And Jabba sez...

Cookie good. (But I think that Jabba *ate* Solo...)

Well, Hillary is still alive in the primary race, which actually surprised me a bit. I expected Obama to take Texas- I know Ohio was in the air.
Fifty cents we end up with no clear nominee going into the convention. Could be exciting! When the last time that happened, '68?

So, lemme see... David got notice that his job is going away 30 April. After the initial shock, he's ok. He's going to stay with the end crew- they're offering him a good-sized severance package to do so. That will give him a bit to live on while he looks for work. Hopefully he'll end up with a better job than he has and he won't get behind on paying off the debt load. Then Lydia and I can start looking at dresses...

I'm hating the bliaut project. It looks great, but I don't want to do it. I have the sides and all of those eyelet holes to do, and the beadwork on the sleeves. And there's still the beadwork on the hem to go. Bleh. I'd rather be making clothes for small boys. Maybe I'll take a break when the sleeves are done on the bliaut.

I'm re-working the materials for the Survey of the Middle Ages class, and am currently trying to put together a bibliography. So far I have seven pages and I'm not done. Got to trim it somehow. And put together new handouts. Oy.

This week we have the First Thursday, so it's Movie Night. This month we're seeing 'Name of the Rose'- I expect to have a full house. Maybe I should lay in a supply of soda and jujus and Good n Plenty. Already got the popcorn!

All right, must go upstairs and work.

A 21st century medievalist

... is not so much a contradiction in terms so much as an anachronism. On the other hand, how do we know that 600 years in the future _we_ won't be considered the 'Middle Ages'?

I think the blogging monk here is pretty cool. As best as I can figure out from the wee tiny writing around the border, his name is Eadward. Seems to be a royal scribe? 'Scriptorum princeps' is there a couple of times. Most of the lettering is illegible, so that's what I can find.

Life here in Hotel Drachenwald has been interesting. Thursday night Gemma and her husband were here, and Morgan was here to work on stuff. Last night Morgan and Claire were here working. Tomorrow I need to finish laundry and do the grocery shopping, and then I have to get upstairs to work. I have to get more of Her Majesties' gown done, get some stuff cut out for me, and start in on Gunthar's clothes. And plan some stuff for Gryphon and Phoenix and maybe for Amalric and Caia. I do have quite a stash.

I need to borrow a quiting frame (one of the lap frames) and if it works as I hope, I may buy one for myself. I'm planning to do embroidery, pearl work, and applique on Gunthar's gown, and if it works, I'll do it more.

I have some stuff planned for James too- some Frankish gowns and maybe some 12th c. In my copious amounts of spare time, of course.

Life is not so fun down south- David got notice that his office is closing and his job ends on 30 April. They're offering a hefty severance package if he will stay to the bitter end, and he's planning to go for it, as that will give him a bit of a cushion for his job-hunting time. I called him this evening- he's better than he was the other night just after he heard the news. Now that he's over the shock, he's re-grouping and making plans. Smart young man. I like him.

I lost my shrink this week- Anna is taking another job and leaving Lifeworks. Thursday was he last day. I hate having to break in a new caregiver. Sure hope I get someone reasonable.

Waiting to see what happens in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday. Will Hillary be issuing a concession speech, or digging in?

Governor Huckabee, your order is ready...

Remember a couple months back when Mike Huckabee claimed that he used to hunt and eat squirrels? Well, these two appear to have hit the jackpot! Git th' stew ready, Maw!

So I'm awake because the head/neck/shoulder/upper back-ache woke me up. Had to eat something so I could take some drugs, and now I'm waiting for them to kick in. This chronic pain stuff really sucks.

Morgan came over Saturday and we wrestled with her sewing machine. The top thread refused to pick up the bobbin thread, no matter what we did with it. So I pulled out my old Emdeko and we used that. CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA. Very noisy. She's working on a Anglo-Saxon Geteld, using the heavy cotton canvas and extra-heavy thread. hey, more power to her! She says she just wants it big enough to keep herself and her dog out of the rain. The geteld should work for that.

I finally signed onto the Mediev-L mailing list. I managed to stir things up already by asking for advice on the conversion of the Survey of the Middle Ages class from one 4-hour class to three 2-hour classes. Plenty of opinions, all right! Interestingly enough, it seems that the list Cranky Man, Henk, as decided that I'm cool.

Wonder what I'm doing wrong... ;-)

I finished _Martin's Walk_ and the _Prayers and Hymns of Thomas Aquinas_, and now I'm doing a re-read of _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ , just to refresh my memory. Poor Harry- he's so angry through so much of the book. He's got classic signs of PTSD and no one seems to be picking up on it.

I started in on Her Maj's bliaut. So far, so good. Got the yoke on and the applique on it, next is the beadwork- pearls and maybe some blue beads. Then mounting the sleeves and the armbands, the applique and beads on them. Should keep me out of trouble for a bit. I need to get started with Gunthar's stuff too. Eventually I'll get Wanda's pavilion started.

No moss growing on me, it seems!

Are you ready to PARTY?!!!!

Ah, Friday!

Amalric would probably give me noogies if he knew I had that picture, much less put it up here, but hey, doesn't he look ready for a good time? (And can't you hear the band strike up 'The Stripper' in the background?)

The little camera appears to have dead batteries, so I won't be posting construction pictures. But I have the orange half of the new Frankish coat done and the blue half nearly so. I'm hoping to have them ready to put together sometime today. The color combo is absolutely stunning, and I think that I'm really going to like it.

There seems to be some foo going on about the royal wardrobe team, and Katrine is catching most of it, which is sad because she really doesn't deserve it. I have pretty well given up on it, though I plan to make a gown for her majesty, just so I can say that I did. Nyah!

