Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of June 2005. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Thurs, June 30, 2005 (10:10am) Happy B-day to my bro Louis. Hey Lou: I know it's your birthday and ya wanna celebrate, but don't do drugs, kay? I know I say that to you everytime I see you, so you probably just ignore it as background noise... but you're a good brother, and I don't wanna be attending your funeral anytime soon. Alright? Especially since I'm buying you a nice birthday present, & all. In other news, the position of co-pilot to Quad War has been filled. Myke (a.k.a. Lady Myke, or Weike) will be coming, along with her son Gareth. Gareth and Kalen are close enough in age that they should be able to keep eachother occupied somewhat, and give Myke and I time to do some serious cloak selling. And, ya know, talking a lot... 'cuz that's what Myke and I are good at. Myke also finished a couple more cloaks when she came over Tuesday night, so she's adding 4 to our current stock. I finished cloak number 15 in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. My Mom's got a few cloaks and hoods and bog coats which we'll be selling at our shop, and putting those together with our recent creations plus stuff left over from last year, we'll have about 40 items in stock. Not bad considering that when I opened Cloaking Devices 2 years ago, we had barely a dozen cloaks for sale. Shades is out at the Quad site right now. He left after midnight last night, and got to the site in the wee hours. Called me to say that he'd arrived safe and sound, and to ask where the key was, since the place was locked. Ooops - I kinda forgot to give him the key. Luckily, my parents have had to deal with this sort of thing more often, and cleverly left a spare key on-site. Somewhere around 4 am, Shades was craning his neck upside-down in the middle of a farmer's field in Saskatchewan, holding a flashlight and looking for a hidden key. But all is well, now. He'll be working onsite all Thursday, and coming back home Friday ?morning, so he can watch the 2 boys (who are not yet recovered from their colds) while Myke and I, along with our eldest spawn, go enjoy Quad War, and sell cloaks. Well, I can't say life is boring. |
| Tues, June 28, 2005 (2:55pm) Hi Anna! I know you read my weblog, so I thought I'd post here instead of emailing (plus, this way the whole world can see how cool you are). I got your presents!!! The Pirate Ducky has a little corner staked out by the bathtub in the mater bathroom, from whence to plot evil, and ponder aquatic escapades. The pin cushions are absolutely fantastic! I s'pose I shouldn't be admitting this in public (as it's bad for the masculine image I try so desperately to culture) but I've always loved pretty pin cushions: ones shaped like strawberries, or tomatoes, or little flowers. Hm.. or maybe I just love shoving sharp pointy objects into dainty little stuffed trinkets. That sounds more plausible. Anyways, they're adorable, with their little chinese children sporting teeny top-knots. I have claimed the bigger one, and Kalen the smaller one. With our l337 sewing skillz, we shall counquor the world, and rule together as mother and daughter! Mwhahahahaaa! Er, maybe I should have just made this a private email. Now the whole world knows of my dastardly plan. Oh, well. BTW, I finally fixed the link at the top of my page. I meant to remove the 'not' in 'Anna (not)Overseas' as soon as I had confirmation you made it safely to Scotland, but I got kinda busy, and forgot. That happens a lot... the forgetting of important things: like eating, or sleeping, or replying to Don's email. But I've fixed your link now, and it leads to www.annaoverseas.com. I hope you have fun with the rain, and the hills. Accomplishment of the Day: Finished another cloak last night. Plus, over the past week I've made or finished making 5 hoods. That brings my total to: 5 hoods and 14 cloaks! Just one more to go, to hit my goal of 20 items. |
| Thurs, June 23, 2005 (12:25pm) WANTED: One co-pilot, to Quad War Well, Quad war is a week away (give or take). Shades will probably be headed out next Thurs with a van-load of gear, including our 20x20 pavillion (which will be used as the site's tavern), a kitchen counter for our cabin, much of our gear (including bedding) and many tubs of cloaks for me to sell. We will remember the cloaks this year! That leaves me to head out to the site on Friday, with all 3 kids, and no adult company. So, here's an official request: I'm looking for someone to drive with me. Duties will include:
