Okay, looks like the glitch, whatever it was, is fixed.  I'm still not sure what happened to lock me out of the "compose" function. 

Reading Freedom's Landing, by Anne McCaffrey. An oldie but a goodie; one of her juveniles.  Aliens kidnap humans to serve as slaves in their empire.  It's holding my attention, but it is so Mary Sue.

Good weekend!  I spent Saturday at Sharon's. Winalee showed up and we went over documentation for A&S projects using the Guided Documentation form from the Kingdom A&S site.  I think they both have a good understanding of where to go from here. Winalee and I will both proofread and nudge hem along the way to Magna Faire. Both Sharon and Jory took the class.  Sharon and I went out to a gardening store with wondrous stuff, and thence to JoAnn's, where I proceeded to try to buy the entire yarn department. Oh, and we gt quilling kits, too. She's already made a flower with hers, and it's beautiful.  I think she'll stick with it.

Winalee has asked me to knit a bag for her; it's the Turkish bag out of the new Piecework. We talked about that for a bit. Hilary never showed up.  Dave came with Nick, and he sat and wove a strip on his loom while Nick ran around ike the two year old he is. He's a cute kid.

We tried out the Scotch eggs recipe, and it was a real success. Dave suggested that instead of eggs we use a ball of cheese, and that was good too.  We all agreed the cheese neeeded to be different; something meltier. We used string cheese because it was the only thing we had on hand.  We'll try Monterey Jack, and something else to be determined. Sharon thinks the Scotch eggs/cheese should have stayed in the oven for a bit longer; we used 10 minutes per the recipe, and she thinks we should go with 12 or 15.

Sunday, off to fighter practice, and we had a lot of heavy fighters there, as well as, let's see, I think we had six rapier fighters as well.  Phylip came and fought a bit. I think I counted six heavies as well, with both Aethulwulf and Valdryk teaching in small groups as well as the whole. Among them, they managed to break four shields, and they've scheduled an armor night to repair the shields and work on armor in general. It was a good fighter practice.

On the way home from practice I stopped at K&S, the international grocery on Charlotte avenue, and picked up garlic, leeks, some hot sauce, and chipotles in adobe for some recipe Theo's trying. And the car wouldn't start again, because the anti-lock on the ignition is worn, and the key is worn, and the antilock now thinks I'm trying to steal the car and shuts down the ignition. I have to sit and wait for the computer to reset. I have to figure out some way to disarm it or disconnect it.  It's getting really annoying.

To infinity and beyond!

Home to straighten up and try a bowl of Theo's gumbo, which was defini

Still Can't Post Anything. Weird.

Okay, looks like it'll let me type in the block if I change everything to HTML, whatever that is.

Odd. I can't seem to post anything in th text block

Reading Aloha From Hell, by Richard Kadrey. It's the third in the Sandman Slim series. I have to figure out how to go to Dragon Con next year as Kassabian.

We're all working on Roman garb here. I have my tunica cut out, and now I have to do the sewing on it.  My enthusiasm knows no bounds.

It looks like Russia's pulling a reverse Cuban missile crisis on us, and they're going to come out smelling like roses.  I think it's win-win; we don't start another useless Middle Eastern war, and Putin still has his boy Assad in place. Of course, there are idiots among us who want the US to go to war; I think they're in the pay of Pentagon contractors. Who'll pay? The rest of us.

Reading Among Others, by Jo Walton. I've just started it, so no report yet.  Give me a couple of days.

I spent the weekend with Mom in Knoxville, and we went shopping, so of course I spent too much money. Never go shopping with your mom.  At least in our case, we sort of egg each other on and fill the cart before we know it.

So I have no money now, and must stay home and work on all the projects I have going on.  I still haven't washed all the fabric I bought at Sir's last month, so there's that to get done. And I have to make Roman garb for Coronation in September.  It'll keep me out of trouble. :)

Ugh. It's raining outside, darn it.  Maybe it'll let up by the time I have to drive to work.

Reading Fire, by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson. I've finished the first story, Phoenix, and I'm about to start the second. I've also finished the latest issue of Analog.  Well, the stories. The editorials and science articles, not so much. I just didn't feel much like reality.

Stayed home from work today with a migraine, and I see now that it's raining.  Must have been the change in the weather. Anyway, after the judicious application of prescription drugs, I feel much, much better.

End of the month, and of course I've reached the end of my money. *sigh*  If I had a million more it still wouldn't be enough. But I'd have more expensive toys. :)

Another RUM in the pocket, and a couple of months left to go, maybe another year. It depends on a lot of things.

I have a lot of fabric to wash, some that I picked up at Sir's, and more that I got at the Rivergate JoAnn's moving sale. Linen, too.  Cotton from Sir's but it's all upholstery weight. I have plans for it all; some tunics for the Roman reign coming up, and some Byzantine. I have to dig out the sewing machine. 

Not enough time in the day.  :D

Reading The Son, by Phillip Meyer. It's okay in parts; mostly it holds my interest.

