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I think being tired like an exhausted pigeon is just my vibe right now. I stayed home all week and just WFH and didn't go anywhere except school drop off until Friday afternoon.

So Thursday was just a long ass day. So much going on at work. I was very tired when things finished. I don't recall what I did but Benton was home cause he was also coughing with his asthma and I did...who knows. I did managed to read through Lore Olympus 6 and 7 so those are off the pile. I also read Black Widow comics by Kelly Thompson that Ari got me for Christmas and OMG was that good. so that is books through 12 of the year. Well behind my goal.

The list thus far:
1) The Gospel of Loki
2) Killer Cocktails
3) The Golden Enclaves
4) Captain Carter: Woman out of Time
5) The Lights of Prague
6) Dark Arts and a Daiguiri
7) Whispers of Death (stopped at 50% complete not finishing)
8) Two Witches and a Whiskey
9) Demon Magic and a Martini
10) Lore Olympus #6
11) Lore Olympus #7
12) Black Widow
13) In Progress: The Alchemist and an Amaretto

There makes it easier than trying to find all of that over the last 5 months.

This weekend was Coronation. I had no other plans but sit and craft and watch. And survive. I had things packed up and laid out and then the morning of I again switched clothes and I'm glad I did. Things were warm except in our portion of the hall. I was not feeling bonita, I was struggling to breath, but we made it out of the house on time and to site and got a nice corner of the hall to sit. My only regret was I didn't bring a cushion for my seat. I did spin a bunch and then knit on mel's socks. I did finish those after coronation while the knights circle was going on. We had a lot of good things during court they announced 2 of the 3 new folks for Order of Mark. Only 1 was on my list. But I understand the others.

Wander made it and that was lovely. I took a photo of Poe, Willa, and Dominique crafting. I didn't get one of Mel, Wander, Ari, and myself doing like wise. Lol. There was lot of filks, lots of laughs and just a good day. Sutton and Celeste are our new crown and things will be different but that is okay. I did get to sit and meet Genevieve's "daughters" and catch up with some Ansteorrans who were there for Genevieve's Laurel. Mel was nice and drove us there and home. I had planned to drive us home but I was tired and I appreciated him driving. We had Willa with us for the drive home. Benton had played boffer with all of teh kids all day and was tired. I finished weaving in ends on mel's socks and took the most stripey picture of my clothes I can remember. I didn't realize stripes was the theme but all of the 14th Century Mafia was in grey and white stripes for Genevieve's elevation. Lol. So I fit right in in my norse clothes.

We got home and I ordered food and Mel went to pick it up. I made a double tiki drink (rum, lime, demerara syrup, maraschino) and we had a nice meal and pretty early bed times. Mel and I did get caught back up on Time Team as they have been digging at Sutton Hoo again and they found the bottom of the Bromswell Bucket and that was neat to see. Mel and Benton had planned on returning to the event Sunday. I was going to see how I was feeling. I woke up tired and my throat was sore.

The wind had picked way up and I was not wanting to risk another week like last week. I masked all of Saturday, only took it off at lunch outside, and then in a very well AC'd cabin. I was still just wiped. So I stayed home. Mel brought me coffee before they left and I dozed for a bit before getting up and playing games for a while before getting dressed and putting pork chops in the crock pot for dinner, and worked on my shawl. I remembered I had a lap desk/table and used that to set my pattern and the knitting etc on while I worked and watched TV. I caught up on some YT before pulling up Episode III. I'd never watched it but with now having finished clone wars I figured I didn't have to watch it in rapt attention. I could be reading knitting pattern charts and placing beads in my knitting. And ugh I did not have .6MM hook that worked for the beads but I did finally remember I had bought superfloss and that works better IMHO per this tutorial .

During the movie I'm glad I've waited to see thing with the clone wars but yeah so painful to watch. The boys got home about an hour before the movie finished. I got dinner finished up by adding in rice and beans into the pot and we had a nummy salsa verde style pork with rice/beans. All in one pot. Mel loved it. Put in frozen crappy cheap pork chops, cook on high and hour without anything, once those had defrosted a bit break apart chops and then add a large can of green enchilada sauce, powdered garlic, other seasonings and cook on low for hours. Add a cup of rice, cook for a while, add two drained cans of black beans. Let the rice cook and and then serve. We had hot sauce to go with it but it didn't really need it.

So I finished up the second chart and got into the Third chart. Only issue I had was I had to place a bead over the area that I had spliced the yarn together and I had to be creative with an extra stitch but I don't think that will be noticeable. But I got into the third chart which was nice. We finished Episode III, convinced the xbox to play the disk with the Theatrical Release of Episode IV. Enjoyed watching that. Benton was not cause "it was fuzzy" and played with our Disney droids. During the later part of teh movie, I heard a noise in the kitchen and saw Willow scurry off after she kicked my Maggie Coffee mug off the counter. Thanks cat. That was my favorite mug. Sighs. But we picked up the pieces and put them in a ziploc. I will see if Ari wants to try to fix it. Finished up the movie and mel was in bed early. He had fought the heavy King's Champion and won. And then fought the C&T tourney and finaled. So he's doing well. (wink) My brain was busy when I tried to calm to my evening routine. I was annoyed with the cat, it was windy and making my head uggy. I finally crawled into bed around 11 and then played on my phone a bit before just turning things off and trying to fall asleep. Mel was dead to the world.

Getting up today I'm still tired but managed to get moving. Benton was on the struggle bus with an allergy flair after being outside all weekend. When we were leaving I went to put coffee in my travel cup and I pulled the lid off and the cup came apart. Bye-bye 10 year old tervis cup. Sighs. I'm now have my old travel cup from a leadership conference in 2014 and I pulled an Ash and Griffin custom Novgorod mug down for coffee. It still sad though.

Well that is the update.

Well, We all slept in a bit for Sunday AM since we were tired from Saturday. We made a plan to hit the Minecraft movie. We chose a new theater to us called Galaxy Theaters. They had the size of screen I wanted and the comfy seats and we had a nice time at the movies. Minecraft was so silly and terrible in the best ways. If you are a minecraft fan there is lots of fan service and respectful legendary cameos. Jason Momoa and Jack Black stole the show..I would have liked more with the ladies in the cast (Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks). Jennifer Coolidge in general was just kinda sad and creepy but I think that was the vibe, so okay. But it was fun.

I was tired and my brain wasn't really enjoying anything but I played some games and knit on the sock while mel and I watched things in the evenings. I think I put another inch on it. We did have a nice dinner. Mel sous vide a turkey breast he had smoked. I made fried spiced potatoes in the air fryer.

Monday work was way annoying. everyone was dumb and I had a meeting with my lead chief engineer. Yes things I was doing was someone else's job but for the time being I needed to do it until we replaced said person with someone who would do the job. I spent my afternoon crafting emails to get ahead of that task and get information to get things working. So that felt nice but it was a lot of work to get my brain to pull things together. I had a few tasks like that but turned on some tv to let my brain calm down and listen to that while I made the magic happen.

Once I clocked out for the day I kept watching TV and went through the jewelry making supplies on the table, consolidated and threw out trash bits and finished up laying out the necklace from Feed the Ravens. Mel had said dinner was ready when I was finishing up resorting beads that had gotten dumped on my floor during my making ari's earrings. I had just piled them into my bead tray and then took the time to fix it and put things together. Dinner was good, mel made stew with some leftover turkey breast, potatoes, leftover corn etc. I'm glad he's handy in the kitchen. We had dinner and then since all of my scribal stuff was packed I put it in the car and went to Ari's.

It was just her and I. She was "deleting" a person from a scroll that had been given out a long while ago and is now no longer a part of the recipients life for reasons. I sat down and pounced the two scrolls I had in work. The pounce stuck to a few places so I made sure to let it sit for longer. I did the calligraphy and it only smudged on erasure on two spots 1 on each scroll so yeah. I'm glad I'm getting these scrolls done and out of the case and now I know how to "fix" oily perg but that was not how I wanted to learn it. But I got those done and I have one other scroll in my case from an unknown scribe which is not completed. I have a knighting scroll get text on and hoping I can get that done on Saturday. Its been nice to get back in teh swing of things and yeah make shit so the brain weasels just don't win.

I'm hoping I can get that shawl moving as well but I will see how much brain power I have. I might just plug and finish his sock. Then I have a hat for him to do. But I'd like that shawl making progress.

So yeah. making stuff...seems to help the brain or at least postpone the panic a bit. not sure what else I can do...right?

