Clarification on what happened Friday night

I was just reading through what I wrote Saturday morning, and realized that I did not come back and write more about what happened. In the interest of avoiding confusion later when I start writing about what happens next, here's a bit more of the story.

We drove to Manson Friday night, and while we were eating dinner, I started having difficulty speaking. What I meant to say was not coming out right at all. Some words I just could not say, and I drew a complete blank on others. Pretty quickly, I realized that something was really wrong.

My mom and my sister drove me to the emergency room in fort dodge (about 20 minutes away), and while on the way, my right hand went numb. It started at the base of my thumb, and traveled through every finger. I was still having problems calling things by their right names. I told my mom to watch out for that power - I meant to say "tractor," among other things. I started getting better as we got closer to Fort Dodge, and by the time I got there, the only thing wrong was that I had a bad headache, and a little bit of numbness still in my pinky finger on my right hand.

I was able to give my name, address and information, along with the name of the President of the United States. I concentrated really hard on getting the answers right, and making sure I remembered info they needed to know (I had my meds with me, because I was staying over at Mom and Dad's that night, luckily). They did a couple of preliminary tests, to figure out how bad off I was, I guess. My BP was higher than normal (128/98), but not in any danger zones.

The ER was really busy. At one point, my mom and I got the giggles really badly, because my sister was trying to explain to my dad, over the phone, what two shirts of hers needed to be hung on a hanger to dry, and not in the dryer. He was having problems finding one of them, and it just struck us as funny. If you laugh, you don't have time to cry, right?

One of my sister's friends works at the hospital, so she came down and sat with us during her break, so that was a distraction.

At one point, a woman my mom knew came in with a friend and the friend's son. The little boy had been goofing around with his dad and uncles, and had hit his head. He needed staples to close the wound. The friend commented that I looked as white as a sheet. I told her that was my normal skin color, but mom and Movie Star agreed that I was much, much paler than usual. Well, my head hurt, so that was part of it. Soon, the left, and other people came in.

One elderly lady was wheeled in. She was recovering from cancer, and undergoing chemo. They brought her in because she spiked a temperature of 103°F. Someone else came in with chest pains.

A couple of times, my mom went to check up on when I would be seen. My head was pounding, and occasionally, my forearm would have areas that felt a little numb. I just wanted to lie down. There were people worse off than me, though. I grew convinced that we were going to end up watching the entire movie on the Hallmark Channel that had started when we got there.

Finally, they called my name. My mom followed, and we were shown into the treatment room. First bed on the right. The nurse, Mark, did a few preliminary tests, then a girl came over to draw my blood (from the side of the wrist, below the thumb, apparantly, it is supposed to be easier and less painful). My doctor ended up being the same doctor that delivered all of us girls, and my mom's face melted in relief when she heard his name.

I ended up having to have a CAT scan to check for any bleeding on the brain, and it came back normal. Whew, not a stroke. I have to cut way back on my sodium and caffeine intake, to get things back under control, and I'm going to be making an appointment with my regular doctor to follow up, and see if she wants to order any more tests. It ended up taking over four hours, as the ER was really busy. We still don't know what exactly happened. The doctor told me that I would need an MRI if the symptoms recurred. Possiblities include a tumor, or MS, neither of which are good things. I am going to ask my doctor if maybe we can just have the MRI, and not have to wait for this to happen again. I just want to know what happened, and how to prevent it from happening again.

So that's the story of my ER visit. I'll keep people posted, family and friends first, of course.

I am now going to go make a baked potato and some some baked veggies. Yum.

Food, and what to do with it.

As I found out a few years ago, attempting to cut down on sodium in your diet is a frustration the likes of which can only be compared to trying to cut back on the amount of air that you breathe.

Everything, from a slice of bread (110mg), to frozen cauliflower (25mg), has it. Canned soup? Forget it. Any frozen dinner, even the Healthy Choice ones? Only if I want to blow through half of my sodium allowance for the day. No deli meats, nothing out of a can (besides fruit). No chips, and nothing from the bakery. Ouch. It takes a serious amount of work to do this, as you end up having to prepare many foods from scratch, and when you have a limited schedule and budget, you end up maybe eating not quite as much variety.

I am absolutely serious about cutting back to 1000 mg of sodium a day. The daily allowance is 2400 mg, and the people in charge of such things are actually working on lowering it, and lowering the amounts that processed foods contain. It just takes awhile to get people used to it. Let's face it, salt in food makes a lot of things taste really, really good.

Really, really good. I want some french fries...

Sunday

When I was at the ER on friday night, my blood pressure was 128/98 (and yes, that bottom number is pretty dang high). Last night, it was 112/77, which is pretty good.

Not the way I wanted to spend my Friday night

I don't have a lot of time to write out the full story of what happened last night, but here is a brief summary:

Eating dinner at my mom and dad's house, talking and laughing, and all of a sudden words were not coming out right. Either I knew the word that I wanted to say, and couldn't say it, or I was at a complete loss on terms that I know and use every day, After about five minutes of confusion, my mom decided I needed to go to the emergency room. Movie Star went with, while my dad kept my son occupied at home.

A CAT Scan did not indicate that I had a stroke. I had a good talk with the doctor, and if it happens again, I need an MRI. In the mean time, cut back on caffeine and sodium.

More later...

An you know what else is bugging me?

The school district making school fees due a whole month earlier than ever before. Due next month. And it is $57 more this year than last. I knew about, and fully support the $25 textbook fee (the 7th grade social studies book is over 8 years old. Eight years, people.). And I knew that my son needed a new gym uniform. Things aren't outrageous or anything, but geesh, give us a little warning before we open the preregistration packet.

(And to be fair, I don't read our local paper, mostly because I don't want to subscribe to it, as I don't want piles of newspapers around. Actually, i read it online, but their site sucks beyond all reason. Their "new" design is as unreadable as the old, and looks about six years out of date. So totally understandable that I would miss an announcement like that, because there would be no damn way to find it on that site.)

Oh, and my lovely new green bodice? The one I was so excited about? I'm bloated, and it doesn't fit. Sucks to be me...

Fog

Don't know why I am still in a crappy mood. Just trying to keep myself busy. I have a ton of work to do tonight, but none of it is going to be fun. Correction, about the only thing I will enjoy doing tonight is adding the bias binding to my green bodice. Then, I need to pack for a small trip to my parents' house (yay!), and gather up all of my costume stuff that I need for Saturday's rehearsal.

So, a couple of things to look forward to this weekend, but still not putting me in a good mood for some reason...

Feeling down

I feel really isolated right now, and i am not entirely sure why. I have been busy for so long, that when things quiet down, I feel like there is still something I should be doing, somewhere I should be rather than at home. I am finally feeling like I want to get out and go places, do something fun.

I am, however, getting excited about the impending arrival of my second nephew! One month to go, K!!!!

Confession #475

I read "Dear Abby," just to see if I can recognize myself in any of the letters.

Admit it, so do you... ;)

Edited to add: And no, I am not speaking specifically about today's Dear Abby, which I had NOT read before I posted that. I just read it, and it has nothing to do with me. Bad neighbors, etc, now THAT might be me...

Happy Mother's Day!

Very low key day, today. It is amazing how things slow down after spring semester ends.

I slept a bit later than normal, after waking up early, and deciding that there was no reason to stay awake when I was so comfortable, and the wind was so nice and cool through my window.

After I got up, my son made me toast with strawberry jam for breakfast. Simple, yes, but exactly what I wanted. I did the laundry, and cleaned up a bit. I tackled some hand washing, then made lunch, and rested for a bit. We decided to go shopping, and then out to dinner.

We went to Okoboji Grill, after seeing the number of cars at Applebees. And we should have stayed at Applebees. Hardly any cars at all at Okoboji Grill, which should have been a clue. Needless to say, the one we've gone to in Des Moines a few times is far better when it comes to burgers. My burger was dry and mostly charcoal. Everything else was okay, but it was the burger that I had been craving. I wish I had ordered a salad instead.

In any case, we ate, paid the bill, left, and came home, where I continued relaxing by finished up a really good book. I am going to further relax by working on my new bodice, now that the house has cooled down.

I really enjoyed this rare weekend with no particular plans. It was exactly what I needed.

Relaxing day...

Seriously. Everything I did today was something I wanted to do. I slept until 8am, woke up, puttered around, took a bath, then made up the menus and grocery list for the week. I went heavy on the healthy stuff, as I want to make some changes to the way we eat.

For lunch, I ate a salad with a lot of good-for-me stuff on it. After lunch, I settled down in my room to watch "Elizabeth I," with Helen Mirren (yes, she also plays Elizabeth II, in "The Queen"). This movie was astounding. I only watched the first part, and had to stop at one point, it was so graphic. Just incredible. And yes, I was heavily distracted by the gorgeous costumes. Just beautiful detailing, even among the men's clothing. I know the costuming won awards, and it would be fascinating to be able to find detailed photos online. I know movie costumers sometimes take liberties with construction, but there is a lot to be learned here.

(I am writing the rest of this offline, as my internet at home has been unstable for the last couple of days, and is now off again. Big nuisance.)

I also realized that I had seen at least two of the gowns worn by Queen Elizabeth. Philippa Gregory's novels usually have very lovely paintings on the covers. One cover has a very interesting similarity, in that two women are wearing gowns extremely similar to two of the gowns in the movie. In fact, on one of the costuming forums that I read, we were discussing that a new Simplicity pattern may have been modeled on that book cover. Looks like the pattern was modeled on the movie instead.

