textileowl

So, a few minutes I had this post mostly written and then my computer did this thing where the mouse has been sitting on a short link and some part of my hand lightly brushes the track pad causing the page to change. Then to make matters worse, the auto save feature at Dreamwidth is clearly not working as I had absolutely nothing from which to start the post again. Thanks, guys. To top of my frustration, Jeff asks “ Why don't you work in a text editing format?” as if it will fix the problem now of having lost an hour and a half's worth of writing. I love him, but this wasn't a moment to remind me that what I was doing wasn't working.

I'm a little grumpy, though the roasted and spatchcocked chicken should help some with that. As will, getting over the frustration and getting the damned thing written again. You will lose some details but the general gist will be the same.

So! Sunday! The room was freezing and we didn't sleep well so we were up fairly early. Kitchen chat included republican nonsense and ignorant statements. My sister is included here – letting her husband decide who she should vote for. What is this Stepford?

The rehearsal was at 2, we were only a little late getting everyone and everything out the door. Even so we were down two groomsmen, and we did a lot of hanging out waiting for someone to tell us what to do. This gave us time to play with one of the bridesmaids' two sons, one a toddler and the other only a month old, as well as time to be silly and have fun. Us girls get along fairly well, even though two of us don't have kids, and the only thing noticebly in common is my sister. One did get a White Collar reference early on and kept winning points from me and Jeff. Hot, confident, good with kids and horses. Yes, please! Apparently there has been interest between her and my brother but the distance is making things as 'just friends'. My sister teased them all night.

Dinner was Bob Evans...none of us had eaten very much that day and I chose something that was very good but wasn't very good for me. Oh well, it was a good time to hang out and enjoy my family. We don't get whole lot of time to do that now with everyone.

Sleep that night was interrupted by the room now being too warm from a heated fan which never turned off and was getting so hot as to make me very nervous and I eventually shut it off. Then the thunderstorms after everyone else eventually slunk in after hanging out and chatting. We were up early again, this time for showers and then out to the church.

We were late again – a Walmart stop for snacks and t-shirts for the boys. Mom was there and then we split up into the Moose lodge team and the flower team. Jeff and I went with Liz to go and pick out and make the bouquets for the wedding. Yep, day of. Nothing like last minute planning. But it was fairly calm and soothing. W hite and green hydrangeas, white tulips, white and green roses, white wax flowers and evergreen fronds.

Back to the church for hair and makeup. I got Liz's hair setting then passed her off to makeup. From there I worked on bridesmaids. The first was the hardest, with straight thick hair, and I got frustrated enough that I needed to leave and hide for a little bit. I came back calmer and ready to tackle the next girl. This one was much easier, the pretty one we had hung out much of the time. A messy chignon with the fronts twisted in. A style that works reasonably well with hair like hers and mine – wavy and light.

My hair and makeup was somewhat last minute but I did finish and get dressed in time to be in line.

The wedding itself was short and sweet, though heavily nazerine christian with the unity candle and god's hand in every aspect of how a marriage is supposed to work. I tried to keep a straight face, which meant that I probably looked like a very bored statue. The pictures took forever but eventually we made it to the reception hall where we ate chicken and noodles, lasagna, and other very basic but tasty foods that Liz's now mom in law made. We managed to snag the two bottles of champagne meant for the wedding party and drink quite a bit of it before the rest of the table noticed. I did make sure the new married couple got their glasses first. A good time was had dancing and having time with family, barring a slight creeper that I had to rescue another bridesmaid from, and Jeff's sister clearly not having a good time. The party was about an hour and a half longer than it needed to be but eventually we went back to the church, cleaned up, changed and drove home. I could tell Jeff was exhausted as he was beginning to hallucinate conversations and being generally goofy. We got home about 12:30 and were asleep by 1.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/121363.html

Monday my sister was married to her significant other of 2 and a half years. But first there was the bachelorette party. Saturday night Jeff and I drove down to Middletown to stay at her soon to be in law's place for the weekend. There was a lot to do before the wedding and it just made more sense to be down there to help since I was a bridesmaid and all. His parents are reasonably nice people, a littlie more right of center politically and religiously than Jeff and I, but somewhat accepting. His mother sees angels... which squicks me a bit in a way I have trouble describing. The belief is ok, but the evanglising conversation about angels I refused to have a part in. They breed bloodhounds, and their current round was due on my sister's wedding day. The dog was huge, at least 12 pups and immediately took a liking to Jeff. Which is unusual but cute, to watch him enjoy petting a dog that was clearly enjoying it.

