. Ugh. No idea what bit me and not my hubby but its probably a spider. Ugh. I'm going to wash bedding today even though I just did that over the weekend. So I'm woozy and tired and itchy and ugh today. I'm going to skip the gym cause reasons which makes me mad but I just want to crawl in bed.

I did finish my book:
37) Thrown of Fire by Rick Riordan

Now do I start the latest October Daye novel that has been on my phone for 10 days or do I pick up the 3rd book in the above series and read that to finish things out and then go into October Daye. I have a 3 day weekend. Hmmmm. Decisions.

I'm working on the corners for the big blanket and I'm still getting a skew in the design. I need to see what I can do to fix that. It has something to do with the triple post crochet things and looking up, yes I'm messing those up so the first square is turning out woobly. But I think a good steam block and it will be fine.

Friday was getting the old futon we cleaned out of the house to my coworker for his daughters sewing room. woot! We did a bit of shopping and then home to play with a new standing lamp. Which did not fit where we wanted but I move a few more of them around and it worked in another place.

Then I was busy around the house picking stuff up and putting things away etc and doing I'm not sure what. Honestly I can' t remember but I didn't sit down much and I was running around the house a lot and also working on a crochet project. Mel was busy in the shop but went to get Ben, I hit costco for things we needed for the weekend and then it was home for left overs for dinner. Ben had had a really good week and we watched some tv.

Mel and I sat up way too late watching Young Justice but that was okay. I got up at just before 6 and packed the car to head to 12th night, got Domnall and then headed to Ari's. We packed things in her car and were on the road to the event on the NW side of Phx. We arrived at 930am and kibitzed with people. It was cooler than I expected but snuggled up in my Hrafn cloak it was all good. Domnall got troll setup and Ari (dressed as the White Witch from Narnia) went to Laurel's circle. I worked on the crochet project and got to a point where I realized the stuffing was in another bag in the car so I pulled out a knitting project. The "men" were confused by me switching projects mid-circle. Sorry guys gotta keep my hands busy. But it was a good circle and there was laughter and mirth and some good discussions. Got done and then handled some good arts business with the Kingdom MOAS. She got the taste of stern but helpful peer. And got the Hrafnheim/BTY laurelate opinion on the competitions and what we need to do to fix them which is dust off and nuke from orbit and try again in a few years after we've gotten folks into making things and have a good time.

Got to sit court and eat a wonderful spread that Ari and I brought. Took care of Dom since he was stuck at Troll and chatted with public_shaylan and Bran. Good times. Throughout all of the afternoon I chatted with folks and worked on the crochet project which I finished. A cute bunny for Baby Cora Jade.



The pattern is fiddly but I like it. Then I worked on the baby hat which is the Moochi by Woolywormhead for another baby, Miss Virginia Anne. We left about the time they were going to start serving feast and headed to Uncle Bear's Brewery for booze and noms. So tasty.

We got home just about 10pm and I got home, unloaded, unloaded the cooler and then immediately took a shower and then parafin waxed my hands. Mel's been restoring his early 1800s Canadian Production Wheel and its a lot of hand scraping to get the old finishes off and well, I've been crocheting or knitting too much so yes, hands better. And then I collapsed into bed. Mel was amused but understood me being tired.

We got up early again the next day for war practice/polling. I woke up poorly but drugs and coffee helped that tremendously. Got to the event with more coffee and donuts for the household and then sat at court working on my knitting and then chatting with Mistress Cecilia in our tent for hours with other folks in the house. Benton was good and played around the tent or on the play ground with other kids. I finished the one hat and cast on another in the same pattern for another baby (as of yet unknown name/gender and still in uetero with their mama). But the first hat is cute and it needs a wash and block.




Polling was good and then it was the long slog for the knights circle to then have court. Sighs. The household packed everything up (we only had 2 men (a squire and a man at arms) and the ladies of the house did everything else. Sighs. But things were in the van minus the few benches we needed for evening court. Court ended a while later and Benton and I quickly jetted for home. I was done and tired and just wanted to not be outside. I was annoyed about a few things but oh well. Chatting with my apprentice made tings better.

