The Immortal Who Loved Me by Lynsay Sands

One more book read.  You would think I would have read more during this time being sick, but I just want to sleep and watch Hogan's Heroes.  The Pox book was definitely put away because who really wants to read a book about fatal illnesses when one feels like crud warmed over?  I listened to half of the audiobook/radio program for America: Empire of Liberty.  I'll listen to the rest on my commutes to and from work.

I finished The Immortal Who Loved Me by Lynsay Sands on Wednesday.  The Argeneau series is a lot of fun.  I figure most vampire books should be written in a humorous vein (no pun intended).  Serious vampire books tend to put me off.  This one was not as funny as the majority of the others, but it was definitely not the most serious.

The jist of this series, and this is not really a spoiler, is that the immortals (vampires) are originally from Atlantis.  Their society was isolated and developed into an extremely technologically advanced one before it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes.  There had been an experiment to heal wounds using nanotechnology that went awry.  Instead of the nanos disintegrating after healing the cancer or injury they were being used for, their lack of specific programming made them run amok inside the body of the patient and heal everything.  Since the human body is assaulted by UV rays, pollution, etc., there is always something for the nanos to heal.  Since the nanos used blood as fuel, the patients needed to constantly renew their blood supply since the little buggers were using it to keep them at the peak physical state constantly.  Before Atlantis fell, transfusions were used.  After it fell and the survivors made it out, if they were immortals, they needed to use other means to survive in the non-medically advanced world they found themselves.  The nanos adapted their bodies to grow fangs when necessary.

The world she's built is pretty cool.  It's mostly set in Canada, for anyone looking for a book set somewhere not the US.  The people are also interesting.  Basil is one of three brothers who escaped Atlantis' fall.  He works on the Council.  Sherry, the heroine, owns a kitchenware business, and is brought into the whole world when a character from a previous novel ducks into her store to hide from one of the villains that's been popping up in the last five or six books.

This really isn't a stand-alone novel.  Too much of its plot is contingent on having read earlier books.  A person getting into the series with this one would possibly be a little confused.  The nature of the events mean there are a lot of previous characters popping in and out and things are assumed to be known.  Ms. Sands definitely explains things for the newbie to the series, but I would still be disappointed by the immediacy of the romance between Sherry and Basil.  Relationship growth happens after she basically accepts that they are life-mates.  Basil, knowing the way things work, immediately accepts that Sherry is his life-mate when the two characters who seem to be turning into the match-makers of the series just say, "Here she is.  Have fun, you crazy kids."

Also, the plot-line with Sherry's father bothered me.

If you want to start the series from the beginning, read A Quick Bite.  To tell the truth, this newest one of hers probably won't be re-read much, even if it does go on my keeper shelf because it's part of the series.  Here's hoping the next one in the series is much better.

Hidden Dragons by Bianca D'arc

Today's addition to my booklist is Hidden Dragons, by Bianca D'arc.  It's the latest in her series of fantasy romance, Dragon Knights.  They feature love at first sight/instant soul mate connection.  Most of the series also features a menage a trois, but it works with the world she's built.  But most of all, they feature dragons!  The heroes are knights that ride dragons into battle.  The dragons are intelligent and telepathic.  The heroines can generally speak with the dragons, too.  The end of this one brings a new twist to the future of the war between Draconia and Skithdron (home of basilisk-like creatures with acid-like venom).  I'm hoping she'll finally bring the North Witch, Lorelei, into the next book.  I'm also hoping she'll one day make a female one of the knights.  She has featured some warriors females already, but I want one of them to actually have a dragon to ride.

I'm still working on The Pox and the Covenant.  It's not a difficult read and is interesting.  I'm just not in the mood for books about illnesses at the moment.  I have a stupid sinus infection that's kicking my ass.

Cartoons of World War II

I spent some time at Books-A-Million today.  I almost started reading a sci-fi, but I was pretty exhausted from work, so I took an easier route.  I noticed a book called Cartoons of World War II, by Paul Husband, as I was going in.  He collected cartoons, mostly editorial, on papers and magazines on both sides of the conflict.  I've seen some of them before but it was nice getting the juxtapostion of date and source.  My only regret with the book (other than my lack of cash to buy it at the moment) is that it didn't have more in it.  I would love to see a comprehensive study of editorial satire from the era.

I'm not sure what category to put this one in.  It wasn't a graphic novel.  It was both a history book and an art book.  Maybe I'll just add a couple of wildcard categories.  Got it.  I used it for the "book based entirely on its cover" category.

Obsession in Death

Well, one more book down and I'm about a third of the way through one of my non-fictions.

I bought and read Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb today.  Wow.  It was really good.  I've liked most of the books in the series, but I can honestly say this one is going to be in the top ten of them.  It's very personal to Eve and the family she's built over the series.  I like those.  Since it just came out yesterday, I shall say no more, but I can chalk up Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb as my "book published this year".  Started and finished on 2/11/2015.

The other one I'm reading is The Pox and the Covenant by Tony Williams.  It's about the smallpox epidemic that hit Boston in 1721 that seems to be leading to the inoculation trend that I know John and Abigail Adams took advantage of for themselves and their own children.  The surprising thing is that the cry for inoculations was started by a person I never expected: Cotton Mather.  The book is quite interesting thus far and very readable, which is not always the case for history books.

2015 Reading Challenge

Wow.  Three years since I've blogged.  I guess that's actually a good sign as to my mental health.  It means I no longer need the vent.  However, I have decided to do a few reading challenges this year and need something to link back to.  Of course, since I am insane, I can't just do one.  I have decided to mix at least four of them into one massive challenge.  If you want to start one of your own, here's a link to Bustle, which lists a bunch of options.  Here goes.

2015 Reading Challenge, encompassing challenges by Popsugar, Kindred Digital Books, Bookish, Peekabook, Books and Chocolate, All About Books

There is a lot of overlap in the various challenges and I'm going to see how many of the categories I can fill up with my TBR shelves, female authors, and classics.  To be honest, just knowing that at least three of my authors are prolific as rabbits means I'll be able to fulfill a few categories as soon as they publish their next few novels.  I may not fill all of the categories this year, but it should be interesting.  Beside this I'll be working on my NaNoWriMo novel from last year and a short pamphlet for the local libray.  Then there are my crafts.  This will be a busy year for me.

This post will probably get quite long as I will be using it as my central list.

A collection of short stories
A collection of poetry
A book published by an indie press
A book that takes place in Asia - The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang, 1/15/2015
A book by an author from Africa
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of anyind
A microhistory - The Pox and the Covenant, Tony Williams, 3/4/2015
A YA novel
A sci-fi novel
A memoir
A mystery or thriller
A 19th Century Classic
A 20th Century Classic
A Classic by a female author
A Classic in Translation
A Classic with a person's name in the title
A humorous or satirical Classic
A forgotten Classic
A nonfiction Classic
A Children's Classic book
A Classic play - Lysistrata, Aristophanes, 3/15/2015
A classic romance
A book based on a true story
A nonfiction book - Children of the Flames, Lucette Lagnado, 1/15/15
A romance novel - Saving Grace, Julie Garwood, 1/30/2015
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
A book that someone else has recommended to you
A book published this year - Obsession in Death, J.D. Robb, 2/11/2015
A Classic novella, under 250 pages
A 500+ page novel
A 1,000+ page novel
A novel in one day - The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy, Julia Quinn, 2/5/2015
Something by Plato, Aristotle, or Marcus Aurelius
A novel by David Foster Wallace
A novel by Nabokov
A novel by Mark Twain
A book by Neil Gaiman
A novel by James Joyce
A novel by Haruki Murakami
A novel by Kurt Vonnegut
A book by an author you LOATHE
A book written by an author with your same initials
An independently published by an Amazon author
A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
A novel on an e-reader - Children of the Night, Mercedes Lackey, 3/2/2015
A book that was/has been banned
A book with nonhuman characters
A book with antonyms in the title
A book with a number in the title
A book with a color in the title
A book with a one-word title
A book set in a different country
A popular author's first book
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - The Unleashing, Shelly Laurenston, 4/1/2015
A book a friend recommended
A book at the bottom of your to be read list
A book your mother loves
A book that scares you
A book based entirely on its cover - Cartoons of World War II, Paul Husband, 2/18/2015
A book you were supposed to read in high school but didn't
A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
A book that came out the year you were born
A book with bad reviews - The Immortal Who Loved Me, Lynsay Sands, 2/25/2015 - (Putting this here because I gave it a generally bad review!)
A trilogy
A book from your childhood
A book with a love triangle
A book set in the future - Concealed in Death, J.D. Robb, 2/5/2015
A book set in a high school
A book that made you cry
A book with magic - Hidden Dragons, Bianca D'arc, 2/20/2015
A book by an author you've never read before
A book you own but have never read
A book that takes place in your hometown
A book set during christmas - Festive in Death, J.D. Robb, 2/6/2015
A book based on or turned into a tv show
A book that became a movie
A book you started but never finished
Listen to an entire audiobook - America: Empire of Liberty, David Reynolds, 3/11/2015