Monday I managed to get a bunch thing working at work while dealing with a body that was healing. I've now reached the snake skin shed stage, and the skin is very tight where its healing. So sitting against things hurts. putting my back pack on is a no-go etc. But we prevail.

I managed to finally get things off my to do list which was to clean up my studio, put all of the clothes away, put the fabric I pulled in January away and then moth ball the ever loving shit out of my stash and the closet. I even got mel to help with the wool storage in the closet since its up above my head. I felt very accomplished and then went to Poe's for scribble since Ari is out of town on Business. I set out to do 3 scrolls of calligraphy with my new pilot parellel pen. I can say it was lovely to work with and I got very very clean calligraphy and was super happy with the precision of the nib. And then after I did three I went back to erase my pencil and it started to smudge. Talking with some scribes on discord I think these were part of a batch of "oily" pergemenata and that is causing it to not dry well and not "stick" to the page. So I ordered some stuff to make my own pounce from John Neal and will soak them in that before I finish erasing. Then I can fix the smudges. But man I was so happy with them until that point.

Poe was painting on a snack plate for a retiring scientist from the park and its turning out awesome. My student is very very talented. Trying to take her lead on make stuff to not think about the crazy but oof its hard after a full day of work.

Things have just been hard to motivate for all of us and I will have another post on that.

Yesterday I had planned on doing laundry but I sat and chilled. After dinner I pulled my shawl that was stuck, tinked back a row and then got it restarted, set my row counter to the correct number and got through 2 pattern rows (4 total rows) before I took myself off to bed. Course the figuring things out turned my brain on so I was still awake when mel got home. We had a very quick chat where I realized I just needed to curl up. I was asleep by the time he got our of the shower. I slept okay until about 530 when the bathroom lit up with impending sunrise. Time to remind mel to shut the bathroom door at night.

But I was happy that I got that darn shawl back on track. I really want to get that moving past the first chart. and yanno, get a shawl out of this hopefully. I'm annoyed that I can't seem to work on a complicated knitting project...my brain just isn't there? Its annoying. I'd like to have some of that back please but I will just keep making simple socks if that helps keep me busy. I do hope to work on some clothes eventually but maybe my body getting back to the gym (next week when my tattoo is healed enough to not be ouchy) I will feel like making clothing or at least underunder dresses. Anyhooo that is for another time. Just trying to get things settled to work on something versus doomscroll or play video games.

I got up in time to manage to get breakfast down in the lobby. we had a nice bit of SCA folks there, mostly out of kingdom. The breakfast at Fairfield is not as good as the one at Holiday Inn Express. The selection was pretty poor and the staff wasn't up for the amount of people coming through. I got food and then dressed for the day. I managed to look good I think in my Pelican outfit which I think at this point is a bit too big. I spent most of my day wandering catching up with people (Paul and Chani), seeing lots of folks from all over. I had missed morning court but the procession etc didn't start until 11am or so. I was hanging out with HRM Jalida of Midrealm who in my face blind morning I had lent my spare under dress to that morning after breakfast. I figured it out in the room and felt weird. Yay face blindness. Sighs. But she and her retinue Baroness Karden were fab. We had a good time. The fighting was basically auxiliary to me visiting people. I watched here and there. I got to see Cassandra's scroll before the ceremony. Before afternoon court there was lots of zhuzhing and putting on more layers as the temperature was coming down and putting on all the bling. Also Mistress Debroshka, aka Maggie King of Feed the Ravens was there and was wonderful to just hang with her too. I also got to meet Mistress Michiele (aka Leftcoastdyer) of the famous natural dye rainbow laurel wreath and who became an internet friend over the covids.

I also got to hear Inara sing and play guitar.

The finals were intense. Siggy won for Stevie/Sofia and I got the best picture of her afterwards.

The ceremony, the whole reason I went was lovely. The speakers were Duchess Sir Helga and Mistres (?) who were her peers, Her dad who is a MOD from Caid, Zippy and another Knight who went through the virtues and got to "purity" and we all lost it. Yup its a virtue and yeah. The best part was her medallion was made by Ugo Serrano. There was a whole thing where she wasn't allowed to look at it, then the presentation, then the realization. Her scroll was done by Fia (I don't know her titles) but it was amazing. She was hella surprised. They also did lemoncello shots or lemonade if that is your fancy to toast her ceremony led by the king.

By the time court ended (2 more peerages) we were all pretty toast. There were lots of photos of the whole crew which I need to download but we were all pretty tired after that. Plus a lot of folks had been in large/heavy italian gowns all day and my back was telling me I had had my coronet on all day and a good chunk of the night before. I left site and then showered and changed into comfy pjs style clothes since folks were ordering in and having a pj party down in the lobby. I had my other half of my burrito for dinner, some beers and gin and sweets and it was a nice time. I petered out by 11pm and slept really well.

That is where I will leave it for now with the full album of the previous evening and the day and my good byes is here.

My weekend in San Jose was amazing and fun and I'm still tired. Lol. Early mornings, late nights, lots of drinks, lots of walking/standing and chatting.

So, I got up a bit after 5am on Friday to get to the airport. Everything was super smooth from pickup at the parking, to bag drop, to security. My bag did get pulled for the jewelry and the gent who did the inspection asked nicely if I wanted him to repack and I said I would take care of it and he said thank you. I was able to get to my gate and have coffee and donuts before my flight. I relaxed and finished my book #4 for the year "The Lights of Prague", #3 was the previous weekend and was Captain Carter: Woman out of Time Graphic Novel, on the flight and at my gate in San Diego. I got a beer at a bar. The gates were packed but it was nice to relax with that. The flight to San Jose was nice, I started #5 Dark Arts and a Daiquiri by Annette Marie which was awesomely fun. I finished it on the way back.

Anywhoo...arrived in San Jose, the airport was nice, got my luggage, got my rental car easy peasy. Though the Kia Soul I got was base model but it had Carplay which I've never used but was super helpful. The first stop on my trip was Winchester House which has been a bucket list item for me since I was little. Its kitschy in the right ways, well maintained and the staff was all super nice, very well informed, and did a wonderful job talking about the house/history etc. I had a nice burger for lunch before my tour. The tour was nice, we got to see 110 out of the 160 rooms. The seance room was way smaller than I realized and I also didn't realize that none of the original furnishings are with the house. Also, when the 1906 earthquake hit Sarah closed the front 30 rooms of the house for damage and they were sealed until about a year after her death and preserved as they were with the damage. They did repair the fireplace in her bedroom which had had the 5 story chimney collapse in it and fall through to the basement. There are other areas around that have black painted supports/covers which is repairs/restorations later for structural concerns from earthquakes etc. My pictures are here.

I then traveled the 44 miles in 2+ hours (gods I hate California) to my hotel. I dropped things off, hit a super mercado for snacks/dinner/lunch. They had a taqueria attached so I got a torta for dinner and a burro for lunch. When I got back I ran into Zippy and Siobhan(from Sweden). We then ran into Tullia and Thorfin and we made a plan to all travel to the vigil. There were predrinks and the like and then I drove the girls and then boys had their car. It was hilarious. Cassandra had no idea that Siobhan was going to be there. So we had to hide her and the screeching was hilarious. We stayed and partied till quite late. I got home with Tullia at like 115am. oof. And that is where we will leave things until tomorrow.

Well, on Monday I finished up the rose embroidery. I had to sit and stare at it cause it looked done but my plan had been more but I felt it would be too guady. I got some Peer Review from Ari, Thyra, Eyvor and

danabren and they all agreed I can be done if I think its done. The negative space usage was making me happy...is it period? I have actually no idea, this is well out of my wheelhouse for time and craft. But I'm super happy with it.

The finished Rose

The finished pair with scale

I made sure to put it in the post this AM so it can get to her by Saturday or Monday. So all good. I also need to get through my studio...get things cleaned up from war prep (do my damn laundry) and pull fabric for a quick new outfit for her elevation. I know the under-under dress will be this fun plaid linen I have but over dresses not sure and its the bay area so the weather can be super weird. So yeah. It will be simple and have trim and I will be using my serger for reasons. But yes, a simple dress, simple placket and some trim. But I need to look at fabrics and see what I have and what can look right in a short amount of time.

I also need to pull clothes and see what fits (queue body dysmophia tango) for Mexico. I need clothes for hot humid and hiking....and my swimsuit. Sighs. I'm not happy especially with this jowly picture captured by Sigrid. I look old and I don't like it. I know I've been not good on all the things with gym/eating/drinking and my knee is not helping me. But things have got to change.

