Liquefaction

Or, how to be spoiled rotten...
For my birthday, DD and DH got me gift certificate for a really nice spa package. Pretty much the works - aromatherapy massage, facial, manicure/pedicure. Spoiling to far more a degree than I would ever possibly invest in myself.

I've scheduled it for a couple weeks from now, the day of the annual fundraiser formal for DD's school. I'm quite looking forward to it. Although I confess I'm almost afraid I'll like it *too* much and want to make a habit of it!

Still, it should be fun being reduced to a pile of happy goo for a while.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms, stepmoms, adoptive moms, and matriarchs of all types out there!

My Mother's Day started out when DD brought me breakfast in bed - a bowl of blackberry yogurt and a glass of milk. Very thoughtful of her...and quite impressive - DD broke her arm last Tuesday (about half an hour after my last blog entry!) so she put it together literally singlehandedly.

My 8-month-old grandson gave me a bouquet of three roses at church today, and DsD gave me a CD, and she and her DBF took us out to lunch at Outback. Yum! They were going to take me to my favorite Irish place, but I had just gone there last night for an early Mother's Day dinner (and a couple of pints!). Yesterday DsS gave me a book and CD, and DH gave me a lovely little potted herb garden. So it's been a very good Mother's Day.

On a different note, I realize I have been tagged for the "8 Random Things" meme. I'll have to think of 8 random things, and post it for my next entry.

Weekend wrapup

DD's big day went rather well! She was very excited, and she looked very lovely in the handmade dress and veil.

One of the gifts we gave her was a rosary, handmade by the talented Karin - about the only way this could have been more handmade was for the silver to be cast! This picture isn't the greatest - the beads are a frosted white.


In other news, one more of my PIFs has made it to its new owner, Allie.

Judging from the comments on my last post, there is interest in my releasing the designs for these. Once my remaining PIFs have arrived at their new homes, I'll put those up.

My Tampa Bay Lightning got eliminated from the NHL playoffs, which is disappointing. But I suppose considering that the one time the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, we had a horrendous hurricane season, perhaps that's for the best.

Potpourri

My apologies for the silence. As usual, life has been busy but for the most part not very noteworthy. For the bits that are noteworthy:

DD's big day is this weekend! She's very excited about it.

Yesterday I got the newly released The Children of Húrin by JRR Tolkien. I'm quite enjoying it so far - it has somewhat of an epic tone (I can *hear* the tale being told in a great hall in a bardic voice), but is rather easier to read than The Silmarillion.

Our family summer outing has been set - in mid-June we're going to go see Rush in concert!

Two of my PIFs have arrived at their intended destinations:


The little sun went to Michelle, and was the first of my PIF designs. The pink daffodils went to Natty. I had the bright idea of doing mini-biscornus, and I think they turned out pretty neat. I haven't decided yet whether I'll release the designs for these or not. I might, because I'm pretty proud of them.

Happy Easter!

Whew! It's been a marathon of a week! Besides normal work and home stuff, we were up at church for most of the Holy Week liturgies. I blogged about the Triduum last year, although the experience was slightly different this year since I was singing with the choir.

Today has been by comparison rather low-key. We went to the early-morning Mass, but since we got home we've all been relaxing. DD got a bunch of goodies from the Easter Bunny, and enjoyed the usual plastic-egg hunt around the house.

This coming week should continue the key of 'low' - DD is on Easter Break, and so DH and I are splitting time off work to stay home with her. I'll be working on her First Communion dress, so that should keep me somewhat busy.

In other status, four of the PIFs are finished and awaiting a trip to the post office. I hope the recipients will be as pleased with them as I am!

Reason n + 42

...why my DH is a keeper: the very lovely birthday letter he wrote to me.

Sometimes the best gifts are the nonmaterial ones...

Set up like a rack of bowling pins...

Today is my birthday, and for dinner we went to my favorite Irish pub for good food, good music, and a few pints. That was my goal, anyway.

