Unexpected Kindness

Yesterday Amanda kept fussing at me to get dressed. After I'd help her make breakfast, I'd fallen asleep in my night clothes on the sofa watching something on TV. I was resistant for awhile. I didn't feel up to going anywhere, I didn't really want to see anyone, and even though our friends who are twins were coming in the afternoon, I wasn't exactly motivated to get dressed even then. But I had had a hard day the day before. It's not every day that you receive news that you have pre-cancer and I'd done pretty well to stay calm for most of the day. I only yelled  "I hate you" to my body once. I'd been weepy and angry, but didn't actually break down and just cry until about 10 pm. I ended up taking a xanax and cuddling with Amanda on the sofa that night. 

But back to yesterday, I finally got up and got dressed- mostly to shut Amanda up, but I only put pants on. I remained in my night shirt and refused a bra. Sometime toward evening there came a knock at our door. The twins had already arrived so I didn't know who it was. Well, it was a guy holding a green tissue paper wrapped thing asking for me. I brought it inside and unwrapped it to find a beautiful arrangement of flowers. They were sent not by Amanda or even any of my family or friends (not that I ever expected anyone to), but by Amanda's two bosses. 1. I have never been sent flowers. 2. These two ladies have only met me twice and briefly.  I was so shocked and surprised that I almost cried. We put them on the mantel so I could see them from the kitchen and living room, but also because that it one of safer places in the house from the cats. I have to make an amazing thank you card for them.

I left a message with the Cancer Center Northwest yesterday and they called me back. Not only do I have the direct line to the woman who does scheduling for the doctor I have there, but I also have a consultation appointment for Tuesday. Amanda's Mom is coming over to go with me and she said we will not leave the office until we have an appointment for surgery.  My own Mom was apparently trying to scrounge up the money to fly up to be with me and while I would love that so much, more than I could ever say, they can't afford it, someone needs to look after the dog because my Dad has landed himself some more work. My Dad also doesn't think I really want my OCD mother in my hair now and until after my surgery. No, she'd probably drive me crazy, but she'd be here.  I did tell my Dad that ideally I want them both here, but to be honest, I want them here for my wedding most. 

Well, the twins are here and I have a few things I need to get done out of the house today. I'm not sure I have the energy for it, but I will go for as long as I can. My period also started up so I am extra tired again. I'm kind of hoping that the twins don't get too upset if I take a nap for a little bit this morning. Oh and  friend of mine is coming over to borrow my sewing machine today. She is sewing a tunic for her husband for an SCA event- an event that I would like to go to too. I'm just wondering if I can get something made to go over my shift in time... 

New family addition, Yule, compliments are scary, and snow.

Meet Thorin Oakenshield. He is a 4 month old orange tabby we adopted from Partners For Pets and it seems he was runt of the litter. We don't mind, he's wonderful. He is also very soft, sweet, and cuddly and I love his coloring.  Our friend Chris, who volunteers at the rescue, helped us with his adoption fee as part of our Yule/Christmas present. It is always a little difficult going into the shelter because there are so many great kitties there that I just want to wrap up in a blanket and bring home. However, I do love that this place is a true no kill shelter. In fact they have a cat or two that they've taken off the adoption roster for whatever reason, and those kitties will live out the rest of their lives at the shelter. 

Excuse my sans-makeup appearance. Thorin is quite the little boob man/ shoulder kitty. He loves to curl up in your face. However, he is afraid of my sewing machine. Poor thing trembles when its going. He will get used to it, or I will put him in a safe place with his blanket and toys when I need to use it again. 

It is snowing here again today and I love it. 

We had a really awesome Yule. Amanda and I went to our friends J and L's house where it was packed full of new and familiar faces. It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen in awhile and make new friends. But it was so crowded in the house that I spent most of my time outside by the fire pits. There were two under the pavilion/ tent J had erected. Our friend Dani did the welcoming the baby sun ritual she'd done the year before. I love that ritual! Technology crapped out on her a little bit, but it was still great. Later we had Sumble and honored the Gods, Ancestors, and Folk. That was amazing! J's altar for the Gods was simply beautiful! I will talk a little more about me experience there over on my pagan blog. Anyway, there was delicious home brewed beer and mead, plenty of food, and such pleasant and fun fellowship. But it was fucking cold! Like I said, we spent most of the night outside and despite having a little bit of shelter and two fires, and me wearing two hoodies and a reindeer hide, I was still freezing. But, we made it the whole night, watched the sun rise, and made it home safely. It did take me over an hour to warm up, but it was worth it!

