stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
It has been a tumultuous week & a half. I'm going to bullet-point. Sorry, I know that is not the best journalistic style.

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I've been too sick to drive for Uber. I haven't been sleeping well but even though I'm awake during the hours I'd normally be driving, I'm tired and dizzy. I miss it. I also miss the minor extra income it brings in.

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We drove to Cooper's Lake a week ago, on a Friday as folks were getting out for lunch, which meant hitting DC rush hour traffic midway through our trip. Luckily for us we always take a route that runs diagonally across the state so our overlap with the dense traffic was short term. And, although I shouldn't have, I had a Dairy Queen banana spilt for dinner. Because I could and we were there. It is at our traditional gas/food stop during that trip.

I was stressed about the meeting for the next day. My lousy health this winter/spring meant that I was not as diligent about getting my Pennsic job done and I had 37 email strings (Gods do I hate gmail and its formatting!) to wade through before the meeting, some of which were letters asking for my help and having been dated a month ago. It was shameful. As it turned out, I was about even for 'doing my job' with the rest of the Deputy Mayors, which is both heartening and embarrassing all at the same time. Guess we all had a lousy few months. Nonetheless the emails were sorted, my departments were updated, and I'm now back in the loop again. Although about $200 poorer because I can't request a refund for my travel costs.

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I've decided to take a break from Pennsic staff next year. Sure, I'll do duty - we all should volunteer a few hours - but overall I am going to be a 'tourist' and relax. It is the first time since Pennsic 21 that I will not be on staff. I did schedule a break one year but a friend guilted me into running a Page's School once we got onsite. The autocrats had never bothered to find a staffer for it and there I was, sitting with her on the Cooper store's front porch trying mightily to resist while drinking Pennsic Chocolate Milk (it deserves the capitalization) when a little girl came out of the store with her brother excitedly telling him that "THIS year I'll be eight years old so THIS year I get to go to Page's School too. You don't get to have all the fun this time!"

Well yeah. We were both Boy Scout Commissioners and we could put a one-week school together while standing on our heads and blowing kazoos. So no break for this staffer. (It was a good school and people were absolutely fantastic about stepping up at the last minute with few financial resources. I still remember some of the classes with nostalgia.)

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The lumpia fundraiser thing is done. More specifically, I am done pimping the sales. It was a total flop in that we profited only $80 and I have sealed and frozen lumpia filling our freezer to the very top. Over 900 sticks of it, not to mention the 200 or so over at our Baron and Baroness' house. But - done and no longer my headache. Except that my failure haunts me.

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I've 'fired' my weight loss dietician, which means I've quit their program since there is only one 'non-surgical' doctor. I've finally learned that 'encouragement' isn't an aspect of their care but pushing more drugs as an answer to the slowing down of loss is. I've not lost any weight in months but neither have I been the least bit diligent about cooking, exercising, or watching my calories during the months of feeling sick as a dog. Twice I asked for a 'pep talk', a group to meet with or anything that may help me regain my perspective when I went in for my follow-ups and each time I was told that they "didn't do that and have I considered this drug or that surgery?" I need to regain my enthusiasm for cooking foods again instead of tiredly reaching for whatever ready-made or easily-grazed item is in our cupboards. Now that the exhaustion from last month's cold has begun to lift the kitchen is starting to look more attractive to me. Next comes motivating myself to the gym.

- Sewing must happen. A lot of it. I had a family and a single guy needing loaner clothing for the event this weekend (the single guy's roommate posted at 10am on Facebook on the day the event opened, asking for 'whoever is in charge of Gold Key". They didn't actually get to my house until after 8:30 at night, long after the event had started. Yes, it was crazy for me to even allow it. But I did so knowing that with such a gross abuse of courtesy on her part (he didn't know any better but she is a Laurel), I could now have a group-supported 'rule' put in place requiring borrowers to contact me at least two days before an event. And the new guy, who'd never met me or anyone else in our group, has a few names and faces to remember. He seemed rather embarrassed about it. I learned later that it may have been because our Chatelaine visits their house two or three times a week to see their other roommate and she'd told the Laurel over and over again during the past month that she should contact me early if she needed to borrow anything.) I was at home because I was sewing a tunic for the son of the first family, who could not find a single thing in our Gold Key that would fit except for one cotton and one thick wool tunic. With an expected high of about 90f, wool wasn't going to do.

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I am lividly angry with our country's health care situation. Our (past) baron is dying of a cancer that cannot be cured. That makes me angry in one direction but more importantly to me (given the 'somethings we just can't take care of' situation for cures) is the fact that his wife is killing herself trying to take care of him, their child, their home, and keep an income coming in while the medical community stands by and whistles in the wind as she whittles herself down past the point of exhaustion. Cancer shouldn't cost two lives for every infection.

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And a man I respect highly and love dearly is dying of a different kind of cancer because he cannot afford health care. He's too proud, too private, and too, too exhausted with the medical merry-go-round to even consider trying to start a "go fund me" sort of thing so he is going to die while ignorant idiots posture and rant about the 'evil that is Obamacare'. I swear by the Almighty, if one person snarks "Obamacare" to my face I am going to pop them in the kisser. Yes, it is a freaking ugly package - but that sure as shooting wasn't Obama's fault and the politicians who posture and prance while fanning their egos with it have cost, or will cost, many of us the lives of people we care about.

