AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

* pant pant *

Ok, the scary part is over, but my knuckles are still white. James and I (with Vanyev in the back seat) went to Coronet last Saturday. The event was nice, a fellow named Brogan from Corvaria won, beating Alail in three. Their Majesties were there and gave out quite a few awards, and got lots of cool-looking gifties. The A&S displays were pretty keen (Brizio rocks!) and there were plenty of people to chat with. A nice day all around.

But then we tried to go home...

First off, a flat tire. About 8 miles out of Klamath Falls, there was a FFFFSSSHSHH!!! followed by DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUD. I managed to pull over into what appeared to be the only wide spot on the shoulder for some distance. There was some interesting rummaging around digging out the spare, the jack, and the lug wrench, but they were all located, and James had the spare on in record time. (And mind you, it was sleeting the whole time.) But it was Veeeeeery Loooooow. Too low to risk limping back into town. So we called AAA, and they came out and put air in it, and we were good to go. Or so we thought.

Less than ten minutes later the sleet turned to snow, and almost immediately we were in near whiteout conditions. At this point I was VERY glad that we'd chosen to go back over hwy 140 instead of 66. 140 is a little longer, but mostly straight. 66 is hairpin turns the whole way. Of course, it was quickly a case of 'I don't care how straight it is, it's still scary!' It was dark, and the snow was soming down really thickly, and the glare from the headlights was pretty bad. And there was enough snow on the road that I could not see the lines. Vanyev could sort of see the fog line from where he was sitting, and I could sort of find the center line if I squinted. So we crept over the hill at 20-25mph. It took forever. We finally got over the ridge and down to the other side, where it was clear and dry. Got back in to Ashland about 11 oclock.

I've never had a drive that frightening, and I hope I never have to do it again!

That was the exciting part of the last week. James and I are spending most of spring break goofing off, though he's been doing some work on church business. Today was the Feast of the Annuniciation, so we went to Kennedy School for dinner. I'm feeling very round at the moment!

Went to a little event today-

At a castle up in the Columbia Gorge! There's a canton forming out in Hood River, and they held a little potluck at Husum Castle. An interesting place- kinda small (very small with the number of small children in attendance!), but cool! We were using one room on the main floor, and the kitchen. The stairs were scary tiny, circular stairs set into the walls. The windows were all 'gothic' shaped, and the doors all had the rounded tops. Wood floors, and a nice wide hearth. There was a deck just off of the main room, and it had a lovely view of a river. Was quite pretty.

I was smart and brought my own food, which was good because there wasn't much one could eat on a Lenten fast- just a glazed carrot dish and the Canisiones (pastry rolled up with ground almonds, sugar, and rosewater inside) that I brought. But it looked like everyone else got enough to eat and they were happy.

They had several bardic presentations, including a little kid who read a (sanitized) version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I left earlier than I'd planned (had a BAD headache) but it seemed that everyone was still having a good time.

Had some trouble driving home- the levo-dopa wore off and my legs started doing their thing. Very hard to drive that way. I was really glad to get home and get some drugs!

This week I'm hoping to get some more work done on Elfreda's gown, before I leave Thursday. And I have to remember to clean out the car before then, as we have a passenger (Vanyev) on the way to Coronet. Somehow I don't think he would care to ride with my trash collection. :-)

w00000000t!!!!

A HAPPY DANCE!!!

I just got back from the library, where I picked up my latest ILL:

_Gesta Normannorum_- chronicles of the 11th and 12th century by William of Jumiges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigny-

IN FACING-PAGE TRANSLATION!!!

My pitiful lack of Latin skillz will no longer hold me back (in this place at least) ! I may finally be able to find out where Henry Plantagenet was in August and September of 1154, and what he was up to!

Can we say Kinko's? Yes, we can! (Actually, probably my favorite local copy guy- he's cheaper than Kinko's.)

I may finally be able to move on and get the research and writing going again! Yay!

And I had a German Pancake with blueberries and raspberry couleé for breakfast. Yummy! I like feast days...

UPDATE:

FAIL! AARRGHH! The Chronicle ends just before the time period I need! There's got to be more somewhere, but not in this copy! I am SOOOOOOOO frustrated!

Still dancing...

... problem is, I'm dancing when I'd rather be sleeping...

Still having serious problems with the restless legs problem- and not just at night. It's plaguing me during the day, too, which is very annoying. The Rx that Dr Becher gave me does quiet it down- for four or five hours. And when I take it during the day, the nausea and light-headedness are a real problem. So I made an appt to see her again (first opening is next Weds. Bah!) and I guess we'll go from there. In the meantime, I'm sleeping erratically and pretty cranky. * sigh * But I got weighed today and supposedly lost just a smidgen of weight. Just not enough.

