Why Aren't I Asleep?
Really, it's half-past 11. My bedtime is 10 (some of us need 8 hour of sleep).

This morning I found out why I've had such a hard time catching the bus. Their clock was 5 minutes faster than mine. No wonder I was cutting it so close, and even missing it sometimes. Then traffic was so bad this evening that what I thought was my bus running a couple minutes early, was the earlier bus...running that late. Erk.

Anyway, the big news is that my college (alma mater & employer) won the 2009 NCAA Championship. It was a little crazy today as a result.

I spent most of the day printing, copying, data entry & more copying. Plus distributing said copies. That took most of the day. Just as I was feeling massively frazzled, one of my co-workers gave me a chai tea latte. I did not realize how much I needed it until I took a couple sips. Let's hear it for caffeine addiction.

I hit the bookstore with John after work. Yeah, I spent a little too much money but at least 2 of the books are gifts. Really. They are.

I'm sending in my article to Bitemark 5 (Bitemark is a free ezine for players of the games by Sanguine). It's in early enough that it may even get illustrated. I do wonder how it will be recieved.

Time to get some sleep.

Happiness is...an unexpected present
And by unexpected, I mean, out of the blue. Someone who meets with someone else in my office gave me a pendant. It's a pretty little silver piece with a lovely moonstone cabochon. It really brightened my day.

The bus was mondo late tonight. I sort of wonder why. I had a late afternoon snack and the jerky ride almost gave me motion sickness. The last time I really got motion sick was when I was 5 (coloring in the car). I cleared a shuttle though, not easily. I made a tiny little butterfly (5 3p 5, 3p3, 3p3, 5 3p 5). By the time I was on the last ring, it was not even small enough to go around two fingers. I gave it to my seatmate; she recognized that I was making lace.

I managed to get to the fabric shop tonight. I bought three fat quarters; solid red, mottled green and mottled blue. I also bought some perle 8 in golden yellow (tangerine) for the wreath. For LFR, I bought some chenille stems for markers; glittery fuschia for Lani's curses and so forth. I can get 4 markers out of one stem.

They're forecasting snow tonight. I wonder if it will really happen. We did have 2-3 days of warm weather to thaw the ground and only one day of cold weather.

Just in time, I've caught a cold; that is if my itchy, scratchy throat is any indication. I'm fine at 7pm. 8 pm, throat hurts. 10 pm, even after hot tea & soup, ouch.

shopping: I didn't make it to Staples in time. I did get to K-Mart but I should have bought one of those robes on sale. I need a good warm, robe. They were out of the flannel sheets that I wanted. I got a couple new 2GB flashdrives ($7.99). They are kept locked up so the cashier had to page the person with the keys.

The same person also keeps the keys to the cameras, games, etc. Needless to say, she was in high demand. Between her getting my flash drive and getting me to the check out line, she got things for at least two other customers. After I was finally in line, I just stood there, smiling slightly. After all, why not? Being irritable wasn't going to make the line move faster. That really struck her, that I was shopping on Black Friday & looked happy.

Since the other stores that I wanted to visit were on the other side of my house, I went home for lunch. The mall was a little much but Michael's wasn't bad. I had read the sale wrong though & the case I wanted wasn't on sale yet. The thing that worried me is that I as I was parking my car, I saw a sundog. I love my mom, but I didn't want to get trapped in Greensboro by bad weather.

Mom: I had a nice visit with mom....except for the fact that I woke up with a migraine on Sunday. She and I did a little shopping on Saturday. She bought my Christmas presents early; things like very nice earmuffs, a new pedometer, etc. I also have two new, very soft & fuzzy towels. They are so soft they feel like velvet. Mmmmm.

She packed stuff to give away and I helped her sort things. We ate leftover turkey for supper and watched tv. It's pledge week on PBS so her usual shows were not on, but they did have Celtic Women. For that particular show, we both want to have a long, possibly violent, talk with the costumer.

Mom doesn't keep much pain medicine in the house so we had to stop and get some on the way to breakfast. I think mom goes to that restaurant a lot (it's good and inexpensive and real food). The waitress came by to refill her coffee and when she saw that it was not necessary, commented that mom wasn't drinking as fast as usual.

