Exhausted

Too much going on, too little time. Sewing tip #31: When you nearly sew your finger to the cuff of a shirt, it's time to quit for the night....

Did you ever have a week where you feel you can't do anything right?

Work is a series of baby steps, missteps, and back-tracking. Well, mistakes can be learning opportunities, but it's frustrating when you want to do something new, and do it well, and then stumble over things that you saw but didn't recognize as being wrong, since you are used to dealing with a different operating system. And yes, I made sure to take as many notes as possible, so I can do it right the next time. And yes, I had unrealistic expectations that I would do this very well the very first time.

It doesn't help that I am not at work this morning. I have a billion things to do at work, and was already worried about not getting done in time for classes on Monday. However, I am waiting for my mom to pick me up for yet another damn doctor's appointment.

You see, earlier this summer, when I had the TIA, I went through a bunch of tests. All of these tests came back finding nothing wrong with my heart, brain, neck, etc.

I had a routine physical at the beginning of this month. The blood tests came back with one slight elevation in one of the liver tests. I had my blood retested last week. Monday evening, when I got home from a particularly busy day at work, there was a phone message from my doctor's office, to call them back.

When I called back, the nurse told me that the same liver test had elevated levels again. So, in a few minutes, I leave to go get an ultrasound of my liver.

Oh, so much fun.

Everyone so far has told me to not worry about it. I'm just sick of dealing with medical crap, and I have way too much to do to get ready for the new semester. I hope whatever it is can be taken care of by medication or diet, rather than surgery. If it is surgery, I hope it can be scheduled AFTER THE FAIRE (which would also be after the main rush at work has died down). It's not an option to be gone from work for any length of time right now. I feel like I would be letting everyone down. I already feel massive guilt for being gone this morning, but what with not being able to drink or eat anything at all this morning, I just couldn't face going in for a couple of hours before this appointment.

Anyway, I feel like crap right now, because I am hungry, thirsty, and stressed. I just hope I feel better after this ultrasound thing.

I feel like an idiot and a hypochondriac...

Yay, Mediacom!

Sweet working Internet.

Not much more to say tonight. Too busy. But the internet is now working in the apartment.

:D

w00t!

Those of you who are not geeks: I know you won't understand the rest of this post, but just trust me that this is incredibly good.

For those of you who ARE geeks, please join me in a moment of screaming laughter and cheering, as SCO finally LOSES!!!!!!!!!!

Court Rules: Novell owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights! Novell has right to waive!

Friday, August 10 2007 @ 04:52 PM EDT

Hot off the presses: Judge Dale Kimball has issued a 102-page ruling [PDF] on the numerous summary judgment motions in SCO v. Novell. Here is what matters most:
[T]he court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare Copyrights.
That's Aaaaall, Folks! The court also ruled that "SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent". That's the ball game. There are a couple of loose ends, but the big picture is, SCO lost. Oh, and it owes Novell a lot of money from the Microsoft and Sun licenses.

Good-bye, SCO!

Blinky

Too much going on. I was going to post more, but I am nodding off over my keyboard.

Summary of today: too much to do. not enough done at home. My mouth is deformed, thanks to two cold sores on my upper lip, right side. Abreva did nothing, even though I put it on less than an hour after I felt the tingle (it was at home, I was at work). I am miserable.

I'm going to bed.

Ouch.

Sunday, I got a wicked paper cut on the ring finger on my right hand.

So far tonight I have caught my fingernail of my pinky finger on the cut while ironing. And just a bit ago, while removing pins from fabric, I managed to jab a pin into the cut.

Ugh.

Outside = Soup

Yuck.

Not quite so productive today...

My goals for today were pretty lofty, but also, I thought, reachable. Except that I overestimated the amount of time I had to work on sewing today.

Here were my goals:

1. Menu planning for the week - NO FAST FOOD. NO CONVENIENCE FOOD.
2. Grocery Shopping
3. Laundry
4. Forepart #1
5. Spiral paned sleeves to match forepart #1 (18 total pieces, nine pieces per sleeve).
6. Cut out my high-necked smock.
7. Make Sunday Dinner
8. Go to committee meeting.

I managed to get the menu planning and grocery shopping done by 11 this morning. I got a late start, because there was some lightning and possible bad weather in the area last night, around midnight. While waiting for the weather channel to show the local forecast, I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up around 2 am, and went back to bed. I woke up around 8:30, but was lazy until around 9:00. Sunday mornings are lazy times in my house. :)

I can never get my son to tell me what he wants to eat for meals. Seriously. For a kid who likes to eat, he just does not have an opinion until it's either being cooked or already on the table. I have to suggest everything. Maybe that's why I have been avoiding menu planning this summer. I think I'm burned out about food.

I also managed to sew the forepart (waiting for hemming), and the spiral sleeve panes. I am working on hand sewing strands of tiny pearls around the edges of the sleeve panes. It's going to take a long time...