When I was taking a break to settle my stomach, I decided to start cutting out the fabric for my new green bodice. I started out with a yard of 60" wide green brocade, and ended up with over half of it left. Because of this, I decided to make shoulder and waist tabs, and maybe even a pouch. I also had a small bit of olive green "silk" that I decided to use to accent the tabs and pouch. There is not much of it, so it will be used to edge the tabs. I am even thinking of adding in some red grosgrain ribbon to the tab decoration. I confirmed that my olive green, broadcloth (shudder) skirt will complement the bodice well enough. Accessories will dress it up to the proper piratey-goodness. Perhaps later I will find enough of this fabric for a better skirt, and can convert it to noble garb...

I ended up cutting out the cotton duck lining after dinner, and everything is waiting for my sewing machine tomorrow. I decided on using the double lining only in the front, where the boning channels will be located. This saved me a bit of cutting, although I may change my mind tomorrow. I tried using my tailor chalk to trace the pattern on the fabric, instead of cutting with the pattern pieces pinned to the cloth. It is much easier, and more accurate this way. More work, but worth it.

Lest you all think that all I did was work today, I spent a great deal of time lounging, reading, and enjoying the fresh air. I tended my plants (sprouts, really - the moss roses and morning glory are finally showing their faces!). Time has slowed a bit for me lately, as I am no longer rushing to finish too many projects in too little time.

Well, except for the fact that I need to have at least one noble doublet done for my son by June 23rd.

But what is life without a challenge? ;)

At least this time I wasn't at home, miserably sick...

My son had a dance at school tonight. So, I dropped him off at 6, then went shopping. I had a few specific things to look for. I ended up going through three stores without buying anything at all. And then I hit Target.

I bought myself a new stir-fry pan, a new skillet, and a couple of other kitchen related items. I desperately needed the new pans, due to the old ones having scratched up Teflon (not good!). I didn't spend a lot on them, but they should last for quite awhile. I am excited about cooking again!

When I went to pick up my son, the kids had gotten out of the dance early. A long line of cars were parked around the circle, with various cars, and SUVs pulling out as they picked up their kids. I was looking for my son, when a white minivan sped past, doing twice the speed limit, swerved to avoid an SUV that was pulling out, and slammed on the brakes and parked right in front of another SUV, blocking it in. Keep in mind that there were kids EVERYWHERE, excited kids, and it's DARK. I saw two kids get into the van, then they waited with the door open for another kid. The whole time, the SUV that was blocked in was waiting to go, and no one else near could pull out and leave either.

There was ample parking for this person to have parked correctly. There was no need to speed past the waiting line of cars. Their brakes never even flashed until they parked. It ticked me off. I mean, really, there was no point to this. So, your kids are too delicate to walk 100 feet to the car? Or wait two minutes for the line of cars to creep forward? It's not like it is freezing out or anything. It was arrogant.

And no, it was not a soccor mom at the wheel - it was a Dad. A big, huge dad. I have no idea what was so pressing that they had to get out of there so fast, but I caught up to them at the stop sign, when leaving school property. He saved zero time with his shenanigans...

Silent

Sorry that I haven't posted in a couple of days. I have gone from being overbusy, to not quite busy enough, which meant lots of time for things like sorting my two plastic containers of trims, detail cleaning the kitchen (ugh), and trying to ignore the fact that I turned 35 on Wednesday.

I am getting excited, though, by a new bodice that i am making for myself. Last fall, when I made my red noble gown, I was not happy with the way the bodice turned out. It ended up being too long waisted, and too big around the bust and shoulders. I made it work, though, as I had no choice. So, last Monday, I started redrafting the bodice pattern. I am nearly satisfied with the fit, with needing just a half inch total more space in the bust after the alteration (you'd be surprised at the difference a quarter of an inch on either side makes in fitted clothing), and a little more taken off at the shoulder. This is going to be for my pirate garb, in a green and gold brocade that I picked up a couple of summers ago. I think I can wear it with a dark green skirt I made for Amana back in 2005. I am excited about getting this to fit correctly, because it will help when I make new noble garb for this fall.

My fingers are itching for detail work.

Downhill diet spiral

Yes, i ate Dominio's pizza tonight. And yes, i regret it. I am now going to rest a bit, and hope my stomach recovers. Lots to do tonight...

Rested

For the first time in over a month, I was able to get a tremendous night's sleep. I woke up just long enough to see my son off to school, then went back to bed and slept until I woke up on my own, no alarms.

I am taking a break from cleaning up the house. It takes a ton of gear to be able to go to a faire as Lady Rosalind. Add into that the fact that we were camping, and I was a different character yesterday (Red Jenny, to the amusement of the scouts), and you have way too much crap still scattered where we dropped it late last night.

Most of it is already put away, TG, but I still have a bit to go before I will let myself fully relax, eat lunch, and read a book for the rest of the afternoon. I have been dreaming about this day off for weeks. And I slept half of it away...

Oh well, back to work.

Huzza...huzza... huzzah!

(Sorry it took a bit to get going there...)

We're back! Saturday was beautiful weather! Warm, a bit windy, DRY! Sunday we woke to high winds, and as my son and I were coming back from the privies at a bit after 7, one of the other faire people ran over to let us know that 60 mph winds were on the way.

And it rained nearly the entire time that the faire was open. What a heartbreaker. And it was cold and windy.

Other main events (in no particular order):

1. Some kid taking the whole, putting-the-Spanish-Ambassador-into-the-stocks thing a little too seriously, and as he was being publically humilated (in character, a set bit), smacking him with a juggling stick across the posterior waaaaaayyyyy too hard, and causing a bit of a problem. Kids - don't hit people. No matter what. Seriously. Bad.

2. Discovering this evening that my new, spray on sunscreen is worth precisely nothing. I am fried. I couldn't tell this morning, because I had about five minutes worth of mirror-time.

3. I found a lost little girl, and took her to the ticket booth. She was reunited with her parents about 15 minutes later. I'll have to tell this story later, because it was only by chance that I saw her, and realized that she was lost.

4. Cheesecake, strawberry smoothies, and tight dresses do not mix. Learned the hard way.

5. Yes, you can go all day on breakfast, and a dill pickle. Not pretty, but it works.

6. If you are roasting at the end of the day in noble garb, you'll be freezing once you get back into 'danes, even if it is still near 80°F.

7. Wind = bad

8. Cold rain = worse + very few customers

9. Telling my son to let me sit in the chair, then two minutes later, having a wooden pole that was holding up the rain fly fall and smack me on the head (six feet long, three inches in diameter). No concussion, but it hurt, and dazed me for a minute. Having three worried kids two inches away from your face asking if you are okay was a little disconcerting. Having to tell them "No," was even more so. Finally, I just said, "Don't look at me," hid my face in my hat. Ten minutes later, we had customers, and I moved because I was getting dripped on, then moved again because one of the crossbows misfired, the bolt flipped back, and just about got me. Then, I was standing in the wrong spot when a cascade of water decided to fall out of the rain fly, directly on my head, down my hat, down my back, and into my bodice. Ice. Cold. Water. After that, I went up to the glass blower, and since they were cooling the forge down, they let me stand in front of it to get warm.

10. Started tearing down at 4:00 pm. Had one kid cut himself. Still waiting to hear if he needs stitches (he sat in the car for awhile, then wanted to go to dinner with us all, then ended up even helping us carry in gear).

11. The rain cleared up after we finished tearing down the booth. Great.

12. Went to McDonald's afterwards, because a picnic was no longer possible.

13. Home now. Tired. Very. Just finished my bath, going to bed. Stepped on the scale, and it is ten pounds down from Friday morning.

Good night!

Zombie

The last costume is finally complete. My cloak is as complete as it can get at this moment.

The hats... not gonna get done. The reason: way too much to do, way too little time. I honestly thought I could finish them, but that was before I spent over two and a half hours first helping load the poles for the booth, then going to Target to get some things I need for the weekend (bug spray, sunscreen, batteries, new flashlight... important stuff).

The last thing I need to do to really finish sewing, is to fix the shoulder seams on my son's shirt. I keep forgetting. So, that is on the sewing table, where I can't possibly miss it. It is going to be fixed at lunch tomorrow.

Sleep now...

I think that the only part of me that doesn't hurt is my hair, but that could change.

Working hard, still. Went grocery shopping, went to the post office, and library. Did five loads of laundry tonight, one of which was the fabric for the last tunic. While the laundry was in progress, I sewed together the cloak pieces, using french seams to encase the raw edges. I have the cloak hanging on my dressform, which my son has dubbed, "Scary Mary," in order to let it hang and settle a bit. All that is needed now is the binding on the edges, and a clasp (to be purchased at JoAnn fabrics tomorrow).

Yet to do tonight:

1. Iron and straighten the tunic fabric, and lining (urg, the lining).
2. Cut out the tunic pieces, in both fabric and lining.
3. Sew together tunic pieces, if at all possible.
4. Sleep at some point. next on the list

I am running on empty, and I keep finding five more things I need to do before this weekend, every time I turn around. I am going to keep my suitcase open on the floor of my room, and every time I touch something I need to bring, it's going in. I'll repack later. The problem with being Lady Rosalind this weekend, is that I'll need a large dressbag, farthingale, small suitcase full of accoutraments (shoes, corset, "jewels", smock, bumroll, etc.), hat, and parasol just for the one costume. I have a smaller dressbag for my pirate costume, and I can wear the same shoes, but dang, that's a heck of a lot of stuff. And I need my big suitcase for regular clothes, my makeup, hair stuff, and other personal camping items. Luckily, the suitcases are actually efficient to pack in the car, and I can really cram a ton of stuff into the big one. I'll still feel like I am a movie star, taking 20 bags just for a weekend trip... All necessary, but still...

Anyway, break over. I am going to go slam some caffeine down my throat, and get back to work.

