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So we all got up way early in the morning for coronation. We had some issues to getting Benton moving but we got going and picked up Ari and were on the interstate by 7am. The drive was nice we chit chatted and got to site. We found a place to set stuff and got dressed. I haven't worn a veil in quite a long time so it took me a minute to get it settled but it looked good and I used the temple pendants that I bought from Dominique who had gotten them from Feed the Ravens. I thought I looked really nice . Ari and I sat in court and it wasn't as reverent as other courts but that is not the vibe of this crown. Ari and I sat and did string things though I untangled yarn and she knit and then ripped back the back panel of her sweater and started over. Seems the world still needs a bit of crafting chaos with us cause I ended up tearing out what I made this last week on the crochet stuffy I was making.

Anyhoo, the court started on time and ended with the crown transfer and then they moved right into oaths and setting the counties. Sutton and Celeste had a commitment at 1pm so things moved quickly but nicely. I had to run back to the ready room to get the county scrolls that the incoming crown's heralds hadn't grabbed. I'm also getting a roses mantle from Genevieve in my colors and I think I'm going to go for the 14th century style so its easier to add to things since I have a lot of viking style hoods that are pretty. Plus it will be easier to put it on an off for coronation courts etc than a full hood. I just need to dig out linen to hand to her.

But we then had a break for lunch and we had brought things and made sammiches and handed an extra one off to Will. Benton had spent the courts doing art with some of the kids and after lunch court was just another hour? So we were helping pack things up at 3pm-ish. We all got changed (except Benton cause he refuses to pack clothes when we tell him) adn then headed to out to the Mercantile Antiques Mall. We had a nice casual time and got to see baby goats! Then we headed to Black Bear Diner for dinner. We did basic food since we were all tired and hungry and the teenager wanted pancakes. Still hard for me to find things I can eat at Black Bear so I'm not sure it will continue to be on our rotation coming up.

Sunday Mel and Thorin went to the champions tourneys and Benton and I slept in and then went out to Joes for late breakfast. It was nice and then it was home to projects or well, I took a nap. I was so tired. I woke up with a headache which is not a good sign. But I got up and started prepping dinner. We had venison from the freezer I had set to defrost and I sliced up two roasts into medallions and then quick seared them after a coating of flour before putting them into a greased baking dish. I then used the same pan I had seared things in to sauté up a bunch of mushrooms and spices to make a hearty gravy. I used a bottle of porter since I was out of bullion but oh it was good. I placed a small piece of raw bacon on top of each medallion or around it if they were small and then slathered the gravy on and baked it. The original recipe asked for pancetta and a small amount of mozzarella on top. I agree with the pancetta and can't do the mozz. I was clearing things out of the freezer thus teh bacon. But thinner fat on the top is preferred so you don't over cook it which I did just slightly to get the bacon done. We had it with vegan cheezy mash potatoes and it was really good except a few of the medallions I had not cut cross grain. One of the roasts was an odd cut so that makes sense.

But it was good. I also made stuff butternut squash on Wednesday. I had picked from the ground perfect little squashes at Apple Annies and then sliced them in half, coated with bacon fat and spices (garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, pepper, Auntie arwens game seasoning (the list bit I had), and then topped with a 50/50 mix of ground pork sausage and spicy pork sausage and then spritzed with avacado oil and dusted with panko. I baked them for an hour and they were so good. Benton has ate most of the leftovers of that.

Anyway that hold tired thing...kept going. Mel got home and loved the dinner and I went to bed early and woke up not feeling right on monday. I made it to 1145am and then went back to bed. I was out for hours. I barely woke up for dinner and then back to bed. I took benton to the bus on Tuesday and then slept the rest of the day. I was better in the evening and Wednesday I shakily started work and got most a day in from home and I've worked the rest of the week like that.

