I am burnt out...last week was very hard to get through mentally but now I'm looking at 3 days of work left for the year and then I'm off until January 4th. I so need that time. I've been using my bujo for things not very pretty but for simple lists of things to do for the week. i had 8 things on that list last week and I got through 5.5 of them which I thought was pretty good. But I prepped from one of those items over the weekend which is shipping stuff out today after my dentist appointment.

I was able to relax and sleep and I finished my shawl which has been bothering me that its been not done. I have a fun knitting project I want to do before xmas. I also did all of the wrapping of things I had in the house for xmas and Benton and I got the tree decorated. It was a week after we got the tree up and things have been slow but its been nice and the tree looks really good. Very simple in some ways and I like it.



I've been reading a lot of fan fic and that is also okay. There was a big deluge of fics for Stucky fandom and I've been really enjoying things. I'm almost done with the Iron Druid book and hope to finish that this week.

I'm really looking forward to vacation. Mel is done tomorrow. I'm done Wednesday. Benton is done Thursday at noon. It will be nice. I can then get some effort into the my CCC due to just being busy with holiday prep. My studio was filled with boxes of stuff to be wrapped and that is now gone minus the stocking stuffers and things I need to ship this week.

I've been really happy with my advent calendar from Black Oak Workshop and its been really cool to see that my interpretation of the ghosty on the second set of dice looked like the the ghosts from scooby doo and my dice on the 13th was a scooby colored D20 with the 1 being "Ruh Roh" on it. I died. So fun.

There used to be a segment on an old podcast called KIPing it Real which was "Guess Who is Crazy" and well it seems to be me...but its getting better. The Franchise bomb project is progressing really well. Hrafnheim just rocks my socks. Seriously. I had this idea and they are working towards it and its gonna be awesome. Its also been a big morale/camaraderie booster that is also good. Friday night we had a stitch and movie night and about 1030 miss Kissa stands up and goes and makes us from scratch scones. OMG. The bad part of friday was that I poisoned myself on pizza. The jalapenos that Dominos uses are coated in sulfites. By Saturday I was miserable but I didn't put it together until way late. Sunday was busy with me making carrot cake for the house meeting to celebrate Charmaine's bday and for me to have cake on my bday.

Little boy had a few bumps on Sunday. The first was my fault when I was changing him I let him crawl away with his pants round his ankles and he stood up took a few steps and then crashed head first into the tile. Later he was being all daredevilish and was climbing in and out of a little shopping cart of Holly's and he managed to pitch sideways (not the direction any of us expected him to fall) and then cracked himself in the same spot as before on the train table. Oof. Talk about feeling like a bad parent. But these things happen and as our pediatrician stated if a one-year old doesn't come in with a bruise on the noggin somewhere they aren't playing correctly. LOL.

By the end of Sunday I was still feeling like crap and mentally I was just exhausted. Plus my allergies were kicking my butt. I woke up on Monday and just called in. I was so tired and my head was pounding like a bass drum so I stayed in bed until 9am or so and then read until almost 11am before finally emerging from the bedroom to get breakfast/brunch. I made some phone calls and then relaxed which was what I needed. I got a chiro adjustment and then got my free eyebrow wax since it was my bday and then came home and cleaned my house. Not all of it but it was way better. Still lots to do and our 24hour home improvement project on Friday will hopefully help with the mess of stuff just cluttering the place. We are going to be cleaning and re-orging the storage room with new shelves and pitching stuff. We have things that need new homes and that is part one. The project after that is to mount the TV on the wall and get a new place to put all of the DVD's. We also need to redo some bookcases and just get rid of some clutter. As you can see the house is making me crazy(er) and its time to do things about it.

So monday was a sick/home day and it was good to sleep (omg that was wonderful) and then spend time to myself and just clean the house. I know silly to clean your house on your own birthday but it made me happy so neener. Got the house all ready for scribble and while mel was cleaning up the kitchen I got the boy and then got us dinner. I had been good on eating and portions and I wanted 5 Guys for my bday dinner. Got us all food (benton got a grilled cheese) and we had a nice dinner. The boys had cake and I waited until the girls arrived for scribble to have some with some of the new open nature greek froyo...so good. Then I worked on my scroll commission and got it onto tracing paper and then traced it onto the paper. All good.