And I don't love that man half as much as his partner, who is the mother of their pre-teen daughters does.

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I'm wiped out tired. Think there is a way to change out one's batteries?
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
We had rain on Friday and part of Saturday. It was a welcome break from the heavy pollen flow. Without the awful sinus headache those days were quite productive - errands were run, lumpia was made, household chores long ignored were completed, and dining outside of the house was enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the pollen production began anew on Sunday morning and by late afternoon I was in far too much pain to care about our weekly card night - I was seeing flashes of light when I blinked, which was too close to what I understand would be a migraine headache. And this after 600mg of Motrin. I ended up being lulled to sleep by the sound of laughter coming from our kitchen as my husband and some friends played through the early evening.

I'm up again - the worst of the headache has faded to the background so I'm taking advantage of it. I finished rolling the last batch of lumpia I had waiting already mixed, then inventoried our supplies of finished lumpia and am now torn between starting a new batch (I've three more batches of cooked & chopped meat in the fridge) or doing laundry & paying bills. What excitement! What a grand selection of occupations! Actually - playing logic games on my computer is beginning to sound attractive.

We met at a local library this afternoon for a sewing session. There were only three of us but it was productive. I had not been aware that am opportunity was coming up and had no new project to work on (being solely focused on getting lumpia made) so took my Viking Rus coat there to add more decoration to it, a project I'd started and then set aside when the winter-themed event (Ymir) had passed. It has been hanging in the craft room forlornly waiting for me to work on it. So I did, and got a lot more done than I expected. Say! Now that the kitchen table is cleared off after that last rolling session, it is perfectly situated for me to work on finishing the edging of that coat! Maybe I could get that done tonight as it doesn't require much in the way of brainpower. I'm planning on running a double line of trim across the bottom of the coat and up the two front edges, ending them at about thigh-height with a bowen knot. Like this:



That takes the coat outside of the realm of 'documentable' and firmly into 'conjectural' but it will be attractive, especially with the to-be-added fur sleeve cuffs, so I foresee an easy sale when the coat ends up being too large for me to wear after more self-shrinkage.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I've spent the last two days rolling lumpia - or more precisely, chopping up all the ingredients to go in the lumpia and finally getting to the point where I could roll a batch up. Beef ones, 115 of them so far. I'd meant to do more today but instead went shopping for more ingredients - tomorrow one of my protégées/apprentices will come over and we'll get started again. I must have all six types done by next weekend so there is a lot of chopped oriental ingredients in my fridge right now, waiting to be mixed in with the rice and soy sauce.

Everything is going slower than I want it to - the elms and oaks are pollinating the entire corner of my world and I happen to be allergic to them. Staying inside is helping - going shopping means that I'll be trying to claw my throat out sometime before I can get back home again. May I say that I am grateful to the inventors of the neti pot, Sudafed, and Zyrtec. Oh yes. And Motrin, unfortunately, as my head aches all the time right now.

So I have not been driving for Uber in the last two weeks - headachy and fuzzy-brained as I am, I don't trust myself behind a wheel. Although the loss of my weekly mad money is hitting me. How quickly we adapt to extra income, eh? I'd not realized what a sense of fulfillment it was giving me, to be able to not stress over an extra bill or a higher-cost item that I'd normally have to scrip and save for. Those trees better find a room - I want my driving evenings back.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I thought I was going to work this evening - but I was wrong.

We had a demo over the weekend, and that involved Bossman and I bringing out our pavilion and filling it with a static display, a 'food challenge',



and a table of medieval/Renn period games. One of my protégées ran the games table each day.


She was a real trooper, as she had not planned on doing that but stepped in when it became obvious that the other members of our local group were really just there to hang out with each other and watch people walk by. She worked her hinny off.

I did the food challenge. Arranged a bunch of fruits and vegetables between two baskets and then challenged passerbys to sort them into "known in Europe before Columbus sailed" and "introduced to Europe after the finding of the New World". No one got it 100% right. In fact, I think the best was about 80%, but oh how decisive some of the wrong answers were! As I unloaded the baskets and put the items back in the middle, I told the players stories about the items - just minor tidbits like "Carob comes from the Locust tree, which has led some scholars to conclude that John the Baptist ate carob & honey, not insects and honey while he wandered the desert. In fact, carob is sometimes called "St. John's bread." or "Bananas are the largest herb in the world and originated in Malaysia, then passed into India, where Alexander the Conqueror found them and ended up transporting them to northern Africa, where they spread like a weed - like kudzu!"

