Tag-Archive for ◊ weekend ◊

Long weekends are wonderful…
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• Tuesday, September 06th, 2011

Ye Olde Coffee Shop as of 9-5-11I hope everyone in the USA had a lovely Labor Day weekend with fun activities (or productive ones, if you did some catch up work).  Mine was good – some relaxing, some actual project work.  I managed to do a nice amount of stitching thanks to episodes of Torchwood, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica.  Ye Olde Coffee House by Little House Needleworks got a much added boost, as you can see in the photo.  I also put a few hours into a piece I’m stitching as a gift, but can’t post photos of it until it’s finished and sent off.

I’m only working two days this week – I have Thursday, Friday, and next Monday as vacation days, so while I didn’t get the usual house chores for the weekend done, I’ll do them later this week.

I did, however, get a lot of progress done on a massive project – organizing my stash.  I last did this back in late 2010 – if you’re reading my blog on its actual page, you might notice that “stash” tab at the top of the page.  Yeah… that’s about when I last looked at the list.  Unfortunately, that was done shortly after I returned from my first Stitchers Hideaway retreat last October.  Since then, I went to another Stitchers Hideaway retreat, the Celebrations of Needlework show in Nashua, and a new LNS (Bush Mountain Stitchery) opened up a mere 2 hours from my house.

My stash intake has been a bit out of control this year – and I jokingly blame Lisa – who has been my partner in crime for all of these adventures.  Not really, of course.  What’s actually happened is that over the past year, I’ve had one of those lucky times in my life where my knowledge of my own hobby expanded greatly.  I’ve been stitching for many, many years (25-ish), but my knowledge of different designers and fabrics and fibers really only started to expand about six years ago, and common in-person connection with other stitchers honestly didn’t start much before last September, when the Rhode Island Stitchers group first started getting together.  Once those pieces started falling into place, I began learning from other people rather than just the self-taught things that I’d picked up along the way.  I’m no longer just admiring things over the internet but completely intimidated by them – I’m finally feeling some confidence that I could actually delve into those crazy projects by Heaven and Earth Designs or Chatelaine.

It’s glorious, really… but also a bit dangerous on the wallet!

With Lisa’s help, I sorted through 99% of my charts, and she was kind enogh to organize them in piles by designer before putting them back in the magazine holders from IKEA that I keep them in.  I’d already made a good dent in my magazines several months ago, and I also did an inventory of my spare specialty flosses.  I’m not going to bother with DMC or Sullivans floss – Lisa had a good point when she reminded me how often that inventory’s going to change, and it’s too much of a headache.

Among my stash I did find duplicates of a couple patterns (apparently I really, really like them) – so two items are already reserved for the WIPocalypse stash box!

Erich and I got together with the guys on Monday and played a session of his long-standing (and long on hold) Dungeons & Dragons campaign. I have to admit, I just don’t have the mental stamina for it anymore.  Maybe it’s because I’m out of practice with the mental focus required for gaming for many hours on end, but after three hours or so, my brain just starts to wander.  I seem to always leave the games these days feeling guilty because I’m just not able to “stay on task” such as it is, despite the fact that for quite a bit of the time, there’s simply not much for me to do.  And yesterday was one of those days where I really should have paid attention better – the module Erich incorporated into his campaign was a bit overpowered for our group.  We struggled through it with a lot of trouble.

Ah well… it’s only a game, right?

But still – a good weekend, with decent weather that defied the rainy forecast.  The rain arrived this morning rather assertively, and it’s been cool and damp all day and will likely stay that way until sometime Thursday.  It’s actually cool enough that we almost – almost – have all of the windows closed.