The Wolf, Jean Johnson, 3/7/2015
The Mage, Jean Johnson, 3/8/2015
The Mane Event, Shelly Laurenston, 3/9/2015
Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography, William Roberts, 3/11/2015 (the link is to a downloadable pdf)
The Evolution of the Book, Frederick G. Kilgour, 3/11/2015
The Book: The Story of Printing and Bookmaking, Douglas McMurtrie. 3/11/2015
The Art & History of Books, Norma Levarie, 3/11/2015
Dragon Storm, Bianca D'arc, 3/12/2015
Big Bad Beast, Shelly Laurenston, 3/15/2015
Early Dutch, German & English Printers' Marks, Jean Philibert Berjeau, 3/16/2015 (the link is to a downloadable pdf)
Make It a Double, Sawyer Bennett, 3/17/2015
Printers Marks and their Significance, Douglas McMurtrie, 3/18/2015 (the link is to an online copy of the book)
Devices of the Early Printers: 1457-1560, Hugh William Davies, 3/18/2015 (the link is to an html copy from Project Gutenberg)
Printers Devices in Dutch Incunabula, W.J. Schretlen, 3/18/2015
Printers Marks, Horace Townsend, 3/18/2015
Printers Mottoes, Bella C. Landauer, 3/18/2015
Sicilia et Magna Graecia sive Historiae Vrbium Populorum et Graeciae ex Antiquis Nomismatibus Liber Primus, Hubert Goltzius, 3/18/2015 (this book was published in 1617 by the printer whose mark it took me years to identify.  It is written in Latin, so it might be more accurate that I looked at every page)
Amoris Divini et Human Antipathia, 3/18/2015 (the same as the one above, but printed in 1655.  The illustrations were absolutely amazing.)
Dutch Printers Devices, volumes 1-3, Peter van Huisstede, 3/19/2015
The Printed Book, Henri Bouchot, 3/19/2015 (link goes to a free downloadable copy at Project Gutenberg)
Masterpieces of the Early Printers and Engravers, Henry Noel Humphreys, 3/19/2015 (the link is to a downloadable copy of the book)
Heraldic Influence on Early Printers Marks, James Moran, 3/19/2015
English Printers Marks of the 16th Century, F.C. Avis, 3/19/2015
Before Midnight, Jennifer Blackstream, 3/20/2105
Stardust Miracle, Edie Ramer, 3/22/2015
Love Potions, Michelle Pillow, 3/23/2015
The Werewolf Liaison, Vivi Anna, 3/24/2015
The Naughty Never Die, LL Kellogg, 3/24/2015
London Under, Peter Ackroyd, 3/25/2015
Star Trek and History, Nancy R. Reagin, 4/5/2015
Keeper of the Flames, Bianca d'Arc, 4/8/2015

Protector of the Small: First Test, Tamora Pierce, 4/16/2015

Protector of the Small: Page, Tamora Pierce, 4/17/2015

Protector of the Small: Squire, Tamora Pierce, 4/18/2015

Protector of the Small: Lady Knight, Tamora Pierce, 4/19/2015

Storm Warning, Mercedes Lackey, 4/23/2015

Storm Rising, Mercedes Lackey, 4/24/2015

Storm Breaking, Mercedes Lackey, 4/25/2015

An Offer From A Gentleman, Julia Quinn, 4/26/2015

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, Julia Quinn, 4/27/2015

Well, it's been a little bit since I updated this thing.  I've decided it's time to get out of retail, given the fact that I generally want to murder the management staff at work daily.  So, I have a plan.  Get my Pharmacist Technician certification, then get a job that pays enough that I can actually save money for college rather than live paycheck to paycheck.  Once enough money is saved, I'll get my degrees in history and library science and gleefully bury myself in paper for the rest of my life.

I've taken the first test and am on the second book in the course.  I have a plan and for the first time in a while I have some hope for actually getting my degree.  In the meantime, I'll keep working on my crafts and my occasional writing to keep sane and non-homicidal.

Artistic endeavours

Lately I've been expanding my artistic horizons.  I signed up for Swap-bot over a year ago but have just recently started joining the swaps.  I've been focusing on ATCs.  I've also been working on my drawing and painting skills.  They, to be generous, are non-existent.  I 've been making Zentangles to work on the drawing and have purchased a bunch of watercolors and watercolor pencils for the painting.  Since I have so many random papers at home I've been using them for some of the ATCs I've sent out.

I'm enjoying myself even though I'm getting a little frustrated with my lack of skills.  I know I'll get better as I work, but I just feel as if I should be better already.  I know it just takes practice, but I wonder sometimes how I'll find the time in the day to get better at all the hobbies I want to improve in.  Stitching, designing stitching, painting and drawing and throw in the occasional bout of writing.  I need to win the powerball so I can just indulge myself all day, every day.

Stitching and tv

Never try to stitch while watching your favorite team play a game.  It's not very productive.  Man City just drew with Fulham and for at least the last twenty minutes I didn't set one stitch.

Squee!

Happy happy happy!  I just bought tickets to a show I've wanted to see for a long time.  Now I just have to con my brother into letting me take my nephew.

Long time AWOL

I've really been slacking on computer time in the past few months.  First there was a ton of stitching, weird hours and then NaNoWriMo (which I nuked again).

My brother got married in October.  They did it earlier than they had originally planned so their stitchy gift will be give for their first anniversary.  I finished the Eagle Scout even though I still haven't given it to him.  Oy!  I have stitched about 25 ornaments in the last few weeks.  I also finished the Kats by Kelly pattern I had.  The Dragon and Witches Go Riding are still WIPs.  I'll be adding two baby announcements to next year's list for my cousin and co-worker.

Mom and I have stolen my niece and nephew nearly every weekend for the last two months.  Awesome!  Mom's taking them to church, then the four of us go to breakfast.  Last Sunday, Mom, my nephew and I had a four hour, single hand, Uno game.  I have the Star Trek Uno cards and they have a card that makes you double your hand.  It was played a few times that game.  It was hilarious.  My niece watched Mamma Mia and was almost through the singalong by the time I won the hand.

We're going to my cousin's house tomorrow and then we have the munchkins again for Sunday.  I'll have my niece go through my music to pick what she wants me to put on her soon-to-be iPod.  It should be fun.

So, Merry Christmas to the Christians.  I hope everyone else had a happy holiday, whatever it may have been.

New Wedding design

Thanks to one of my cohorts on the LJ Cross-stitch group, I found the perfect wedding announcement for my brother and his fiancee.  He proposed to her on (well, pretty damned near) the beach and the colors seem to suit her decor, so here we go.  I won't even have to wait for her to pick flowers and stuff.  I can start on it as soon as I finish the Eagle Scout, the Wiehenberg Sampler and the Dragon (in that order).  Yay!