Dinner was the most amazeballs pork ribs. That morning I had gotten the roaster out, poured in 2 bottles of Guinness and the then liberally applied Montreal Steak Seasoning and Garlic powder. I set the temperature to 275°F and we left for the day. I turned it off at 6pm. OMG! soo good. Mel had made some ramen the day before and we had a simple dinner of ramen and ribs. So good. Seriously. We are making that again.

Yesterday I finally made it back to the gym. I decided leg day was where the year needed to start and I did good. Didn't do squats since the room was full but I headed off to the leg press machines and switched off with another guy. Ran into some of my young engineers (we will all be at the gym at the same time Wednesday it looks like) but all good. I hit the treadmill and while I didn't over push I was amazed at how having working lungs helps with running. Seriously, my legs were pulling not my chest and that felt wonderful. Yay for a controller medicine.

I got home and Ben ahd his first Red day in a very long time. I think he was over tired from the weekend but we shall see. I had a quick bite to eat before heading to scribble where I got all of the names and did one full text for the awards for Sunday. Then I effed one up cause I tried to erase and it wasn't dry (headdesk). Then I headed (at 10pm) to Target for essentials like eggs and papertowels. le sigh but I got home and into the shower by 1045 so I call that good.

Today I'm feeling less sore than I expected but I'm sure tomorrow that will be different.

But all in all a good weekend though not doing anything I wanted to be doing like sleeping in and just hanging on the couch....oh well. I have to adult.

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 )

Work was dull. The drawing reviews I'm doing are tedious but necessary. I found the most ubiquitous note ever that had us laughing "Soldering shall be in accordance with applicable specification." So if the Barnam and Bailey Circus has a solder spec we could use that. Seriously. LOL. But by the time quitting time came I was toasty and my brain was soup.

Fought traffic to the knit shop, we had weather moving in again and while we were there the first pass blew through which took out power poles etc around town. Didn't loose power there or at home but things flickered. I got to show off my TDFleece spinning and the cat. I worked on the Chevron scarf that I blogged about Rule Number 3 breaking and its still effed up. But I'm making do. The comments from people on Ravelry also show that its effed up and the pattern writer is still being rude. I have about 2/3 of a second ball left and then will be done with it. I'm all about finishing old UFO's (unfinished objects).

Got done there and headed home. Mel was watching Minecraft stuff on youtube. I headed back to the studio and managed in 2 hours to get the second sleeve on the jacket, the armscye hem turned, the neckline tack stitched and all of the last of the fabric for the skirt ruffles cut out. I have no idea why I was so scared to cut into the sheer fabric. It was easy, just goes to show I don't trust my own abilities with things at times to the point of nerfing myself. Put everything away and stacked the fabric up for sewing tonight.


The trim is just laid around the neckline...not sure I will use that or something else yet.

Pile of fabrics for the ruffle booty!!!!


Weather was also nuts last night. I guess there were 61 mph winds at the base (1/2 mile from my house. crazy.

( To Do List )

Got a hold of the Doc for Ben and she is confused as we are on what the school is looking for. She is making the appointment for her being able to observe him and will help us through this. What I love about her is that she heard my brief on the concerns and then asked me how I was doing. I told her we were panicked which is true in many ways. I felt better and need to chat up her office today to see if she got a hold of the school for the meeting.

The day was long and I'm in between projects which doesn't help but I left about 5pm to head to meet Ari for sushi and knit night. When I arrived at Sakura I realized that Grandma's was closed due to them being out of town....so, just sushi for us. I got us a table in sniper position and got to watch the Tour de France. Our server was okay and our orders were slow but OMG the salmon melted in my mouth. We had a good time good food, drink and conversation. Then we headed to my house to work on things and watch the Tour wrap up. What a finish....first time in a long time the breakaway worked.

I spun the second ounce of the ramboulliet and then worked on the kitten for Julia's baby.





Ari attempted to cast on a shawl....it went poorly but comically. Then she got us hooked on Post Modern Jukebox" and Mel and I were up very late watching and listening to them. HOLY COW....I also got a plunnie (plot bunny) for a fic which I hope to get sussed out today as well. Seriously inspired. Darn you ARI!!!! (grin)

So got to bed way late but felt good for once and not too panicked. All good.

