Waste of a Day

I am still feeling pretty wiped out, but my sinuses are feeling a lot better. Still have a headache, though.

As I am starting to feel better, I am also starting to feel worse because I can see from the state of the house that it does not look as good as I thought it did. I thought I did a pretty good job at keeping up with things, except for the laundry.

Nope. The kitchen counter was cleared off quite nicely, until I spent most of the day in bed. Beware of thirteen-year-olds and an unattended kitchen. I also have to see if we have any food left...

I was tired enough today that I propped myself up in bed and watched DVDs on my computer, starting at around 10. After lunch, I fell asleep, and just woke up at around 3:15. I do feel loads better than I did even when I first woke up this morning. Rest is really important if I am going to be able to get through tomorrow, and the rest of the week. We are really, really busy every night this week, so there will not be a lot of opportunities to just relax in the evenings. Unfortunatly, we really can't miss these events.

Which brings me to another point. I am going to have to reevaluate what we spend time on in the future. I am not the type of person who has to be doing things every night of the week in order to feel important, or worthy, or happy. I know a lot of people compete to see who has less free time, who never eats at home, whose kids are involved in more activities. Not me. I don't really care if we are home more evenings and weekends than not.

Unfortunately, life has a way of pushing me into things I maybe should have said "No" to, and then suddenly, we are out of the house four evenings out of the week, or more. This wouldn't be such as issue if there were another adult around the house to take care of those things that need to be taken care of. But, there isn't. It's all done by me, the big stuff on the weekends.

Normally, I don't whine about the things that any adult needs to do to take care of a home. It just has to be done. Laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, paying bills, vacuuming, dusting, periodically shoveling out what needs to go. Things weren't perfect, just done. Now I am looking down at the end result of being sick for most of last week, and it doesn't look pretty.

List of things to do to get the house back to normal:

1. Clean out the refrigerator - partially done
2. Laundry
3. Empty dishwasher
4. Reload dishwasher
5. Sort laundry
6. Dust
7. Clean bathroom (just did on Thursday)
8. Take out garbage (this is what kids are for)
9. Straighten up end tables, coffee table, and everywhere else my son has dumped stuff when I wasn't watching this week.
10. check vacuum for blockages
11. try to vacuum, or else get out that nearly useless carpet flick thing that I bought in a moment of weakness. The vacuum is sort of working better, but is is still having problems picking up lint from my red blanket. I will have to get a new lint roller, and see if I can get that to work, or else crawl around on my hands and knees and pick it all up by myself. Yuck.

Not the worst list, I suppose. Okay, time to get to work. I am going to set my timer and take care of the dishwasher first. I can get the kitchen into shape fairly quickly, and go from there.

Okay, yet another post today. Gad, will she ever shut up?

I still feel like crap. I just watched Miss Congeniality 2, which at least made me laugh. Laughter is the key to feeling better. Mentally better, anyway. I can stand light a little better today, so at least I wasn't as bored today as I was yesterday.

Three doses of antibiotics out of the way, seventeen more to go. Tomorrow is going to have to be a complete rest day. I am exhausted.

Tell me again how you ended up learning to sword fight this afternoon?

I registered my son for a stage combat class that was held this afternoon. I fully inteded to just drop him off, go get some movies, do errands, etc. But, some of my friends were there from DMRF, so you know how that goes.

Then, I intended to just stay and watch, but they made me get up and do the exercises, and then the next thing I knew, I was learning stage combat. Go figure. Not easy to do when your sinuses are still swollen, and your head hurts.

I actually didn't feel too terribly bad for about the first hour. The last hour and a half were not great. Right now, I feel pretty damn bad, and am regretting participating. Even if it was fun. And I got to play Benvolio in a scene in Romeo and Juliet, but didn't get to fight. I love Shakespeare, but I always forget that until I am actually reading it aloud. Beautiful!

And my son rocked it, totally. He's good with a line, and decent with a sword.

We'll get him on a stage yet.

Further proof that the Intarweb is smaller than you think...

AtTheFaire.com

11:23 PM - TRON GUY lives... (posted by JohnPaul )
Years ago, I met Jay Maynard via renfest circles. He's helped bring show guides down from a printer in Minnesota to events in Iowa, and he, and friend Valentine Payne, have been great supporters of regional renaissance events such as the Siouxland Renaissance Festival in South Dakota.

A few years ago, Jay put together a TRON costume for a computer/sci-fi convention contest. He won, and by posting pictures of his costume creation process, he became one of those "internet phenomenoms" that pop up from time to time.

I had a comment left by a "Jay" on my Tron Guy post, which I wrote while giggling at the new PC/Mac/Linux pic WWdN posted yesterday, sinus pressure and all. This commentor told me to ask that Pirate Comedy Show guy about him. So, I clicky-ed (sorry, still sick, so I am going to be clicky-ing and otherwhat-ing all over the place) his post name to get the profile, and got a "not public profile" thingy, so therefore was in a muddle as to who this person was who wanted me to ask JP, who I won't see for at least another few weeks, providing he is also doing this telethony thingy. There are Jays who worked at the DMRF, but since I came in so late, I mostly just knew people as Phileeeeeep!, Little John, or ScurvyLocks, unless they were on the court (yeah, I know, weird, but 'tis the way it is).

Now, there are some thingy's going on for the Des Moines Ren-faire people next month (telethony thingy), and i was wondering if there was an update thingy on the atthefaire site, so I clicky-ed over there, and saw that there was a video montage thingy posted from the 16th. Sweet!

Then I scrolled down, and Jay became - hey Tron Guy posted at my site! Sweet! And he knows JP! Sweet! And he does Rennie things! Sweet! It all becomes clear now...

---Okay, I watched the Video Montage, and it brought a tear to my eye - not just because of the sinus infection... I can't wait for faire season!!!!!!



(I'm the Lady in the Big Red Dress.)

Morning

This morning I was rudely awakened by the phone. Wrong number. It was 8:45 am.

I tossed and turned all night last night. I slept on the couch, because I could elevate my head more. The sudafed did not even make a dent in how miserable I was (I keep using that word, but there really is no other word to describe sinus infection). Light hurt. Not just bright lights, but the light from the television, the light from the computer screen, room lights, even the light from my son's room, which was mostly blocked by the back of the couch, and by being around the corner and down a hall. Morning is better so far.

Driving last night was fun, that's for sure.

I know what you are saying: why did you go anywhere when you were feeling this miserable?

Well, yesterday evening, I had to pick my son up from school at 5. I also had a prescription to fill, and groceries to buy. I haven't done anything this week, because I've felt so crappy, so we were out of milk, food other than soup (If I ever see another bowl of soup again... ug), and paper towels. So, I struggled through that errand, then went and picked up my son.

I waited a few minutes for him to come out of the school. He was excited. "There's a party at school tonight at 6, can I go?" I couldn't say, "no, you have to stay at home because I really just want to take some sudafed and go to bed right now." So, at 5 minutes to 6, I dropped him off, and went home to rest until it was time to pick him up at 9, sudafed free.

He had a great time. Apparently, while he was watching a movie (they had movies, DDR, which he sucked at so bad because he kept laughing because he sucked so bad, Some Tony Hawk game that he rocked at - his words, and of couse, dancing, which only the eighth-graders actually did). Okay, as I was saying, while he was watching the movie, two girls came and sat by him, giggled and said, "Hi, ----." He has no idea who they are, or how they knew his name, but they sat by him during the movie.

And no, he did not dance. Maybe next year.

Okay, my sinuses are getting too painful to do this much longer. I am so bored from not being able to read, watch TV, or wander aimlessly online. I hope that the antibiotics start working really soon... It's another clear, very cold, beautiful day.

My laugh for the day (non-hysterical, that is)

PC/Mac/Linux

Note: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the guy in the white Tron costume, a.k.a. Tron Guy. This page explains how he put the costume together, and it's really pretty cool. Just keep scrolling....

Went to the doctor and the doctor said...

Sinus Infection.

Great.

I went to work this morning, but at around 8:30, I knew I was not going to last. I stuck it out until
around 10:30, the realized I was so miserable that I was babbling.

When I got home, I took off my mittens, put my keys on the kitchen counter,
and burst into tears. That is how glad I was to be home.

My doctor doesn't work on Fridays, so I had to get an appointment with a
doctor I didn't know. Couldn't get in until 3:10. I tried to sleep, but
I had to be awake between 1 and 2, because the apartment manager was
dropping off new keys for the security door (the locks are being
changed).

So, can't sleep, can't watch TV, can't handle any light.

Doc confirmed what I thought - definitely a sinus infection.

Antibiotics, hallelujah.

But it still sucks.

Magic Pill

I am serious, folks. If you know of anything that will fix this, please let me know (key is that I have high blood pressure, so cannot take most OTC cold remedies, except in small doses. As in ONE-half a dose of sudafed severe cold formula ONCE a day).

Let's get out the list of symptoms, in the order of appearance:

Sunday:

1. Scratchy throat
2. Fatigue

Monday:

3. Throat is worse
4. Congested
5. just a cold, stuffy nose

Tuesday:

6. Woke up with a severely sore throat
7. Check back of throat for bleeding, it hurts so bad
8. slight fever
9. headache
10. dry cough
11. Did I mention that my throat hurt?

Wednesday:

12. Still sore throat
13. still headache
14. started sneezing
15. Okay, runny nose, but feel overall much better. Fever is gone by noon.
16. By bed time, very tired and sleepy, have used a large amount of kleenex
17. Sinus problems.

Thursday:

16. Woke up after decent night's sleep
17. Went to work cheerfully, with a third of a box of kleenex
18. Realize I may have made a mistake going in to work when box of kleenex is gone before 11 am.
19. Massive sinus pain
20. Nose is raw
21. Head still hurts
22. Another half a box of kleenex is now gone
23. Sudafed is not helping
24. How much longer is this going to last?
25. Still coughing, too, btw

So, yeah. Feeling pretty crappy. I really should have stayed home again today. If I can just get through tomorrow...

