A Light Through the Darkness

Wow, where did my weekend go??? Seriously. I'm putting in an order for about 24 more hours each weekend. I'll let you know when I get it. >.<

Val is in an odd mood today - beware.

I got a bunch done this weekend, with help from the hubby. Saturday we went and got Steingrim safely married off to his lady - it was a great wedding, and there were no polearms in sight. :)

Sunday, I got up and found the second couch in my living room, then left to go shopping while argus7hills started laundry and did dishes. I went out with Mom and Dad to check prices for food for aishabintjamil's wedding, then went and bought my new freezer and grocery-shopped for the week. Then I came home, did a few loads of laundry and wrote a bit. I got 401 words yesterday - sooo close to 40k. I have a feeling this draft is going to max out at 80k, but that's okay. I already have at least one scene to add in later.

My happiness list for today:

1. Green grass! I did - I saw green grass (alive, too!) today. Yay!

2. Buying a new outfit for my niece. It's adorable - pink polka dots and jean capris. I love little girl clothes.

3. Opening day at Fenway tomorrow! I cannot wait. I hope I can get out early enough to hear it. :p Yes, I am a geek. And no, I'm not worried yet. Talk to me in July.

4. Gym! I went to the gym this morning and got 20 minutes on the treadmill. And the knee didn't twinge too much (yes, I wore my brace).

5.Warmer weather - it's supposed to be 60 degrees F tomorrow!!!

What makes you happy today?

Well, the lock on my driver's side door decided not to work today - I had to unlock the other side, and work the lock for several minutes before I could get in. But I got in! And I made it to the gym only a little late.

Arms today. OMG, my arms are wussy. Seriously. I'm sore, in ways my legs weren't. And tomorrow, I start my full routine.

So, I'm doing 45 minutes, 3 times a week. I start with 10-20 minutes of cardio, then either 20 minutes of lower and abs or uppers and abs, then another 10-20 minutes of cardio. I will die for the first two weeks, I'm predicting.

But I will persevere! I shall!

Tomorrow is also Dick and Tanya's party. Mmm. Can't wait.

Sunday is laundry, writing, dishes, cooking, writing and taxes. Bleah. But I have the 18th off! Yay!

More later.

Well! This has been quite the weekend!

Yesterday, we had gaming on the porch with argus7hills and his buddies, while we had writers group in the living room. Lots of good feedback and good food (I made a roast pork with apples, garlic and onions, and lots of roasted root veggies. Then watched the Red Sox win Game 6 against the Indians, played a bunch of WoW and went to bed at around 4:30 am. Whew!

Today, I woke up to whooping - the guys were watching the Patriots beat Miami into the ground (yes, I slept that late). Cleaned up the kitchen and the dining room, then got down to the serious business of cooking.

I made:

- a cranberry pecan bread with soymilk (we ran out of regular milk)
- my first batch of onigri (yay!)
- a whole wheat pasta with garlic, roasted veggies and cheese and garlic sausage in a tomato sauce
- egg salad (and I tried a tea-stained egg! Very good!)

That's all so far. I've packed up bento lunches for argus7hills and I for tomorrow - I still have to pack my dinner bento for tomorrow, but I'm not sure what I want (besides onigri). I'm going to see, after the end of Game 7.

Now to work on argus7hills' halloween costume while watching the game.

More later.

My friend Donna, irysangel and I went to the Red Arrow Diner, which is a NH Landmark. It's a 24-hr diner that has some of the best food ever (we did get cheese fries. We resisted the deep fried sourdough french toast with bacon, though). We talked writing and novels and characters and stuff for about 3 hours, and then Donna and irysangel went back to Nashua, and I went to WalMart in Concord.

I got the cutest little Bissel vacuum - it works on hardwood floors AND carpets, is bagless and is SO light. I did most of the stairs and the living room today. YAY! A vacuum that works!!!

This morning, Evil Jocelyn met me at the Dartmouth DOC House, which is where we're holding Baronial Yule this year. It's a pirate theme this year (shocking, I know, since I'm running it and all) and I think we're going to have a BLAST. Then we went to lunch at Lou's (whole wheat grilled English muffins, topped with sliced tomato, steamed asparagus, two eggs over easy and melted fontina cheese, with fruit salad on the side) and then, once we were full, we went over to the King Arthur Flour Bakery Store and Outlet to browse. Um. Deadly. I got a tea strainer that just sits in your tea cup (so cool!), a gluten-free cookie mix, a gluten-free gingerbread mix and a bag of almond bark. Not bad, really.

I'm going to make the cookies and gingerbread tomorrow and bring them in for our team meeting, to see what people think. Jocelyn and I talked about a bunch of stuff to do for Yule, and one of the things I want to do is cookie decorating. lysystrata, are food colorings okay? Can I just use the little tubes from the regular grocery store, or do I need to get special ones? Thanks in advance!

Jocelyn talked about maybe doing a pirate castle out of gingerbread - I'm thinking that would be cool for the kids to decorate - maybe they could trade it for Father Christmas? Hmm, ideas!

There's a super hill for sledding too - I hope we have snow. I'd love to see the final battle for Father Christmas be a snowball fight.

Tomorrow, I'm going to print out Belladonna Dreams and start working on revisions. It's eating my brain - I can't help it.

Now back to beading.

I'm in training. It's training for something I already know, so I'm bored beyond tears. However, it does get me off the phones, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Went home early last night because I was exhausted. Didn't really sleep well, so I'm STILL exhausted. I don't knoww what's going on, but I think I'm going to take it easy this weekend so I can get over whatever this is.

No IR receiver yet. *sigh* Hopefully it will show up this weekend. If not, I'll have to order another one. *bleah*

Stuffs to do this weekend:

- Cut out tunics for Argus and stitch together
- Cut out dresses for me and stitch together. Must remember to make one chiton for the Pirate party at Pennsic.
- write rough draft of nonfic chapter on magical creatures
- write more on seasons (try for 4 chapters)
- clean house
- hypnotherapy session on Sunday
- Dinner on Sunday with our petsitter for the week (we have a friend who's going to live at our place while we're at Pennsic.)
- go to farmer's market on Saturday

That's it. Goddess, I'm exhausted, and it's only 4:30 pm!!!

My weekend looks like this:

Saturday:
- 11 am: go to Game Stop with Donna to get Ian's birthday present and argus7hills' Valentine's Day present
- 2 pm: Weaving Circle at dorio's house
- 5 pm: Writing Group at beard5's house
- 8 pm (maybe): Mardi Gras party at Maria and Xavier's

Sunday:
- 10 am to 3 pm: Fencing/Fighting practice
- 5 pm: Mongolian Feast at the Inn at Knotty Crossing

Whew! I'm going to need Monday just to recover!!!

I suppose I should be making one of these.

I kind of have one, sort of. I'm that Type B personality - I "keep it all in my head," and work around anything I might have forgotten.

Oh yeah, I married a Type A, so he usually brings what I forget. ;) (Love you, argus7hills!)

Seriously, most of our stuff is ready to go. I just need to make GARB.

Lots and lots of garb.

My sewing machine may spontaneously combust this weekend.

We'll see.