Most days, I love my job. It's hard, thankless work, but good work. I know I am making a difference and providing very necessary services...

But some days, it seems that I'm fighting an endless tide of poverty, lack of education, mental illness, and society's inability to show human decency to its least members.

I came home with a fatigue and a headache I just could not shake. I had a lot to get done for WW tonight and thankfully had some help getting it done, but I still need to pack tomorrow and drive out to site. I decided to take the day off from work - I have just too much for the event that still needs prepping and I am just too tired to face the work problems again tomorrow.

Usually, I like Boston Legal and I thought watching a few episodes while working on handwork would be pleasant, but with a running theme of mental illness, drugs, various flavors of love, Alzheimer's, and euthanasia, it did little to lighten the mood.

Anyway. Off to Boscobel tomorrow. Expect a report next week, probably not on Sunday night. :P

Anna Quindlen recently retired from writing the Last Word at Newsweek. While she had a lovely last column explaining why it was the right decision for her, I already miss reading her every other week... And example of her brilliance:

"As a Catholic schoolgirl I supplemented the obligatory 'Lives of the Saints' with the biographies of the famous women, searching for the possibility of a future that did not include an apron. The pickings were slim: Elizabeth Blackwell, Florence Nightingale. Some of the women I learned about then are still among my heroines, especially Elizabeth I. I remain a fan of world domination and red hair."
   Anna Quindlen, The Last Word, Newsweek, March 2, 2009

When we last left our heroine, it was late Monday night and I was gearing up for the Wedding Week.

As planned, Tuesday was all about frantic cleaning and prepping beds, etc. With some assistance, I managed to pull it together and th house was acceptable by evening. Round One of houseguests showed up with a son in tow, so an extra bed was hastily made at bedtime, but otherwise things proceeded more or less according to plan.

Wednesday was not quite so kind. I hit the snooze or turned off the alarm or something and so did not get up in time to get all the rooms flipped for the incoming Round Two of houseguests (Round One having left before I got up). I had to get to a conference on the other side of town, however, so there was no option to just waltz into work a little late and I resorted to leaving a note of apology. Round Two arrived safely while I was out and when I got home I got to meet mightyjesse's momma and sister. Shopping and practice and social all went as expected, but I had a terrible revelation at the end of the night. I had the *perfect* dress for the wedding... well, perfect except that it was curve-hugging, floor length black synthetic VELVET and the forcast for Saturday was hot and sticky. :P I sort of wanted to stay conscious for the wedding, so some power shopping was in order.

Thursday after work  reneekytokorpi and I went powershopping at The Maul. We were efficient and hit all the likely stores in about an hour and a half. :) It turned out that mightyjesse was at The Maul too (and sirzig's mommy, oddly enough) so we hung out with her for a bit and then returned to purchase the "winner" dress and a cute pair of strappy sandals. I usually don't like shoes that show too much of my foot, but these were a cute little glossy black 'n' strappy pair with a kitten heel that really complimented the dress and I figured I could actually wear for most of the day. I got home to find that cakes had begun to take over the house - eventually there would be cakes in the fridge, cakes in the party fridge, cakes in the basement, and cakes on the counters. I was pretty sure the air in the house was highly caloric. ;) Late Thursday night Round Three of guests arrived - more Liz siblings and Mr. S from out west but it was late enough there were no hijinx and everyone sought their bed promptly.

Friday I slept in and then ran some errands before heading out to the official beginnings of the Wedding Goodness. There was the rehearsal where I successfully did not kill the minister, then dinner out, then some party goodness (even if doc_jock  would not let me "help"), and lots of decorating of the hall. In all the merriment and Scotch, however, the flowers just never got arranged, so we followed the "postrevel" back over to Sir G's and took over his kitchen. Luckily, there I also found some willing helpers and there even were tasks for the drunks, so mightyjesse  was able to head home at an only slightly-unholy hour and I did not have to complete it all on my own. Nonetheless, we were still up messing round with flowers until 4:30am and some of the finishing work was left to be completed on Saturday morning. Er, I guess, later that morning. :P By the time we took another guest to his crash space and got back to my place it was full 5:30am and I found Miss teffan asleep on the couch, bringing the census at EHWG up to ten for the night.