But back to the fun part, Liz and I drove up to Dayton to the Masque, one of the more well known gay clubs downtown. We get there about 9:30 super early for the club scene just about anywhere. Though it did mean we could snag a side of the stage/dance floor for the weekly Drag show that started at midnight. The other side of the stage was already peopled when we got there by what I think was a birthday party for a dapper young man who was a bit over dressed for the club in his freshly pressed pants, suit vest and tie. He was a nice looking Jewish boy there with his mother and friends. He was fiddling with his tie and enjoying the drag show. The emcee for the night was Sinthia D. Meanor - looking at their facebook - she is a regular and I can see why. She has a good stage presence and can keep a crowd going for more. Her first set was "Hey Big Spender!" from Sweet Charity. She made a comment about bachelorette parties coming to see drag shows and how she didn't understand why we would want to watch guys playing at being girls and why not go watch boys strip. My first thought was " You put on a damn good show that I want to see", and " We have boys wave their dicks at us all the time and we're expected to a. enjoy it and b. act like we don't/are shy. I far prefer watching people enjoy what they are doing, make a good show of it and I can show my appreciation with out there being any expectation of reward. The next was Daray Lorez who performed mostly pop songs that I am not going to remember. She was good, and upbeat but not going to remember. Third was the most exciting, Dee Ranged - Miss Universal ShowQueen and Former National Entertain Of the Year. Her three songs were the most well thought out and executed numbers - though man, the prep work. First song was Bohemian Rhapsody dressed as Edward Scissorhands. Makeup and costume was awesome, stilted movement and expression was very good. Second was a set of duets - I had the time of my life (from Dirty Dancing) and Summer Loving (from Grease). Here, she was dressed half in a Greaser's black leather jacket and jeans, and half in a womens short cocktail dress. Hair and makeup was also split down the middle, so that as the song went from male to female she would switch sides. Beautifully timed. Her third song was clearly unimportant because she was dressed as the Mad Hatter from the newest Alice in Wonderland. Miss Ohio AAG Niomi Onassis was the final lady for the evening and even managed to drag my sister up on stage during her last song for a complimentary lap dance.

The music was great, good dance beats, songs that I even knew. I even danced and enjoyed myself , though being in heels meant my dance sets weren't long. I am so not used to heels anymore and I like it that way. The crowd was heavily mixed, which makes sense for a Saturday night at a gay club. They get to be a place where straight people go so they can dance without social pressure of hooking up - which can be somewhat detrimental to the club as people migrate over so do the people they are trying to not hook up with eventually follow. We had a couple of creepers late in the evening but they weren't overtly pushy and disappeared to find drunker prey when they discovered we weren't going to play.

We left the club after the last show set, dropped off another Bridesmaid at her home in Fairborn and - since I hadn't eaten in 6 hours - stopped by a McDonalds on our way home. Did you know they started serving breakfast at 3? It was news to me. We drove back to the house and it took some time for me to wind down - a couple of Bahama Mamas and a shot of tequila, then the soda and food and drive back. My sister - when tipsy - talks even more than she normally does. But it was a good time, hanging out with out having to do a whole lot of actual talking or being anyone other than me. Plus my officer's coat got some good looks as I walked out of the club.