Mom told me more about her teen and college years. I knew some of it; like her dorm had no real doors. It was a hall with the dorm rooms on either side & the hall was open to the elements. The rooms had louvered doors and even the bathrooms had only curtains for the shower stalls. It was built in the early '30's and even though it was in Miami, it still got cold at night. For warmth, she & her roommate put their beds together. The girls in the rooms on either side joined them & all six slept crosswise on the beds, with every blanket that they could gather. Brr. I did learn that my mom worked in a bank until she was old enough to get into nursing school without her parents' permission.

We picked up a couple things at Walgreens on the way back to mom's apartment and my head still hurt. I left a few painkillers, including that bottle of migraine meds, at mom's; for the next time I visit. I get headaches, etc more than mom does. She gets headaches less than a handful of times a year. She's in remarkably good, and pain free, health.

I stopped at KMart on the way home but the robe sale was over. At Michael's I found the case on sale so I got one. I also bought some colored wire and as I was checking out, the woman in line behind me asked about it. She's an art teacher and always on the lookout for new arts to teach, especially that will appeal to boys. She liked the sound of Viking wire knitting; I recommended Lacemakers for the kit.

gaming: Chris was still playing the Living Forgotten Realms game and he didn't get home until late. I finally put my halfling character on a character sheet instead of a page of notebook paper. I think I will add a post-it note with her attack information with all of her weapons and powers. There's not enough room on the character sheet for that sort of thing.

Bus: Monday was the first day of the new bus schedule. My stop is now ten minutes earlier in the morning. Monday, it was on time. Yesterday it was more than ten minutes late. It took quite awhile, after I arrived at work, before I warmed up. At least I had my new earmuffs and I wore my leather jacket.

Tatting: I've made another snowflake. I'm sticking with the same pattern, oddly enough for me. I'm varying thread & beads, though.

Thursday, I'm meeting Dad for supper. I finally found his scrapbook. I really wanted to get it scanned but I don't have the money for that right now.

Urban Legend: Have you ever heard the story of the lost server? The story goes that an institution had a contract to replace their servers on a rotating schedule. The company notified them that it was time to replace Server, let's call it X. Institution's IT department checks their maintenance logs & can't find a server X on it. They double check with the company, who confirms that yes they have a Server X. IT people ping the server & to their surprise they get a response. So the server does exist, but where?

They do a quick check and can't find it. In resignation, they form teams to start tagging and tracing cables, to find the server (good things those thing aren't wireless, huh). These cables sometimes go through walls and so on, too, increasing job fun. One team, in a recently renovated building, traces a cable going into a wall but can't find where it exits. As a last resort, they cut open the dry wall to see where the cable went.

There, behind the drywall, still in the plastic, protective dropcloth, is the missing server. It had been placed temporarily between to wall studs and then the workers had just drywalled over it. In all the time since the renovation, it had done its work, without requiring service, covered by a dropcloth.

Here's the kicker. I know the building where they found the server. One of my friends was on a search team, although not the one that found it. This is not an urban legend. It really happened.

Bus: I was (I counted) 36 steps from the bench at the bus stop when the bus drove by. It must have been a new driver because although the sidewalk is not right next to the road there, experienced drivers look to see if anyone is close to the stop. I know because I've had them stop for me. I got to work a little late as a result. The sad thing is, if I had walked back home and driven to a park & ride to get to work; I would have gotten to work at the same time as I did waiting for the next bus.

Gaming: Chris's game was last night. We're sticking with D&D 3.5 because switching to 4.0 would be like changing game systems entirely. One player is at the beach & another one had car problems but we continued the adventure anyway. We descended into the underground river to sneak into the giants' keep.

It was all navigating natural hazards and one character's lack of engineering knowledge. Our scout almost drowned but the one who almost drowned her, rescued her. We used an immovable rod to belay the rope to lower folks down the waterfall. Which is great, but the monk deactivated the rod early and let all the rope descend on the scout swimming downstream. She managed to cut the magic rope, making is disappear, before she drowned. The monk had consumed a fly potion so he was able fly over and grab her to finish the rescue.

My druid Kelis, 12th level now by the way, used her 2nd wild shape of the day and took the trip as a polar bear. I need to check how long she's been changed, I think she's limited to her level in hours.