The line between misery and not-so-miserable

I think I hit it, finally. I barely slept again last night, but at least the number of hours of sleep I got before waking up was greater than on Monday night (I woke up at 3:30am, and my throat was absolutely on fire).

I dozed a bit until the alarm went off, then took my temperature. It was still a bit higher than normal, so I ended up staying at home again. My throat was the same as yesterday (awful). I caught another hour of sleep, as today was a late-start day for my son.

And then, a little before 10, I was looking at the school calendar, and thinking that i really needed to get my calendar set up, as I have a bunch of things going on in the next month. So, I fired up iCal, printed out a calendar through the end of the year, and sat down with the school calendar to get the important dates written down.

About halfway through, I realized that I was actually able to concentrate, despite the fact that the sneezing had started. I finished the calendar, then cleared the coffee table of the mountain of kleenex and magazines. Small accomplishments, but a good pick-me-up.

So, despite the headache, slight fever, and sore throat that are still holding on, I am actually feeling like I might have turned the corner. And that's a good thing, because honestly, one more day of daytime programming... ugh.

Don't underestimate the power of Wild Cherry Luden's Throat Drops

Too bad I can't just eat them one right after the other.

My son had a band concert tonight. I knew this, it tickled at the back of my mind all day. These concerts are mandatory, and he had no ride other than me, so I had to suck it up, and go. Luckily, I sat next to friends, and hid behind a handkerchief all evening. Unluckily, the concert was an hour and a half long, and we had to be there 45 minutes before it started. I nearly emptied my Luden's box. Oh, and no food or drink in the auditorium.

By the time we got home, after a quick run to the store for cereal, bread, soft things for me to eat, and more Luden's it was after 9.

I am wiped out. I woke up this morning at 1:00 am! Could not get fully back to sleep at all. I also could not nap today, thanks to the Sudafed (if you don't try to go to sleep right away after taking the severe cold formula, you get wired). I had to force myself to stay on the couch, and couldn't even focus enough to read. So today really, really sucked, and now I am exhausted. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep tonight, and by tomorrow, maybe the pain in my throat will be better.

Cross your fingers. Good night!

Okay

Add fever and headache to the mix...

Sore throat, no voice, more snow

Staying home today. My throat is sore enough that it is physically hard to swallow, and my voice, what is left of it, sounds like Chef, from South Park. I also didn't sleep much past 1 am.

Yuck.

Oh, and it's snowing.

Adding Insult to Injury

Bad: Having this cold.

Worse: The Bears are behind, and playing a crappy game.

Please, please, let the Bears rally!

Superbowl!!!

Get thee to thy couch to watch the game!

If I could rouse my poor, sick self to watch this, you can too!

Commerical update will follow, if I am conscious enough afterwards. Sucks being sick, because I had bought Jose Cuervo Margaritas just for this...

Progress halted

I woke up early this morning (well, early for the weekend: 7:50), and was looking forward to an entire day of sewing, reading, and watching movies in the comfort of my apartment.

It wasn't too long before I realized that my throat was scratchy. Oh well, I thought, not too bad, feel great otherwise.

I started feeling really woozy while tracing off the pattern for the high-necked smock (which will have needle-lace on the collar and cuffs - early version of a ruff). So, I ate lunch, thinking I just needed food. After lunch, I finished tracing off the last two pieces of the pattern.

I am now very tired, achy, and this cold is really bad. I am ditching my plans to cut out this pattern today. I feel very crappy, and I don't want to risk ruining my fabric, since I need to get two smocks out of the ten yards that I have (very fine white cotton - big score: $1/yard). So, I am going to curl up, and try to read a bit, and wait for the sudafed to kick in. It'll probably knock me out for awhile, and there goes my Sunday.

Consequences of Cold Weather

Yesterday, I had to venture out into the cold. My son was invited to a friend's house, and I decided that I would go to the library to get movies and books so I could better enjoy this weekend. As we were just about to leave the house, I got a call from work about the lasercutter lens, so a stop at work ws also necessary.

The clock on the bank near the library also shows the current temperature. It was -2°F. I ran like crazy to get from the parking lot to the library, because it was so cold that it hurt to breathe. Same for work. Just too cold to linger, despite the sun.

This morning, my throat is scratchy, and my cold is worse. We are definitely not going anywhere today. I've got sewing to do, and a stack of movies and books from the library. My son has a million games to play, and on Sundays, Cartoon Network shows movies in the morning. And there is that whole Superbowl thing...

I think today is going to be pretty fun...

Boggles the mind

Wind Chill Advisory:

Issued at: 12:17 PM CST 2/3/07, expires at: 4:30 PM CST 2/3/07
Wind chill advisory remains in effect until 12 pm cst Monday.
Highs are expected to be no warmer than just above zero through early Monday. In many instances they will even remain sub-zero with highs only in the single digits below zero. This bitter cold in combination with varied speeds of west to northwest winds will keep wind chill indices in the 20 to 30 below zero range for an extended period, likely through Sunday night into early Monday morning. Wind chills may vary from 30 to 40 below zero at times closer to the Minnesota border.
A wind chill advisory means that very cold air and strong winds will combine to generate low wind chills. This will result in frost bite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken. If you must venture outdoors, make sure you cover as much exposed skin as possible with multiple layers of clothing best to stay warm. Frostbite on exposed skin can occur in as few as 30 minutes when wind chills dip to under 20 below zero, and in 10 minutes when they reach 35 below or less.

And yes, folks, I saw people on campus today with just a sweatshirt, no hat, no gloves.

More cold. Get over it. It's Iowa.

This afternoon, I received a message that our outdoor activity for the weekend had been cancelled, due to the forecast for extremely cold and dangerous windchills.

I am not ashamed to admit that my spirits lifted enormously at the news, as I was dreading this weekend due to the expected temps. You might even say that I broke into a little dance, not because I didn't want to go camping. I just didn't want to go this weekend, if it was going to be so cold. Now it's a non-issue (except for calling very early tomorrow morning to cancel our cabin reservation, and make a new one, as they are only in the office between 7-8am).

Our high for Saturday is supposed to be 1°F. Our low, -4°F. By Sunday, our low will be -12°F. These are actual temperatures, not just wind chills. By tomorrow morning, our windchills will be in the -20's°F. By Saturday, they expect them to be between -25 and -35°F. In other words: Bad. Dangerous. All of next week will be pretty much the same, lots of negative numbers...

Okay, time to crawl into my nice, comfy bed, and get some sleep. I am just hoping this is not one of my bad nights. Thinking nice, peaceful, warm thoughts...

Takes a lickin', keeps on tickin'

This morning, I realized that I had left my iBook in the truck of my car since leaving work yesterday. The temps were well below freezing last night.

I am writing this post on that same little iBook, after letting it acclimate to room temperature all morning. Still working, and we'll see how the battery holds up this afternoon.

This is one of the original white iBooks, released in May 2001. I bought it in October of 2001, after it had served it's early life as a floor model at our computer sales department. It has been through a lot, and just refuses to give up.

It's slid off of the car seat when I had a sudden stop, while it was on, BTW. No problem.

Dropping it about a foot onto the corner where the power jack is located merely broke something in the tray-load DVD drive, so that it won't stay shut without tape. Still works, though. Scary moment.

Somehow, though, the ethernet port decided to die. So it appears that this is the beginning of the end for this little workhorse. Well, it hasn't been my workhorse machine for a couple of years, but it holds my music and pictures very well, and is extremely useful when I have to go to the labs or studios to work on machines, or to hunt down rogue wireless base stations.

I love this little iBook, and hope it continues to work well for at least another couple of years.

And I promise I will try very hard not to leave it in the car overnight again...

Holding on here.

After my wild day of laser cutter training (11 people trained), I could hardly walk, move my arms, and my voice was nearly gone. I was in a fog by the time I was done at a bit before 3pm.

Good news today: My son got 34 points out of 35 on his social studies test! Yippee!!! He raised his grade from a "D" at midterm, to a "C" on his report card, and is now getting a "B". For a special treat, I picked up chinese food on the way home from work (his favorite), and did not tell him until I got home. I explained that I was very proud of the way he had worked hard to raise his grade, and that I appreciated it. It's pretty damn hard to raise your grade in a class where you don't have access to the book all of the time, because there aren't enough books to go around. Note: Basically, the book is 8 years old, but even that is better than no book at all. However, a batch of books got damaged when they moved to the new school, and couldn't be replaced, or got lost when at the repair place, or something. So, if the kids want to take a social studies book home, they have to check it out overnight. And people griped about the new textbook fee... Cry me a river. $25/per kid per year, prorated if the kid qualifies for free/reduced lunch. Get the kids some damn textbooks already. Okay, back to the post...

After dinner, since I knew I had errands to run, and laundry to do later in the evening, I rested on my bed for awhile. I did not really sleep, as I was too cold, but I was able to at least rest my eyes, and my mind for awhile.

On the drive to religious ed, I was talking to my son about something, and he said, "I can tell you're tired just by the way you are talking."

I just wish the weather would get nicer. I'd feel so much better if it weren't so damn cold.

Sleeve Variation 1 - Progress

I managed to get the pieces to the center panel of one sleeve sewn tonight. It took about an hour to sewn the nine pieces, allowing for the time spent laughing at "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." :)

Now, all I need to do to this batch is to sew the pearl strands to the edges, and tack them together so that I can get an idea of how this will look finished. For now, here is a photo of the work done so far.



You can see the design in the brocade in this photo of the forepart in progress:



Well, time to go sit on the couch, watch a movie, and start sewing the pearl trim to the edges of the pieces. Maybe my hands will get warm if I keep them moving...

Smack forehead.

Remember how I have been griping and moaning about a whole variety of problems, from insomnia, to being tired, to being cold, to appetite problems? (I've not been as forthcoming about other problems, but they are there. And this all started in about October or so).

An unrelated site that I was reading while researching something, led me to search "adrenal fatigue" (and yes, it was a programming post, and someone was mentioning burnout, and suggesting getting tested to someone else).

Anyway, here they are, the Signs and Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

Symptoms of adrenal fatigue

The following symptoms are your body’s way of telling you that it is not receiving the support it needs to maintain healthy adrenal function.