Of course there would be a snag in the plans...

1. The pattern is printed wrong. The extension pieces, which are to be taped to the upper part of the cloak, do not match up! The registration marks are off! I had to fudge it... I also cut into this pattern, rather than trace it off, as I will never use it again. I will buy a newer copy, hopefully without the registration issues. I found another "typo", so to speak, but it was minor.

2. I painstakingly ironed the flannel, then folded it in half, matching up the selvedges, and pinning them the length of the fabric (6 3/4 yards), only to look at the fabric layout more carefully, and see that it did not need to be folded lengthwise at all. Bugger.

3. I forgot how hard it is to cut flannel. My hand hurts.

4. Good news is, it's a matter of sewing three seams, and adding the binding to the edge. I am going to buy a clasp tomorrow, and add black guimpe braid around the edges.

5. I have a raging headache from having to cut this out, on the floor. It's also a million degrees in the living room, since I had to turn the fan off (blowing the pattern tissue too much). I can finally turn it on now.

Three seams, then I can go to bed. Six, actually, since I am doing french seams... then to bed! Or maybe I'll do it at lunch, because my headache is really, really bad...

I know, if I say I'm really busy one more time, you all will go off and read some other blog...

Seriously, it's okay. I know I'm boring. I never had any intention of doing anything great with this blog. It's just a way for me to say what I am doing, and share interesting tidbits about daily life in Iowa.

Tonight's big plans:

1. Iron black flannel.
2. Cut out cloak.
3. Sew cloak.
4. Put trim on cloak, if I have enough.
5. Read a bit of the romance novel I'm reading.
6. Sleep.

So yeah, boring to you, fun for me. That's okay.

Oh, and did I mention that my Granny gave me some leftover velvet (silk! okay, mostly rayon, but it also has SILK IN IT!!!!). There ended up being only about 8 feet of it, which isn't enough to make a dress, but it is enough to make sleeves and a forepart. She also gave me her velvet pressing board. I have been wanting one for awhile, but they are pricy enough that I had hesitated. She had kept this fabric for over ten years - it was leftover from Nan's wedding. Just as gorgeous now as it was then!

I think my niece is going to get something special made out of it, too.

Anyway, time to get in gear. Two hours left tonight before I get too tired to work...

Busy weekend

Costume #7 is finished, finally. I am going to take a break, then start on my cloak. I am working on my cloak before I do the 8th and final costume, simply because I haven't bought the fabric for the last costume yet.

This weekend ended up being really fun. We went to rehearsal at Sleepy Hollow, in Des Moines, yesterday morning. Then, we went to Fort Dodge to go to my cousin's wedding (gorgeous wedding, great food, lots of fun!). I ended up being talked into staying over in Manson overnight. Even more fun!

Okay, back to work. Have to get dinner on the table...

Procrastination Queen

Tell me why I just finished rearranging my room, a process that took over three hours, when I had ninety minutes of work left on the brown tunic, and two loads of laundry to wash, dry, fold, and put away.

I sort of like it. It will take awhile to get used to it. I still have a bit of minor organizing to do, but overall, I like the arrangement. I bought a set of wire cube shelves at Target for $13 on Wednesday. That actually holds quite a lot of boxes, and tubs with my sewing, hat making, and beading supplies. But the big thing is that I can see my computer from my bed, so that I can watch DVDs and relax. Ha. Hahahahhahahaha.

Relax. Like I know what that is anymore.

Oh well, time to get back to the sewing. I already threw the clothes in the wash, and am waiting for the timer to go off.

One week until Amana.

One.

Crap.

Miserable

It rained most of today, too.

And now I have a sore throat for some reason.

I did manage to get the lining cut for costume #7, so that was good. It takes forever to iron and straighten fabric, or it would have been done a long time ago.

I may just stop talking altogether.

I wish it would stop raining. Today was bad enough that the rain added insult to injury. Looks to continue tomorrow.

More progress was actually made...

Costume #7, a brownish tunic, is now cut out and awaiting assembly. I still need to straighten and iron the lining fabric (muslin), and cut out those pieces, too.

My evenings are pretty much booked for the rest of the week, until Friday. Saturday, I have two places to be, and Sunday is pretty much the same. I am worried that I will not get these final two costumes, plus my new hat and cloak finished. So much to do, and so little time.

And with that, I am signing off for the night...

What did I do today?

1. Awakened by my son at 7:30 am, because he wanted me to take him to Target to get the game we had reserved. Begged for another 30 minutes of sleep.

2. 9:00 am, left to go get game, and a couple of other things. Washed the car.

3. Made spaghetti salad for the cookout.

4. Cut the chicken breasts in half, and put them in the refrigerator to marinate.

5. Had a migraine, took a nap for three hours.

6. Woke up when the phone rang - work problem.

7. Freshened up for the cookout/rehearsal, put everything in the cooler, and went to work to fix the problem.

8. After fixing the problem, went to cookout/rehearsal. Practiced the three dances over and over, then we decided to start the grill.

9. Went inside and practiced our improv exercises, and grilled young William on his ideal possible future wife, to his embarrassment.

10. Just how long does it take to grill chicken anyway?

11. Ate way too much. Talked more.

12. An hour later: "Crap, the brats are still on the grill!"

13. Stopped raining: more dancing! This time we got it right!

14. Home. Tired. Legs. Hurt.

Two down, six to go...

I just have to say that flat hats are dead easy to make, and it's a good thing, since I have so many to make. I am not quite certain that I will have enough felt, however.

We went to see, "Are we done yet?" It was more chuckle-to-yourself, than laugh-out-loud funny, and there were touching moments. However, whoever did the pregnancy body suit for the mom has never seen a woman pregnant with twins before. That was a one-baby-belly.

Okay, back to work. I am going to make hot dogs on the grill tonight, as we have no desire for anything more. It is warm outside, and warmer in the house, and both of us ate too much candy at the movie.

I, for one, never thought J.C. would have agreed with the idea of Limbo, either.

Vatican panel condemns limbo to eternal dustbin

ROME — Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction.

A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.

That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell. Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God.

Catholic doctrine states that because all humans are tainted by original sin, thanks to Adam and Eve, baptism is essential for salvation. But the idea of limbo has fallen out of favor for many Catholics, who see it as harsh and not befitting a merciful God.

I had a further response to this, but since one of my iron-clad rules is to not discuss religion or politics with friends, I deleted it. Suffice it to say that I am glad they did away with Limbo. I never truely believed that it existed anyway.

It's official.

I am now the parent of a teenager.

Hey, thanks for blind-siding me...

'Dark Matter' message painfully sharpened by Virginia Tech tragedy

One of the most jolting moments at this year's Sundance Film Festival came in the closing sequence of a movie called "Dark Matter": A disaffected Asian college student abruptly snaps and goes on a bloody rampage, killing professors, classmates and, finally, himself. The audience was plainly shocked, and some critics attacked the finale as a jarring gimmick that, narratively, came out of nowhere.

"Dark Matter" now, of course, would take on a different context to anyone who sees it following the Virginia Tech shootings on Monday that left 33 people dead, among them Seung-hui Cho, the gunman who took his own life and shares much in common with the character at the center of "Dark Matter."

The film, starring Aidan Quinn and Meryl Streep, was actually inspired by another grisly campus crime: The 1991 University of Iowa incident in which Chinese foreign exchange student Gang Lu reacted violently after being passed over for an academic prize and killed five people and left a sixth paralyzed before killing himself.
...

They may have been inspired by the fact that the shootings happened, but little else resembles what happened at U of I in 1991. What I take exception to about this film is the plot:

The plot of "Dark Matter" follows student Xing Liu (played by Ye Liu), whose proposed thesis delves into the cosmological mysteries of dark matter. Liu's ideas are so innovative that his mentor, Jacob Reiser (Quinn), becomes intimidated and begins to sabotage the younger man's career. The student already feels culturally alienated too, despite the help of an altruistic campus advisor (Streep), and he also becomes financially strapped. Then, feeling robbed of his purpose in life, Liu snaps and picks up a gun.

I clicked into this article, because the title caught my eye. I didn't seriously think that the events which inspired the film would be those same events that have kept me on edge all week, jumping between feverish work, hysterical laughter, and a propensity towards checking my back constantly. I should have, but I didn't.

So, they won some awards at Sundance. BFD.

I think it's time to stop reading the news entirely.

And this is why I inspect my garb two weeks in advance...

As I removed my red gown from my dressmakers dummy, after checking the bodice for problems, I carefully smoothed my skirt, in order to hang it on a hanger.

That's when I saw it...

The waistband is coming apart! The bottom edge of the waistband is actually coming separated at the seam in multiple places! I am going to have to turn under the raw edges, and try to sew this back into place before it gets any worse.

It won't take very long, but it just worried me that this happened. I know that the seams were sewn correctly, and I didn't trim that seam allowance, because I needed the added fabric thickness for support. It just bugs me. Erg.

Update: Fixed. Erg.

Arg! the time-suck!!!!

I really have got to stop popping over to Renspace and losing an HOUR.

I only went there because I was taking a break from sorting out my spools of thread, honest! And I wasn't even going to go there at all, except someone posted a comment, and i had to read it.

Okay, time to get to work on costume number seven...

I think I just spent a little too much time on RenSpace...

That's kind of like a myspace for all of us Rennies out there. Only faster, and cooler! Seriously! I can't stand using MySpace. You can check it out - Lady Rosalind Speaks...

In other news, I finished the fifth and sixth costumes tonight!!!!! Two more to go! Then, I can make myself a new hat and cloak, and a bunch of favors to hand out to friends. I'm trying to come up with a number, but I am afraid I won't finish enough. I'll have to see how realistic the number is...