Another movie post...

I just watched Destination Mars! on Netflix.  Tee-hee.  It was awesome.  It was such a great send-up of the 50's Mars invades flicks.  The actors played it "straight" with just the perfect imitation of the pacing that the actors of those movies had.  I have a new dvd hunt. 

Of course, I just found 100 Million BC (which is unfortunately on a double feature with Journey to the Center of the Earth - even I have my B movie standards, low as they are) and Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus in the Wal*Mart $5 movie bin, so I'm having a fine movie night.  I am becoming a big fan of the knock-offs The Asylum puts out.  They are just so cheezy.  Ooh.  I just remembered they made this version of Sherlock Holmes, with Dominic Keating and Gareth David-Lloyd.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't the worst, either.  Definitely watchable if you keep in mind it's an Asylum film and the guy playing Sherlock needs to go back to acting school.  Or at least take his hands out from behind his back once in a while.

Piranha 3-D

Okay, before I say anything else, I'll say this: I really want to go see this movie.  It is obviously not going for Oscar nominations (unless the FX are somehow spectacular).  It is a summer horror/fun flick.  Apparently, people are peeved that there aren't going to be any special showings for reviews by critics.  Hello?!  This is the kind of movie guaranteed to make a critic's blood pressure rise and explode out of their pens in a sea of "Ack!  This was horrible.  No, no, blood and gore and 3D!"  Showing it to a critic is a waste of time.  Most won't watch a film and see the fun of it.  They seem to need to find meaning and pathos in every film they watch.  Um, not every film is out there for such a thing.  Some are just fun bloodbath flicks that make you giggle and cheer when the obnoxious git gets eaten and the heroes somehow manage to save the day...except for the egg, of course, which is about to hatch the sequel, er, spawn of whatever the monster is.

I can't wait for this one.  Chomp chomp and Christopher Lloyd thrown in for good measure!

Dragon*Con 2010

I finally found a somewhat affordable place to stay in Atlanta for Dragon*Con but Mom has a lot of travel this week, so I get to wait until next payday to try to book it.  *sigh*  We'll see if it's still available then.

Yes, I'm waiting until the last moment.  However, I didn't realize Misty was going to Dragon*Con until a few days ago.  She never goes to cons I can get to!

Wedding designs

I mentioned that my brother is engaged, now I'm designing he and his fiancee a wedding announcement.  So many of them are way too floral and foufy for my brother's taste.  I found a few on 123stitch that I liked and thought were simple enough to suit their style.  My brother is a cop, I just can't see him really liking an announcement with roses and ribbons all over it.  Sorry, not happening.

So I found one pattern on 123stitch that I really liked part of: To Have and To Hold.  The sepia picture of the couple in the middle struck me as perfect for them.  So I figured I'd probably end up ordering that.  Well, I saw it in Michael's yesterday while browsing.  I hadn't noticed that the whole pattern is only 5 by 5 inches!  Too small.  But I still liked the people, just not the floral stuff.  So I conned Mom into coming to Michael's with me to look at it.

I ended up buying it (plus a frog eraser and felt to make myself a minion from Despicable Me) and spent a few hours last night transferring just the people into PCStitch.  Then I broke into my quote book and found a lovely quote to add to the sampler: "Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one." by Friedrich Halm.  I used the alphabet in the kit to chart that and used the Font function to make an alphabet for the names and date.  I'm going to do that in petite stitch since the only way to make it nice enough was to make it HUGE.

So, the pattern is half finished.  Now they just need to figure out when they're getting married and what colors and flowers they're using so I can finish designing it and then stitch the little bugger.

Bells are ringing...

Well, my brother is engaged.  It just happened today and mom got all huffy when I asked her to pause the movie I was watching when she was trying to tell me about it, so I still don't know how it went down.  LOL.  She did the whole pouty, idiot thing and refused to tell me more, so I'll get the story tomorrow as I go to work.

I hope I have more time for this wedding because I would like to make he and his really quite awesome fiancee a beautiful wedding announcement.  Um, I'd also like to lose a moderate amount of weight so I don't appear too huge in any wedding photos.

She just came down and now that the movie's over she's talking to me about it.  It sounds like his very well-hidden romantic streak came to the fore in a big way.  Alright!  I'm so proud of him.

Interesting article I found

I think, if I ever get married, I'll do what this couple did.  I'm not an atheist, but I do get sick of the constant use of gods and other such higher powers in what, to me, is a legal matter.

Atheist wedding

Fabric dyeing time

I'm happy.  I just bought some fabric to dye for my nephew's dragon and hoped it was big enough since it was a good three inches smaller on each side than the one I bought from Polstitches.  It is.  I guess I bought the other one much larger than I needed.  So a night's work dyeing the fabric and then washing and letting it dry and I can start on a neat-o dragon again.  Wahoo!

Just for kicks, I've been looking at getting a Droid when I can upgrade this one.  I really really really want one.  I've been playing with them and talking to others who have them.  I absolutely do not need one, but I absolutely want one.

WIPs

Well, When Witches Go Riding is on hold.  I found out that my neighbor made Eagle Scout and is having his banquet in September.  There is a really nice Eagle Scout badge free cross-stitch pattern I found online.  I've already started it.  It looks like it'll turn out quite nice. 

As for my nephew's dragon, I just saw the same pattern done on plain white aida and it looked spectacular.  I may forego re-ordering the fabric and just stitch it on that. 

So, I'll only have three WIPs for the near future: the badge, the dragon and the Wiehenburg Sampler.

I'm also buying the patterns from an LJ cohort for some hardanger projects by Victoria Sampler.  They are stunning and I've wanted to try hardanger for a while now.  I just have to get over my squeamishness about cutting holes in my fabric!

*sigh* Of course

I misread the date and time for entries to be dropped off at the fair. They had to be dropped off by last night. Judging closed today at 10am. I'll just put them away and enter them next year. It's just so frustrating. I really wanted to enter them and get feedback from other stitchers live. So stupid.

Here are pics of the pieces I was going to enter, anyway.

Here's my version of my LJ group's last MSAL. It was originally charted for cross-stitch, but I'm strange and just had to do it in specialty stitches and add the border and the motifs in the middle. Kathy designed it as a sudoku puzzle!

And here is my version of Ink Circles' Growth Rings. Finally done. It only took me over a year.

Here is the other thing I've finished in the last three weeks. Tree Frog Trio by Dimensions. I, of course, felt it was lacking something as it was designed so I just had to add the words to it. I have the frame and mat for it, I just have to put them all together.

And just because, here is my current WIP, When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler. I'm doing it over one on 28 count fabric. The pamphlet also includes some designs I might be able to adapt to an interesting biscornu in the future.

I was going to enter the two wall hangings and the blackwork Celtic cross I made Mom a few years ago. I'm so pissed at myself, because I could have had them finished in time. I put it off like the idiot I am because I thought I had time. I think I need to put procrastination on my list of nasty habits to get rid of.

Simple stupidity

Sometimes it amazes me how simple skills elude me.  I'm trying to finish my entries for the Northeast Fair (since I have to turn them in today) and I can't even remember how to thread the bobbin of my sewing machine.  It'll be Mommy to the rescue in a few minutes, but seriously, I'm 34 years old.  In my defense, the last time I used the machine was over a year ago...and I had only used it twice before that, but you'd think I'd remember the basic stuff, wouldn't you?

I'll post pics of the finished entries in a few hours.  One is done.  I had to stitch it by hand since I couldn't find the machine thread for it.  Grandma's thread box had some hand quilting thread I used instead.  It was sort of my experiment piece anyway, since I also misplaced the instructions for the wall hangings and used it to figure out how I'd put the silly thing together.  Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm using the machine to sew up Growth Rings.