* Fatigue
* Feeling tired despite sufficient hours of sleep
* Insomnia
* Weight gain
* Depression
* Hair loss
* Acne
* Reliance on stimulants like caffeine
* Cravings for carbohydrates or sugars
* Poor immune function
* Intolerance to cold

Um, okay so I have most of those symptoms, starting back in November (I don't think I'm losing more hair than normal, and I've always had up-and-downs with the skin - it just seems a lot drier than usual). And I've often joked that I don't have blood running through my veins - it's caffeine. I keep falling asleep on the couch. Another site mentioned raging PMS, too. So, yeah, TMI.

Even more clues:

Should you get an adrenal test?

In general, if you feel happy and well, have steady energy and emotions, sleep soundly seven to nine hours a night, wake up feeling rested, recover well from stress, and maintain a healthy weight without dieting, then your adrenals are probably doing well.

On the other hand, if your energy lags during the day, you feel emotionally unbalanced much of the time, you sleep poorly or less than seven hours a night, can’t lose excess weight even while dieting, use caffeine or carbohydrates as “pick-me-ups” — these are all red flags indicating adrenal insufficiency.

Yep. Me. How would one even go about talking to a doctor about this without sounding whiny?

I dunno... I'm going to just keep this thought in the back of my mind for now, and if I don't see some improvement towards spring, I am going to talk to her about this at my next physical.

I just hate that I can't seem to pull up the enthusiasm I used to feel about certain things. All I want to do anymore is stay at home.

The deep freeze

Okay, so it's not really all that cold out for Iowa in January. However, because it just really hasn't been as cold as usual, I haven't had a chance to get used to it, to enjoy the exhileration of winter. It's just cold.

My toes are frozen after being out and about tonight. We had a meeting, which actually went really well. Dare I say that the kids are actually excited about this weekend? In any case, the kids had fun pulling out the really cold weather gear. Yes, we have two who are going to sleep in a tent this weekend. Me? I'm going to be inside the cabin, right under the heating vent.

Right now I am in layers, in front of the computer, with my slippers on, my hooded sweatshirt (hood up), and a blanket.

Stressfull week ahead... Too many appointments at work, which may make things interesting if things break. I think I may be going for a record in how many laser cutter training sessions I can do in a day on wednesday - seven total: four on cutter 2, three on cutter 1. And the three sessions on cutter 1 are supposed to happen at the same time as three of the sessions on cutter 2. Most sessions have two people. This will take careful planning to make sure it works. I have a couple sessions tomorrow, too.

Like I said, careful planning, and a lot of hard work to make sure nothing crops up to derail this balancing act.

At least I'll be busy enough at work that I won't get cold. :)

Cold

Busy, busy

I have been working on and off all day on the sleeve pattern variations. After I corrected my previous mistake of not matching up the seam allowance lines before drawing the diagonals, I made quick progress in getting the pieces drafted and cut out. It's amazing how much you can get done while waiting for the dryer to finish. :)

After several interruptions, I started working on the second variation I wanted to draft. The previous variation kept the paned nature of the sleeves intact, meaning that there were three panels, each with 8 separate pieces (24 pieces, total. What was I thinking?). The pieces will be pearl trimmed at the edge, and will be joined at each corner with a larger pearl.

For the second variation, the diagonals are still there, but the shape of the sleeve is whole. I will join the panels at the corners, and in two other places, to mimic the position of the panels, and to keep them from spreading. I am thinking that I may join them with quads, although it will take some time to make them. There are nine pieces to this pattern.

So, everything is drafted, numbered, and sorted. I just have to cut out the pattern pieces, and get started on a mockup to make sure that this is going to work. I am pretty sure it will, but I don't want to waste any good fabric on something that may not quite work.

I'll post pictures...

On to other things...

(No, this isn't a farewell post. I hate it when people do that.)

My son is feeling much better. He ate some toast, and is playing his GameCube. So far, so good.

Here is the "other things" part of this post:

I have been working on drafting a new pattern for a new set of sleeves for my noble garb. The good thing about sticking with a general color palette for my garb, is that I can mix and match various parts with other gowns. My goal is to have three sets of matching sleeves and foreparts, so that any one gown will have three variations. If I stick with my plan to make at least one more gown, I can get six variations. I have enough fabric for two gowns, although one fabric is more experimental, and may not be used at all.

But back to the sleeves...

Even as I am writing this, I thought of another variation that would be pretty...

The pattern that I am drafting now is similar to something that I saw a few months ago, when I was researching idly, looking at what women were wearing at faire, on cast and as playtrons. It showed a sleeve that was made of individual pieces, formed to look like they were spiraling up the arm. The site had a pattern that you could buy in order to make them, but since I have my Margo patterns, and I know for a fact that the sleeves are the correct length and fullness that suit me, I decided to draft my own. It may fail, but as an educational exercise, it is very useful.

So, Thursday night, I got out my patterns and drafting materials, and set to work. I traced the original pattern (actually, I traced the tracing I had made of the pattern in my size way back when I was working on my red gown). I took my salem rule, and drew the first diagonal. I drew the diagonals three inches apart from each other.. This was larger than what the photo I had seen appeared to be. I think that one used one inch strips, and since I am not THAT into masochism, mine are larger.

There are three pattern pieces to the sleeve. I started with the center panel. After the diagonals were drawn, I took more tracing paper, and started tracing out the individual pieces that will make up the sleeve, adding the seam allowances where necessary. The center panel had nine pieces. It took a couple of hours to do this, because I got interrupted a couple of times.

Last night, I tackled the side-front panel. I traced it, and now that I think about it, I realize that I probably made a mistake! Yikes! I should have overlapped the seam allowances on the sides where the panels meet, but I didn't. Considering that I spent a couple of hours last night drawing the diagonals, and tracing out the individual pieces, I am a little perturbed. But, the whole point of this is that it is experimental. I neglected the cardinal rule of carpenters and seamstresses: measure twice, cut once. At least no fabric was harmed due to this mistake. Urg.

Okay, it's time to go fix that mistake, and get the other panel drawn. I want to get started on a mock-up this weekend, because I need these sleeves done sooner rather than later. With the amount of embellishment I want to add, these are going to take hours to complete (I will have a rough estimate later, once the first of the diagonal pieces is finished).

In addition, I want to finish the trim on my "old" gown, so that it can finally be finished (I wore it without most of the trim I wanted, as there simply was not enough time to finish trimming the bodice before the faire started).

Why do I need these so quickly? March. Fund-raisers. Um, telethons to be exact. More info later on that, once it is confirmed. Should be pretty interesting. :)

Okay, back to work!

Update from the Geek Girl Medical Clinic

The twelve-year-old is begging for more food. Specifically, he wants me to make him green beans with cheese sauce.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

No way do I want to see what that looks like on the way up.

He had some chicken broth made with boullion cubes, some water, some diet 7-up, and a couple of ounces of strawberry jello (which he didn't like). We spread that out over a fairly long period of time, just to make sure nothing comes back up. Tomorrow, he can have a little toast for breakfast, and by lunch he should be able to handle chicken noodle soup and crackers.

He is camped out on the couch, with the big soup pot (that I never use), on a towel right beside him. He fell asleep pretty early, so I am stuck in my room for now. I hope that he doesn't get sick in the middle of the night. I am pretty tired, and I am not sure I'd hear him.

I am being extremely careful as far as hand-washing and cleaning go. I do not want to get this. I think everyone in town just keeps reinfecting everyone else. He was the seventh kid to go home sick with this today (out of over 1200 middle-schoolers). I think the town needs a disinfecting. :)

Okay, too tired to write anymore. I have worked liked crazy today, and am exhausted.

Good night!

Day, Interrupted

Today was an interesting day. At work, I ran like crazy to try to get everything done that needed to be done. Some things were left partially done, due to interruptions, or appointments. Lunch was late, due to helping someone, and short due to another appointment.

At 1:30, I went back to my office, and I had a voice mail message. While trying to retrieve the message, I had a knock on my door from someone needing help. After telling them I would be with them in a moment, I checked my voice mail, and had several messages within a few minutes of each other, from my son's school, saying that he was sick, and needed to go home.

So, there I was, with several things unfinished, and I of course had no choice but to drop everything and go pick up my son (upset stomach and a fever).

...

Oh the joys of stomach flu... Sorry, just got interrupted by a "Mom!" followed by a pan that needed to be emptied... At least he hit the pan. Okay gross. But, when you are a parent, you do what's gotta be done.

I gotta go wash some towels now.

Itchy, itchy, itchy

Obviously, if you've had pink eye before, you know what I mean.

Two doses of medicine so far, next dose due at 8pm. I also have a headache, but that could be due to watching four straight hours of television (Top Chef marathon), when I am not used to watching more than an hour at a time, if that (maybe four hours in a week, unless it's a movie-o.d. week).

I have a cold, too, and I didn't feel like doing much today, other than just normal, picking up after myself stuff. Not sure what I am going to have for dinner. My son just had some EasyMac (which he hasn't had in a few years, believe it or not). Not sure what I am going to have, if anything. My head hurts, so i am going to go veg on the couch again.

I've already been warned by the doc that the eye is probably going to look worse tomorrow, so if you see me, don't freak out. ;) TG I caught it early...

Two hours later...

If you can ignore the little things, you can keep your spirits on an even keel.

I fully expected to have to wait beyond 10:20 for my appointment. I arrived at 10:10, checked in at the business office, then went to the Adult Med area of the clinic. I waited patiently in line, and then gave my place to an older lady who was checking in her wheelchair-bound husband. She had a cane, and I couldn't see making her wait longer when she clearly needed to sit.

I managed to find a decent magazine, and before I knew it, it was 10:35, and I still hadn't been called. My eye was itching pretty badly, but I didn't want to touch it, because this stuff is highly contagious. No sense spreading the germs around the waiting room. Finally, I was called at about 10:50, a full 30 minutes after my appointment. Thank goodness for Time magazine, or I'd have been really, really bored.