Tonight I’m already in bed before 11 pm, which is highly unusual for me.  I had a cup of Sleepytime tea about an hour ago, hoping I can catch a bit more sleep than last night because I was dragging all day.  Hopefully tomorrow won’t be too insane and I can enjoy my second long weekend.  :)

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Category: Celebrations & Holidays, Dungeons, Dragons & Dice, Erich, Family & Friends, Fandom, Geeky Stuff, Stitching, WIP Progress   Tags: , , , , ,  | 2 Comments
The WIPocalypse is open!
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• Sunday, August 28th, 2011

I’d decided to write up the WIPocalypse SAL page during a random rainy day.  I think Irene blowing through our area qualifies.  :)

So come one, come all and sign up for the 2012 Wipocalypse!  And please pass the word along.  :)

It’s been a windy, wet day today, but thankfully it looks like we’re missing the bulk of this storm.  Our rainfall totals haven’t been that bad here in Providence (perhaps 4 inches total), and while it’s been extremely windy, we haven’t had power dip at at all, and so far there doesn’t seem to be any damage in my neighborhood.

I headed up to Bush Mountain Stitchery yesterday morning with Lisa and Rebecca (of Samplers & Such) for a fun day of stitching.  Bush Mountain had to do an emergency move to new permanent quarters last week due to ongoing roof issues with their previous location with a new added perk – a room reserved exclusively for stitching!  The three of us were the proud initiators of the new space, and stitched the entire day until the store closed for the day.

The new store is located in what used to be a bank, and it’s a quirky, fun space.  There are lots of little nooks filled with stash to wander and explore.  While I’m sure there will be some changes to the space as the store develops, for now there’s a room exclusively for standard floss.  Another nook for fabric.  And get this – the bank vault is filled with stash!  You actually have to walk through the big vault door!

The stitching room is well-lit and comfortable.  There are bathrooms right off the stitching room and inexpensive food within a block’s walk, so great for a day out.  Maeann, who owns Bush Mountain, is planning to start some events and classes later this autumn once they’ve settled in.

It was a great day – lots of laughing, lots of stash ooh’s and aah’s.  Lisa worked her version of Witchy Washy (Raise the Roof), Rebecca worked on a gorgeous Ackworth School sampler, and I brought Ye Olde Coffee House (Little House Needleworks).  We all made some good progress while we were there.  I look forward to the next trip!

So while the rain has mostly stopped here today, it’s still extremely windy.  We’re watching Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Battlestar Galactica episodes as we goof around all day.  I’ll probably throw some laundry in later, once the storm has really passed us this evening.

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

 

 

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Category: New England, Stitching, Wanderlust, WIP Progress   Tags: , , , ,  | 3 Comments
Donation and its aftermath
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• Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Note:  This entry discusses blood donation.  I’m not going into serious detail, but some people get pretty freaked by the idea… so just posting the “skip if it’s not your thing” warning.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and headed over to the nearby blood donation center.  I’ve been meaning to go for a while, but one thing after another kept postponing my appointment making after I threw my back out three years ago.  First it was the medication I was on, which was completely understandable.  Then other scheduling issues came in.  And then, of course, the habit was broken and I simply forgot to make one.  A couple of recent news stories kicked me off my butt, and onto the website I went to make my platelet donation appointment.

I’m honestly not quite sure how long I’ve been donating them at this point -it’s been at least eleven years.  I went in one time for a whole blood donation (the standard donation people are familiar with) and was asked if I might be interested in being tested to see if I were a good candidate.  I agreed, and after the test they asked me specifically that if I was okay with the platelet procedure, to please stick with them because I was an ideal candidate.   A platelet-only donation gives three times (or more) of the number of platelets drawn from a single whole-blood donor.  That makes it easier to test the donations for diseases and there are less risks of cross-contamination because multiple donors’ contributions don’t have to be combined for a single dose.

Platelets, unlike whole blood donation, takes a while – the donor spends over an hour in the chair and goes through multiple cycles where the blood is drawn, the platelets are spun out of the blood in a centerfuge, and the red blood cells are returned to the donor.  It’s a little weird at first, but I’ve never had a problem with it.  I just sit back and watch TV, and the machine does what it needs to do.

