Tatting Progress and Other Matters

 I finally finished my lattice edging (except for clean up). And as I held it up, preparing to pin it to my bag before sewing it down, I learned I had made a moebius edging. I had somehow twisted it while joining the end to beginning. I had top open 2 rings, retrotat one completely, retrotat a chain (but only a few ds long), and partially retrotat the next to last ring. But I redid the join I messed up and now it's on to clean up and sewing. 

Lattice edging, needing clean up

I started the carnation brooch, but I can't remember if I meant to put beads on the rings or not. I estimate I have more the 300 beads, but that's for 3 rounds of chains. I loaded the beads last year, I think but didn't get started tatting until, well, this weekend.

Carnation boutonniere started

I made a couple more art trading cards. I used collage and mixed media (aka tatting) and used some cardstock as a base. 

art trading card

 I started drinking diet drinks when Coke had a vanilla Coca-cola. However, while I loved the flavor, it was too sweet, while the diet version dialed down the sweetness to my preference. When they stopped making diet Vanilla Coke, I turned to other diet drinks because my tastebuds had shifted and most sodas were too sweet. Mostly I drink Cheerwine Zero when I can get it. When I run out of my stash (I have to bootleg from a couple counties over because our local bottler doesn't carry the 16 or 20 oz bottles), I usually turn to diet Dr. Pepper. Except, I have observed that the diet Dr. Pepper really sparks my appetite. I feel like I'm starving. And it's just that one. Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Diet Mountain Dew, etc do not do this to me. 

F, one of my friends from high school is back in the area visiting family. We try to meet up at least once and we had lunch together on Saturday. Due to some very odd traffic, I was half an hour late, but we sat and talked for 3 hours. 

I was supposed to go see my parents, but there was a festival taking over the downtown area, including the train station parking lot. My dad decided he didn't want to fight with that traffic, so we postponed. I wrote Mom a letter instead.

I need to think about what I'm entering at the fair this year. I often use my Palmetto Tat Day projects, but I'm not sure about doing that this year.

 

Happy Spring Equinox, etc

DR's party on Saturday was fun. His house is a little small (hey, one guy, how much room does he need?) so he rents a picnic shelter at a local park and has a potluck. Everyone brings their one main dish and then share sides and desserts.

CD started prepping Thursday night. He began marinading the chicken breasts. Saturday morning he made the barbecue sauce, meatballs, and got the corn on the cob ready. Alas, his dessert attempt was not successful (we ended up getting a dozen doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts).

On the way there, it was cold. It was raining. It was not looking good. It did stop raining by the time we got to the park. We met DR's aunt and uncle visiting from Wisconsin, I think. Lovely people. We all chatted and had a good time. The food was delicious. I love CD's honey barbecue sauce. SO YUMMY! The leftovers did not last the weekend.

I took more pictures but I don't have permission to post pictures of people, so y'all miss out. I didn't even get pictures of the Canadian geese grazing nearby.

By the time we were packing up, the day had turned quite lovely. The sun came out and the temperature went up to comfortable.

I finished the red bracelet but I haven't taken pictures yet. I may end up giving to NCRL for a door prize.

I've done more coloring. And took pictures of the pages.

Yesterday was the spring equinox for the northern hemisphere. Now the days will be longer than the nights. Of course, we've already had most of our blooms.

RPGaDay 14

Question 14: Dream Team of people who used to game with?
For most of them, I won't use actual names, because they are alive and might not appreciate me blasting their name throughout the internet.

So, Bill Elliot is one, AP (I haven't even seen or heard from her in years), JJ (high school friend who lives too far to game with easily), BF (who lives even farther away), MS (a college friend who also 'disappeared'), and SS (who just doesn't have time to game these days).

I know, that list tells you pretty much nothing about them. I met Bill in college and he was willing to play almost any game and willing to run most. I will never get a chance to play with him again unless there's an afterlife.

