Random Thoughts

I know I haven't posted in way too long but I have actually have something I want to write about.

Recently I got my brother and his girlfriend involved in the SCA and they have jumped in with both feet. They are making garb, getting armor together and planning on events to go to. My brother even mentioned going to Pennsic this year. All of this makes me very happy because he has been interested for a while and finally got a chance to see what it is all about.

So imagine how upset I was when I get a call from him saying that his girlfriend had a really bad experience at their local fight practice this week. When I talked to her she said that she felt unwelcome and uncomfortable because the non-fighters there were sitting around talking bad about people and overall unpleasant. She was hoping as a new person she would get a little guidance and be introduced to people and made to feel welcome. She asked me if this was how the SCA was and if so she doesn't want to be a part of it. After talking to her about it she felt better but I feel that was a conversation that should have never happened.

How can we as a society expect to attract and keep new people when this is the first impression they get of the group? What I find sad is that this is not a isolated situation. I have talked to several people who did not get involved because of the first impression of the group. How do we fix this? I think we lose more people then we realize because of this.

Bringing a big bag of knitting yarn with me to Sapphire to give away for anyone who is interested. Most of it is natural fibers and enough to do a small project with. I need to make room in my sewing room for more projects.

I need some help with loner garb for Saturday at Sapphire. My brother and his girlfriend are coming for the day to check out the SCA. Peter's garb with fit my brother but I am too short for my garb to fit his girlfriend. She is 5'11" and busty. She is a little smaller then I am. Does anyone have any garb we can borrow for the day? Please?

This is the second week of the "Fashion Show" and so far I am not impressed. The hosts don't have the flair that Heidi and Klum and Tim Gunn have. The contestants themselves seem to be cheap knockoffs of previous contestants of Project Runway. I just find the show drab and boring which is sad to say about fashion and fashion designers. I am so glad that Project Runway will be back in August.

Crown was a blast this past weekend. I got to hang out with great friends and got to know new ones better. The only thing missing from the weekend was Peter. I love going to events with him. He gets a chance to unwind and really just have fun with friends which is something he doesn't get to do very often. Not to mention he is my security blanket. I know when I am with him, I am with one person who isn't going to judge some of the stupid things I say and do.

I am really starting to look forward to Sapphire. I hope that I can at least start on a new project and have some of it done by then. I also need to make a couple of new fighting tabards for the guys but those I will do on the machine.

I was so tired when I got home last night that I completely forgot about posting the needlework pics. So here they are.



This one is at the framer's right now. We even have a place for it in the house.



This is not yet done. I hope to finish it toady sometime before packing for the weekend. It is my first piece of crewel work and I am very pleased with the way it is coming along. I will bring it with me this weekend if anyone wants to see it close up. It's a small piece, only 4x4 inches but I thought it was a good size to learn on. Now that I have done it I am working up to a bigger piece. Peter made a joke the other day saying now that I know how to do crewel I can start working on stitching enough fabric to replace the worn crewel on one of our chairs. I just gave him a look.



This is the start of my band sampler. I have a little more of it done but not much. I will have this with me this weekend  with the hopes of working on it. Yeah right. I always bring projects with me to work on and they never get touched.

Things have been so so lately. Still not motivated to do any sewing but I have been doing a lot of needlework. I will post pictures of the 3 pieces I am working on when I get home. Actually it is only 2 becasue one of them is done and off to the framers. One is a band smapler that both Peter and I really thought would go well in our livingroom after we paint. the other is a small piece of crewel work that will go in the top of a box as a birthday gift for my mom. I can't believe she is turning 70 this year.

It looks like both Pter and I wll be attending Pennsic. It was up in the air with Peter as he was trying to get a job at Wolf Trap. He did not get the job, which he is really bummed about. He has talked to some of the people from the interview and they said the reason he didn't get the job was his age. This makes him feel even worse. I have mixed feelings about the outcome. The job would certianly boost his income but that would mean no Pennsic, but not getting the job means Pennsic but a slightly down Peter.

Another thing that we have been dealing with is Carlin's hurt paw. Somehow while playing outside he ripped one of his claws off. There was blood everywhere and a trip to the vet. He was put into a cast and hopped aroud for several days. Now the new claw is growing in but he even more skidish about having his paws touched and I am sure we will have to fight with him to trim his claws now.

Over all not much exciting going on which is why there hasn't been a post. We are going to coronation this weekend and looking forward to seeing so many people we haven't seen in a while.

Oh and October is Peter's 50th birthday and there will be a party. Keep that in mind please!

 

 

Just to show you my dogs will eat anything.

I had such a great weekend. I didn't do anything all that exciting but it was just relaxing and fun. I did get up early and head to the needlework store Saturday morning. I went for one skein of overdyed thread to work on my current project to end up with enough stuff for another 2 projects. I so need to find a way to balance my needlework with my sewing so I get stuff done. Anyone have any ideas? The rest of Saturday was spent reading and watching movies with Peter.

Sunday I worked on my current project and then watched movies curled up with the puppy dogs. I have to say Caleb is a blanket hog. I had to fight with him most of the day for the blanket and every time I uncovered him a got a very nasty look. Carlin was just happy to have a spot on the couch.