So anyway… Saturday I head over there.  I go through the questionnaire and the blood tests and everything’s fine, except for one thing.  Since this was my first donation in Rhode Island (I’d always gone to Boston before then), my pregnancy history means I can’t donate platelets until my blood’s been tested for a particular antigen.  I’d never heard of this before, so I’m figuring it’s some new discovery.   The head nurse asked if I’d mind doing a whole blood donation, which would allow them to check for the antigen.  She was incredibly apologetic and definitely seemed concerned that I’d be all offended by it.   I wasn’t.  Procedure’s procedure, after all, and I can understand that they can’t take test results second hand from my former donation site in Massachusetts.  I’d still be doing what I went there to do – just in a different form.  And hey, it just meant I’d be done and on my way home a lot faster.  One whole blood donation – they test, and going forward, no worries.  If they were to find it (seriously doubtful, since I was an active donor), I’d be doing whole blood donation going forward.

I was out of there in less than a half hour, and that included 15 minutes nibbling on fruit and having morning coffee in the “recovery” area.  Six minutes, literally, to fill up the pint.   The assistant joked it might be a location record.

The only downside is, of course, now I’m on the standard whole blood schedule until I can donate again.  With platelet only donation, you can go frequently.  When I was on a schedule, I went every other week.  With whole blood, you need to wait eight weeks before you go in again.  So now I’ll be waiting until mid-October.

And for some reason, the donation absolutely knocked me on my ass for the weekend.  I didn’t feel bad, but just really tired all weekend.  I was drinking plenty of water and being careful about what I consumed (i.e. no alcohol), but man, I was walloped with fatigue.  My to-do list didn’t get done.  I did do quite a bit of stitching, and Erich took advantage of my fatigue to watch a ton of Battlestar Galactica (so I had good geeky sounds to stitch to).

I’m feeling fine now, but I was not expecting that much of a side effect.

I’m looking forward to my easier platelet donations come October.

 

 

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Category: Life, Work, and all the Rest   Tags: ,  | 2 Comments
Round Robin updates
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• Sunday, April 24th, 2011

I hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a lovely holiday.  Erich and I had a quiet Sunday, mostly spent at home.  The weather was gorgeous for most of the day.  More on what we did late in the afternoon in a bit though…

I updated my status on Rachel’s round robin earlier this week.  Kris’ piece for the 2011 edition of the UFO round robin is now ready to travel again.  :)  This piece is quite busy, but it has adorable colors in it – and was a perfect springtime stitch.  It’s the Spring Sampler from Kooler Design studios.  When Kris sent it, she’d just started it:

And here’s how it’s being sent to Blu tomorrow:

Kris' piece as sending 4-24-11

I got to cross stitch a peep!  The little spots are jelly beans.  Once there’s some backstitching in here, it’s really going pop.  :)

My next project is the Mirabilia RR, which I have a comfortable start on.  Hopefully I’ll have it done by the weekend, although this is my busiest week of the year at work, so I may not get it done until next week.  Regardless – it’s my go-everywhere piece until it’s done!

So early this afternoon, I got our laundry done and finished my hours on Kris’ piece.  Erich was playing Dead Space 2 on the Xbox.  I swear half of my stitching is done to the sounds of violence in some form.  It’s really odd.  But anyway… it was absolutely gorgeous outside, and I told Erich that as soon as the laundry was done, I really wanted to go somewhere so we could enjoy the day a bit (mostly so we didn’t spend the entire weekend in front of the TV).  Saturday had been a wash-out, and I definitely had a case of cabin fever.

We headed out around 3 to head up to Battleground.  Matt was working today, and he had told us he was pretty sure it would be dead due to the holiday.  We figured we’d take advantage of the quiet time to geek with him.  I’ve been itching to do some Warhammer painting, but it’s not really something I can do easily here at home – so it’s really a Battleground-specific project.

We headed north, and pop! goes Erich’s left front tire about 4 miles from home in Pawtucket.  Now… this was not unexpected.  When Erich had the massive car repair last month, we were told that there was a bubble on his tire and that the rim looked cracked.  Thankfully it happened in such a way that Erich was able to maintain control easily and pull over – and into a relatively good location to swap out the tire.  Donut was switched out on the axle, and we continued on our way.  I’m very happy that this didn’t happen during a commute or during bad weather, though!