I'm trying but mentally the work load and the everything else going on with the USA is hard. I had liquid dinner last night. We had dropped hardware, not ordered hardware, people completely going off the rails on a request, folks not understanding things that are simple, the white house block all news orgs access to info (see here, I left work late and had to walk all the way around since my gate was closed and it was just a day. I could have made a better choice and I just could not. Sighs. Tonight will be better. I have knitting group and projects in the bag. Trying to shift my attitude but man its hard. Sighs.

We shall plod along.

I am still reading book #3 which is The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik and its gotten so good. I need to pick a few books for travel next week.

Current Mood: bitchy

Thursday night I made dinner which was vegan pesto that I then put chicken into along with the cashew/spinach ravioli I got from TJs. My pesto is:
soak 1 cup of cashews in hot water for 20 mins
Drain, put those in food processor and blend for a bit, then add copious amounts of basil, a tidge of olive oil, garlic and onion powder, juice of one lemon and some S&P. Super tasty and easy but a bit of clean up on the blender/food processor. The ravioli were good but I over cooked some of them a tad. I added two cans of chicken that I diced up good and it was a very good meal with leftovers for dinner and pesto for bread.

I worked on the embroidery and got the the leaves all outlined in either stem/chain stitch in two different colors of thread.

Friday we headed up to Phx early and forgot things like our masks (thanks to maggie she had spare) and I forgot my ibuprofen which was saved by Shanda having some in her bag of holding. Anyhoo...we parked, walked to get breakfast at Morning Squeeze which had excellent food. We then walked to the Science museum which was loud with children but pretty informative. The cool thing is they had Power of Poisons traveling exhibit which was very lacking in children and super interactive and informative. I took okay pictures of it but it was low light.

We then headed over to quilt con where I needed a sit down while we waited for Maggie (aka Bertana) to get back from getting her badge from ehr hotel room. We didn't get badges just electronic scans on our phones which made me sad but it was a cool convention, Quiltcon. They used the 3rd floor of the Phx Convention Center, those familiar from Fan Fusion know this now as the Photo Op and Autograph area. Lots of attendees couldn't believe how big the convention center was and I giggled. Uh, this is just one set of the rooms they could use. Though I guess the classes were on the Symphony side which makes sense is a across the sky bridge. Anyhoo...we were there to see the quilts and I had hoped to Meet Chris from Rose City Originals. And we walked up to the Accuquilt booth (this is a thing I want but can't justify buying until I'm older and have more free time) but got to meet him, get a selfie and his STICKERS!!!

Saw a lot of teh quilts on display (or tried to there were a lot and my knee while better was cranky pants by the end of the day.) And shopping. I got some notions (needles, needle minders) from Rachel Rossi, stickers and a small bag from the MQG shop, stickers and a 1.5" iridescent ruler from Feral Notions, yarn/fiber/needle minder from Storyteller Stitchery who are local, and I got a pattern Called Splintered Spectrum from Lemon Quilts. I was surprised by Mel who got me a Lap App which I didn't realize I needed and have used the heck out of Sat/Sunday embroidering especially when I grabbed a clamp to attach my embroidery hoop. So effing handy. To understand how this works see The designer explaining it. Yes its expensive but its super well made, good materials and damn if its hella handy. Maggie had seen it with me and I couldn't' figure out what it was for and I went around to see something else on the next aisle. After I left Maggie got a demo of it and immediately tried to find me or Mel, found Mel first and he bought it for me once he saw what it did. I'm super grateful and super happy with it thus far. My only beef and I will call them is I would like to get the other heads for it to do the ipad stand and/or the bead table and not have to buy a separate thing? Maybe? I will use it and see. But I see this useful for all types of in lap hand sewing and I could put my third hand attached to it too. I will probably make a bag to carry it and have the caddy stuff. But right now i love it.

We had a wonderful dinner and drinks at Harumi (sushi) and then mel drove us home. My knee was on fire and we got home, I iced it, took more drugs and we we went to bed. Saturday I woke up and my foot and knee both shifted and settled more in place. The swelling had gone done a lot since the weekend and it was nice to have full extension on my leg. I was good and elevated it most of the day in-between walking around. I watched movies (Muppets Treasure Island --Muppet Haunted Mansion -- Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion --Rosario Dawson Haunted Mansion. I love them all and marathoned those. I got the center of the rose done and I love how it turned out. Sunday was embroidery in the afternoon as we had errands to run for household things (harbor freight and ace hardware) before I sat down and got going on couching goldstyle thread. I got through the little leaves and almost finished the last petals that are padded. Here is where I finished up. I'm going to finish the padded couching and then I think its pearls around the outer edge of the petals and then its done? Its rather striking with what is showing now but I'm not sure yet. Gonna take it to scribal tonight to work on it and get some peer review on it.

I also need to get some laundry done (like my war stuff) and finish the deep clean/declutter/destash/organize of the studio. Finding things immediately when I want them is fucking fancy as hell and then there is the filing cabinet to deal with. And I have this weird thing where I want to wear a new dress to Cassandra's elevation and I will have like 10 days to make one....doable but necessary?

The weekend made me inspired and needing some that with the world being dumb right now. Just want it.

We had a really nice time. The household ran well, the food was tasty, we had fun, there was a lot of meandering around to other camps and practices. I have a list of observations with possible scenarios for fixes/or kudos in work to share with the autocrats. I'm not going to complain, just show observations and then offer solutions. Though for one item I may do baronial land next year. I have lots of experience doing it and I know how to do maps and make things nice.

I went to a lot of the parties, attended 2 vigils, took 450+ photos (which I'm still uploading), captured some awesome moments of start dust, ate really well, drank a lot, got my hair braided for the first time by Hands of Mercy. Its still holding and this is Tuesday.

One bad thing is was when I went to go look at some pottery, Ari had bent down to pet a corgi and I lifted my left over hers to not trip and my knee decided to dislocate. It did not want to go back in. So I hobbled home, got an ice pack, and kept my foot up most of Saturday night. It finally reset enough to walk a bit but man was it swollen. Managed to get us packed up without me carrying anything large, I got all the vehicles to camp since I could get a cart and we were all off site just after noon. My knee was on fire and swollen but I could walk with a bit of limp. We had lois with me and Benton and with only a quick stop for gas in Marana we were home and unloaded with in an hour. Mel got the trailers parked. Dom came over to help unload the truck of heavy things since I could not. I love my household. There was no yelling except "are you drinking water? do you want a sammich? have you put on sunscreen?" and we got things done well.

We got papa murphys take and bake pizza for dinner. The kids ate a family hawaiian, mel got his fancy chicken feta and I got a small dairy free cowboy. Very good noms. The cats were happy we were home. Spicy gave snuggles and Tasha wanted all the love from Mel and I. We all were in bed super early and that was good.

Monday morning moving sucked. But I got an appt with Glen at 9, so I dropped kids at school and he put be back together. My foot was super out and my hip and that makes the knee go weird. My instructions are rest, ice, and slow walking. I was so swollen by the end of the evening you can see the knee and my foot were bad. we had dinner with Wander, Megan, and Herveus which was super nice.
I will recap more later but in general a very good war.

And the photos will be up too.

I was/am still in withdrawal hell but much better. Right now its mostly the "persistent headache" and occasional dizziness. The headache is annoying but I'm managing with some meds. The dizzy I just need to not move too fast from bending down to standing up. Which okay..fair. Hopefully that finishes up soon.

While we had planned trailer prep this weekend Mel had dojo renovations on Saturday that took the day and I had projects for the war and beyond so next weekend will be better.

So Saturday I got up early and attended a calligraphy class from at the Atlantia University and then did some stuff around the house like take returns to the UPS store, clean up all of the cardboard detritus for the recycling and get my studio back to rights to start a project the next day. Then I tried to attend my next class and the teacher was a no show and we all hung out for 30 mins and chatted scribal stuff around the world and yeah I could have taught the class on "how to work with other kingdoms" and so I gave some pointers from my years of experience. Then Willa picked me up and we headed to the bead show at Casino del Sol. I got stuff for the embroidery project for Cassandras Laurel dress, I got some other findings I needed for necklace stuff and bought some earrings and a glow in the dark spindle whorl from Branwen. Now she sold it as a bead but its totally a whorl if you know what to look for. Mel's comment when he saw it was "i would have bought that too!"

It was nice to hang with Willa and we got to scope the site for possible coronation site. It is a casino but the hotel is nice, it has a separate from the casino entrance but the path to the ballrooms does brush the edge of a slots area without much demarcation and that makes me worry about kids etc. So we shall see. I have many other sites that are casinos and aren't so we shall figure it out.