Okay, big day again tomorrow. My to-do list keeps growing faster than I can cross-off completed tasks, both at home and work. Sigh... Oh well, gotta keep busy so I can get things done.

I'm okay.

This post has been removed.
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Okay, I am putting this back online, because it was dumb to remove it in th efirst place.

There is comfort in relative anomnimity, just as there is comfort as the years pass and memories fade. I still didn't sleep last night, but it was more that I didn't want to close my eyes in case I had nightmares, rather than nightmares themselves. If my post last night was scrambled and incoherent, it was because I was becoming more disturbed by what happened in Virginia as the night progressed.

I had an email from a college friend, old roomate in fact (not that we are old or anything, R!!!). She asked if I was doing okay. I had to think about it for a minute or two, and I determined that, yes, I will be okay.

You see, not many people know this, but I went to the University of Iowa from 1990 to 1994. I majored in Physics for the first year and a half, and worked in the Physics Library all four years. I was working the day one of our grad students picked up a gun, and shot three of our faculty, and the fellow grad student that he felt stole his place. I was less than 20 feet away, separated only by two sets of open double-doors, and the fact that the closest stairwell was on the other side of the seminar room where he opened fire. I knew all of the faculty involved, had helped them locate materials, been advised by them. I did not know the administrator he later killed, or the female grad student he shot and paralyzed.

But I did know the shooter.

You see, he was very pushy, and very disdainful of women. Not a week before, he had berated me quite heavily, because I wouldn't let him break Library rules. I don't even remember the specifics, just that his reaction was over the top. I had been apologized to by one of the faculty he later murdered, for the actions of this student (he had been there when the incident happened). He had been appalled at this student's behavior.

I wasn't supposed to work that Friday afternoon. It only occurred to me later that this could have been what saved me, after Grace, my boss, found out who the shooter was. He didn't know I was working that day. He was ten steps away from the library entrance, where I sat at the desk. If he had turned left instead of right... He shot Miya just for being there.

Okay, I am writing things I never even told my family.

It's taken a long time to put this in the back of my mind. Box it up, take it out once a year, remember, and put it away for another year. For over fifteen years. Time does heal wounds, and each time you revisit painful memories, they lose their power over you. I spent a long time being scared after this happened. Now I just focus on my family and friends, and on the good things in my life, and I know that I will be okay.

My heart goes out to all of the victim's families, and friends, and to those who witnessed this horrible attack. Be strong, and be loving to each other.

This is the last I am going to talk about this, for the sake of being able to sleep at night.

Derailed

Not a lot of progress on anything today. I spent most of the day in bed, suffering from an upset stomach and headache. My son was feeling kind of crappy during the latter part of last week, and complained of the same symptoms. He didn't want to stay home, though, so I let him go to school. Probably some kind of virus. Didn't last terribly long, at least.

It was around 2pm before I could sit up without feeling too woozy. I ate some saltines, and felt a little better. Around 2:30, I had some Cream of Wheat cereal. I sat on the couch and watched a movie while sewing.

So, I not get done what I wanted to get done, and now tomorrow is going to be insanely busy at work. I really wish I had been able to get to work today. This is just the wrong time of the semester to be gone.

Okay, sleepy again. You would have thought with as much sleep as I got this morning and afternoon, that the last thing I would want to do is go back to bed...

Progress update for Sunday

Whew. I got a massive amount of work done today. I am nearly finished with both the fifth and sixth costumes, and if I can make a hat a day, I can get hats done for everyone, too (got to use that old felt for something!).

Today I accomplished:

1. Laundry - six loads. I know, I know, how in the world did we have six loads of laundry with just two people. Towels and sheets, my friend, and the fact that I am trying to get our summer clothes integrated back into service. And now it is all put away neatly.

2. Dishwasher - ran twice. Didn't have time to run it yesterday afternoon before we had to go to the LAN party. Ran it this morning, and after supper.

3. Sewed lining to green jerkin shell.

4. Sewed homemade bias tape to edges of jerkin, and trimmed. I plan to hand sew some of this tonight (turn and sew folded edge to inside, to trim the edges. Going to turn out pretty good.).

5. Ironed, straightened tan fabric.

6. Traced off correct size for tan tunic, and redrafted the pattern to make yet another variation on the overused LOtR tunic. This one is short, and has riding slits up the sides, and a round neckline, and is for one of the adults. All I can say is, thank God men's clothing is fairly simple for the class we are portraying.

7. Cut out tan tunic, outer shell and lining out of the same fabric, more for weight than anything.

8. Sewed lining and shell together, fracked up, ripped out the neckline, and saved it. Disovered a new-to-me way to do the lining, and totally rocked it. Need bias binding to finish the raw edges and for trim. Looks good.

All of this, and I made a good dinner, and played Wii Sports with my son. Oh, and sat through a two minute power failure. Damn power never goes out in the wind, storms, or ice, but will randomly go off when it is clear about once every four months or so.

In any case, i got a lot done, I can hardly move, and I am going to be able to sleep with the window open tonight.

Life is good. :)

Oh, and i almost forgot: I also started working on favors to give out to friends at the faire. Don't know how many I will get done, but here is a sample:

I just got my a-- handed to me in Wii Sports

My son bugged me into playing Wii Sports with him tonight. Since we finally managed to get our hands on another control and nun-chuck, we decided to start out with a little boxing, progressed to tennis, and then to bowling.

He beat me at every game.

But I have only one thing to say to you, Mister... I can still beat you at Donkey Kong Country 1, 3, and all the classic Mario games, and don't you forget it! LOL :)

Ouch, my arms...

Iowa is entirely too small.

But that can be a good thing, as you get stories like this one.

On Friday, a friend of mine went to a film festival in Cedar Rapids. He arrived early, of course, and they weren't quite set up yet. He was talking with someone who was getting people checked in, and gave them his name. Someone else overheard, and repeated his name.

"I thought you looked familiar. I read your blog, and listen to your podcasts!"

Okay, now everyone who blogs has a story like this. Seriously. The internet makes this a small world. What takes this to a different level is what this person said next.

"Yeah, I got there from Jennifer's blog. I went to college with her."

So that's a little funnier.

So, a big "Hi!" to Eric Freese and company! I don't want to even count how long ago that was (but okay, fourteen years, how did we all get so old?).

Someone tells it like it is...

Lots of stuff to blog about, but I wanted to get this out first.

I have an iron-clad rule, from the moment I got my first car, where the car does not get taken out of park until everyone in the car, even those in the back, have their seatbelts fastened. If I am riding in the back seat of someone else's car, I still fasten my seat belt. I do not feel comfortable in the car unless my seat belt is on.

For all of you who have given me crap about it since I was sixteen years old, I offer this:

Seatbelts Save Lives
...
There are two major routes that unrestrained persons take in a front-end MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident). Up-and-over or down-and-under (AKA “submarining”). With up-and-over, the upper body launches forward and up. The head strikes the windshield. (This produces the classic “windshield star”) Your injuries here include concussion, scalp laceration, and various brain bleeds. You can suspect fractured cervical vertebrae (and if you have a fracture with compromise to the spinal cord at C-4 or higher, you’ve lost the nerves that control chest expansion and the diaphragm. “C-4, breathe no more,” as the saying goes).

Go a little farther through the windshield, and it isn’t unexpected to leave some or all of your face behind stuck in the broken glass. You’d be surprised by how easily faces come off the facial bones.

You can also expect fractured wrists, arms, and shoulders, from folks trying to brace themselves.

A little farther through the windshield, all the way out of the vehicle (a situation we call “pre-extracted for your convenience”), and in addition to whatever damage you took on the way through, you get the damage from hitting the ground, trees, and metal poles at however-many-miles-an-hour.
..."

Go read the article for yourself. Absolutely should be required reading for kids getting their driver's license.

The main reason I always wear my seatbelt:

My dad is a fireman, and drives a tow truck, both jobs expose him to a lot of accident scenes, both in a rescue situation, and a clean up situation. It's a hard, hard thing to do, especially in a community where you know practically everyone.

I wear my seatbelt because you never know what is going to happen with everyone else on the road. I've been in a rear-end collision, where the person who hit the car behind me was going 45 mph, and didn't notice two cars stopped, waiting to turn left. All of us had our seatbelts on. I ended up with whiplash, as did the lady in the car between us. My car got hit so hard that I would've hit the steering wheel with my chest, and my head would have hit the windshield. Instead, I ended up with a really sore neck, back, and some nerve problems for awhile (couldn't draw anymore, for about two months, during the busiest part of the semester. Drawing class sucked so bad after that. Just held my pencil and charcoal and couldn't make my right hand do what I wanted it to do.) But, considering the alternative, I got off very lightly.

So, read this article already! I'll shut up now, as I am up way past when I should be sleeping. Long, long day today...

Progress Report - 21 Days and Counting

Red pirate skirt is now finished. Old felt tunics are in the washing machine, as are two new lengths of fabric. When I went to get the old tunics from the scout room, I found a bunch of red felt, Robin Hood type hats that tie under the chin. Weird, but maybe they will work for one of the kids (perhaps if they were five years old).

Right now I am waiting for my iron to heat up, so I can iron a ton of fabric. Then, when the dryer stops, I get to iron even more.

Fun.

One more post today...

Finished the cartridge pleating on my new red pirate skirt!!!! Just have to sew a french seam to close up the back, and it is finished. I added black bias tape to the hem, to give it some character. Beings how I have a ton of thinner black bias tape, if I have time, I am going to add another line of trim an inch above the hem, to give it more interest.

The Iowa Renaissance Faire is in three weeks, and I have soooooo much to do before then.

