Leftovers!

The potatoes are gone and the gravy is gone and the pumpkin pie is long gone, but there's still lots of turkey and heretical (cornbread) stuffing, and a little cranberry sauce and lots of the vegetable dishes. No reason to go hungry in this house!

We had 12 at dinner Thursday and 16 on Friday- house has been very busy place! I made the pies (which came out brilliantly!) and the cranberry sauce and completely slacked off on everything else, which meant that I didn't totally collapse (yay for me!) and I'm even vaguely human here on Saturday. James and I went for a walk this afternoon, stopped at a local resale shop (I spent a little moneys there) and then went to McMenamin's for drinks and just some time by ourselves. It was nice. Then we walked back home and had more turkey. :-)

David and Lydia are here, and Stephen got here yesterday afternoon- they've been playing games (though David has been working on some homework too) and in general behaving themselves. Dan and Ellen and her folks have been in and out- shopping etc. Most everyone goes home tomorrow- it will be very quiet when they're all gone!

And Monday is time to seriously cut back the eating- I have no clothes that fit anymore!

Food food food!

So _how_ many groceries can be brought home? Well, enough that the garage is being used as an auxilliary refrigerator!

We're well into prep for Thanksgiving weekend, been grocery shopping and cleaning the house. I finally finished playing tetris with my camp dishes and got the two boxes re-packed and back downstairs. I have two stacks of serving bowls to put away yet, and then my junk is out of the dining room. I still have to clean my room though, and re-make the bed and all. I did take an enormous stack of cardboard boxes out to the recycling bin, so that's something.

My sister Merrie is having drama in her life at the moment. Not much I can do from Oregon (she's in Las Vegas). But I did put out a couple of feelers to friends there, and if there's anything they can do, that might help. I do wish that she were closer though.

Stephen called last night, and he has to work Thursday but he will be up for the rest of the weekend. Yay! David and Lydia are coming up with James. Annie is hosting an 'Orphans Thanksgiving' there in Brooklyn, and she's really excited about it- she says she's going to make a BIG turkey this year, and there will be pumpkin pies and cranberries. :-) Guess I raised her right.

Well, off to fold laundry...

I haz frog in mai froat...

Actually, the voice is pretty much ok- it's just that the throat is scratchy and sore. And to make it worse, one of my bedtime pills got stuck and even though I managed to finally get it down, the throat is even scratchier now. Bother.

Saturday Victoria and Christene came over and we went fabric shopping. Yay! I love spending other peoples' money. :-) We went to Fabric Depot, looking for something for Victoria to make into a Byzantine gown for 12th Night. Well, we found a lovely taffeta, in a rich coffee brown, with embroidered gold quatrefoils. It was in the sale section for $9.99/yd, which was pretty good, and then we found the 50% off tag on it! That was such a great price I went and got some too, in a red/gold shot with the gold quatrefoils. It'll make a spiffy Frankish gown, and I won't have to embroider the bejeezus out of it.

I slept most of Sunday and Monday, and Tuesday Ilonka came over and we worked on her 12th Night gown, which was mostly me putting the pieces up and her pinning and sewing them. While she was working, I worked on my new coat. The sleeves are in and part of the lining is tacked in. I still have the front opening, the collar and the hems to do yet. But I'm closer than I was a few days ago. Maybe I'll have it done by the weekend. Happy Birthday to me...

Think I'll go get some herb tea for this throat.

YAAAWN!!!

No really, I'm just about that tired! I'd crawl back into bed, but there's a cat on it, and I hate to disturb him. Sleeping kids and kitties are so cute, they make you forget how rotten they are when they're awake...

Saturday I hosted a weekend workparty. At one point I counted 9 of us, and we really got a lot done. I cut stuff out for Aleyn and Helena, Claire worked some more on her blue gown, Regina and Matilda worked on drafting a new doublet for Regina, Honoria hung out while I cut out a Burgundian gown for Agnes, and Ursel dropped by later in the evening. I made pizzas for dinner and Aleyn brought two huge cream pies (Mmmm... pie!). We hung out chatting and eating until about midnight. Was fun!

Sunday Agnes and Matilda and Claire were back, and we got a LOT done on the Burgundian gown. But man, by the time everyone left I was barely moving. More than a little overdrawn at the energy bank!