We did the final unloading of the truck this afternoon, after I had spent the earlier day shopping for supplies for the lumpia fundraiser. I am sore and exhausted. The loading/unloading and setting up of our equipment gets more difficult each time, I swear. And driving an hour each day to work from 9-5:30 was no way to rest up between the setting up and the tearing down. Luckily we had wonderful people who helped us with both. But for tonight, after unloading and schlepping all the heavy stuff, I don't trust my judgment for driving unknown routes - my brain is tired and my body aches moving or sitting still. So home I stay. I watched the latest episode of "Call the Midwife" and now I'm going to retire with a new book. Hopefully it will lull me to sleep.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
In spite of not feeling well* I've been fabric shopping. Yes, Ms. "I don't want to stockpile fabric" went out and poured cash into the hands of retailers. Some of it was personal purchases due to Hancock's closing (over 300 dollars spent, although a chunk of that was on tools rather than fabric. I'll be setting aside my plans for buying an adult tricycle for a while until I reimburse our household account for that trip!). Other spending was not my own money. But of our own, one of the things we picked up was 'trim fabric' These ones:


A few yards of each will net me some lovely early-period stripes to turn into trim that is lightweight enough to actually bend and drape as fabric should rather than being thick and rigid as so many hand-made SCA trims end up. One of my goals as I learn how to weave is to make pretty trim that is pliable instead of stiff. I dislike seeing sleeves, for example. bow out in a stiff circle at the biceps because of the trim applied over the seam line.

We got over a hundred yards of various fabrics and one trim in three colours from an upholstery shop that was going out of business. Those are for the barony's Gold Key (newcomer's loaner items) collection. I'll be sewing until Pennsic, most likely, to get all of that converted to clothing. Of the blue there is about 53 yards. Wow! But at a dollar a yard for fabric and 75cents a yard for trim, it will be a real money saver.






*We thought I was struggling with a mean UTI - treated it once, had it return, treated it again, and then the longer test results came back showing no evidence of bacteria, so now a week into the second round of antibiotics and pain meds we've hit a wall. The next step is a specialist. In the meanwhile, I have deep-seated pain at the kidneys and lower abdomen which is sapping all of my energy. We've a weekend demo for the SCA coming up where I'll be doing onstage presentations - and all I really want to do it stay in bed and try to sleep. Somehow we'll make this work. I am not looking forward to loading our tent and equipment up, setting up, demoing, and then tearing down again. The thought exhausts me. But Bossman says we can do it so I believe him.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I have wasted five hours on my computer, mostly reading LiveJournal (I'm far behind in my reading) or the Book of Faces. Or the news. Or email. Or playing basic graph-based games...

Perhaps I really should get back to sewing the trim on the left side of the Rus coat I'm planning on wearing this weekend? Maybe?
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
Excuses I hate to have leveled in my direction;

"It's the Society for CREATIVE Anachronism! That's in our name!"

"We have ANACHRONISM in the name!"

"It isn't as if you were submitting it for an Arts and Sciences competition."

"They could have done it that way."

(paraphrased here)
"Not everything period was documented. Period people had common sense. If they wanted or needed _______ of course they would have made one. That none have been found by archeologists yet is not your fault."

"The SCA is just a game, a hobby.."

.... so therefore, history be damned. Do whatever you want.


What if what I want is to actually do things that are historically correct? What if that give me joy? How hard is it to understand and support that?
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I've been thinking about re-tackling the process of weaving. It galls me that as a woman interested in the Viking era Norse, I cannot weave (or naalbind). Unacceptable! So I've started looking at looms. Not expensive ones, mind you, but something that I wouldn't mind taking with me to an event - so no 'inkle loom'. It wouldn't be the one that I'd use for reenacting but rather a home (and sometimes event) item that won't jar my medieval experience too much. And what do you know, I find one that is most likely not correct-to-period at all but I do love the look of it. What do you think of this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/209566683/tablet-weaving-loom-longer-version?ref=related-0 ?

Sheep walls

Nov. 3rd, 2015 03:36 am
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
Okay, so I made a new one. At some point I should makes something a little more classical in its depiction of sheep, but for now this one amuses me.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I'm avoiding working on a scroll - the paper I chose for the thing (Bristol) is very thick so my light-board isn't working well. I'm not an artist, can't draw worth a darn, so need the silly light-board in order to get anything done. But it is so dim on the other side of that Bristol paper that I actually took my glasses off and had my face hovering a few inches above the surface so I could squint enough to see the images shining behind. I have the bottom edge design traced out and am only needing to draft in the left edge patterning and then - OMG - do the text. Which, btw, will be traced with an extra-fine Sharpie pen and not callig'd. This is because I "wrote a cheque from an empty account". I haven't had a chance to practice any calligraphy and being a leftie means that it takes me a bit longer to get up to speed. The two scrolls are due this Saturday morning. I shouldn't have volunteered to do them but I got my time sense confused and thought I had an extra week to get them done after the camping event.

My meal plan was successful as far as the diners went. I was unhappy with the level of disorganization that I had and grateful that I had a 'memos' app on my phone so I could make a list for myself in the middle of the night, that being when solutions to problems seem to become clear and elegant. If I'd waited until morning they'd be lost forever. The biggest difficulty was my own lack of ease in getting things done. This would have been alleviated had I asked for a kitchen helper every day instead of trying to do it all myself and if I'd stored the dry goods in bins sorted by meals. Asking someone to lay out the items in a small 'breakfast' bin while I started the hot water on the stove would be such a step up from my own rooting around in a giant bin pulling out boxes and jars while folks hovered in the public area waiting for their coffee and oatmeal and the unneeded items had to be placed on any convenient surface while I found the breakfast or lunch items.