Couples may apply, if one of them is willing to have a slightly cramped seat, sitting next to the baby, where adult conversation is somewhat limited. Accomplishment of the Day: 50% off sale at Fabricland! Stocked up on cloak clasps, thread, and trim. Oh, and maybe some more cloth. Umm, yeah. - - - A Connor Report While we were at Fabricland, a stranger came up to compliment me on my twins. She looked at Connor and said 'Hello' to him. He, in turn, made eye contact with her, and said 'Hallow' right back. He babbled a bit more, in nonsense syllables, while she talked to him, and they exchanged words and eye contact for a little longer, before she went back to her shopping. Even better than that - when we were at the Quad War site, Connor found the water jug in Grandma's cabin. He was hard at work trying to figure out how to operate it, and when he began pressing the button which lets the water run out, Jay took the water jug away from him. Connor began trying to pull it back, but Jay held on. Finally, Connor got ticked off at Jay and shouted "Let go!" |
| Mon, June 20, 2005 (9:55am) How I spent my Summer. A Journal, by La. Day 1: Today is June 21st, the first day of summer. At 3 in the morning I was standing in a farmer's field, in the middle of rural Saskatchewan, with no power, no heat, and no running water, wondering if I should pack up all 3 kids, plus my Mom, plus all our camping gear (since I doubted we'd be coming back) and head out to the Emergency in Lloydminster. Connor was having serious breathing trouble. It was readily apparent that his minor cold had turned into something more serious, and he was needing ventolin every hour through the night just to keep him from going into respiratory distress. I talked it over with my Mom, since I did not relish the idea of breaking camp in the darkness, nor of dealing with a handful of children pulled out of warm beds & thrown into a cold van, then waiting in an Emergency ward with them all to be told that camping was very bad for my son right now, and we would need to go home, and then be prescribed medication which I already had access to at our house. We decided to give it another hour - despite the fact that Connor was getting worse every hour - because then we'd be able to pack by the light of false dawn, and that would make it much quicker... plus give everyone an extra hour of sleep with which to face the upcoming day. We were up at 3:45, packed by 4:45, took 10 mins or so to load the kids, and headed out as the new day was just dawning. All invlolved agreed to just skip the Hospital in Lloyd and head straight for home. It's only a couple hours futher away, and Connor was already doing a bit better just being upright in a van with cool air, rather than being horizontal in a warm but somewhat stuffy and allergenic cabin. Pulled into Sherwood Park just after 8am. Connor got meds by sidestream nebulizer, and while he is still quite wheezy, he is obviously doing much better being out of the wilds, and into civilization again. Me, I'm exhausted as I've only had 1 hr of sleep. But the kids are all exhausted too. Hopefully they'll nap. BTW, Jasen's thumb is infected (again), and Kalen's infected/ingrown toenail has gotten much worse. Bad enough, in fact, that the toenail had to come off. There was much screaming. Summer is off to a lovely start. Accomplishment of the Day: Bwahaaahaaa ha hahah. |
| Mon, June 20, 2005 (9:40am) Lovely weather, isn't it? Overcast, drizzly, cold... perfect to pack all the kids and take 'em to the cabin for a couple days, hm? We've still got some cleaning to do (post-vandalism) to make the place ready for Quad War, so my Mom is going out with me to Saskatchewan, and we're gonna see what we can do. The kids will have the chance to get used to camping again, and hopfeully not go batty with cabin fever if the weather keeps them indoors. This should be interesting. Accomplishment of the Day: Packing everything needed for a 'weekend' out with the kids in less than 4 working hours, while running a migraine. |
| Wed, June 15, 2005 (11:50pm) Just as a note, to prevent potential mis-understanding: When I said, "I found it before it got washed" I did not mean to imply that it got washed at any point. The washing of electronic devices has been avoided. This time. More Accomplishments of the Day: The bloody awful-to-sew, horrible-to-cut, frustrating-to-fit fur cloak is DONE! This is my 13th cloak completed this month (I did an entire cloak yesterday while avoiding the final hem-work on the fur monstrosity). |