I actually got some stuff done for myself- slowly but surely the nutmeg-colored wool is becoming a new coat. I'm lining and interlining it, so it should be warm. And the color is sooo nice and warm! Looks like pumpkin pie! I have the main body put together, and the sleeves are together. I have to finish the front opening and put a collar on it, then I can do the side seams and put the sleeves on, and then hem it. Maybe I'll finish it this weekend.

Regina is at the ATC this weekend, so I'm on kitty duty. Susitna needs extra meds and such, and she's not being especially cooperative about it. And she's so skittish about being near someone, much less touched or held, it's been a chore to get them down her. Silly cat.

I actually ordered myself some- *gasp!*- new clothes! Not much- just some new black leggings, as the last of mine died. I also ordered some music- one of my Sting tapes is dying from overuse, so I ordered a CD to replace it. And I ordered some of James' Christmas present. Heh heh heh. :-) Now I have to wait for more money to come in to get more shopping done.

Ehhhh... move over, cat. I need a nap.

About the echocardiogram-

Wednesday I had the echocardiogram, and it was a very interesting experience. It's basically an ultrasound, specifically one of the heart. The other ultrasounds I've had were obstetric, so it was interesting to not be watching a kid on the screen. It was also interesting to watch my heart beat on the screen, especially as they looked ast different parts.

Well, they didn't really see anything that would necessarily explain the atrial fibrillation episodes. They did say that my left atrium is slightly enlarged. And there's evidence to suggest that I had a mild heart attack at some time in the last few years. I think I know when it was, and at the time I'd thought it was a bad med reaction. Well, now I know better. Anyway, basically it's a wait and see sort of thing. If I have another bad episode with the a-fib they want to see me, otherwise I get to kind of muddle through myself.

In other news, I finally finished the verger's robes, at about 4am Thursday. I ran down to Salem and delivered them Thursday evening, and James (who was there for a church conference) thought they were wonderful. Yay. I was so tired I didn't care. And now I have to clean the sewing room- I'm hosting a sewing work weekend this weekend, and the sewing room looks like a bomb went off. A bomb of black velvet floof and wool scraps and threads...

YES WE DID!

Aren't those just the cutest little girls? And they get to go to Washington with a new puppy!

The votes aren't completely counted everywhere- I understand that Nebraska isn't done counting yet, and the margin is razor thin, as is Missouri with a 338 vote margin. You could just about shave with that! But we opened the champagne when CNN called it for Obama, and my, but it was good!

Now comes the hard part, of course- putting the country back to rights. So many things, so much to do! But having seen the energy people put into the campaign, if Obama can get that kind of support after the inauguration, there's almost nothing we can't accomplish. I think that we are on the verge of big things.

Speaking of _verge_, the chevrons are on the second sleeve, and they are halfway corded. I should be able to finish them up and get the lining put in to both sleeves, and start pleating them in. Time is tight, but I think I can do it.

One day to go!

The excitement is palpable... I bought a bottle of champagne to open Tuesday night, and the checker asked what I was celebrating. I said "Tomorrow's election day! And it sure looks like Obama's going to win!" She grinned, and said "Good plan!"

If I can shake free the time tomorrow I think I'll bake some brownies and take them down to the Obama office on Killingsworth. They were out there collecting ballots last night, in the rain. I suspect that some warm chocolate love would be a good thing.

I've worn a grove in my finger, working on the verger's robes. I was going to post some more pictures but the photos are really grainy and you really can't see anything. (If anyone wants to know what to get for me for Christmas, a decent digital camera would be a Very Good Thing.) The work has gone slow but is speeding up, mostly of necessity. I have the chevrons tacked down on one of the sleeves, and the embroidered cord is done on one chevron. That will go fairly quickly though. After both sleeves are chevroned, I have to pleat them up and put them on the body of the gown. After that, they're done. It's just getting the other sleeve done that is going to take time... I have to deliver them Thursday, so I'm on the line here.

Busy week besides- Monday afternoon it's time for the yearly mammogram (oh, such fun! Not.), Tuesday is Election Day, and we'll be watching the returns, And Wednesday is the echocardiogram. Sleep? What is this thing you call sleep?

Update:
Just put the brownies in the oven. Now if I could just get the 'Witchita Lineman' song out of my head, it'd be a halfway decent day...