I learned that my 'food restriction' person had given me, as we suspected, a list of foods that were a blend of dangerous-to-her ones and personal dislikes. As she said on Friday when I mentioned that I might just end up scrambling everyone's eggs on Saturday, " I don't DO scrambled eggs!" I bit back the reactive "Then you can just eat oatmeal if you are lucky, b*tch" thought that immediately crossed my mind. (I was in pain and very cold, it being a little over 40 degrees, so grumpy.) Later in the day she mentioned that she had been through a three-month elimination diet with no appreciable results so I am giving her the benefit of the doubt that she may not actually know what is causing her intestinal discomfort. I imagine it must be quite frustrating to find that some foods create dire effects one day and yet not on different one, with no medical explanation of why or the common factor. Nonetheless, she will not be on my meal plan next year.

Oh, did I mention that I am already planning on doing it again next year? I did enjoy it even through the frustrations of my disorganization. It's been years since I've cooked a meal plan for more than four people. Probably a full decade, actually. And I ended up with 5 more people on it by Friday - the head of a household who'd asked after the plan just 12 hours before I was due to leave home told his shire members that they were on it. Which I learned after they arrived two-by-two from out-of-kingdom. But with the help of a person swinging by the grocery store after their trip to Lowe's, we had plenty for everyone. They loved the chawettes, they loved the lumpia, and they adored the SOS. Which made me giggle - of all things boring SOS seems to be the one that people greet with raised eyebrows and then come back to the kitchen sniffing hopefully for seconds.

It was cold at night. Just barely above freezing. We slept warm though, and shared Bossman's air mattress instead of setting up our normal two beds. I had expected that the arrangement wouldn't work - he normally sleeps catty-corner on the mattress so he can fit. But instead we fitted together just fine. I guess old habits are not ever lost. :) The mattress was difficult for me on the days he wasn't there as I could barely get off of the thing but once he got on site I was fine so long as he was in the bed while I was exiting. I needed that extra firmness to push off from! Before we left home we went to a secondhand store and bought a couple of quilted bedspreads to take with us for the bed. I'd meant to buy only one but there were two that matched and he wanted both of them. So after two thin wool blankets were laid down one quilt (King sized!) followed, then our down comforter, then the other matching quilt. They were large enough that I could tuck the ends and the foot-level bits of the sides under the mattress, which effectively kept the blankets from sliding off the mattress during the night. Those things are not designed for tucking in one's bedding. The plan was to return the quilts to the store as donations, effectively 'renting' them for the duration of the event (a whole $14us!) and keeping us from having to find new storage space for them, but he likes the ugly things so now they are packed into a vacuum-sealed bag and put away on top of the camping gear for next Pennsic.

We had brought a small but powerful propane heater with us. We never needed to use it. We did finally figure out that it was useful on Sunday morning for the gathering area while folks had their breakfast and coffee/tea though. It was nice to have that hot air blowing on us.

The Great Dark Horde camp had six brothers camping in it and eight chagua. We had a couple of Brothers have to cancel plans, durn it. I made twelve new sheet walls for the camp to go with the six I'd already made - there were no more than that there. No one else made or brought any. Luckily for my morale, I had only expected one more wall to show up, as I knew that most of thems who made walls were not going to be able to attend. I just bought more sheets to launder and cut into new walls. Hopefully if I do a set of two sheets every payday we'll have enough by next WoW. Friends of ours who live in Clarksville are going to let us store the household's camping supplies (sheetwalls and poles. Maybe a fire bowl) at their place so we can have them consolidated. Having each of us store and bring a personal set of supplies was good in theory but rotten in practice. Next week, after our Baronial Investiture event is over I shall start painting designs on the walls with the help of some of my khanate members. That will be fun.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
All of a sudden my days seem crammed - prepping for War of the Wings has become an over-riding need. And so much was left undone after Pennsic! Which I did not really notice until this morning. I just finished making 46 little pork chawettes and still have filling available, enough to make probably another two dozen. I think instead I'll use up my left over lumpia wrappers to make a pork version of 'rolled thin pancakes'. Staying in the Great Dark Horde camp means I should serve at least one Mongolian dish, right? And it would be dead easy to add the extra ingredients to the leftover pork. Besides, they can be fried in the same way as the chawettes. And more importantly, I won't have to go to the Hispanic store to buy more supplies.

Tomorrow I shall be roasting beef and a turkey in order to have luncheon meats to serve. Maybe a ham, too. We'll see what is available at the Commissary. I'm serving eight people but only on Friday and Saturday. That is making portion-anticipating a bit of a challenge. Especially since three of them are staying at a hotel. The easy and boring route of 'instant oatmeal or fresh muffins or bagels" is going to be breakfast. I'm not going to chain myself to a stove all morning on the off chance that someone from out-of-camp will wander in hungry for breakfast.