Nothing much happening.
I missed the bus this morning. So I was late to work, not much but some.
Spent about half an hour writing cards with a group of students for kids in the Children's Ward at the hospital. I was definitely the oldest person there. I did get a couple compliments about my cards. I have to admit that two of them turned out really well. It's so hard to think about what to write. Whoever gets the card is in the hospital due to a serious, potentially fatal illness. That really limits what you can, appropriately, say.

book: Finished Ghost of a Chance and reading Politics Is Murder (c. 1947) by Edwin Lanham. Ghost is an interesting novel. It's quasi-romance and it's very different. It's in the same world/setting as the Aisling Grey books. Easily explained because Kate Marsh is the pen name of Katie McAllister.

Still screwing up at work.

clothes: black beaded slippers & socks, black slacks & belt & polo, flower band, hematite band, hematite band, & labradorite pendant.

My bus was early last night. The buses are never early. I was at the bus stop at exactly the scheduled time & the bus was nowhere in sight (I can see for a decent distance down the road). I ended up waiting half an hour for the next one. Or rather, half-hour plus, because the next one was late. Grrrr!

Watched Saturday's Torchwood again, didn't feel like explaining to Chris that I watched it already. I'd been futzing with my laptop so I'd missed quite a bit on the 1st watching anyway.

Finished my books and started another one from the UBS, The Hourglass by Metzger.

clothes: Celtic knot post earrings, Celtic knot ring, triskele pendant, hematite band, braided ring & matching pair of bracelets, Frech-braided hair, burgundy turtleneck, black 1/2 boots, & black jeans.

News: Oh, Myanmar worries me. I worry what will happen to all of those monks & protesters. I weep for the family of Nagai, the Japanese journalist who was killed.

I managed to miss the bus this morning. I got halfway & realized that I'd left my id & pass in the car last night (it was the 1st time I'd driven my car in a month, I think). By the time I made it to the stop, it was too late. I caught the next one and got to work only 20 minutes late. Short lunch for me today.

Tonight I'm going to see my mom, who's visiting her sisters down at the coast. Then Sunday afternoon, we'll go to the reunion for descendants of Eugene & Suzy Johnson (my great-grandparents). After that, I'll be coming home. And frantically doing laundry & packing for my trip to Virginia. I do not have enough clothes to get through 10 days without laundry. None of us (Chris, me, Rosemary), so we'll be spending part of one day of our vacation, doing laundry. Whee!

Somehow, between the time that I got off the bus & the time that I actually to work, I acquired a huge blue inkstain on the heel of my hand. Washing it at least reduced it to a smaller, fainter, purple stain. I just want to know where I got it.

It started raining on the way home last night. It was still raining, sort of, when I disembarked the bus & the car passed it, narrowly missing me. It's a 2-lane road, so the car crossed the double yellow line to do it. Apparently, the driver never learned the lesson about not passing a stopped bus, because you know THERE MIGHT BE SOMEONE GETTING OFF OF IT! The 2nd car that was passing it, stopped to let me finish crossing the road. Anyway, the rain wasn't enough for me to put up my umbrella. I had it out, but not up.

Gaming: Diana picked me up from home yesterday and we were on the highway by 6:54. Alas, traffic was really bad (everyone's forgotten how to drive in the rain, again - and this wasn't even a heavy rain). We stopped to pick up some supper & a couple sodas (Arby's & a gas station respectively) and made it to David's a little after 7. Chris & Rosemary showed up a little later, bringing supper for me, too. Ooops. I'll eat it for lunch today.

We were a little late getting started but apparently David has not finished mining my character's backstory for plot. For our first adventure involving the probationary Freedom Leaguer: Kodachrome (Diana's new character), we're trying to stop a robbery. Lady Celtic (Rosemary's character), while investigating the attempted theft of the Staff of Ra, has found more thefts dating back for months. The stolen artifacts are Native American & Egyptian, and they all have some magical connection or potential. In addition, they all have travel elements. She also finds newspaper coverage of an exhibit to open in Phoenix that has what looks like another prime target, a ceremonial coyote mask.

We guard, Kodachrome gets knocked unconscious by having all the air sucked out of her lungs. We fight 4 elemental types but are holding our own when time was called. We'll pick it up again in 2 weeks. Or whenever we meet again.