My cousin recently joined Facebook.  She is one of the grandchildren that has essentially disowned my grandfather, who only has 3-6 months left thanks to his lung cancer.  I just sent her a letter telling her how he was doing when my mother and I visited him last weekend.  Hopefully, being confronted with the severity of Grandpa's condition she'll start to think that maybe, just maybe, she should visit him.  I hope.

TARDIS Rain barrel

We got a rain barrel to try to save water for the garden we're putting in.  It is the same color as the TARDIS!  I'm trying to figure out a way to con Mom into letting me paint it just like my favorite time travel machine.

Sampler colors. Decisions, decisions

I've been coming up with color combinations for the different motifs in the Bush Mountain / Wiehenburg Sampler contest.  I've decided to use as few colors as possible.  I figure if I use DMC Variations 4045 for the one green I want to use and nine other colors I should be able to make it rather interesting, if simple.  I want to use two colors, maybe four of beads to use in the "unstitched" places in the corner butterflies.  Each of the butterflies will be stitched in black otherwise.  There are 23 other motifs including a dandelion-type center motif that I can't decide whether or not I want to stitch in one or two different yellows.

I have to have this stitched by Halloween.  The deadline is actually November 25th, but I'll be working on NaNoWriMo at that point.  It's all full cross-stitch anyway, so that should be doable. 

Of course, I'm also in the middle of stitching the Livejournal MSAL in specialty stitches instead of cross-stitches and Growth Rings.  Once I finish stitching Growth Rings and the MSAL I have to re-order the fabric for Nick's Dragon so I can get that done before he gets home in August.  Then I can pick up on College of Magical Knowledge at home and the Christmas gifts I never actually finished as my travel projects.

New computer!

I have a new computer!  I'm playing on my new, little HP Pavilion dm3 right now.  I like this little guy.  It has a 13 inch screen, tons of memory and I haven't wanted to pitch it across the room yet.  I chose the computer WITHOUT a cd/dvd-rom.  It's external and this makes this sucker so light it's not even funny. 

Now, I just have to wait for my new version of Family Tree Maker and I can go wild at the library again.  I'm just not sure yet if I want to put iTunes on it or wait until I can afford another 1 TB hard drive.  The current plan is to take all extraneous stuff off the old computer, plunk it on a desk from which it shall never move and just use this one for my on-the-go computer.  The old one will be the gaming/movie/music computer.  I figure I'll add PCStitch to this one so I can design anywhere.  Basically, this one will be for research, though.

That's the plan, anyway.  We'll see how it goes.  I just have to avoid the temptation of ZooTycoon and Civ III, which I haven't been able to play on the other due to memory issues.  If I clear the huge database programs off the old one, though, I should have enough memory to use it for them.  I hope.

Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long and Growth Rings

Well, just for kicks I'm doing something called simply TUSAL (see title for translation).  We just display our ORT jars each New Moon to see the cool stuff we're all doing.  Thread, fabric, beads, yarn, needles and pins are all fair game as long as they are from your stitchy projects.  Here's mine (a bit late) for the March New Moon.

I decided to dress mine up a bit, so I stitched a Celtic knot for the jar lid and a little label for the jar.  Let's see, the major source of Orts right now is Growth Rings, with some threads from the MSAL I'm doing on my Livejournal group.

As for Growth Rings, here's what she looked like on the New Moon.

There's a sort-of new fabric store right next to White's Sewing Center that caters to quilters and I managed to find the perfect fabric to finish Growth Rings into a wall-hanging when I'm done with her.  If things go according to plan, that should be by the end of the month.

Gorgeous Men, Movies, Stitching and Sickness

I've been having a movie marathon today.  I started it and will be ending it with Bruce Greenwood.  Damn, that man is gorgeous.

Star Trek, The Pirate Movie, National Treasure and National Treasure 2

A few more days of prednisone and another week or so of antibiotics and maybe I'll actually feel well enough to go out on the weekend.  The good part is that I managed to stitch enough of Growth Rings to achieve the Bronze medal for our LiveJournal Stitching Olympics.  If I move my ass today and tomorrow I'll get the Silver.  I've even gotten part of the second page done for the Gold medal. 

I'll have to feel well (or at least decent) by Wednesday.  We're going to Celtic Women for Mom's birthday present.

Update

Wow.  Almost two months without a post.  I guess I should update a bit.  I confess to getting addicted to Farmville on facebook and just generally not bothering to get on the computer much in the past few months.

Anyway, for two, brief shining weeks I was a college student again.  My mother mentioned this to my family at Christmas and my brother's girlfriend warned me of something I hadn't thought about.  The college I was going to get my bachelor's degree through turns out not to be accredited by any of the groups accepted by the schools I wanted to go on to afterwards.  So, I disenrolled and am back to square one regarding school.  So much for the affordable option.  I'm back to trying to figure out how to afford Thomas Edison State College and still eat, pay for the bloody car, etc.

My brother is now deployed overseas again.  This time Mom and I got to say goodbye.  In a way I wish I hadn't gone.  He was all sorts of affectionate to his girlfriend (very nice, I like her a lot and hope she sticks) but basically ignored Mom and I.  I mean, he could have at least treated Mom with a bit more love.  I don't expect anything from him in the way of caring for myself, but not to give Mom any real attention was just wrong.  *sigh*  It's him, though.  I shouldn't have expected anything else.

Even being an asshole, he is my brother and if anything happens to the little shit I'll be devastated.  He'd better keep his head down and his butt covered.

I've gotten a new library card and have been using it often.  I'm currently reading The Great Influenza by John Barry.  It's really good.  I like the fact that he seems fair and is talking about both good moves and mistakes made by the government, military and medical people involved, as well as the civilians.  Out of curiosity I looked at some of the Scranton papers for the time and was amazed by the ads for the patent medicines all over the place.  The flu wasn't even the top story, even though Scranton was reporting a ton of deaths.  The war stayed the focus of the media and that's exactly what the government wanted.  They wanted the whole country working as a machine to support the war.  It's really interesting.

I still have to finish my Christmas gifts for a few friends since I just didn't feel like stitching the entire holiday season.  I also have to finish crocheting my Ravenclaw scarf for myself.  I have to restart from scratch my nephew's dragon since it somehow acquired a huge hole in an area I just can't fix.  Once I finish the book, I'll start stitching gifts again.

That's it.  Back to research since I'm at the library doing genealogy right now.

Fandom crocheting

Okay, I've been making myself a scarf for the winter (if it ever gets here!). It's a Ravenclaw scarf of Silver and Blue. Yes, yes, the books call for Bronze and Blue, but I like silver better, so there. I'll stick with the movies' interpretation on this one. Anyway, I figure I should make a hat and gloves to go with the scarf. I found a couple of patterns for gloves that I like. No problems there. The problem is the hat.

I thought I'd just go with a generic skully-type. I just came across this site, with instructions for a crocheted Jayne Cobb hat. I'm tempted. Oh, am I tempted. It's just that doing it in yellow, orange and red would totally clash with the scarf theme I've got going on right now. So, maybe in silver, blue and another color? Maybe a darker blue? Of course, I'm trying to stick with all recycled yarns, so that would limit my selection. Also, this particular pattern calls for chunky yarn and I haven't come across a recycled chunky yet. It really should be a simple hat, so maybe I could work it out myself...

Temptation and fandoms. Now, if I could just find a decent winter crochet pattern to bring in Star Trek, Doctor Who and Stargate, I'd be thrilled.

Fearless Vampire Killers

I'm watching Roman Polanski's Fearless Vampire Killers.  It has some funny moments, but in general this is a very unfunny movie.  I must just not get this humor.

Cake!

I baked a cake.  It's yellow cake with chocolate funfetti frosting.  It's GF and tastes good!  Betty Crocker has come out with yellow and chocolate cake, brownie and chocolate chip cookie mixes.  All GF and made in a dedicated facility.  Awesome!