| Wed, June 15, 2005 (8:25pm) Shades: I found your cell phone. It was in the laundry hamper. (Yes, I found it before it got washed.) Love you lots, btw. Have a particularly enjoyable day. In other news: Team DK are now parents! I'd give more details, but I don't wanna steal their thunder. They're gonna post about it as soon as their home from the hospital, I'm certain. But - YAY!!! Accomplishment of the Day: BRAINS! Da Walrus came over and brought me a gig of memory for my Mac Mini. This is good. Waaaay good. I can do email, web browsing, and digital image processing at the same time as downloading Hentai. |
| Tues, June 14, 2005 (10:00am) Caffeinated Mountain DEW!!! That's always been one of my favorite parts of any trip to the USA: They have caffeinated Dew. In Canada, there's some strange law which prevents "clear" pop (meaning non-cola) from containing caffeine. So Canadian Mountain Dew is non-caffeinated. I won't drink the stuff. Only when I go to the States does my desire for quick, cold, caffeine sources override my general distaste for carbonated beverages, and then I end up with a Dew in my hands. Mmmm... the carbonation on those really isn't so bad, either. They go borderline flat pretty quick, but still taste decent (unlike flat Coke). My carry-on luggage always contains a few cans of Dew on the way home, so I can enjoy the toxic-yellow wonder after my visit to the States is over. But now, Caffeinated Dew is available in Canada! YAY! Apparently, someone in the Dew marketing division had a stunning revelation. Something like, "Hey, energy drinks are allowed to contain caffeine, even if they are clear. Why can't we do that? Wait, you mean - we can? All we have to do is change the label and call caffeinated Dew an 'Energy Drink' and then we can ship the stuff right over the border? Whoah!" And thus, we have Mountain Dew: Energy drink! Same tasty toxic-yellow goodness, with a new Canada-friendly label. This will make my carry-on luggage a lot lighter on the way home, methinks. Well, enough typing for now. I'm off to check my sister-in-law's weblog, to see if she had her baby yet. (I know I'd probably get a call announcing the birth long before reading about it on the Web, but this keeps me from calling her everyday to ask if she's had the baby yet. A fact I'm sure she's glad for.) Accomplishment of the Day: Yesterday I invited Myke over, and we cut and sewed. The result? 4 more cloaks done! Well, only 3 actually, because the 4th one I made for Kalen, not for selling at Quad War. My daughter now has a fantasy fur barbarian cloak - blood red fur, with black tips, and a velcro closure. I realize most Barbarians wouldn't be caught dead with velcro on their person, but most Barbarians also don't risk strangling themselves while jumping off playground structures or slides, shouting "Fiend! I will VANISH thee! Uh, I mean vanquish!" |
| Sun, June 12, 2005 (4:55pm) We get a lot of "medical question" type phone calls where I work. But up 'til yesterday, I've never had anyone call up and ask, "Hi. Can you take my gall bladder out?" How do you answer that? I skipped over the first three replies which came to mind ("Ah, do you mean me personally? Because I've never tried it, but I've always wanted the chance." ... "It depends. Have you ever had a cholycystectomy before?" ... "We can always try. Just come on down!") Instead I went with a sensible "I'm not sure what you're asking. Could you clarify: Do you want to know if you need gall bladder surgery? Or do you want to know if we can perform it in our office?) After a few questions back and forth, it turned out that the patient wanted to know if he could just drop by and get it done, or if he needed an appointment. He seemed a bit disappointed to hear that it wouldn't be so simple - we'd need to run tests first ("Tests? What kinda tests? Can't ya just take the durn thing out?") and that it would involve scheduled surgery at the hospital ("Ya mean I can't just walk in? I'm kinda busy, ya know.") Eventually i convinced him he should probably see a doctor to determine if gall bladder surgery was actually necessary, but at that point he was sounding pretty skeptical about the state of the health care system. Go figure. Accomplishment of the past couple days: One cloak done yesterday, one the day before. That's 8 down, 2 more to go. I'm inclined to up the ante, and say I'm shooting for 20 cloaks done, by July 1st. |
| Thurs, June 9, 2005 (11:35pm) Accomplishment of the Day: Two more cloaks done. That's 6 done, 4 to go. BTW, I still hate sewing fur. My basement looked like a slaughterhouse of stuffed animals. I vaccuumed as much as I could, but the hair is still everywhere. Eventually, I put the furry cloak(s) aside, and just worked on other stuff. |
| Wed, June 8, 2005 (2:25pm) I feel a great disturbance in the pants Pants! This house is littered in PANTS! Why can nobody seem to keep their pants on, today?!? Accomplishment of YesterEve: Another cloak. That brings us up to 4. Frak, but I hate sewing fur. |