The nurse took my blood pressure, which was a little higher than normal, but that can be explained by my inability to resist the potato chips (crisps, for our overseas readers) last night. Won't happen again.

Finally, i saw my doctor at about 11:05. Got my prescription, and went to Hy-Vee to get it filled. I finally got home a little before noon.

Just think if I had been really, really sick, rather than just this stupid pink eye crap...

How in the HECK did I get PINK EYE???????????

Yes, folks. I woke up this morning with my right eye glued shut.

Last night, I noticed that it was red, and itchy, and goopy, and figured that I probably had it. I did my little google search to see what the symptoms were, and was puzzled by the "feels gritty" part, until I tried to sleep last night. Yee-uck.

I called First Nurse this morning, once I got my eye unglued enough to be able to see the Yellow Pages. "Highly contagious, stay home, call your Doc to get a prescription." I knew all of this, I just needed confirmation.

My son had pink eye when he was in first grade. I don't think I have ever had it before. I don't think anyone I know, or have been in contact with has it. The nurse asked if I had a cold, and I do. It just started getting bad yesterday, so it's probably a side effect of my cold.

Just a few more minutes before the doctor's office opens. I hope that the pharmacy opens at 8 on weekdays.

This should be fun...

Update: Yes, they are making me come into the doctor's office... darn it. Okay, I have to sneak out to the grocery store, so I can at least get some caffeine, garbage bags, and quarters for laundry... I am going to go NUTS here today if I don't! I promise I won't touch anything!

The situation so far...

Asthma sucks, having problems lately... I have a new prescription for Flovent, that I am going to get filled, and start taking.

The cold weather just hurts my lungs so much that I have become a home-body, with the thermostat turned up to 75°F (I used to hate to have it over 68°F). I am an idiot for signing up to go camping next month, as it includes an all-day outdoor event. I've also just been told that the cabin we are staying in lacks decent insulation. If I don't end up with pneumonia, it will be a miracle.* I am going to use my Flovent as directed, and will be crossing my fingers that it helps. I will also be buying warmer winter gear, including better boots and snowpants.

I am going through all of this, despite the fact that I probably should stay home, because there is a great reward awaiting at the end of the day --- the place we are staying at is very, very good for sledding!!! And we may actually still have snow this year to take advantage of it! Dumb reason to risk getting sick, yes, but for crying out loud, I am not ready to be a fussy old lady. I will do my best, and will bring my own stash of sugar-free cocoa, and have a ready supply of hand and feet warmers (they are pretty cheap at Wal-mart). I want to participate and cheer on the kids. I want to fly down the hill on a sled, get a red nose, and have my sides ache from laughing. I want to have snowball fights.

What I don't want is to be stuck at home, unable to participate.

Please let the Flovent work...


* Some of you may be thinking, "Well, she was certainly feeling good enough to stand outside yesterday morning while it was snowing for over an hour..." Well, yesterday, despite the snow, was fairly mild, and there was no wind. I did fine until the guy in front of me started smoking. He moved further away when he saw I was having problems (I didn't ask, he could just tell that it was bothering me), and after the smoke dissipated, I felt better. This event means many, many hours out in the cold and wind, with maybe not much chance to get warm later.

Woo hoo!!!!

We got to best Buy at 9:45, and we could already see the line outside of the store before we even got to the parking lot. We counted the people in front of us, and my heart sank. Each store was only guaranteed to have 20 Wii's, and there were 26 people ahead of us. But, we got in line anyway (a friend had told us that Best Buy had actually received a couple of shipments that they did not put out on the shelf, but had saved back for today). At 10, the guy in charge came out and told us that we would be getting a ticket, and that they had 30!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! The store would be opening at 11, and the ticket holders had to stay in line. People there for support could go run and get coffee and stuff, but the ticket holders could not leave and come back.

It snowed the entire time we waited for the store to open - an hour and fifteen minutes. Once in the store, we had to wait more, for everyone to check out. The Wii boxes were at the customer service counter, and I could see people, some of them with several gift cards in hand, and piles of games, extra Wii-motes, and other stuff. It took us about 35 minutes before it was our turn (they had 2 registers open for us). We signed up for the Best Buy Rewards program (which was free), so we will end up getting a $5 gift certificate in the mail later.

We have one very, very happy kid here. He's played baseball already (and lost - he needs to work on his stance and timing!), and is starting the new Zelda game he got for christmas. He doesn't even want to eat lunch.

Now, if only we could find another control so that we could box each other... ;)

Plans for the morning

This is, of course, after clearing the six inches of new snow off of the car...

Weird Nightmare

I had a dream last night that really scared the crap out of me. Needless to say, that I did not sleep well at all.

Basically, in my dream, I had a stalker, and every time I turned around, he was there. No one would believe me. He'd send pictures that he took of me, during moments when I thought I was alone. No where was safe, was the message that those pictures sent.

The worst of it?

It was someone I knew.

I know, I know... Lifetime Network Movie in the making (as in, the plot to nearly every movie on that channel), but it had me looking over my shoulder all day.

Scary.

Why did I decide to do this tonight?

I'll admit it. I was motivated by boredom.

There is no other reason why I would decide, at 8:00 pm, to rearrange the living room. It all started innocently enough... My Christmas tree was still up. Only the lights were left on it, the lights being the reason I was procrastinating on taking it down. You try to find the motivation to remove 8 strands of lights from a seven and a half foot tall tree...

Well, from there, it snowballed out of control.

The corner was bare, so I decided to move the TV stand to that corner.

Well, the wall was bare now, so let's move the green chair to that wall, and put it at an angle.

Okay, now the space by the couch was empty, so let's angle the couch...

And so on.

It looks okay, but I am not sure that I like it yet. That will take a couple of days.

My back aches, but I am no longer bored... :)

There are worse songs to have stuck in my head...

The constant soundtrack in my head is the orchestra music from Battlestar Galactica. If I could find a clip of it, I would like to link to it, so all of you could get it stuck in your head. It's not the title music, but the love song.

It's either what's been keeping me sane this week, or what's contributing to my downward spiral into madness.

Three more days until the next episode.

What I have eaten today

Breakfast: cappucino chip muffin (yummy!)
Lunch: peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich

I have french fries in the oven to go with sandwiches for supper. I believe I will be eating just the french fries, as the thought of anything else right now makes me not feel so very well. Pretty bad when the thought of bread isn't palatable (being one of my favorite foods).

Just to show you how extreme this food-thing is: the thought of a butterburger from Culver's is doing nothing for my appetite.

I just want to feel normal again...

The return of the Food Problems

I am miserable right now. I feel like I have eaten both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner in one sitting, in a day-long spree of overindulgence.

However, here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: strawberry croissant (lovely, yet I could have done without knowing that the café sells these now)

Lunch: peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich on Sara Lee Whole-wheat White bread (yummy), and 1/4 cup cottage cheese

Dinner: half a piece of lasagna, two breadsticks

Snack: half a tea-cup of cocoa about two hours after dinner

You can see the problem. This is not even close to what I would normally eat. There should be an afternoon snack in there, and about twice as much dinner - I am always starving when I get home from work. Tonight, I was really hungry, but as soon as dinner started cooking (warming up, actually), I all of a sudden lost my appetite. I only ate because eating is necessary. Now I wish I'd had a sandwich or toast instead.

Tomorrow - plain food only.

Except if they have strawberry croissants again...

More reasons to f---ing hate Windows

okay, this post disappeared... not sure why...

The only thing better than a day off

is a day off, with SciFi channel running an all day Battlestar Galactica Marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So help me, if we lose power or cable tomorrow because of the storm, I'll know that the universe really is out to get me...

Goooooood lasagna....

Wow. The lasagna turned out really, really good. So good, that my son said it's the best he's ever tasted. The batch of sauce I made was enough for 9x13 cake pans (glass). My son ate two huge pieces, and I managed a piece and a half (almost. I just couldn't eat another bite.). We have a pan and a half (+a half-piece) left.

Here is the recipe, in case you are interested. I use no-boil noodles, to make it easier.

2 lbs ground turkey
1 medium yellow onion - diced
1 3 lb jar of Prego Traditional Style spaghetti sauce (this is the large jar - get two normal sized jars if you can't find this size)
3 cups shredded mozarella cheese
3 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
16 oz. ricotta cheese
16 oz. cottage cheese
Martha Gooch lasagna noodle - uncooked

Brown the ground turkey. You may want to add a bit of water to the turkey, as it is pretty lean. Add the onions, and cook until the onions are transluscent.

While the turkey is cooking, prepare the sauce. Mix the spaghetti sauce, cheddar, ricotta, and cottage cheese until blended. Add half of the package of mozarella cheese (the other half is for the topping), and mix. When the turkey is finished cooking, drain any juices, and mix the turkey with the sauce.

In two, 13 x 19 baking dishes, spread a layer of sauce on the bottom. Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Spread a layer of sauce on top of the noodles. Repeat until the sauce is gone (should be two layers of noodles in each dish). Cover with aluminum foil, and bake at 350°F for an hour. Uncover, and spread the rest of the mozarella in each dish. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let the lasagna sit 10 minutes before serving.

Crazy good... I wish I weren't so full, so I could have more!

Massive Lasagna Production

Okay, so I had the ingredients to make lasagna on my shopping list. I am making a combination of my sister Nan's "Man-catching Lasagna"*, and our scout dutch oven lasagna recipe. When I went to get the spagetti sauce that Nan uses, they had only the economy sized jar left in the traditional flavor. So, I decided to make a double-batch, then cut up the leftovers and freeze them.

I have all available baking dishes dusted out and ready to be filled with lasagna. I am not sure how much sauce this will make. I am just substituting the spaghetti sauce for the tomato sauce and paste in our normal recipe, and am adding cottage cheese and ricotta cheese to the cheddar and mozarella cheese normally used in the scout recipe. I am also using ground turkey rather than ground beef. I will add onions to the ground turkey when it is almost done.

So, I may end up with more lasagna than could feed a hungry troop, but it will be nice to be able to pull out a couple of servings from the freezer for dinner every once in awhile.

