I am bad. 
I've done no sewing for Pennsic. Nothing new for me or Alan at all, despite my change in size. Eh, the big stuff still fits, just big. And I am going for less time than last year, so I'm sure it'll be fine. But I had hoped to make an outfit appropriate for helping out at the Crusader/Saracen battle. Of course, now the schedule is such that I'll be lucky if I can even see any of it. And still, it is always nice to have new stuff. Ah well. 

This week I've also been a total slug. I've fed the fish. I've watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the basement. I've re-read the last chapters of Book 7, again. I had a lovely dinner last night with folks and then went shoe shopping. I had two coupons for DSW, one that expires during war week, so I used them. Hooray for the sale section! I got three great new pairs of shoes all for under $60. A pair of black patent low wedges, some gold tinted fabric flats, and the best pink metallic flats from Kenneth Cole all came home with me. Tonight has been laundry and tv. Not even the hand sewing in front of the tv I had hoped to do.  sigh.

I guess I could start packing the rest of my clothes. Most of our stuff and a box of my garb is already at the war. Maybe, depsite all those who are desperate and unable to attend, I'm having a hard time mustering the enthusiasm for Pennsic. Even my retail therapy, despite the enjoyable experience, didn't make me jazzed for war. Perhaps it's because Pennsic is no good place to wear the new pink flats. I'm sure it'll be great once I get there. 

At least I hit my weight loss goal before land grab and seem to holding steady so far. :)

My copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived an hour after my last post, almost exactly when I was done with my shower. (It's like old times of sending my little sister to the bathroom in a restaurant so our food would come...) I got in an hour of reading, paused to make brownies, another hour and half of reading, then off to Mike's party of fun friends, entertaining kids, and great food. Came home and read for another 3 hours, and am now off to bed. Am done with Chapter 10. Very good. Enthralling at the least.

I do have a new name, thanks to Chrysander's son Ray. He calls me the Magic Lady, since I got him lemonade and used tongs to get the ice out of the ice maker. It's very cute. He came and gave me a hug and said "Bye bye Magic Lady!" as they were leaving. If someone is not going to learn my name, which is a lot to expect from a 4 year old, I'll take this nickname. :)

Sleep well, and happy Pottering to those that do.

I am posting here in an effort to keep from sitting on the front porch in wait for the UPS driver with my book.
Because a watched pot never boils, or something. 
Where is he?

So, last night Theo wrangles us to head to downtown Silver Spring for the HP Book 7 release party. She, Roland and I had dinner at Cerviche, which was amazingly tasty and an unexpected combination of flavors. Then we hung out on the balcony a bit watching the festivities and costumes below. An amazing array of pinkness, wonderful costumes, and a huge crowd of people. We finally braved the crowds to participate a bit, take pictures of some fun things, and in general soak up the ambiance and excitement over a book. 

I've spent a good little while sorting through and uploading my pictures from last night. The Leaky Cauldron had the best sign. The Potbelly place gets demerits for naming themselves the Hog's Head, which is in Hogsmeade, not Diagon Alley. Florean Fortescue's had the most enterting reading while waiting in line for icecream, although the Ministry of Magic postings were supposed to be on purple paper, but I'll let that slide. And I think the Mandrake plant and Herbology students were the best group costume. 

clicking the image will take you to my set of photos

All in all, it was great fun. Everyone was in such an amazing mood, it was infectious. We bailed around 10:30pm, and didn't stay to buy copies, because we had preordered from Amazon to arrive today. In previous years I had loved the concept of the book coming to me since I was busy that Saturday. Today, it is killing me. I could run out and buy a copy at Target, but then what do I need two copies of the book for?

And this afternoon we have a party for Mikey, who is out of rehab and back home. Whoohoo! It will be great to see everyone, but I had hoped to have a few hours of reading tucked under my belt first.
Doesn't UPS know they are cutting into my reading time?!?
Perhaps I should go shower. That is guaranteed to make the delivery arrive, right?

God, I hope so. I am so out of patience.
pout

You guys are the best. I swear I wasn't fishing for comments, but they are nice to have. I admit that when I got the first call I thought of booking a trip down for this weekend. Then, the saner portion of my mind fought its way to the front and whispered something about leave, and last minute flight cost, and upcoming Pennsic, and that if I leave before tomorrow, I won't have my copy of Deathly Hallows to read on the plane/in the airports, etc. 

