Eseme's Den

The holidays were great this year. I picked up Panther in Rochester on Yule, and got to have him at my place for a couple of days, which was cool.

The weather on the 24th was supposed to involve freezing rain. This posed a problem, as we were due to travel to Maine that day. So I got out of work a bit early (I'll work extra hours this week) and we left on the 23rd. This resulted in an extra day of just relaxing at my parents' place, which was lovely.

Christmas itself was rather minimalist. I got a number of neat things (including jewelry and art) from my family. We then went to my cousins' place, where Christmas was decidedly less minimalist (and not as nice, I thought).

I then got to drag Panther all over the mid-coast area visiting friends and shopping. Much fun was had by all.

The return trip today was wonderful driving, thanks to the unseasonable thaw.

oh, and I had essentially no internet access during this time - if anything important happened, let me know.

The first of many, I hope.

lissa_dora came to visit yesterday, and left this afternoon. The time between really flew by (we kept looking at clocks and being surprised). My pasta sauce turned out well, and I was fortunate enough to find my favorite secret ingredient at the local kitchen shop (the owner thought she was out, but was able to find a jar in the back room). Food was yummy, and there was much celebrating. And talking- we chatted and ate or chatted and crafted (she can knit lying down!) nearly the entire visit (with a quick field trip to the library today to check out the display of the local fiber arts guild's work). Pancakes for breakfast, with jam and syrup and goodness. Middle-eastern style lunch. And speaking of jam, I now have three open jars of yummy gourmet jam (not the on peanut butter sandwiches type but the good on English muffins type).

I have a lovely new potholder/dishrag in shades of purple. It will totally match either my two purple and blue waffle-weave dishtowels or the two with cats on them. I quite like the pattern- I should be able to knit one in oatmeal and light green to match the current dishtowel rotation. Also a lovely hand towel for the bathroom (though it is very nice and would make a lovely runner on my dresser where it would get less mussed-up). And soap and tea and cookies and an art tile and more Celtic knot earrings (this makes three pair!). Oh, and chcolate. My house has been warmed! Thanks lissa_dora!

I've just spent the last three hours trying to get my crochet to behave and be roughly the same size as the other bag panel I have already made. It's been annoying, but I think I have managed to get close the the gauge of the part I worked on in Maine.

And I have had some very happy moments unpacking. Last week I managed to find the Celtic knot earrings I bought in Scotland and was beginning to fear were lost for good. I had looked everywhere, and then this little Asian-style pouch turned up. I've very pleased. I also opened a box marked "Fragile, 9/05" and found that I own a small version of the red dragon I bought moriden for his birthday. Neat! The same box has my little amethyst and wire tree, a glass dragon Apl bought me at one of the Disney parks, a pewter leaf ornament M gave me, and all sorts of assorted little things I haven't seen in years. I nearly opened the box while lissa_dora was here, when I needed a break from crochet. It is a happy box.

Aside from the continuous need to get ever more resumes sent out, I've gotten a fair bit done lately.

Went to my favorite beach to go Shell-hunting for silver_spider. Got the shells into a diluted bleach solution, so as not to send him germs. Still need to sort and label stuff, then off to the post office.

Got done with another errand too. Finding time to get to the shop before work was challenging (especially when they called me the day of and asked me to come in early). So the Lissa-errand is done and in the mail. Should arrive tomorrow or Monday.

Got btoblake a card at a neat shop in Wiscasset last week, and got her address last night. No one in the world is going to appreciate that card as much as her. Found it in a shop called "Rock Paper Scissor" which turned out to be a stationary shop of sorts, with a tape dispenser shaped like a garden snail and all sorts of cute stuff from Japan.

I have ideas for writing again, although it is of course for the story that I didn't bring with me. All my earlier notes on this one are in storage in Buffalo, which is annoying. However, I have a few notes, and have started plotting again, to the extent that I have what should be a cohesive plot. Yay! I have various ideas for scenes, and intend to get them on note cards so I can grab them when I get to that point. I've also got a fun short story idea and hope to use that to get in the right frame of mind.

I've got a present for little Jess, but need to get her address from her mom. And given that I'm not able to make phone calls (most days of the week) during the time that Jen is home and awake, this has been a sticking point. Poor child is going to get an extremely late birthday present at this rate.

I haven't updated much lately, especially about the fun things I've done on my days off with M. Not much since the Fiber Frolic ( http://eseme.livejournal.com/144441.html ) anyway.

That will be the goal for this weekend.

Attention all gaming people who like Fluxx, Chrononauts, Aquarius, Icehouse, Zendo, Treehouse, and many cool games with pyramids!!

Looney Labs has cool holiday specials. They want people to buy their games direct from them this holiday season. From their latest newsletter update at http://wunderland.com/ (November 23, 2006) it sounds like they may need to sell part of their company in order to continue to expand. I don't really like the sound of that, especially after having met them at Astronomicon.

They are amazingly cool people who make great games.

I currently own only two of their games: Chrononauts and Are You A Werewolf?

I would love more. True Brian would love pyramids (currently for sale as the Treehouse game). If I had money, I'd be buying people these games.

http://www.looneylabs.com/