I have a new computer. I can now see the whole screen! I am very happy.

I had a good time at KASF this weekend. Although I was not all that happy with the items that I put out I am happy that I motivated myself to put something out at all. I already have plans for next year. So the best thing I got out of it was some inspiration.

In the meantime I have been surfing amazon to find out if there are any interesting new books out there and I just have to ask why there are so may series about vampires? I a not opposed to them in fact I read the Sookie Stackhouse books and have since the first one came out. It just seem like there are about 50 different series out there. I have no interest to read the twilight series or any other vampire series. I just want a good book or series of books that I can enjoy. Oh and if you ave 200+ books in a series it is time to give up the ghost and write something else.

Anyway I still haven't found anything that catches my eye so back to surfing.

Well my documentation and display are finished for this weekend. Yay me! With KASF approaching that means that Jeanmaire will be going home soon. That makes me sad. If only I could get her to move up here.

Work continues to go well. I love the kids but they have been testing my patience all week. On Tuesday it took all I had not to get mad at  the little girl because she was just really bugging me for hours. Then the little girl and little boy decided that they were going to crack each other up by saying booger to each other non-stop while we were waiting for the little boy's appointment.

I am happy to say that we managed to get our taxes done and submitted. Yay for tax return! I am able to replace my laptop with a new one. Peter dropped my computer a couple weeks ago and cracked the screen. The price to replace the screen cost more then a new computer does. So new computer here I come.

Not much else going on. I think after KASF I am going to start working on a new smock based on some new information that I have. I also have some needlework that I need to get finished.

Hope to see people this weekend.

Nothing much to post. I am at work all day with two sick kids who are resting right now.

Oh and we have a stray cat in heat that likes to howl at our bedroom window in the middle of the night. Sigh

One of the things I regret most about my education is that I never learned to speak another language. At different times during middle school, high school and college I have taken French, Spanish and Latin and at best I remember a few phrases here and there. Nothing that would ever make someone believe that I actually speak that language.

So over the weekend I decided I was going to try to tackle learning to speak something other then English. I have in the past heard very good things about Rosetta Stone and decided I would go on their web site and pick a language that interests me and I did. When I made my choice I didn't think about what would be useful or practical. I am now taking Dutch for no other reason then I am interested in the country, people and culture.

I have to say I am having a blast! This program is easy to pick up and use and it is fun.You learn by immersion and the only way you figure out what things mean are the pictures that they show you with each phrase. I think Peter is secretly laughing at me when I talk to him in English with a few Dutch words here and there. I wonder what he would say when he wakes up one morning to find labels everywhere. I am still try to find out how to label the dogs who are now known around the house as de honden. i have even been making up little sentences about de honden. Such as Ik heb een zwart hond. Which means I have a black dog. How very see Spot run huh? But not too bad for 3 whole days of working with the program.

The hardest thing is that I really want to write down what I am learning and translating it. Even in the book that comes with the program it tells you to believe in the system and see how it works, but grumble I am not speaking fluently yet. Don't worry yet I am not to the point where I am writing posts in Dutch.

Last night I was trying to sleep and my mind focused on one of my favorite places on earth, my grandfather's farm. I remember as a child how I looked forward to the weekends or breaks from school because I got to go and spend time on the family farm. I loved that place and to this day I have nothing but fond memories.

I remember how that four hour drive seemed like days and when we would finally get there I would hop out of the car and run in the house to find my grandfather. My father passed away when I was only 2 so my grandfather was my rock. the only stable male figure I had for a long time. If it was late enough in the day I would find him sitting in his chair enjoying a little down time after working all day. He would have the paper and a pipe and he would relax. Regardless of what he was doing he would stop and pick me up and listen to me babble about what ever came to mind. If he was still working on the farm I would help mostly by milking cows or carrying stuff for him. I always felt safe with him. I always remember him as a giant, i know he was well over 6 feet tall and slim and to me he could do no wrong. I have heard it said that he was a hard man and could be very strict and demanding but I never saw that. He worked hard to support his family on the farm and when that wasn't enough he went to work in the coal mines the eventually killed him.

The farm itself was a wonderful place to be. The kids were allowed to play anywhere on the farm as long as we stayed away from the heavy equipment. So most days were spent running around playing with the animals and eating fresh vegetables out of the fields. That place was like magic to me. It was so big I still don't think I have ever saw all of it. When the weather was bad we played in one of the out buildings. Either in the loft of the barn or in the canning building that also had a guest room above it. We always found cool things to look at. One time we found my grandmother's wedding dress stored in one of the closets and another time a bunch of love letter sent between my grand parents. On the far side of the fields was a creek that we would play in if the weather was nice and sometimes we would sit and throw thing off the bridge that crossed it. the best part was that the farm gave us a great canvas to make up our own stories and games. 

Behind the main farm house and across the cattle fields was the family chapel where we went to service every Sunday. This was also where the family cementery was. After service we would walk around and see all the graves and make up stories about the people that were buried there. This is now where my grandfather rests. The last time I was ever on the farm was when I was 13 or 14 and he had been dead for several years.