Work was work....I'm in the middle of some drafting mess and trying to fix things that the system has rejected. Yay fun. I was exhausted when I got to pick Ben up at the dojo....he'd had a good day and I made dinner of alaskan pollock burgers (thank you BOGO at costco) and brown sugar carrots. Ben liked the fish and the tortilla I served with it but did not like the carrots. Weird. I thought it was very tasty.

Got him a shower, texted for help to get cat litter from ashley since we were more than out...icky bathrooms are icky. Got Ben settled for bed, he read me the first page of the book we were reading (yay!) and settled myself in to watch Deadpool with Ashley and get projects done.

I managed to get Janelle's gift fully done (just needs a washing or 3) and got the gift for Brad done except for washing/felting. I'm really liking the elephant blanket. And now tonight will cast on for the ragdoll cat I'm making Julia for her podling.


We were up late and my side that has been killing me (pulled/knotted muscle in the back under the shoulder blade) wasn't any better after the shower. I forced myself to sleep on it to get it to stretch out after heat/biofreeze/ibuprofen and its still stiff to day but better.

Tonight will be knit night and i'm looking forward to seeing folks.

Thursday AM we left for the Fiber Retreat with Ashley going for her first time. We realized about half way through the drive that mel forgot the wheel to his spinning wheel which is hilarious in so many ways. We made good time getting to the Lake Arrowhead Ranch. Arrived at 345pm and traipsed around in the cool (to us AZ folks) mountain air. I took pictures of the beautiful purple flowers near the fountain which had a neato bee hanging in it.

We helped get things setup and people moved in for merchants etc. Settled in for dinner where I poisoned myself on the salad mix (effing kale). This was the first time I'd had raw kale before and well, it makes my lips numb and my tongue and throat swell. Awesome. Sighs. I read the labels on everything else....oh well. Lesson Learned. Stayed up chatting with folks and making sure that cayswan got settled from her car adventure up the mountain. Got to bed and snuggled down.

We got up around 8am or so. Benton was so happy to be up and attem' with his camp buddies. Ugh. Mel and Ashley hung with the dye pots all day and I ended up sitting in on an inspiration class taught by Ester (https://www.etsy.com/shop/BelleEstoile) and it was neat. I learned to use a new app to look at colors on photographs that I find neat/inspiring and then we talked about how we would create that feeling in textiles. It was neat and not something I would have taken as a class but I was sitting in the part of the lodge where the class was working on the present for the soon to be here Baby Wortman. Its turning out uber cute!

Benton had been hanging with Meadbhb (a young Irish girl was nannying for the event) and the other kiddos. He got to go swimming, see horses, play in the dirt, play with pinecones, color etc. He had a really good time with his retreat buddies.

I spun some denim colored wool that I got from To-ply (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Toplyfiberarts) and that spun beautifully after I let it sit in timeout on Friday night. I realized that Thursday night I had plyed up some yarn and then never switched whorls. Oops. Fixed that and then it spun like a dream for 3 bobbins. I need to ply that now to make it really awesome. Got to spin 1 whole bobbin of a red as well. So pretty.

Saturday I worked on teh baby project, spun and hung out near the dye pots putting in yarn that mel won at the raffle. Yes, he won yarn since he couldn't spin any....lol. Had a great time with that. Saturday night we got an archeological talk from Barb and that was faboo.

Hit the hot tub with Mel and Ashley and we did a run down of the event. Learned a bit, enjoyed time with friends we only see once a year and were envious that Barb has our resources for documentation on a first name basis. sighs.

Sunday we got up and moving and packing things and people up. I had to help back peoples cars down the twisty drive and I hate toyotas. Seriously. Ugh. Told Lynette that next year we are just hauling her stuff down....yuck.

But we got on the road at 1030 or 1045am and were in Tucson by 630pm. Stopped at Billy and Ashley's for dinner (homemade by Billy pasties!) and watched a monsoon come in. Got home, got the boy showered and tucked into bed but he was too wound up to sleep right away. He had napped in the car which was good.

We settled into things and then headed to bed. Mel was out about 10 seconds after his light went off. He drove from Indio all the way to Tucson. I had done the Tucson to Chiracao Summit on the way out and yeah. Tiring.

Today has been okay at work except that I either left my engineer's ring off or I have lost it at work today. Not sure. Very weird.


Pictures of the weekend - Click on the pic to go to the album.