Sarah WHO?!?!?

Gee, wish I'd thought of this one first- it's so apropos!

My new question is: Are they pulling a Harriet Myers? Is she going to drop out so they can slip someone else (perhaps even less palatable) onto the ticket? Or is this simply the first drips in a full meltdown of the Republican party?

YES WE CAN!

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.


Take a good look, folks- these are the faces of America's future. Lydia and I were lounging around , listening to parts of last night's speeches this morning, and I told her to listen hard- this is history in the making. I've never seen anything like this (though I'm told the feeling is a lot like the Kennedy campaign in 1960).

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise -- that American promise -- and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.


I think that the thing that I see as the biggest difference in Obama's message and all of the other words around him is that his is about the future- not the past or even the present- that we can't stay here where we are now but have to face ahead. I like that.

Needless to say, tonight's speech sealed the deal for me.

And there's the dress!

Minus the train that is- Lydia isn't crazy about trains (neither am I- they're an invitation for trouble). But she wants a basic Empire for her wedding dress. I already have the base fabric- and we plan to pick up the pattern (Butterick 6630) this week, and do some of the basic fitting and such. With a year to work on it we can do embroidery and other fun things to it...

We didn't make it to the pool Friday because we were up until 3:30am looking over bridal magazines and stuff online and giggling like a couple of little girls. She's been spending a lot of time watching movies and doing handwork and such. I should be, but just haven't felt like sewing. Bleah. It's not like I don't have anything to do, just don't feel so hot. May be med related, I dunno.

I'm pretty well satisfied with the choice of Joe Biden for the Dems VP slot. Old-fashioned working-class Democrat style, and if nothing else he can be the lightning rod. Biden has already been teeth-in to the GOP. This may turn out to be just what we need to get across the finish line first. (pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease...)

The New York Times came out with an article on the McCain's finances that was not in the least bit flattering (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/us/politics/23mccain.html). I sent it out to a bunch of people and one friend remarked that he thinks Cindy McCain has a dalmatian coat in her closet. I snickered over that one for quite some time.

It's nearly September- it's raining and I have an incredible urge to go back to school. Wish I had the money and the energy to do it.

Here doggie...

Maybe if we get out the can opener it'll come?

Lydia didn't get in last night after all- the bus broke down in Medford, and then there was some issue with the driver, so the bus (if it had run at all) would be coming in at 5am. So David and Lydia decided she'd take tonight's bus instead. Let's hope that this one shows up on time.

The weather has cooled off considerably, which has been a great boon to those of us wimpy Oregonians who don't handle hot weather well (like, well, me and Wanda). And the rain has been good for all of the parched lawns around town. The thunderstorms are exciting though- Monday it knocked the power out at the pool- the pool itself was fine, thanks to the windows, but the locker rooms have no windows and were pitch black. I got a flashlight out of the car and went anyway. Yay me.

James went home Tuesday. Boo. We ended up going to Home Depot and getting some more lumber to fix the bed, which was kind of funny. It seems to be working ok now. :-)

Ciarain's memorial service was last night, and it was very night. I'd never been to a Episcopal funeral before, but at least I knew in general how to behave, which was better than many of the SCA folks there, who clearly don't find themselves in church often. Hey- at least they didn't pull out the kneelers! ;-) The music was nice (we didn't make any egregious mistakes), Earl Edward read a eulogy, and there was a nice potluck buffet afterward. In all, a pretty decent send-off.

Dental appointment tomorrow, nothing really interesting until the Laurel meeting on Monday. Just plan to spend my time geeking out with my daughter and a pile of bridal magazines. :-)

* gasp! * It's hot!

As much as I love being warm, this is ridiculous. it's been way too hot for several days now, and Wanda and I have both been suffering. Anything over about 85 and I'm not so happy; it's been in the upper 90s and over 100. Friday and Saturday were especially bad. We had some thunderstorms Saturday night, which should have helped, but mostly it just added to the humidity. Bleah. Supposedly it will start cooling off Tuesday. Sure hope so.

Lessee, what has been up... I went to see Dr Fickle (the guy who looks like Ulfred) on Thursday. I'm completely off the Lamictal now (though still twitching) and now we're starting to drop the Nortriptyline. So far so good. He was pretty happy with how I'm doing. He did remark that he was surprised that I have only gained as much weight as I have- apparently you can expect to gain about a pound a month while on lithium. Doesn't sound like much until you remember that I've been on it since '95. He said that I must be being really careful with the diet (which I have been and I'm sick of it) because I haven't gained that much. I'm still not happy with my weight, but that does make me feel a little better about it.

On Friday I saw Dr Becher, got an Rx for a different NSAID for the arthritis, as the Ibiprofen has not been cutting it. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I continue going to the pool and try to take care of myself. She says that at this point there isn't much more we can do. Bother, said Pooh. But my blood pressure was fine (better be, taking 3 separate meds for it!), which is at least one good thing.