We get a raise from the State this month, but I'm not sure how much it's going to be because our 'raises' never result in an actual increase in my salary. The thing is, any raise the State gives us is immediately offset by a commensurate increase in the cost of benefits, and in my case is always wiped out by an increase in my Blue Cross premium. This is something the legislators do to make themselves feel better.  So. Raise. Bah.

Planning proceeds apace for the household weekend in January over MLK weekend.  Jerusha's planning a garb workshop for Saturday, and I'm hoping to get the guys to teach a class or two in their specialties.  As students go, we're pretty non-threatening. I do expect much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth from the self-conscious.  Well, to be honest, that includes me.

I'm feeling the urge to cook lately, but the condition of the kitchen has stopped me. I'd have to clean it first and it's a daunting task.  Lots of stuff to be thrown out. And in my room, as well.  *sigh* I've been putting it all off too long.  Lazy, lazy.

OMG, it's World Smurf Day!  They're celebrating in Belgium.  Hold me back!

I've got a black and white cross pattern as an experiment on the inkle loom and now that I have the turning sequence figured out, it looks okay. I think it'll look better when I use #10 crochet cotton; the # 5 is spun so loosely I can't really get a decent beat and can't get the pattern to square.

Reading Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey. It's okay.  I've almost put it down a couple of times, but it does kind of grow on you. That's more about where I am in life than a comment on the book itself; I'm just kind of antsy right now, because things are going okay and I'm waiting for something to throw me off my mellow.  If you know what I mean.  Maybe I need anxiety meds.  :)

I had a good time last weekend at Coronation, and I'm gearing up to cook a feast at Iris Faire weekend after next.  Planning proceeds apace for RUM in July.

I've got several changes to Kingdom law I'm working on.  I'm cooking boatloads of food and freezing it all. 

Life is good. (Cue disaster in 3... 2... 1...)

Reading Railsea, by China Mieville.  It's a retelling of Moby Dick, sort of.  It's good.

Still rebuilding my bookmarks after the crash.  I've spent the last hour or so working on lace and spinning. 

We had all kinds of predictions of snow last night, and when I got up this morning there was a light dusting on the cars and a bit on the grass. The roads were completely clear. It is pretty cold out, as I found when I let the pups out. Somewhere around 33º.  Now, that may not seem cold to some, and it doesn't really sound cold to me, but it's a penetrating wet sort of cold that goes right to the bone.  I'll wear my heavy coat when I let them out tonight.  I'm afraid, too, that the roads are going to be icy tonight and tomorrow.

Taste of History on the TV right now, and I really like it. The chef who does the cooking does nothing but open hearth.  I covet his spider.  And I've decided that any house I buy (after I win the lottery) must have a walk in hearth with all the equipment for cooking built in, the swinging arms to put pots on, the grate, the beehive oven in the side.  Now I have to buy a lottery ticket.

Average week at work. No training or anything out of the ordinary.  I drove every day, lazy woman that I am, and didn't exercise a lick athough I've got the DVD player and exercise DVDs in my drawer.  Got to get off my butt.  My fat butt.

Monday night was A&S night, with Stanzi doing a workshop on sewing garb. She and Celeste cut out a pattern.  William and Arwen were there, William reading something and Arwen working on needlework. I brought my inkle loom and promptly pulled out my phone to play solitaire for the entire evening.  Well, I did talk to everyone, so the evening wasn't a total loss for me.

The rest of the week, I knitted in the evenings.  I've finished one sock and started another, in a lace pattern of my own devising. Nothing impressive, just a simple yo k2t pattern that creates a line of faggoting. 

Reading The Spirit Well, third in the Bright Empire series.  I think I may have to buy this series in hardback, it's that good.

I've finally gotten my computer back from the computer fixer after a virus ate it.  It's working fine, and I'm slowly rebuilding my bookmarks.  It's been an education. 

My fixer, a friend, accepted barter as payment in the form of some black and white woven trim.  I sure couldn't afford to take it to a store. 

I'm knitting a sock in black using Serenity sock weight, a really cheap wool-nylon mix I picked up at JoAnn's.  I love 100% wool, but the socks don't last long enough.  This one is my own design, a simple lace pattern with an afterthought heel.  It feels like more nylon than wool but hopefully that means it'll last longer.  It doesn't feel bad to the hand, just more nylon-y.

Good weekend at home, dead flat broke.  I think I'm going to have to do overtime whether I like it or not.  I'm simply not making enough money to do what needs doing.  Four days to go in the month and I don't have enough food or gas to go to work.  Whine, whine. I'm not really hurting, I just don't have enough money to do more than survive.  It's beans and the bus for me for the next four days.  O, woe!  This is what my mom calls character building right before she laughs her butt off at me.

Time for a Sunday afternoon nap.

Reading The Bone House, by Stephen R Lawhead.  Book two of the Bright Empires series, and it's as good as the first.

Spending the day in bed with a terrible cold, drinking lots of herbal tea and reading when I'm not asleep. Haven't been able to get Mom on the phone in a couple of days, and I'm getting a bit worried.  I'll try again tonight.

The Fellowship Of The Ring is on TNT right now; I've got it on for background noise.

Oh, noes! Nap attack!