Saturday I slept in as late as I dared and then got ready for the wedding. fencingkitty was nice enough to both cut my hair and run out for lunch so I could stay in my jammies until I had eaten lunch and so would not ruin the dress with mustard. (I'd like to think I am more graceful than that, but I know better...) The rest of the day passed in a blur - seeing the beautiful bride and her stunning dress for the first time, a flurry of photographs both inside the church and out, then the beautiful but hot and almost teary ceremony, then the receiving line, a quick site-check to make sure all our stuff was out, picking up the cakes and buckling them in securely, the reception, the toasts, the CAKE!, a few hellos and half a dance and then it was time for cleanup. Whew!  By then I felt like all my joints were going to either lock up or come entirely unhinged, so I tried to work double-time, the faster done the faster I could sit down, I figured. Once the site was cleared, I stopped home briefly to change, then headed back to Sir G's for the after-party. As I suspected, I didn't last terribly long into the night, but my ride just scraped me off the couch when it was time to head home. Congrats and all wished of happiness to the newly-weds!

Sunday was another late-sleeping day, thank goodness. Then there was lunch out and the last good-byes before I had to scurry out to General Meeting. Half-way there I got spanked for all my weekend misdeeds with a nasty migraine - luckily Mistress S agreed to drive me home with Sir D following, so I didn't have to try to drive myself back. I collapsed for a few hours, called my mom, and did some basic email catch-up and then tried to get back to sleep. Sadly, sleep didn't happen until almost 5 AGAIN (not my fault this time, I swear), so I've been sort of a zombie again today and am looking forward to an early night to bed.

It's been a long week, with much happiness and joy, but fair measures of busy-ness and personal yuck too, so I am looking forward to the coming, quieter weeks... Oh yeah, my mom's big summer party near the UP is this weekend and I leave for WW in eight days. Scratch the quieter weeks - I'll sleep when I'm dead!

I just came down I-90 today and on a Monday afternoon there was enough of a back-up to cost me at least 45 minutes. If you are planning on coming to Madison anytime soon, say, next weekend, BEWARE! There is major construction just south of Tomah. It's a short stretch, but a HUGE bottleneck. You have been warned.

I paid careful attention to where congestion started/stopped and would suggest you consider the following adjustments to your route:

******************

Eastbound on I-94: take exit 143. Proceed south on Highway 12, following it as it turns East and joins Highway 16. Then...
Eastbound on I-90: take exit 41. Proceed north on Highway 131 until it joins Highways 12/16. Take 12/16 East. Then...

You should be able to rejoin I-90/94 at Camp Douglas (exit 55). This should be past the construction, or at least was today. You can see the interstate from the highway, though, so if it still looks stoopid, follow 12/16 a little further and get back on in New Lisbon (exit 61) by taking highway 80/County Highway A east to 90/94.

******************

Westbound on I-90/94: exit at New Lisbon (exit 61) and take highway 80/County Highway A west to Highway 12/16. Take 12/16 North or West to Tomah. Follow the signs for I-90/94 as appropriate, or reverse the above directions.

Be aware - the westbound highway may look fine at New Lisbon, but the construction starts around Camp Douglas (the next exit) and the back up starts well before that, so if you miss the New Lisbon exit you may waste a ton of time idling. Take the New Lisbon exit and look at the highway as you approach Camp Douglas to assess whether it is worth getting back on 90/94 or whether you should continue on 12/16 to Tomah.

Oi. It's been awhile since I posted. I'm not dead - just very, very tired.

Last weekend was Border Skirmish and a ton of yardwork. Consequently, I hurt like the dickens all week long. :/

Thursday, I drove out to Sioux Falls for Bardic Madness. I got to town, ran some errands, met up with my host, and collapsed.

Friday I slept in, which was lovely, but then had to deal with work BS before being treated to a pleasant lunch out. The afternoon was consumed with woodburning 60 items for WW's Baronesses' Whim followed by a tasty lamb dinner. I went out to the Bardic Madness site and helped set up, trying not to annoy gflower  too much with my OCD, which the Border Downs folk know enough just to point and laugh at. :P We rounded out the night taking in a show, but I was pretty beat by then and happy to just fall into bed.