Compliments are really hard for me. They always have been and I'm awkward in receiving them, but also, while I know they are genuine from others, they feel not... right somehow. I expressed as much to Amanda, asking her to deliver some Yule gifts to J, L, Dani, and her husband. She apparently told Dani's husband that I have a hard time accepting compliments and that she is trying to help me with that, so of course I got a little confronted, hugged, and told how great my presents were. I haven't finished everyone who is on my list's gift, but I will share the four I had finished that night. Each one had some homemade soap I'd made earlier in the year. All of the bags are hand embroidered and sewn by me. By the by, knot work is a pain in the ass to do. 

Umbreon for L, because she had a kick ass sexy cosplay as Umbreon and likes anime and Pokemon Go.

Vegvisir for J because he travels a lot and is a leader of his and Dani's husbands Kindred. 

Hugin and Munin for Dani's husband because I know he has some deep conversations and he does a lot on Heathen forums. 

An owl for Dani because I know she likes them, I heard about an experience from a festival she went to, and I think I remembered someone saying that it is her spirit animal. None of the bags are the same size because I haven't decided on a size that I like and some came out smaller than I wanted. It was an experiment and I am learning from it, so that's a bonus for me. Anyway, I have several more to make and am running out of time. Some gifts may have to be sent out or delivered late this year. I miscalculated on how long things would take despite starting at Thanksgiving. 

I'm starting to lose my focus, so I will end here for today. Suffice it to say we have been busy, Amanda's set the kitchen on fire as true to the nick name my Dad gave her, "sparky". We still find the stray piece of glass from the dish that exploded- she forgot to turn off a burner and set a dish of Baklava on it- now and then, despite being really careful to get it all cleaned up. My endless period is also very bad today and I am having trouble staying awake.  Tsuki is also here, so I need to get off my computer. 

Hope everyone had a fantastic Yule and if I don't post again before Christmas, have a happy one! 

Inspiration at the most inconvenient time, creating a new schedule, creating a space, dreams

art by Yuehui Tang

Here we are again, back to the sleepless night. This time, at least, it was because my brain took a flying leap down a rabbit hole. It began with the thought of how cold I was and that I really should get my ass in gear and make that Halloween/Gothic quilt I've been meaning to make. From there I pondered if I wanted to do some embroidery, and then I got to thinking about Christmas/ Yule presents I need to get started on. Of course from there I had to text myself from Amanda's phone some ideas which in turn made think of the embroidery patterns I have and that I should resize them and e-mail them to myself so I can print them out at the library tomorrow. And I also remembered that I need to resize a free envelope template I found earlier tonight. Then it was back to me being cold, not really tired, and that I should just get up for a little bit, get this stuff done, and then try to sleep again.  My brain seems to be the most active between 11 and 2 am when it comes to anything creative. Which has to be a left over habit from when I used to do the most writing during this time of night. I did that for years. 

I've decided, after all the depression crap last week, that I need to create and establish a new schedule. If I don't do it tonight, I will be doing it tomorrow. I've also decided that while I do like google calendar and will probably still use it, I really do prefer to have a planner. I love the planner I have purchased the last two years, but I really want something more personalized this year. My aim this year is to buy a fairly cheap one from wal-mart, nothing spectacular, and get some sticker paper, and print out planner stuff from online. Making some stickers of my own might be kind of fun too and would force me to dig out my digital art tablet.   

All of this being said, there's a been a bit of unrest for me within my house. I haven't quite found a space that feels right to do a lot of work. The kitchen table is nice but I can't really work on stuff there all the time. My desk is wonderful, but the bedroom is a disaster and lately Narcisa enjoys walking across or standing right on my keyboard. On top of that, I don't really have a spot to put up my writing manifestation board. I will figure it out, the important thing for me is to get off the sofa and into my desk chair if only because I tend to sit up straight more frequently and for longer periods of time. I also get up more and that will help with keeping my circulation moving.

Lastly, a couple of nights ago, I had a really interesting dream. I don't remember what I was doing, only that I told someone in my dream that I needed to get my camera, and get outside to try and get pictures of the supermoon. When I went out, there was a fully bloomed rose in the moon, much like that house is in the moon in the pictures above. It was interesting. I can't remember if I got pictures or not or what happened after. But I looked up the meanings on dream dictionary app on chrome. Together you can't really look up the meaning, but if you break it down, into rose and moon, then you get this:

Rose

The rose in dreams carries with it a great deal of symbolism. It suggests Perfection and Passion, Life and Death, Time and Eternity. It also represents the heart, the centre of life and as a psychological symbol symbolizes perfection. It contains within it the mystery of life and its grace and happiness.