Got home and Mel had only gotten back from the dojo at 5pm and was taking a breather so I took the suggestion from Benton who has a cold and wanted comfort food to make mac and cheese for him and Mel, Chicken nuggets in the air fryer and a nice side salad for me. It was a good meal and I cooked so yanno I call that a win. Benton basically played video games all Saturday and drank lots of honeyed tea and then went to bed after a long bath at like 730pm. Poor kiddo.

Sunday I tried to sleep in but mel had left the bathroom door open and the light woke me up. so I got some coffee and played stardew unhampered for like a hour before Mel got up. I then I played for longer than I should but it was okay. I then got dressed, sorted laundry, then after a break from being dizzy, got it into the washer for an afternoon of laundry. I then went through wools and found a brown wool for a bog coat for Benton...I used basically this pattern though I still don't know why they want the little slit for join to the body but meh. It worked. I dug through the tablet woven stash and found trim from an old caftan of Mel's to recycle and then sewed that on. I only used my serger for the 4 seams since my machines are still in the shop. Hopefully I can pick them up tomorrow when I take my serger class. I also pulled out the items I bought at the gem show, downselected them to what matched the gold needed and then pulled supplies from various places, dug out my embroidery stuff and realized it needed its own bin, found a bin but it needs a location and I don't want to rearrange things yet until the machines are back. So, I then attached the silk squares to a backing cotton and then tried two different embroidery frames that did not work for my sizing or needs. Then I put it in time out while I put the trim on the bog coat and then came back, took things off the frame, stored the frames (for now) and found my hoops. It fits my one hoop nicely and won't get weird for switching to the other design which I've snuggled up and pinned. I do need to get a nice bag to keep this in while I'm not working on it. After the war I will deal with my studio behind the door book case and the closet. Cause I need some of that space redone and being able to get to some of my drawer thingys would be nice since there are notions I can't get to. So I was happy that the only other thing I need to buy is some yellow felt to go under the gold in places and that is a quick michaels trip. I hope to get started on the laurel wreath tonight.

But for my viewing later for ideas on the rose etc Goldwork Rose

I think on the laurel leaves I will get a ground of yellow stem stitch and then do satin for the leaves with pearl/bead accents for the veins? I will have to play a bit I think. Or I will do this? Fly stitch which I quite like. I will just have to see. I will have to probably have a side hoop setup to practice on.

Anyhoo..productive weekend. I'm abit over 50% done with Killer Cocktails (#2) and about 5% on my treadmill book. So not too shabby...can't wait for the final with drawal stuff to finish. Ugh.

Current Mood: busy

Unlike all of the girls chat I had to work...we don't get the oddball national holidays off but its why we get off the week between xmas and new years so okay. I made sure to stay on task with my to do list. Work was a lot of meetings, listening meetings, and watching things. So that worked fine.

Through all of that I repaired my half gloves which developed holes within a few wearings. I don't think the yarn was up for the task. Then I worked on finishing up the sock which I did in the afternoon.

Got to my dentist appt early, as requested but it still took well over an hour for the crown replacement to permanent. I have a fussy mouth and I'm sure now the temp crown left one of my nerves free to be annoyed. With the permanent crown I don't have any pain which is good and this piece of porcelain feels more like a tooth than the one I had before. There are good grooves in it. I think we had to polish the one on my other tooth too much and it still feels weird 3 years later. After the dentist I trundled to the spa to get a pedicure and that was heavenly. I got a sparkly pale pink. ?I got the cast on for the next sock but I left my third needle at home so I read my book instead while I was being pampered.

I grabbed cat litter and should have gotten Spicy food but meh at Petco before heading home. I was cold cause the temp had dropped (yay desert) and the wind picked way up. I was also in slides and bare toes...so chilly. Got home and mel was finishing up a nice large batch of red beans and rice. I had bought sausage at Forbes. And that was tasty...though he had decided to put carrots in it? They were not as cooked as everything else so odd but I'm sure that will soften as it sits and reheats for lunch. After that mel was playing stardew and when he finished he got me a fancy drink with the fresh pineapple, chinola, rum and ice. It was so good and then I played Stardew and got the last fish and the last star drop! And then I died in the skull carverns doing stoopid things and didn't make the quest that day. But its all good. And then it was time for bed. Which I got myself to and didn't stay up too late reading though things were getting to a fun but second hand embarrassment bit so I was good stopping.

Today I have my gym bag (I found it shoved behind the laundry bins that go under the bureau. I have a hoodie for afterward and yeah. Not sure what I will be working on but I need to increase my intensity after I get myself settled with getting back. I also will try to hit a yoga class elsewhere but I need to move more and lift more.

On the meds front I'm on my last week and I've cut the cables to 1/4 kinda and I will just take them and then be done. I'm still having some sugar cravings but I think part of that is I'm cold sugar makes you warm but my drinking has been much better. So little steps. I'm not touching a scale until after the war...that way goes madness.

I did get some new photos from my ceremony at much more flattering angles from HE Kollgrimma and that was nice. I've added them to the album at the end. Still trying to get the video and any other pictures.

Friday was very slow at work in some ways but busy with others and I needed other folks brain power on finance stuff and they were toasty so today will be more of that. :P We got on the road at 4pm and after a frustrating stop at a Sonic in Deming, NM (seriously messed up our food and then finally got it right after a complete reorder) we arrived at the hotel in El Paso a bit after 8pm. Mel and Benton were zonked so Ari and I went to the lobby to hang with SCA folks. It was so nice and the hotel staff were very gracious. We of course are nice and always pick up things and are clean and not obnoxious so I think that helps. I brought my knitting and a beer and that got other folks to bring our projects. We had 3 knitters, one embroiderer and a crocheter working on things and chatting. Catching up with Nikki was wonderful, seeing folks I haven't chatted with in a decade was great, Duke Irel. She was nervous since her last reign was 20 years ago and she was worried she wouldn't know what to do. I giggled at her and said after the oaths...it just comes back. Which it did and they did awesome! But Ari and stayed downstairs until about midnight and then back to the room for bed. The boys were snoring and I slept okay. The wind was howling outside and the weather was clear but cold when we woke up.

The site was 7mins away so we had a nice breakfast with all the SCA folks down in the lobby and then up to finish getting ready. Got to site, unloaded and got our seats for court. The local group didn't realize the amount of folks coming from out of kingdom, we had I think 20+ of us from Atenveldt. but a lot of folks (ivan included) were hanging at the back. The hall was a bit community gym room of a church with concrete floors so I spent the morning very cold on my feet and legs. Im very glad I brought my new hood and my cloak. I should have worn leggings...stoopid missing veins. But it was fine. They had a coffee truck come in the morning and they were wonderful. I hope we all tipped well, they had really good coffee. Morning court was nice but they didn't do like Atenveldt where the transition happens and then we break for lunch. They transitioned and then there was a lot more court so lunch didn't happen until 2pm. I headed out to get burritos at a place Zachariah suggested and OMG. This place is amazing. I got carne asada burro, got the el pastor for Ivan and got the carne fries for Benton. Mel's comment was "I didn't know I needed that food experience in my life, I'm changed". Yes, it was that good. Benton was outside in the cold either drawing with Sophia (walrick and Cecilia's daughter) or playing boffer with all the kids. Which included 2 packs of feral children who were not watched well by their older than Benton brother. But he did good, ate his food without comment and played through all of the courts and time. One things the Outlands does is meet with the circles the day of and I did not attend though the Laurels would have been fine. Going to my first, as a Pelican, Pelican circle would have been weird out of Kingdom. Mel went to the 3 mins Knight Circle. When things ended about 430 we made the decision to not stay for feast. The Aten crew wanted quiet and steak and had a lovely time in small packs at the Cattle Baron. Good steak, tasty salad bar and nice beer. And attentive service. We got back to the Hotel and dropped Benton off (he was crashing after food) and went back downstairs with crafts and booze. Some folks had doordashed or gotten pizza and beer back to the lobby and it was a lively affair until about 1230 when we cleaned up and left it cleaner than we found it.

Mel crashed immediately, I got my make up off after Ari hit the bathroom and then my brain was on so I read for a while. I'm about 40% complete of Gospel of Loki which is delightful. I slept well until about 7am and then was up. I got the first shower and we all mosey'd through our morning. Benton was super hungry at breakfast (no surprise). We chatted with the last two SCA folks there who were going to the crazy fabric store in town before the drive to Farmington NM. We finished up packing and got on the road a bit before 11am and arrived home without incident at 330pm. So good travel weekend. Very much a cup filler for the heart and am now prepped for doing things this weekend while Mel is away up north.