I've been crocheting a bit. Mel packed up and left for GWW yesterday. And my plans are knitting, crocheting, sleeping, and drinks out with the girls this weekend. There is a lego convention I will see if Benton wants to go to a session on Sunday afternoon. I also want a pedicure which I may go do tonight after I pick Benton up from work. My massage got cancelled so I have some time tonight.

But I'm feeling better. The tired and brain fog with the congestion and cough were fun (not). But today I'm wide eyed and puffy tailed. I'm not taking that as carte blanche to be crazy but its a good sign.

Woot! My crown sewing is finished!

I did not gym yesterday I was tired and had intended to get home, get laundry going and finish his kaftan. I was not happy with the material I had for loops but that is fixable later. I used a small section of left over blue linen from the trimming and with it double folded like bias tape it was a bit stiff and chunky but I didnt quite have enough silk bias to complete it either. But I worked from bottom up, used good ergo and got things placed well during about half a movie which also included me eating my dinner. Luckily Practical Magic is on Disney+/Hulu so I put that on and finished up within the hour after I had picked up Benton and switched out a load of laundry.

It doesn't look clunky from the outside I don't think.

I sat down to finish the movie and Benton decided he wanted a shower before dinner after finishing his homework and then dawdled. I got a about 6 inches of weaving done and Benton was in bed at like 940pm. I finished the movie but then mel came home and we started chatting and well I did not go to bed early.

Work has been super frustrating for both of us. I'm in the I really don't care at all about anything and that is not a good head space to be. I just wish people could do their damn jobs. It would help tremendously.

Well, today is work in the office, hopefully the gym and then working on the last part of the kaftan (the loops) and laundry.

Not very exciting but its things I've been putting off (laundry) but I managed to put fresh sheets on the bed which I also had been putting off. why when its nice to have fresh sheets but I've been so hyper focused on sewing everything else is just falling to the wayside. Gotta get better at that but its been a long time I've been motivated to sew and I'm liking the results.

Now if I could go to bed on time that would be nice.

Need to get my packing list and clothing pulled for crown with the off chance we win have nice things for Sunday and a set of boy clothes for not winning.

But my overdress is done and goes nicely with the underdress I made in 2020 for the calontir clothing challenge. I need to find my tall boots and make sure I can find my shift otherwise its boobalicous.

But I'm happy with it and feel pretty and not frumpy which is important though Mel really takes not great photos. Lol.

This whole dropping Benton off at 650am and having an off Friday means that after I got coffee Mel and pulled things out of trailers and packed into the minivan all before 8am. Then I sat on the couch and watched My Happy Marriage while knitting on the shawl which still is unfucked up. I finally am getting a feeling for how it is done and am past the green welt and onto the grey backgroup until the next welt.
Mel was in the shop cleaning things up but stuff was hot. I worked until noon and had planned to get my studio clean going but Benton texted me that he did not feel good and wanted to come home. I told him to go to the office and find out what the procedure is. I got a call from the nurse about 4 mins later. So I got into the car and headed up to pick him up and he was bad. He had a sore throat and a wet cough. (he had not felt good the night before so not surprised). I stopped and grabbed Eegees for him and Mel and a sandwich for him since he was in the office during his lunch. He ate part of it and when we got home he flopped on the floor and fell asleep. We had him take some meds, get up, change into comfy non-school clothes and he slept until 4pm.

I was hot when we got back but had a cool drink and then started on the studio. I was hot, it was hot in the studio and I dinked around a bit. My problem is I don't want to strip this room yet but I need to put things away. I cleaned up the "knitting" drawer and put more things in places but its hard since my brain is screaming that "FIX THIS ROOM IT HURTS MY BRAIN!!!" but the one thing I did find was I have way too many stitch markers and I'm not allowed to buy any more of them. I took pictures and its insane. I was also looking for the wooden cards I thought I had bought myself for weaving but all I found were some for Benton. But I was tired and the effort was half hearted in the heat. So I went to my massage at 5pm while mel was at the dojo. Benton was chilling in his room. Got home and had dinner of quesadilla and then mel and I had dueling warping of belts. He has to do one for a black belt for the dojo and I got going on the protege belt. I managed to get it warped with like 3 mistakes 2 of which i fixed while warping and the first turn of the cards but its all good. I was had setup to do a checkerboard of warp twining and left it at that.