 Moon

The moon represents the feminine and the spiritual self. How the moon appears to you in your dream suggests how close or distant you are from your inner feelings. For example, seeing a full moon means that you are closely in touch with your instincts and inner emotions.

In my case, lately I have thought a lot about life and death, not just for myself, but for family. I've thought about time, losing time or wasting it, and in so far as passion and perfection, I would say that I have spent sometime worrying over my passion for writing, and my constant need/desire/obsession to improve, to make it perfect, and so on. Where the moon comes in to play, I've been working on a spiritual aspect of my life. that I saw a full moon and have now learned what that means, soothes a great upset I've had for a long time. Some shit went down and for awhile someone made me distrust my own instincts and since then I have been trying to let that go, to move on and learn to trust them again and connect and deal with emotions and hurts I have buried for a long time. 

Inspiring pictures, pickle jars, Pinterest, and bad dreams

I can't remember which wall paper site I found this lovely picture on, but I love it, and more to the point, when I saw it, it screamed Miyuki. Miyuki is the name of a character in a story I have been writing, working on, tinkering with, and and so on for the last several years. I haven't been able to finish it and maybe that's just me being overly critical, or maybe it is that I don't really know where I am going with it, or maybe it just isn't ready to be written just yet. Either way, when I get ready to hunker down and actually work on it again, this will be my desktop background to help keep me inspired.  I typically have something that reminds me or inspires me to keep going when I am working on a specific project. Plus this fulfills a need to go look up pretty pictures every so often. 

Pickle jars. My friend Chris always has pickles available at her house and I like them enough- or rather got hooked on them- that I started buying them in bulk as she does. So now I have pickle jars sitting around. I thought to make them flour and rice containers but that's just a pain in the ass mostly because my hand won't fit in the jar with my measuring cups. I thought, well, I will just pour the stuff out but knowing me, I would just make more of mess and end up wasting stuff. So, I have decided to keep a couple jars to use for craft projects and the rest are going to be recycled. This also cuts down on the amount of glass available for me to break. What can I say, I am clumsy.

Last night I decided I needed some Pinterest time. Only my laptop battery was running out and I was too lazy to get out of bed to fetch the power cord. I was also very tired. So this morning I picked up where I had left off. I have some craft projects I would like to do and am compiling a visual picture list for myself. At the moment most of them are sewing projects. All of the quilts in my house were made by my 3 of my Grandmothers and most of which were hand sewn. They are old and most are older than I am, having been used for at least 2 generations.  Since I treasure them and want to keep them as long as possible, I decided that I need to start quilting myself. This is to carry on the family tradition but also to fill a need to have gothic and witchy quilts fill my house.  Anyway, back to Pinterest, I spent an hour looking at DIY gothic crafts, clothing, some crochet, and coloring pages. I started to doze off, so I decided it was time to move on. 

I had a rather bad dream last night. I dreamt had my boobs removed and reconstructed to prevent cancer. Since my Great Aunt died from breast cancer it's a pretty vivid and valid fear I have. I decided a long time ago to disconnect from my boobs in the event that I turn up with breast cancer and need to have them removed. But the truly upsetting part of my dream was me looking at Grad schools. I went into talk to an adviser about possible schools. Well, I was told that I had to take 20 more credit hours and all at the 200 (sophomore) level to not only graduate with my BA, but also to have any hope of getting into grad school. Okay, this has to be because my history class, the last class I have before I graduate, it a 200 level class and there is a ton of work already. Secondly, I am not happy that I am already starting to have bad dreams and panic attacks within the dreams about Grad school.  I'm not sure what to make of it just yet. I am kind of afraid to think about it. 

Lastly, I am pushing my homework off until this evening. Amanda rented two movies that I need to see before 9 pm tonight. One is Victor Frankenstein with Daniel Radcliffe and the other is Krampus. And given that all I want to do is take a nap, I figure if I watch the movies, take a short nap, and wake up in time to cook dinner before Amanda gets home, I will be doing good. Then I can devote my evening to the bit of homework I'm allocating for myself.   

Upcycling? DIY ahh hell, I was industrious yesterday.

It began with me wanting to make curtains for that window in the background. I loathe our vertical blinds. They are cheap, they are obnoxious, and we keep losing slats because they are cheap pieces of shit. Seriously, they really are. We can't even open the ones in our bedroom because Narcisa played int the window and some how messed the up. But I digress. The point is, I wanted curtains to go with a pretty kitchen theme. 