I got that, and a bit more! Not long after we were seated, DD borrowed some money from DH to tip the musician. When she came back, she was absolutely insistent that I come with her. Somehow, she'd told the musician it was my birthday, and I got called out to join him onstage, requested to down my fresh pint of Smithwicks (like Guinness in color, but an ale instead of a porter) while he sang "Happy Birthday" to me. In front of the entire pub.

I was rather embarrassed, but I have to admit I enjoyed it. And I did indeed manage to down my pint before the musician had finished, much to my surprise and to the loud approval of the audience. And I got a pint of Guinness on the house, which was much enjoyed.

All told I had three pints (one each of hard cider, Smithwicks and Guinness). And I'm still awake to blog!

I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday. We're in the middle of a 'cold snap' (at least in Floridian terms) - there's actually a freeze warning for tonight! Good sleeping-in weather.

Which is good, because I need to sleep off my pints!

Roses are red...or are they?

In the 17 Februaries that DH and I have been together, DH has been gone on business travel for Valentine's Day or my birthday (or both) 11 of those years. It's practically a running joke at this point.

When I got home tonight, there was a box, with this card:

Yes, it's become a bit of a joke,
but how's this for a punch line?

After assembly, the contents of the box were:

Very pretty. But there are three things about this seemingly ordinary bouquet that make it even more special:

There are 17 of them - one for each of the years we've been together

There are some white roses - my favorite color of rose!

DH knows I'm not a fan of red roses, but red is traditional. So he got me red roses that aren't really red:

The one on the left is from my bouquet. Compared to the red roses that DD got, mine are a rather deep pink. And a very lovely shade they are!

And the best part is...he'll be home for my birthday this year!

Playing dress-up

Last night was the formal event for which I made the hunter-green dress referenced in multiple posts this month. In a way it's like playing dress-up. My normal attire is top and jeans (or top and long skirt for Mass) so it's fun once in a while to wear something fancier and actually wear makeup and some of the nice jewelry DH has gotten me over the years. This year I had my nails done again, although I did my own hair.


The little jacket has a bit of sparkle to it:


And of course, my handsome escort:


The formal event had a "Gone With The Wind" theme to it, and DH had the thought of renting a 19th century military uniform. Unfortunately he didn't think of it until a couple hours beforehand - too late to actually do so. I got a fair number of Scarlett comments, though that was not my intent.

All in all, we had a good time. It was a nice night - it was in the 60s, calm and clear. It had been in the 40s at night earlier in the week, and tonight promises more of the same chill.

Although I did have one "D'oh!" moment...I woke up at 5:30 this morning and realized I'd forgotten to take my contacts out. Trying to remove contacts, while squinting because my eyes were used to darkness was not the easiest thing in the world. Even less so with long nails.

Needless to say, my nails are back to a more manageable length! They were starting to impact my typing anyway.

Bodice ripper!

No, this isn't about romance novels...I've already blogged about my thoughts on them.

Rather, it's a description of how I spent much of my evening. In previous entries I alluded to a hunter-green dress I'm making for an upcoming formal. I finished everything but the zipper Saturday night, but I wasn't happy with the seam attaching the bodice to the skirt. So today I painstakingly undid that seam and resewed it. By contrast, I got the zipper right on the first attempt.

So...here 'tis.

I still have to make the jacket, and I will get pictures once I'm all dolled up. (I'm not going to the formal with the stoner look I have in this pic, that's for sure!)

I'm trying to decide if I want to get my hair and nails done like I did last year...

Twas the week before Christmas...

...and all through the house
So much needed doing
By myself and my spouse...

This coming week looks to be rather busy with the final run up to Christmas - incoming relatives, final wrapping of gifts, choir practices, and so on - so there may not be another entry until after Christmas. (Not that I've been as regular at blogging of late anyway, but that's neither here nor there...)

I do, however, have a gift for all my stitching readers - a simple freebie ornament. This was my first attempt at adding beads, and once again my scanner failed to do justice to the sparkle. Nevertheless, I hope that you enjoy it.


In other news, there are two big celebrations upcoming at Alternate Dementia (besides Christmas). One is that sometime this week, DH and I will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. The other is a milestone birthday of one member of my family, but I won't say whom, or what milestone it is...

If I don't blog again before then, I wish all of my dear readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful holiday season, whichever holiday(s) you celebrate.