Saturday we got up early cause Benton was screaming in pain. He had a sinus headache and got him ibuprofen and into a hot shower and that helped. I was having an issues finding clothes I wanted to wear. Finally got my 14th century shift and a short sleeve overdress and went with that. Benton stayed home and was drinking tea and ensconced on the couch when we left. We had him take some sudafed as well. Got to site at exactly 9am and court was still in setup stage. So we trolled in and then put the van next to our where the shade would be set up and got lots of help so we set up the day shade. We had brought the ryobi stuff and that made very very quick work to get it up. We then realized why that shade was in our personal trailer cause it needed repairs oops. But it was just the center grommet so NBD. Due to the wind we had another tear in a side grommet but I will set about fixing that coming up. But I spent most of the day, including during first court in our shade. I could hear court but there wasn't room in shade to watch court so I sat in ours and heard it all anyway. The tourneys happened and the baronial dragonwing was not set up near the eric so folks congregated in ours. NBD. HRM Sutton was telling tales of his first Pennsic. He had a run in with the Tuchuks that had him picking one of them up and throwing them off a bridge, where he then threw him self off the bridge. His comment before that was "dude, you don't want to keep doing that and being an ass, you are my warm up weight for bench" and yeah he totally chucked the dude off the bridge. And then a day later he was at a party and the Tuchucks were totally baller with him doing what he did. They were like "my dude why did you tussle with HRM...that man is huge!". I'm very glad my former Queen's champion, now Crown had such a good time at the war.

I did weave on the belt most of the main part of the day. After about 6 inches I hated the checks. So I just went with the same twining and had everything moving the same directions and then the variegated sections .

But it was hot and when we had a breeze it was okay. I did my best to keep drinking water but it was hot and dry and about the time afternoon court was to happen it was 97F mostly still and high humidity for our area. And the little breeze we had was from the back of court forward which didn't work. I sat through the 2 hours cause it was an investiture court and the new B&B haven't learned the gift basket lookies happen after court. Or Gift baskets happen after court not during hostage theartre. But there was a presentation of doggo clothes that the Graduates student made that were adorable and all the dogs even wore the hats. OMG. So cute but still while cute took time in the heat. I was getting a large headache and it was hot. Did I mention it was hot? We baked in the sun and no breeze. Ugh. We got done and I grabbed the van and we tore down pretty quickly. There was a party for the after investiture gearing up but i wanted home before it got any later. We got things loaded and I had been (somewhat) smart and had iced coffees in the cooler but half way driving to the highway I realized I'd just consumed a partial can of milk coffee. So Mel got more and he dug out another cold fizzy water for me. I was so done by the time we got home and unloaded the personal items and the ryobi stuff. Everything else will get put away tonight.

I moved to take a shower and my head was pounding even though I had pain killers on board and was peeing pretty clear. I got more water with electronlytes in tap cold my shower and then just collapsed in bed. i had intended to take a bit of a rest and woke up 2 hours later. I was tired and hydrated but was up for a dinner of tacquitos and some DF ben and jerry's. Benton was still kinda rough and was taking baths to help with the congestion but he was actually cracking some jokes. Needless to say we all went to bed early. I crashed by 10pm.