OK, it's late. Sunday and Monday will have to happen later.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/121159.html

( And that's Okay. This is long. Good Luck )
So there we are.....I'm fairly certain I have ADD, my husband and my mom agree with me. Now, because of the stress of the holidays and my sister's wedding, the weather being very strange....it's gotten out of hand. I'm not accomplishing much at home or at work. I'm exhausted all day and not sleeping well - I hate seeing 4:30 for who knows how many nights in a row. I fall asleep - generally around 11:30 - 12 sometimes later but toss and turn and like clockwork wake up at 4:30 overheating even with our apartment set at about 72/73. I get cold sitting in the living room and our bedroom is much colder being the outside two brick and concrete walls. Pyr suggests trying to treat the depression and the ADD should settle down and my coping skills should kick back in. We go to the doctor tomorrow for our physicals so I should have a more clear plan of action after that.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/121048.html

The last couple of days have been rough.

Let's start with the dress. My sister is getting married on the 23rd. She says I am in the wedding party and that the color of the dress should be Kelly green and it should be floor length. Being the ambitious dressmaker that I am, I design a dress that would work reasonably well for me, accent her wedding dress (which we are also making) and meet her requirements. Well, this is where it gets tricky. I look high and low for decent green fabric months before the wedding while I'm doing the same searches for decent silk for hers. I find silk through Jacquard products that will work just fine in the white for her dress. The fashion world continues to disappoint me by not having any decent greens. So the next logical step for us is to dye it, right? Of course it is! Which didn't turn out too bad, the color is pretty even and a fair approximation of the shade they promised. It however does not match the Kelly green that is required for my sister's wedding. It's lighter in tone and even through an overdying in a darker green, it defies me.

My sister, being the passive aggressive person she is, said only that it was too light when I asked, not that it would definitely not work for the wedding, and somewhat implied that it was still up to me what I did. Until the day of her fitting, where finally after my own agonizing over the color to the point where I was so frustrated with myself I was yelling at Pyr over little crap, I asked her flat out if the color was ok and she conceded that it was unacceptable.

So I get to buy a dress. I feel like a failure when these things happen. It's now under three weeks before the wedding and I am now the woman I hated when I worked at David's Bridal. The woman who shows up at the last minute looking for a specific dress. At least I know I can do any alterations on my own.

Argh, this whole fiasco also brings up the fact that I have ADD/depression that is untreated and undiagnosed. The stress of the holidays and Pyr's sister's issues with her currently kicked out husband, and work have eroded any of the coping skills I've figured out. It doesn't help that work is slow in shipping, but office stuff in general is pretty busy. We are closer than ever to moving, although in a Zeno's paradox sort of way. I don't think I will believe we are moving until we are in the new place and everything works in the way it is supposed to.
There has been organization in preparation of moving, which means I have to relearn where things are in my office, even though I know it will be useful for everything to have it's place - the fact that it took three days to do it wears on a person. Today was quiet and just me in my room so I had some needed down time.

Back to the ADD/depression thing, I want to list the symptoms and work my way through them so I have them a little clearer. I have a physical on Monday and I want to talk to my doctor about maybe something to help deal with the depression to get the ADD back under control. And as I look at the symptom list, and the fact that I want to go through the childhood stuff too.... I'm gonna do it as another post,k?

Also! Dropped my phone in the toilet this morning so it is currently getting a rice facial. Since a soak implies water and that is what got us in this place in the first place. I'm optimistic, it was still working when I fished out and then promptly shut it down. I put it in our drying room, and then managed to bump the power button when I picked it up at one point. Then I couldn't get it to shut off but all it was doing was spinny marker of doom. I had to take it apart to get it to shut off. That was far easier than everyone makes it out to be. So I took it apart, wrapped in paper towels in a ziploc for transport until I could get home. I'm making myself leave it in there until Saturday morning.

Hopefully there will be progress to announce then.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/120609.html

I'm sorry I haven't been writing to the extent that you are expecting me to or that it shows little of what's going on in my head. I don't know what you would like to hear about. "Just write" doesn't necessarily make me want to spill my guts, as you can see it will frequently cause the opposite reaction to a rousing success.

You say can't see me growing, but at the same time I'm having trouble even understanding your emails and what you are looking for when you read mine. It feels, sometimes like the beginning and end of the conversations are in someone else's letter.