Saturday morning came entirely too early and I was sort of discombobulated - it took several trips to the car before I had brought in everything I needed. The event itself was a lot of fun - good challenges, good classes, good company. I even *eeep* taught my first class at bardic Madness - "A Voice for your Song" - essentially it was a persona research class masquerading as a Bardic class, but my point was that you can use some of the same techniques to produce a consistent voice or set of images in your bardic pieces as you use to create a cohesive persona. Feast was good and filling and all too soon the event was over.

In the evening, I had opted to go see a band play rather than going to the PostRevel, which ended up having its pros and cons... The party was in full swing by the time we got there, by which I mean that most of the guests at the party were lit. I was not particularly comfortable with the obviously drunk guys setting off fireworks, or the older drunk grabby guy, or the crude joke contest going on in the corner. :P The show I went to see was good, but by the time the show (and the three-dog fight that erupted between guests' dogs) ended, I was more than ready to leave. Sadly, bed was a two hour drive away, and I'm afraid I was not good company, dropping off repeatedly along the way.

Sunday morning started inauspiciously with a "wake-up call" from an impetuous little boy. We'd slept in considerably, but not yet enough to make up for the previous day's activities, so I was a little cranky. A shower helped some, breakfast helped a bit more, but I was a little off for most of the day. I got to spend some time working on components for the next round of handsewing kits. (One of the highlights of the weekend was selling the very last of the original 50 kits! Yay! On to the next 50...) Dinner was an amazing salad and thick, grilled steaks. Nummy. We played a round of pples to Apples, but I did poorly since the field included four adults I barely knew and two children. :P We got a late start back for Sioux Falls and brain weasels got the best of me en route. I tried to explain, but mostly ended up just being unintelligible due to tiredness and my chronic inability to adequately express anything with emotional content. It got somewhat better by the end of the night, at least. :/

Today, I slept in a bit and caught lunch in town before hitting the road... But then the rest of today was made of fail too, just for fun. I gave a ride a few exits east to a lady who was stranded in MN - I figured there was no harm in taking her just a few miles - but she ended up being just odd to the point of being surreal... Massive construction around Tomah added about 45 minutes,  I got a call indicating an errand I'd thought was not urgent must needs be run tomorrow (along with the other 4,000 things I need to do), and another call informing me that the formulary was rejected AGAIN and I have until Thursday afternoon to fix it. Awesome. :/

Tomorrow should be hot and sticky and simply not long enough... I need to clean and do house stuff like crazy AND fix the formulary. Tomorrow night round 1 of guests will arrive. Wednesday morning I need to be up early to change all the linens and reconfigure the beds as soon as Round 1 leaves since Round 2 will arrive while I am out all day at a conference. Thursday will hopefully see the arrival of round 3 of guests and a full day of work. Friday will be a day off, but only from work - from there until the end of the weekend, it'll be wall-to-wall wedding goodness...

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands and then eat just one of the pieces.
-Judith Viorst,

 Ugh. The world has gone all stoopid.

Since I came in this morning, I have had to deal with: members burning down their whole apartment complex including all their drugs and prostheses, the file I worked on for half of yesterday is just GONE and irretrievable according to IT, requests for wasteful and/or unnecessary medications, and CMS yelling at me for not submitting a file for which they have not yet released the guidance and which I MUST have submitted and approved by the end of the day. Gah! Nevermind that it is just a fluke I'm here at all - I usually have off on Fridays...

I'm starting to wonder when someone is coming in to shoot me and put me out of my misery.

**********************

EDIT: OK, now I'm just full of unholy rage. Some of our members and their families tend toward the evil, but this just takes the cake. The member - who seems to be a reasonably nice old man - has this marginally-involved evil son who wants to get his hospice-enrolled dad a scooter as a thinly veiled attempt to take the scooter when his dad passes. Thinly veiled as in he has mentioned that he might "have to" use it even when his dad is still alive. Even better? Evil Son wants his actively dying father to sleep downstairs on the couch so he can sleep in the bed upstairs, which, by the way, is next to the only functional bathroom in the house.

I want to go over and throw the son down those stairs. 

I am carefully not looking at the address.