Today is work, crafting, ignoring socials/news, getting that temp crown replaced with permanent and then a pedicure. I have a sock to finish and maybe some time on the shawl. The magnet board really only works well with one sheet of paper and that is disappointing.

So, ya...I thought I would have a relaxing weekend....but didn't.

Friday was a bit of relaxing but I did car stuff, laundry of the bedding from the guests, getting the tree down and put all the insides xmas stuff down and away. I need to pull lights off the house still. I had a wonderful massage and then home for a nice evening.

Saturday I slept in a bit and then got moving with getting Benton to a friends house for some play time and then emptying my studio shelves and moving my fabric tubs so mel could put up new shelving and put a board on my filing cabinet to let the totes sit better. It took about an hour to empty everything into the front room and it was dusty and ugh. I then headed to Costco and got sundries...course everyone else had the same idea but I stuck to the outskirts and got my necessities and then headed home to unload and then pick Benton up from his fun. Once home Mel finished up with the shelving and I started to go through all of the stuff, organize things, put like with like and then I labeled every bin/container/drawer. I got everything back on the shelves and set minus a few small shoe box size things of SCA detritus I need to cull through. Its 30 years worth of site tokes, favors, tchotchkes etc. That is a Tuesday night problem. I also in the middle of organizing made chicken mole with store bought mole sauce. Tasty and less work than making my own though I may try to find some paste versus pouch version so I can make it thicker. But I finished this all up at 11pm. Mel was tired and had gone to bed a bit earlier and I was wired cause I was "PRODUCTIVE!!!" and my brain and body were wired. My back was also not happy with me from stoopid on Friday wrestling the tree etc.

Sunday we got up early, got dressed, loaded the van and were on the road with burritos by 730am to war practice on the NW side of Phx Metro. We got there with the right amount of time to get setup and sit down for court...which was exciting cause they offered knighthood to a gent who has been awesome and that made the Southern Baronies so happy cause he's from our neck of the desert. It was the whole reason I went to cheer, give him and his lady hugs and tell him how much he deserves this. I posted about it and his cousin who participated in his youth was like "HOLY HELL!!!" It brought such a smile to everyone. They also called up my KWHSS travel buddy Mistress Genevieve for the Laurels. Her 14th century is ON POINT and amazing. And her hubby is also amazing and funny as shit.

Anwhoo. After court I managed to get my 'errands' which were getting fiber to Skadi, delivering the bag Blossom left at Boar Fest, and getting my fighting card up to date. I still plan on getting back on the field. Just trying to get my health settled and get my endurance up and a few pounds off.

Anyhoo. The rest of the day I hung out under our shade, knit on mel's sock and attended the Bard of the Sun Competition. I did film a few of the performances. Dom singing his filk of "the mob song" from beauty and the beast and Sayyida Keesa dancing a prayer for rain for Caid . It was a wonderful time of song and stories and even sock puppets. I know I would have had a hard time choosing. But in the end Dom won! Woot! I think he's the 4th Bard of the Sun from the household. Yay!

Also, if you ever need THE RULES you now have the link of Ari reciting them at my vigil. :)

It was a nice day and I got a lot of knitting done. There were more peerage offers and good awards and then it was pack up and go time and Mel was no where to be found but I had household folks to help. I had to finally wrangle Benton away from where he spent all day playing with other kids on the opposite side of the site. He had ate and drank so that was okay but he was MIA all day. Meh. Anyhoo, got everything packed up and moved with help from Dom, Zoe and also Khalil who used to be a household member. I just asked him to put all of mel's armor in the bag and then Dom got the bag on a return trip. I was just about to call out a search party when mel arrived. He had gotten talking chinese sword with a gent who I had seen coming out with his family all in very nice chinese clothes including the kiddos (omg so cute) and he had talked jin for like 45 mins. So, mel got changed into a tshirt and into the van for me to drive around phx to Rudys BBQ before we headed to IKEA. We had dinner with Thorin and he's always a delight.

IKEA was pretty chill. Not very many folks were there and we had wonderful help from "Sir Mark" in the mattress area. We only picked up a few items not on our list (new collapsable laundry hamper to replace the one with the torn bottom, an octopus drying thingy for ivan's socks, a cupholder for my desk, cinnamon rolls cause reasons). We got the mattress for Benton (he got a plush one and loves it), we got a new mattress for our camp bed, A mattress pad for Benton and a new fitted sheet for him. Still was spendy but all good. We got back on the road by 730pm and home a bit after 9. We only unloaded the essentials, Benton showered and went to bed. I had a beer and then showered and we were all asleep by 11pm I think.

Yesterday was a light work day but a heavy car day. I picked up the civic after all the work they did. Got home and about an hour later Mel and I took the van and the civic to the tire place to get tires and wiper blades. We walked home to work and they called about 20 mins before mel had to leave for school pickup. We walked back (yay a whole mile walked) and I got back to work. Today Mel took the van to Jack Furriers to get the AC fixed, I will be calling them to do the alignment on the car tomorrow and then we should be done with car things for trips/war etc. We drive to El Paso for Outlands Coronation Friday so fixes were needed. The car I was going to do over break but I didn't drive it much and they had to order parts for the recall and the hatchback pistons. But its all good now. Just needs the alignment now that I have new tires, the strut fixed, new brakes, the fuel pump replaces (recall) and the hatchback working properly again.

So I'm trying to simplify things in 2025 and part of that is unsubscribing from email lists from various suppliers.

danabren suggested it and damn does it feel nice to do it. I had so much email over the break its crazy so yeah hopefully that makes things easier for me.

I had planned on heading to scriptorium and putting the rest of the weekend away and I was toast by 530pm. We finally broke down and turned on the heat yesterday cause it was 27 when we work up and 57 in the house. I ran my space heater in my office for half the day. And by evening Mel was toast and it was video game time for the boys. Since the family room doesn't have heat we snuggled up with afghans and the boys played Borderlands3 and I had cocoa and sat with my ipad playing stardew in the reading chair that is now facing the couch. Thus the TV wasn't distracting but it was fun parallel play with the boys and we all enjoyed family game time. I also like the new chair position (its where the cat tree was and we moved that to the window in the front room and the cats love it there).

Today is calling on appts. I can't find my gym bag..oops...so I'm going to clear out the weekend SCA gear and put it away and go through the 4 bins of SCA detritus while watching TV. I need to make dinner and do laundry as well but this should be doable and all good.

On the book front I had started #1 the last few days of 2024 and its "The Gospel of Loki" which is odd and I like it thus far.

I figure a wrap up of things would be good. Lets see what I can remember.

Knitting/ Crochet:
I finished 14 projects mostly Chickens but I started the year on a Dead Fish Hat for my nephew Viktor. I did one pair of socks for Mel, 3 pumpkin pillows including the giant one for Mel, 3 large emotional support chickens and 5 mini chickens for other folks. The last project I just found while looking at my camera roll and I made a cowl/shawl thingy in June with handspun form Shanda and I just found the pattern which is Agnes which is nice and I need to upload finished photos of it. Oops.

Scrolls:
I finished 4 full scrolls and 3 painted scrolls: Laurel scroll for Magdalen, a Court Baronetcy with a fun Theme and 2 Guardians of Atenveldt. I have 3 more Guardians to put the text on that I painted/inked.

Spinning: plied a bunch in SD and spun some more. I have documented it on IG, need to do better to add to my rav stash or put here. I also spun on my purple at multiple SCA events (drop spinning). I also taught spinning to a few folks at the A&S Collegium and one of my students then won the quarterly Arts of her barony with the article she made from the handspun.

Travel: January was to SC/NC for my SIL/BIL investiture, February was War of the Phoenix, then in March we did Disney for Benton's Birthday, Then in May I went to NOLA for Linnet's 21st, July was SD, October Trip to Prescott for Arts Collegium, November was Washington State for Thanksgiving, December we stayed home thank goodness.

Clothing/Sewing:
Ran a clothing weekend for the ladies of the house to get Fiona clothes which was successful.
I finished mom's quilt project which is documented here. I finished a pair of fighting pants for Ivan which I need to upload a photo of and I made my clothes for my elevation. I also made a pair of pants for myself in SD for SCA which I didn't photograph except one picture of the 1951 singer and the fabric. I also made two new under dresses and a hangerrock for Jan/Feb and Made Benton a coat.

Books:
I read 31 books which isn't too bad. I had hoped to get to 50 but got depressed in Sept/October and my reading shoved off.