It's always been difficult to open up, people don't really make it easy to trust them unless I have a lot of time to be around them, and even then the initiative has to be theirs. I moved through a lot of schools early on and learning that made things easier. In grade school, if you said something to someone about liking someone else it quickly went around the classroom. Even if you didn't, something was said and you couldn't deny it because everyone knew so it must be true. Besides, girls aren't as important so if something is wrong or they act a little strange well - they're just shy/sensitive/etc. Pick whichever buzz word you would like.

My sister hasn't helped in that regard, always louder and more chatty even if it was absolute junk. Always talking about and anything except the truth. After all if I can't trust my sister, who can I trust? And that wraps into the stress about the wedding and the dresses. It feels like the world conspires to make certain that every project is just behind enough to triple the amount of stress. Between Pyr not being able to cut out my sister's at work because that place has been a madhouse for the last month and the green dress for me not being the correct shade at all because it seems that satin is fully saturated with dye, I kinda want to shake my sister for making this wedding be such a stressor for Pyr and I. For asking us to make her dress and for me to be me and decide that a David's Bridal dress isn't good enough.

Ugh, at the end of a sentence and don't know what to write or where to go next... must be time to look at something else for a minute. It's funny how someone can get all the way through grade school, high school and college without getting anywhere close to a ADD diagnosis. And at the same time, my head says well Jess, that's because when you don't attach hyperactivity to that, and you aren't a loud, disruptive child who likes to read and are smart enough that you were reading because you were ahead of everyone else - well the school was lucky enough to catch that and get you to a place that made you think harder and differently once a week. And compared to my sister, I'm not sure any one would have noticed.

Well, it's near dinner time and I'm going to need the drive to get calmed down from writing this all out I'm sure. There will be roasted duck at the White's house with a large helping of Pyr's sister pouring over every little move her husband has done in the past 9 months, and every little word from the therapist. I'm getting somewhat tired of it because she manages to talk herself into such a paranoia that even mine looks healthy in comparision - though I am fairly certain they have very similar roots. She grew up with the same kids all through school so her trust issues are far more localized.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/119565.html

Edit: This took a while to read since work was busy and there was the whole New Year's thing in between. Here it is, not necessarily the same thing I was going to write before, but it's is what came out today.

This will probably be long and rambling, as I read this yesterday and saw lots of parallels to my relationship to Pyr, his to Drgn, and mine to Drgn as well. I may not fall on the spectrum as heavily as either of them but the same pitfalls mark areas in which there needs to be work.

Now, I'm not necessarily considered to have Asperger's, I exhibit similar traits but don't actually have enough or severely enough to be considered Aspie. For a visual reference, here is Pyr's test from 2007 when we were first discovering what having Asperger's meant. Here is my test from this morning, since I can't find the one I took at the same time. The earlier one was more centrist, bumping out at communication like it does on the new one.

Things in italics are from the above article.

From the beginning, their physical relationship was governed by the peculiar ways their respective brains processed sensory messages. Like many people with autism, each had uncomfortable sensitivities to types of touch or texture, and they came in different combinations.

Pyr prefers a touch that is firm and sustained, it took me a long time to figure out that that is why he moves away at night if my foot or hand brushes up against him. I still have to remind myself of that, and it is not something that is reflecting on me or our relationship.

To him, kissing felt like what it was, he told her: mashing your face against someone else’s. Neither did he like the sweaty feeling of hand-holding, a sensation that seemed to dominate all others whenever they tried it.

On the other side, this is pretty close to how I feel physically when being in an intimate situation with DRGN. Normally, I like kissing and being affectionate, but for whatever reason with her I have a harder time with these.

Girls with the condition, one theory went, were overlooked because their shyness was tolerated more and “mother hen” friends might shield them from the worst social isolation, as had happened to Kirsten

Yes, this. Looking at my own childhood, I don't wonder if I wouldn't have tested more for having Aspergers when I was much younger than I do now. I was a much less social person, spending most of my time reading - sometimes very specific subjects when I was younger - Greek myths, world myths in general, dinosaurs, Mayans, Egyptian archaeology etc.