Morning commute soundtrack: Complicated, My World, You're My Sugar, Tuscaloosa, Turn Around, Gone To California, Run, Run, Run, & Roll Over Beethoven. They're all part of my 'Wake Up' playlist.

books: I finished In the Heart of Darkness & started Destiny's Shield. I dipped into Diplomatic Immunity & read a few more pages of The Marriage Spell.

tatting: I started undoing my bauble & I almost have the 2nd ring completely retro-tatted.

clothes: black loafers & socks (too bad the socks are thin & the loafers flop on feet cause they're a scoche too big), black jeans (that really need a belt), black Origins shirt, red bead bracelet, dragon earrings, pendant & 3 rings, hematite band, & braided hair held by grey elastic.

News: Robert Jordan died day before yesterday. Now The Wheel of Time series will never be finished.

Morning Commute Soundtrack: It's Raining Men, Get the Party Started, Love Song, Stupid Girls, Don't Let Me Get Me (4 in a row by Pink, huh), Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit), You Had Me & I started Pon De Replay when we arrived. I sat somewhere different on the bus & could actually hear my music this morning.

tatting: I finished the heart yesterday on the way home, plus a single ring flower (emptying one shuttle) & emptied the 2nd shuttle by doing a red butterfly. I loaded some beads on some pastel variegated Olympus to make one of Karey's baubles but without reading the pattern. That was a mistake. I started tatting, got through the ring, looked at it without closing & went 'uh, that doesn't look right. Guess what I'll be undoing.

I almost missed the bus this morning. I had to take out the trash, take the recycling to the curb & I tried to forget my id & bus pass. I remembered them after I had locked the door, so I had to unlock it, dash in & get my badge.

Food: Sunbelt has changed the packaging on their Oats and Honey & Chocolate Chip chewy granola bars. My breakfast consists of 4 chewy granola bars; one each of Oat & Honey, Coconut Fudge, fudge dipped Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chip. Instead of white with colored ends (green for oats & honey and blue for chocolate chip), the ends are more like pantone green & blue (colored but with white dots breaking it up).

We had chicken last night and broccoli. The broccoli had been in the freezer a little too long, but it was still edible. I think that I'll put some of the leftover chicken in the freezer. I'll be having at least one leg for supper tonight.

books: I finished my bedside book, Guards, Guards and I started Magic Lost, Trouble Found last night.

I had to wake up to empty my bladder this morning, one of the reasons that I have a nightlight in my bathroom. As I snuggled back into my still warm covers and started to doze off, I heard something horrifying. My alarm clock going off. My immediate thought 'oh hell, no!' Alas, it was yes.

And all this after having dreams of fighting with the copier. I dreamed that the original was set in place and the pages to be copied had to be fed. The stupid things kept catching and fan-folding on me. Driving me nuts. Of course, my boss is standing there, impatient to get his copies.

clothes: black ~slippers, black slacks, black Origins shirt open over grey floral tank, Celtic knot earrings & ring, Celtic knot star/moon/tree pendant, clip watch, hematite ring & hair in ponytail/bun held by two black hairsticks with brown leather decorative wrappings on the end.

It rained! Okay, it was only half an inch, which is what we got night before last. Night before last it had soaked into the ground or evaporated before dawn, so there was absolutely no sign of it yesterday. This morning, the trees were still wet. There still wasn't enough rain to really make it muddy, but at least everything got rinsed again.

I tried to catch the 5:05 bus yesterday, expecting it to show up at 5:28 like it has all week. It came earlier than that. So I caught the 5:35 bus whenever it showed up. It was probably close to 6 pm when it did but I didn't look at my watch. Since the Mutants & Masterminds game is tonight & it's a good 40 minutes away (if there's no traffic jam), I may well ask my supervisor to let me go early enough to try & catch the 4:35 bus (assuming that it comes at just before 5 pm). I worked through lunch on Monday, so despite coming back late from lunch on Tuesday & Wednesday (10 & 5 minutes respectively), I have the time to do it. Otherwise, I'm taking a long lunch tomorrow, to prevent working overtime.

Yes, I'll be clogging up the air with my single passenger vehicle exhaust tonight. Diana has a lab tonight & won't be giving me a ride to the game. She's trying to get her lab changed to Tuesday. If that doesn't work, we may change the game to a night other than Thursday. That would also bring back the other David, who hasn't been able to play since he got his job that pretty much requires working late on Thursdays.