It's going to be yummy!

* This is Nan's name for the lasagna. Whether or not it what actually made her husband propose is debateable, but it is damn good lasagna.

Snowing already

The bulk of the snow is still on the way. (and coming down even harder than when I started this post just a few minutes ago)

I finally just removed the ornaments from my Christmas tree, and put them away. I am not quite up to tackling the lights yet, so that may wait until later today. I am waiting to get that space back.

I may end up moving the TV to that corner I would like to rearrange the living room a bit, but am not quite sure how I want to arrange things. Better to plan first, then move things once.

Okay, break time is over. I have a list of chores I want to finish today, so I can just sew and research tomorrow. I keep having to remind myself how long it is really going to take to make, trim, and bead a court gown, and how long it takes to make a good corset. The months are going to fly by to September.

Nine Hundred and One posts, and THIS is all I have to show for it?

Yep, unbeknownst to me, but knownst to blogger, I hit the big 900 with the last post. Cool! I ought to hit 1000 by the end of next month.

Anyway, I was able to go to the party this evening, and much fun was had by
all. Lots of great food, good conversation, and planning for this
year'sfaire. Meetings are starting in a few weeks!

Getting home... well, let's just say that it was an exercise in patience. It is
spitting rain or sleet or something right now. The windshield kept
icing over, except the area right above the defroster. I had the
windshield wipers on full speed, and every once in awhile, the ice
would break up a bit, and it would be clear for a few minutes. We never
went more than 45 mph, and neither did anyone else. It was hard to see
the edge of the road. I did not take the interstate home, because we
saw a wreck on one of the on-ramps, and because of the icing-over
windshield. The I-80/I-35 junction is difficult at best, and I did not
want to attempt it in the dark, with potentially slick roads, and while
not being able to see as clearly as I wished. I'm just cautious that
way. :) Better to take our time, than to end up in the ditch.

Okay, time to get some sleep. I was up early this morning, and will probably
try to get up early tomorrow morning, too. I have a bunch of things I
need to do, and a few I just want to do. It's supposed to snow more
tomorrow afternoon. We are actually under a winter storm watch...
correction! We are under a freezing rain advisory!!!!Eeek... I hope people are careful on the way home.

I guess I made the right choice for the route home.

Renewing the search

Just got back from Target - no Nintendo Wii.

We got up at about 7:30, got ready to go, got to Target just as the doors were opening. Plenty of Playstation 3's to be had. No Wii.

Next stop when they open later this morning - Best Buy, then GameStop.

We are optimistic, but realistic. I will have one more chance to look on Monday at GameStop, as I am not working. That is, one chance as long as the snow isn't too bad. I have a rare school day off, and I would love to be able to surprise my son. GameStop is the only place here that has been getting regular deliveries. Hopefully Monday is a delivery day...

I'm going to go eat some breakfast, then rest a bit while waiting for the next store to open. I'm completely worn out from this week.

Another entry from the "Pay attention while cooking" guide

I cheerfully whisked the water into the dried soup, then added the broccoli, and put the pan on to boil.

Then I started thinking about it. "Boil for 10 minutes." Hmm... It seems like this broccoli is going to cook an awfully long time...

SHIT!

"Bring to a roiling boil, then whisk in the soup mixture. Boil for ten minutes."

I
can only shake my head at this really dumb mistake. Now I have to go
back out and watch the pot very carefully, to see exactly when it will
boil, and hope I didn't totally destroy a whole pot of broccoli cheese
soup.

Whoops.

I was going to post after I got home from work at 9:15 PM. Yep. After 9.

Okay, so I went home to get my son, then filled the car up with gas, drove to my sister's house, chatted for a bit while picking up my camera charger, ran to Culver's, picked up supper, and went back to work to open the labs for someone at 6. Then, I trained lab monitors until almost 9:00.

I've been reading for about 45 minutes, and am almost ready to go to sleep. The problem lately is that if I am not completely sleepy when I crawl into bed, I will lie there awake for a long time, or never get into deep sleep at all. So, I try to avoid going to bed until I am exhausted, because I will sleep better.

So, I was going to post earlier about this winter storm that is headed our way.

Lots of snow, cold, wind, ice. Fun, fun, fun.

Nice weekend to pick for it. I actually have a party to go to on Saturday. Of course, it is probably going to have to be postponed, due to the weather (lots of people coming in from hours away). I should know better than to look forward to things by now.

Okay, I am cold enough, and tired enough to go to sleep now. Watch for more weather updates!!!

feelling dumb today

(even mispelled "feeling" at first)update, okay TWICE!

Banging my head against the wall right now trying to figure out why I can't login to the keyserver from a newly imaged machine... The lab machines work. All of them. Or people would be screaming at me.

So, it has to be a problem with either this machine in particular (which is bad), or all new installs of keyserver (which is worse).

Maybe chocolate will help... or Doritos... (this, folks, is why I am having a hard time losing weight lately)

hmmm...

stress

I am trying to relax, really, I am. I am allowing my son to skip religious ed tonight, because I can't stand the thought of leaving the house now that I am here.

My goals tonight:

• eat a decent dinner (um.. cheesy potatoes are at least vegetables... and there is dairy in there!)
• Relax
• do one load of laundry
• watch South Park
• go to bed at a decent time

If I can do some of those things, i will be a much happier person.

I'm going to get on with the relaxing while dinner is in the oven.

Fuzzy Slippers - check

I survived today.

I am finally home, and have on my pink and orange plaid p.j. bottoms, and my cow-jumped-over-the-moon fuzzy slippers on my feet.

In about 10 more minutes, I am going to take a bubble bath, and then read for a bit before going to sleep. I am just plain worn out.

Ahh... fuzzy slippers... make everything better...

You know it is going to be an interesting day when...

you couldn't get to sleep until well after 1:00 am, and it is the first day of classes.

I can still hardly open my eyes...

Just got home from getting my ass kicked...

in StarCraft, that is. We had a LAN party tonight, and had a great time. My son did not want to leave, but at 12:30am, I insisted. I have lots of things to do tomorrow, not the least of which is reorganizing my office at work, and finishing installing some software.

Oh well, it's not like we do this every night... :)

Things I did today

or, "Why my back and legs hurt so damn much."

1. Could not sleep until 12:30 am.

2.Woke up at 6:45 am, showered, knocked the twelve-year-old out of bed,
moisturized my face (fat lot of good it will do), and finished getting
ready for work).

3. Made oatmeal in my commuter cup to take to work, because my stomach is still icky.

4. 7:25 am, out the door. TG for no frost!!!

5. 7:30-7:50, checked email while eating oatmeal. Answered email.

6. 8:00-11:30, cleaned the third lab. Dust, windex the tables, sweep under the tables. Had to quit with just two rows left to sweep under, as my back was killing me. Took a 10 minute break every
hour to check up on email and voice mail, plus set up the temp schedule
for next week.

7. 11:30 - noon, edited pricing sign, printed it
on the color printer, and noticed huge quality problem that I thought
had been taken care of. Calibrated the printer, no improvement, so
submitted a service request.

8. noon-1:15, ran to Wal-mart for various items for the lab, including huge-ass flowers to tape to the pens so we don't hemorrhage pens at the rate of 3 a day. Pink flowers, of course. ;)

9. 1:15-1:35, answer email and voice mail. Damn service number of the printer changed, so had to fill out a new service request. They'll be here Monday.

10. 1:35-2:15, finished cleaning third lab, including taking steel wool to the sink, because it got gross again. Moved all cleaning stuff to first lab.

11. 2:15-4:25, cleaned first and second labs, and ran radmind on the first lab machines to propagate the new Cinema4D r10. Answered email and phones, and straightened things up. Realized that there was no way to finish everything before having to pick up my son from DI. Will have to work Sunday. Ug.

12. 4:25-4:50, moved older Dells to better places in storage, so things looked nice. Got books and manuals ready for the give-away next week. Shut down all machines, pushed in chairs, and turned off lights (hey, that takes longer than you think with 80 workstations, even if only 40 were on).

13. Picked up my son. Oh crap, they got out at 4:30 today, not 5.

14. Got quarters for laundry (hahahaha, snuck that in there!)

15. Made dinner, ate, and did the dishes because the dishwasher was running already.

16. Sat on couch with heating pad and watched a movie with my son. Ouch.

17. Decided that if I want to get my corset done this week, I have to finish altering the pattern. BTW, tracing pattern pieces and altering them to fit is extremely time consuming, and has to be done while standing. I spent an hour and a half on this tonight, and an hour on Wednesday night. And it still may not work, due to the fact that the sizes I had to use were on two separate pattern size groups. Plus, all boning channels had to be redrawn for 3/8" boning as they were originally for 1/4" steel boning. I also had to shorten the pattern, because apparently, I am a mutant whose neck to waist measurement means I should be a size zero. Two and a half hours invested, and I haven't even cut a single piece of fabric yet. Tomorrow morning, I am going to cut and sew the mockup, fitting it to my... wait for it... DRESSMAKER'S DUMMY!!!! If it fits, it'll be a miracle, and I can start working on the real one. I am going to hand sew the lacing eyelets for the back, and use hooks and eyes for the front, so it can be worn even if my weight fluctuates a bit (like that ever happens, snork, snork...).

So, that's a synopsis of my boring, but busy day. So when I say that my back and legs ache, you'll know why. I'm going to go sit with the heating pad on my back for awhile...

Still recovering

I am still trying to completely shake this stupid stomach bug. I have not been able to eat meat yet. Or rather, I tried a turkey sandwhich tonight, with all of three deli-thin slices of turkey and a piece of cheese, and it did not end well. I wish I had thrown up, as I probably would have felt better.

So, I spent all of the evening, from dinner until 10:15, curled up on my bed, trying not to move. I still don't feel all that great, but I ate some pretzels, and feel a bit better.

This is a problem, obviously. I have been eating mostly bread, and pastry-type foods, and I did eat homemade cheese pizza last night. I had bought steak for dinner tonight, but I decided to start out small, and thought a sandwich would be easier on my stomach.