“Parents always ask, ‘Who would like to marry my kid? They’re so weird,’ ” she said. “But, like, another weird person, that’s who.”

I love this quote. It's completely the thing everyone of us needs to hear. Being weird isn't a bad thing, finding someone like you isn't difficult. You just need to accept who you are and who they are and how you interact together.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/119546.html

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/119241.html

Otherwise known as I really fail at putting things into words for more than about a day in a row.

It's the Monday before Thanksgiving. This weekend was spent on dressmaking and family gatherings. The dress still needs patterning on the bottom half, and we went to bed ridiculously early yesterday.

Pyr's sister is making the rest of the family stress out in various ways and I wonder how long it will be until one of them tries to snap some sense into her. Fixing her husband isn't going to make things better, most likely it will just make things look better for awhile before the whole thing explodes again.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/118974.html

This week has been sorta rough. My sister in law discovered her husband has been cheating on her. He's depressed and has been a very different person than the one most of us have known since they've been married. Thankfully, in the last couple of days, there has been a recognition of the problems and they are going to try and figure things out.

I've had a bunch of different emotions about the whole mess. One, disappointment in him - that he couldn't see past his own issues to communicate them before he went to far. Two - A small teensy bit of schadenfreude when I compare their relationship tp mine and the differences that were so abhorrent to my sister in law - being poly and open with our communication - have actually stood up to their scrutiny, and now hypocrisy from her husband - who could barely be in the same room with us and our girlfriend and be civil.

It' sounds like he has a lot of growing up to do, and if he needs to do it by himself or with his wife has yet to be determined. But thankfully, my sister-in-law may yet regain some of the relationship with us that she lost by pushing us away with her ideals and demands on who we should be. Pyralis, I think, is hoping this will happen, as not being as close with his sister has made things a bit rough and even I remember that she is a cool and fun person underneath the mask she thinks she requires to be normal.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/118740.html

I bought a hoop in September. You know, one of those brightly colored plastic rings that you could buy when we were little. Of course, this one is more me-sized, coming right to my navel and a little on the small side for beginners apparently. But it's bright blue, green and dark blue and a lot of fun to play with, even if I feel like a big dork.

So far, a lot of my hooping has been private and in short bursts, either outside when it's been nice, or inside and in cramped spaced below the ceiling and beside the futons. The cats are suspicious of the flying tubing.

I've been combing through the youtube videos and the online communities of hooping.org and hoopcity.ca. Both are wonderful sites that have an insane amount of information. There are so many different styles of hooping, and it all depends on how your body moves and what you want it to look like.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/118437.html

What have you just read?

I just finished up The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It was a lovely piece of confidence work that envelopes an entire city. I can't wait to read the next one, and for the planned 5 more to be written.

What are you reading now?

Shards of Honor by Lois Mcmaster Bujold. This is a reread since I finally convinced Jeff to read the Vorkosigan series. I now have to remember what happens.

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?

Probably Warrior's Apprentice which is the next in that series and is a pretty quick read. The pile of library books continues to grow even if I keep reading.

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?

I've never really been forced to read anything, except for maybe in school but even then most of it was enjoyed, either for the content or the writing style. Yes, I even enjoyed Charles Dickens... I was that kid.

What's one book you always recommend to just about anyone?

Right now, Feed by Mira Grant.

Admit it, sadly the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?

Yes, but they were my friends before they were my librarians...

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?

I know some of my friends don't like Seanan's series, but that's ok.

Do you read books while you eat?

Yes

While you listen to music?

Yes

While you're on the computer?

If the book is on the compuer, if not then I will use the internet as a way to give myself a break from the story

When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?

Oh yeah, but when you are the first to read everything in the kindergarten class, having kids tease you doesn't stop you from reading.

What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?

Deadline by Mira Grant, I think

Have any books made you cry?