This meal plan has its own special challenges. Oh boy, yes. One person sent me her list of forbidden foods (sensitivities, apparently). For your enjoyment, this is it:
Asparagus
Bell/sweet peppers
Celery
Kale
Lima beans
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Raw onion (cooked okay)
Mushrooms
Almond flour
Ginger
Hazelnut
Peanuts
Most soups and stews (Brunswick okay)
Grapefruit
Oranges/tangerines/clementines/mandarins etc
Most dairy – milk, soft cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, whipped cream (hard cheeses okay)
Ground beef is iffy
Chili
Sausage
Seafood
Most spicy things

In the world of medieval cookery, this is both easy and tough. Cooking without almonds? Tough. Or at least 'weird'. Leaving out New World food products - not a problem. Even the mayo doesn't phase me. I could bring some for mid-day sandwich making but I think I'll just bring two different sort of mustards and people can deal with that. The cheeses are confusing - she just told me that she could have mozzarella... I would have considered that a soft cheese. Still, there are also other folks with food concerns. One is lactose intolerant, one does not eat any veggies except for corn (which I won't serve at an SCA event) and one specified no "guacamole, hummus, or sour cream". The menus were fairly easy to come up with but I was saddened that I must leave out some items I'd been anticipating serving, like "Savoury Toasted Cheese". That would have been lovely once the sun began to set and the chill of the day set in but with two lactose-intolerant folks I will skip that one.

I've been driving for Uber like crazy at night, trying to get as many hours in as I could this week to make up for the days I'll be unable to next week. It finally dawned on me that we have an event the Saturday after we get home from WoW and I've promised two scrolls to our outgoing Baron and Baroness for their final court. They are depending on me for wording. Guess I'd better get on that too, eh?

Okay. Time to get off of the computer and get sewing again. Tomorrow is food prep, then the test feast (we're invited) for the Investiture event. There is a huge pile of laundry to take care of, pavilion curtains and flooring to sew, and packing to do. Before early Wednesday morning. Whew!
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
We're packed for Pennsic. It's a shorter visit than it has been in the past - usually we'd already be there, working to build it before everyone else arrives, but this year that isn't our gig and it feels.... nice. Relaxing, actually.

The guys (Bossman and a household member who doesn't play in the SCA any longer but keeps meaning to) packed the truck while I worked in the house. This was their way of ensuring that I didn't over-extend myself, which I was grateful for. Even then I joined them in sweating off a few pounds. Man, was it hot today! Too hot for our central cooling to handle well.

I finished Pennsic sewing this afternoon. Nah, it wasn't anything exciting, just privacy curtains for the new pavilion and a cover for the stove/oven so its modernity won't insult my event joy. Da Man does not understand this but he tolerates it. Or maybe he just enjoys laughing at me - especially when I sew, say, a cloth cover for a tower fan so it won't stand out quite so much when we aren't using it. I don't mind its modern glory if I'm sweating to death but otherwise it must look like a musical instrument in a cloth case. Yes.

I don't know if I wrote about it but my diet doctor believes that we have deducted the cause of my lack-of-circulation-when-standing. With luck and physical therapy (and sweating, and sweating, and more sweating), it may be eradicated in my near future. This would mean that I would have to join the hard-working truck-loading guys, but I think I can deal with it. I can even deal with losing the handicapped sticker for the car - sort of. I kinda like that sticker, I do, being the lazy person I am. But still, it'd be nice to leave an empty spot for someone else who'd really need it.

So. Food and drink for the house-sitter has been acquired. Bills have been paid, and bank accounts balanced. Laundry is done, except for those items that will be thrown in as soon as I get ready for bed. Car insurance policy cards have been printed (new policy this month) and Pennsic receipts have been too. The Garmin has been updated. Not for finding our way to Cooper's Lake - that one is committed to memory - but perhaps we'd need to find something in town that we hadn't gone to before. A trip to the farmer's market is eagerly anticipated.

I made (am making, since I have three more to do) sweet bags as appreciation tokens for my department heads. I'll be filling them with Kasugai Japanese Gummy Candy in various flavors, because yum. And because it is also gluten-free and low carb to boot. But mostly because it is absolutely delicious and of the Muscat Grape variety there will be a strict "One for you, and one for you, and one for me" method of filling the bags. Here, btw, are photos of the bags. They are rather rough (larger weight yarn than I expected for the newest ones, which are not natural fiber but feel so soft and silky that I think I shall be forgiven). Except for the smallest and the largest, they should cover a cell phone nicely. The largest could easily act as a travel bag for a person's ceramic mug, and the smallest would do well as a medallion/jewelry holder.

stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
It is funny how (mostly) unacknowledged fear can cripple a person. A month ago, I struggled to make seven tunics and one gown for people headed to Pennsic. It took me two weeks and at least one evening of tears, with background mind-music playing "this used to be so easy, what's wrong with you?'. I left the event with the intention of making two more gowns for a person who didn't fit anything I'd prepared, yet no scissors met fabric until today. Although I did dye 4 yards of white so it'd be a nice lavender.

Tuesday was my dietician appointment. I approached it with dread - too many crisis's, too many party/celebrations over the last two months had garnered me too many pages in my food log with "over allowed amount" or even just "binged" written across the page. I was ashamed and the only thing that forced me to make the appointment was the big banner I'd read on their welcoming page which said "don't avoid your appointment if you've not lost weight - we are here to help you when you need it most!". So I went. And was surprised. I've lost five pounds. That's not the pound-a-week that I'd been doing at the beginning but it was more than I expected. And rather than getting chewed out, the dietician complimented me because, as she explained, under the circumstances of the last couple of months most people would have gained weight rather than lost any at all. She also gave me some strategies for dealing with people pushing food on me that I shouldn't be eating. It is very hard to turn down someone's homemade treat that they are so proud of, and danged irritating to have someone else shove a spoonful of something at my face with the demand, "taste this!" only to scowl and glower when I decline. "It's a small amount and you should have tried it" seems to be justification enough to treat me like an antisocial meanie because I wouldn't put that bit of food in my mouth... which social pressure I have difficulty dealing with. You know - that 'wanting to please people' thing is hard to turn off!