I went to Joann's Fabric's and Crafts but nothing screamed "kitchen" to me, at least not anything that I wanted. So I decided to make my own. I bought some minty-ish colored fabric and found some die cut wood pieces at Michael's. A little acrylic paint and ta da! Stamps! Amanda was supposed to put up the curtain rod for me last night when the paint dried, but she was tired and dinner was more important for the both of us. 

Here are the wood pieces, which I will hang on the wall. Ignore my counter top, it is horrible. 

 I found a couple of things at the Dollar Tree that went along with my kitchen. No, not all the patterns or colors match up completely, but I don't mind. 

I love these pot holders

Awhile ago, I was looking at wall decals but decided against them because our walls have a really crappy texture thing going on (probably designed to hide when they have to repair or fill in nail holes and such). However, I found this sort of sticker/decal back splash and it couldn't leap into my cart fast enough. We are, of course, having a little trouble with it. The wall is very textured and it was cheap, so we have to keep smoothing it down, but hey, it's keeping water and stuff off the wall, which is great, because when I wash dishes, I tend to splash! 

On to the upcycle  thing, if you can call it that. I had an older pair of black curtains from our last home. I'd had to take them down because they were too narrow to fit our bedroom window. They made it into the fabric tub and Amanda found them the other day. Since I hated how naked our mantle looked, I decided to make a mantle cloth. So, I took apart the black curtains, put in new hems as needed, and used one panel for the mantle and the other for my entertainment center below. 

Yes, there is something on my TV, it is covering up my fuzzy reflection. I took the photo while I was in my night gown, lol. I never managed to get dressed yesterday. I got too wrapped up in what I was doing and by the time I realized that I hadn't, it was after 4 pm and I just figured there was no use getting dressed just to cook dinner and then go to bed in a few hours. 

The plan for today is...

to take those strawberries and rhubarb and make Pink Lady Pie. Technically the pie doesn't call for strawberries, rather strawberry jello, but I am putting them in anyway. I am also making a bit of comfort food for dinner: steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. It's sort of healthy. Not like last night's dinner of ground turkey burger, zucchini patties, and corn on cob, but it is so good! 

Back to the plan for today, I am going to watch a few episodes of Penny Dreadful, read a little and maybe finish a book, write up some story notes, and print them out for index cards for my story board. I also want to start brainstorming my new manifestation board. I think it is time for new one. 

Lastly, I am going to research some possible things for a summer/ fall bucket list. This is an idea Rachael heard about on the radio the other day and pitched it to us. We're basically making bucket lists of stuff to do this summer and fall to get us out and moving and all that. Amanda and I were kind of talking about it last night and I wrote some notes down. One of the things on my personal list is to go to the Observatory I saw listed on the Washington Parks page. I'm not one of those people who move to a place and then never go anywhere, I like to go to museums, parks, landmarks, and just generally explore. And some of the most fun can be had on road trips with music and friends. 

This fish is disgusted, her Majesty is happy, house cleaning and the damn dill

Aveline by myworld1

Let's get the nitty gritty out of the way first. My period finally, finally stopped. I can't really celebrate because my body is a bitch and likes to play that "I'll give you 2 or 3 days every few months" game then slam you extra hard to make up for it. But, I did take advantage of this small reprieve and actually went swimming last night with Amanda, Aine, and Rachael. (Some of you may be asking why I don't just use tampons- I do, but mostly there are 3 very good reasons why I don't.) 

Anyway, so I left my glasses at home and I can't decide if that was a good thing or not. When we got to the pool- it is an indoor pool- it smelled weird. At first, I thought maybe it was because someone was smoking outside and one of the windows was open. Then I thought there was a strange kind of paint smell but that wasn't really it either. We decided that it was like an algae smell. I think the paintish smell I was getting was from the chlorine. The hot tub smelled worse, so we went back to the pool and that's when we noticed the hair. There was a big floating clump and when I got out and looked back into the pool, I noticed there was not one but two. *shudder* I know it is just hair, but bleh! Needless to say we rinsed off and came home. Amanda is so sad because she knows how squiked out I get and this was the first time I have been able to really go swimming in months and that was the condition of our pool and hot tub. We pay for that in our rent. Lovely. I think when the office opens, I am going to get dressed and head down there to talk with the manager because that was disgusting and this fish isn't happy.