Lots, Gayle Greeno hit the cat- owner nerve, Mira Grant , more than I can remember right now.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/118017.html

1. Four weddings! 1 dress made for myself - it is now too big. *sigh* Pictures at some point, none of the candids were flattering.

2. I bought a commuter bike! I began biking to work 2-3 days a week in June and stopped in late September. 26 miles round trip and you can see why the dress I made was too big very soon. I lost several inches of body but not much weight. The hope is to start back up in the spring after acquiring cooler weather gear and continue the exercise farther into next fall.

3. Over Labor Day weekend, we were in Cincinnati for the History Museum and Fireworks at the Levy. The museum was awesome, the fireworks were awesome. The downpour in between the two for hours was not. We were completely soaked and freezing by the time the fireworks actually happened. Thankfully the drive home warmed us up.

4. The worst part of that weekend was my uncle dying suddenly and rather unexpectedly. Well, we knew he was sick - he'd been in the hospital for several weeks dealing with a gastrointestinal tumor that cropped up in the last year. The problem was that he hadn't realized quite how bad things had gotten, I think. My mom has been hit hard by this, and my grandma, all of us really. There hasn't been a major death on that side of the family since my great-grandma Brubaker died when I was really young 4 or 5, I think or a little older. And to have it be the younger son and so well loved in the community and family. I think we are all mourning still and will be for a while.

5.The last weekend in September was the Earth Warriors Festival out in southcentral Ohio, only about 30 minutes away from my major childhood home. This is a pagan festival that centers around warrior aspects, but could be beneficial, I believe to almost any pagan. It was an enjoyable weekend even if it was rainy and cold most of the time. The people who introduced us to the festival swore up and down that this was the coldest and wettest it had ever been in the 5 year history of the festival. That I had fun and will again is a testament to how welcoming the entire group had been. Some of the more metaphysical workshops and ritual got the skeptical eyebrow, but I learned from them so it was a worthwhile experience. I am far more a hedgewitch than a high ritual person...heck, cleaning the house is about as ritualistic as I get. I hope to get to go again, though it's the same weekend as the National Bookfest and I got some hell for taking that weekend off as a holiday. By all accounts, it was a trip from hell so I'm really glad I didn't go this year even if it meant giving up that event pay.

6. We saw a lot of Cincinnati this fall. Jeff's girlfriend moved back home when her lease in Columbus was up and because she joined the Peace Corp and was leaving in October, we spent a bunch of weekends down there hanging out and getting her ready for 2 years in Lesotho. One weekend was her going away party and then a tour of Over the Rhine and the buildings that were in the works to be restored in order to keep that history alive. The tour was really cool, involving a building that housed an indoor biergarten and several other theatres, an underground beer storage facility that had been forgotten until a couple of years ago, and a couple of tenement houses. The whole tour was pretty much a bid for money to help restore the neighborhood and hopefully it does help since there hasn't been much renovation since it was abandoned by the Germans in the 30's. It makes me really sad I don't have 10 million dollars to renovate the biergarten place, the imaginings we had for that place.

7. So the Peace Corp...She left on the 12th of October, we were there to see her off. I hope she's enjoying it and having a whole lot of learning experiences because it took us a whole lot of effort to get her ready for living in Africa for two years. First it was getting all the things she would need, and convincing her and her parents that yes she really needed those things, including a good sleeping bag, a good coat, and shoes. Then it was dealing with her parents who sort of treated the whole decision like it was a week overnight camp and that she might call one day in tears demanding to come home. It was a mess. We know she made it safely there but probably won't hear from her until January. If then.

8. The latest event was Halloween, which frankly was far more important to Jeff than it was to me. Which is ok, I didn't even know what I was dressing as until the day of. But the party was a lot of fun and it meant I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen in ages and am likely to not see again for a while. Darn real lives, jobs and busy schedules.

Crossposts: http://textileowl.livejournal.com/117831.html

You know, I think part of my hesitation to blog has been simply not being able to think clearly enough to put ideas, thoughts, and feelings on paper. So to speak. As someone who used to think of herself as a writer, who once thought about becoming a writer, this is something of a self-perpetuating spiral. It hurts and so it doesn't get done.