Mya's party is Monday week & I still don't have a present. Then again, when have I had time to really find something? Richard & Kathy said that presents are optional but seriously, it's her first birthday. Like we're going to let that go.

books: Re-read part of More Than a Scandal & started trying to read Aztec. I gave up on the latter; it's going straight to Book Crossing.

tatting: I took a picture of my progress so far on the cross (I'll post it to my Friendster page). Then, since my book was a failure and it's so much cooler this morning, I got quite a bit farther on the commute into work. I am on the top of the last arm. I have a chain, 2 large rings, 2 small chains, a small ring & then it's the last clover.

clothes: It's only supposed to hit 90F today (maybe even cooler, depending on the cloud cover) so I wore black jeans, my Vorkosigan polo, black ~slippers, braided hair, moonstone tri-moon pendant, moonstone earrings & ring, ~rope band & hematite ring.

Bruises: Remember that fall on Friday? I do; I have a nice collection of bruises to remind me. There's one about hand-sized on my left hip; it's big & ugly. There's another, about the size of a quarter, on the inside of my right arm & a small, only nickel-sized, one on my right thigh. That's probably from hitting myself with my umbrella.

TV: The Riches was on last night but it started about the time that I needed to be heading to bed, so I didn't watch it.

website of the day: boing boing, a directory of wonderful things

guilty food(s) of the day: milk chocolate covered mint Oreo cookies, Reese's Brownie & Hershey's Brownie (very rich, almost too much so).

books: I finished Hana Kimi #16 & Chibi Vampire #2. I started New Moon by Rebecca York & Punch #3 but just wasn't in the mood.

radio show: I finished listening to episode 15, The Huntsman's Quarry & the Dead Chinese, of the Voyage of the Scarlet Queen this morning. I'm really enjoying that show. Funny thing, according to Old Radio, that's episode 21.

clothes: white turtleneck, black poly-suede shirt, purple slacks, black trouser socks, black sequin/beaded flats, Celtic knot jewelry & ~rope band. My hair is loose because it was falling out of the braid & I forgot my hairbrush.

bus: I went to the central bus depot but my hat isn't in the lost & found yet. That was a wasted trip. I'll call on Friday & if it's there, I'll get it on Saturday.

books: I finished To Distraction on the way home & started re-reading Diamond Throne.

Tonight I'm meeting my Dad for supper. We're going to a Cracker Barrel on the highway between us. Too bad I'll need gas to get there. Gas is around $2.39 in my neighborhood (at the cheapest). On Friday, I have to be there to supervise the company moving my stuff from storage to the new location. Next Wednesday is my dental appointment & the Friday after that, unless there's a problem, I'll be donating platelets.

clothes: green/black Harrington steading polo, black jeans, black belt (w/ gold tone buckle..again), black socks that won't stay up (they're driving me nuts), black loafers (that are mite too big since I've lost weight, they flop), emerald & gold heart necklace, emerald & gold posts, & black stone ring. I've got my hair loose until I have to go outside. It's too windy not to braid but even in the braid the wind pulls strands loose & it looks messy.

snow! In the 10 minutes from when I walked in the building door to when my supervisor came back from an errand (getting breakfast, I think), it started snowing. Not just started, but every non-paved (ie non-brine covered) surface has a distinct layer of snow. IN 10 MINUTES! From nada to wow!

cold: my cold is worse. My nose is so stopped up that the drainage is hitting my gag reflex. Luckily I only had some water in my stomach. Yay for early morning, right? I've taken some sudafed but either it hasn't kicked in or it has, to the best of its ability (scary thought).

I brought my new tea maker (filter & brewer in one, present from Dad & step-mom) to work & made myself a cuppa 1st thing. It's rooibos and I'm waiting for it to cool enough to drink. I just put one packet of splenda in it to sweeten & if it starts to cool, I also brought out a cup hot plate/warmer. It's the one either Richard & Kathy or my mom gave me.

bus woes: There was a basketball game in town last night so traffic was hellacious. I missed the 1st bus but theoretically, only had a 20 minute wait for the next one. It was 20 minutes late (wait time now 40 minutes). That's when I learned that I'd lost my bus pass (badge holder slipped off). Retraced my steps & found it where I'd had lunch (thank goodness!). The next bus was due in less than 10 minutes. It was 30 minutes late (total wait time: 1 hour 20 minutes). I was soooo cold. I was not dressed for a wait that long. On top of my cold, & the knowledge I could have been on the previous bus = Cranky me!