Of course, me being the crummy (no pun intended) baker I am, I nearly ruined it.  I put the butter in the microwave to soften it and started mixing the ingredients before I remembered it was still in there! 

Next time, I'm thinking Vanilla-Apple Cake.  Mix our homemade apple sauce instead of water, maybe some dried apple bits added to the batter and top it with the cinnamon apple ice cream topping we sell at work.  I think I need to go down and slice myself a small piece of cake before bed.

I just got my iPod back and it has sound coming from both headphones!  Yay!  Oh, and got my phone fixed, too.  So, now back to writing since I didn't at all yesterday.  I still need to crash some day this week.  I'm so exhausted.

8.4%

NaNoWriMo - 8.4% complete, 4195 done, 45,805 more words to go.

One of the shorts is done.  Two others are started.  I think one is going to be longer than a short story, maybe middle range.  I guess it just depends on what trouble Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson get themselves into.  I'm not yet sure what the mark they found on the chest at Anthony Gethryn's house means, other than a plane ride to another continent.  At some point they or another character from Elysia is going to have to encounter flying monkeys and a trebuchet, though.

NaNoWriMo started

Off to a decent start so far. I surpassed the word goal for the day. We'll see how well I can keep it up. However, I have to go do some chores right now. Ugh! I love laundry, don't you?

Heaven and Earth Designs is evil, I tell you. Evil!

HAED is an evil design company. I found a new pattern I really really really want and Mom already has whatever my Christmas present is on layaway somewhere. WAH!

Except for Celtic Cross, this is just the stuff I like from what they've added in the last month. I need to win the Powerball so I can Stash and S.E.X. and then quit my job and do nothing but stitch and read.

Sanctuary of Knowledge - New top of my HAED wishlist
Audobon - I like this one, reminds me of a Klimt painting
My Pretty Blues - I like the smirk on this dragon
Faux Fabulous - What can I say other than, "It's a frog!"
Fablemaker - I want to cover my walls with every single one of James Christensen's designs!
Tinderbox - I have no clue why I like this one, I just do.
Pescatus Mechanicus - Erin, you have to look at this one! Atlantean Steampunk? Here's the artist's site: Ciro Marchetti
Medusa - I've always felt sorry for her and this is an amazing rendition
Dreams of Gaudi - So maybe Marchetti will join Christensen in my "Everything done by them" list


Mom would love this one: Celtic Cross

Anger = exercise

Found a way to inspire me to go to the gym: get me so furious I can't even relax enough to read or stitch to make myself calm down.  It worked yesterday.

cell phone happiness

My brother got my nephew a cell phone for his birthday. We've been swapping text messages lately and now we're swapping voice messages. I love those little buggers so much, even if my nephew's first conversation with me was him pulling a very successful prank on me.

Lists

I've been seeing 101 lists all over the place and some are extremely profound.  I'd like to make one of my own.  I know I make a list of goals for myself each birthday.  I rarely fulfill them.  I've been working on the damned driver's license forever now.  Things are happening right now in my family life that will probably mean I'll have to get it as soon as humanly possible, though.  More on that after the 1st, which is when all of the information will become available to me and decisions will have to be made.

I keep telling myself the gym is important and it is.  Following a strict Gluten-free diet.  Going back to school and actually making something of my life.  Writing a book.  Publishing it might be nice, but the writing of it most important.  Maybe sell some cross-stitch designs.  Learn ASL.  Relearn German. 

I need to sit down and really think about this.  I wonder what it will tell me about myself.

PCStitch woes

Okay, I'm frustrated.  I wanted to do a new design.  Since I now have my computer, I wanted to put PCStitch Pro 9 on it, which is on Mom's computer since this one was acting up when I got it.  The disc has disappeared so I tried to copy the files from one computer to the other and now not even the old version of PCStitch I had on here will work.  Argh!

Time for major fiddling to figure out what's wrong.

Cross-stitch update

I have some pictures to show off.  I have a teeny little finished piece of a scooter that I'm going to make into a magnet using some old Red Barons fridge magnets.  (Name removed to protect the guilty.)  The scooter was in one of last month's British mags, the name of which escapes me at the moment, except that it was supposed to be stitched in pinks.  Ugh!  So, I converted it to greens.

The next pictures are the WIPs I'm actively working on right now.  Herbs & Spices will be going to my cousin for Christmas and should be finished and framed by Halloween.  It's from a very old Cross Stitch & Country Crafts, October 1988, in fact.

This is Crescent Dragon from Joan Elliott's Bewitching Cross-Stitch for my nephew.

And this is Growth Rings by the designer Ink Circles.  It was in one of the American magazines a few months ago.  I can track it down if someone wants to know.  I'm using DMC 4130 and 4140.

Stargate cross-stitch geekdom

One of my fellow stitchers on the LiveJournal Cross-Stitch community made a gorgeous design based on the stained-glass windows from Stargate: Atlantis.  I am so damned tempted to make a large design of the windows myself.  Not like I don't have a million other things to do, right?

Yippee Skippy!

I have my computer back and running!  She's awesome.  I've already done some research at the library and updated my iPod finally.

Now my goal is to clean all the sundry stuff off it and stash it and iTunes on my external hard-drive so my baby runs faster.  Life is good and it's time for me to get off the computer so I can finish cinnamon on my Herbs & Spices sampler.

Stashing

You know, maybe fixing my computer will be a bad thing. Using Mom's once or twice a week or so cuts down on the time I spend looking for more stash. I just made a wish list on 123 Stitch. Eep! It's huge.

But I'll let my family know about it anyway, just in case one of them wants to buy something on it for me. ;p

Saving change makes me happy...

I have enough saved to fix my computer finally! Yay! And it's all saved out of change, which I'll admit to dipping into on more than one occasion. Now to send the computer off on Monday and hopefully see it back here by the middle of next week.

Okay, time to get off the computer and actually do some chores.

We have a new car.  It's a copper Pontiac Sunfire, stick shift.  It'll be interesting to learn to drive on, if not as easy it would have been on the Civic.  I still don't want to learn how to drive.

Test post from mobile phone.

My Dragon ate my car and I had to kill both.

Well, we've lost the car.  It died last night while we were taking the kids home from another failed attempt to play miniature golf at the Red Barn Village in Clarks Summit.  It feels like everything is going wrong lately.  I can't afford to go to Dragon*Con.  I'm going to use the money saved in my special jar to fix my computer.  As for this PIA computer, I just spent an hour or two cleaning caches and getting rid of unneeded programs and such to clean up its performance.

I have a headache.

Beaker - Ode to Joy

You gotta love Beaker from the Muppets.

And just for fun, it's old, but still very cool.

Six Degrees of Star Trek

I've decided I need some sleep.  For the last two days at work, I have been amusing myself and keeping myself from falling asleep) by playing a Star Trek version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon".  Strangely and scarily enough, I haven't failed to match a person with Star Trek yet.  I even managed to connect Bela Lugosi.  Bela played in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which has Vincent Price as The Invisible Man, who also played the inventor in Edward Scissorhands with Winona Ryder, who played Amanda Grayson in the newest movie.  So, Bela to Vincent Price to Winona Ryder.  Not bad.

Wendy told me I need a new hobby.  I told her I just need a nap.  I'm just too damned tired to sleep.  I watch too much TV.

Crochet fun stuff

Being newly hooked (no pun intended) on crochet, I've been looking at everything I can do with it. Here's something that looks like fun. It's a crocheted coral reef. briging together awareness of the dismal state of the coral reefs in the world, crochet and mathematics. How awesome is that?

Various amigurumi pages:
Flickr amigurumi pool
Star Trek Voyager cast
Spockboy Sackboy
Star Trek Mirror Universe cast
Harry Potter Trio
A dragon I like
Lemmings!