And bring on the bowl games!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my readers, and to the moms, wives, daughters, or sisters of readers who are moms or stepmoms. It's a tough, but important, job, and while Mother's Day has been Hallmarked to excess, I do agree that we should give credit to those in our lives who have nurtured us, fed us, disciplined us when need be, and whose influence on our lives has been so important.

So far I've had a good Mother's Day. DD gave me a handmade card and flower she made at school, as well as a little ceramic black cat figurine. DH gave me a box of Scottish Breakfast tea, and a tin of Scottish fudge (including a whiskey fudge - gotta try that!). The three of us went out to lunch at the local Indian place, where they had a buffet, which was quite good. DD got a free gumball from the machine as we were leaving. (Ah, for the days where happiness can be obtained by a mere freebie gumball...)

I hope to spend the rest of Mother's Day taking it easy - I'm a working length away from finishing Butterfly Waltz, and then there are two hockey games to watch tonight. My Bolts got eliminated in the first round, so I've been a while in deciding who I want to go all the way. I think in the West I'd like the Oilers. Still not sure in the East, but I'm leaning toward the Sabres, I think. Maybe because the Sabres won the game that I delayed DD's birth for. (The nurses came in wanting to break my water, but it was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, beginning of the third period and the Sabres and Leafs were tied at 3. I had them wait until after the game...)

In other good news, we FINALLY got some rain here on Friday morning around 2am. I'd stayed up to watch the Sharks-Oilers game, and a storm rolled through not long afterward. We only got about half an inch, but that's more than we'd gotten total since early February. Any rain helps the fire situation - we had a couple of days were I couldn't constantly smell smoke outside.

Yesterday I picked up the wedding present I'd taken to the framer, and I must say I am VERY happy with how it turned out. I'll post a picture after it's arrived at its intended recipients - at least one of them has my blog address, and I don't want to spoil the surprise!

From geek...to chic!

I consider myself an average Joe. Or Jo, perhaps. My normal attire is casual top (or t-shirts when I'm not at work) and jeans, with a trusty pair of well-worn sandals. I generally only dress up for church.

However, this past weekend was the annual fundraiser gala for DD's school, and after all the spa suggestions around my birthday last month, I decided to go all-out.

So for the first time in my life, I have had a manicure and pedicure, and had my hair professionally styled.

The 'cures were done Friday morning - I got to the salon just as they opened. First up was the pedicure - a nice soaking for my overworked, calloused feet, followed by a massage and buffing (to file off the worst of those callouses), and a French manicure. The buffing tickled a little bit, but I managed to avoid flinching. The chair I sat in for the pedicure had back massagers in - a fact one of the other patrons pointed out to me. I made some use of that. I also did a little bit of stitching (good thing I had the pedicure first!). The manicure was similar, except with a small bowl to soak my fingers in, and some removal of dry skin around the nails. Again, I went with the French manicure. I'm too pale for most of the darker polishes, and I don't generally wear reds or pinks. Besides, the simple light polish over white tips has a nice clean look to it, I think.

Then Saturday, I had my first-ever updo. I've been trying to grow my hair long forever, and I wanted some of that length to be visible, so it was more of a partial updo, but half an hour, 20 bobby pins and half a can of hairspray later, my wild mane was transformed into gleaming copper curls.
A rare application of makeup, and voilá!

The 'beauty mark' was a bit of a lark. While I was putting on blush, DD asked if I was trying to 'cover up the zit'. I replied that it was a mole...and then I got to thinking. Out came a brown eye pencil, and suddenly the mole had character!

I wore a black gown with spaghetti straps, and beautiful amethyst and diamond necklace and earrings that were gifts from my beloved. And behold, yours truly all decked out:
.

My best accessory for the night, though, was the handsome gent with whom I've spent the past 15 years:


All in all, we had a great night. I got rather a lot of compliments, and I confess I did enjoy feeling elegant and pretty. I may do this again next year.

Even if it did take me three shampooings to get the hairspray out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.

Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day

(more Irish blessings)

And one I saw on a placemat at my favorite Irish place this week:

When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven!

