My manager is out sick yesterday and today and its been quite and I buckled the heck down and rocked out on lots of paperwork which includes change papers and engineering justification memos on why we are changing things. Lots of work etc.

Linnet came down with Lice so scribble was cancelled which meant that I was able to get working on crwon clothes earlier. Wander was over and with her awesome spatial skills I got the neckline completely worked, squared up and sewn. She worked some magic since I'd cut the front and back panels off a bit and I hand finished everything on the sleeves and the neckline. The trim was gift from Chani while we were crown and I had *just* enough to do what I wanted.





So tonight while the boy is in the shower I'll get the sleeves attached to the gores/gussets and then get that sewn onto the dress. Then I will do the hem and I hope I have enough bias tape left over from my last binge of making it to finish it. Its going to be close.

I also got the trim laid out with Mel's opinion on choices.



So looking positive to finish by Wednesday night which will be great. Then Thursday can be cutting out things for Zatanna and packing for crown. still gonna be a lot of late nights.

( To Do List )

When last I wrote I was frantically getting ready for crown. It just seemed like everything was falling into place but not at the pace I would have liked. I had a crazy idea to make a dress on Thursday night and well, I consulted my tweeps and they all said it was crazy talk so I sat and had ice cream and went to bed early.

Oh, Benton had an incident report on Thursday from bonking his orbital on a table when his chair went out from under him during an art project. He got really scraped up and a slight black eye from it.

The trip up was really good and we hit Flagstaff for a late lunch at "The Place" and then did some antiquing. Mel only bought one tool and we had a nice time. Got checked into our hotel, I need to remember that the flagstaff holiday inn express has smaller rooms than I'm used to...still nice but small. Benton was getting into everything which is normal but man does he have a thing for electrical cords. Gah!

We relaxed and then headed out for dinner at the Beaver Street Brewery. I then noticed that my taste buds were not working well...probably sinus related from being higher up. The bear didn't taste right to me and I ended up drinking lager which is not normal for me. The food was good and little boy stuffed himself on chicken strips and fruit and then nommed happily on fruit cobbler with me. Mel stuffed himself on sausage and all things German. We got back to the hotel and put Benton to bed which involved him crying for 15 mins since we "ignored" him. After he fell asleep we watched "Where's Perry" Part 2 from Phineas and Ferb and then it was to bed. I was tired but I had a hard time falling asleep.

The morning dawned a bit earlier than we expected with Benton waking up just before 7am. We got dressed and headed to breakfast. I <3 the HIX cinnamon rolls. Then it was back upstairs for showers and getting ready for the event. While mel was in the shower Benton was walking across the bed to the end table and didn't realize there was a gap between the bed and the endtable and smack his head in the same spot as Thursday. There was blood and screaming and now my kid looked even more like a prize fighter. We got to site just a bit later than planned but it was okay since the tent was just starting to go up. The rain from the previous day made things a bit muddy. Keeping little boy out of the muck was going to take some doing. Mud just seems to make him happy.

Banners were unfurled and we got Hrafnheim setup nicely. Then we waited. The morning took way too long with court and the processional and then finally the challenges so fighting could begin. Benton was put down for a nap by Ari after Grimmr had followed him all over site while he was carrying mel's spare sword as you can see in this Picture. He's such a cutie!

In the end Ivan made it to the semi's and was taken out by the guys who were in the finals. We had some issues with Benton waking up not feeling good and having a screaming baby while trying to take care of your fighter made things stressful for me. Thankfully my household is made of awesome and they dealt with diapers and kiddo and let me do my thing. I did end up holding onto benton during mel's final bought since he would not let anyone but me hold him without screaming. This became a theme for the rest of the weekend.

Just as the finals were announced the sky opened up with rain. I was very, very happy I had the forethought to pack our raven cloaks and to pack benton's sweater and hat. I think Lady Adelicia de Clare took some cute photos of us. Hopefully we will see them soon. Though with how Benton was doing mel and I are thinking of getting him a sitter for crown in march dependent on where it is.