We got up to Battleground, and found only my car in the parking lot (Matt’s been driving it lately).  For the next hour or so, the three of us were the only ones at the store.  All of the doors were open, giving the place a nice, fresh breeze.  It was great. I got to work painting.  Erich decided he wasn’t in the mood and curled up with a good game of Civilization 4.

About three hours later, I’d put some serious work into my figurines, and managed to finish my first two:

My first two finishes - 4/24/11

Erich put these two together and primed them, but I did all of the painting, very slowly by hand.  For perspective, the taller one is probably about 3 inches tall.  The smaller one is, obviously, half that.  So the details on these things are insanely tiny.  My painting skill is not great, but I’d say they’re pretty good for my first model finishes ever! (now I just have about 50 more to do…)

I know they’re not exactly the girliest thing out there.  I do have a batch of completely over the top girly ones in store – intentionally so to annoy all of the guys.

For those who aren’t familiar with these figurines, they’re Orks (yes… spelled that way) from a tabletop game called Warhammer 40K.  It’s a futuristic war strategy game where players battle each other with squads of different races of figures. Different types of figures are worth different point totals and have different abilities.  It’s quite complex.  I haven’t played yet beyond an intro game, but I wanted to try my hand at creating the figures.  :)

So overall, a very productive crafty weekend here!

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Category: Celebrations & Holidays, Erich, Exchanges & Robins, Family & Friends, Geeky Stuff, Stitching   Tags: , ,  | 10 Comments
Not out like a lamb…
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• Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

We’re supposed to get a late season Nor’Easter tomorrow evening through Friday.  I’m really hoping that this does not become a repeat of the April Fools Day Storm from my senior year of college.  I doubt it will, but hell – you never know.  Especially after this winter that refuses to end.  We didn’t think we’d get two feet from THAT storm, either – especially after the gorgeous weather that had been in Boston for Easter Sunday only one day before.

My poor toy daffodils are going to snuff it, I’m afraid.  (“toy” because they’re determined to bloom when they’re only about two inches tall.)  Le sigh…

So in honor of this never-ending winter, here’s my Thursday Thirteen for the week:

 

Thirteen Things I’m Convinced Will Never Arrive in New England Again In My Lifetime.

1.  Warmth.  Normally we’re in the 50s this time of year.  Know where we are?  Mid 30s.  Right now, 40 degrees is balmy.  I’m convinced that I’m going to be wearing gloves in July at this point.

2.  Green Grass.  Not that my yard has a lot of quality grass in it anyway – we have that “well, at least it’s green” type of yard.  But it’s brown thatch right now.  No signs of perking up.

3. The ability to open up all of the storm windows.  We attempted to open two of them when we had a strange stretch of… wait for it… mid 40s weather (yes – THAT felt warm enough to open the house… it’s been that cold!).  We were promptly rewarded with an inch of snow the next day.  Now the windows are kept closed out of fear of reprisal.  Confession:  I did open my office window due to dust on Sunday night as I did some tidying.  So… this impending storm may be my fault.

4. The URI Spring Fair – if it stays this farking cold, I can’t buy my veggies for my garden, can I?  They’ll just all die off from freezing.

5.  “The MBTA is running on time.” That doesn’t matter, regardless of season.  It just won’t happen.  I shoujld know better than to dream about that.  For the record, I’ve already given up… and starting in April, I’m back to an actual subway-only pass for the MBTA instead of my $250 per month commuter rail pass, because I just can’t deal with the train unreliability anymore.

6. Lines outside Iggys.  The window won’t open until it’s warm enough.  So on our rambles to Iggys, we’ll have to stand inside with the winter crowd instead of enjoying the beach as we wait.  Bah.

7. Cats passed out in morning sunbeams.  They’re not lasting long enough, and they’re not warm enough because we still have to keep the radiators going – detracting the cats from said sunbeams.

8. Coatless mornings. Seriously, I hate having to wear a coat everywhere.  I hate the extra weight.  I hate having to deal with it sliding off my shoulders.  It’s just still too cold to even pull off the sweater over a shirt trick.