So I guess I was productive and busy though I felt work ate my brain but for an average person this would be amazing productivity?

Gym time was not consistent and I'm trying to get myself back to that starting next week. This week is for rest and figuring things out.

Well, I left us at the ceremony and my regrets which were I didn't 1) get a full length set of photos of my clothes and 2) didn't get a family photo of all of us or 3) a household photo. Sighs. But one thing I added to my ceremony was Plurican Dom reading my service record with AS years.

( My Service Record )

I thought it important to show that and to have it read as part of my ceremony. So, my elevation was the last part of court. Becca and Rob got announced in as visitors. There were lots of awesome awards given out including Spork getting their Flower, Eyvor getting her beacon, Dom signing a filk of Disney's Beauty and the Beast as Beauty and the Cave Troll aka Liz and Morgan. It was amazing.

I got so many surprise presents. The first was from Baron Sami in Northshield through Liz before court in the ready room. He's a friend from the Between Two Peers YT discord. He got me through a lot with my mom and phone calls while I was in SD.

Then before court I got given from Baroness Aesa and Countess Golda a pelican in a jar with lights ...its effing silly and fun and fully of whimsy and I love it.

Then during court TE Mons gave gifts to TRM and TE of BTY and then to me from Lady Naomi of Mons. Wow, its a wrapped raven with stones and amazing and so unexpected. Seriously. like WTH?!

Then during the ceremony I was given the medallion and hat that Ari made and the chain from Rob (my BIL). I had not seen it on the chain yet and the hat was wonderful...though Morgan had a hard time getting it on my head lol.

The hood that

danabren was amazing. Its amazeballs. OMG.

Then my scroll is a box from Thyra that happened in 5 days cause my graduate nerfed my enamel scroll in the kiln? I didn't think I was getting anything and then I get handed a box with my raven and other things on it and the text all machine engraved. Its also got a beautiful integral hinge.

And then after my elevation Mel and Valora surprise me with one of her viking bags with the carved handles. Mel made the handles and Valora put them on at the event when we arrived on site unbeknownst to me. Sneaky knightes. Its splendid and more pictures here, and here, and here.

So my speakers were:
Viscountess Wander for the Laurel
Duchess Mineko, OP for the Royal Peer
Sir Valora, OP, OL for the Chivalry
Bannthegn Juliana, OP, MOD for the Defense
Baroness Blossom, OP for the Pelican
THL Ponaria (my student) for populace

All said amazing things and I will post video when I get it but I was moved and loved and laughed and cried a bit. Blossom was celebrating her 15 years since her offer to the order and that was poignant for how long we have worked together. Po talked about how even outside of the SCA i got our household out and volunteering during covid to use our SCA skills to help with vaccine drives. Which I thought was nice. We all got commendations about how we all worked well and could do all the jobs without much issue. Anyhoo. It was nice.

Like my Laureling my legs tried to fall asleep but that was okay. Like planned Liz did most of the ceremony and Mel held the sword during my oath. I was so gobsmacked by the hood and the hat was fun and I've worn it around the house. Lol.

We had a nice evening with the potluck feast and hanging out. Becca and Rob sat at high table and the household was outside. The boys played in the windchime tourney and all in all we helped clean up the hall and I made sure Dominique had help. She arrived and just slotted into the kitchen and ran things. Even though it was a pot luck feast you still need someone to run the kitchen, make sure drinks are full and clean up. But at the end it was just her and I got Sir Khalil and Don Arion to help out.

We got home and we all changed clothes into comfy and I started making G&Ts and doing what ever mel needed. Seriously he ran himself ragged with everything. We drank till about midnight and hung out with Ari.

The next morning Mel headed to the war practice and once we got the boys up we headed to the Air and Space Museum and that will be another post.

So I haven't checked or written here since the December 18th. I was done for the year for work but had started the morning with things like getting a crown. It was not painful at the time other than the shots, but afterwards and still I have nerve pain. I think I have damaged nerves on that side and things just ache for weeks. So I've been dealing with that alot. Luckily I didn't need a root canal and I get the permanent crown on the 15th.

Frdiay the 20th I went to Ari's and cut out my dresses. We did dinner at Guadalajara grill and that was most excellent. Best salsa I ever had and we took the leftovers home for mel to make salsa bread. The next 2 weeks were holiday prep, cleaning, cleaning cleaning the house, sewing sewing sewing with breaks for Christmas and New Years. I did make all of the pie crusts for pies and they turned out amazing and did the good puff up in the oven. Mel did wonderful pizzas for Christmas Eve. We had Wander over for that which was absolutely lovely. Shanda brought lots of booze to try. It was a very nice and relaxing christmas. The goose was tasty that Mel and Ari did. We had mashed potatoes I made from roasted potatoes and green bean casserole. All of which turned out lovely.

We did small gifts this year minus me buying Mel his new beer fridge and him buying me my new serger. We spent more on the serger (babylock Celebrate) than I wanted but I'm replacing a hand-me-down machine from 1981 and this will last me the rest of my sewing life. So meh. The fridge is a SMEG knock off from Home Depot. Its bright red. The wine fridge we had went to Poe for her she-shed. The beer fridge went with Linnet. So more stuff out of my house.

Benton's room got completely emptied, cleaned and rearranged. And I found a nice second hand dresser to add to the room that fit in his closet so its not a dumping ground of stuff. Shanda also drove down a new to us bookcase that while it barely fit to get into the room is perfect and we got rid of a POS. We will be getting more from her stock of bookcases and from here adoptive father's estate to replace the crappy ones in the family room.

Cool things I got for xmas: books I've been wanting, a ryobi battery light/magnifier, rose jewelry from Ari, Legos from the hucks, a new matt for rolling out dough, meisen plas items, booze, an awesome bag of a RBF cat knitting that states "Easily distracted by Cats and Yarn from Ed/Asa, a dish towel that says "I'm really not the kind of person you want to put on speaker without a warning", pretty amythyst earrings from Shanda, a scent diffuser setup from her as well, yarn from the co-op in Minnesota, silver napkin rings, a castiron basting pot for the grill, a silver julep spoon.

But the new serger made things perfect. I was able to keep the silk brocade from shedding, the linen was perfect to work with and I'm again so happy I have a good steam iron. Cutting necklines is always a PITA but Ari said I needed to do a mockup and wow did that help since I had a double facing and it was good to know what went to what side. I still had to fix the back neckline a bit but meh. All good. I think the over dress turned our perfect and the under was simple but I added just a thin piece of trim and its really pretty. Becca helped me get the hem finished and the sleeve cuff buttons/loops done. My brain was not braining by the time we got to the vigil.

But can I just state that 1) my house looks amazing, 2)Mel is a rockstar and worked his ass off with Benton on his room, moving shit, pulling stuff off of the porch etc. 3) he hid a surprise for my elevation. The household did amazing. Tym and Rob, Mel and the boys all helped too to get things ready. The setup was magical in our secret porch, The boys finished up the path from the shop to the trees with bricks and then put in a pathway marker through the side yard.

We had about 40 people attend which was nice. It good to chat with folks and listen to them doing the "where are we going?" on the hidden path. Having this vigil really helped with my imposter syndrome and do I deserve this. I got gifts too which I was not expecting. Herveus sent pelicans with Megan. Lageartha made me a pelican. Sym gave me a John Wick coin since we have a Baba Yaga schtick for my ceremony. I tucked that into my bra for the event as good luck.

We had a very nice time at the vigil. The boys got a good chunk of the left over firewood burned. Mel ran his butt off with smoked salmon, chicken, sausages and the most amazing challah braided ring ever. Poe's meringues were amazing. Dominique made chicken teriyaki and veggie skewers (and then she kicked ass and ran the kitchen crew at the event without being asked). I made tasty banana bread that was devoured. Dom made tasty beer and I will admit I had a hangover the next morning, lol. But we rolled with things and got to site just after opening. Since we had seated hats visiting we brought the household loner chairs. Things were a bit chaotic and our household grabbed some tables to sit outside for the feast. But first was court which I will right about tomorrow.

So by Thursday night I was starting to feel better. Things were moving correctly through my system after about noon and then I was hungry enough and wanting comfort food that I got us Mod Pizza for dinner. I ate two pieces and then had some ginger ale but it felt good to have real food and then relax. I went to bed early and then got up on time for Friday school run and burritos. Mel and I then were picking up the house around our house cleaner and now my house is very clean and things are picked up. Its still cluttered but we will be working on that in december.