books: I've started reading about 3 or 4 books. I'm having trouble settling on one. It's due to the cold I think. My energy is odd. I brought Bewitched with me to work & read it on the way in. It's a romance anthology, not a recent one.

clothes: black ~ugg boots (w/ 2 pairs of socks, it helps a little), black jeans, red turtleneck, Celtic knot jewelry & braided hair. I also have a sweater to add a layer when needed. It's multi-color and hard to describe. Quasi-tweed checks doesn't do it justice.

Website: Health Info I've only scanned this, but it looks interesting.

Okay, I can't argue with this;

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Tatting: I made another tiny snowflake with the size 12 thread leftover from Ben's snowflake. I started the rose ornament from Monica Hahn's book of Christmas tatting. But apparently I tat tighter than she does so it's not working very well. I'm going to have to increase the chain length.

Today's excitement: We had a fire alarm right before I was about to head out to lunch. So that got delayed until after the building was cleared. But on the bright side, I ran into Phil again. I haven't seen him in awhile, so that was kind of cool. Since he was wanting lunch, we had time to talk until the fire alarm was over.

Bus re-routing still: I'm still trying to find a shortest route to an alternate bus stop in the evening. So far I have yet to catch the previously 5:10 bus, no matter which stop I try. Whatever route I take, I have at least one hill to climb (stairs or incline, it doesn't matter). After three days of this, my legs are starting to ache.

clothes black slacks, grape Geoff polo, silver feather & quartz chip earrings, flower band ring, ~rope band ring, three ages of women pendant, tennis shoes, & braided hair (needs to be brushed).

Blog of the Day: Okay, this guy, Aaron, has a much cooler blog than I do. He can only update periodically, something about a 56k modem being shared by about 20 people, but he's a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo. Read about his project, too. I think it's great.

Tatting: almost done with Ben's snowflake, I only have one more point to make. Correction, make that 3 rings to make.

Gaming (D&D): Chris finally gave us experience last night. We also finally finished the watery plot. Now we go to our new assignment (our characters are scouts in the Imperial army) at Skyreach (mountain). We're joining the cavalry. This really upset the dwarf before Chris told him that of course the dwarves don't ride horses. They ride cave bears.

Present: Chris & Rosemary gave me Christopher Hart's book on drawing manga villains. I brought it work but haven't done anything with it yet. I played with it at lunch, well that & Draw Great Manga. I really need to practice more.

bus: So yesterday I caught the bus at one of the 2 possible stops. It's 13 minute walk, more or less. This morning I got off the bus at a different place & decided that I didn't like it. It may be the same distance but it's all up & down. By the School of Government is all a straight shot. Today I will try to catch the bus at the hospital. We'll see how that works. I definitely need to leave earlier though.

Book: I finished Worlds of Honor. I don't know what to start next.

clothes: black tennies (still have the extra 20-30 minute walk), black slacks, black ribbed knit shirt, moonstone earrings & ring, tri-moon moonstone pendant & ~rope band. My hair is braided because I washed it this morning & I didn't want to do anything else to it.

I shouldn't laugh.... but I am amused. Due to a confluence of factors, I'm the contact for most of the vending problems on campus. I take the information, report it to the responsible company & if necessary tell the caller the procedure to get a refund. A student staffer just called with a vending problem. The first question out of my mouth: 'food or drink?' Response? 'That would be helpful to know, wouldn't it. Let me call you back.

Today's outfit: a blouse that I haven't worn in awhile & this may be the last time. It's a pretty, short-sleeved, buttoned blouse; I can't remember what this shade of pinkish-purple is called but it's with black in a check. However, it's just short enough that it doesn't stay completely tucked. Anyway, I've paired it with black jeans & that pair of loafers that I still haven't thrown out. Knee-highs, ponytail, 3 women pendant, flower band, rope band & violet crystal & flower earrings finish the outfit. I put the earrings & pendant in my pocket & then forgot to put them on until after I got to work.

Books: I read all but the last two chapters of Grantville Gazette I. The last two chapters concern radios in 1632 & horses; until I get the formatting straightened out they're just too much trouble to read.