Besides, my mom can breathe, eat and circulate her own blood just fine. She can get up and move around and still get the rum glass to her lips, so it's not all bad. But it is still surgery, and anesthesia, and mom's should be strong enough to conquer anything. Heck, she's farm stock, she'll be fine, if frustrated for a bit. The other thing is that she's a PA, so she's always explained the medical stuff to us. It was odd getting a medical stuff call from my Dad initially that didn't have answers to questions. Mom's calm demeanor in the face of this is encouraging, and completely expected, and even relied upon. She's the Mom. That's her job. 

~~~~
So, Theo, Roland, and Mel the Taller are thinking about heading to downtown Silver Spring tonight as they turn Ellsworth Ave into Diagon Alley. It is tempting for the festivities, even if I don't plan on buying a copy of the book when one is coming to my place tomorrow morning. I bet I could go to downtown Silver Spring for the festivities and then catch a 9:45pm showing someplace too. Hmm... Wonder if it is too hot for my victorian outfit?

Apparently my Mom is falling apart, and is broken. 

I got a call from my Dad on my way home, and then another later call from Mom and Dad as I was sorting the laundry with clarification. A month or so ago, my Mom developed an inflammation in her left eye macular nerve, so her vision was fuzzy on the left side, but she was otherwise functioning and trying some anti-inflammatory eye drops. Well, the eye drops didn't seem to work after trying them for several weeks, she was slated for surgery which involves an interesting and detailed recovery involving some time face down and ceasing her golf and swimming for some time. This alone was pout-worthy.

Well, Mom is left-handed, so during the sit and wait time of the left-side fuzzy vision, she had to write, sew and read reaching to her right side, which was fine except the writing part. sigh. So she had developed numbness in her left arm/shoulder, which they were treating with Osteopathy, drugs and/or rum, with only temporary relief and no improvement. Finally, upon noticing some muscle loss in the left arm and thanks to an MRI, it has been determined that the numbness is due to a protruded and herniated disk in the C6 region of her spine, which is putting pressure on both the spinal cord as well as on the nerves around her neck and shoulder. In addition to the numbness, she was getting shooting pains under her left scapula. So, Mom now has the eye stuff on hold while she meets with a neurosurgeon tomorrow to determine what is to be done for that. Isn't that enough?

And on top of those, she's also got a single shingle patch on her forehead, which is behaving weirdly, but finally healing after some time and some anti-viral treatment. 

At least that is a complete list of her problems. She's a bit upset about having to take 4 weeks of unpaid leave and that it won't be spent on a tropical island or on a sailboat.

Funnily enough, this reminds me that on the way home from the first half of the play last night, I noticed an add on a MetroBus for the Bodies exhibit at the Rosslyn Dome. It's open there until October 28th, which is very cool. Must find time to visit it after Pennsic.

I also think I'm having a bit of post-HP Movie, pre-HP book funk. All I've wanted to do is read this week, but I don't want to start something just to put it aside when HP book gets here. sigh. Can't wait, perhaps I'll try to see the movie again tomorrow night.

wakka wakka, wakka wakka

Had a lovely weekend. Started off with Friday night dinner with Corby and Thjora of delivered sushi, and much fun, if very laid back chatting. Christian came to visit and didn't actually get to our place until just before 1am. He followed the GPS, which took him through downtown DC, which means I had to grab a map and talk him in to our place the easiest way I could think of. Was quite funny. But since he didn't get in until 1am, that meant we were up chatty chatting until 3am, when I declared a cease to the conversation and bedtime for this bonzo. 

Saturday morning I slept in longer than I had intended and unfortunately took my sweet time getting ready. But after a bagel and some cold caffeine, we eventually made it onto site by 11:20am. I beat my time of after noon from last year, so figured I was doing fairly well. :) Got to visit with many friends, congratulate the newly-wed Wests each in person, geek with friends about a variety of topics, and in general hang out and have a grand time. The Pink Apprentice and I made finger puppets from the fingers she cut off the Baron of Dun Carraig's fighting glove, which was a hoot, as well as eventually making it down to visit the A&S area. Alina's weaving blew many of us completely away, and the display and documentation put up by Issac and Emma were extremely entertaining reads. After a little bit of good Queen time, and a wonderful court, we departed for home and a plan of Outback Takeaway. 