I just bought my poor little Alba her own apartment, essentially because Tweet, well, Tweet is sort of a big fat meanie who picks on her. But now the girls each have their own room so hopefully they can be friends now...



As a bonus, Alba seems to really dig the swing.

500 miles

1,000 miles

and much, much further away...

Ugh. For days I've been feeling like someone has been beating me in my sleep, but today has just been extra special on top of the existing blech.

Within 10 minutes of getting to the office, I snagged my hand on *something* and there was a pretty impressive amount of blood for such a tiny wound of mysterious origin.

Lunch was fail. Someone ate my freezie dinner and my back-up lunch can of split pea and ham soup ended up being "hearty bean and ham" instead. Yucky.

So, my coworker and I thought we'd take a little post-lunch walk... I got as far as the sidewalk and tripped over one of the transportation van's "safety lifts." I had been looking at the planes taking off into the bright blue sky and so went sprawling ass over teakettle into the parking lot. Owie. I scraped my palms, skinned my knee, bashed the other shin on a metal part of the ramp and may have slightly dislocated my shoulder - it had been hurting, but when I stretched it, there was a loud pop and it seems to be less angry. Just call me Grace... :/

*sigh*

45 minutes to go... Maybe I'll make it out without permanent damage from my cooshy desk job. :P

I don't know how useful this actually is, but they were talking about it on NPR so I thought I would share -

Edutopia : What works in Public Education - a George Lucas production (not kidding).

Well, I had a tidy list of what I needed to do tonight. Very few of the listed items actually got done, but I am pleased with my productivity nonetheless.

Miss Seraphina came over and extracted my peonies and traded me some lingon berries for them, bringing me up to six lingonberry plants and five currants planted this year. Yay for weird fruit!

Mmmmm... Cheddar burgers and TaterTots. :)~

I got to chat with ego_id_non_feci and she confirmed I'm not crazy... Or at least that I'm as sane as she is, FWTW. ;)

Mightyjesse and I started making some skyr. Also, skyr is awesome with raw honey.

I put together thirty-two (32) veil kits. Some are for completing the handsewing kits, some are for my Pennsic class. I think I should cut about a dozen more, just to be sure I have enough... Maybe a dozen and a half... One can never be too careful...

Oi. Now my back is killing me - bedtime now, more work tomorrow!

The Plan:
Friday - Round-up the plants in the front of the house that I want to get rid of
Weekend - Out of town while the plants die
Monday - pull the corpses and roto-till the front

Reality:
Monday - the little bastards are not even wilted.  >:/  I guess I'll go out and hit them again, more thoroughly this time.


EDIT (4:28): Mosquitos are blood-sucking hellspawn. I need a bat house for the back yard.

Fear less, hope more,
Eat less, chew more,
Whine less, breathe more,
Hate less, love more,
And all good things are yours.
   -Swedish proverb

Ladies, are you tired of those unsightly unfinished veil edges?    Yuck!
     Gentlemen, have you had trouble turning annoying narrow neckline hems?     Ooops!
           Have you made this disaster worse with horrifying serging?     Ugh!
                Have you tried to do the right thing only to have your fingers cramp and scream in protest?     Ouch!

Now you need not suffer one moment longer!


Here's how it works - using the easy-to-follow instructions and high-quality materials in this beautiful kit, even beginning sewers can master these simple but useful stitches and create hundreds of fabulous projects! Beautiful Tunics! Stunning Shirts! Perfect Pants! and more can be yours! Best of all, all the supplies needed to be a successful hand sewer are collected in a ready-to-use kit!

In addition to several classic stitches, Eithni's Magic Veil Stitch(tm) is included at NO CHARGE TO YOU (just pay separate postage and handling)! Use Eithni's Magic Veil Stitch to finish the edges of fine silk and linen veils! Never have to endure that awful serging again! Turn a tiny hem when you cut that sleeve just a bit too short! No more sleeves and hems just a *bit* too short and awkward!

Eithni's Handsewing Kit includes:
    * Beeswax                                 * Needlebook
    * 10 glass headed pins          * Two needles
    * Steel lacing bodkin               * Wood needle case
    * Brass thimble                        * Thread snips and case
    * Stiletto                                     * Linen thread
    * Silk thread


Kits come in "early-look" (black snips and cream/brown or black/cream stiletto) or "later-look" (gold snips and brown or black stiletto)

PLUS!
    * Directions and Instructions - Including Eithni's Magic Veil Stitch!