AP, well, she was one of my college roommates and we were good friends. But we parted ways my senior year and I've only seen her a couple of times since then.

I get to see JJ once a year and he's active in gaming in his area. I suppose we could try gaming long distance, but the technology for that only got to the point for it to be possible in the last decade. And we've never thought of it.

That goes for BF, too. He's in another state, in another time zone. Again, I should suggest a game via Google Hangouts or Skype or something.

MS had some neuro issues and didn't take her meds. She was fine for awhile but got worse. She went back to live her parents until she stabilized. She wrote for awhile and then stopped. I never heard from her again.

SS is fairly local. He only lives about 40 minutes away. But he has a more than full-time job.

Blog vs. Sleep, Guess Who Won?

This past weekend, Fantasy Gamer Conclave went really well, They raised lots of money for the NC Autism Society. I ran Silverhex Chronicles in all three of the slots, as planned. The first table only had 3 people, including a GM from one of the other tables. But they made it through 5 of the 6 Quests and had fun. The next table was in the evening, and we started playing around 7:30. We got through 2 Quests, finishing around 12:15 or so in the morning. But great fun was had by all, It was a group of teens and two fathers.

The next morning C & I tried to get to the Conclave early enough to make it to tea but we just missed it. They sold out, as usual. I ran for five more people in the afternoon. One of them was playing somewhat reluctantly. Her boyfriend had pretty much pleaded with her to at least give it a try. Turns out, she really enjoyed it. Since I had people who had either never played before or had not played in a long time, we played much slower. We got through 2 quests in four hours. Still, the important goal was accomplished, people had fun.

However, I was exhausted. I did not manage to get to bed early Sunday night as I had planned. Monday night, we went out to supper. I., a college friend, was in town visiting her parents. We got together with C, R, DR, and DC to have supper at a noodle place. The food was delish but I think their AC was out. It got quite warm. Nonetheless, we had a great time and walked down the street to find some coffee or ice cream. We ended up at the Irish pub. They were having trivia night, which got a little loud but we managed to keep talking anyway.

I enjoyed the flan at the noodle place, but when we got to the pub I wish I'd saved room. They had some delicious looking desserts. Eventually, I headed home, about an hour later than I should have. To make it worse, I ran into construction traffic and didn't get home until quite late (for me).

Cute website: you can get pictures to inspire more words. Right now, it's set to new kitten picture every 100 words.

I finally got my title to my Saturn straightened out. I've called PBS to send someone to tow it away. They'll auction it off. The company handling the auction gets 25% and PBS gets 75%, and I get at least $500 tax deduction. If my car sells for me, I'll get that amount for a tax deduction. And it does have practically new tires, steering pump, etc.

Can you spot the bee?

The edging, as promised

Great Time Had, After a Lousy Lead-in

Last night was a birthday supper for one of the Davids. We were meeting in Raleigh, because everyone else lives or works in Raleigh and it was where that David wanted to go. I got directions online, because I'd never been to that restaurant. It was to take about half an hour, figure about 40 minutes with traffic. I left at about 6:15, to get there by 7 pm. Except.

I got stuck on the on-ramp. I checked the clock; 6:21 pm. After 10 minutes, I'd gone approximately 1 mile and I had seen a sign that said 'major delays for the next 3 miles. I called to let folks know that I was caught in traffic and I'd be late. 40 minutes later, I was finally going more than 20 miles an hour. It took me 50 minutes to go those 4 miles. Ugh. The rest of the trip only took 25 minutes. I got there as the appetizers were being served and quickly placed my order. Luckily, I'd looked at the menu online and had an idea what I wanted already.

There were enough of us that I didn't get much interaction with the other end of the table but I did have a great time with the three people near me, plus a couple interjections from the folks in the middle. I shared this video with RW (mild swearing). Warning, if you follow the link, put down your food and drink. Really. I mean it.

After the supper, it was off to stay with A and S. A and I will go to the bead show together & from there it's the tatting meeting. Squee!