The downer side of the visit was learning that the soreness I've noticed in my legs when I've pushed to stay upright long enough for them to go numb before I sit back down is oxygen starvation in the cells. I was, as I had thought (but my Primary Care doc brushed off) actually harming myself by attempting to walk more daily. She wants me to start noting exactly when the circulation begins to cut off - I really only notice once the whole leg is mostly numb, because I'm focused on whatever it is that I'm doing - shopping, usually - so now I need to pay attention and get a time line. In the meanwhile, mobility at Pennsic is going to be limited far more than I had planned.

Anyway. So Tuesday afternoon had me humming to myself because a dreaded appointment had been positive and affirming. Wednesday was my oncology appointment, where I would get the news about the enlarged lymph node - was it still enlarged? If it was, that pretty much meant cancer again.

It was not. My doctor said, "You keep passing all of my tests" and has placed me on what would be a maintenance regime - my appointments will now be twice a year, and the same with CT scans. While they do not use the word 'remission' with my type of cancer, for all intents and purposes that is what I am in.

And I left his office, came home to lunch, then put music on and cut out & made two gowns from scratch (no pattern), then fitted them onto the new owner this evening and that was that.

Fear. I wasn't even aware I'd been carrying it. I now feel as though I've woken up from a sludgy sleep, mentally.
stitchwhich: (Scatterbrained)
I have a nice pile of 'muslin' sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me to use it to cut out a new sarafan - and I can't. Just can't. I haven't suffered from cutting fear in a long while but it has hit me now, with a vengeance. And I gave myself a 'get it done by this Saturday' deadline, so I need to get over this fear quickly.

This is why I don't usually take commissions from people outside of my area. Because the fear of ruining their fabric just makes me freeze like a bunny noticing a snake.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
Friday featured a 10-hour drive to Slippery Rock, PA, so we could attend the Pennsic staff meeting on Saturday. It was a long drive. We decided to check out route 68, which is West Virginia's pride - it was a lovely route but not a particularly safe one - the road hugged the hills and featured many three-lane sections specifically designed to handle the slower traffic of 4-cylider cars and laboring 18-wheelers. Of course, even though our little economy vehicle was stressed trying to go up the hills, the 85-mile-an-hour coasting down the other side was nice. We opted for our traditional route (Penn turnpike) on the way back, though, as a severe storm was sweeping through and we (rightly) anticipated flooding roads and rain-squall blindness. Normally the home drive is two hours shorter than the Pennsic drive but the rain squelched that so it was a little over 10 hours each way. That made for a very long weekend. Also a downer was the discussion with our hotel, which charged us for an extra night because we had secured our reservations for "Friday and maybe Saturday" with our credit card, only to find out on Saturday that they do not consider it 'securing' a reservation but rather booking the room. So even though we told them at check in on Friday that we would not be needing the extra day, and stressed it multiple times, we found that we were charged for it anyway, "because we had to turn other people away who wanted to reserve for that night, so you owe us that." A family-run hotel, just getting started, with only 18 rooms and the oddest one we'd ever stayed in. Needless to say, we will not be staying there again. (Not because of the misunderstanding, but because of spotty service and communication, and because the bathroom, while much larger than a regular one, was lit only by one light bulb so showering was done in a dim closet-like environment with no exhaust fan from the room. Bossman was smart enough to grab one of the floor lamps from our suite and place it in the bathroom, which helped with visibility.

The trip actually was a waste of time. I had a three-minute face-to-face with the mayor, and then on Saturday morning we had a less-than-one-hour general meeting, and that was it. It all could have been accomplished just as well over the internet via email. Thankfully this is the last time I'll be called on to make that meeting - I do not anticipate ever being in a key staff position again. Since I have no plans to train as a possible mayor, and have never been one in the past, I am not a candidate for a senior staff position. This year was my one 'shot', which I appreciate but am glad to walk away from. It has been a frustrating year of no training, no SOP, and no idea what was needed from me until a series of public messages announced that I was overdue on deadlines. My comment that an SOP would be useful was met with derision... I can find other ways to meet my 'frustration and humiliation quota".

Although - I am considering checking out the Lost & Found department. There have been some 'lean' years of people doing the job more because they were trying to take care of an empty spot in the staff rather than because they wanted the position. There hasn't been a good fit for a while now. I know I could do it well, and it would give me a niche to fill. Not to mention that the hours are great compared to the hours needed for the other jobs I've done!

This afternoon at the grocery store I picked up a 24-can case of soda to bring home and then stopped, grabbed an additional 12-pack to hold at the same time, and felt good about myself. The combine weight of the two is how much I've lost since mid-February. It was cheering to hold that awkwardly heavy bundle and realize that it was something I'd not be subjecting my bones to ever again. So even though I haven't lost a clothing size yet (that happens when you are as heavy as I am), it feels good to have an awareness of my progress. I do have more of a waist, though, now - my tummy no longer juts out beyond my chest. That is nice.