Sunday I was told to bed rot by Mel for a while. I had awoken at 6am cause body clock and bladder and then snuggled down for a bit but then just read on my phone for a while. Mel got up and then brought me coffee. so I had my cuppa and then made my mental plan for the day and stalled out...I could not movitvate past getting dressed. So i asked if anyone on the girls chat wanted to accompany me to Costco. Willa responded "give me 10 mins" and then I rushed about getting my sCA murse emptied into my purse and finding the correct keys cause the van keys were attached to the lanyard versus the car keys. I also got more water cause I felt hung over and I hadn't drank anything...thank you dairy. We had a really nice time. Other people were being asshats but having someone else with me was nice and less anxiety. I dropped her off with her 3 items and then it was home to unload and cool down. It was already hot and got to 107 here and was 101 or 102 when we got back at 1115am. So I got the groceries put away and then had some lunch to cool down. I then made a concerted effort on the studio since Willa reminded me my glass stuff can get moved to her place. So after waffling I started there. I cleared off the kiln and moved that. Cleared off the floor beside the worktable corner where the torch/gas stuff were stored. I got it all moved except the 100lb O2 cylinder. Remember that is 100lbs empty and it was full so probably 200 lbs? I needed Mel's help with that but I shimmied under the workbench and lifted by the bottom while Mel grabbed the top and slid it across where the kiln was since the tank was in the corner of the room. We got it and the rest of my glass stuff loaded into the truck and I got that over to Willas and unloaded. We have plans for after crown for me to come and play and relearn how to do something I used to be very good at. Then I had this open spot in my studio that I needed to rejigger things into. That was successful and while not perfect its usable for now and then I put more things away and put fabric away and pulled more out for making a new dress for crown and Mel a caftan. It was about 5pm when I finshed that and then I sat down watching a movie on my tv (I'd had stuff on it the whole time) and started in on a botanical lego set I had picked up recently. Got that to the half way point, realized I needed to vacuum. Found the vacuum overfull from our housekeeper and troubleshot why she hadn't emptied it. It was stuck. I got that fixed and then filled the canister with all of the pet hair I took out of my tiny studio. Willow was very happy the carpet was clean and lounged. Today there are 3 large clumps of fur. Sighs.

But its clean and tidy and I can actually cut fabric out soon etc? My filing cabinet still is a mess, I have a tote full of paperwork to go into it but that is a different weekend or evening problem not today.

We settled in with bean and ham soup for dinner. So good from scratch. Thank you honey. And then it was weaving while I finished watching My Happy Marriage which mel said was too telenovella and I'm like its not regency bullshit its victorian. He did not see the difference. He can be wrong. Its pretty and delightful and the magical machinations were interesting. So 8/10 I recommend and its an easy 2 seasons to watch.

Today in-between meetings has been laundry and sorting it to put away. I'm down to the hang dry stuff and then I will run a load of towels. I've then got to put everything away before scriptorium. This is doable and then I can work on cleaning up the bed room. Things got messy with everything but now that I have a deadline for clothing I need to plan out my weekends before Sept 19th. Mel is going to an event next weekend since he's King's Champion and I may spend the day cutting out fabric and getting the studio set for that. We only have a 3 day weekend for labor day followed by a 3 day work week and then another 3 day weekend so I think I will have time.

So yeah that was the weekend.

Thursdays pack up was pretty stressful. We were all tired and I was kinda in a manic mode. I really really did not want to go. Another week or so would have been perfect. But with Benton's school dates set we really couldn't. So, tonight after work will be getting him a cell phone and shopping for clothes, and a new back pack. I'm dreading the phone. We had hoped to only get him a flip phone for calls and texts but I guess we don't get to pick that. Sighs.

But with him riding the bus and friends etc it will be nice to get a hold of him but he really doesn't want one either. Lol.

But the packup and doing things around the house was exhausting and I was over tired and didn't get to bed until way too late but I was still asleep before mel came to bed even later. We slept in until 630am...had wanted 6am but with that 1am ish bedtime it was a no go. We got things loaded with a good clip and cleaning out the fridge meant some wild life will be living large on the offerings we left at the edge of the woods. But things went into our two coolers Though because of how we packed we didn't have the coolers accessible except when we stopped but that was okay. I drove the first leg to just into Kansas. We did get Taco Johns for our last taste of midwest texan mex food in Grand Island Nebraska. We arrived in La Junta Colorado 730pm local time and after we unloaded the cats and go bags we hit up Boss Hogg's It was basic and we had the local beer Tivoli's Outlaw Light. Its a light beer but perfect after the long drive.