Sunday dinner was french bread pizza. Yeah, very homemade. But, by the time 5:00 rolled around, we were both starving, and not in the mood to wait until 6 to eat.

I also made it to committee meeting.

So, I guess I actually did fairly well. I even made blueberry muffins for breakfast tomorrow!

Now, it's bedtime. Too much to do at work tomorrow to be foggy-brained...

At the end of a long day

Lots of work done today. I am nearly finished with my son's new shirt, and I have the spiral sleeve panes and forepart (and forepart lining) cut out. I was going to try to finish cutting out the sleeve pane linings, but I decided that, after being at this pretty much since I woke up this morning, I deserve a break.

Now, if only I can keep up this pace tomorrow, I can feel better about my chances of being done by August 31...

Never assume anything.

On the 25th, I bought 15 yards of white muslin at 40% off, to make at least one more shirt for my son, and another smock for myself. I bought extra, because I had a coupon, and I can always use white muslin (regular price is only $.99).

Well, apparently, the fact that I bought this muslin before eating lunch, when I was light-headed from hunger, led me to not check the width of the fabric carefully. I am used to muslin being at least 36 inches wide, which is just the right amount of fullness for my son's shirt.

I spent an hour ironing and straightening another length of white muslin that I had forgotten I had, which was purchased at the same time I made my last smock. Waste ot, want not, right? Well, I got out the shirt pattern pieces, and discovered that the shirt body piece is too large for the fabric!!!!!!

That fabric was 34 inches wide! I ran to my room to find the new 15 yards of muslin I bought most recently, and it too was only 34 inches wide. I bought the wrong width for the shirt!!!!

Bugger.

I am still going to use it all. My son's shirt just won't be as full. I am hoping that the shoulders will still be wide enough, and that he can wear this shirt for quite awhile. The fabric will be plenty wide enough for my smock, TG, or I would be screaming in frustration right now. I am not going to go buy more muslin as it would be wasteful.

Okay, back to work now that that is out of my system.

Still Annoyed

Second cable modem is not responding. This means there is most likely a problem with the wiring, and a service call will have to be entered. Not sure what they will have to do in order to get the internet working.

Just not having any luck with that.

Costume progress update:

Got lots of stuff done yesterday evening, due to no internet access. I have just a couple more things to do to the bodice and overskirt, and then they will be done. I have to fix one small portion of the cartridge pleating on the right side of the skirt, then I have to sew the hook and eye to the waistband, and then lose about 5 pounds to make it more comfortable. I also have a bunch of sewing to do on the facing and hem. The trim is sewn to the bottom already (took only about an hour last night). The bodice is done, except for a bit more trim, and pearl embellishments. The big slow-down now is that everything has to be finished by hand.

After this little internet fix (old connection still working for some reason), I am going to get things ready for tomorrow. I have to finish cutting out the spiral sleeves, and the lining for the sleeves and forepart. I also have fabric for a new underskirt, with a gathered waistband, to reduce the bulk at my waist (the green tafetta underskirt has cartridge pleats, very bulky). I found a pretty silver/black irridescent tafetta on sale at Hobby Lobby for $2/yard. I bought all of it that was left on the bolt (9 yards). It normally sells for $4.99/yard. It is nice and stiff, and will make a good underskirt. It's just one more thing on my list of things to do.

The goal for this weekend is to get everything cut out, and get as much sewing done as possible. This is my last free weekend before the faire. I have to make the most of it.

Again, no pictures yet, because my dress form still needs repair. The black gown looks gorgeous, and I am excited to get to the embellishing. Then, on to the next project... :)

A Good Thing that Deserves its Own Post!

Pssst...

Guess what...

I'm getting another niece or nephew in March!!!! So, one in June, one in November, and another in March! Three sisters having little ones within a year!

:)

The Good and the Bad

Bad:

1. Supposed to be switching our apartment building ISP today.
2. Had to move computer to living room in order to be able to use new service.
3. So far, no connectivity via the new service.
4. My dressform shrunk under the load of my new overskirt! When I got home from work, it was several inches shorter than it was when I left this morning. Therefore, no pictures tonight. The sticker with the inch markings on the support column decided to fail, and slipped. Urg.
5. Got no work done on costumes tonight due to having to move the living room around.

Good:

1. Got to play with my nephews and see two of my sisters tonight!
2. Old internet service still works (just tried it on a whim).
3. ...

Hey, but I got to hold my youngest nephew for a nice long time, and see my other nephew and sisters. :)

The "A-ha!" Moment

There is a certain point in costuming, where a half-baked design and hard work, coalesce and one gets a glimpse of what the final gown is going to look like. And it's good.

I finally hit that spot tonight. :)

It wasn't easy, and up until about 15 minutes ago, I was beginning to think I had made a mistake in using black velvet for this gown.

I had a long list of things I needed to do today, both for work and for home. More work than time, and a huge batch of things that need to be done.