Oh, and I found paper parasols at Hobby Lobby for $3.49 each! I spent $8 on mine at the Nebraska Faire last year (it was a LIFE SAVER!!!). I am worried about breaking my good parasol. I thought my good one was larger, but they are the same size, and are in fact, nearly identical in every way. The only problem is that the ones I just bought are very bright colors: hot pink, and the other is bright blue with flowers on it.

Needless to say, I also bought paint last night, so that I can try to tone down the colors...

Okay, time to get some sleep for a change!

Took a quick break...

And headed over to the costuming forum in order to read the latest messages. Found this little gem of a juxtiposition:


Not something you see everyday...

Okay, they're done.

Just have to print and send. Ended up owing the state under $50, so that's good.

And let me just rant about the damn state pdf doc - this is 2007 for cryin' out loud! Make the damn PDF SAVEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Why can't you save your entries on the fracking form? The federal form lets me save. Why not the state? I do believe I get pissed off at this every year. Since 2004, in fact.

Okay, it's over. I'll get on to the fifty-seven other things I could have done with the last two hours...

I hate figuring out taxes (repeat as desired)

I know. I am late getting started. However, since I am not self-employed, do not freelance, and have standard deductions, this isn't a complicated thing.

Except that math is hard.

Okay, anyone who knew me in high school is going to laugh, and ask if I am joking. I used to be a somewhat smart person. I got "A"s. Honor Society. Honor Roll all eight semesters in high school. Good math grades.

Okay, you can laugh.

The problem is that with so many other things I have learned in the 16+ years I've been out of high school, advanced math got relegated to the dusty corners of my mind where the remnants of the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" stanzas hang out, never to be recalled unless drunk. I am one of the only people I know who can do advanced calculus while drunk, but not sober. No clue. And since I rarely drink, I go blank whenever confronted with tax forms.

I am not good at this. Granted, the federal tax form is now neatly filled out, waiting to be printed and sent along. The state taxes have yet to be tackled, and are usually somewhat more complicated. I should just pay someone to do them for me. In fact, next year, that is exactly what I am going to do. I don't want to sit in front of a computer working on my own taxes. I used to pay someone all of the time to do my taxes. I can't even remember why I stopped.

Oh well, they aren't going to get done unless I get back to work.

Gad, I hope I don't have to pay state taxes (getting a small refund from the feds...).

Pouring. Then Snowing.

It is raining heavily right now. I just got back from a meeting, which was fun for a change, and it is pouring.

Later tonight, the rain is going to change into snow, and dump 3-5 inches of the crappy white stuff onto our lovely green grass, budding trees, and flowers.

Welcome to Iowa.

There really isn't anything we can do except deal with it.

Right now, i am going to go deal with it by having a bowl of soup for supper, since my earlier snack barely qualified. And the fact that the Safe Swim and Safety Afloat guy kept mentioning sandwiches did not help matters any... ;)

More, and more, and more...

Everytime I finish one thing, I find four more things that need to be done. I am hanging on here by keeping notes, and scheduling every minute of the day.

I just finished ironing the green homespun fabric for the third costume. Costume two was finished in just under three hours on Saturday. I am going to try to get this costume cut out tonight yet. I won't be able to sew on it until tomorrow at lunch, but at least it will be ready to go.

Every night this week is pretty booked. I am struggling with finding time to relax.

So much to do, so little time...

I don't know how she does it.

I babysat for my nephew tonight. I haven't watched him by myself in ages, so I was a little nervous. We had a blast, but wow, can that kid move!

I feel like I have spent the entire evening working out. I gave up on trying to get him to go to bed in his new room, and let him sit with me in the big chair until we both fell asleep. I had to tell him that we had to be quiet so that my son could go to sleep. You all know my son was pretending, right??? :)

Finally, around 9:15, I woke up a bit, and noticed that he was sleeping. I took him to his room, tucked him in, and went back to the living room where I nearly fell asleep again.

It was a cold drive home, and we have a cold day ahead of us. I got out my wool pant suit to wear to church on Sunday, and I'm kicking myself for not buying the cute shoes that I saw at Target today. I should go back tomorrow and get them, but I just really do not have time.

Okay, time to get some stuff done, then get to bed so I can get up early, early, early in the morning...

I can say "yes" to way too many of these...

You know you're a true rennie when...

Yeah.

Add explosion of garb making fabric, and garb overflowing the closet, and you have me. But, my only sharp pointy thing is my sissor dagger.

And having a ren faire shopping list that includes a dagger and bracers for your twelve-year old, because he needs them in the fall.

And the drinking songs. And why did he know most of the verses of All for me Grog???

Ow, my back!

Just finished redrafting a pattern to make a variation on the LOTR Simplicity pattern that I have used for three of my son's tabards, including the King Arthur one. It is so easy to make. I redrafted the pattern to be about five inches shorter, and to not have the riding slits in the front and back.

Lots accomplished tonight...

One down, four-six to go...

I finished the blue jerkin, finally. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I ended up using olive green bias tape on the edges, and it looks pretty good. I will have to do something different to the other one of these that we are making. Like maybe not making it using this pattern.

Yes, this was pretty simple to make. I'll have to see it on the person who's going to wear it before deciding if it was successful.

This means I have at least four more costumes, possibly six to go. It all depends on who is going to the later faire. We can reuse costumes if we have fewer scouts going to the later faire. Won't know for a bit yet.

Okay, time to take a small break, get over my hiccups and heartburn (again), and then get to work on some hand sewing. I actually should either be tracing off more patterns, or ironing fabric. My time tomorrow will be extremely limited. Saturday is a costume work-day at the meeting room. Yay for help! But I wanted to get more done than I have done right now.

Which means that I guess I'll be tracing tonight instead of working on my own skirt...

What in the HELL is THIS????

McCall's, someone has to be on drugs to think that THIS is anything remotely a.) Renaissance, or b.) attractive.

Ug. Don't buy this one. Seriously. Please do not inflict this on anyone at faire. There are soooo many more good patterns out there.

Update: I went back and looked at this, and realized that I think they may be trying to go for something like what the servant guy in Ever After was wearing. Except the insert triangle thingy would need to be a separate garment, and it would not be quite so ugly. What the heck is that green thing? The collar is... ugh. I don't want to sound like a snark, because I am not. I am perfectly fine with people dressing up for faire, but this would not be attractive on any one. I can't believe McCalls would get rid of perfectly good patterns and replace them with this monstrosity. End rant. Never want to look at this pattern again.

Knowing when to stop is the hardest part...

of sewing.

I managed to get the blue jerkin cut out tonight. As I was cutting out the pieces, I thought it looked a little big for being a large. I double-checked, and it is in fact a large. I sewed together the shoulder and side seams using french seams (where the cut edge is enclosed). I sewed together the sleeve caps and lining, and then attached one sleeve cap to the shoulder.

To the wrong side of the shoulder. As in, the seam allowance is on the outside of the shoulder, rather than on the inside where it belongs.

At least once a project, if I am machine sewing in the evening, I will hit a point where logic flies out the window, and I don't double-check before proceeding. So, I get to rip off this sleeve cap.

And this jerkin is huge. Really way bigger than it should be, and probably too big for the person who is supposed to wear it. Since we are supposed to be making another one of these, I am probably going to have to trace off the small size pattern instead of the medium.

In other news, horrific heartburn tonight, despite hardly eating much dinner. And I ate bland food for dinner. Sucks.

Not what I need right now...

migraine.

Costume Progress Report #1

I am madly trying to finish the red skirt to my pirate garb, so I can focus on getting the other costumes finished. Last night, I finished sewing together the pleating strips, and ironed the three yards of red fabric. By that time, it was 10pm, and I had to quit using the machine for the night. Tonight, I sewed the pleating strip to one selvedge (the one that was oddly frayed), and sewed black bias tape to the other, for the hem. I sat and hand stitched the two pleating threads, taking half-inch stitches using the gingham for a guide. When I gathered up the stitches, I remembered exactly why I normally use four yards of fabric instead of three... Let's just say there will be some creative adjustment to fit the waistband. That's okay though, as this does not have to fit over a farthingale.

I also have this yellow brocade tablecloth that I was contemplating using to make an overskirt. Not sure if I really want to do that, though, as it is pretty heavy.

The next thing on my list for tonight, is to finish tracing out patterns, and get a couple of lengths of fabric ironed, and ready to be cut. I bought a folding drying rack at Wal-mart tonight, with the idea that I will drape the ironed fabric over the rungs in order to keep the fabric from getting wrinkled. Hopefully it will work well. I just really am running out of space to put things, though...

Reward for all that walking...

We're back!

Great campout, lots of excitement and adventure, lots of rain... :)

Too much to talk about now, but here are a couple of highlights.

1. Setting out on an hour long hike, and getting back 4 hours later. Whoops. But it wasn't my fault, Troy. It wasn't anyone's fault. :)

2. Having to leave our campsite. This will require some explanation.

3. Ending up spending Saturday night in the Scout room, watching movies, and eating way too much food. Slept like a rock, can't move much now.

Okay, I am waiting for my turn to use the bathtub. Very tired....

Nothing like the smell of fresh laundry...

and good news to make a girl in a good mood. :) I'm saving the good news until the end. ;)

I just finished washing, drying, folding, and putting away five loads of laundry. This included three of the four five fabric lengths that needed to be washed (i forgot one, which could have been washed with the darks. Darn.).

In the course of my closet purge of Tuesday night, i found a whole basket of clothing that I must have sorted, discovered I didn't have enough of anything to do a full load, then stowed in the closet for some reason, where they were covered by a stack of blankets that didn't get used this winter. In this basket I found two pairs of jeans I had forgotten about, along with a couple of other items that I had missed. Almost like Christmas!