We got back to the hotel and chilled watching Twister and then part of mummy returns. Mel crashed the hell out on the bed fully clothed. I got Benton to shower and got ready for bed and lights outed us at 11pm. I set the alarm for 7am but I was awake at like 615am. At some point mel had gotten out of driving clothes and properly into bed but I slept okay. The cats were snuggling at our feet here and there or on Mel's hip. My only complaint about holiday inn express is that the beds have a gap under them at the back that cats can get into. And Tasha was being a PITA to get in the carrier. But holiday inn breakfast, and easily accessible ice machine and on the road we went. I drove us to Albuquerque where we got lunch at 5Guys. Feeding the teenager has been "a thing" and with his meds he doesn't realize he's hungry just angry and snippy. So we've made sure to get "double" meals for things like a shake with his burger and fries and a quesadilla with his big burrito. Mel was still tired when we was taking over so I got him a coffee shake at 5 guys and that got a big thumbs up from him and he drove us all the way home to Tucson. Now we were a bit squirrely at the end but we did take some good walk/potty breaks so that was good too. Got home, got unloaded, and we noticed the center support on the middle shelf of the fridge was cracked. Mel pulled the shelf out and was cleaning the glass when it shattered. ooops.

Luckily I got online and found the parts we needed and ordered them but am currently on hold with the company since there was an issue and the order is on hold? But it should be an easy fix. Hopefully. I was hopeful on Saturday night but we shall see. Anyhoo. Mel got that cleaned up (with the use of the shopvac cause glass was into the disposal. I ordered pizza from Mod and headed to pick it up. We were all hungry but tired and warm. The house only gets down to like 83 when its 100+ out. So we had food, a few beers and then we were all in bed pretty early cause time zones are a thing. I awoke super early on Sunday 6am and just read on my phone for a while. My back was not happy with me and I was AWAKE. So I got up and out into the family room to ready and sit up for a while. Mel got up a bit later and made coffee. He was all about putting things away and I was just a lump but I got up after my first coffee was done, got dressed and started puttering. We got benton up and headed to Joe's for breakfast.

It was old home week literally, Mary was back in town and all of the waitresses that have known us for decades came to chat. Our waitress was like "well obviously you must be regulars" and "I'm new". We explained we weren't as regular as we used to be but we still come in from time to time. The food was good, chatting with Mary and catching up on things was good as well. We got back and then I started on my puttering to get things put away a bit. My back was unhappy when ever I got up from sitting down. I wasn't too worried since I had smartly scheduled a massage for that afternoon but boy was it angry. My massage was only 60mins and my body fought it but it did loosen and then I did a bit of walking to shop at Daiso and Petsmart and Ulta which were across the parking lot from my massage place. We will soon be getting a Bed Bath and Beyond there too which is nice. The walk did wonders for me as did when I got home I put all of my clothing from the trip away, picked up my studio and set it to rights for the work day and just tidied. Mel made potato/carrot mash to go with the cooked pork chops we transported from SD and we had a nice evening.

I slept well once I reconfigured to a big stiff pillow for my knees and that helped my back tremendously. But we will be shopping for a new mattress cause yeah. Today I've been walking a bunch around the house and once my afternoon meetings hit I will do standing desk as well. But its hot in the house and I have my fan blowing on me but not much more that I can do since its evap cooling and even though the humidity is stoopid low its 104F.

So tonight will be shopping with Benton and then heading to scriptorium. I've missed the girls and I need to start working on laying out Cael's scroll. The stones we've picked up aren't big but that means I need to get working on detail. I'm hoping we can flatten one a bit if not I will head to the stone places and find a nice piece again. But the fact we roadside geology things is part of the fun.