Her Majesty, Narcisa A. Frog, is a very happy kitty. Her Mommies cleaned a majority of the house this weekend, moved some furniture to vacuum, and found all the toys she'd lost. Of course all those that were found are already hidden and or lost under furniture again, but whatever. We also moved her bed to sit in front of the patio window. I told Amanda that I think Chris doesn't think we spoil her enough because Chris bought her a bag of treats despite the fact that I have two bags in the pantry and some wet food. Amanda was inclined to agree. 

We painted the baker's rack Birdy gave us black to go with everything else in the living room. We also reorganized where we put the craft stuff on it. Everything is easily accessible to me now, Yay! I am tearing apart an old set of black curtains to make a cover for our mantle, a runner for the entertainment center, and two side table runners. I am also going to finally make the damn dining room curtains I've been talking about. I just have to work up the energy and motivation to do it today. Maybe after I take a nap, I got up with Amanda this morning because she made coffee and breakfast and because I wanted to spend some time with her before she went to work.

We have discovered that dill is whimpy, which is strange because for all the years we grew it when I was a kid, I don't remember it ever being so. Then again, I may not have paid too much attention to it in favor of growing my flowers and tending to the various beans, tomato, and other various vegetable plants we had. Anyway, our dill plan can't seem to handle the sun beating down on it. I feel bad for it, I wouldn't be able to withstand the dreaded day star all day long either. So, since it is going to be 97 degrees F, today, I am going to keep an eye on our little garden and keep our stuff watered. I need to be careful though, I don't want to accidentally steam them.  Oh and I need to do some research into what the hell is eating the pumpkin leaves and the sage. I can spray the pumpkin leaves with peppermint oil water but not the sage. So, I need to figure out what I can use on the sage that isn't a pesticide and won't alter the flavor of the sage later on.  

One more thing left, feeling better, fighter practice, and new sewing buddy!

SCA logo

Today is blissfully cloudy and windy- figures, Amanda is wearing a skirt. We have a running joke that anytime Amanda wears a skirt it will be windy outside. Moving on. 

I have one last assignment left to do: the reflection essay of my experience in my degree program and the class. It is part of my capstone. Bleh. I call it busy work and Narcisa is licking my hair! Anyway, I still don't have a page count and another student asked the same question. I'm wondering if there even really is a page count, it certainly isn't mentioned in the instructors break down of the assignment or in the rubric. Hmmm... I' just going to write it and if there is a problem I will fix it. 

Speaking of the writing class, I sent my story to my Dad to edit. He really liked it except he that him being a sappy romantic, he would have liked an ending scene where my characters were standing together on the balcony of the castle over looking the city below. I wanted that too, but page limit! And I still went over by a quarter of a page! I'm telling you, novel! Amanda also liked this rewrite. Yay!

I am going to try doing Camp National Novel Writer's Month again this year. I set my word count low just in case my next term is heavier than I expect it to be. 

So what's with the SCA logo shield? Well, tonight I am going to fighter practice. the Arts and Sciences stuff will be happening at the same time and same place as well, so I can look at that too. I haven't done anything with the SCA in years and I really miss it. It was fun. Bonus, I heard that there is archery in this barony where as in my previous barony, there wasn't at the time. I have no idea what my persona will be, I am hovering between Chinese, Japanese, and Viking. Oh that reminds me that I need to find my heraldry notebook! That was something I was interested in getting into before I started college. For more info on the SCA go here.

In talking about SCA, the stuff I missed, and garb with my friend Rachael last night, I learned that she knows how to make her own patterns, knows how to expand patterns, and so on. I told her she is my new sewing buddy. If she can give me a couple of walk through, I pick stuff up pretty quick. I kind of want to have a sewing party someday. Not sure if I am up to taking my sewing machine to a Stitch & Witch, might be too loud and a pain to lug around... It is something to think about. Or I could just stick with crochet. 

Lazy day, cats, sewing projects, studying of happier things.

Welcome to homework with Narcisa. She's the reason I'm constantly having to sweep cat hair out from between my computer keys and this was a day she was behaving. Most of the time she tells me that I don't really need to take notes and walks over my pen while I am writing only to sit on my hand. She loves to stand on the mouse pad or lay across the keys or better yet, to knock everything off my desk and steal my pens. She's ever so helpful! The video was taken a couple of weeks ago.

Galen is still sick but we've talked to the vet and he's got another round of antibiotics. He is still eating, drinking, and using the litter box, and even gets excited for treats, so I am hopeful. I went to a candle magic class and a girl there talked about how she rolled a candle in catnip and did a spell for her cat when it was sick. Apparently it worked pretty well. So, yesterday I got out a tea light candle, carved Galen's name and the word Heal into it, sprinkled some catnip and added a few of his hairs to it. I then focused my energy and asked Freyja, if it was to be, if she would be willing to help Galen heal. Then I burned the candle. I thought about doing it this everyday but maybe once a week would be better. 