Iranian elections

Those saying our government needs to get involved in the election of Iran need to read this from Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic.

Bull vs. matador: Bull won

Apparently, a Spanish matador was gored during a bullfight on May 27th. AOL filed it under gruesome sports injuries. All I could say was good for the bull and too bad he missed the guy's heart. In the picture you can see blood all over the bull's hide from the swords sticking out of him. Sounds to me like a little payback was in order.

Star Trek Cross Stitch!

I found something online I really have to share: Star Trek cross-stitch!  She even shared the pattern.

Busy days - work, play and Star trek

I really do exist. Besides work, I've been doing a lot of crochet and glue gunning lately. The crochet for a friend's birthday and Mom's incipient Belle's Blankets and the glue gunning and quilting for a friend's wedding accessories.

Here's a picture of the accessories. I used white, blue and brown ribbon with freshwater button pearls as accents. For the pillow and book I quilted one layer with a design all involved seemed to like from the book 1,000 Great Quilting Designs using DMC 938 and 827. Thankfully, for my sanity's sake, they loved everything...and it was a beautiful wedding, full of laughter - perfect for them.

Here's my version of Dave the Barbarian's pet dragon Faffy. I used the pig design from the book Toys to Crochet and just kind of "winged" it for the alterations I had to make to make it a dragon. Thank the gods for felt. The wings are orange felt in a vague wing-shape stitched onto pipe cleaners and sewn like there's no tomorrow into the back of the dragon. The patches are just single crocheted circles sewn onto his back. Horns are rolled up tubes of felt, sewn like crazy and the eyes, tongue and nose are glue-gunned onto him. Ben really liked it and actually recognized it without any prompting.

As for Belle's Blankets (named after Grandma), Mom wants to start a group of people that make afghans and throws for the vets at the VA hospitals around here. I figure I'll do a massive granny square and use up the rest of some of the skeins of yarn I've managed to collect in the past couple of months. Oh, I also have my Grim Reaper nearly finished. He needs his accessories and a face. I'll take a picture of him when he's finished. For an idea of what he should look like, check out the lower left-hand corner of the cover of Creepy Cute Crochet. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to alter Cthulu to make him into a Ood for Dragon*Con. It shouldn't be too hard. Oh, I also get to try to catch up on my neglected stitching.

Mom broke her ankle and my new camera on Easter. It's healing nicely and I had to buy another new camera, which is regrettably bubble-gum pink but will do what I need it to do. She's healing fine. We got new cell phones and numbers. I've somehow managed to resist killing my co-workers these last two weeks. Did I mention I got my driver's permit on Friday? We'll see how long it takes for Mom to nag me about the lessons. I may have a week's grace. I also saw Star trek on Friday. It was really good. I'm still in a little shock over some things they did with it, but it was really good. Go see it!

Promiscuity and gay rights

Okay, there's a poll out there asking if legal marriage will reduce "gay promiscuity".  Forgive me if I'm asking the wrong question, but when did it ever reduce straight promiscuity?  Some of the straight men I know are bigger sluts than gay men I know.  Seriously, in the case of men, it's still encouraged to have all the lovers you can get away with.  Look at one of the icons of the last century and beyond, James Bond.  How he's walking around without some terrible STD, I'll never know.  Hell, he even got married once.  Of course, we have to assume he would have been faithful to her since she died so quickly after the wedding, but with him, who knows.

Promiscuous people (gay or straight) will be promiscous no matter what laws are enacted.  Separate that issue from that of pure civil rights.  Yeesh.

Costuming Dilemma

I have a dilemma.  I can make one of two costumes for Dragon*Con.    I can either dress as Donna Noble from the the Doctor Who episode "Fires of Pompeii" or Stella Mudd from the original Star Trek episode "I, Mudd."  Donna's costume will be a lot easier to do, especially given the odd fabric I'd need for Stella's costume, but it would be a heck of a lot of fun to randomly point at some poor schmuck and screech out, "Harcourt Fenton Mudd!"  Maybe I can hold off on Stella until next year.  That should give me plenty of time to either find or hand-dye the fabric for the pantsuit and coat.

Anyone have any ideas?

Donna's costume is the one she's wearing when she's about to be sacrified in this trailer.  Stella's costume is on this clip.

Travel snarl

Mom and I got cought in this traffic nightmare yesterday when we tried to take a quick trip down to Bethlehem to visit the Banana Factory.  We drove up 209 after Saylorsburg and tried to get back on 33 too early and ended up traveling 191 down to Bethlehem via Nazareth.  We went home via 22 and then 309.  Oy!

The Shower and DC

Mom and I had a lot of fun in DC over the weekend.  We got in Friday night and just vegged.  We went to the pool where the chlorine in the water stripped out most of my new hair color.  I tried not to let it get wet at first, but couldn't resist going underwater.  Mom likes it better even if I don't.  I like it bright red!

Saturday we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum.  It was really cool.  There's even a puzzle for you to solve while you're touring it.

Mom stayed at the hotel when I went to the shower.  Her costume for me won the best costume contest!  Everyone kept complimenting me on it.  I even managed to stay in the four inch heels for three full hours before having to take them off.  I had a lot of fun.  I can finally show off the reason I was going so crazy about learning crochet.  Amigurumi Sunni and Brian!

My computer is back for the moment!

I love my computer. I actually managed to get it working for the last few days. I love it as much as I hate my mother's computer! I still have to get the powerport fixed, but if I can keep it working until my friend can find the time to fix it, I'll be okay.

I've gotten into amigurumi and have finally managed to figure out crochet. I've only tried it on and off for the last 20-odd years. Mom has tried to teach me a bunch of times. I guess it just took me really wanting and needing to know how to crochet so I could make my cute little dolls. Once I get better at it, I'm going to try to figure out how to make my own patterns for some Harry Potter, Velgarth and Tammy dolls. I guess making sweaters and such just never appealed enough for me to want to learn it right. Oh, the link I found was of amigurumi lemmings!

Mom has pneumonia and is really being kicked in the ass by it.

I've started going back to the gym so I can lose a little bit of weight by Sunni's wedding. I've resigned myself to looking like a 50's style Blob for her shower. According to the pattern we got for the dress, I've somehow managed to balloon back up to size 26, while still wearing sizes 18-20 normally. Between that and trying to find undergarments that might make me look a little less lumpy, I was actually in tears. I've been mentioning duct tape. I think everyone thinks I'm kidding. I'm not.

Migraines, S.E.X. and obit

I hate migraines.  I really hate migraines.  I ended up calling off work today because of one that started yesterday. 

When it finally got to the low-level pain range Mom and I went out to the bank to set up the tax savings account and Mimi's Attic where we spent $40 at a half-off sale.  I bought a design I might make for Sunni's wedding.  I'm going to ask Sheri if she thinks Sun and Brian will actually like it first, though.  If she does, then I'll play around converting colors to bronze and blue.

I've been staring at the screen for about an hour now and my eyes are starting to go a little buggy, so I'm off in a minute.  I just want to mention one thing.  Julia Guddy died on Wednesday.  She was Grandma's roommate at Allied when she died in November and was always really nice to her and concerned about her.  Julia's daughter made a very nce blog for her mom: http://www.juliaguddy.blogspot.com/  She was a nice lady.

family

I do still exist.  I've just not been on the computer for at least a week.  I just had to wade through 478 emails. 

My niece and nephew have been in since before Christmas.  Mom and I drove out to Missouri (she drove, I rode) to pick them up.  We're doing it again on Friday when they leave.  I know I'm going to miss them.  I love having them here. 

My brother is talking about the possibility of them moving back here in the summer for good.  I hope it happens, the school they're in right now is terrible.  They haven't even been taught cursive writing yet and my niece is not reading at the level she should be or speaking correctly. 

