Work was okay. Got news that Janelle was in labor and later that day Miss Theadora made her debut. Yay. Busy working my newest projects at work and the eye strain is a bit much from staring at drawings for 7 hours out of yesterday. Ooof but that is my life. Soon will be the changing said drawings for 7-8 hours per day. Woot.

Got done with work, stopped off at the credit union to pay on the roof pledge loan. Need to be hitting that harder if we want it off the books by years end. Admittedly, we have 5 years to pay it off but we don't like to be in any sort of debt. Got home to an empty house. Well, I wanted to work on projects right away but as we've been telling Benton, do the things you don't like first so they are done so you can do the things you do like. So, I did dishes. Was just starting in on the sink after putting all of the clean ones away and getting the dishwasher going when Mel and Ben came home. He took over the dishes since it was silverware and a couple of glasses and feast gear that was left. I put on a load of shirts and then hopped into the studio to work on the lolita.

I got the peplum cutting mistake fixed and once its ruffled no one will be able to tell. Then I got the sleeve pieces out and started to piece the first sleeve. Got the top sleeve gathered to the bottom and then sewed up the inside seam to find out my She-Hulk Bicep/forearm combo does not meet a Size 22 dress size. I need about another inch. Oof. I made a sandwich for dinner and then Wander was by for movie night so I got her take and my assessment was good to add a bit to the sleeve pieces and then resew that seam. Its on the inside of the arm and its covered by another flounce (which I still need to cut out and will now lengthen for curvature of my forearm. Good to know. I need to mark the pattern pieces because I really to like the sleeve pattern and it will be nice for later projects too. I also got her take on my plan to cut the gauzy fabric and my plan is good and I may be able to just tear the fabric. I will have to see if I can get my serger to serge those edges.

I got my stuff and headed to scribble where it was names on scrolls for a few events and then I callig'd 2 scrolls for one of those events. Next week we have more full texts to do and hopefully will have the last august event on the books. I know the closer we get to Dragon*Con the less we want to work on scrolls and Ari as Gwyllym's MOD to do as well. Luckily that is straight calligraphy for her but still time.

Got home and cut the pieces for the sleeves and then drank some water, showered, read for a bit and went to bed.

The weirdest thing about yesterday is that my mouth feels like I flossed too much and my left side feels like my wisdom teeth are coming in. I had those yanked 15 years ago. Not sure if its sinus stuff or worse but we shall see. Its just not making things pleasant.

So for tonight I will get the sleeves finished and cut out the froofy fabric and the strips for silver trim. All good.


( To Do List )

Well, its the last day of work for me for the year and there is lots to do at work and at home. At work I have to vault a few reports and finish up a few change papers and at home its a lot of cleaning and crafts and baking to get ready for the household gathering on Sunday. I had hoped to be further along this week but I haven't really been home much this week except to eat a few meals and sleep. Monday was scribble and I got home about 10pm. Tueday was the car troubles so I didn't get home until about 8pm. Last night was the officer's meeting and I didn't get home until almost 930pm and tonight is dojo night and I'll be home briefly before heading out and getting back around 9pm. Luckily tomorrow we can sleep in, then take Benton to day care and get the house into shape.

The other annoying thing is my lower back has been killing me for a few days. Its tried to slide out a few times and I've been doing all of the right things for it but this is a case of let time get it to heal up. Also a trip to glen tomorrow for mel and I sounds like a good plan as well. (just scheduled that..yay!!!)

So, here is to a productive and not too painful day. We shall see how my back does. Ow.

I'm actually pretty sure that I'm now more tired after the weekend then I was going into the weekend. That is a very scary thought in my opinion. I hurt all over and my hand seems worse than it did earlier in the week. I spent yesterday hanging out with Benton and grocery shopping. Not very exciting but it was okay. Mel and Storvarr were busy being master and apprentice in the workshop. I hear that they cleaned up the shop since mel and I had made a mess of it over the last few weeks and they got stuff planed and cut for more benches (stools?).