Anyway, on to the good news...

Or maybe I should wait, because I don't know if this certain family member has talked with everyone she wanted to talk to, yet...

Okay, if you are family, and are reading this, and haven't talked to Nan yet, stop right there, and don't read any further because

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She and her husband are expecting a new baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I blabbed, but i couldn't HELP it. Too happy! Babies!!!!!

Hey, at least I got something done tonight.

I managed to find the fabric for four of the costumes I need to make. I found solid homespun in blue and green, a red broadcloth, and a tan cotton. Next step is to get this stuff washed, dried, and ironed, then cut out, and ready to go.

Did I do anything else besides snarf down two Cadbury Caramel eggs????

Nope.

Does anyone else hate those stupid Vista ads?

You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones on Yahoo!, for starters. The actual ad is somewhere else on the page, but at the right of the page, directly over the story you want to read, a stupid translucent ad for Windows Vista plays, and closing it doesn't always work right.

I don't want to have to click to close an ad that is OVER THE STORY I WANT TO READ. I just want to read the damn article.

If there have to be ads, don't cover up the main topic of the page. Be out of the way. Don't interfere with the information, or I am going to go elsewhere.

What do you think about this new trend in ads?

Time is slipping away...

The faire in Amana is just five weeks away. So far, the only progress I have made is to trace off the two sizes I need in one pattern, and locate a new copy of another. I also found out that I can buy rolls of tracing paper from our departmental art store.

Have I so much as cut out one of the costumes yet? Nope. Haven't had time. I am going to go to Wal-mart tonight and dig around on the $1/yard table to see if I can find ANYTHING that would work. I need to stop my own projects, except for the red skirt I need to go with my pirate costume, and my cloak.

I just need to get motivated. I meant to work on this stuff last night, but instead, I did laundry and cleaned out my closet. :)

And now, i am going to rest for a bit, as I am wiped out from work again today.

The Scream heard 'round the world.

Not going to give away any spoilers for BSG tonight.

Except this: the next season will not start until 2008.

2008.

I don't think I can take it. Especially not with the cliff-hanger tonight.

Okay, so this wasn't on my list, but should have been.

Worked for over an hour on my character sketch for Lady Rosalind Woodville, Dowager Viscountess Hereford, widow of Robert Woodville, Viscount Hereford, Baron of Gillesland and Greystoke.

Wrote too much, but had to get it all down so I could remember. I'll work on improving this character over the next few months.

Started braiding the silk strips for the trim on my new silk sleeves and forepart. Not quite sure if it will work as I want it too. The cut edges are fraying quite a bit, and it's making it more difficult. Some test strips are in order...

Okay, back to work!

How to tell when you are really tired...

I managed to keep my eyes open until a little after 10:30 last night. When I went to bed, I set the alarm for a luxurious 8:00 am.

When the alarm went off this morning, I turned it off, stretched, rolled over, and went back to sleep. "Just a couple minutes..."

I woke up at 9:33.

It is so nice out today that I can't believe I just wasted an extra hour and a half asleep. I must have needed it, though.

In any case, here is the list for this Sunday:

1. Unload dishwasher, and load the rest of the dishes from last night.
2. Clean kitchen.
3. Have my son take out the garbage.
4. Eat breakfast.
5. Pick up living room.
6. Dust.
7. Vacuum.
8. Make my son clean up his room.
9. Work on making the test braid for trim on a new set of sleeves and forepart (rust colored duponi silk - ravels too much, and I may have to recalculate the original width of the 3 yard strips. I made them too narrow to turn inside out. I am still using the strips, just to see how well the braid turns out, and how hard it will be to braid something that long. These braided stips will create a diamond shaped lattice, with pearls or other beads at the joints. It should turn out really pretty.
10. Finish tracing off pattern pieces for the other 3 costumes I have to make (2 are already traced and just about ready to go, besides drafting out darts. Darts just do not look right on these costumes).
11. I was thinking of making pot roast for supper. It's a huge mess, though. But it is soooo good. I nearly have my recipe perfected. Of course, it ended up being so warm out, that I may just freeze the roast and save it for another time...

So, that's the plan for the day. I am going to go work on #4.

Surprise!

My son called at about 6:15pm, to let me know that they were back from Carroll, and to let me know one other piece of information:

They advanced to the State Competition!!!!!!!!

Now, last year, they finished dead last out of every team in the improv category.

This year, out of the five Car-DI-ology teams, they finished... last.

The reason they get to advance is that five teams from each category get to advance. There were only five teams in his category.

But that doesn't matter whatsoever, because they now have three weeks to improved their skit and structure, and he is so excited that he ran out of the school, holding up his medal.

I am just as proud of him in last place as I would be if his team had made first place. He's a good sport, and is so happy to be going to State, that I just can't help but be happy along with him. :)

Lost in Translation...

We got to the school at 5:00 am. No one in sight. We waited a few minutes, then went home for a bit, as the bus isn't supposed to leave until 6:15.

We go back to the school at 5:30 am. No one in sight. The kids are supposed to load all of their sets, costumes, and structures, so the bus needs to be there early.

No bus.

At around 5:40, an SUV pulls up and parks. At around 5:50, three minivans pull up. At around 6:00 am, my son's DI teacher arrives. A pile of girls spill from the vans and SUV, excited, there are more kids than vehicles, so I am guessing a bunch of them stayed overnight together. My son was glad to see another boy from his group, and they walked together towards the group of girls rather bravely. I left as the teacher was letting the group into the school, so that they could start gathering their props.

There are about five kids in each group, with about 6-8 groups, including the high school group, if I remember correctly. My son is doing Car-DI-ology, which involves building a card structure that can hold 300 pounds, and developing a skit, complete with sets and costumes.

Okay, going back to bed now. I have a long morning ahead of me, and I've been up for about two hours now.

And I am more than a little ticked off that we never received anything in writing about exactly what time the kids were supposed to be at the school. I could have slept another 45 minutes...

Oh, the humanity!

My son needs to be to school by shortly after 5:00 am tomorrow. He was at school until 7:00 pm tonight, working on his Destination Imagination project with his group. After I picked him up from school, we raced to Great Clips, as his hair is wildly out of control. An hour later, we raced to HyVee, to get snacks for the 90 minute bus trip.

I have pizza dough rising right now, and a load of jeans in the wash. Luckily, the brown shirt that he needs to wear tomorrow is already in his closet.

You may ask why in the world all of this wasn't done before tonight. I can honestly tell you that ALL of it was supposed to have been done LAST NIGHT, but due to having to unexpectedly work really late, there just wasn't enough time. And this kid has only three pairs of jeans right now, because I can't find the fourth pair, so today just ended up being the day I needed to wash jeans. That fourth pair is probably stuck under something in his closet, because that's how he cleans his room.

My lunch hour was spent going to Target to get DVD-Rs to back up my work machine. I am a firm believer in back-ups. I ended up having to leave one of the DVD-Rs burning as I left, because I only have a 1x burner in my machine. Better than nothing. This is in addition to the copy I keep on my firewire drive.

Okay, clothes are in the dryer, and the pizza is in the oven. I have to fix my son's backpack now (zipper isn't working right).

Wish I could go to sleep right now...

Stressful day

Don't want to go into things in detail, but let's just say this is one of the most stressful days I have had in a long time.

See this coldsore here? The one on my upper lip on the left? Started this afternoon.

I'm gonna have a margerita, and I'm going to sit and read, and then go to bed early. Only good dreams tonight, please.

Highly Intellectual Reading Material

The April Cosmo:

"99 food* Facts you've never heard before" Hmm... so what about the other 11 times a year they cover this topic? You mean, they were holding out on us? Someone needs to compile a book of everything Cosmo has ever written about food, in chronological order. It would be twelve volumes long, and would take years to read. Bestseller material.

"What he does when you're not around" ooookkkaaayyyy

"Guys spill their Dirty, Dumb-Ass Blunders. You'll die laughing." I'm sure I will. Right after I finish reading that first story about food.

"Blow his mind. The Awesome new food Prop — and Guess what? It's in your Purse" Trust me, folks, it's tamer than it sounds. It's a menthol mint. Sorry for the spoiler.

And finally, scarily:

"5 Warning Signs a Stranger's about to become Violent" Okay, talk about awkward placement of an article title.

Sometimes, I think the $4.50 spent on this magazine is the most important investment I make to maintain my sanity in an otherwise chaotic world. Thank you, cosmo!

* Replace food with S.E.X. Funny, isn't that what a lot of us do anyway?

Not much to say today.

Or yesterday, for that matter.

I have a lot of stuff to do, and not a lot of time to do it. In between tasks, I am focusing on relaxing, doing things I enjoy, and resting. Last week took a lot out of me, physically and mentally. Saturday night was fun, but as I told my dad, Sunday I felt like I had ended Saturday by drinking my way across Des Moines instead of going home and drinking a Diet Pepsi (plans for a margerita were thwarted by common sense).

In any case, if I am a little quiet for the next couple of days, it is because I am reading a book, playing Animal Crossing 2, or tracing off pattern sizes for at least five costumes.

But then again, sometimes when I am busiest, I post more frequently.

Telethony goodness...

1000th post!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday evening, in costume, I drove from Ames to Des Moines, to the Iowa Public Television Studio, to participate in the Festivals telethon. A group from the Des Moines Renaissance Faire had volunteered to answer phones and take pledges from 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm. Another group, whose name I have forgotten, had also volunteered, so we had a mix of people in Renaissance Faire costumes and in regular clothing.