If it does happen, I'll be watching them after school on the days my brother is working.  He's talking about putting them in the school my aunt teaches at.

laptop woes

The power port on my laptop is officially dead.  It simply won't charge.  So I'm using Mom's stinky computer until I can send it away to be repaired. I found a place that will repair it with a lifetime warranty for $125.  I'm thinking this is a good deal. Now to scrounge up $125 right before Christmas?  Yeah, right.  I think my secondary goal for NaNo might have to be pushed back until after the new year, since all my work is on the computer that won't even boot up.  At least I was able to download some songs onto my nephew's new iPod before it died.  He'll be able to listen to it for Christmas.

recovery

We're not getting as much done on the house as I thought we would.  Neither of us has the drive to stick around the house.  It's going to take a while to get to the point where we're not waiting for the other shoe to drop.  That's what it's felt like living here for the last few years, as if something bad was always about to happen. 

We found the will in the most unlikely of places.  After tearing apart any logical place (what were we thinking?) we had pretty much given up on finding the will.  Mom cleaned Grandma's clothing out of the upstairs closet and then ignored the closet becuase as far as we knew, everything on the shelf above was TAFH's, grandpa's flag and some games.  Well. the other day after I tore apart a few illogical places, I happened to look up at just the right angle and saw a tan security box on the shelf.  I figured it couldn't hurt to look, so I got it down and opened it.  It was unlocked and had the keys in the pouch they came in inside! 

This was actually a good thing because the will was in there as well as Grandma's and Grandpa's birth certificates, the deed for the house when it was sold to HER parents and some little bits of paperwork from Grandpa's funeral.  The funniest thing was that the majority of the important paperwork was downstairs in non-fire-proof boxes.  Oh, and the fact that the keys were inside it unlocked.  Nobody even knew she had this box.  I wonder when she bought it.  Actually, my oldest aunt never even knew about the will, though it had been drawn up in 1970.  She didn't know she was the executrix (now they're called administrators) of Grandma's estate.  You'd think Grandma would have told her when she drew it up, wouldn't you?

Anyway, we're cleaning the house and separating her stuff from ours.  Anything of hers that we think is still good or anyone would like we're putting in the front room to be looked at by the relatives later.  We've brought a bunch of bags of clothing to the Salvation Army, the ARC and St. Francis of Assissi.  We gave Aunt L the canned goods that we can't eat for Feed-A-Friend. 

We've already taken down the bathroom "decorations" TAFH made for Grandma and have redone it in greens.  UGH!  Blue and pink.  *shudder*  I've hated that color scheme for years and the dark/light green that's in there now brightens and lightens the room up considerably.  We replaced the heavy curtain with sheers and now light can actually get into the bathroom.  Mom wants to repaint the room to cover the faux marble finish on the paneled walls.

We defrosted the freezer yesterday and put our Thanksgiving turkey in it, then tackled the rest of the pantry.  It's not done, but we cleared out a bunch of stuff and put it in the front room.  Also we cleaned out the mouse droppings from the shelved area.  Grandma wouldn't let us move anything to clean behind there and our house has always been mouse central.  Some of the stuff we just had to throw out, they were covered.  We're probably very lucky the AAA never saw the pantry.

Anyway, we still have the majority of the upstairs to do.  Tomorrow will be a wasted day, so we need to get as much done today as possible.  Unfortunately, we're just getting up and at'em right now.  I read earlier and have been playing on the internet.  We have to go to the store for more garbage bags and to return a video rental, so after that I imagine we'll be going cleaning nuts.  Oh, we have to clean out the little bedroom to bring the bed back upstairs.  I think I'll do that while Mom tackles the rest of the pantry.  Yuck.

Funeral and now

The funeral was beautiful, as much as one of them can be, anyway.  My cousin A sang at the funeral and at the chapel in Cathedral.  She was great.  My brother, a few cousins and uncles were the pallbearers.  Two of my cousins and I did the offerings and my brother and cousins J and K did readings.  Cousin B gave the eulogy.  They all did great.  My uncle played guitar for A when she sang Danny Boy and Carolina Moon at the chapel.  Then we went to the grave and I, of course, wanted to clean off Grandpa's.  But I had to stop.  I did help clean off my aunt and uncle's when we went to it with their children.  I always do.

Stirna's was, of course, where we held the after-funeral brunch.  It's where everyone holds them in North Scranton!  Mrs. Gavin is really cool.  She made sure the food was all GF (except for the lovely pastries and rolls, which I didn't touch).

Now the fun part is cleaning the house, sorting Grandma's things from ours and letting everybody make off with what they want to keep of hers.  I'm currently making a calendar I intend to follow to get all of the cleaning done by Thanksgiving, which is when all the horse-trading is supposed to take place and still TRY to get NaNo and my required stitching done.

The weirdest thing of all was that last weekend there were FOUR deaths among my co-workers.  One of my closer friends there lost his grandmother, as well.  A cashier and one of the pharmacy ladies also lost relatives.  Weird.

Viewing

It's over.  I still and will always hate viewings.  I find them to be pointless and insane.  smiled and nodded and hugged and thank-you'd everyone who came.  I DO appreciate the fact that they came to support us.  I just wish there was another way to do it.  Thankfully, I actually knew a good majority of the people that showed and could laugh with a lot of them.  One of the co-workers that drives me absolutely batty came.  I'm not really surprised, actually.  She can be amazingly sweet at times.  It's the other 90% of the time I want to murder her.  Today, it was sweet.

I had to make a break for the statue a few times.  I let myself leave the funeral parlor on the hour, each hour so I could just sit, talk to Her and breathe for a few minutes.  I'm very pleased with myself and how I held up.  The only time I teared up was when I was talking with one of my cousins about how much I hated doing viewings.  Then I sucked it up and went over to greet more relatives like a big girl (with a masochistic streak). 

The worst part was not having anything to do with my hands.  I kept clenching them.  Even if I could have had some crochet or something non-patterned I would have been fine.  *snort*  I'm telling you, this stupid viewing is Grandma's last revenge on me and my ADD.  She's laughing her ass off in heaven (or the other place) and pointing down at me right now.  She damn well better be saying she's proud of me for not having just made a complete break for it and being pretty much entirely sociable, even when I was so jittery my hands were shaking apart.  ;p

So, tomorrow I get to be at the church at 8:30 am.  Mass is at 9:30 and brunch at Stirna's (where else?) is around 11 am.  Getting there.  By 1 pm or so, this should all be over with and I can go home, relax, do laundry and psych myself up for work on Tuesday at the "bright and shining" hour of 4 am.

On a writing positive note, everyone commented on the obit I wrote.  They all loved it.  Oh, and I finished the map for my NaNo this morning before the viewing and have decided my characters are not going to escape the city, they're going to burn down the temple and lead a revolution instead.  Sira's going to have fun getting all flamey when she fights the other dragon.

Pre-Viewing

The viewing starts in a few hours, two and a half to be exact, but apparently I have to be at Knight-O'Donnell by 3:30.  So I have one hour and forty-five minutes to somehow make myself ready to greet mourners for four hours.  I can't bring any stitching, of course.  Mom's already said she'll kill me if I do.  I wonder if a small notebook to work on NaNo will work.  Everybody says it'll go fast.  Maybe for someone who doesn't have a near phobia of the damn places in the first place.  I can't wait for this hell to begin, let me tell you.

In the meantime, I'm listening to Pandora and trying to do a little retconning for my NaNo.  Oh, and trying to avoid the really good-looking hoagies my cousin brought over for us.  Damned Celiac Disease!

Funeral planning 3

How does one get through funeral planning without adding a body to the hole being dug for the deceased?  Any hints?

Funeral planning 2

Not doing the pallbearing thing.  Mom needs me with her.  Will deal with that later.

Funeral planning

Grandma, Mom and her other sisters had done a lot of end-of-life planning before this, so a lot of the stuff a person generally has to do has already been done.  The casket and that type of stuff was already taken care of.  However, things like the music and flowers are things we've needed to do. 