I have to say I'm very happy that msaimeesue is now the Kingdom Champion! The competition was fierce between the 3 folks who declared and it was a tough choice on their majesties minds to pick their next champion. Its nice that is also stayed in the Barony but we already know that BTY rocks!

So, what did I work on last week? Well since I stepped up at Kindgom Arts and Sciences Champion I knew that I wanted to make an early period piece of regalia to be worn by the champion since the currently collar of estate was huge, heavy and late period. So I did a bit of research and chose to do an axe pendant that would hang on a pennanulur brooch. Now at the beginning of this I figure I would cast it and then hammer out the brooch but since the furnace went down I had to come up with something else. I did a bunch of practice pieces and then ended up using stamps to create the design and I then stamped in ARTS CHAMPION in transliterated Elder Futhark. I'm very pleased with it. I learned lots of skills and got to do lots of hammering which wasn't good for me but oh, well. It turned out nice and I didn't use a single power tool. I used all handcrank stuff (drill press and grinder) which I thought was pretty neato. Mel helped me a bit with cutting all of the metal for me since I could not operate the hand snips and to do the final bend on the pennanular pin. My hands were just toast and I was very, very grateful.

( pic behind cut )

In other odd news I ended up frogging Benton's sweater for the second time. I'm doing my decreases on the wrong side of the marker is what I think I'm doing. I need to go watch a video again cause I'm all mixed up on that. I didn't have the bandwidth to fix it yesterday but frogged it during laurel's circle. Oh, well...I shall learn. I guess all of my awesome was used up in metalwork and scroll work that people will see soon.

Again, I'm tired and we are back to all scribes on deck for the next commission. Lots of good there to happen...I hope my hand holds up.

Well, I've been in so many meetings this week that it seems that odd that today I don't have to be anywhere to meet with people. That is fine since I have a crap ton of paperwork to do due to the meetings and upcoming travel.

The only annoying thing is even though I didn't do any handwork yesterday my thumb is pretty hurty. I put an email into our Ergo folks and I hope to get a new setup since typing is also not helping and I have a lot of paperwork to do. I need to just try not to use my thumb to type. Which is hard since its my natural inclination to use it to type on that side of the keyboard. Eh. I've moved to left hand mousing to help with that for a while

So, had a good time at little Bjorn's wedding and much hilarity. Good food and good times with people. Many thanks to cecilia_mowbrey for giving me a big bag of maternity clothes so I had a dress to wear which matched my fall coat which was also spiff though I can only button it up one button. I'm hoping that either I don't get sent to NJ in a few weeks or that my old winter coat is big enough. Though if worse comes to worse I'll wear my laureling coat since I know it still fits...well, I think it does. I'll have to check that. Lol.

Got home from the wedding and got a shower and curled up in my flannel jammies and a comfy tshirt and snuggled up with my person afghan I made last year. Its so snuggly. Slept okay but my sides and my calves were not happy...probably recovery from working out. I'll run some more today and hopefully that will loosen things up a bit.

Well, we had a really grand time yesterday. My new clothes rocked the house and I had a very good time dancing...though my left hip was pretty locked. By the time we got out of the car at 9pm, I was sore since the muscles had cooled down. We went to bed early and mel worked out some of the knots on my hip but waking up this morning I feel like I've been taking shield charges for days. yeah, didn't make it on the bike ride...we didn't even get out of bed until after 9am. We suck.

Coffee is good...toast is good...shower will be good soon. soon, shower will happen and I'll be very happy. Got lots of A&S stuff today for a game plan. I also need to get going on that stuff..get registered and also send in my Known World Handbook Article. So, I'm okay with that...not going for champion...just haven't had the time or drive...but things for estrella are shaping up.

So on for my day.

Yes, I did mean to use a fish versus excrement...so sue me.