Let's see, what else... Judith (Claire) has moved most of her stuff into the basement, but she is also house-sitting for someone else so she isn't actually here at the moment. I haven't been down to see the basement yet, but we expect to be re-arranging stuff for awhile, mostly so she can live while I can still get to the stuff I need.

Annie and I are thinking about my visiting her sometime this spring, maybe May or June. The weather is pretty nice then and it's not really high tourist season yet. Something to think about in the next month or so.

I have sewing to do much I'm not feeling up to crawlin gupstairs to work just now. I really need a nap, but guess why I'm not sleeping? When I'm a bit more awake, maybe I'll get moving. I got Elfreda's gown cut out the other day and it should run up fairly quickly once I get started.

Think I'll give the nap thing another try...

That noise you heard

... about 4 this afternoon was me, in the dressing room, trying on jeans. I was down to one pair that I could get on, so buy some more I must. Tried on 6 pairs- 5 in the size I've been wearing, and one in the next size up. Guess which one fit? Yeah, and insult on injury- they're 'relaxed fit', too.

I really wanted to throw myself on the floor and have a good wail about it, but the floor was filthy. And crying wouldn't really help and it might attract attention that I don't want. So I put the too-small jeans away and headed for the fabric section...

I'm really extra frustrated because I've really really really been working on the diet, and I've been hitting the pool 2-3 times a week, and working hard while I'm there. It would be reasonable to expect the size to go down, not up, right? Well, I guess I live in Backwards Land.

Did score a really nice piece of what I'm pretty sure is linen, maybe hemp, in a lettuce green, and a black and white tweed wool. I need to get some of my backlog caught up, and then make myself some new tourney wear, hopefully before Egils.

Still having medication issues. The Sinemet (the Levo-Dopa stuff) is holding down the restless legs stuff- barely. When it's near time for the next dose I'm usually twitching again. And it really lays me out- just want to stay in bed. And the nausea is a problem too. But I can't stand the twitching, so laying off the meds is not an option.

And Lent starts this week. And I do not care for fish.

The world conspires against me.

The Little Volvo That Could!

Well, I went to Ashland for the long weekend, and Zippy the Wonder Volvo was very good! For some reason the overdrive decided to work properly the whole way, and I managed to get a head start on all of the passes- didn't have to shift down any farther than 4th gear, which is pretty amazing. And she got really good mileage too. Now if only _I_ got that good of mileage!

I was not feeling well the whole weekend, and James let me sleep a lot, which was very kind of him but I felt bad- I didn't drive 300 miles to sleep the whole time! Argh! But he made a very nice Valentine's dinner, and I got lots of cuddle time, which I sorely needed.

But I slept all day today, which I wasn't happy about. I had forgotten why I don't make the trip very often- because it completely wipes me out. But I'm headed down next month, for March Coronet. And planning to spend Spring Break with James- whether we spend most of it here or there I don't know yet.

I stopped in Eugene to visit a little with Stephen. He was at work but took a short break to chat with Mom. He's sick, with whatever Plague is going around down there, sore throat and a bad cough. He might be up to visit a little more often now, being as how he's got a girlfriend, and she lives in Portland. Her name is Meredith and she's as tall as he is. I'm hoping to get to meet her sometime...

I stopped to see Lydia on my way down. Didn't stay too long because I was running a little bit late (and I wanted to get through the passes in daylight if I could). They are doing about the same as usual. And traffic there by Gateway Mall was crazed as usual. I hate that interchange.

Shadow is not speaking to me. He's been shunning me since I got back. I guess he's mad that I went away and closed my bedroom door so he couldn't come in and steal things off my desk. Silly cat!

WANT!!!

If one must be a Cranky Pants, one must dress the part!

Yes, I'm still cranky. Been taking the new drugs for the restless legs thing- and getting a good solid 5 hours of unbroken sleep before I start twitching again. Catching up during the daytime isn't cutting it either, as I'm twitching during the day now too. This makes me cranky. So I called the Dr back and she upped the dosage on the meds. We'll have to see how that goes. I would really like to get some decent sleep...

Zippy went to the shop and got her clutch adjusted, which was a good thing as I was having to arm-wrestle the stick to shift. Seems to be ok now though.

I've been cleaning my room- went through the huge pile on my desk and I can actually see the surface in places. There's still piles of stuff on the floor, but I'm making progress with that (much of it involves putting SCA stuff away). What to do with the dresser top I don't know- just is no place to put things! If I could find another place for my winged pig, that would help, but it's fragile and I don't want to put it where it might get knocked over. And why is there a pair of champagne flutes on the dresser? I have no idea.

I think I need Dudley's second bedroom!