Okay, so it only works if you're a sleepy drunk. Which I am. Pass the Guinness!

Small indulgences...

I may be uncomfortable with spoiling myself on a large scale, but I think I have small indulgences down pat! Since today's my birthday, I treated myself at lunch to:
- Cup of French Onion soup from Jason's Deli
- Small "Sweet Cream" ice cream with raspberries (yum!) mixed in from Marble Slab.
Marble Slab does have a dark chocolate ice cream, and I usually get that with raspberries in, but thought I'd branch out a bit today. Besides, I'll get my chocolate fix tonight when I go to Melting Pot with my family. For those that have never been, Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. DH and I went there for our 15th anniversary a couple months ago, and enjoyed it. While there, we got a coupon for a free chocolate fondue, and since it expires in about a month, I figured tonight would be a good time to use it. I'd never had fondue before, and I thought it was really cool. Hopefully my kids will think so too.

Thank you to all of you who commented in my Johari window - I've been pleasantly surprised by how you view me. I've also noticed a few other folks doing Johari windows as well, and I've been returning the favor. It's also interesting to see how people view themselves! I decided to take a risk and do the flip-side Nohari as well, with the negative traits. This was harder for me to do. Not because I don't think I have faults, but because the ones I'm most keenly aware of weren't listed!

What comes from one wild ride...

There was once a young woman, not an overly adventurous one, who once in her life took a wild and crazy chance.

This young woman hopped on her subway and rode down to the airport (it's now known as Reagan National, but it wasn't then). And there, she accepted a marriage proposal from a total stranger.

Well, perhaps not total. She had conversed with said stranger on the Internet, back in a day and age when most of the country had never *heard* of the Internet. And so for six months after the fateful meeting at the airport, this young woman and her beau had to explain to people what the Internet was.

And fifteen years ago today, that young woman (who, in case you had not yet figured out, is yours truly) stood before God and man and swore to be this stranger's wife until death tore them asunder.

It's been an interesting ride, but I'm glad for that fifteen years and I hope for at least as many more.

Happy Anniversary, DH!

Giving thanks...

It was (almost) the best of Thanksgiving weekends.

Thursday the family helped out with the annual Thanksgiving dinner for seniors up at church. This is the third year in a row that we've done so, which makes it a tradition now. And I must say, I think it's a nice tradition. We're being of service to others, and it is a festive atmosphere. Sort of like a large family gathering...without the inherent family tensions. Not to mention that 1) we get the whole Thanksgiving dinner with trimmings without the attendant mess at my house, and 2) that we're not stuck eating leftover turkey for a week afterward! The leftovers from the dinner go home with the seniors who want to take to-go boxen, and what remains is donated to the local soup kitchen. It really is a lot of fun, with a great camaraderie among the families who do the bulk of the preparation and cleanup. And it's a chance for the younger folks to hobnob with the older ones.

My legs were a little tired afterward, but I enjoyed it. And I clocked up 5 more miles on the way to Rivendell!

That evening, we went to my favorite Irish place, which was hosting its own Thanksgiving buffet. Last year they had lamb among the more traditional Thanksgiving cuisine, but they didn't this year. I still got my pint of hard cider, though!

The rest of the weekend was spent in relaxation, notably in the form of watching football on TV. And thus entered the only downside to the weekend - Georgia Tech lost to Georgia 14-7. It was still a good game, though.

Sunday marked the beginning of Advent, and so began preparations for Christmas. Our only decoration so far is the Advent wreath on our dining room table, an austere contrast to the lights-and-inflatables that mark the houses of our neighbors. We may do some further decorating...we'll see.

I can guarantee, though, that we won't have any inflatables!

Pyrotechnicalities

Ah, the pleasures of a nice long weekend. I took Friday off to stay home with DD, and we had Monday off for Independence Day. DsS came over on Saturday, and with gaming buddy J we played LotRisk, which is always a lot of fun. We did Team Play, which we don't often do, with DsS and I as Evil vs J and DH as Good. As Evil, we got our collective orcish hindquarters kicked, but actually managed to pull out a win because we found the One Ring right before it went into Mount Doom. (I am your father, Frodo...give in to the Dark Side...)

