Monday, June 30, 2008

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

I really start out each day thinking that I need to blog.

Okay, I'm lying.

I don't, really. In fact, I haven't really thought about blogging much lately at all. There really is not much of interest going on in my life right now. I go practically nowhere of interest, and I see practically no one at all. It's really pathetic. I'll be the first to admit that I really have no good friends outside of the ren faire folk (who, BTW, are some of the BEST friends and people I have EVER met). My early friendships with the parents of my son's friends have all gone by the wayside, due to changing activities of their children.

But anyway, I digress. I really need to blog more often. I stumbled across some writings from an earlier blog, an anonymous blog, and I was struck by the clear difference in writing from when I was writing daily, and now. At the moment, my brain, which used to be so full that I HAD to write to get all of the superfluous thoughts, seems nearly empty of meaningful ideas. Who wants to share there innermost thoughts on the price of potatoes at the store (nearly doubled in two weeks!), or the fact that a week at home on "Vacation" has resulted in a five pound gain in weight, just like a real vacation would...

Or what about the fact that right now, I am sitting on my bed, writing this blog post because I cannot sleep, on a night when I really NEED sleep, because I have to go back to work in about 6 and a half hours? Truly pathetic, really. And what is a blog post other than a more socially acceptable form of talking to yourself, with the added bonus of sometimes generating comments, so that one doesn't feel quite so isolated...

I'm thinking a return to anonymous blogging may be in my future...

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Sunburn

Tip: When attending rehearsal outdoors, in sunny weather, do not forget the sunscreen.

We were outside from 9:30 to a bit after noon, quite a bit of that in the sun. I did not have time to put on sunscreen before we started, as I was hosing off my feet and legs (and capris) behind the castle. My cross-golf course trek landed me in mud up to my ankles rather suddenly. Flood mud. Icky, smelly flood mud. Luckily, I was wearing flip-flops that were washable.

Anyway, the new opening gate show is really funny, and our first rehearsal with the Predators of the Sea went well (only two were there, due to work schedules). Dancing went well, too, and we have a new royal court member: Merriweather Milquetoast is joining us!

It was a long but productive morning, as we had to block the opening gate show, move the trailer, and discuss changes and additions to the shows. After the rehearsal, we had a little excitement crossing the bridge from the faire site.

The site flooded during the big flood, and washed away some of the ground around the supports. So, we had about a foot jump to get up to the bridge, and on the other side, a narrow trench between the edge of the bridge and the ground. That wasn't the problem.

About halfway over, I suddenly realized that the bridge was swaying rather alarmingly with so many of us going over at once. So, we all stopped in our tracks, then proceeded more carefully, trying to walk so as not to start things up again. I was glad to reach the end, as things had started to sway again.

I didn't realize until I had gotten home that I was a bit crispy. Really starting to itch...

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Up too late

Giggling over the commercials on Comedy Central... boy do things get weird after midnight...

Of course, the reason I am up so late is that I had a hard drive fail in my computer earlier this evening. Luckily, the drive that failed was not the boot drive, but a second drive that had Classic on it. Unfortunately, it also had my music and photos on it, too. Which meant I had to run to work to find an old copy of DiskWarrior, and borrow an external drive to shuffle data. Took about an hour to find what I needed, as I was looking for a CD, only to remember that I had purchased Diskwarrior as a download and the CD copy came later. Found it on my computer at work. Duh. I copied the MacOS 9 stuff to one of the FW drive partitions, booted from it at home, and managed to copy about 99% of the files after Diskwarrior couldn't repair the damage. I'm just lucky that 9 could mount the drive...

Moral of the story is: backup.

Okay, time to sleep now before I nod off at the computer...

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Harumph...

Anytime it takes more than 25 minutes to bake a frozen pizza, and it's still soggy on the bottom and in the middle, you know something's up...

I think my oven is conking out. And probably the stove top, too, as pasta is taking forever to cook lately, like the temp isn't steady enough. :( Luckily, I rent, so I just have to call up the maintenance folks tomorrow, and have them see what's up.

Unfortunately, that means that I had to spend precious time cleaning the stove, and straightening up the apartment. All on the one evening I actually could have gotten to bed early, due to NOT having to stay awake to monitor the extremely bad weather we've been having.

So, I'm done now, and exhausted, and I am two steps away from falling asleep at the desk. And my house is clean. Yay!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Exhausting, but great day!

Good-bye icky old car, hello gorgeous midnight-blue 2002 Buick Century!

Yep, the water pump was the last straw. Monday morning, my mom called very early, and told me that she had found an incredible ad in the Fort Dodge paper. Monday was a flurry of talking with the bank, getting an application faxed to me, and then faxed back to the bank, and approved. Mom and dad test drove it Monday night, and I filled out the papers and picked it up today!

What a relief...

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Photos from Dubuque!

Here is a pic from the last royal audience of the faire. I was exhausted, but the music in the air made things quite bearable. :)



Here are some links to show what you missed!

Dubuque Renaissance Faire 2008 - AtTheFaire.com

Digital Dubuque - Renaissance Faire

Flickr Set from cdedbdme The photo at the top of the post is a crop from one of this user's pics, used through a Creative Commons License.

This is what I have for now, as far as links. If you attended this faire, and have photos to share, please leave a comment on this post, and I'll add your link! :)

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Wish list...

First thing I am buying after next year's tax refund...

8 yards of Periwinkle Blue Silk Dupioni - I666

A bit spendy, yes, but I love this shade of blue, and have been dreaming of a gown made of this color for ages... this summer is far too busy to make a new gown for myself anyway, so I can wait patiently...

Monday, June 02, 2008

Insult to injury...

First, let me say that this weekend at the first annual Dubuque Renaissance Faire was extraordinarily fun! This event was very well produced, and we had many people (vendors and entertainers) comment that the faire was more like an event in its fourth or fifth year than its first. Just fun!!!!!

And now, because I have had more than my share of bad luck this spring than is fair, for the bad.

#1: car. leaking antifreeze. My poor dad came to tow it from Dubuque, as we were unsure that it would make it home. Luckily, Chris gave us (and our luggage) a ride home to Ames. We actually had a great time, and kept each other awake (we didn't leave D. until after 8, and had to stop at the QD in Dyersville for supper). Just got home.

Bad thing #2: we lost electricity sometime over the weekend. Now, my math is probably off, but it was 12:01 am when I went into my room and saw that my alarm clock read 6:01 pm.... So, I have no idea how long we were without electricity. Which means, everything in the fridge and freezer will have to go, because I have no idea if it was off for five minutes or five hours. Guess this is an argument for an old-style plug-in non-digital clock...

Okay, tired now, going to bed as I have to go to work tomorrow...