While I've been poking away at writing this I got two death notices:
1) My stepbrother was found dead in his room near flagstaff. Autopsy today. My eldest stepsister called me to tell me and that was all the info they had. He would have been 49 in October. I had not seen him in 19 years (his dad's funeral) and had no idea had had moved to Arizona.

2) Arsenda passed at dawn this AM. I had left messages and I hope they were read to her. This fucking sucks. I've since now texted her partner and got hugs in return on text. He was my cousin Baron so long love there. Sighs. This sucks so hard.

This will all be random but things I want to not forget.
1) The camp spot we had was right next to authentic encampment and we know folks there and it was nice. They complimented our (in my head ghetto) but in their head much better attempt at period than most folks.

2) Ralph and Scarlett are always a hoot and we need to have them with us next time. Even though Ralph is stubborn and doesn't want that but liked it when he had a table to cook on while we were at court. My dude...

3) Chatting with Countess Gwen about fabric since she had just picked up the same silk brocade I used on my pelican. She also just got her Pelican in February!

3)NS fighting conventions are not 180°, its confirmation of engagement. Mel got caught on that one. oops. The guy was super nice and mel totally felt bad.

4) Fiber people are just going to congregate. The scribal open area had no scribal going on but 3 folks spinning. So I sat down and chatted. There is a laurel from canada who I've interacted with over the years around the US and she just has to be right. Its exhausting. I will remember her name eventually cause she and her husband are RV folks and come to WotP so I really should remember. But the rest of the folks were lovely and we had a nice time spinning. One of the gals was in an assistive chair cause whe she stands her PB goes to like 160. They have only been looking at her heart and not like veins etc. I suggested having them talk with vascular folks and they haven't had a table test yet. But they were happy someone listened to them and have things to chat about and we figured out when shes at home working she lounges backwards with her feet up all the time. Yeah have those legs looked at. I'm also the person who has compression socks, even when its hot and I look stoopid.

5) NS folks are not used to people traveling with a full mixing bar. I'm a west coast duchess that is how we roll. Being able to serve the queen of NS a G&T easily was awesome. Also, having NA drinks like carpi suns made one of my fave countesses super happy.

6) Becca made kolache with chicken, sweet potato, curry and spices. They were the perfect food and we had extras to hand out to drunk folks. Definitely doing that next year too. Becca will be sending us the dough recipe and she made it dairy free for me.

7) Photos of WW

8) Benton did a good job at archery helping Nikolai and other kids get their stuffies. He did not bring one home for himself. He also gave his main prize away from Kittens versus Lava to Nikolai since he had that set of legos already.

9) my new aprons worked well but I didn't get any photos of me wearing them. I'm sure I'm in photos but no idea who was shooting.

10) The cuts to the parks and bad decisions ruined the north rim

11) fire near my MIL (3 miles east) but in the last few hours it got well contained and they brought the threat level way down but people did lose homes and property. Okanogan County Active incidents so that was a spike of stress

12) my phone is dying and missing the texts etc. the battery gets hot a lot. I will put in a rec for a new one when we get home. Its 5 years old and taken a lot of abuse so we shall see.

But yeah those are the things.

We all managed to get out of the house (fully loaded both vehicles cause Becca and Rob were leaving to SC from the war). We stopped off in Canton to get Taco johns for lunch (nom nom) and then the easy drive to Wisconsin. What was weir was the GPS took us on back roads to I-90. It meandered between SD and Iowa and then back to SD before doing the last 7 miles was a straight north county road that had 3 states from SD, IA and dumped us out in Minnesota just before the interstate. That was fun. And honestly it super quick but a bit of a meander through pretty country. We had a pitstop in Albert Lea MN and then onto site. We were setup next to Authentic Camp and that was nice We got the french bells setup and the boys got their modern tents setup but it was warm and buggy and we were hungry and realized we had forgotten the bug spray and lanterns and the food truck only took cash. So we divided and conquered to get food and things. Becca and I got tablecloths (also forgotten) and lanterns, and a few more small things and were back in came with rain coming down. My cell service at site was abysmal. But the rain wasn't too bad but I still worried. The port-potties were the best I've ever used. they had solar powered night and motion lights and were clean and new and better than the flushies at the bath house.