It's so strange.  I am both sad and happy at the same time.  I'm just not sure if it's selfish happiness as in, "Wahoo!  I don't have to be a caregiver anymore" or "She's with Grandpa finally and at peace."  I think it might be a little of both actually.

Anyway, I'm going to be a pallbearer.  I've requested it.  I NEED to do it.  It's the last thing I can do for her.  Hah!  The females in the family who have heard the plan so far are pretty much acting like, "Okay, whatever."  The guys have, if not questioned it, then at least noted the uniqueness of the idea.  I looked up a few things on pallbearing, specifically female pallbearers and I see it's not an old idea at all.  Apparently nuns do it all the time and there was a lady back in the 40's whose friend did it because guys never took her out when she was alive and she didn't want them taking her out when she was dead!  Mom and TAFH want my oldest female cousin to do it, as well, if she can.  This would mean all of the grandchildren are playing an active role in the funeral.

Well, the aunts and my uncle are coming over at 9am to plan the rest of whatever else has to happen.  I'm going to go to Borders around 1pm for the NaNo write-in.  Even if I don't get much accomplished, I need to get away from funeral planning for a while.  Maybe I'll look for a more somber outfit to wear at the funeral while I'm out.  All of my skirts are pretty brightly colored.

RIP Grandma

This morning my mother got a phone call from the nursing home.  Grandma is dead.  She passed away between 1:30 and 3 am.  She looked like she was asleep and a hell of a lot more peaceful than she has for years.  This is what we wanted for her, to just fall asleep and not be in pain anymore.  Mom's pretty sure she stuck around just long enough to vote in one last election because she really couldn't stand McCain.

RIP Grandma.  Say "hi" to Grandpa for me.  I love you.

6506!

Well, I can't get onto the website, so I'll post my first totals here for now.
November 1st - 6506 words

When I can get on the webpage, I'll actually update it, but for now I'll just post them here.  I'm not going to spend all day and night obsessed with it.

Cheers and I'm off to write until about 5pm, then I'll switch over to stitching.

NaNo Yay! and stitching.

It's November 1st and I've already written almost 4000 words. Not to jinx myself, but this story is flowing so far.

I'll try to write 8000-10000 words today, if possible, then take off tomorrow to stitch on the Mermaid. Then I'll try to OD on words again on Monday and stitch on Tuesday or Wednesday. Basically, I'll just try to write as much as possible for one or two days, then take off a day of writing for stitching.

Hopefully this works.

Oh, Mom and the others are going to talk to Grandma about what she wants: to keep fighting or to just give up. She's on the giving up side of the coin right now, I think. If she wants to, they'll let her and not argue about her eating or therapy and such. She's lost 12 pounds in the last three weeks. This is not healthy.

NaNoWriMo

Well, it's official. I'll be doing the NaNoWriMo. Kim, Andrew, Megan and I went to the Kick-Off party today. I even signed a "contract". Oh, and I ended up with a free pen with green ink! I'm blending two of my story ideas together. They seem to have sprung from the same universe but at different times. So, the Rescue story will be the beginning and the Cats story will be the end. I just have to get from one to the other in a somewhat logical fashion.

I've decided that I'm going to split my time up very carefully to ensure that I get my stitching and the writing done. I wish the NaNo was happening in a different month, actually. I have two large projects to finish and whatever ornaments Mom finally decides we're going to make. Yes, she is still undecided. *sigh* I will likely not be playing on the computer very often and my Mirabilia will not be worked on at all. So wish me luck while I play least in sight. If the Gods are generous I'll end up with the Chameleon and Mermaids finished and a book ready to be edited into a decent piece of fantasy literature.

***Fuming***

Some asshole told Grandma there was no hope of coming out of the Rehab facility.  If it was a real person and not her own fears talking and I find out who they are I will simply and utterly destroy them.  Now she doesn't want to eat or do her exercises.  She just wants to give up altogether.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Mom and I have a bad feeling it was my uncle.  He apparently has told TAFH (who is decidedly less Hellish these days but for the sake of consistency she will remain so named) that he doesn't want Grandma to go home.  What is it to him, really?  He wasn't her caregiver.  He barely comes over here.  Jerk.  He supposedly is thinking about Mom and I and how difficult it'll be to care for a much less self-sufficient Grandma, but does he really think he has ANY right to unilaterally make that decision for her and US?  No.  If it was him that planted that poisonous thought in her brain ...  ARGH!  He's her damned son and he should be encouraging her, not tearing her down.

Is it really illegal to kill people?  I could do it in a truly amusing way.  Honestly, I'm creative.  He (or whomever the jerkwad is) could mysteriously slip into a vat of chocolate at Gertrude Hawk's and for some strange reason be pushed under each time he came up for air.  Or how about death by music?  He could be tied to a chair, no, let's make him comfortable, his bed and be forced to listen to Britney Spears music for hours until he goes completely mad.  When released the poor creature would jump out of a twenty story building, plummetting to his death.  Or a really cool bounce, although I'm sure there would still be broken bones.

I'd be amused, anyway.

Long time no post

Wow, it's been over a month since I've posted. A lot has happened, actually.

Grandma broke her hip two weeks ago. She fell in the house going to the bathroom. Unfortunately, her kidney levels were too low for the surgeons to replace her hip right away, so she had to wait for a few days. They finally replaced it and thankfully, only had to do a partial replacement. The socket is still good, it was just the ball they had to replace. However, the day after? her surgery she had a stroke which affected her right side. That is, of course, the side she had to have replaced. Now she doesn't have to rebound from the surgery alone, she has to rebound from both stroke and surgery. She's doing alright, actually. Not well, but not terrible either. She's moving her right arm and starting to talk better. Her leg is moving but not a lot. If we can just get her to the point where she can use the walker she can come home. If she ends up confined to a wheelchair, I just see no way we can actually take care of her.

I've been the evil granddaughter and not visited her much. I'm leaving that to Mom, the aunts and my uncle. Their kids haven't gone out of their ways to visit, so I refuse to feel (too) guilty. I'm going to see her today, though. Then I'm going to a birthday party for one of my co-workers' kids. He's an absolute doll. I got him a Pokemon starter set.

Mom, Kim and I went to the Biden-Clinton rally last Saturday. It was really cool. I've never head Bill Clinton speak in person. The man only spoke for about five minutes, but he really is one hell of a speaker. Mrs. Biden (I'm blanking on her first name) introduced him and she was pretty cool in her own right. Then he introduced Hillary, who has a vigorous fanbase in the area, if anybody didn't actually know that already. She introduced Biden after her talk. I voted for her mostly because of her emphasis on education. She is really stumping hard for Obama/Biden. I like that. A little unity in the party is a nice thing for a change.

Biden's speech was amazing. He pulled no punches but at the same time didn't trash McCain's politics, if that makes any sense. He made sure he emphasized that McCain's policies are practically identical to Bush's and that those policies directly contributed to our current crises. Of course, I was thinking about the fact that NAFTA was a Clinton thing, but that mysteriously wasn't mentioned. I wonder why? ;p

I liked the comment Bill Clinton made about Hillary Clinton. She has apparently made more appearances hyping Obama than ANY defeated Presidential candidate. So, in my opinion, it took a woman to show the men in the game what class really looks like. Hopefully, it's an example future defeated candidates will emulate.

Oh, and Mom and I went to the RenFaire the weekend before grandma fell. It was loads of fun, even though it was raining. Also, I got some really really really important data from the marriage licenses I requested held for me in Philly. I found my great-great grandfather's name and my great-great grandmother's maiden name!!!!! How awesome is that? One chink in that family's brick wall, especially since the license indicated that both had been born in the USA which should lead me to more info in the Censuses, hopefully.

I know there's more I'm forgetting about, but that's it for now.