But WAIT! There's MORE! If you order RIGHT NOW, two projects will be included with your order!
    * Linen for a pouch
    * White linen for a veil and bands

AND and optional Whipcording kit to create drawstrings for your new wonderful projects!

Now, how much would you expect to pay for such a life-changing set of tools? $30? $40? $50?

Yes, that's right! In a special offer for new handsewers, this kit is available for only $15!
Simply contact Eithni to pick one up at your next event!

'cause I'm up and Auction is still on...

1. Do you like bleu cheese?
Ew. No. That's cheese that has gone off.

2. Have you ever been drunk?
Yup! Entirely too often this past week, but that was worth it...

3. Do you own a gun?
No

4. What do you like to do on weekends?
Go to events and sew, go to postrevels and party, stay home and sew, stay home and read

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Depends on how much blood I think they will want

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
Generally, ew. Cheddar dogs, though? Magic!

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
Nightmare Before Christmas

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Ginger Tea, but Diet Coke is more common

9. Can you do push ups?
Yes

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
A silver-and-amber drop is my favorite purchased piece.

11. Favorite hobby?
Fiberarts - pretty much anything that is, could be, or was at some point string

12. Favorite novel?
Probably something by DeLint. It would be hard to say which.

13. What's your favorite shoe?
Combat boots. Or dorktastic Pictish shoes with the silly back-of-the-ankle tongue

14. What is your middle name?
None o' your business

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
Yay! WPT Auction!
I wish someone had a cell phone...
I really need to work on my weaving

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink.
Diet Coke/Pepsi (No, not picky)
Strongbow cider
Scotch

17. Current worry?
WW planning

18. Current hate right now?
The Today Show and their retarded special on how awful generic drugs are. Thanks. That's going to make my life AWESOME the next few weeks.

20. How did you bring in the New Year?
Lost. But I stole a kiss anyway.

21. Where would you like to go?
Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Italy, in rough order of preference.

22. Name three people who will complete this:
Well, naughtyaelf  already did (hilarious, BTW), maybe splott and newperspectives ?

23. Do you own slippers?
Yup. Slippers and froggie slipper sox

24. What color shirt are you wearing right now?
Black. Shocking.

25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets?
Nope. Had some once. Linen is MUCH better. :)

26. Can you whistle?
Well enough

27. Favorite colors?
Black and green or blue

28. Would you be a pirate?
No.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
I generally don't

30. Favorite Girl's Names?
Oddny. Elizabeth. Bridei (even if it technically is a boy's name)

31. Favorite boy's names?
John.

32. What's in your pocket right now?
Wallet, Cell phone, Cell phone ear buds, some change, some receipts, some cash I was too lazy to put in my wallet, a little chunk of beeswax, a safety pin, some Salon Pas patches, some vitamin I.

33. Last thing that made you laugh?
naughtyaelf 's post

34. Favorite summer activities?
Reading outside, wandering walks, singing around a campfire.

35. Worst injury you've ever had?
Physically? a broken arm from rollerskating

36. Do you love where you live?
Yup! Madison is teh awesome and how could one not love a neon green kitchen and hardwood floors?

37. Who is your loudest friend?
Heh. Now there's a contest to have. probably ingusmoen for sheer volume, devikat for a perfect storm of volume, speed, and exuberence.

39. How many dogs do you have?
None. Had one, a black lab named Sam, when I was little.

40. Does someone have a crush on you?
No.

41. What is something you are really looking forward to?
As far as immediate gratification goes - Silks, Needles, and More - I'm going with four cool ladies for a weekend of string, how could that be bad? :)

42. What is one thing you do several times a week?
Besides personal care things, no week goes by that I don't pick up a needle to sew or embroider, regardless of where I am.

43. What song do you want sung at your Funeral?
Eeek. Hopefully a drunken chorus coming out of my friends.

44. Name something or someone you love.
Let's go with the most steadfast - books and the knowledge therein.

The hardest thing about being a year-round holiday shopper is finding something delicious and then needing to wait 6-7 months to be ready to give it. :P