When we walked in, we signed in, and put on our name tags (one for our front, and one for our back). Then, we went around a corner and were in the studio, which resembled an auditorium with seats and a stage. This was the first time I had been in a TV studio, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

At the back of the studio, they had a table with lots of food set up for the volunteers. They had a couple of different types of pasta, sandwiches, and a shake machine (a huge hit - mmm...). We had a pretty big group of people from DMRF, and it was great to see everyone again. Some people I hadn't seen since September.

A few minutes before we were to take over, we had a brief training session to explain how to fill out the pledge cards, and what to say on the phone. In too short of time, we were moving up to the stage to take our places before the next pledge break. The night's programs were all music themed. As we began, a Ralna English concert was starting. It was followed by Lawrence Welk, with in-studio guests Mary Lou Metzger, and Jack Imel. We finished up with Andre Rieu, who rather unfortunately wasn't in the studio (probably a good thing - too distracting).

We all tried to figure out where to sit, and I ended up dead center in the back row, between Troy, and Rick Flatt. I soon found out that I had ended up at phone #1, the phone that rang first when anyone called. Great.

Pretty soon, we were on the air, and it was too late to escape. The announcers and the guests were right in front of me, and within moments of going on the air, my phone was ringing, and I had to answer. I had my pen ready, and a smile on my face, just in case the camera was on me.

"Thank you for calling. May I take your pledge?"

"Hi! We're Souix City Ren-festers! We can't afford to make a pledge, but when we saw you all, we had to call and say 'Hi!'. It's great that you're doing this!"

It took everything I had in me to not burst out laughing. After a couple more words, and a wave at the camera, my first call was over. A long line of puzzled faces turned to me, and I quietly relayed what had happened. We had a good laugh over that later, once everyone heard the message.

My next call was real, and I spent quite a long time on call after call. Rick wasn't getting any calls at all, so the rest of us put our phones in the off position, and he finally got one. Phone #1 was very busy, and it was quite awhile before I could get a break and get some water. It was hot with the lights on.

When the Lawrence Welk segment was winding down, Mary Lou sang, and I was more than a little disappointed that my phone rang right as she was beginning, and I missed it. she has a beautiful voice. After she was done, the pledge break was over, and I put my phone on hold in order to go get something to drink and eat. The announcers had out their cameras, and posed with Mary Lou and Jack. I was standing off to the side with Wes, waiting for them to finish, when the guy taking the picture waved us over to stand on either side of the group. I wish I could get a copy of that. We watched Lawrence Welk quite a bit when I was a little girl.

After that, we had a break for a bit, and I decided that I just could not sit at phone #1 again. I was exhausted and getting dehydrated (I missed the first break we had, because I was still answering the phone). When we went back, I sat to the left of the row for the rest of the night. Alan, aka Captain JP Boyd, sat by me for some of the time, and every time the camera was at our side, if he wasn't on the phone, he was being funny in the camera.

The rest of the evening went well. I didn't have a single mean caller, and I enjoyed talking with the people who were calling. I had quite a few people ask which one I was, so I would tell them, and give them a little wave if the camera was on me. One of our cast members had someone ask if she was the one in the funny hat. We were all in hats that could be considered funny, so she just told him what she was wearing.

Eventually, Andre Rieu had finished his concert, and we had our final pledge break. As we said goodbye, it was nice knowing that I will see some of these folks next Saturday, and some in early May. What a fun evening!

Home. Tired. Very Tired.

I'll save my stories for tomorrow, as I am running on shear adrenaline and that feeling that you get when you haven't eaten enough due to wearing a corset for eight and a half hours.

I was serious, Troy, when I said i was going to eaten a huge amount of Doritos and salsa when I got home. Too tired for the margeritas, but HUGE amounts of Doritos. Huge.

I'll post pics and stories tomorrow!

I was on TV a LOT!

Two things you don't want to find out 20 minutes before you have to leave

1. Dried mud still on part of my forepart hem. No idea how I overlooked it.

2. My laundry brush is missing. Not where it is supposed to be.

Old toothbrush seemed to work okay. Hem is now clean and the forepart is hanging in the bathroom to dry.

Good thing is that the hems don't drag too much when I am not wearing a farthingale. ;)

Thrilled.

Woke up this morning, with my schedule in mind, looked out of the window and...

It's. Snowing.

Huge, fluffy flakes. And inch on the ground, and another inch on the way, supposedly. From the looks of the radar image, it seems like a lot more snow could be on the way than just another inch.

This is Iowa's way of letting you know to never let your guard down. After all, we always get kooky weather this week of March. We had 76°F, and gorgeous on Monday, 28°F and snowing by Saturday.

Yuck.

Worked too hard today

We started moving furniture and equipment today at around 8:30am. I was going to wait until 9, but it's a good thing that we started a bit early.

The only time I sat down for longer than 5 minutes, from 8:30 until 5:15, was when I went home for lunch. By 2:00, I could hardly move, but kept on going. From 5:15 until 5:45, I sat and printed time sheets, emailed my student workers, and finished up some things that needed to be done to be able to open the labs on Sunday.

After work, I made pancakes for supper. At 6:30, I told my son that I was going to take a nap before getting back to work on the laundry and any last minute costume details.

I woke up at 11:15 pm. Not good. I had things I wanted to do tonight, so that I didn't have to rush around tomorrow morning.

After i woke up, I sat down and made a list of things I need to do tomorrow, and a rough schedule of when they have to be done, and when I need to leave and get back from everything I need to do tomorrow. This list involves a lot of driving - three hours to Manson and back, and then to Des Moines and back. I think I am going to leave the farthingale at home. To hard to drive in. ;)

The only good thing is that the scale tonight says I lost the three pounds I wanted to lose. We'll see what it says tomorrow morning...

Putting my insomnia to good use

I managed to get all of the trim sewn to the red bodice tonight. I started at around 9 pm, and worked pretty steadily. I added the bodice jewelry, but I still need to replace the "S" hook on one end of the pearl strand, so I can attach it to the center pearl cluster. Tomorrow night, I need to sew the sleeves to the bodice (decided not to mess with rings until later), and make sure everything is set and ready to go for Saturday.

Last night, I tossed and turned most of the night, then ended up oversleeping by about 20 minutes this morning. This is not the first time this happened this week. But, tonight, I should be good and tired enough to sleep. It's been a long day.

Sad news

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say in this post, but the words just aren't there right now. So, I'll quote this bit from JP, over at AtTheFaire.com:

8:07 PM - Loss of a friend, Brad Nelson ("King Oberon"). (posted by JohnPaul )
It is with great sadness that I have to post another sad news item. Apparently, our friend Brad Nelson passed away last Tuesday from Asthma complications. Brad was known in and around Iowa as "King Oberon," the faery king, along with his family. A photo of him is on the opening page of this site, and you may have seen him last year at the Des Moines Renaissance Faire:

Brad and Tina

...or playing the Tin Woodsman at the Pumpkin Festival, or even as Father Christmas at the Clear Lake Iowa Victorian event. If you've been to any of these events, you'll no doubt know who I speak of.

Things just won't be quite the same.

Here's the best photo that I have of Brad.


Here's a health to the company and one to my lass
Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass
Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
For we may and might never all meet here again

Progress, of a sort

I've had a hard time getting started on sewing the trim to my red bodice. I have everything cut and prepared, but the only work done so far has been to sew four strips of trim into two strips that will run down either side of the front opening.

Considering the fact that the telethon is Saturday night, and I need this costume ready to wear, it was time to get to work. So, I sat down at around 9:30, after South Park, and started.

I had forgotten how hard it would be to sew the trim near the opening edge, due to the presence of two pieces of steel on each edge. I need a curved needle to make this easier, but since the only one I have is for upholstry, I am going to have to make do with my straight needles. Patience is the key.

I'm done for tonight, though. Too tired, and I don't want to make a mistake I'll have to rip out later.

Little Miss Popularity

Dieting did not go well today, for several reasons. Big on the list was not being able to sleep last night until around 2am.

I got nothing at all done tonight, due to a meeting I had to go to. I got home late from work, because I had an errand to run. I made a quick Weight Watchers frozen dinner for each of us, and we had pineapple and carrots, and garlic toast (light bread, butter spray, very few calories).

Lunch had to be eaten out, due to no time to get home to make something.

Tomorrow will be better!

After the snow, ice, and rain...

you have flooding. We're supposed to be at 16 inches above flood stage by tomorrow morning, on the South Skunk River. The news site is maddeningly vague about where the flooding is going to be, but the county to our north is also under a flood warning, and that water will have to go somewhere.

We hit 66°F today! Yippee!!! The end of this long, strange winter is nearly here. I won't really feel like winter is over until May 1st, but spring is very welcome this year.

BSG - kick some Cylon a$$ already!

Not a spoiler, really, but I was again mighty disappointed to not encounter the cylons tonight. It's bad enough that they "killed" off Kara last week (we all know she's coming back), but there are only a couple of episodes left in the season!

Very disappointed...

Although, there were interesting things happening, and I was rivited by watching the further erosion of Baltar. Interesting, but they aren't spending anything like enough time on him and Caprica Six.


It just feels like they are rushing through all of these stories that are setting up things that are going to happen, but we're never actually getting to what's going to happen.

I hope the Cylons show up during the trial.

Diet - Day One

Breakfast: peaches

Lunch: cheese pizza. homemade. Okay, not off to a good start.

Snack: 100 calorie pack of cookies

Dinner: salad with dressing and a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese. Baby carrots. Green beans.

Still hungry. Shouldn't have had that pizza.

Every meal is salad, from now until Saturday.

I needed to figure out where to have the trim end along the top edge of my red bodice.

So, I put on my new smock, hooked myself into my corset (little tight), and put on my bodice.

Yes, it hooked. It was a little tighter than it was back in September, but then I always gain weight in the winter, and lose it in the spring.