Tuesday was back at work and I got immersed in my project so much some one scared the crap out of me when they touched my shoulder...oof. But its starting to go together. I need to get that particular piece of paperwork ready for review for next week so I have to hustle but still be uber accurate. Tough score to settle there.

Tonight I'm heading up with the Hrafncrew to fight in the Novice tourney. (I'm not a novice but they do have a non-novice section, I realize I've been SCA fighting off and on for 13 years.) I got my shield finished up last night after a lot of hassle. Mel was kind enough to cut the new handle to fit in the hole in the shield...the problem is the hole in the boss was smaller and I needed to remove .25-.375" worth of material on either side of the handle to get the boss to fit on the shield. Needless to say I did not know what saw I should use and ended up using a file to file my way to perfection and I got the shield done at 10pm. Still needs to have the edging trimmed and the bolts holding the boss and handle trimmed flush to the nuts. Luckily my old armor repair kit still had everything I needed in it but it was still a late night but I'm ready to fight tonight and just need to get out of work on time and head home and do a quick change and pack.

But now to the ickiness of my paperwork slog. Lots of drawings and details that have to be documented. Good thing I'm good at that.

Well, its been almost a WEEK since my last post but well, its been lots of work on the work front. We had an issue that came up on thursday that is HOT and well, that is what I've been working. The phrase for this week is MIL-TFD-41 which is not a mil-standard but an acronym. It means MAKE IT LIKE THE FUCKING DRAWING FOR ONCE! GAH! Seriously. It peeves me that we do good work on the engineering side but people can't follow assembly planning. Lame but true.

So, I had to work hard to figure out if their screw up is okay for our hardware. This time we got lucky and its okay but I don't like justifying stuff built wrong. Grump. But I got to dust off my analysis hat and that is good. It was getting kinda dirty anyway.

So, in the last week we've moved scribe_ari to her new house, got new carseats for Benton, had halloween. Mr. Benton did really well with the moving and special thanks to Mel and Maddie. Maddie for watching the boyo during the last slogs.

For Halloween Mr. Benton was a triceratops and we hit two places on our cul-de-sac. Unfortunately, not many folks were participating (3 houses including us) and that was lame. Plus its moon dark so it was very dark out and no houses at the start of our street had their lights on. So we only got 15 kids or so. Lots of good costumes though. So, here is the cuteness:


I've worked so much this week that I'm so looking forward to sleeping in in the morning. We then have Benton's helmet checkup and then will drop him off at daycare so we can go to Mingo's retirement ceremony at the base.

Saturday we will be day tripping coronation and then Sunday will be a big push to finish things for Southern. I have to make a fighting tunic and I hope to get everything else packed up for us...so we shall see how that goes.

Wow, I guess I haven't posted in a week but its been a busy week. When last we left this journal it was christmas eve. ( Read more... )

When last I wrote it was Monday. A lot has happened since then. I worked Monday and Tuesday and I took Wednesday off. Tuesday night I managed to get a few pies done. When mel came home from fighter practice he was so happy to smell pie coming out of the oven. We ended up going to bed late and I didn't sleep well at all. Which was a trend for most of the last week. I've been getting some lower leg pain after a few hours of sleep and not being comfortable really makes not sleeping the norm. Sighs. I woke up on Wednesday completely groggy and hurting in lots of places. I did not have a good morning and had lots of fail with the coffee maker and a door on a cabinet. I ended up with a two hour nap in the middle of the day which made things better but I was still beat. I had intended to hit knit night but between getting pies done, public_shaylan getting into town and picking up czochalski and her hubby. But by the end of the day on Wednesday I was beat. It was good to have family and friends at the house for the holiday. Everyone made it a good day even though I wasn't feeling very good. Though mel was feeling worse than I was...his tummy wasn't happy and that is no good on a big eating day. Poor guy. Had a great breakfast at Joe's on Thursday am and then food at american_knight's house. Lots of fun and crafting going on. We left in the early evening and just sat around enjoying folks's company at home. We all hit the bed about 11pm or so but I was restless and didn't sleep well again. I almost got up at 3am to just head out into the mess but realized that I wasn't really prepared and it was cold.