I am sick of feeling crappy. I have things to do. I wish I had gotten this earlier, so I could gotten over it earlier, and at least have been more productive this week.

But, such is life...

A Twin Arrives

I went back to work today, even though I still felt crappy. I managed to get quite a bit done, and I feel a lot better about the start of classes of Monday.

Yesterday afternoon, in the haze of being sick, the phone rang. My dressform arrived early!!!! I picked it up after work, and assembled it when I got it home. Despite the fact that I feel like I am going to knock it over just looking at it, it seems like it will work okay.

However, I got a bit depressed when I measured myself in order to set the form. At this point, I am wondering if anything I made for this fall still fits. Ug.

I see a massive diet in my future...

ug

I had a dream last night that the ambulance had to come and get me, and take me to the hospital. As they were picking me up out of my bed, I was trying to show them that I really wasn't dehydrated, by doing that pinch thing on the back of my hand. Of course, I was, so it defeated the purpose, and they loaded me up anyway.

I woke up when the alarm went off, and still felt pretty crappy. The sharp lump that was at the back of my throat has mostly gone away. It kept me up past 3 am.

What I hate most about the stomach flu is that there is no warning whatsoever. Well, and the fact that you get hungry, but can't keep anything down. I had three sips of water last night, and it didn't work any of those times.

This sucks.

I think I ruptured something...

Stomach flu...

Warning: Too much information ahead!

There is nothing left in my stomach, and I feel like there is something stuck at the base of my throat. I have just had a couple of sips of water, because I don't want it to come back up. Please don't let me have what my niece had. Please don't let me have what my niece had. Please don't let me have what my niece had.

Great. Just great. Classes start in less than a week, and I have the stomach flu.

I guess I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow morning, to see if I can make it in to work long enough to at least grab the lab monitor schedules, so I can get the ad for new lab monitors posted by Wednesday. I knew I shouldn't have taken so much time off...

:(

Yuck.

Back to work

Last day of vacation...

I took my son to the movies today. We went to see Eragon. Both of us really liked the book, and as far as the movie goes, it's not much like the book.

We were discussing this after the movie, and here were the main points that we had problems with (caution: spoilers ahead. Deal with it, or skip this post).

1. The plot is almost unrecognizable from the book.

2. The casting person was almost certainly a very poor one, or picked actors while high. Don't get me wrong, there were some very good choices, namely Eragon, Brom, Arya, and Galbatorix, and the Shade. Some fine actors whose talents are underused. The rest might as well have been picked up off of the street and stuck into their costumes, but that's okay, because we never see any of these characters more than once, even if they are very important characters in the book.

3. No wait, it's not okay. I've see much better acting at a Renaissance Faire. In fact, pick some of us out, and we'd do a better job, and get the accent right. Two characters who are surely the relatives of the producers: Angela and Murtaugh. God, they suck.

4. This movie should have been about an hour longer. Seriously. This is one of the few movies I can say this about. This is important, and will be explained in the next few points.

5. Main characters whose names are only spoken once, if at all. The King of the Varda, we hear his name once. His daughter introduces herself, and that's it. The dwarf king is never introduced, nor does anyone mention that there are dwarves there at all. No conversation whatsoever to let you know who these people are, and why we should give a crap if they die. Murtaugh, name mentioned once. No one sticks around long enough for you to care about them. Angela is important in the book (not to mention about 20 years older, and a bit sweet on Brom, and not creepy at all), and we never see her again outside of the fishing village with about three huts in the movie. Which leads me to the next point.

6. Obviously, they didn't have a lot of money to spend on computer graphics or models. No Teirm. And the Varden lived in an underground city built by Dwarves, and was splendid and huge. Yes, special effects are quite good, and they really focused on key aspects and did them well. Saphira is very well done. This is more a situation where you can tell by the things that are missing, than any technical and artistic lack.

7. The costumes are quite nice, but why does Arya have native american symbols on her banners? From the rest of her garments and armor, she should have been more Celtic or Irish. This was at a scene at the end, and it just stuck out as being weird. (Note to self: check to see if Narnia had any of the same people working on it... just a suspicion...)

8. One weird note: we see exactly one woman in Eragon's village. And the village is actually relatively untouched by Galbatorix in the book. It is peaceful enough that they still have fairs and trading, and a romance between Eragon's cousin and the butcher's daughter. I kept thinking to myself, where are the women and children? I mean, there are no children in this movie at all...

Okay, enough griping. There are other problems I had with this movie, but these are the main ones. To sum things up: The screenplay just ripped the book to shreds, and is more Cliff's Notes than screenplay. You just never get to see enough of any character to really care about them.

And from listening to people as they left, I wasn't the only one disappointed.

Okay, I need to quit thinking about this, or it's going to tick me off even further. TG we went to the early matinee, so at least I didn't waste too much money on it...

Favorite Posts of 2006

Fuzzy Logic - 1/10/06

Did you know that the industrial revolution would have been nearly impossible without that most wonderful of discoveries: coffee.

Uh.. dududududududu..... NOO!!!!!!!!

Two hours. It was TWO hours long. Not one hour..... WHY DID I THINK IT WAS ONE HOUR!??????????????

Manson's Phone Booth

You all know how much I love my hometown, right? It is pretty, clean for the most part, and is where the heart of my family lives.

It's pretty small.

So small, that there really isn't a phone booth in town.

Or so we thought, until last July, when I drove home to visit my parents. I saw this at their corner:

And because it is so long, Nothing much to do, nothing much to say

Okay, so I finally got tagged (twice in two days) so I should probably just fill this out and send it on. I don't have anything better to do, so here goes:

1. What time is it? 10:47 pm, a.k.a. past my bedtime
2. What's your full name? Jennifer Lee Geek
3. What are you most afraid of? Something bad happening to the people I care about. That and tripping in my Barbie Heels.

Highpoints of the first weekend of the Des Moines Ren Faire

• Getting the giggles during closing gate on Monday, thanks to the Horsemen. You know who you are, and yes, your milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. ;)

• The scotsman fishing in the puddles...

And I am too tired to read through more posts. Archives are in the sidebar, knock yourselves out! :)

Geek Girl Year in Review 2006 Edition

I was going to write out this long, very eloquent review of 2006, but then I realized that that would take precious time out of my drinking schedule tonight.

Maybe later, after I get a little more mellow, I'll peek back through the archives here, and dig up some of the juicier posts to share with you all.

Maybe.

Snow!

As a friend of mine just emailed me - "There's your darn snow! :P"

Yup, snowing. Nice, big fluffy snow.

:)

Nothing like cleaning to take your mind off things

I just filled six garbage bags full of crap that I thought I wanted to keep from my closet. Why I thought I needed to keep it, I'll never know. It would be in the dumpster already, except it's nearly midnight, and it's raining.

Truth be told, there are two rubbermaid totes that I should just dump into the garbage without even looking through. Honestly, if I haven't needed the stuff in there by now, I don't need it.

And about this raining business...

For crying out loud, it's December, and it has barely snowed. It snowed once, and it melted right away. I have the window open a bit, because it is hot in here, even with the heat turned down to 68°F. I found my rollerblades in the closet, and was thinking about going out tomorrow if the rain stopped. That's how nice it is. In IOWA. In WINTER.

Okay, my back is killing me, because I really overdid it on the whole closet thing. But, I feel like I really accomplished something tonight.

Now if only I could sleep.

Feeling down tonight.

I'm kind of feeling a little low tonight.

The approach of New Year's Eve always does that to me. Christmas, I enjoy for the most part.

New Year's Eve, though...

I think part of the problem is that I never get to do anything for New Year's Eve.

I may end up deleting this post later, because it sounds whiny and pathetic to me even now...

Rainy and Grey

I've done the menus for the week, did the grocery shopping, and have started the laundry. Part of the laundry is the cotton drill that I bought yesterday, for my new corset. It's a very heavy fabric, almost like canvas, but not as thick and stiff. This should hold up much, much better than the old blue corset (which was nearly in pieces by the end of this faire season, with the plastic bones ripping through the fabric). It also wasn't terribly comfortable around the hips. This new corset will have tabs at the bottom, and straps, and should be loads more comfortable.

I could not sleep again last night. There shouldn't have been any problem with that, as I got up early yesterday, and we spent the morning shopping, and the afternoon with friends. I was still up past midnight, though. I forgot to set the alarm this morning, so I overslept. Not happy about that.

Oh well, I have to go throw stuff in the dryer. I am anxious to get started on this project. Once I finish this, I can take new sets of measurements while wearing the corset, and I can start planning my new gown. Yippee!!! I have some practice fabric that I will be using (um... three brocade tablecloths that I got on clearance at Target for $5 each. 20 yards of fabric, for $15 is not bad). I also found fabric for at least one new set of sleeves and a forepart (another brocade tablecloth, that I actually really, really like).

This should keep me busy for awhile. :)

Wookin' pa nub in ah de wong paces, wookin' pa nub...

We went to Hancock Fabrics in Ankeny today, to order my dressform. I ended up having to get a different one than I really wanted, as the one I really wanted has been DISCONTINUED. :( This one should be okay, but I am going to have to pad it to get the squishibility that I need. I ended up getting a 10% discount, because i bought a specific magazine, too. So, I saved over $13, and did not have to pay any shipping. The only bad news is that it is going to take two weeks to get to the store, as it is a warehouse item.

Before we went to Hancock, though, we hit the Walmart and Target, in Ankeny, in search of the Wii. No luck. When we got back to Ames, we went to Best Buy, Target, Walmart and finally... GameStop.

GameStop. Sigh.

The GameStop didn't have any in stock, but they had received two shipments of the Wii this week.

!!!

We were looking in the wrong place! We had considered going to the mall, Wednesday and yesterday, to the GameStop, but were so worn out after our early morning vigils that by the time the mall opened, the last thing we wanted to do was go there.

They will be getting more next week... I just hope I can get one...

Prep work

Back in August, when I was frantically getting my noble garb sewn, I had to make a hat. I was in such a hurry, that I cut using the actual pattern pieces, rather than just tracing off the size that I needed. I kept the cut-off parts, so I could splice them back together. Then, I got even busier, with performing, and other things, that the pieces stayed in their envelope, not quite forgotten, but definitely neglected.