I talked to Stephen briefly yesterday. He hasn't found an apt yet, but he has some vacation time coming up and is hoping to use some of it to visit ol' Mom. (Yeah, right. He's mostly visiting Mom Food. :-) According to James, he really liked the dishes I got him, which is cool.

Current reading: Dad's transliteration of Martin Klaassen's diaries, and a book of prayers and hymns by Thomas Aquinas. An odd combination, eh?

One week left in February. Good riddance...

Loot! Loot! Loot!

Ah, what a week it's been!

More primary stuff, and Obama has pulled ahead by the length of a nose hair. Remains to be seem which way the Super-delegates will go though. Of course, delegates wearing capes, boots, and their underwear on the outside wouldn't seem to be the sort to be trusted...

So Wanda and I went out to the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet store in Washougal on Friday. It was my fault, actually. I needed to see if they had the fabric they wanted for the outfit for Gunthar (which they did) but made the mistake of taking Wanda along. When we pulled back out of the parking lot, Zippy had some 7 bolts of wool in the back. It was HEAVY. We also hit several Goodwill outlets in the past few days, and managed quite a bit of loot then also. I got a lovely black jersey dress (an 'LBD') and a very cute pair of heels, and Wanda found a very nice pantsuit that actually fit her- including the length on the slacks. Amusing, as I was not aware that there were other Hobbits in Portland! :-) I found some more fabric, including a lovely piece of red brocade that's actually a tablecloth but is going to become a gown for me. Then today we found some good wooden chairs for the sewing room, as the old ones were dead. I need to reglue some joints on one, and cover the seats on the other three. This is easily enough done, and then we'll have decent seating for sewing and/or movies.

James and I went out Saturday night- we had the special chocolate fondue at the Berlin Inn. I got to dress up in my new dress and heels and actually felt pretty, despite the weight. I should dress up more often- it felt good.

And last night We had a birthday party for Wanda (her birthday was today). I made a big pan of lasagna, some garlic bread, and a cake, James sauteed some vegetables, and Karl and Linda brought a salad and wine. It was a simple evening, but it was incredible enjoyable. I've known Karl and Linda for many years, and I just love them more all the time. And Wanda was very happy with the party. And her t-shirt- a purple shirt with a little piggy and 'Bacon is a vegetable' on the front. She thought it was great and wore it for the party. :-)

James headed home this afternoon {:-( which I wasn't thrilled about but was necessary. I took a nap, and now I'm thinking about going upstairs to start in on my Frankish coat. If I can figure out the little camera I have, I might see if I can post the construction of the coat as a photo diary entry. We'll see...

Our Lady of the Perpetual Eyelet Holes!

This picture (left) is just great- look at all those eyelets! I don't envy the tailor who had to put them it- I've been there, and my hands haven't quite forgiven me yet!

The picture to the right has a gown that is basically a sculptural representation of the same gown, only with the eyelets laced up. (It's from the cathedral at Angers.) It doesn't come with diet instructions however. Bother!

Wanda and I did a bunch of Goodwill hunting last weekend, and came home with quite a lot of loot- including several BOLTS of fabric! And I got a couple of gems. Including a huge red brocade tablecloth that will become a houppelande. Heh. Tomorrow or Thursday I'll be out on the hunt for fabric for something for my friend Gunthar, who is FINALLY getting his Laurel (for cooking). He's on of those grey-eyed redheads and I think he'll look spectacular in a winter white/vanilla. Heh. I'm sneaky. :-) He does not know about this, but I've been in contact with April. He'll never know what hit him. I also need to find something to line the orange wool I'm making the Frankish coat out of. Almost bought some red linen today. Still haven't quite decided. But one of the Goodwill finds is a huge chunk of rayon faille in a dark mauve. It's going to become a bliaut very like the statue above, only in my size. I want to experiment a bit with cut and ornamentation. Should be cool.

Went out today with Sara (Rain from Street Prophets) and her sister Ann. They've still finding fabric stores in town so I took them out to Fabric World (the weird one on Lombard), Ruthie's Rags (high-end natural fibers at 106th and Sandy) and Fabrics for Less (Pakistani place across from the Rose City Safeway). Both of them found stuff to bring home, so it was a successful trip. Next time I think we'll be heading out to Washoughal. Heh.

James will be up this weekend- we're doing a little Valentine's dinner by ourselves on Saturday. And it's a long weekend, so I get to spend a little more time with him- which is nice as I haven't seen him since New Years.

I'm waiting for a bunch of books to arrive from David Brown. I'm especially looking forward to the one on Frankish food.

And now is the time on Slug Crossings when we fall over and go to sleep...

The real reason why Oreo dropped out of the race-

And no, it wasn't to spend more time with his family! (He's looking pretty smug- even for a cat!)

So the nice thing about Super Tuesday is that it's OVER! Well, maybe. The Fat Lady hasn't sung yet, and they haven't finished counting everywhere. The Republicans seem to have made a 3-way split between Sarge, Oily, and Beagle-eyes. Sorry for them, eh? On the Blue side, Obama and Clinton also pretty much split the field. Things are looking pretty exciting! Wonder how long it'll drag out? Would be interesting if Oregon actually matters in the primaries this year.

Lessee... Cato and Melbrigda and their kids were here to visit (they were in Oregon to see his mom) and now they're really antsy to come home! The kids really liked Oregon and Dan and Lorna have not been especially happy in Florida. Would be cool if they came back- they're neat people. And I'd bet I could talk the girls into hanging out in Aunty Lainie's House of Pain now and then...

Korwyn had another birthday, and he reports that he did not see his shadow. Does that mean nice weather for Estrella War?

I attacked the GIANT pile of 'stuf' in my room today- sorted things, started getting things put away, etc. Once I get the laundry done it should almost be like a real room. With a walrus in it. (I has a bukkit but iz hided under my deks!)