Well, I accomplished quite a lot last night even though my sinuses are making my forehead look like I'm getting horns coming through. (Seriously, ask Mel, my front sinus swells and you can physically see it...its creepy). Anyhoo, I got all of the sekrit squirrel project done (picture on Monday, I promise) and then made myself a pretty cause I was inspired and such...heck, unlike me, I left all of the beading stuff out so I can play some more later...tee hee..we shall see what I come up with next. I'm excited....but also getting distracted which I shouldn't do. Sighs. I took a shower after my last post, took the benedryl and snuggled in with PP&Z and read until mel got home. He was all bouncing from the practice and his exuberance couldn't keep me awake for long. He was kind and brought me more pain meds and I was out. I woke up with the alarm this morning and fell kinda bright eyed and bushy tailed...course I got a full nights worth of sleep and I took almost a 2 hour nap yesterday...so not too bad.

I preempted my headache with drugs this morning and I can tell the sinuses are unhappy but they are coping and I'm not searching my desk for an ice pick...oh, I'd be trepanning myself, not lobotomizing myself...I want the euphoric release of pressure, not the mind numbing dumbing of my psyche. (wow, that was poetic...hmm, more drugs might be good for me). Anyhoo..I'm feeling much better than yesterday and I've been hitting things with full force at work. I have lots to do and now two days to do it before I leave for travel. Wow, lots to do...so I best get cracking.

After work I do plan to fun home, dinner and then head to grandmas for some knit night. I guess a big group of folks is coming and that is good. I need to get to the edging on the baby blanket so I can get that done and start the other one before I leave so I have plane projects. All good.

My peer review was, I guess, okay. Lots of discussion, lots of information was shared that I wish I had known before walking into the project. Sighs. I'm trying to keep things simple in the design since that is not my favorite or even my best thing I'm good at and some of the stuff brought up was kinda "huh..." Anyhooo that was good. Got good feedback from some coirkers on some slides we have to have ready for today. Then it was time to go home, well past time and that was okay.

So, I got home, made myself a really big nummy salad and then camped out on the couch for a bit to relax. Then I changed into my black pj's and headed to kung fu via grandma's spinning wheel for open knit night (well all crafts really). Had a really nice time chatting and working on my afghan. Then it was time for class where the only place my knee really protested was during sweeps in 7 kicks and then at the end of class when I was chasing after meowandbark and it just kinda collapsed on me as I was moving forward..probably too quickly. It didn't hurt until mel started working in on the muscles...the lower leg is still tight and now the uppper was tight again. I get to do more ballet stretches...but even after taking care of ari's cats it wasn't too bad..not really hurting or sore until you touch it...though a bit weak when I tried to change levels from playing with the cats.

Gypsy doesn't like her pills and tries to bite me..so I'm having to crush it up and put it in her gooshy food which she takes her own sweet time eating. I think I'm spoiled with how fast my cats eat. Narhachi, the bird, and I have finally come to an understanding and she's not squawking and is happy to see me and munch on her food and shreddies. Balo thinks I'm weird and Aramis keeps trying to trip me on the stairs and rub on me constantly. Eh.

So, it took me a while to take care of them and then get to work...and I still need coffee and breakfast. I should have stopped at caffe nation but I was worried about being later than I was already. Eh. I'll just be happy to ge through all of the stuff today, including some training. I have crafty business afoot that keeps calling my name.

Work was...I'm not even sure how to describe it. For once I'm not okay with the "we need evidence to prove this, give us the data"...very heretical thinking in my little box of a world but for once I'm not about digging in and proving something I already know is true...but others don't feel that way and I'm stuck in the quagmire of their organization of the data which is lacking in any finesse and common sense. Sighs. So, I did not get a lot done yesterday but belly button thinking and that put me in a weird state. And to add to that weird state we are still waiting to hear from one of our suppliers whose factory in PA had a large fire. They can't get in to see the damage yet and this could have major impact on us as a product line. Sighs...course we aren't the only people who use them either. Sighs.