By the time we got to the hotel on Saturday night it was bathtime for the boys and I was pretty exhausted. I managed to drive us to the Alpha/Omega Greek restaurant and that was about it. I was so brain dead. Mel was not surprised since being consort is a very mental thing to be helpful but not distracting to the fighter. We had a nice dinner and then home for Benton to head to bed and we had a few beers and ate chocolates before bed for us.

I slept good minus waking up at 1am to Benton screaming in his sleep. We got him his elephant and his binky and he was back to normal. We got up on Sunday and got things moving really well. Benton wasn't too hungry but he'd stuffed himself on pancakes the night before so I was not surprised. We got to site and surveyed the damage from the rain which wasn't too much.

The day progressed pretty well. Benton was very much in the "must have mommy" mode and I really wanted to just sit and chat with people and just meandered around with him. We got our "camp" struck while the final parts of the tourneys were happening and had everything in cars before it started sprinkling. Closing court was quick and then we got changed and then headed out. I was feeling weird and mel made me eat a sandwich while he drove us down the mountain. We had lots of stoopid on the way to phx. People pulling out in front of us. People driving dumb...about the sanest thing we saw was a mazda miata hauling a trailer with two jet skis on it. seriously.

I decided when looking at the time and knowing what time we'd get to tucson that we needed to stop for dinner so we got off and went to IKEA. Sweden for dinner was lovely. We found out that benton LOVED the meatballs (we made sure to buy some) and we had a nice time walking around and stretching the legs and Benton got a break from napping in the car and he ate really well which was what we wanted him to do.

I then drove us home while mel talked with his mom. His grandmother (who in the last month lost her husband) was in the hospital. Lots of planning discussions were done and that was good. I was getting pretty tired by the time we got home but I got Benton into a bath (with mel's help) but he wasn't happy about it. Oof. We got everything put away and then just collapsed on the couch from exhaustion with each of us having a beer in hand.

The thing is...I'm still tired. Its wednesday and I've been tired all of the day and going to bed early and sleeping lots and well, I'm still tired. I think part of it is just the relaxation from the stress of crown and now I think I'm trying to come down with something sinusy. We shall see. I'm taking it easy and just relaxing and trying to get enough sleep.

Thursday work was absolutely crazy. I've gotten put onto an emergency issue and I realized I got chosen for this so I could tell the program "No, you smoke crack". Seriously. Yes, I'm probably being a bit conservative but its better safe than sorry where my job is concerned and its for the greater good of the hardware and the user schedule be damned. Anyhoo, got home in a rush on thursday night, plus a huge storm I drove in to get the boy. Got stuck at daycare while it blew over and then finally home. I had enough time, barely to get the boy settled, bottles washed and prepped and me fed before we headed out to go to house practice at the dojo.

This was the first time I'd picked up a stick/helmet since I believe, GULP, gulf wars. Yeah, I suck. I spent a bit yesterday looking for reference to me fighting past then and I couldn't. If I didn't talk about it in my journal, I guess it didn't happen. Which is sad in some respects. Tourney fighting is by no means my favorite but it is a big thing with the culture here in Atenveldt. I know I can get better and training is where we can do that. What I had not expected though was how my body was so out of shape for stances etc. I was kinda shocked, mel was too when I told him, how much my core and hips hurt. I've been working out since I got back to work but what I have been doing while good is not a good analog to getting my body back in fighting shape after a baby at least where my core is concerned. Everything I have been doing have not been a lot of twisting movements and I now need to work the obliques in that way. Plus, even years of martial arts have given me the ability to have a good stance but since the baby my hip shape (tilt, spread etc) have changed and that was a bit disconcerting to me. I thought I knew where I was placing things and they weren't where I thought. So, when I got home I was in pain and very fragile. Plus, Benton was crabby and I know that I will have to get a sitter for him during practice since I was too distracted checking on him during drills to really give it my all. Lesson's learned and that is okay. Just need to get Loralei on board for Thursday babysitting for a few hours twice a month.