9. Sunday morning coffee with a breeze. This may go under the aforementioned storm window opening – but there’s really nothing more soothing than that weekend morning with coffee, smelling fresh cut grass as neighbors mow, and enjoying a sunny, cheery morning that didn’t involve an alarm clock.

10.  Patio dining.  I really want a sunny lunch somewhere outside.  I’m craving eating outside.

11.  Grilling parties - we held a few nice ones last year with great weather, great friends, and great food.  Half of our friends can’t go into our house due to the cats, though – so until the weather improves, we can’t have a lot of people over for meals.

12.  A really clean kitchen floor. Like many New Englanders, I’m in that hovering “I’ll scrub it once the weather improves” phase.  I thought I would have been there by now.  But yeah, we’re still dealing with winter sand and salt, so I’ve only been doing the minimum to keep it from being disgusting.

13.  Spring.  TWO WEEKS IN – I WANT SPRING!

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When it rains…
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• Thursday, March 17th, 2011

I’m finding myself, as many other bloggers did after 9-11, having difficulty trying to write about normal everyday things when the news coming out of Japan is so horrible.  The situation is so incredibly unreal and gigantic that I cannot comprehend it enough to form any practical thoughts beyond horror and sadness.   Anything I could say would sound so shallow and trite.  It makes my life seem shallow and trite.

But that is what I have to write about.  I have no first-hand knowledge of Japan, nor would I claim to.  I just hope that the determination I’ve learned and read about the Japanese people shines through and gets them through this tragedy.

So forgive this entry, which probably sounds completely flippant in light of things…

The past week or so has been pretty wild in Measi land.  I swear that St. Patrick’s Day/Evacuation Day is the only reason I know what day it is.  To sum up my week:

  • Friday afternoon through Sunday:  Attended PAX East in Boston with Erich (I’ll be putting my recap entry together this weekend.  It definitely deserves its own entry)
    Also during the weekend… 

    • Friday night – severely bruised my right pinky to the point that rubbing nail polish remover hurts like hell… over fake nails.  I’m still worried I may lose my nail completely, but I have hope it’s going to heal.
    • Saturday morning – got the other 9 nails done anyway.  In a pretty green for the holiday.
    • Also Saturday morning – monthly stitch-in with the Rhode Island Stitchers (in which I got virtually nothing done other than drool over the hooked rugs that the Little Rhody Thrummers group had set up in one of the other rooms)
  • Sunday night – start the post-con laundry catchup, and suddenly I hear Erich yelling “we got a problem!” from the basement.  Our water heater and storage tank had ruptured, sending water everywhere across the floor.  Thankfully we caught it early, and aside from possibly a couple things at the bottom of a single paper box that was in the water flow, I don’t think we’ve lost anything of value.  Hopefully.
  • Monday – Erich stayed home, called the oil company, and they came out to replace the heater.  So much for our tax refund.  *groan*
  • Later in the day, he got slammed with a nasty stomach bug that we’re thinking was a case of food poisoning with how it came on.  He couldn’t pick me up from the train, so I ended up on an adventure to get home from downtown Providence (finally ending in a taxi home because there was weird stuff happening at the bus depot)
  • Yesterday – Erich’s PT Cruiser starts really making a loud, grinding noise.  Like… really loud.  And today it’s worse.  Bad enough that it’s  now officially at rest until it goes to the shop.  I’m thinking it’s something to do with the wheel bearings.  Hopefully it’s not an expensive fix.
  • That, of course, means that we have three people who need to go to work in different places tomorrow – and we have one car.  So it’ll be another fun trek through Massachusetts tomorrow morning – first to drop Matt off in Plainville, then Erich in Dorchester, and finally landing in downtown Boston.

So yeah – it’s been an expensive week and a crazy one.  I seriously can’t wait for the weekend.  I dream of sleeping with no alarm clock.  It will be done on Sunday.  Oh yes – it will.

On the plus side, today was absolutely gorgeous – the first real day of spring (yeah, yeah… Ostara’s a couple days away still, I know…).  Everything just smelled good – nice and clean and earthy.  I love it.  My daffodils, hyacinths, and day lilies are all coming up through the ground.  My mums are already making an effort, too, even though they won’t bloom until August.  I’ve seen a few forsythia bushes in the city heat islands starting to bloom.  During our drive through Milton, MA this morning, I noticed that the yards are starting to green up, too.  I cannot wait for the first night we can keep the windows open.