After about 5 minutes, I couldn't stand it, and had to take it off. Maybe it had something to do with the amount of pizza I had for supper (way too much), or the fact that I have been so down lately that I haven't really given any thought to what I have eaten (I've looked at the calories and sodium and eaten it anyway). Just a bit too tight around the tummy, and that was enough to make me feel faint.

Anyway, the point is that I have to drop a couple of pounds this week in order to be more comfortable in my costume on Saturday. I figure cutting the sodium will help shed water weight. I'll keep eating bananas, salad, and grilled chicken, but no bread, no pickles, no cheese, nothing processed, salty, or fatty, or anything with tomatoes in it (tomatoes do bad things to my skin). If I can drop even a couple of pounds, it will make a big difference. I don't want to lose a lot of weight, just enough to be able to breathe. :)

After this week, I'm going to be so busy that I'll lose weight anyway. Always do at this time of the year. It gets nicer outside, and I stop putting comfort food on the menu. I just am starting a bit earlier this year than normal.

Accomplished

Finished my high-necked smock! Completely done, very pretty, and ready to go. Now I just have the trim to sew on my red bodice and I'll be ready for next Saturday.

Gorgeous!

Beautiful blue skies! Warmest it's been in sooooo long.

Had a great time out shopping today! I finally, finally, finally found the perfect fabric for a new gown: black cotton velvet!!! I am sooooo excited!!!!! It was normally $10.49/yard, but I had a 40% off coupon, and a gift card. I wasn't going to use black, but the only other color they had in the cotton was marroon or bright red (I prefer the red I used in my last gown, can't stand the reds they had). And, the more I thought of it, the more the idea of using the black grew on me.

I bought 8 yards of it, and am going to make a gown with a doublet-style bodice. I am going to use the rust colored douponi silk fabric that I found last fall for a set of sleeves and a forepart. In addition, I can also wear all of my other sets of sleeves and foreparts with it, too. I am going to stick with black braid trims, and just layer the trims like crazy to get a lot of texture. For the sleeves, I am going to braid long strips of the douponi, and have the strips be trim on the sleeves.

okay, gotta go get out my sketchbook - don't want to lose these ideas! I only hope I have enough of the douponi... it was orgininally a set of curtains I found on clearance at Walmart, so I can't get any more of it than what I already have.

I'm so excited that I was laughing on the way out to the car!

Fun day planned now that i thought about it...

This may not seem fun to you, but it will be for me!

Visions of sewing projects dance in my head...

1. Go to JoAnn Fabrics and (hopefully) buy something very nice for a new dress, with my 40% off coupon, and my Christmas Gift Card. If the JoAnn's in town doesn't have anything I want, it's off to Des Moines! I won't be able to start this project for a long time, but winter fabrics will be on sale, and the heavier stuff makes for richer looking garb.

2. While at JoAnn, take advantage of the fact that Simplicity Patterns are on sale, and get two more copies of 4942 (the Lord of the Rings - mens), and two copies of 4059 (don't have yet, very nice. also men's pattern). Look for inexpensive fabric to make at least one tunic, and one vest, for samples. Try the Dollar/yard table at Wal-mart if nothing at JoAnn.

3. Need 3-4 yards of red quilters cotton to replace my pirate skirt.

4. Go to both Goodwill and the Salvation Army Store to look for a heavy, large "gold" locket for Lady Rosalind

5. Write up my character description/story and send it to Queen Catherine.

6. Hem my new high-necked smock, with the sleeves on the correct sides (finished last night), and add the ribbon ties to the neck and cuffs.

7. Tack the trim down on my red bodice, and hand sew it into place. Make another couple of pearl quadrilles for the bodice. Figure out if I want to carry the same decoration to the skirt trim, or just use broaches as I did last year (the facing was only tacked down last year, due to lack of time, and the stiches kept tearing out, the broaches held it in place, and looked very pretty to boot).

8. Library - get movies and books. I like to watch movies when I sew, especially hand sewing.

Okay, I'd better get going. I have things around the house to get done before I can go and have fun!

Sorry for the boring posts lately

Hey, what can I say... I am a boring person.

Actually, I am not always a boring person. I just haven't had much excitement in my life recently. Haven't done anything fun for a really long time.

This weekend is going to be really busy, as far as sewing, cleaning house, etc. I am also going to get the wireless router working with the Wii, maybe. Ooo...

Anyway, I swear things will get less boring in the future. Lots of costuming stuff in the works, events, etc.

And if my life doesn't get more interesting, I'll start making stuff up. ;)

What in the heck is this thing made of?????

We had to move some furniture at work today, due to some construction that is happening. We had moved quite a bit of stuff out of the back room, but there was this fairly large table that needed to be moved to one of the labs (only place that had room for it).

So, the person who was helping me grabbed one end, and I grabbed the other. I lifted with my legs instead of my back, except I couldn't straighten my legs. Damn thing was too heavy!. I'm just barely pushing my end, can't even come close to lifting it, until we got it to the hall, and realized that we would have to tip it on its side to get it through the door to the lab. At that point, I realized we needed more help, as there was no way I'd be able to help guide the table to its side, or lift it to tip it into place. TG another coworker was around. I let the guys carry it down the hall, and helped guide it to the right place in the lab. It did take all three of us to tilt it upright again.

The table top was more than two inches thick, and appeared to be some kind of pressed wood, and masonite on top. Heaviest table I've ever seen.

Considering that I throw haul around heavy boxes of paper on a regular basis, not to mention carrying laser cutter materials (who knew 10 sheets of 1/8th in. acrylic could be so heavy), and my stubborn determination to never make two trips to carry the groceries inside the apartment, and up a flight of stairs, the fact that I couldn't even budge this table should give you an indication of how heavy it is.

And just think, eventually we are going to have to move it again.

Mailbox Goodies

After work, I checked the mailbox, and my CDs from my son's fundraiser arrived!!!!

I bought two, and am listening to U2's greatest hits from 1980-1990. Already found a song I had forgotten about!

I also bought Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Going to have a great evening once I get these loaded onto the iPod Shuffle...

Trying hard to keep a positive outlook.

Sometimes, I feel like that is all I can do.

This must be the panic setting in as I quickly approach the twin milestones of having a teenager, and turning thirty-five.

I had a list, but deleted it. Too depressing.

Obsessively. Relentlessly.

Another long day that isn't over yet...

Last night, due to a meeting running late...

I missed Battelstar Galactica!!!!!

They need to move it back to Friday nights.

Whadda ya know?

That box spring did fit down the basement steps...

I am so tired that I don't even want to qualify that remark, other than to say we accomplished nearly everything that we wanted to accomplish.

Nap time.

Another bright and sunny day

Second day of clear skies. If it weren't so cold out, it'd be gorgeous.

Lots of stuff to do!

How to improve an already good Saturday?

Chocolate cake, baking in the oven right now.

I bought this cake mix last Friday evening, with the thought that I would bake it then. That way, if the electricity went out, we could at least have cake with our peanut butter sandwiches. Of course, I didn't get around to baking it, because I was busy doing other things in case the electricity went out.

So today, after throwing a load of clothes in the dryer, I decided to make this cake. I am eagerly awaiting this cake, as it has been months since I have had chocolate cake. We had angel food cake a couple of weeks ago, but no chocolate cake.

Perfect Saturday afternoon... smell of chocolate cake in the air...

Busy morning

I did indeed wake up at 8:00 this morning, as planned. Of course, I fell asleep much, much earlier than planned.

This morning's list of things accomplished:

1. Breakfast - waffles!
2. Clean kitchen
3. Take magic Eraser to countertops (I have very light gray counters that discolor every time anything scapes across it the wrong way - pans, aluminum foil, dishes, paper... okay, kidding about the last)
4. Vacuum
5. Move living room around - felt too claustrophic. It was adding to my anxiety. Seriously. And I don't need any more anxiety in my life.
6. Dust.
7. Collapse into a quivering heap of aching muscles.
8. Move the green chair back to where I had it last, because it ended up looking nicer there.
9. Blog.

This afternoon's exciting event: Laundry.

Right now, it's time for a break.

Ripping out thousands of tiny stitches

It took about 45 minutes to rip out all of the stitches to remove the sleeves and side seams of my smock. I was very careful to mark what should be the right sleeve, and the right side of the smock, so that I don't make the same mistake twice.

And that is how I am ending my work day.

This week was incredibly stressful and chaotic. Between the weather, and events going on at work, I have never been so busy, and yet felt like I accomplished so little.

Every night, I have come home from work barely able to move. I have been up and down so many stairs, walked so many places, and moved lots of heavy stuff. Constantly aching legs and back.

For the rest of tonight, I am going to concentrate on things I enjoy. I am going to sew trim together. I am going to work on more pearl quadrilles for my bodice. I am going to watch funny movies. And as soon as 10 pm hits, I am going to sleep for a luxurious 10 hours. When I wake up, I'm making waffles for breakfast. I may even have ice cream with caramel on top of the waffles instead of syrup.

Sometimes the most simple things in life are the most appreciated.

I am getting so old...

I fell asleep on the couch at a little after 8:00 pm. It was such a stressful and busy day today that I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I wouldn't be awake right now, except for the fact that I needed to check to see if my son's school is cancelled tomorrow (yes). I got up to check the kcci site, as I kept dozing off while trying to watch the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen. There are about 255 cancellations for tonight and tomorrow, so you can imagine how long it takes to get through them all.

Very sleepy... I'm going to go back to bed...

Once again, staring out my window...

and having my whole post disappear!!!!!!

Dang it!!!!!

Okay - lots of snow, 7 to 12 more inches on the way, it sucks, and I wish i didn't have to go anywhere tomorrow.