I have officially finished this school term. Thank the Gods! I'm coming out okay, passing both classes with better grades than I was shooting for. Frankly I am so happy to be rid of that term I could dance. I have a week off and then I start the next term, which is critical thinking in philosophy and the english language- grammar. Both look like lots of intensive homework, but I am okay with that. I am sure I will have a grievance or two later on, but for now I am choosing to be excited for the new classes. 

I have some sewing projects that I wanted to get accomplished. Mostly its shirts and I wanted to start Amanda's and my t-shirt quilt. I even did the design mock ups last night for my shirts. But I don't know that any of my sewing will actually happen this time around. For one, we have to take the car down to Fiona's so her Dad can look at it and see what needs to be repaired. Fiona, Amanda, and I are going to Seattle in the middle of March. More on that in another post. Anyway, we are doing that Tuesday and coming back on Wednesday, and bringing Fiona back with us. Thursday is my birthday and a Full Moon Ritual with our group. I'll probably spend the rest of the week after that getting ready for the next term and I have a feeling it will be extremely slow going. 

I'm having trouble with my period again. I've been having it for the last two months and the day before yesterday it decided to go into overdrive. So I get to wear the big monster pads that are almost like diapers, sit on a towel, and stay close to my bathroom, which is starting to look like a crime scene again. I'm trying to keep it as cleaned up as possible but sometimes, I only have enough energy to wash my hands and get back to the bed or my desk chair. I haven't even had anything to eat today. And I am so very tired. So, I am going to lay in bed today and watch a couple of the movies I've been wanting to watch for awhile and get some reading, of my choosing, done.  And if anyone is wondering, yes, I am eating lots of iron rich food and protein and taking an iron supplement. 

Very belated Haunted Hump Day 10 and Halloween Party

I know I am painfully late with the last Haunted Humpday post. Part of that is on purpose and part of that is not. Last weekend we had Samhain with the IEPG group, we've had company, and I spent some time with my friend Jen before she moved back to Wisconsin. I also had a new term of school start up this week and we've been very busy getting ready for the Halloween Party at our friend's house. Anyway, the above picture is me in my Halloween costume. I was a vampire sans the teeth (never got around to getting them). I made the shirt from a black knit material and black lace and while I still have to put bias tape (?) on the neckline, I can say it is one of the most comfortable shirts I own. Why? Because it's actually tailored to me!  Don't ask about my hair, it's a curly mess and I'd already started sweating and drinking by then.

These were our forks and napkins for the party. It took Amanda asking if we could do this, me trying to do it, and Fiona figuring out how to make the teeth stay for it to work! 

Our dessert table has Chris B's ghost brownies, my green coffin cake, and a blue berry lemonade-lemonade-vodka-hibiscus pomegranate vodka punch.

There's Amanda making out with one of my haunted skulls again. She's done in years past. 

We had such a good time! A lot of our friends up here came and brought their kids, fur kids included. There was food, drinks, fun, and dancing. The kids had a lot of candy to snack on and after they left, I got pretty drunk. I actually felt pretty good, danced a bit, somehow I ended up on the floor. Apparently Amanda decided she needed to help me out of a chair and I didn't exactly want to go. I also apparently walked up the mirror and looked in it and said "I look like a princess". I don't remember this but everyone else does and they certainly gave me shit about it this morning. It was good fun though. Shenanigans abounded for certain. 

This morning was another matter. My back was sure to remind me that I can't move like a normal person no matter how much I want to, and that I have to be careful. 

Thank you Marfi for hosting the Haunted Humpday Event!!! I hope to jump in again next year with more fun goodies to share! For now, I am dragging myself to bed so I can do my statistics homework tomorrow.    

  

Haunted Humpday 9

It's Haunted Humpday again and this time I am getting to it early and starting off with a recent craft. I actually knocked this one out Monday afternoon. I've wanted a larger tote bag in which I could carry some of my bigger craft projects so I made one. And I fell in love with this vintage witch cameo fabric! So did Narcisa.

Of course I had planned to have at least part of my Halloween costume sewn by now but it just didn't seem to happen today. I am hoping production on that starts tonight at the latest. So in lieu of that I thought I would talk about the book I've finally been able to get back to and the show that's been keeping me company whilst I've been sewing and crocheting. 