Friday we ended up getting folks moving around and working on projects or just hanging out by 10am or so. The girls and I managed to head out to joann's and trader joes before I was wiped out and needed a nap. I slept for a while and it was good to snuggle and rest and I felt much better after it. Made a nice nutritious dinner for us that evening and we hung out and chatted until about 10pm or so. Very nice night. I slept way better on friday night too and that helped.

Nate, Leslie, Mel and I headed out to the zoo on Saturday morning to get some good walking in and to show them some Tucson sites. Mel up with Ed and Candace and had a really nice time. Though I could tell that I'm getting less energy per day now. Wow, I was tired. Dropped Leslie and Nate off at the airport and then headed out to the college crewe thanksgiving dinner. Had a really nice time of food and really bad movies. I managed to work on my shawl and chat with the girls and just relax. Abu has an awesome house and a wonderful loveseat that both reclines and rocks. Wow, very comfy. I was beat by the time we left and mel drove us home. Got home and I think I made it just to about 10pm when I went to bed. Mel stayed up playing video games and I again slept pretty good. Got up on Sunday and mel got up a bit later to head out to bike with Ed and Matt. They had a good time and I got the house picked up a bit and showered before he got back and then I headed out to a day of shopping.

I was fruitful that I found gifts for folks but I was not fruitful for things I needed like an easy fix for my grill. I also didn't find sweaters for pregger girls that I liked until my last two stops but now I have sweaters to get me through the winter nicely and they are cute and got the hubby stamp of approval. I did manage to pamper my self at Ulta with a quick eyebrow touchup and got a pretzel at Wentzels (damn craving) but I really needed to pick up more stuff. The check out guy at old Navy made my day and I told him so. He could tell he had a tired shopper, was very courteous and was awesome by giving me the secret 20% gap exclusive for the day. It made my purchases cheap and the bag he gave me still gets 20% off for the rest of the week. I see a few more presents for mel and Rob. But by the time I left the mall I was weary and I really should have stopped by target but I wanted to be home.

Mel spent the day in the shop and when I got things home, I took a tea break and then got the christmas tree up. it looks good and is ready for the train to be assembled and for the presents to get under it. I just need to wrap stuff. We enjoyed pizza for dinner and watching tv snuggled up on the couch. I got sent to bed after I fell asleep but it was a good day though frustrating at times.

Monday was busy at work and cold. The building didn't have any residual heat from the bodies it usually has and all of the computers were shut down...so I spent most of the day with my hat on and a sweater. Got done and then headed out to target for the last of the items on my list for there. Ran into dverning and that was nice to have some company while I got things. Though I really should have been hunting for Mason and Faye's xmas presents too but I figure mel and I can work on that this weekend. Got home and mel had turned the furnace on and the house already felt better. He'd had a rough day with the dentist and a busy work day. He's getting his second crown out of 3 but luckily this one did not result in a root canal like the last one. We had a simple dinner and then picked up the house in time for scribble. I tried to scribble but I would have had to move things to get to my paints and I was tried so I sat with my feet up, afghan on lap and a cat and worked on my mom's present. Seriously behind on the xmas presents. The girls had a good time and the pie has been further devoured and we all luv Top Gear. I should have gone to bed earlier but got sucked into my project and mel is now on orders to send me to bed when I'm that tired. I slept okay but I really didn't want to get up this morning even though the house was warmer. But I got out the door and was only in about 10mins past start time. It was 27° when I got to work, not sure what it was at the house but it was cold.

Well, my plan is to hit the gym and old navy after work and then be home to put away laundry and work on mom's project. I also plan on being in bed on time. We shall see if that works cause it really needs to be sleeping more. I also need to see if I can get an after hours appointment with Glenn for Wednesday or an on hours for Friday. I hope to get a massage this weekend too to see if that helps with things but I can definitely tell that podling is starting to suck my energy out of me very quickly. Well, thats the breaks I guess. I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow so I suppose its time to have things start slowing down. I just hope that the sniffles I've had today are from the cold air and the pollution level versus a cold...that would suck.

Well, not that I finished anything yesterday but I made progress on lots of stuff.