James arrived late Friday night (yay!) and it was WONDERFUL to see him again! And I have to admit that we, er, sorta broke my bed. Didn't really _break_, per se, but a couple of the supporting boards in the frame shook loose and fell out, and the bed slipped out of the frame- suddenly my end of the bed was lower than the rest. Sorta fixed it but we missed one and we'll have to take it apart again and try to get the last board put back. Embarrassing, but funny. :-) I had the giggles for some time.

Went to a BBQ at Randall and Leah's yesterday- way too hot still but there were lots of friends there which makes it endurable. Lots of yummy, yummy food, including of course, MEAT. Wanda was in heaven. I actually ate some meat too. Randal had rubbed some of it with something with pineapple in it and it was really good. There were salads and fruits (unfortunately the fruit that looked really good had melons in it, so I couldn't have any but there was lots of food). And lots of sodas and such. And sherbet and sorbets and cupcakes for dessert. Yum.

I went to the 8:00 service with James this morning (no really, I did! Voluntarily even!) and it was too hot already- I spent much of my time trying to fan myself and worrying about falling over there in the pew. The early service has no music, so it's much shorter (though still about an hour) but was rather nice. In the chapel there there's a much more intimate feel- communal. The chapel is really pretty too. It might well work for a wedding, though I must admit that I'm beginning to thing that I should just tell James that we should do it in Ashland at his parish, as he so thoroughly has his roots down there. I suspect that Rev Anne would love to officiate.

Lydia will be up sometime Weds, and stay for a week or so, maybe a little longer. We're going to spend a lot of time at the fabric store and at the computer, looking at bridal stuff and drawing pictures and thinking about fitting and design for a dress for her. They're looking at sometime next summer for a wedding, so we have time- time to make something really special. Mummy's prerogative. :-)

Too much intertooobez!

Oy! Now I'm getting a headache!

So I've been cruising the web, poking my way down dark alleys, turning over rocks (Eyuw! Rush Limbaugh!) and looking for info and pictures on verger's robes. Why, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you- cause James is going to be the verger at his church and wants a well-made set of robes that don't cost a gazillion dollars, and as I just happen to have those kind of mad skillz, he wants me to make them, and this is ok by his pastor. So I've been running around town looking at fabric, and then plowing through catalogues and pictures online. I'm still trying to figure out the sleeves- there seems to be about 4 different ways to make them. And I haven't decided which yoke to use. Scribble scribble...

In other news: well, there isn't much. I continue to feel like something you usually wipe off of the bottom of your shoe. Completely off of the Lamictal now, and I'm CRANKY and feeling creepy crawly- you know how when you were a little kid and you were trying to stay up on New Years' Eve, but you were so tired you were twitching? _That_ kind of creepy crawly. And the shakes are actually worse than usual. Thankfully I'm back in to the dr on Thursday. And even more thankfully, there's ice cream in the freezer!

More Frankish goodness!

Isn't that a GORGEOUS brooch? Wow. 7th century, no less.

I dug through the intertoobez again a couple of days ago and found some keen new Frankish things, this brooch being one of them. Always on the lookout for more pretties. I also created a Picasa slideshow of keen Frankish things- sent the link off to Lindis, who is also looking for Frankish stuff. Sent her a bibliography too, and was surprised to see how much I have here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SlugTrails/FrankishPics

In other news, I'm still feeling crummy. Sleeping a lot, no energy, really aching. But of the original 250 mg dose of Lamictal, I'm down to 75mg. I may be off entirely by the time I see Dr Fickle again. Then we start dropping something else. I'd like to feel normal again but I don't know what normal is anymore. Hey- really what I want is to be 30 again. Only with the sweetie I have now. :-)

I went to Dragon's Mist Defender on Saturday. Nice low-key event. I helped judge the 'Dragon in any medium' contest- the gyngerbrede dragon was especially cool. After the awards not-really-a-court, we grabbed some food and then had a wake for Ciarain. Music, lots of stories. Rodrigo had a very funny story of using Ciarain's directions to get to the event, and finding himself 25 miles away. At a nudist camp. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!

James wants me to make the verger gown for him, so I get to go to Washougal to check the availability of black worsted. And to Fabric Depot for black braid and black velveteen, and some lining. And then I have to figure out how many hours and write up an estimate, because apparently the church is going to pay for it. Cool. Hey- it'll keep me out of trouble, at least. :-)

edit: Weds. a.m.

Sigh. I finally broke down, went to the jeweler and had my carnelian ring cut off- the one with the huge cabochon. The guy said that to repair and re-size it would probably cost about $75, so that will have to wait until October at least. But at least it isn't cutting into my finger anymore. Apparently that finger is no longer a size 7, but now a 9. That would explain why the ring is too tight! He said that it will take a couple of weeks for the swelling to go all the way down, so not to get it re-sized until then. He also suggested thinking about re-setting the stone into something a little more durable. I may think about that.