After that I drove home reveling in Craftlit and the grey day the weather was turning. I got home and started more work on the afghan and my OCD was taking over. I almost didn't get dinner but I did, got my kung fu jammies on and then headed to class in the truck with all of the scribble stuff too. Class was going good until I was working through 7 kicks and I did a really nice and high jump crescent and came down on my left leg fine and then it jammed. I tried to maintain weight on it and crumpled to the floor as my calf cramped up something fierce. Mel came to the rescue and dug into the knots along the tendon on the side of my calf and knee. They were very, very angry. After a lot more massaging and stretching I rejoined class and worked through some drills. I had to keep sidling up to the wall to stretch my calf out.

Left class and headed to scribble and enjoyed the ice pack. I massaged on it more and chatted. scribe_ari stated that my afghan was too tight on my starting chain, so I now have a little snugly neckerchief. I'll restart the afghan tonight with about 20-40 more stitches. Sighs but yanno...I'd only gotten 7 rows in and I've now figured out the pattern so eh. Its a learning process and I'm okay with that and I got to basically swatch out my color repeats and I'm really really liking the colors...greys and pinks make me happy. Had a good scribble and finished up a scroll that had been annoying me to no end. Not my best work but its done. That leaves 10 scrolls to callig (I need to work on that a bit this weekend) and then 2 other scrolls to paint. I really need to work on line work and white work...my proportions are off a lot of times and I don't know how to doodle very well. Cause really, white work is just doodling all over your painting...I iz not so good wif that. Got home and mel worked on my leg some more, I showered soaked and then lathered on the icy hot.

I slept well, I'm really enjoying WWZ and can't wait to read more this weekend. The leg was stiff but I've been stretching and rubbing it...and I put more icy hot on it this morning. I'm almost all caught up on listening for Craftlit and if anyone can tell me if the ipod touch should be showing me "skip" points and pictures on podcasts (if they are coded correctly) please comment. The podcaster would like to know and since I'm very, very new to podcasting as a listener I'm not sure if I have things turned on correctly or not.

Anyhoo...I have different motivation today versus yesterday. I just need to Get-R-Done on lots of avenues....and that will propel me through the day very well. After that it will be home, stretch out, work out and then hang until ari calls to go over cat care stuff. I'll be at practice next week...with a much better outlook and stretched out body.

So, what ever mel had, I have a milder version or I guess I have had it and I'm finally succumbing to symptoms...dunno what it is except maybe allergy ick or hormone imbalance but I feel not so great. I'm acheing everywhere and I feel like a crunched up rag doll. I sat under the pounding shower setting last night and just let it beat me for a while. I felt mildly better then but this am...bleah. I have presentations today and meetings that need my input so I couldn't stay home. Just gonna take things low key today and then snuggle up and sleep when I get home. Pretty sure I'm not making it to the hall tonight...which makes me angry, if its not one thing its another with my body of late.

I was so tired and dazed last night I didn't read too much while sitting on the couch..it was easier to veg out with the tv and nod off. Got the shower and I read some more and I guess I'm 2/3 through Turn Coat been interesting so far and the dynamic of Molly, Morgan, Luccio and mouse has been entertaining.

Other than that we shall see how things go today...sighs.

Well, I got sent to bed at the 11 or so last night. I was DONE. My leg hurt and I was tired and the brain was goo...been using too much of it of late. I slept so well and it was really, really hard to drag myself out of bed to get on my bike but I did it and I had to get up cause mingo had to head to the airport. So, I got out and biked, the wind was a bit icky and it was cloudy and a bit cold. I made it 5 miles, pushed a bit harder than I probably should but I needed to do it. Got home, changed clothes and realized that I didn't watch to push in a clutch and mel drove us to the airport. Saw pappy off and then we got home and had breakfast. Showers were good and then it was a leisurely pack for the demo.

The demo was good, I painted and chatted with the kids. By the end my legs were aching. I finally figured out why it felt familiar. One summer when I grew 4 inches in less than two months I remember that pain and ache in my legs. I took some vitamin I and then had a really nice nap. Mel cleaned up the front room while I slept.

Part of the household is already here for dinner and research. Just waiting for everyone else to start to eat the nummy pork.