Got to work around the house while mel was out shopping. I got ricotta made, more banners steamed and then headed out to grandma's to pick up some yarn for mel's water bottle cozy. Got some luscious silk merino kettle dyed yarn and when I got home we balled up the yarn and I cast on. Luckily Ari came over to drop off something and showed me how to put things on dpns (double pointed needles) and I worked away. Also had a visit from Thyra who insisted that we open our gifts. Mel got a saw till, I got yarn and a neato crochet hook set (ergo awesome) and richard got a ryobi router table. Much fun was had. Then weave_dancer was over to drop off stove pipe for the steamer and we got the last banner wrapped up and ready to steam. The 4x4 banners required mods to my steamer and I'll hopefully get those steaming tomorrow...maybe tonight. We shall see how handy the boys are.

It was a busy night and I worked on Tati's gift...today needs to be lasagna making, work on Tati and Richard's gifts and getting the house ready for public_shaylan. All good. Plus I need to figure out pies. Cause tomorrow AM will be pie baking. All good.

TO DO
. Make Mustard
. New fighting coat
. New fighting Tunics
. 3 new hangerocks for Estrella
. Shanda's prezzies
. Get stuff for fruit cakes
. make fruit cake
. print xmas letter and do cards
. Richards prezzie
. Steam banners (89 total: 6 steamed, 1 in process, 2 waiting)
. Make Ricotta
. Make lasagna
. Make PIE

So, I was uber busy all day today. I wasn't even at my desk from 945-145pm and then not back at it until after 3pm...but I managed to complete a lot of stuff today and got some engineering through that needed to be. It was AWESOME!!

I did not get a chance to say good bye to everyone I wanted to but it worked out that Twila's neighbor chatted me up at the end of the day which means I was able to hand off her project and get it to her tonight at her Bunko night. SWEET!

Got home, took pictures of mom's project before I shipped it and Dad/Mary's gift out too. I realized this afternoon and yesterday afternoon that I <3 my iphone. yesterday I ordered my salad from chipotle while in macy's over the app and just walked in and picked it up and went to knit night..no waiting in line or anything. Today I was able to check my ravelry queue for a yardage and yarn for a project and check my kodak shipment to see what sizes of picts I ordered for gifts that I needed frames for...all while on the phone, standing in stores. Its very nice.

So, its the end of my work for the year and now to finish up xmas gifts and relax and sleep, alot. I'm gonna clean up and push to get some much needed sewing done tomorrow before saturday's big silk day. Its a way bigger than I had intended but that means the knowledge will be spreading out nicely and its all the kewl kids so its gonna be fun. I think putting in all of firefly will be part of the day to add to the fun. We shall see.

I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in tommorrow. Hopefully the cats understand.

Yes, its monday. Its been a week since I've been at work and only 46 emails left to answer. Oh, now 39 emails.

Lets see. We got the new windows installed. I've attempted to install curtains that posadnik_ivan likes and have failed twice. Would of thunk that valances could cause such strife. Try number 3 will occur this week if I get time. Had two t-day dinners (thursday and Saturday) which were fun.

I made 12 pies and including 2 failures on key lime pie that will be turned into icecream.

My allergies really made me not enjoy Thursday and Friday. I've lost a lot of my sense of taste and the stuff I can take is barely taking the edge off and I'm still not tasting things right.

We got caught in the sand storm on the way to phx on Saturday for the college crewe dinner and that was the suck. Good day there and good fun playing Apples to Apples.

Sunday was a bit of crazy. We bike the pistol hill loop in vail in the morning and up the hill just before pistol hill we had rain, hail and thunder/lightening. It was a wet, cold, miserable ride and then my derailer cable loosened up so I couldn't stay in gear. I'm taking the bike in to performance this week for another tuneup. Glad we did it though, I need to keep off the holiday pounds. Got back from the ride, showered and had lunch at joes. The appreciated the pie we dropped off on Thursday.

Then I spent the day working on Twila's projects and then not getting the house picked up. That will be this afternoon. I also need to finish laundry and get my studio up and going...its the last room to not get back in order after the windows.

The windows have made the house very comfy. Its about 10 degrees warmer than usual and its much quieter. I really like them and it was a really good investment. We are hoping to also select wall material so maybe this early spring we can get that taken care of and work that out to be done and we'll be almost up on all of the home improvement besides landscaping we wanted to do.

Anyhoo..that is the jumbled update.