My cousin Shi-Chan strongly recommended The Originals, a spin off of the Vampire Diaries. She said her Grandma watches it and says it's better than the Vampire Diaries. (Which I thought was just getting good since I got caught up on last season) She knew how much I loved Elijah when he was in the Vampire Diaries and I was starting to have a love hate viewer relationship with Klaus. So, after waiting for it to show up on Netflix, I decided to give it a go. I rather like it! Elijah doesn't disappoint and here I am hoping that Klaus can still be redeemed right along with him.   

I know I have gushed over Jeaniene Frost's books before but I really do love the Night Huntress Series. This is book 5 of the series and I am really enjoying it. I had to take a little break from it while working on homework and also because there are two spin off books that take place between the previous book and this one. 

Other than that, I have been busy working on Halloween goodies. I've created the event page for the Halloween Party we are hosting, put up the invitation, narrowed down what decorations we are taking (we have so few but I am taking nearly all of them which leaves my house a bit bare), and I have created a large playlist of Halloween Music to play at the party. I've also decided on what food we are going to provide. When it was a smaller gathering at our house a few different appetizers were far more manageable, but since we've so graciously been given a different venue, a friend's house, we are doing nachos. It's relatively cheap and simple to do. Apart from that I have a few other little things to do, sewing my costume being the biggest part.

This Saturday the IEPG is having a large Samhain Potluck and Celebration. We are, of course, going and need to take along some food. But I can't, for the life of me decided what I want to take. I was thinking soup since the days are getting cooler but my friend Fiona (who used to be known as Christine B- she's changing her name) is going  to take white chicken chili. I would make a dessert but lots of people bring those and we invariably end up with more desserts than main dishes and side dishes. So I am trying to decide between pot roast, my cranberry apple chicken, or one of the recipes I found on Pinterest.  It's so hard because all of it sounds so good! Especially right now when its 2 am I am hungry and could really go for a snack. Time for some water and for me to hit the hay.

I keep forgetting to do this: Thank you Marfi for hosting this project!!!

Skull for Skoora, pet cremation, and now I'm starting to panic...

Skoora is in love with skulls so the pic is for her today. I didn't used to like them, thought their empty eye sockets were creepy, but after having them around (fake ones that is) they don't really bother me.

Yoda is doing much better today. He actually went to the bathroom, drank some water, and then begged for some ice cream. He is still bloated and from everything we have read, it's kidney failure or at least the beginnings. And we just don't have the money to take him to the vet. When Yoda gets bad and is in pain, we'll have to take him to get put to sleep. I never wanted that for him, but it is what it is and I don't know what else to do. Skoora and I cried over this mess for quite some time last night. I know this shit happens, but why can't it happen to the people in my life who are rotten and horrible? Why does it have to happen to my cat? Yoda is my baby and he never did anything to anyone.

I was thinking about getting him cremated after he passes. But I am not exactly sure how much that will cost and of course the place in town that will do it, will probably want us to buy their urns, so it might just be better to bury him up on Skoora's families property in the mountains.

I am fighting the intense urge to take a nap today, even have a little mantra going in my head "you don't need a nap, you don't need a nap". Of course most of this is because I looked at my syllabus for both classes and immediately groaned then started to panic. I have some book work to do in my math class followed by a discussion board post and replies. But, I also have to choose a final paper topic and write a proposal and outline for it. The final paper has to be 10 pages long. I've already picked a topic and I might even have a back up if the instructor doesn't like it. I almost want to do the whole paper now but the college has it structured in a way that you have to turn certain things in at a certain time. Sometimes, breaking things up like that, makes it more difficult for me. Also, I really don't want to write a 10 page paper on math, I would have much rather taken algebra again instead of this class that was geared more towards writing. Shit, I made it to Pre-Trigonometry at ITT Tech (my credits didn't transfer). Oh and just so you know Math is not my favorite subject. I have a form of dyslexia wherein I tend to swap numbers and letters around. So 142 to a normal person sometimes looks like 241 or 124 to me. I've had lots of wrong answers because of that. Consequently, I also have trouble with spelling too.

Along side the annoyance of the math 10 page paper is another paper but this one in the WW2 class is also between 10-12 pages long. This one I think I might have a better handle on in some  respects because it deals with history. I've picked two topics from the topic list that I have an idea of, but I need to double check some things on one of those topics just in case. However, like the other class, this one is set up to have different parts turned in at different times as well. I understand that's to help the general student populace, but it's still really annoying to me. I think it's also to make sure people don't procrastinate (which is something I used to be and am still a little good at).