I'm spending the week sewing two Russian sarafans for a friend. I've only made their pattern so far so actually creating a real one is something I am looking forward to. I don't know much about the style - I'm copying a set of finished ones someone else made for her - but I feel confident these will look good on her. The pattern did, and it was just made of junk fabric. She is paying me to do the sewing so I might be able to afford ordering our new pavilion after the weekend. That would be one worry I could set aside.

And now I should go to google and see if I can learn a little more about sarafans, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
We are almost done with our baronial fundraiser. I talked to the Baroness last night and she agreed that we could close the effort in the first week of May, in time for us to present the total amount earned to the group at our business meeting that week. I'll be so glad to be done with it. I've enjoyed the days spent with various people at our table, all of us working together and chatting - that has been wonderful. A good portion of the packaging and selling for individual orders has been easy, if time consuming, but another part of it has caused me to want to throw things in a temper tantrum from the hassle of it all. One repeat customer suggested that we bring the last of the batches to an event at the end of May (Ruby Joust) because campers there would be pleased to buy us out and cook it for their dinners... but truthfully, I want to be done.

I don't even know if we'll be attending Ruby. We have only missed one Gem Joust in all the time we've been in the SCA, that being when Bossman had his heart attack two days before the event (and he was the Marshal in Charge! Our current Baron stepped in to take his place, the sweet man, and the Autocrat sent a note to Bossman saying, "you could have just said "no", which made the poor hospitalized man hurt his chest from laughing so hard.) Anyway, Gem Joust (first "Diamond" which were before we joined, then "Emerald", then "Sapphire" and now "Ruby", those being the prizes for the winners of the tournaments) is now held in an area which is sharply divided between trees & lush grass or clay soil with scant grass. Our group camps in the clay area. I've always appreciated that since the place is teeming with ticks - teeming, you can actually watch the grass under the trees and see them crawling there - so I stick to the tourney area and our campsite as they are both in the clay-and-sparse-grass section. But with the weather shifts the event has been on scorching hot days and that clay reflects the heat terribly. Thus the disinclination to attend. It's danged hot and surrounded by trees I am allergic to, and then add in the ticks. I miss our old camp, which was a BSA camp. It had copperheads but few ticks.

This fundraiser had me pulling our our vacuum sealing machine to pack people's orders so they'd be safe from sloshing water & ice in coolers at the end of a day. We had many orders that were to be delivered at various events and they'd not be headed home until after feast or at least until after court before feast. And it hit me early on (but not early enough!) that we were packing the lumpia and Rolled Thin Pancakes in regular zip-lock bags to put in our freezer, but what were we going to do about getting them safely to the event where we'd be cooking them, and storing them during the day - plus getting them home - without any water leaking into the bags? Out came the sealer again, this time to make huge ice packs that wouldn't leak. I nearly filled our chest freezer with them. Most of them were cut up and thrown away when we got home but I'd been messing around with a few of them, thinking that we'd want to keep some for ourselves since they'd be so handy. And to mark them as 'ours', I added colorful beads to the water. They made me smile. Two leaked and had to be reworked and one hasn't come home yet from the house where it ended up with some of the extra lumpia stock. But I'd already found that the scant amount of beads I'd put inside were not enough so today we went out to A. C. Moore's and bought four strands of new beads of various types. Bossman found a package of plastic lizards at Whole Foods on the way home so those are going in our bags too. I should probably post a photo at some point, eh?

If they look cool enough and amuse us enough, we may make a few to give to friends for their day-event coolers. :)

And to top a good day of relaxation (only had to deliver one order of lumpia), Whole Foods had a new stock of Skyr and I got 6 containers of them. Bliss.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
I haven't been on LiveJournal for weeks. In fact, I think I've missed some posts because my "previous 20" button led to a blank page before I saw the last post I'd remembered reading. So there's that.

Our SCA Baron and Baroness are stepping down and they'd like new coronets for their successors. And for themselves, if we could get them before Pennsic so they won't be wearing about 5lbs of steel on their heads during that event. This involves fundraising. I volunteered to organise another 'luncheon booth' featuring a modern version of a 14th century Mongol-Chinese meat roll "Thin Rolled Pancakes". The more modern version is lumpia, a Philippine dish. Its wrappers are more consistent with the earlier version than eggroll wrappers are. So for the last two weeks I've been hosting lumpia rolling days at home. We've made a little over 2,000 of them to date with about 300-400 more to do. Then, in two weeks, we shall have a booth up at an event called "Golden Rose Tourney" and sell the cooked meat rolls to the populace. Assuming that the ones folks are pre-ordering (frozen so they can cook them at home) don't deplete our supplies too much. Which, honestly, I don't see happening except for specific types. We have special batches without onions, for example, since we know that many people are allergic to them.

I calculated the amount of carbs, protein, and calories for each roll. Mostly for myself, to be frank, but also for those who I know would feel they needed to skip the lumpia because it was "too fattening / too high in carbs". As it turns out, a regular (as opposed to "heavy fighter's") serving of three to four lumpia is one within the range of permissible for adult diabetics, and is a little under 300 calories but tastes a whole lot better than a sandwich with that many calories.