SO here we are, just after Samhain and into what I consider the sleeping New Year. Winter is when the world is not as active, slumbering in the cold and damp, just waiting for those sunny warmer days of wakening spring, I've decided to push myself into posting more, writing more about how I feel and why I feel. It may not make a whole lot of sense outside of my head, but at least it will be visible.

The goal here is to post everyday, either a meme or something from my life. I'm three days behind the beginning of November so there may be more than one post a day.

Also, if you are using Dreamwidth more than Livejournal - since I know there's been some shifting over there this summer and fall, please friend me there as well the username is the same.

It appears I still suck at posting.

Life has been busy enough that it is hard work enough to keep up with my friends' list.

Let's see, and try to break things down into a couple of categories

Work - White House Easter Egg Roll was insane and hot. I survived. We will be moving later in the summer finally, since our new landlord wants to raise our rent. Thanks to the appropriate deities that my bosses are convinced that we won't go bankrupt doing so, since just today I hauled a six foot long costume crate up the stairs. I never want to see stairs in our office building again. Also, now that the costume premiered, I built a dinosaur! Well, revamped an old design. And it still needs a lot of work but wow was it a study in how frustrating non-design minds can be. We couldn't get an executive decision to save our lives.

Social life - Jeff and I have been actively working this up more. Between Jeff's participation in Godspell and in the Magpies, we've had a busy spring that is turning into a whirlwind summer with 4 weddings ( one has passed and was beautiful). Memorial Day was party central all afternooon but it was awesome. We've been going to ADF high days which have been really enjoyable and fulfilling in ways Christian church never had been for me. I don't have any need to go follow the druid path, attending is enough while I ponder how and why I worship the way I do.

Sewing - I've been working on a summer party dress. It's about half done construction-wise and then we need to dye it. Hopefully it will turn out fantastically.

Reading - Deadline!! In my purse! More coherency shall not commence until after I've finished reading. Stay tuned.

Ummm...Happy New Year?

So it's been roughly three months here in the real world, and I've been busy enough to think about posting and never getting around to it.

Here's what happened in no sense of order or importance.

The holidays went relatively smoothly. Yay for little drama.

January was a blur. Jeff and I got sick from the passed around colds and such at Madrigal. Halfway through recovering, I went to DC for work for 12 days which was hell. We were understaffed and there for twelve days. But it meant I paid off my credit card!

In the meantime, Jeff was so sick he was out of work for a week and had a CT scan. We now know the root cause of all his sinus issues: a deviated septum and a growth that mostly likely was caused by allergies. He goes to a ENT on Thursday so we will have more information shortly.

Erzuli's mass from September never really went away and was in fact growing, so back to the vet last week where we received confirmation of what we feared in the fall. It's a mast cell tumor which while surgery and chemo is recommended, the vets can only guess at about 18 months of extended life. It will be much easier on all of us to simply wait out the time we have. She doesn't appear to be in pain and continues to be her normal reclusive and grumpy self, so until this changes, we continue life as usual.

Dentist appointment this week was just for cleaning and nothing else! Well, they put in for a nightguard but I've been told I have the molars of a 50 year old from all the grinding and having the headaches go away would be nice. We're just waiting to hear back from the insurance company.

Projects upcoming include:
        Finishing the 1780's gown - gather skirt, sleeves and edge finishes
        Mock-up of Jeff's pants
        Mock-up of my stripey zouave pants
        Designs for sister's wedding dress (our gift to her - wedding is in Jan)
        Design/Mock-up my dress for skylarks wedding - will be used to test out a back design for wedding dress
        Possibly pattern jumps and gown for Hidden Dirk - still waiting for measurements and confirmation
        Finish knitting fingerless gloves - would be awesome to at least finish one of the two by March...

The larger versions and the rest of the photos can be seen following that link. I'm pretty happy with them, even though they may not fit as perfectly as they could. I'm currently working on losing weight slowly but surely and would like them to fit for more than a couple of months. So hence the wide lacing.