What's worse is that this pattern was from my Margo Anderson patterns. In other words, it was more expensive than your average patterns. Eeek.

Anyway, I have been thinking about making a new dress, sleeves, forepart and smock, and my thoughts turned to that poor, butchered pattern. It needed to be fixed before I could move on... (this was the hat that the owner of our faire liked a lot!) So, tonight, I got out my tracing paper, my tape, and colored pencils, and I spliced, traced, and labeled until they are back together again.

Whew.

In any case, tomorrow I am going to go order my dressmaker's form. I have done a bit of research, found out the strengths and weaknesses of the three major types, and did a 180 on my original choice (after finding out that the numbers on the knobs tended to not be accurate, that the adjustements sometimes slipped, and that the stands were flimsy. If I am going to spend that type of money, it has to last, and has to be able to hold up 40 pounds or more of gown). I am still trying to decide between the Singer 150, and the Dressmakers Fit models. The Singer model adjusts for the neck to waist measurements, as well as the usual measurements. I can't tell if the Dressmakers Fit form does that, but it looks like it is corsetable (which is necessary). It's also cheaper by about $30. I guess I will find out tomorrow which one I will be buying. The Hancock Fabrics' website did not have the size I needed in the Dressmakers Fit form, so hopefully the store will, or can order it for me.

I really don't want to start this new project without a dressform, mainly due to the difficulties of trying to hem a skirt that has to go over a farthingale. Last time, I had to build something in my living room, and it still didn't end up right.

I hope they have it in stock, as my fingers are itching to sew. I would have done this already, except for our pre-dawn excursions the last couple of days. They just wiped me out...

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Nuts

Hey, we're doing the thing again in the morning where we get up early and go wait in line for something that will probably not arrive.

Seriously, though. What a bonding moment... When the cop car showed up, and I was thinking how I was going to explain what we were doing sitting in front of a closed store that early without laughing... when the cop jumped out of the car with a shopping bag and something with a tag still attached, then realized that the store was still closed... the crow invasion... Good times, good times...

"Mom, we have to go earlier tomorrow!" Pleading, begging, those big, green, puppy eyes. How could I say no? I'm on vacation for crying out loud. It's not like we have anything else to do, or anyplace to be.

Forget the fact that I have walked around in a daze all day, due to the lack of sleep, and inability to nap. Hey, I also forgot to go to the grocery store, so I guess we're having soup or cereal for supper. I knew I had forgotten something important...

Oh well, we had fun, and we'll have more fun tomorrow.

And just maybe, just maybe we'll get our hands on the prize. :)

Yes, I am crazy.

We got up at 5:45 this morning. We sat in front of a store for over an hour and a half, waiting. We were third in line.

The damn things didn't come in.

Frak.

So tired...

Hospital Update

My niece is doing well, and they will be starting her on liquids tomorrow morning, and will try soft foods tomorrow afternoon. If everything goes well, she may be released tomorrow night.

Cross your fingers!

Christmas Recap

1. Rib cook off= three way tie. Good eats!
2. Christmas Eve mass - gorgeous!
3. Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma P's - great until my niece got sick with the stomach flu.
4. Christmas morning = Santa won as far as my son was concerned.
5. My niece was still sick. :(
6. Christmas dinner at Granny's - very good! And I won my pretty red throw blanket in the gift exchange.
7. My niece was still sick, but is in pretty good spirits as she and her parents leave for her other grandma's house. :(
8. Christmas night - fell asleep on the couch watching Cars. Movie Star called. She's sick. But still wants me to go to some frat party with her in a week... wth?? No!
9. This morning, my niece goes to the ER, and is then admitted to the hospital for dehydration. :( She'll be there a couple of days, but she should be fine. Ug.

Home now, and not feeling the greatest myself.

And the cook off gains a new twist...

My Grandpa Harold just called...

He's making ribs, too! We now have a three-way cook off, and my Dad and Scott are getting a little nervous...

This ought'ta be good...

Let the cook off commence!

Early this morning, Dad and Scott fired up the grills. In a few short hours, we will be sitting down to judge two different styles of ribs, and shortly after, we'll be moaning about our overstuffed stomachs. It's okay, though, since we are not eating dinner, just snacks at my grandma's house later. And yes, T, there may be cheese sauce there. :)

The only bad note to this day so far, is that I seem to have developed a case of the sneezes. Yuck. At least I slept well! The new futon is extremely comfortable. And it's a good thing I did, because I'll be sleeping on the floor of the living room tonight, waiting for Santa to show up and bring me my Official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Weird sleep patterns

So last night, I couldn't keep my eyes open past 7:30, and I slept in until 8:15 this morning. Tonight, I am still awake, and can't sleep.

My legs ache, and I have a headache, and my arms ache, mostly from sitting on the floor during a rather strenuous game of Monopoly (during which I spent an inordinant amount of time in jail, go figure!).

I can't sleep. I have to be awake in 5 hours. No later, as I have a bunch of things that have to be done tomorrow. Too much buzzing around in my head. Too much sleep last night.

Okay, time to stop babeling and take a tylenol PM. I swear I never used to have problems like this. I could go to bed at 10, get up at 6, and think nothing of it.

I am getting old...

Nothing like a sense of accomplishment to get you moving even more...

I am amazed at the amount of stuff I have accomplished this morning. My kitchen is clean. The living room is clean, the dining room is clean, my room is clean.

My son attempted to clean his room, but whoa, do we have a lot of work to do in there (shoving things to the edges of the room is not cleaning!). I went in to tell him so, and found him curled up under his loft, sleeping. So maybe it can wait a bit.

We are going to go shopping this afternoon, for our stocking stuffers. This is a tradition we started a couple of years ago. Each of us has $10 to spend on ourselves, to fill our stocking. We can also buy things that we both want, to share. We shop at Goodwill, Target, and Walmart (if we have to, ug). Usually we can find brand new books at Goodwill for $.59, and last year I found a ton of jewelry in Target that was in the dollar bins (and ended up being used on my noble dress for the ren faire). It is amazing how far $10 will go if you are really careful. Both of us look forward to our stockings on Christmas Day.

Best of all, it is a time for us to talk, and have fun, without being in a rush. While everyone else is fighting over the last "Tickle me Elmo" doll, we are goofing off, and finding weird things to fill our stockings. Lots of fun!

I just have to remember to actually get them into the car this year. Last year, I let them at home. Whoops!

Vacation - Day 1

Last night, I fell asleep on the couch at around 7:30. I woke up at around 9, then went into my room to get something. I sat down on my bed for a minute, then curled up on top of the quilt, and promptly fell asleep again. When I woke up at 10:30, I went to the living room, discovered a huge paper mess and my son asleep on the couch. I woke him up, and made him go to bed.

I slept until nearly 8:15 this morning. I feel like I had way too much sleep. I need to get busy and get my stuff done around the house, so I can be ready for Christmas. But, Day 1 motivation is pretty low at this moment. I think I'm going to have to get out my iPod shuffle and let music help out today. Lots to do, and I want to have time left to have fun today.

Okay, time to get to work...

Full of good food

I made steak on the indoor grill tonight. We also had baked potatoes, and green beans with cheese.

Please forgive me for the boring posts this week. Not a whole lot has been going on, other than the fact that I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday.

Okay, I am going to go be boring somewhere else.

Tired, but almost finished!

One more present... actually, make that two, and then I am done. Normally, I am finished with my shopping by the end of the first week of December. This year, I am a slowpoke.

Now I have to wrap everything. Ug.

Holy crap, I'm tired.

Sugar cookies have joined the finished list. Whew. I had the cut-out cookies last on the list, because if I had done them first, I would have thrown in the towel, and nothing else would have come out of my kitchen for the next three weeks. I love to eat them, hate to make them.

It isn't that the dough is hard to put together. It isn't even the rolling and the cutting.

It's the damn frosting and decorating that takes way too long. This is the type of thing that you really need another person working with you, so you have someone to talk to, and a way to make it fun. Otherwise, it just sucks.

I think I may just not make them this year.

So, I am going to wait a few minutes, throw the beer bread together, and get it in the oven before it's time to make dinner.

Dinner.

Waaaaa!!!!!

Holiday Baking Extravaganza!

Yesterday ended up being a day where almost nothing got done. I did the grocery shopping. I wandered around the Antique Mall. I had a headache, went home, and went to sleep for a couple hours. I made dinner, and stayed up way too late watching Battlestar Galactica episodes, while crying my way through half a box of kleenex.

So, today I had to get my a$$ in gear, as it is one week until Christmas Eve. I did laundry until the laundry soap ran out. Then, I got to work on the holiday baking.

1. Spinach dip for lunch tomorrow
2. Beer bread for lunch tomorrow - will have to wait until after cookies
3. Almond bark pretzels (7 dozen, not nearly enough!)
4. peanut butter star cookies
5. sugar cookies
6. cut-out cookies with homemade frosting (if there is time)

My back already hurts, but I have a couple of movies that I am going to watch while I bake. And it will be worth it to have lots of treats to share, and to enjoy during my vacation. :)

What the heck?

I cleaned the ceiling fan in the dining area this morning. Since three of the light bulbs burnt out in the course of a few weeks (um... maybe months, but I just noticed it a couple of weeks ago), I decided to change them. It uses normal sized bulbs.

The problem is, the actual sockets that the bulbs screw into actually rotate.

As in, when you try to unscrew the bulb, the socket twists the same way. Meaning, the bulbs are not actually coming out of the sockets.

This is a problem, for obvious reasons.

I don't remember this being an issue last time a bulb burnt out. Maybe my dad was here and replaced them for me... Anyway, I did manage to get one out by carefully grasping the socket with my fingers, and then had a similar problem trying to get the new one in. I still don't think I got the new one in all of the way, but it turns on, so I am not going to worry about it. The other two seem to be closer to the top of the shade, and I can't get my fingers in well enough to hold the socket while I remove the bulbs.