| Tues, June 7, 2005 (4:40pm) Something I forgot to post on the weekend... Connor Commits a Neatness I've often been accused of committing "neatness" - of moving jackets or bags, putting away books which were still being read, or clearing someone's glass before they were done the last inch of water in it. This is one of my (many) faults, but I can't stand a cluttered environment. It's nearly pathological how badly I need to control my personal environment. Thus, when I went to get a serving spoon from the utensil drawer, and opened it to the smell of bacon, and the sight of a grease smeared spatula sitting with all the clean items, it really ticked me off. I set the offending item above the dishwasher, and set about searching through the drawer for cross-contaminated utensils. About halfway through this self-appointed task, the baby got into trouble and required rescuing. Nothing major - just trapping himself under a chair - but it took me away from the kitchen for a moment. When I returned, the spatula was missing. Connor loves spatulas. I had no doubt that he had wandered off with it, and was gleefully licking bacon grease in a corner somewhere. So, I continued my cleaning, rinsed off the sullied implements, and returned them to the utensil drawer. Opening the utensil drawer, I again smelled bacon. And look! There was the spatula, again. I moved it back to the counter above the dishwasher, and almost instantly Connor wandered past. He casually grabbed the spatula on his way by, tossed it into the utensil drawer, and shut the drawer perfunctorily. I'm sure if he could talk, he would have said "Why can't people just leave things where they belong?" He stayed a moment to make sure no one was threatening the preferred placement of his favorite kitchen utensil, and then wandered off again. I waited until he was well out of hearing before taking the dirty spatula out once more, and this time I put it directly into the dishwasher, where it stayed until the dishes were done. Man, I love my son. Just need to work on some of the little details with regards to hygiene and cleanliness, but I think we can make a proper kitchen nazi out of him. - - - Random quotes from the past week... Mommy, I wrote my name in the Book of Evil. - Kalen - - - Accomplishment of YesterEve: 3 cloaks done. (Two of those were cut out already, but one was from scratch. Plus I cut out one more, to work on tonight. Not a bad start, really.) |
| Mon, June 6, 2005 (1:30pm) Oh, look - it's that time again! The time when Raven looks at the calendar and says "Sacred Feces! Quad War is in less than a month! I'd better sew some cloaks!!!" And thus, I am yet again faced with the task of sewing at least 10 cloaks in under 1 month. Luckily, I still have a couple cut out from last year, so that'll give me a head start on the project. Today I went to Fabricland and spent $100 on material (heavy Cotton Twill at $3.00/meter!) and picked up a few more cloak clasps, etc. I think I'll make several unlined cloaks this time 'round - they're faster to make, and sell quicker because they price tag isn't so high (lined cloaks take twice the fabric, and are proportionally more expensive). I also want to do 4 or 5 hoods, and maybe a few hats. We'll see how much I actually get done. - - - A Connor Report When I picked Connor up from school today, his teachers said he'd been a Superstar all day. Not only was he well behaved, paying attention to classroom activities, looking at friends, but to top it off, he verbally asked for chips at snack time. At school, as we do at home, they use PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) so Connor can request his snack. He gets a little picture saying "I want..." and he gets to pair that with a little picture saying "Chips" or "Popcorn". He puts the pictures on a sentence strip, and hands it to an adult in exchange for the desired food. They've been trying to increase the distance which Connor has to travel to request his snack, so that he'll eventually be able to make a sentence and bring it across the room, or to an adult in another oom, when he needs something. He did this a few times, requesting chips, and even said "Chip plee" when the teacher read "I want Chips!" with him, off his sentence strip. After finishing the few chips she gave him, he walked across the classroom to her again, but without his sentence strip. When the teacher asked, "What do you want?" he replied "I wan chip!" And he did this TWICE! Odds look very good that he'll be able to talk someday. I am happy. Accomplishment of the Day: Getting my Passport Photos done. |