We got to bed late and the kids were zonked. Had drinks while it rained but everything was a soaking with things ending about 1am or so. I slept okay and then we got up in the AM, I made breakfast and we all kinda lazed about. I did get dressed and meandered to see Mel on the field and Benton had missed the kids archery for the day. Did a bit a meandering around the merchants and I ended up buying a mug and a foldable stool from Du Puy. I love their work and they are great merchants and we needed another place to put a butt since we don't have household benches here and I don't want folks standing when they can have a spot or a place to put your drink. When I showed mel he was like "nice, I like their stuff" so all good. It rained quite a bit in the evening but we had drinks and friends and hung out under the canopies. Folks were a bit surprised I was mixing drinks with a good bar. I have skillz. though we did run out of limes and lemons cause becca only heard "pack a few oranges and limes" versus "pack a few oranges, and the limes/lemons" the comma matters. But Samii was awesome and got us more on his trip to Aldi early Saturday AM. The rain stopped overnight and again, no damage, no wind nothing like last year. The temps were great and not hot.

Mel and Becca and Rob hit the field for fun times. Becca did an early tourney, Rob and Mel a later one. Benton fought and won the Kittens versus Lava tourney for the youth combat.
The stove had been finicky when I was making breakfast and I've had it 25 years with like 10 years in storage. So after shopping and a shower and hitting up the fiber guild it would not light no mater what I did. Mel tried and we figured out the pressure pump mechanism died. So we pivoted and got dinner to walk into court with from the food truck. Luckily Becca and Rob were not sitting with the Northshield B&Bs so we just hung out in court watching stuff and ate our dinners. I may have made my drink mostly gin...ooops but it was a nice court and we then got to help hand out gift baskets to the cousins and heirs. They had forgotten to bring up Rob and Becca. It was okay and then we chatted with a bunch of folks and helped clean up the hall. I met a friend of Clint and Jenn (Cathal and Genevieve) who is also a Jennifer. And a Knight from Midrealm who did the toy box run. We then got back to camp to pick up drinks and head to the torchlight/equestrian tourney where the Wisconsin Air Force was mighty (mosquitos) so it was a run back to douse ourselves in bugspray and return. We had a nice time and there were pom poms. Mel and Becca and I chatted with a cool tablet weaver and we all had a nice time and then it was back for mixed drinks for way into the night. I finally called it and changed into pjs. Becca had just had mel make her a drink and even he was done. Lol. Needless to say we all had hangovers in the morning and had to get up and not have coffee due to broken stove. So we packed up and we re-tetrised the coolers to get it down to one and I found the canned cold brew and we were awesome. We got everything loaded and packed and hit the road to Denny's by 1140am. though we now have a note in the stuff for next year to "denny's is never the plan" cause last year we walked in and they were closed for a water leak, this year they were not taking folks cause they had only one cook. So we ended up at Perkins with the best waitress who was at first not tickled to have a 7 top with 3 kids and when we were polite and had simple orders without a lot of fuss and knew how to pass things around the large table and say please she was so happy. We also made the bussers job easy by stacking everything for easy retrieval. And then we all had pie after breakfast. While I was in the bathroom and Rob was paying we found out she had discounted our meal with a BOGO offer for locals. Wow. It pays to be nice.

We then said our goodbyes and headed home. :( More details, a random geology side quest, and pictures tomorrow. There were pretty things.

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.

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ianuk

November 2025

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Coronation and fall cooking...

Finished!!!!

My dress is done and I have loops to do

It was hot....

Travel for the first home...complete

More WW and other tales

Warriors and Warlords 2025

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