Monday was, of course, Independence Day, and that means....fireworks!

Early in the afternoon, DD wanted to do some 'snakes' - little pellets that form snakes of ash when they burn. I personally find them a bit cheesy, but she loves them. I put foil on a cookie sheet, and lit the pellets on that so I didn't scorch my driveway (or pool deck).
In the evening I watched the Capitol Fourth presentation on PBS of the concert and fireworks in DC. The concert (and coverage) were quite excellent, with a variety of music including The Beach Boys, the O'Jays, and Gloria Estefan. It was nice to see the more classic performers instead of only the Pop Tart of the Month. Then there were fireworks around the Washington Monument, and the National Symphony did Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", with cannon, which is a piece I definitely look forward to every year. Interesting, though, how a song about Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia has become such a staple of American festivities.
Overall, the DC fireworks were pretty good, the concert was awesome, and the coverage by PBS was quite well done.

After watching the DC show, we went outside and did a few fireworks of our own. There are several fireworks wholesalers within two miles of my house, but I only bought the stuff that's actually legal in Florida. (Technically anything that flies and goes boom (ie bottle rockets, roman candles, mortars, etc..) is illegal, but exceptions can be made for 'agricultural purposes' (ie frightening birds), and it's this loophole that keeps the wholesalers in business. There was quite a bit of 'agricultural' work going on around our neighborhood!) Ah, but back to my humble stash.. I had a few sparking fountains, and some ground-blooms to do. We took the aforementioned cookie sheet and set fountains on that, which worked pretty well - my driveway cleaned up quite easily afterward. The cookie sheet itself, however, did not fare quite so well...one of the fountains was a rectangular block and it wasn't quite obvious which side went up. So it got set off upside-down by accident. It still looked pretty cool, but it succeeded in burning through the foil and tarnishing the heretofore indestructible cookie sheet. We only did a few fountains, and I did my requisite blue sparkler. DD watched from inside - the 'agricultural work' being done around the neighborhood bothered her.

Once inside, it was time for CBS's coverage of Pops Goes the Fourth. Some of you may remember my rant last year about CBS's abysmal coverage of the Boston show, and I was expecting another such fiasco, but I wanted to try anyway because I ♥ the Boston Pops. And I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised! It still wasn't anywhere near as wonderful as when A&E covered the Pops, but CBS obviously learned something from last year. No 1812, alas, but we did get the whole patriotic singalong and "Stars and Stripes Forever". And wonder of wonders, they covered the fireworks commercial-free! Granted, I could have done without the need to cut to crowd shots, but at least we got to see pretty much the whole show. Boston has some of the best pyrochoreography, and the newest fireworks, including shells that burst into smiley-faces, of all things! Wonderful stuff. One of these days I'd love to see the Boston show live.

I'd just have to get over that whole 'fear of crowds' thing...

Pomp and Circumstances

This past weekend, DsD graduated from high school, with honors. We're very proud of her!

Being graduation weekend, things were very busy on the social front! Both family friend M (who is also DD and DsD's godfather), and my inlaws came into town.

Things seemed to start off less than stellar on Friday evening. M called from his airport up north with news that he'd not be able to arrive here until the next morning due to weather in Atlanta. Atlanta is the only hub that services our regional airport - the old joke goes that if you die down here you don't go directly to Heaven, you have a layover in Atlanta first. (Which I suppose means Atlanta must be Purgatory.) Another joke goes that Delta stands for "Doesn't Everything Layover Through Atlanta?". Ah, but I digress. The good folks up at SBN should have thought of this, but I suggested to M that perhaps he could fly into Orlando, which is only about an hour or so drive from here. He called back shortly thereafter with the happy news that - he would be arriving there around midnight. DsD and I drove out to O-town to retrieve him, and our visit was underway!

Due to the size of the venue and size of the graduating class (over 500!), students were limited in the number of guests they could bring. DsD brought DH and I, DD, DsS, M, dBF, and her mom and stepdad. Graduation went rather well...my heart was bursting with pride. (Or perhaps that was age...). Afterward, the nine of us convened at our house and chatted for a bit while waiting for the inlaws to arrive for dinner.