I miss that place and wish I could go back and visit. I wish I could take Peter there and show him all the fun things I got to do and share some of the stories that I have. What makes me sad is the farm was sold years ago. It was many years after my grandfather passed and the farm house caught fire and burned to the ground. It was harder and harder to keep the place up and there were fewer people to maintain it. I know that the family did what it needed to do but it hurts to know that some of the younger family members will never know that place and experience the joy and sense of family that I got when I was a kid.

This week was rough at work. The little boy I work with did not have a good week and that meant that I didn't have a good week. Monday started with an argument over homework that resulted in a full melt down and getting something thrown at me. Tuesday he had an appointment and I thought it was going to be a good day when he did well leading his group but we get home and all hell breaks loose. Yet another fight over doing spelling homework. It was well after dinner before he finished. The week ended well today but he got very low scores from his teacher because he was not expressing himself in words. I hope next week is better.

Well both University and Ymir are out. I just can't seem to make it down. I hope to make it to an event soon. I just can't put aside real life obligations to play at an event. I wish I could. The thing that bums me out the most is missing Axel and Jeanmaire's investiture. I feel bad about that and I am trying really hard to figure out a way to go.

On the bright side Jeanmaire will be up here visiting soon and she always kicks my butt to get me working on things again.

I got to work on my corset again last night. I forgot how fast it actually went when I work on it. Now i have come to a part where I need to make a decision and fast. When I started my corset I cut it out of two layers of linen and two layers of hemp canvas. As I have been working on it I have found that it is going to be a pretty solid garment and might actaully be too heavy for what I want.  So I have been trying to decide if I want to finish this and try to wear it or do I want to cut out another one and start over using the old one as a leasson learned don't do that again kinda thing. I know that I will not be comfortable wearing the one that I am currently making but I don't want to just get rid of all the work I have already done on it. Help! I really need to decide by the end of the weekend because I was hoping to get done before I go to University. 

Yesterday I took the time to pull out an unfinished project. I pulled out my corset and I was happy to see that I had finished more of it then I thought. My goal is to finish it before University so that I can wear it then. I am a little bummed that I am not teaching this University which is my own fault. I kinda stopped paying attention to the event calendar and missed the deadline. On the other had I can take a few classes so I figure it all is balancing out. Who else is going to University?

My job continues to go well. I really love the kids, they are both smart and fun to be around. Last week (my second week on the job) their mom was out of town and I worked some extra hours and had even more running around to do. Yesterday at work I got a wonderful thank you card from her along with a small bonus to my pay. I was so touched by this. So far this week has been much easier then last week. I really have a lot of repect for parents in general and even more for those that have more the one kid to get to different activities and appointments. The boy that I am taking care of has appointments every day after school except mondays. The main part of my job is to take him to all of his activities and when I come home I work with the little girl on her homework. The little boy is considered main stream autistic and all of his activities are to help him out. The one thing that I have to admire about the family is that they have not told him or his sister that he is autistic. He goes to public school and the only one who knows there are his teachers and only because he gets evaluated on his behavior. The biggest thing with working with him is that he sometimes doesn't know how to express himself in words and when he gets angry he likes to express himself physically. After the fact he can calm down and talk aout it but when he is upset or angry he doesn't know how to deal with it. Because of this everyday he gets evaluated (1-5 with 5 being the best) morning, afternoon and evening on using his words and not his hand to express himself. So I know it is going to be a good day when he gets off the bus and he got double 5s for the day.

This week has been even easier because he doesn't have homework because of the short week. Homework can be a challenge because his fine motor skills aren't the best and he gets frustrated. He tries to get me to write for him or he just tries to talk his way out of doing it all together. When he has had a bad day at school it is even harder to get him to sit and focus.

Oh well off to an appointment. More later.

So yet more time has gone by and I haven't got back into posting regularly. The biggest thing that has been keeping my from posting is I just tend to hide when things aren't going well. I was raised by a family that always told me that other people don't want to hear your problems so you should put on a happy face. Sometimes it is really hard to put on that happy face and I have to just hide for a while.

Things are getting better. I love my job and just getting out of the house and having things to do during the day has helped a lot. Peter has been working like crazy and we hope to see a slow down in the next week so we can see each other. I have come up with some idea for some projects and look forward to working on them. Now to take the time and start organizing them so I don't feel so overwhelmed.

Thanks to everyone who came to my party Sunday night! It was great seeing everyone. Thanks Tom and Jen for hosting I had a blast.

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted last. For a long time I didn't have anything to say that wasn't repeating what have been writing for months.

I was really bummed that I didn't get to head down to 12th night. I really wanted to go and see everyone and have some fun. There was a really good reason that I wasn't there. I now have a job! And to top it off it is a job that I love! I am working as a nanny for tow great kids. Usually I would not have to work weekends but I had to on Saturday because the Mother was out of town and the Father had to work and they needed someone to watch the kids.

I am starting to get motivated to work on projects again. I am going to spend some time over the weekend cleaning my sewing room and organize my projects so I know what still needs to be done.

More later.