As I was working on this I did discover why front lacing doesn't work for the late eighteenth century silhouette, or at least on my body. Front lacing squishes everything up and kinda sideways, while back lacing cups everything up and together without too much separation.

Also discovered that my right hip is slightly higher than the left, just enough to cause the point just above the place where the tabs split to pinch at the hipbone. That may also change as I continue to work out and lose some flesh there.

I meant to get measurements while in the stays but got distracted... Next time. I have the neckline to hem on the shift and then I will be done with that as well.

This weekend actually looks like it is going to be relatively quiet, other than Jeff working on Saturday which is fairly normal. His gf is home for the holiday which means I might actually see him for most of the weekend. So I'm going to try and be productive rather than a lump. No going back to sleep when Jeff leaves for work this weekend!

Figure out Saturday dinner- there's broccoli and loads of meat to choose from.
Make shift for 1780's
Take pictures of stays, on and off body
start patterning Anglaise - get to mock-up on bodice?
sketches of "current season" custom gowns for HDM
post pictures
create next weeks dinner/grocery list ( i hear there are now soy versions of whipped cream!)
clean the apartment
laundry - put away last weeks
create fitted bottom sheets out of top sheets
design cabinet to go under cutting table

It looks like a lot, and I probably won't get all of it done but the goal is to get most of it done. Hopefully it happens!

And then when I open this window, I feel like very little is actually worth posting. Anyway, work and life continue apace.

Work has slowed considerably since October, I've been catching up on repairs and keeping track of local costumes than anything else. It's made work less hectic, but there may be a big wrench thrown in beginning in January. I'll have more news on that once I have more news.

I finished the 1780's stays in November, they look fantastic and I need photos but I also need a shift before photos. It shouldn't take long but I worked on a small pillow commission and I started a new knitting project. So I've been distracted a little.

There is a mid-January event in Jackson that we might try to go to, so I'm trying to figure out if I can get the Anglaise patterned and sewn by then to wear. I lack any sort of drive for sewing at the moment, maybe a deadline could help with that. I would also like to have some sketches of custom pieces I could create for Hidden Dirk ready for that event as well but again there isn't a whole lot of outside pressure forcing me to do it. If I want this to work out I really need some sort of business plan or concept with which someone can hold me accountable. Hmm... I need to think about this some more and see what comes of it. All of it is so fuzzy and undefined that I find it difficult to put down into words.

- Erzuli doesn't have cancer, but the vet doesn't have any other information other than keep an eye on her and bring her in to get the stitches out in about a week

- It's well and truly fall, nights in the high forties, days anywhere from high fifties to the seventies. I've dug out my sweatshirts and have noticed that I am woefully out of long sleeve t-shirts for layering....

- Now that the gloves are finished I've been working on a blackwork design for a biscornue to use as a pin cushion for what will eventually be a small somewhat period sewing kit.

- The 1780's stays are slowly progressing. I have a working pattern finally and am currently waiting for the fabric to arrive to color match the thread. I'm going to use a combination of 1/4" plastic boning and split reed caning. We'll see how it works.

DSCF1467, originally uploaded by textile_owl.

Well, here it is. My first actual knitting that are items of clothing rather than samples. The first one is not as pretty as this one, but I'm ok with that. The next pair should be a little longer too.

The pattern is linked below.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/meglio-stasera

Sunday - The day of prep and Monday - the actual wedding

Wedding Weekend madness

If I leave my grin behind, remind me that we're all mad here

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In response to a letter

Thoughts on 3 people in a relationship/ 2 with Asperger's

Aspie quiz results - see next post for discussion

6/30 - Kickstart is getting a jump...

Kickstart 5/30 Apparently I misnumbered the previous entry

Kickstart 3/30 Hooping

Kickstart 3/30 A book meme

Kickstart 2/30 8 Events of the Summer/Fall

Umm... Hi. 1/30 to jumpstart my poor blog

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Proof of finished stays

Things to do this weekend

I really need to get into the habit of posting more.

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First complete knitting project

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January 2012

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