So, friday dawned and I had things I had to get done before we left for town. I managed to get things going and we were out the door on the way to Prescott by 1045am. Our drive up was good and mel let me sew on my dress on the way. I got everything sewn on except the trim and the final strap since I needed to try it on to get the strap length correct. I ended up having to piece the strap together since my first strap was too short but it was all good. We tooled around downtown Prescott and hit some neat shops and the local yarn store before hitting up the Prescott Brewing Co for dinner. I had the lovely prime rib special. OMG. I have not had a steak that good since I left SD. It was better than Morton's in Chicago. Got back to the hotel and I worked on my dress. Mel was in rare form and was relentlessly picking on me. Sighs. Too much or too little beer in his system...not sure which (lol).

I got the dress finished up just at 10pm and then I got ready for bed and couldn't fall asleep. I had a really, really hard time. I finally drifted in and out of sleep but I'm pretty sure I only got a few hours and none of it was sequential. Benton was sleeping too deeply and I had to keep checking on him to make sure he was breathing. (Paranoid mom). Benton woke up with some coughing but he ate really good and we headed to the breakfast down stairs. I luv Holiday Inn. I luv their continental breakfast and we fueled ourselves up and then headed back up to the room to shower and change for the event.

I still haven't seen any photos of the weekend yet otherwise I'd show off the new dress and I was in "taking care of my fighter and son" mode all day Saturday so I didn't even think to pull my camera out for someone else to snap our pictures. I know there were tons of cameras going...so if anyone has links to pictures please comment below.

Last weekend mel had a really good day fighting and it got his head into the fight. This weekend he did just as well. He semi'd which is the second time he has done that and he lost to Craven who won the tournament. You can't ask for better than that...well, except winning the whole thing but honestly he's just coming back from being out for 6 weeks and us being crown for the first Estrella with a date move and a site move sounds like more work than we intended for a first time. I'm happy, he's happy and I'm really glad its Craven and Elzbieta...they will do a great job. Mel had some of his best fights I had seen. His fight with craven was lively and nail biting. I can't wait to see the video of it if it was captured. Again, if anyone has links please comment below.

Benton was okay during the day. He was warm and not wanting to nap much. I left him in the care of Ari and Loralei a few times so I could watch the tourney or handle a few things but he was just not wanting to miss anything. We got back to the hotel and got showers before heading with the rest of the house to the brewery. It was way too long of a wait for food. I guess next time we all need to put in separate table reservations cause it got messy. But we finally got seated and then got drinks and food. Benton fell asleep just before food and that was good.

Saturday night we all fell asleep just after 10pm and then we all woke up at 130am. Benton was coughing and then mel and I lay awake for a while. I'm still not sure what was up but I think I was just not comfy. We slept in a bit on Sunday morning but we got moving and checked out and to site on time. I had to run the artisan's display. Pictures are here. I'm still putting in descriptions and left my entry sheet at home.

Lady Caoilfhionn won all 3 prizes. She is such a talented lady. I sat and listened to her talk about her arts the entire display as she spoke with folks who came to see it. I taught arsenda how to knit and in general I had a good time. Benton was again a bit hot and not liking his teeth. We gave him some tylenol and that seemed to settle him in the afternoon and mel got him to take a nap for about and hour. After court we packed up with lots of help and then headed home. Mr. Benton fussed until we got onto the interstate and later we should have realized it was cause the sun was hitting him. He got a bit sun burnt from his mirror and I feel pretty bad about it. He wasn't the worse for wear, wasn't ouchy about it or anything...just pink. We got him home and got him a cool bath and lots of lotion.

I was so tired on Sunday night that I don't even remember falling asleep...just waking up to the alarm and snuggly kitties. The girls missed us and butterfly got reminded that she was not the alpha cat. They were both uber snuggly.

Well, that is the weekend. I'll hopefully have more pictures and things to link to later.