Needless to say, it’s been quite the unusual week.  I’ve managed to get several hours of stitching in, too – all on Annette’s Mira RR.  My progress is coming along well.  I’m hoping to have all of the cross stitches done so I can add kreinik and the beads starting late this weekend and have it ready to go within the week.  I really don’t want to be stitching up to the last minute on it.  I’ll post a pic once my square is done.  I will say – I’m quite happy with my stitching so far.

I’ll end on a few randoms…

There’s still time to enter my Blogoversary giveaway, too!  Just look at my sidebar for the link.  :)

Also – Rhode Island Stitchers (my local stitch ‘n bitch group) is hosting a Spring Giveaway with some fun stash, if you want to try your chances!

Sue, the organizer of Stitcher’s Hideaway, posted her blog report on the Alumni Retreat (what happens in Mystic stays in Mystic…).  I think the photo of me worshipping my Saturday morning coffee may be about as truthful a photo as you’ll ever see of me.

I’ll write more this weekend, hopefully over a calm cuppa on Sunday morning.  :)

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Category: Dungeons, Dragons & Dice, Erich, Exchanges & Robins, Family & Friends, Geeky Stuff, House, Life, Work, and all the Rest, News & Politics, Stitching   Tags: , , ,  | 3 Comments
Protected: Gloomy Tuesday
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• Tuesday, June 09th, 2009

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Almost the weekend…
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• Friday, May 22nd, 2009

… and then a week off (first one since my UK trip in October) that will be full of planting, painting, and writing. :)

But first… dragons! Currently the orange egg is in need of the most clicking.

Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today!

And second – join the Summer Adventure Ficathon over on hearts_in_time! :)

Happy Memorial Weekend, fellow Yanks. :)

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The project list gets a bit smaller
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• Sunday, April 19th, 2009

First, welcome to several new friends I’ve met through memes in WoW and Slash fic writing… hooray!

So far, it’s been a very successful weekend. I have tomorrow off (hooray, Patriots’ Day!), so I’ll be able to devote a good chunk of it to writing, exactly as I’d hoped would happen. I’m feeling VERY pleased. :) Spring Cleaning success – hooray! And the weather has turned out surprisingly good… the original forecast was for scattered showers all weekend. We had just a bit last night, but otherwise it’s been partly sunny and mild. All of the tree leaves are exploding. The only downside is my allergies – but after this winter, I’ll deal with sniffles!

the big project of the weekend

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Protected: Back to work after a long weekend
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• Tuesday, April 07th, 2009

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Randoms & Dragons
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• Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Dragons that need clicks. :) (I guess the Dragon Cave is somewhat back up… I dunno)

Adopt one today! Adopt one today!

what I’ve been up to recently…

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Protected: Reclamation
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• Saturday, March 14th, 2009

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Weekend recap
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• Monday, January 19th, 2009

Very quick sum-up:

Family medical crisis averted
Lots of WoW – ding! 79
Lots of snow
Lots of fic pondering, but not much writing (working on that)
Not a long weekend for me – I iz at work.

Now in depth… behind the cut…

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Protected: A productive day
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• Friday, January 02nd, 2009

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Post holiday roundup
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• Monday, December 29th, 2008

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend, full of whatever you celebrate, or productive in resting, recouping, and re-energizing if you don’t.

Ours was very quiet and uneventful. We went to bed on Christmas Eve with about six inches of snow on the ground. Got up on Christmas morning, and the grass was bare. Completely melted off, with the exception of the plow piles on the curbs (and as of Sunday, those are gone, too). Amazing.

Since Mom cancelled out on her trip up from Pennsylvania with my brother in tow, we really didn’t have any plans. All three of us got up late, bummed around for a while, and then headed out around 1 or 2 to find Chinese food.