I am also panicking a little bit because it is week two of this term and while I understand that the college redesigned the WW2 course, there aren't any page numbers listed on black board to either of the three text books we are supposed to be reading. The teacher doesn't seem to know which pages we are to be reading either which doesn't make me feel any better, especially since she's taught the class six times already. She promised that the Dean is looking into it. Oh and did I mention that the third text book wasn't even on the class required materials list when I went to buy books? That's really shitty. Good thing the college online library has it, else I would be calling up my Grandmother to borrow the money for an extra text book.

Okay, I admit it, when it comes to school, I really like everything to be neat, cohesive, and to be spelled out. Tell me what you want and I will do it. I don't mind being creative with it, I don't mind doing extra thinking and what not, I am not a lazy student, but at least tell me what you want so I can give it to you.

Of course, I probably wouldn't be so frustrated if I wasn't currently anemic and still bleeding very heavily. When I spoke to my Grandmother yesterday, I learned that she, too, has been anemic off and on, and the best thing I can do is to eat lots of leafy greens, red meat (which has actually doubled in price here recently- you can buy ground turkey for less and that's a shocker), and take iron supplements. I've already been taking the iron; the rest of it, we'll see what we can do when we go to the store tomorrow.

For now, I am going to attempt to get something be it homework, another blog, book plotting or looking at some more information on setting up an etsy shop for my sewing endeavor, done. I need to find some more pattern ideas online too and bookmark the ones I want to buy. Either way, something will get done today even if I have to have Skoora smack me to keep me awake.      

The craft bug is starting to take hold

There is some bug or another going around. One of Skoora's co-workers has been out sick for two weeks, (which anywhere else said co-worker would have already been fired). But it's not just her, another of Skoora's co-workers is sick as well and it seems that Skoora could very well have caught it too. Not cool! Not only do I not want to get sick but the two ladies who can cover for Skoora if she does fall ill pretty much bitch about having to do so, never mind that she covers for them all the time. For now, she's moping on the sofa with a cup of tea.

sweetheart neckline

I spent several days off and on in past weeks very lethargic and unable to focus on much of anything for very long. Most of that has to do with the chronic pain I deal with everyday and the rest is just from being human I suppose. Anyway, I happened across Aunt Martha's Hot Iron Transfers and Skoora bought me the one shown above. I foresee a couple of embroidery projects coming in the near future, probably birthday presents. Which reminds me that I have blue skirt I need to finish the embroidery on. I also have a afghan I need to work on along with a couple of new crochet patterns to learn but I suspect that will take some time.

Not too long ago I became frustrated and said "fuck it, I'm just going to make some clothes that actually fit right". Of course I have to learn how to expand patterns and I have a few that I bought in the largest size when Joann crafts had a five patterns for five dollars kind of deal. My first project will be a halter top since Skoora thinks I look good in them and I really like the sweetheart neckline. I'm pear shaped, small shoulders and wide-ass hips, and well you know a ginormous badunkadunk doesn't help. Thank you Great Grandma Ester, your genetics have made clothes shopping really crappy since I was 13.

Today I had a coupon for Joann's crafts and decided that I needed to try and get out of the house for a little bit despite how much my back was hurting. For the last couple of days every time I turn around literally and figuratively, I've managed to hurt my back, something shifts, something snaps, it's really hard to describe, and for the instant it happens I'm flooded with pain and want to cry and vomit, and when the pain subsides a little I just feel exhausted. So, in effort to keep me from wallowing in bed all day, I forced myself out and used the coupon on a pad of scrap booking paper. I was able to get two yards of material for another shirt as well since fabric was 40% off but that's for another time. I really like this pad of paper, it's my favorite color, green, and I think I am really going to enjoy making cards and other little things with it. 

Hiccups, Migraines, Alliance Battles, and Dresses

I have had a terrible migraine today and it was bad enough that I actually went to lay down for a bit earlier today. I accidently took a nap and when I awoke, I had two cats sleeping next to me in the bed and my migraine was even worse. So, I decided that it was time to take some medicine.

It helped for a little while, long enough for me to get a dress I have been meaning to get sewn, sewn. But before too long, while I was eating dinner and trying to make up some an invitation for a friend's graduation party, my migraine started to kick my ass again. This is not good. I am supposed to be on Guild Wars tonight to participate in Alliance Battles.

To make matters that much more annoying, I also have the hiccups!

I suppose I am just going to have to take some more medicine, go lay down for a little while, and hope that I can play Guild wars a little later.