It is obvious now that one should use small bulbs rather than normal sized ones. However, there were normal sized bulbs in it when I moved in, so I assumed that it needed normal bulbs. I am going to make it a goal to get these bulbs replaced with smaller ones during vacation. No idea how to do it, other than turning off the circuit that the fan uses, so I don't have to be so paranoid about accidentally touching the metal.

Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!

Just finished watching the three Battlestar Galactica Episodes that I had missed.

Holy. Fracking. Shit.

Now I have to wait until January 21 for new episodes!!!!!!!!!!

I can now forgive them for the boxing episode... very good stuff...

Morning Fog

We got home late last night, and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at around 2:30, because some of my neighbors were having a party, and decided to see how fast their car could go in Park. Five times.

"Jesus, look at the smoke coming outta dat thing!!!!"

Yeah. Nice.

I started thinking about what to save when the apartment building started on fire due to a car fire in the parking lot.

After dragging myself to bed, I fell asleep pretty quickly, and didn't even move until about 9 this morning. I woke up with a terrible headache (and no, I didn't have even a glass of wine with dinner last night, but I did laugh a lot!). I don't know if I need more sleep, or got too much sleep. All I know is that my head hurts really badly, and I have a lot of stuff to do today, to make up for the last two weeks of craziness at work. All I want to do is take a bubble bath, and rest on the couch.

But, there is work to be done, so I will press on, and at least get the living room clean (I've kept up with the kitchen, but my son tends to destroy the living room on an hourly basis sometimes.).

Productive once again

After word, I make a quick dinner, then took my son to get his hair cut.

I also had four inches cut off of my own.

All is well now...

Something for you all to be thankful for.

I was going to write a long, drawn out post about my hair, but I decided to be nice, and not subject the public to something so boring.

Don't thank me all at once. :)

At home

Finally, a night where we don't have to go anywhere or do anything. I made dinner, and have it cleaned up already.

Plans for the evening:

1. Movie
2. Book
3. couch
4. tylenol
5. sleep

Very, very exciting... and just what I want for tonight. :)

More thunderstorms...

Seriously. Tonight. Lightning and thunder, right now. Some are severe. Weird.

Sleepless

I am hoping to remedy that tonight, after dealing with the laundry that did not get done on Saturday. I spent most of yesterday in my hometown (and had an absolutely incredible dinner with my parents and son!), after a very sleepless night. So, when I got home around 8:30, the last thing I wanted to do was laundry.

So, it has to be done tonight. Fun. Can't wait.

Mission Mostly Accomplished

I am back from my marathon shopping expedition. I had a late start, due to needing to head into work for awhile, then deciding to make pancakes for breakfast when I got home. So, it was 10:00 before I could bundle into the front-wheel drive sleigh and head off to do my Christmas shopping.

I went downtown to see what I could find, and ended up buying one thing. I had a great time in the shops, though. Cooks Emporium was great, as it smelled wonderful (they had given cooking demonstrations earlier). I left without buying anything, however.

Then, on to Target, where I got the inside scoop on when the next shipment of Nintendo Wii's are coming in. However, I am not in the mood to sit in the cold waiting. I did manage to get the game that my son really, really wanted. He knows that he probably won't be able to get the Wii until after Christmas, but he still wanted to get the game before they were out.

So, my son is pretty much finished, as far as gifts. The only thing I couldn't find was a reasonably priced Star Wars Lego set. In fact, all they had were the big sets. And non-Star Wars sets. I may go back and get him another tank from the Forces of Valor sets. I bought a WWII Jeep Willys set, which he'll like, but Target was low on the tank sets this year. I also went to Game Stop and found two games that he's been wanting for ages. He doesn't care if he gets used games.

As far as the rest of my list...

Well, the grab bag is taken care of, as are the lab monitors. The rest will have to wait until next weekend. :)

Time for a nap!

Minor change of plans....

Morning plans derailed by non-working plasma screen at work.

The one that someone tried to steal a few weeks ago.

Won't turn on. Urg.

Review is tomorrow. They need it by 9:00 am.

I hope it is something simple...

Serious Plans for tomorrow

As in, serious SHOPPING plans for tomorrow.

Folks, Christmas is just over two short weeks away. I have exactly ONE present bought for my son. ONE. I have presents for three of the 14 other people on my list bought and under the tree.

I am going to get up early, take care of the house, then put on my shopping shoes and go do some serious damage to the bank account. No clue what to get my co-workers. More fattening holiday goodies, just like every year, I think. They're guys, so they appreciate it. And I think my special sugar cookies for the main office (melt-in-your-mouth, and made with real butter). That helps a bit with the money budget, but is hard on the time budget.

Whoops. I forgot that I have 20 additional people on that list... My student employees! Okay, they're getting food goodies, too. I'll have to get some to them tomorrow night, so I catch everyone as they work during the week. They've been great this semester, and need a treat. Hmm... I'll have to think about it...

Still haven't quite decided on the grab-bag gift for my granny's house. José Cuervo Margarita mix? Or something more sedate...

But the hardest person to buy for is going to be Movie Star. I ended up with her name this year for the first time in years and years. And she doesn't want a Target gift card, since she works there. She wants something fun. No clue. Zip. Zilch. Nada. If you are reading this, Movie Star, please give me a hint? Somehow I don't think giving you a Barbie is going to cut it this year... (yes, it has probably been that long since I had her name).

Mom and Dad... no clue. I carefully looked at all of the pottery and woodcrafts that the students were selling this week, to see if there was something that would go well in the kitchen, but all of the colors were wrong, or the style was not right. I may hit the downtown stores to see if I can find something special for Mom. Dad is always a tough one to buy for.

Grandparents... not a clue. Something small and sweet. Hmm...

So, I am going to be busy tomorrow. Very, very busy.

I only hope the checkbook doesn't burst into flames...

Making Progress

We went Christmas shooping tonight, and got three names crossed off of our list. I looked for something for our gift exchange at my granny's, but didn't really see anything that jumped out and said, "Buy me!"

This gift exchange... well. Legendary in our family. Somehow I usually end up with the socks and extension cords, or the hot sauce. The last couple of years, though, I've ended up with something nice. The goal is to buy a present that you would like to receive. That way, if you end up with your own, as you sometimes do, you won't regret it.

This year, I thought I would buy another throw blanket, as the beautiful red one that I bought for this last year was a highly sought after object. The way the game works is that everyone draws a number. The person who has the number 1 picks a present from the pile and unwraps it. The next person can choose to take the gift from the person, or open another. The third person can take a gift from either of the first two people, or open a different package. And so on. It can be really fun, and drawn out. We try to not make it boring.

As for what I am buying this year...

Well, it has lime in it, is from Mexico, and may end up being the most sought after gift in the history of our tradition of the game.

Top that, suckas!!!!

Note: You may all be thinking that I drink entirely too much. The truth of the matter is, I rarely ever drink, unless I am with my family, and then limit myself to no more than two. Usually, one is enough to make me drowsy, and who wants to miss time with family?

Flailing...

Funny sounding word...

If I do not post for awhile, it is because I am supremely busy with work. I am trying to keep a cheerful attitude, but it is not quite there. Just a few more days, and things will ease up.

Hopefully.

It seemed like a good idea at the time!

I had this craving earlier this evening (right about the time I was eating pancakes, because I hadn't had time to do the grocery shopping). I wanted biscuits and gravy, in the worst way.

I had this brainwave. I would make a batch tonight, then I would have plenty left over for breakfasts for the next couple of days.

After our meeting, we went to the store to get food for the week, and I bought sausage and pillsbury homestyle buttermilk biscuits. When we got home, I started the laundry, and then started frying the sausage, and baking the biscuits.

When I finished making the gravy, I decided that I was hungry enough to have some.

What I had forgotten to take into account, is the fact that I have eaten almost no meat in the last week, and that I certainly had not had anything with so much... to put this delicately... fat/grease/etc.

Needless to say, I don't feel very well right now... I should have just stopped at McDonald's tomorrow morning on the way into work...

Long Monday

Everything has been off today. Part of the reason is that, during this time of year, we have the labs open 24 hours a day. This means that I have to call the lab at 2:00 am, to make sure that the graveyard shift person arrived for work. It's always hard to get back to sleep afterwards.

Work was crazy busy, and I ended up staying an hour late, due to the various problems that had to be fixed before I left. I ended up asking one of the lab monitors to start the movies, as I did not leave work until the time I would normally get to back to work to start getting things set up. This meant I could go home and actually get dinner before having to be at my other meeting. I even took the time to wash and blow-dry my hair, as I had all kinds of dust and yuck in it from all of the stuff I had to deal with today. Sheer luxury!

In any case, I am waiting for laundry to dry, so I can fold it and put it away. Then, I am going to set the alarm for 2am, and read for about 5 minutes before I zonk out.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

The Pool is open

Any bets on how long it takes before I have a nervous breakdown? Because I am close.

I had to forgo shopping with my mom and sister today, because I was exhausted from this weekend, and had too many things to do before going in to work this evening. I have ZERO Christmas shopping down.

Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

Busiest time of the semester. I will have almost no time to myself for the next week. I am attempting to hold on to my sanity in the face of everything going wrong lately. My formerly charmed life is fast becoming difficult, and I am just sticking my chin up, taking deep breaths, and focusing on the long term rather than the immediate disasters.

I was never very lucky in big things, you know, like money, love, success. It was the little things, like finding a good parking spot, having things work, and not break on me, being able to walk into a room and having broken computers just suddenly decide to start cooperating, being good with kids... This semester, I have been joking all too often that I am just not having good luck, that I am a jinx now.

So if you know me in real life, and were wondering where that happy, carefree girl went. You know, the one who laughed and talked a lot, she's still here. She's just having a hard and stressful time right now. Give her a couple of weeks, and she'll relax.

All I know, is that I'd be a lot happier right now if I had at least a couple of presents wrapped and under the tree...

Home

Just got back from camping with 9 kids, and five adults.

Very tired.

Now I have way too many more things to do tonight...

What was I thinking?

This is a question I will be asking multiple times this weekend.

Arg.