We drove for a little while, starting first on Wickenden Street, then making a circle literally around College Hill before finding ourselves in North Providence. Nothing had been open. It was a quiet, bright, warm day, and we enjoyed the exploration around the city. I’d checked for places open before we left (just in case), and saw that MuMu on Atwells Ave was open for Thanksgiving, so I presumed they’d be open for Christmas.

And yes, they were. The only thing open in Federal Hill. Seeing Atwells Ave dead silent was just creepy. For anyone who knows Providence (and particularly Federal Hill) – we had our pick of parking. No cars anywhere on the street. This is a Very Weird Thing.

The food at MuMu was fantastic – in fact, quite possibly the best I’ve had since moving to New England, outside of the very authentic “I don’t know what I’m eating and don’t want to know… because it tastes good” food you get in Boston’s Chinatown. Nothing was greasy, everything had lots of flavor and the presentation was great. We shared a scorpion bowl (in a beta fish bowl… hee!) between the three of us and stuffed ourselves on a variety of foods. We will definitely be going back there.

After dinner, we just came home and bummed around. Watched the new Who episode, which I thought was cute but definitely not my favorite of the pack (of the four Christmas specials, it’s sitting tied at the bottom with Voyage of the Damned). Lots of World of Warcraft. I finished the couple bubbles I had to level to 75 – and then by yesterday levelled to 76. Otherwise we’ve been doing a lot of the low level quests available to gain reputation with our faction’s cities. Both of us are gearing to get the Ambassador, Exploration and the Loremaster achievements. Erich has already gained Loremaster of Outland and Eastern Kingdoms. I have only Northrend to finish exploring. Geekdom geekdom, yadda yadda yadda.

On Friday, Erich had to work. I did a bit of project work but not as much as I’d hoped – some beta work, some fic drafting, but mostly just recouping because I’ve been exhausted at work. I made a delayed Christmas dinner – a new roast recipe I found on Recipezaar that had a lot of very positive rankings (4.5 out of 5). I followed the recipe exactly, but sadly it’s probably the blandest pot roast I can recall. Not sure how that happened, considering the recipe had quite a bit of grated horseradish and dijon mustard in the mix, but both tastes were virtually eliminated in cooking. It was wonderfully tender and the carrots and potatoes came out nice and tender – but the roast and broth gravy were a disappointment flavor-wise. Thankfully for the leftovers, I still have plenty of the grated horseradish to top the meat slices. And if need be, I’ll make the mustard sauce I normally use to make mustard carrots.

For Saturday, we spent most of the day up with friends, catching up with a couple of the guys who have moved out of New England but were home for the holidays. A massive Risk boardgame battle ensued, as well as some Rock Band goodness. Relaxing, nothing particularly special, but good to see them and spend some time. A couple of the guys are pressuring me to take part in Erich’s Star Wars d20 campaign, but I honestly am enjoying my time NOT gaming these days. I just can’t handle the 6-12 hours sitting in a chair like they can. My attention span to that just isn’t good anymore. And honestly, I have other things I want to do – writing, WoW, stitching (one of these days), and just getting a few little projects done.

Sunday was project day – going out to get me a new monitor since my desktop LCD has decided to start draining itself (and therefore turning black) – they were out of the type I wanted, so we’ll go back later. Went to Home Depot for a couple things, and the pet store for the standard supplies. We also took down our tree. I prefer to keep it up until the first week of January, but this year it just could not happen. The tree stopped taking on water a couple weeks ago and was tinder dry, so fire safety had to rule the day this year. :(

So now I’m back at work for another short week. I took Friday off to allow for another 4-day weekend, and I’m hoping to be a lot more productive. Erich’s gaming on Saturday, which should allow me plenty of time (and quiet) to finish my Support Stacie fic for wiggiemomsi. If work continues to be dead quiet this week, I’m planning on spending a lot of time going through beta work for others so it makes me look busy.

And then to figure out what I’m doing New Year’s Eve. Anyone up for anything?

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Category: Celebrations & Holidays, Chrismahanyulkwanzakah, Fanfic, Geeky Stuff, World of Warcrack, Writing   Tags: , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment
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