Evja and Theo, who missed the event, showed up at our place and we had yummy steaky food with friends and much hanging out and chatting with friends. Corby kindly brought his Wii to visit and we hooked it up to our projector in the basement. I did bowling and boxing with Evja, kicked her tail in boxing, and we all had enjoyed riotous laughter when Roland and Bob boxed and bowled. Evja and Christian were well matched in boxing, and pretty much tied. Isobel was a natural at bowling, but alas couldn't box with her hurt paws. As folks slowly dropped out and meandered home, Chris and I stayed up until 2am playing a game of golf, which was hideous, but at least we tied at 43 over par. 

Again, I slept in late, but we all made it to the Birthday Brunch on time at the Ram's Head Tavern in Savage to celebrate the Green and Blue leaders' birthdays! Food and company again were yummy and a ton of fun respectively. We even did a bit of wandering around in one of the antique malls afterward, I just had to check out the green fleur de lys transom window we glimpsed on the way in, but alas it was out of my budget and an odd size to find a place for. After attempting to walk off some of our meal, we headed home, called the Theo over and played more Wii. More bowling, some boxing, and Corby and Theo make a great tennis team. I think I have reclaimed my title as the Queen of Wii Bowling (on Corby's machine) with a high score of 187. Yesterday I felt every single lunge. We had a wonderful visit from Vlad, Callisa and Arielle, and then another later visit from Val, Arielle and Gracie. It was fabulous weekend full of amazing people, who we eventually kicked out to crash overnight with Roland, Theo and the kitties around 11pm. 

Yesterday after work, Alan and I enjoyed the quiet, and I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I kinda wish I hadn't gone through it so fast, as now I have 5 days to wait for the new book. I guess I could go re-read the last 5 chapters again or so. Or maybe actually clean and tidy the house some. What a thought. 

The one disappointment was our freaking lotus. It takes a week and a half for the bud to go from just out of the water to fully developed and blooming. At the last minute, our bud got a bend in the stem so when it bloomed on Sunday, it was all saggy and not quite the spectacle it is supposed to be. The insects didn't seem to mind, but I was a bit put out. Pink and pretty and saggy. Alan tried to stake the stalk to a tall pole, but it only seemed to help in that the bud didn't completely bend over and touch the ground/pond. sigh.

Went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night with the Morgensterns. We got to the theater in time to get seats close to where I like them. It was so awesome. They had to condense a lot to squeeze 800+ pages into 2.5 hours, but on the whole I felt they did a great job. I loved Luna. I totally want a pet Thestral. And now I really really can't wait until the release of Book 7. But at least I have the second half of Book 6 to occupy myself with. If you are at all inclined to see the new HP movie, GO! Heck, I took Alan who hasn't read any of the books and he seemed to enjoy it. I might talk more and mention some spoilers later, but I'll put them behind a cut if I do.  We should be taking Thjora to see it this weekend sometime.

So, now I have to face the appalling nature of my house. Alan and I have been sick this week. We've not visited with Mikey in order to keep our bugs to ourselves. We still haven't completely picked up from the pre-Assessment garb closet explosion, that necessitated a Container Store run on the way home on Sunday. The garb closet, when inspected last week for packing, had collapsed and needed surgery. So Sunday, Alan and I deconstructed, spackled, painted, and installed the new ELFA closet system for the garb. I have much more confidence in the current structure, and it's so pretty. But we decided we should keep our wool in a cedar chest, and we haven't gotten around to stowing the non-hanging wool items yet. sigh. But the new closet is nice to gaze at. 

Assessment was fun. I taught my Retainer 101 class to a small but air-conditioned room, and otherwise spent most of my time around the isenglass  vigil and ceremony. She was certainly the sparkling jewel of the day. It was glorious and well deserved. Certainly one of the most creative vigil sites I've seen in a while. It was lovely to mostly spend the day chatting with friends and enjoying others company, even if I did get laughed at for my numb foot after using it for an anchor point for fingerloop braiding. Oh and we had the fabulous company of Robert and Isobel in the hotel, which always makes for fun meals and an entertaining time.

This weekend is the Storvik event. Everyone remember to wish theblueleader  a Happy Birthday on Saturday at the event!

Okay, so catching up...

Last weekend was a Bandes workshop at the Morgan's new place in Ruckersville. Alan and I decided, based on the typical Friday traffic and the anticipated July 4th week vacation traffic, that we'd just get up and leave early on Saturday morning. So we ate chinese delivery, and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the basement. Alan snoozed through much of it and I woke him for the particularly good parts. I'm sure he was grateful. :) It was a lovely relaxing Friday night spent at home just the two of us.