Dinner was at a local Japanese restaurant/sushi bar. We were joined by my MIL, FIL, and MIL's mom, along with gaming buddy J, and one of the deacons and his wife. Afterward, everyone except the deacon and his wife went back to our house and had some good wine and good company. Some really good wine - the first bottle was an Orvieto Classico Dulce that we'd picked up in Italy last year. We must go back there to acquire more someday since the wine is not exported.

We had thirteen people...who says 13 is an unlucky number? It worked well for us!

Other than DH being hoarse and under the weather all weekend, I think the weekend was a success. M got the much-anticipated task of giving dBF the Godfatherly Third Degree, which dBF apparently did well enough at that M gave his approval. M flew back yesterday, and this time the flight was uneventful.

Thrown into the mix is DD's birthday. My baby is six now, and she is rather proud of that fact. We bought donuts on the way to school this morning for her to share with her classmates. And *she* has kindergarten graduation coming up this week as well! My girls are growing up so quickly.

I confess I'm still not quite used to the school year here. Growing up in the DC 'burbs, we always went back the day after Labor Day and went until mid-June. Here, they go back the second week of August, and get out in late May. Though I suppose it does work out in that the first school semester is over before Christmas vacation. It was always a bummer having to worry about exams over the holidays!

Anyway, all in all it was a lovely weekend, if rather busy. Next weekend I have 4 days off work, and I am rather looking forward to something a little more sedate. Maybe I'll have another progress picture of Last Supper by this time next week.

Pyrotechnical difficulties?

Sometimes things don't go exactly as planned...

Today started off pretty well - DH, DD and I went out for bbq for lunch - I had ribs, which is always a good choice. I'll confess to having a weakness for them. (heeeeere piggy piggy piggy!) The afternoon was pretty relaxing - I did some stitching and watched TV with DD, and when it got dark enough, we went out to set off some fireworks.

Other folks in the neighborhood were setting off mortars and such, so we got to see a few above the trees, and a storm was brewing in the distance, so we started off with a bit of distant lightning. We lit off probably 8 fountains and 10 ground blooms before the wind picked up enough that it was blowing the sparks rather unpredictably around - including back toward us. At that point, we decided the prudent thing to do would be to head back inside and not try to interfere with God's own fireworks display. We used up about half our fountains, and maybe 1/5 of our ground blooms. And none of the rather large cache of sparklers I have. Still, it was enjoyable for a small show.

Once inside, we turned on the TV and watched the New York fireworks display - though why stations call them "fireworks spectaculars" when you only get maybe 20 minutes of fireworks in an hour of programming seems a bit misleading. The NYC show was decent, once they actually started showing the fireworks. Though the brand-placement "macys" on every set piece was a little distracting. After that, we turned to the Boston display on CBS.

I'll go ahead and say it now - the Boston display (what we saw of it) was great. CBS's coverage of it frankly sucked. I am VERY disappointed with CBS. First of all, they didn't cover the whole Boston concert - they started their coverage at the last 20 seconds of the 1812 Overture. It was extremely frustrating to me to hear the host thanking the artillerists for use of the howitzers when I didn't get to hear them myself. We did get to see David Lee Roth performing with the Boston Pops, and the patriotic singalong and "Stars and Stripes Forever", which kicked off the pyrotechnics. That coverage was okay, and the Boston Pops always does an excellent job.

Boston's fireworks are also very well done, or have been every year I've watched them, and I preferred them to the NYC display. NYC's songs were in general tending more toward the patriotic, but Boston's pyro-choreography was better. I especially enjoyed "What a Wonderful World", and Phil Collins "Take Me Home".

What was extremely frustrating to me was that CBS cut to ads about 10 minutes into the display. Oh come on...can't they go 20 minutes without showing an ad?? So I missed about 5 minutes of a 20-minute display. And when they were covering fireworks, they kept going to crowd shots, or switching camera angles to distant places behind people - someone walked in front of one of those cameras at one point, and another 30-second location was half-obscured by a lawn chair. Rather annoying.

I really wish A&E were still covering Pops Goes the Fourth...