So, Busy. When not 'rolling', I am shopping for more supplies to prep for the following rolling session. (Oh! And in the process I stopped by Whole Foods to buy pine nuts and picked up some more skyr for myself, and had the happy discovery that a small carton of skyr has 20 grams of protein in it, more than the average protein bar does, and stil has fewer calories. Not to mention it tastes so much better. I was a happy woman until my supply ran out again.) Or delivering finished rolls to various people's houses to store in their freezers. And I talked our webminister into putting up a webpage for it: http://www.baronyofmarinus.com/lumpia-fundraiser.php

I got to take a break during one weekend and spent it acting as a judge for the Jamestown Settlement's "Military Through the Ages" (http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown-settlement/military-through-the-ages/ ). I really enjoyed myself. Part of that was the chance to spend time with a friend I rarely see (we judged together) and part of it was simply being able to evaluate a group's presentation and to get a chance to truly appreciate all the dedication that goes into creating an interpretation of a slice of history. I hope that I get to do it again.

Pushed myself hard, came down with the flu. I've spent the last two days trying to get my temperature down below 100f and have finally succeeded. All of a sudden food looked marvelous! I couldn't even look at food while I was fevered. Had less than 700 calories on the first day I was sick. Also lost 5 pounds so far but I know I'll find them again now that I'm feeling better.

Oh, and my latest CT scan showed an enlarged lymph node next to my heart. Which may be nothing to worry about or may be a secondary cancer, something fairly common among those of us with GIST. I'll know more next June after my next CT. Yeah - waiting that long. I'm not really digging it. Long ago I told myself that if the GIST returned or if I got some other form of cancer, I was going to take that as my sign from the Almighty that my time card had been punched. That was fine in theory for my hubby but now that we're looking at it as a possibility, he isn't interested in letting me stick to that. He says that as long as there is some form of treatment he wants me to fight. I am torn over this - I understand his grief and fear, but at the same time, I don't want to live the last bit of my life sick and suffering through another round of treatments only to come out in the end more damaged than I was before we started. This ole body has lasted through some awful stuff but I wouldn't mind trading it in for something a little more comfortable and painfree, although I am sure I'd miss those I love dreadfully.
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
For the past two, maybe three, weeks I've been sewing for my little booth at Holiday Faire. I haven't made enough stock though, not enough to reach my goal even if it all sells. There are a lot of merchants at that event and many of them are selling garb. Oh well - I will make some money and I know that some tired and anxious parents will have clothing for their children that they won't have to try to find the time to make themselves.

But pricing has been a struggle. I know that SCA garb is almost always sold under-price compared to what would be considered normal for Renn Faires or other venues. $15-$20 a tunic/dress is the most I can reasonably charge for the majority of my wares else no one will buy them - not for clothing designed to fit infants to size 8(ish). So I know that this won't be the one-shot effort that I had imagined. I'll have to set up my booth at least once more before spring, and then suck it up and serve ramen for a while so we can afford the new pavilion. Thank goodness them suckers last a long time! I don't believe we'll need another one again. Our enthusiasm for camping is fading as the TV and chair look more and more inviting. "Hotel" events are going to be more our norm.

Just for the fun of it, behind the cut are some of my little outfits. At least, some of the ones I feel fond of. ExpandSCA clothes for little people )
stitchwhich: (Lego Viking Woman)
Sometimes the difficulties inherent in an off-beat sleep schedule are not very obvious. I sat down at 1am for a snack after doing a lot of work at my desk. I thought I'd just want a little savoury 'something', as people do late at night. So I had a bag (1oz) of potato chips, feeling rather naughty since they are carb-heavy. Then I had another bag. Then two slices of lunch meat. Then a nectarine. And finally yet another bag of chips.

And then it occurred to me that I'd been craving a meal, not a snack. Perhaps because I'd eaten 'breakfast' 12 hours before and 'lunch' six hours after that.

I did manage to get a lot of admin-stuff cleaned up from my desk. That means that I have phone calls to make to medical billing offices in the morning, darn it, but it is nice to actually have our bills back in normal order and the riff-raff of 'Pennsic mail pile' finally gone from my sight. It is all shredded and in the recycling bin now.

Plans for tomorrow are for some salad-making, clothes cutting (I've GOT to get started on the sale stock for Holiday Faire!) and the printing out of Pennsic device pages so I'll have something to do with my hands at our baronial business meeting. Ah, Crayola Therapy...

Speaking of that, I was given a sweet compliment yesterday while answering a question for someone and I'm going to save it here so I can find it again during the dark times: "...you have a reputation as someone who knows their stuff, is always willing to help other people learn, and is ALWAYS helping out in one way or another. That's not exactly something to sneeze at." The next time I'm feeling like snarling, maybe I'll remember that and keep my teeth behind my lips. It is more fun to cheerfully help someone than it is to be grumpy.

Baby Anna

Aug. 24th, 2014 10:41 pm
stitchwhich: (stitching away)
Anna gown - finished


My part of it is finished. Mama will do the embroidery after it reaches her. The tuck in the skirt worked, so at some point it can be taken down and the skirt will be about one and a half inches longer. And there are two rows of 'soft' Velcro on the inside flap so the bodice & shirt can be widened or made smaller around the body.
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