Saturday dawned early and we got up, showered, packed and got on the road around 8am to get to the Morgan's timber-framed home of wonderful architechtual goodness a little after 10. We were greeted by the bear-dogs and poked around a bit before settling down for persona definition goodness, led by the attack_laurel . This was lots of fun figuring out the details of our personas, especially with respect to what we would have known. For example, we might not know our friends middle names, but we'd definitely know our parents' names, where they are/from, as well as the local friends and shopping opportunities, etc. Alan and I got a great start on ours. After lunch and much socializing, I crept upstairs and nodded off for a little nap before returning to the crew. We had a yummy dinner of salmon and sides, and I got to play around with embroidery a bit more.  We eventually made our late way back to Mike and Kirsten's to play with their dogs and crash out cold for the night. 

Sadly, frogs kept me awake much of the night. Stupid pond frogs. Dunno why, but I haven't been sleeping as soundly lately as I usually do. Hmm... perhaps I need to take a certain medication earlier in the evening before bed. But anyway, when the little bastards did finally shut up, I slept in until after 8am and it was glorious. Corby then introduced me to his Wii. He has a clever tactic. He makes a Mii for you which isn't quite right, and therefore you HAVE to dive in to fix it, and then fix Alan's and then fix Cuan, and then make one for the Angel of Death and Hot Bob. wow.. break for breakfast and then back to the Wii for trying out Wii sports. I am the Queen of Wii Bowling! I suck at Tennis. I was okay at golf, if terrible on the putting green. And I rocked the boxing, but am not allowed to play that since my victory dance almost took out one of their ceiling fan lights. opps. It was very addictive, and I was quite sore on my right side Monday morning. I told Alan we're not allowed to get one, since it was so addictive, but Corby is allowed to bring his to visit and we'll try it connected to the big screen downstairs. hmmm... how to play without blocking the projected image...

I finally pulled myself away from the Wii, and Alan and I got showered and on the road after a little minor pre-demolition exploration. The previous owners of that house are fascinating.

We eventually got home and while Alan mowed the lawn, I napped. Then we finally headed up to Baltimore to visit Mikey again at the rehab place. He was a bit tired from a lack of sleep, but was doing well, was moving his legs more, and we just sat and chatted and watched parts of Dodgeball for about 2 hours. It was great to see him and other friends and visit. Glad he's doing well. I know it must be frustrating as all get out, and he's likely sick of the place already, but he's getting better. What also really helped was earlier visits from Their Royal Majesties and crew as well as Their Excellencies' Lochmere. Hooray to feel loved, if a bit helpless. I made sure to order new flowers for his room since the earlier ones were fading a bit. Must check that they got there. 

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend full of friends, friend's animals and lots of laughter. Hard to complain about.

Went to visit with Mike again last night at the new rehab facility. It was so great to see him out and about, sitting up in a wheel chair and hanging out with family and friends. We had a great time just chatting in the sunshine. I got to play with little Speedwagon some, twirl lil' Zach around a bit in the field, and eat one of Mike and Matt's mom's yummy brownies. Mike has been doing a bunch more PT, and did 39 steps the other day. Tara joked that it was enough to get him to the portajohn at Pennsic, which I said, only if we put his tent up at the front. (Actual Pennsic attendance for Gabrell and da boyz is unlikely, but a girl can dream.) I also gave him one of the smaller devil duckies, since it is squeezable for when he gets movement back in his right hand, and it squeaks, and at the least it is a projectile he can toss at his brother. We were able to hang out for about an hour, and then it was closing time for visitors.

I've been re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in prep for the movie release in 12 days. (can't wait!) Almost done. Of course last night I got to the three chapters near the end that you can't NOT read back to back to back, so I was up until almost 1am reading. After I finish it, I'll re-read Book 6 in prep for Book 7's release on the 21st. (The weekend before Land Grab, absolutely cruel.) Heck, I think I need to find the time to re-watch movie 4 as prep for movie 5 too. We loves the HP, yes we do, precious.

ahem, anyway...

Nothing much else going on. Doctor's appointments, naps, reading, Top Chef, laundry, heading down to C'ville for a Bandes thingie on Saturday. Yawn, need nap.

Oh, and Isobel and I got a few shout-outs on the Plimoth Embroiderers' Story blog, which is teh awesome.

Onto the memes. Okay, I'm not posting the romance movie meme, since I hated my results. But the evilometer, I can buy into.


How evil are you?

And finally, some funny macros from lolpresidents.com from Jamestown's 400th:
http://www.lolpresidents.com/photo.pl?id=477 
http://lolpresidents.com/photo.pl?id=468 
http://lolpresidents.com/photo.pl?id=466