The house feels so much happier and it did help my mood. I then sat down and got that darn pumpkin almost finished. I started on the stem and had to rip that back cause it really needed the thickness of two strands but I was finished by Friday evening minus me cinching in the lobes and I need to make an upholstery needle long enough to do that. I ran one errand to drop off shoes to teh cobbler and then home. I really wanted to do more but I was tired and I knew I still had to drive home after my massage. Got the massage and it was wonderful and I felt so much better after that but still very tired. I we ended up watching a few more episodes of Delicious in Dungeon (which I highly recommend) before bed time. I had managed to pull out clothes etc for the next day.

Ari arrived at 730 but we were still gathering stuff when she arrived Saturday morning. But we got into the van and on the road by 8am. Made it to site by 930. I'd even managed to put on makeup before we left. Lots of folks I hadn't seen in forever. Got to meet Shanda's "Best Steve" and "New Cody" and they were delightful. The final court went well. I managed to wind off my spinning during the laurel for Captain Lann. She taught me to make beads and Duchess Elzbieta's words about that class 20 years ago and us having to tie her tippets behind her so she didn't burn up and Lann being so gracious with her spunky queen were seconded by me in spirit. I winked at Lann while she remembered and laughed.

Got back to my seat with the ravens and we watched the stepping down which was nice. I cast on the pumpkin for my MIL. At the lunch break there was lots of chatter and we headed out to the quad to have picnic lunch. Dominique was nice enough to feed us all and I guess her cookies were to die for. They smelled good but had butter so none for me. I had a nice chat with Duchess Mary Grace and lots of hugs from her. Kindred spirits.

We all had a nice chat and then it was back inside for the coronation court and all the fealty oaths etc. Rowan's daughter was again made princess royale and she looked picture perfect in her Rus outfit including veils. So cute. We had the up down up down of all the oaths. Ari and I saw back knitting while the officer oath of service was going on. Mel was back chatting with Sigrid. They finished the coronation court and then started the "first court" business. And then HRM Elizabeth called me up. And I kneeled on her pillow cause its a schtick. And she starts talking about my arts and how I've gotten lots of awards for that, and then talking about my time as queen...and my thought is I would be getting the Glory of Atenveldt for the Royals. And then she started talking about my service and then I got a weird feeling and then she called in the Pelicans. And I lost it crying. Liz was talking with me and Morgan was also talking with me and how much they wanted to do this and how this was long overdue and then Morgan said I should have been there before he was put into the order (which was in 2018). I then looked up and saw all of the pelicans, Mistress Kollgrima was bouncing up and down and there were smiles and I had to hand off my glasses cause I was crying so hard. My emotional dysregulation of the past week wasn't helped by this and well, I got flocked and hugged my way across the stage, down the aisle and back to my seat where I needed my inhaler to breath. It took me most of teh afternoon to not be crying. My makeup was a mess but everyone was so happy and saying "long over due" or "I thought you had this already!". TRH of the Outland Zacharia and Marianna had come to visit and nikki (marianna) made sure to tell me one of the reasons they had come was my offer. Wow.

I was pretty shell shocked the rest of court and then I was overheated and stripped out into my modern clothes. Again, not regulating well but better when I wasn't overheating. Had good convos with Valora and Nikita. Her comment was if she had won crown this was also on her business agenda and Nikita wanted to give me his grace when he was Queen. OMG. Those two are so lovely. They will be crown someday and I will love having Nikita as our first Queen's consort. But yeah emotions were high and we all decided since it was early to head home to Tucson and then get dinner. Ari got her jeep, mel and Benton switched clothes to modern and then off to Sushi Ten to celebrate. We had good food and good conversations.

I went to bed pretty early. I was exhausted.

Sunday Mel headed up to King's Champion and I had already decided to stay home. I slept in, watched some TV with Benton, made some lists for the day. I got a needle made from some wire to finish the pumpkin and then Poe and Jeff came over to get stuff for their family thanks giving. They have 19 people coming and needed extra tables and benches, a crockpot etc. Plus I had stuff for Poe from Wander. It was nice to get things moving and then Benton and I went to Costco. Now they changed the way the food court works and its not very easy...you order and then stand in line and they fill orders as they get to the window. This seems less than ideal. Anyhoo, we did our shopping including getting the boyo a new winter coat that will do for this trip. he's growing so quickly that I didn't want to spend too much since he will wear it for a month or so. We then grabbed lunch and then home to unload and relax. I got going on dinner in the afternoon and made red beans, rice, and sausage. Beans were in the pressure cooker, I made roux from the sausage cooking, and put the rice in the sauce to cook. I also made box mac and cheese to go with at request from Benton since he hadn't had any in so long. Dinner was ready about 30mins after Mel got home. he'd had an inconsistent day fighting but had a good time. Good people won Art and Sciences and that makes me happy.

We had a good dinner and then watched some fun cheezy fail tv. (industrial accidents etc) on YT Mindwharehouse. Was up later than I wanted but mel and I talked a lot and then I had things switch to politics and that was not where we wanted to go but we know we have to talk about things sometimes and the way the business is going for what we work on is very different than when we started. Can't retire until Benton at least gets to college but looking at numbers right now isn't too bad to think about. I didn't expect my mom to have set us up so nicely but wow.

We leave for Washington State on Saturday and that will be nice to 1)not be working and 2) spending time with my MIL. Benton will have some schoolwork to do but I have crafts and hanging out to do. Its going to be fun for weather with rain and snow expected. So that will be fun. Luckily I got a full size rental car and have recent experience with snowy roads. so yeah.

Not the weekend I expected but feeling very loved.

Mel was on travel in florida all last week. His comment was his meetings changed tone on Wednesday with the customer and yeah. That was a thing. I'm going to stop clicking on CNN and just read things from the foreign perspective....I just can't take it.

Anyhoo...I was good and got us mostly packed up and ready before Mel got home. I had not loaded the van but got everything in the trailer with the help of Dom. I guess I missed a few minor things but Thursday night was pretty relaxing before an event that I've had. I didn't feel great but we were managing. My congestion of the weekend before was still present off and on and I was tired. My stomach was also not happy, I'm sure its been stress and too much drinking and not eating well. And being constipated is not great. Camping and being constipated is even better. I got a bit of relief but things are still not happy.

So Friday we got up, got moving finished up the final things. I got benton to school and then loaded myself into the van. I ran to get the tires checked and that took a while but I was glad I did since they were only half full. Dear husband...when I say they look low...they are low. It was funny and not. Got to site...the wind was annoying on the highway but we got things setup using impact drivers which was amazing. We will totally be doing that from now on once we get all the stakes to do that. We also only had 4 of us camping and a super minimal kitchen and that was okay. We had fun and made do. Had lots of good conversations after a long court with friends and beer. Dominique was awesome and just ripped out my shawl versus trying to help me figure out a lifeline since it was like 20 rows at the beginning. yeah I should have done that but yeah. Need the moral support blah blah blah. I did manage to do some spinning. The first night was super effing cold and the new tent is larger volume than the old so the tent heater did not keep up. We hit vigils and didn't get into bed until 130am and I was too cold. I could not warm up until just about 330am. And then I slept poorly. Got up at 8 cause there was coffee. Magdalen was making hash over the fire, Dominique made fruit filled oatmeal and it was a nice morning. Got dressed for court but I was just spinning and watching. It was a long court with a MOD, Knighting and a driveby laurel. I just have to remember that being a peer is a spectrum and sometimes folks improve when they are elevated and I hope that is the case.

Ahem.

So after court and lunch I sat with the Hrafn ladies and we chatted as I noted before. We got the cloak back from a former house member and that portion of drama is closed. Meandered around chatting with people with Dominique in tow. It was a nice afternoon. She made japanese mushroom soup with rice balls and we had a nice evening around the fire. Sharing mead and stories. Some one appeared with smores makings and then Coradini arrived with sword skewers for folks to use. Lots of fun but I think everyone was tired. In bed by 11pm. I made sure to point the heater at my side of the bed. Put my legwarmers on and that helped me keep warm. It was also not in the 20s F, it was in the 30s which helped a lot. We all slept well and then had a leisurely morning of packing up and the tear down was good. We had plenty of help and were offsite by just after noon. Got home, parked trailers and unloaded cars and then collapsed into showers and naps. I was not feeling great and I went to bed early and so did the boys.

I was stuffy and my GI track still not happy. Managed to work most of a day yesterday and then I napped for 3 hours. Today I WFH as well and made it a whole day but I'm tired and will rest a bit before trying to put things away from the trip.

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.