Yesterday's Post Sorry it didn't go up until today but I could not get that font size problem sorted. I tried selecting a paragraph, I tried selecting the whole thing; I could not get it normal-sized again.

Weather & stuff: It's raining today. It's rained with barely a let up all day. I'm hoping that it rains itself out before I go to the fair tomorrow (note: Definitely no post tomorrow).

My bus was 15-20 minutes late today. I honestly thought that I'd missed it & was contemplating walking to the next bus-stop (for the exercise). But it was just so messy, I wasn't in the mood. Turns out, good thing I didn't.

State Fair: or Oy, I'm Tired!
Friday night was the 'make certain my clothes are ready for next week, pack clothes for weekend, grab tatting thread, books, etc' night. I got everything done & under control (minus one or two things) and I was in bed by 10:30, planning to wrap up the last couple items the next morning. My alarm was set for 6:00 am (blech).

All well & good, except I slept for crapola. At one point, I dreamed that I was on Hillsborough St (the road in Raleigh that fronts the NC State University campus) & suddently realized that I had only half an hour to get to Steve & Anitra's. side note, that location is less than 10 minutes from the Fair Grounds. So I frantically wake up to get started, look at the clock & realize that it's only 3:45 am; roll back over & try to sleep. I finally woke up for good at 5:50 am. Even so, I was about 5 minutes late leaving. Even with all of that, I managed to get there on time (by cutting out one side-errand).

It was a brisk morning (frost on the grass, I think). However, I was wearing thigh-high boots, leggings, underskirt (okay, 1/2 an underskirt), overskirt, sweatshirt, fleece-lined wool cape, & fleece-lined knit cap. When I got to Steve & Anitra's I changed to the bodice (2-3 layers of cotton with fake underblouse), fichu & shawl instead of the sweatshirt. I remained warm.

We got started early on the day; Steve loaned me Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris. It's the sequel to Grave Sight. It's about a young woman who survived a lightning strike and ever since she can find dead people; not ghosts, corpses. In addition, she can tell what their COD's are.

Steve read aloud in the car from a Debbie Macomber book. It's funny & beats morning radio. As soon as we arrived Anitra started trying to catch up on her stock. She'd sold out of one or two of her earrings, the wreaths & the candy canes, I believe. Plus, she wanted to do another version of her chandelier earrings. We tatted & demonstrated and had fun. There were no truly bizarre question.

Judy, another tatter from Clayton, had been by to see her on Friday & told her that my jewelry had won third. Yippee! Anitra's unicorn did not get anything. *snarl*

I relieved Carry so she could go eat lunch. The woman next to her, Carolyn the pen & ink artist, was also alone in her booth so I said that I'd booth sit for her, too. No bribe necessary, I do it for friendship. Although I might buy one of her cards for my step-mom (in addition to the gourd/bead thing).

Other than seeing people in the break room, I did not get a chance to see anyone in the Village. :pout: We were just too busy. If I wasn't demonstrating, I was putting butterflies & other items on earring wires.

We got back in good time Saturday night & I was headed for sleep by 11:30 pm. Slept very well. I had to get up & go once in the night but overall slept until 7:30. What a relief, especially after Friday.

Another rousingly chilly start to the day. It turns out that the lovely white linen blouse that Anitra found last week is too small for both of us. [mild expletive deleted]. So I wore my undyed linen blouse with the country blue & cream tapestry vest, plus the same skirt & underskirt from Saturday.

Sunday was just as busy but I found a couple minutes to talk to Schottzi (name misspelled, I'm sorry), the hat maker, before things got started. While I was booth sitting for Carry & Carolyn, I got a chance to talk to Senora. She didn't realize that I work so close to the brick area, "The Gift," that she designed. I walk by it every day, to & from work. It makes me smile, even if it's not as striking from ground level.

There were a couple of absolutely wonderful & amusing people who came by. One was another tatter to whom I gave my snood pattern to last year. She hasn't started it yet, but that's okay, she still has the pattern. Another was a woman who understood immediately when I said that I couldn't break her $20 bill unless I froze it & had a hammer. Then there was the quite precocious young man who scolded his mother, or tried, for touching one of the snowflakes & then for taking one of Anitra's brochures. Anitra & I had a hard time keeping a straight face on that one.