I had a slow start tonight, as far as sewing. I should have worked on the hem to my overskirt yesterday, but I spent most of the day indisposed (stomach flu), and therefore only managed to dress my dressform last night.

After work today, we had tons of errands to run, and it was after 6 by the time we got home. I made dinner, and then puttered around until close to seven, when I decided that I had to quit procrastinating and get the hem and trim at least pinned.

I was procrastinating because I didn't really like what I was seeing. Just black, light-sucking velvet, as far as the eye could see. I knew in my mind what I wanted this to look like, and I was disappointed that it hadn't lived up to my vision. So, I forced myself to work on it tonight.

Did you know that the Connect Four game box is exactly two inches high? And that it makes a perfect level for pinning up hems? It took over an hour, but the hem was pinned. I took a bit of a break, then started working on pinning the trim into place. After a couple of false starts (the wire!!!! Argh!!!!), I finally finished pinning the trim into place. I placed the overskirt on Scary Lady Mary (the dressform), and stepped back.

...

Wow!

I just can't believe how great it looks! The trim just makes this gown perfect. I know I have a long way to go before it's finished (trim sewn, hem finished, hook and eye, and pearls, plus braid), but I can finally see the end is in sight! I'll take pictures tomorrow, when the light is better.

And that's good, because I have an incredible amount of work still to do on other projects. :)

Just for the record...

I hate ribbon with wire edges!!!!

I hate it because in order to use it on my gown, I had to remove the wires.

For six yards of it in one shot.

Which sucks.

I finally wrapped one edge of the wire around the legs of my ironing board, and was able to make more progress.

It still sucks, but dang, the ribbon's beautiful!

Frustrating day.

Sewing-wise, that is.

I got all of the handsewing done on the bodice, with the exception of the shoulder treatments. I even got the hooks and eyes sewn. Then, I tried it on over the corset, bumbroll, and overskirt.

The corset doesn't smoosh my chest enough, or in the right place, and then the top two sets of hooks and eyes were too far from the edge of the bodice opening, leading to straining on the fabric. So, I had to rip those off and resew them. Not a huge deal.

The heartbreaker, though, was the overskirt. The damn front edges were too far apart. I had to rip out stiches, and resew the edges. That's still in progress. I am so sleepy right now that I have to call it a night, and pick up tomorrow. I am ticked off at myself for mistaking where the edges needed to be. I had plenty of space to make the pleats, and I had to really pack them tightly to make it work the first time. I just sucks to have to pick apart that work. 33 days, folks. 33 days.

Okay, the diet starts again tomorrow. Willpower, dear. Gotta have it so I can breathe in my gowns come September...

Yes, I should be sewing, but procrastination is FUN!

Simpsonize me!

Huge "Thank you!" to the Duke of Somerset

This needed its own post!

Marty did an incredible job on my son's dagger frog:



Great workmanship! My son's very happy with it. :)

(BTW, the dagger is peace-tied, and will remain so. I may be a little more permissive than some mothers on even allowing him to purchase a dagger, but I am a stickler for safety. He knows that if he draws it, unless it is at the request of our Queen, or other adult member of the court, he won't see it again for a very, very, very long time.)

What a great day!

We spent most of the day out at Festival Park, rehearsing. Around 4:30pm, we were joined by fellow cast members for a potluck at the Feasting Hall. Lots of great food, good friends, fun, a taste of the Forking Queen's homemade mead (most excellent), and dancing made for a great evening!

I laughed until my sides ached (although that could be from all of the walking and dancing we did today). Some of us ladies have decided that we want to visit a faire that we aren't working at, and do a wench invasion (dressed as wenches, no husbands/boyfriends allowed!). I so want to do this!

Anyway, back in the air-conditioning again, and I am freezing. Today was a good warm-up for September, as it was so hot and muggy until around mid-afternoon, when it cooled off a bit, and we started to get a really nice breeze. So I spent most of the day unbearably hot, and now I'm freezing.

Well, back to work on the sewing!

No, I don't do anything other than work or sew...

Sorry, but prepare for another sewing post:

Yesterday evening, I managed to get the gathering stiches sewn for my black velvet overskirt, and part of the waistband sewn. I would have worked more, but we had a bit of a thunderstorm, and the sewing machine was unplugged, as were the computers.

Tonight, I didn't get started sewing until after 7. I finished the waistband (broke a needle. Yikes!), and pulled up the pleating threads to the right size. I sewed the inner edges of the pleats to the waistband, but had to quit before sewing the tops to the waistband. I decided to take a break, and finish watching a movie, and work on the binding for the bodice.

We have a busy day tomorrow, but I hope to spend all of Sunday working on finishing this gown, and cutting out a couple of other projects. There is a lot to be done, but so far, things are going fairly quickly. The big thing is to get as much work done on the weekends as possible.

Four more rehearsals before opening day...