Thursday
Mel and I worked until noonish and then we got the last few things and on the road to Wisconsin for Warriors and Warlords. It was a nice drive and we got dinner about 45 mins from site. Got to site and gate was closed (just after 7pm) and there was no map to tell us where we could camp so we drove around and finally stopped at a nice spot to ask if we could setup our two tents. We ended up setting up right next to Duke Vlad and Duchess Petrenella which was super nice. We got our camp setup and chatted with a few folks we knew. The one thing that happened was one of our poles broke at the inset into the metal for the swing set support. Mel managed to repair it enough to make it work but we had to be very careful at setup. He will be making new poles for the double bell anyway...they are 15 years old and have dried out plus we ended up not being able to take them apart at the end of the event and they were strapped to the top of the tent. We also didn't have enough tent stakes or side ropes. Sighs but we made it work.

Anyhoo...we were tired and had beers and chatted with folks after a sweaty sweaty setup.

Friday
We all slept in on Friday and Mel was up making breakfast and brought me coffee in bed. Benton was grumpy but was better with food and meds and then he and Mel went to the field while I did the dishes and fixed up camp. We really did pack the bare minimum and I had bought new tubs for clothes etc since things can get wet (this was very good preplanning on my part as we will find later). Benton had a grand time doing youth combat, Mel had a grand time doing melee and then some pickups but he was burning out too quick since the humidity didn't let him recover as quick. I also attended a fiber guild meeting and worked on the emotional support chicken. It was a lovely day though folks thought it was hot....it wasn't by AZ standards but the humidity was high. Had a nice time chatting with Hagan and Sven and got a great pic of the guys and of Benton fighting.

I also got to meet Sami and Petrona who I met on the Between 2 Peers Discord and have become good friends. Especially when I was taking care of mom in South Dakota. Sami would call me to chat on his drives to see Petrona. I got so many hugs. It was awesome. Friday night had court which was short but sweet and had one laureling for a weaver. Surprised a few folks with us being there like Eithni and Sir Gwen and Maistari Hlif while we were all sitting in the circle during the ceremony. Tee hee. We hung out with Ralph MacCookin a long time friend from way back who is now in Calontir due to his kiddo. There was a torchlight tourney that took a while to get going but was fun to watch but the skeeters were fierce and Benton had gone missing (he was found hanging out in the arena and was told if he's doing that shit he can be tied to our sides at all events. Running wildish during the day with check ins is fine but at night...nope. Its dark you are back at camp or with us. But once the dewpoint hit I was done and getting cold. Mel and Benton had already gone back to camp.

Saturday the boys went out to fight and I picked Benton up to head to the youth archery shoot which was a monster shoot. Shoot a stuffed animal, you get to keep it. The kids had so much fun and worked together to get toys for kiddos who were not great shots. Benton did really well and got a stuffy for a very small boy who was too hot and was more they ready to melt down, he got a dino for himself and as we were cleaning up they said I could take one since Benton had helped so many kids. Its purple and batty and cute and weird and I love it.

I also managed to hit up the fiber guild again and do some shopping. I got a wonderful glass made by Duke Finn (Midrealm). He gave me my AoA so that is neat. I had not realized he had gotten his laurel for glass work. It had honestly never come up in conversation...he was a king and a Duke and so larger than life when I was a teen and in early college. Peers were so unknown etc. The rest of the fighting had been called off due to the heat index being in the scary levels. So the rest of the day was hanging and chatting with folks. We got news a weather system was moving in and a lot of folks pulled up camp. We weathered it out and had a really nice dinner after teh storm blew through. Went to court which included the Laureling of Sven's apprentice and a very good amount of schtick to offer Count Ajax admittance into both the Pelican and the MoD. We were super stoked for that.

Spent the evening then chatting with ralph and his daughter. Headed to bed about 1230 and the camp next door was still partying till after 1am. Were startled awake with the tornado sirens for the town going off and then scrambling to get out of bed, dressed and then rushed to the storm shelter. That was 245 in the morning. There wasn't a tornado anywhere near but there was the storm coming in and the town we think made sure we were safe since we were camping. We stayed sheltered until 430 when it was still raining and blowing and it finally stopped about 515 where we finally just dropped off to sleep. Oof. Got up about 8 and started packing down. luckily we had either put things in the van already or put things in tubs so the only things that were wet were floors and tents...though benton's clothes got soaked from a puddle. So we made due with him grabbing his shirt he drove up in. Got everything loaded and dried as best we could and then headed to perkins for brunch. Had a very nice meal and then it was on the road. I drove about 2 hours and then had to hand things off to mel and then I crashed hard asleep. We got home about 6 and unloaded and mel laid out tents while I got food on the grill the kiddo was in the shower. Then we got clothes started in the washer and it was an early bed for all of us. Its nice having a large driveway and a large deck to hang things on for drying.

So yeah, crazy ass weekend with the weather but it was super nice to see folks etc. Though next year if things show that weather pattern we will probably pack up early and find a hotel we are all still tired and its Wednesday.

I did manage on Monday night to finish the emotional support chicken and I'm almost done with my mohair spinning. will update on our dinner with my aunt later.

The weekend has ended and I think we are all in a sad with the family leaving for home but the eldest nephew had band camp as a freshman starting today so needs must. Saturday we did a bit of antiquing after they left. Benton had been dealing with a slight sore throat that has gotten worse and got so bad that we trundled up to town to get to urgent care. Its not strep but is like my issue a few months back with allergies getting past his meds. We also need to get the dehumidifiers running in the downstairs cause its musty and he may have an issue with any surface mold. But he's feeling better yesterday but was pretty chill watching tv all day after we got back to the house.

Sunday we managed to get to the local fighter practice in my original home shire of Border Downs. King Hans is a local now so Mel got to have a lot of good passes, including with pole arm (he borrowed gauntlets) and he had fun fighting other folks. I guess next year we will have to drag his C&T stuff. I spun on my drop spindle and did a good long bunch of fiber in the 2+ hours we were there. Benton was playing on the playground. I talked with a bunch of modern families that came to see and was a good peer even when I had a mom say her kiddo was non verbal, I still spoke with him to show him the fiber I was spinning and I could see he liked the texture and gave him a small sample to have. All of the kids were polite and when I redirected with if you want to touch something please ask they were really good. Two of the kids played with benton's boffers and when it was time to leave I asked them to please put them back how they found them and they did. Good parenting there which I appreciated. Another mom asked where we buy our costumes and I explained we made most everything and said I'm even making yarn right now and she went "go you!" which was hilarious. I was in shorts and tank top but still it was hilarious.

The mosquitos have been brutal with all of the flooding and rain here. Luckily the Off active dry works well but man they have been insane even in the day time. I'm looking at getting one of the mosquito thingys for the patio. Cause damn I want to sit out in the evenings. They were not this bad last year but boy howdy this year is nuts.

We got back from practice and had lunch and then I got a shower from the bug spray making my skin feel gross. I got a quick rinse off and then I took a 2 hour nap. Finally got up and worked on the pants. I did change out the needle and mucked with the thread a bit. I'm using brand new gutterman thread but the needle did most of the trick I also learned from this video how to do reverse and other things.

I finished the pants after dinner and then sat down at my wheel to spin the mohair and about an hour in my footman on teh left side snapped. This happened last year on the right side so now I need to wrangle with that today. It was late and dark and I needed tools from the big garage and I just sat down and worked on the emotional support chicken and finished its beak and now it looks like a flat chicken and is making me very happy. next up on it is the comb, then the wattle and then the underside before stuffing. I hopefully can get it done before we leave for WW and then just have some socks for mel on the needles. I will also pack my spinning since the polworth is spinning up quickly.

I'm about 50% through #24 for the year and the plot thickens. I'm not sure if this takes place in the almost timeline of now or not. There are references to the modern world and actors etc but I'm not sure that the "real" world knows that magic exists? Oh well reading I guess they don't. I'm interested in how this will go next.

So things are nice, its relaxing and the cats happy. Especially since I got a new cat tunnel that is an s-curve with extra cutouts that is making it hilarious with tails sticking out of weird spots. Happy kittens.

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Better but still tired...

Sunday and Monday

slogging through the week

West Crown

Why is this week so long?

Finished things, started things and frustrations

Wacky but fun weekend.

War of the Phoenix 2025 Dusty but fun

Pretty good weekend

A different kind of day

Lovely SCA weekend

Busy ass weekend...OMG....

Compiling 2024

2025 is chugging....

That was a crazy few weeks....and I'm exhausted.

Well huh....that was not on the agenda....

Its been a week....

This weekend was odd....

Warriors and Warlords 2024 Recap

Craftiness