At one point, lunch I believe, when I was booth sitting for Carry, I tried drop spinning again. I was, ahem, less than successful.

I got a chance to talk to Beth in the break room & finally met her husband. Oh, they are such fun people.

I made it home after the fair by 11:30 pm. Chris drove in right after me, coming home from his parents' (it's his birthday yesterday). However, I was still wound up & ended up finishing Grave Surprise before I went to sleep, at about 12:30 am.

I'm just a little tired today. I took a long lunch but not to nap. I went to a transportation forum. I found out that you can take regional bus from Chapel Hill to Boone. And, if I understand the prices right, for about $22.

Today's outfit: black tassel loafers, knee-highs, black jeans, black polo acid-washed & overdyed green then embroidered in green 'Harrington Steading', green amber jewelry set (earrings, necklace & ring), silver band & my hair up in a ponytail/bun held by two leather-wrapped hairsticks.

I won't see my assistant again until after Fall Break. She has class all day tomorror, she never comes in on Tuesdays. Then I'm at the Fair on Wednesday & she'll be gone for the Break after that.

Tatting update: One more ring on the purple necklace and the other end of the fastener has been threaded on. So I have one or two more rings to do & it's done. I've saved two of the beads; I may do matching earrings. Plus I've tatted a butterfly to try & clear a shuttle.

Books: I'm still reading We Few on my eReader. And I've already talked about Grave Surprise.

Car Free Day and as usual for me, I took the bus to work. I managed to catch it this morning. Good for me, right?

Tatting News I'm 3/4 through that Konior cross. I would be farther but I had to retro-tat an entire chain last night. And I've just noticed that I've tatted about 2 rings & a chain too far. *sigh*

today's outfit: light grey Dendarii Mercenaries covert ops polo, black jeans, black ~trouser socks (these are only ankle-high, thicker & have flowers woven into the texture), black tassel loafers (the brown ones are the ones that disintegrated), moonstone earrings & ring, trimoon moonstone pendant, fem-power ring (female figure) & my hair was braided but I unbraided it after lunch.

Today has been a good day considering it started out as a morning after. What's really sad is that I didn't have a night before. We just played Mutants & Masterminds (rescued my character's homeland from an unscrupulous archealogist). I had no alcohol, just water & diet soda.

Since I get 10 minutes of walking, before & after work all I have to do is get an extra 10 minutes somewhere during the day to get 30 minutes. I managed to do that at lunch today. Yay me.

Books: I just finished Kick @$$, an anthology. Speaking of which, what happened to my ability to underline? I really enjoyed all 4 stories. I wasn't certain about Jacey Ford but her story grew on me & I'm glad that I read it.

Now I've started Death Waxed Over, a mystery by Tim Myers. It's the 3rd in the Candle Shop mysteries. I rather like them.

Okay, either the bus has been running late all week or it was definitely early this morning. Result? I missed it. Since I had a spare 20-30 minutes before the next one, I decided to walk to the next bus stop. By the way, people notice if you aren't at your regular stop. At least two people, one of whom is a 'bus acquaintance' asked me about it. Since the next stop was only 7 minutes away I was going to walk to the one after that but when the sidewalk crossed the road (ie instead of on both sides of the road it was only on 1), I decided to turn back. Turns out the next stop is at the shopping center. Now I know.

Today's Tatting: I screwed up the Mary Konior cross. I tried 'adjust' it to eliminate the thread ends & ended up with something very odd. It will take some examination to fix & since I'm on a little time crunch, I put it aside & started over. I'm still waiting for Karey to reply to my question about my UFO. Hey, some people don't check their email every, single, day.

today's outfit: plaited hair (black elastic); dark green Geoff polo, black jeans, black trouser socks (it's cool enough), black fabric flats (as yesterday), black stone ring & my one really good set of jewelry. The emerald & gold earring/necklace set that Chris gave me. Okay, the emeralds are really small; but they are visible.

Looks like I'll be working on Saturday. It will be overtime at least. I need to clean up my office/desk area and face it, during the week there are too many interruptions.

I finished cards to all of my maternal aunts, I need to address envelopes & mail them. My problem is that I have the wrong address for one, since her last card bounced. I need to fix it before I mail the next one (enclosing the bounced one).