Eseme's Den

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.

I know people are curious about my first week of work. And I will post about that, under some sort of friends-lock... at some point.

Right now I've just completed an unsuccessful search for my hammer. It has to be somewhere with my good screwdriver... and I can't find it anywhere. Possibly it is still in the Panther's Lair, and I can retrieve it in the future. Which doesn't help me now, when I want to assemble two bookcases which will have cardboard that gets nailed to the back of them.

I'm going to have to buy another hammer, because I just can't sit here with this many boxes much longer. The local hardware store is going out of business (the owner is retiring) so I can get one at something like half off. But still, buying another hammer is silly.

I've been hemorrhaging money, trying to either replace things I couldn't take out of the apartment in Buffalo (like bookcases) or get new things that I need in this apartment due to space issues (storage thing for the bathroom because it is half the size of the one I had in Buffalo, and a fake closet unit so I can store costuming stuff).

*sigh* I just feel like I'm not getting anything accomplished here, and there will always be boxes.

Why I put the futon hardware in a bag with nothing else but shoes, I really don't know. Normally shoes are pretty low on the list of things to unpack, but I needed to find some to wear to work.

I even bought a shoe organizer thing, but it turned out to be wider than the door I wanted it on. Of course, I didn't realize I had a non-standard size door until I'd already got the thing mostly assembled. I'm returning it today, and ended up using an old shoe organizer.

This would be when I found the futon bits. Yay! But I didn't find my good screwdriver. Darn. not sure where that is. Thankfully the backup screwdriver does have a Phillips-head.

I'm back in the library, seeing as I have to leave the house to return the shoe organizer. This time I'm using the computer at my own desk. I'm going to have to move it tomorrow- sitting with my back to the door gives me the heebiegeebies.

Pasta sauce is cooking in my kitchen, and I've got most of my clothes squared away. I even figured out how to get more shelves into my closet for crafts stuff. I still have tons of boxes. *sigh*

Oh, and I was so overwhelmed by too many boxes and a scary drive to mention the best part of my visit to Rochester: Seeing people! I got to have dinner with my D&D group before their game ran. Outback has decent food, but what really made the night was the company. btoblake has longer hair and is still as fun and amusing as ever. benabik has an iPhone (gadget envy!) and is running a very neat game which had a brief plotline involving a flaming half-orc. elasmo and Girl-X still tell really neat stories and have good taste in drinks. And darkvalor showed up late but still managed to eat more food than the rest of us and entertain us while doing so. I also got to spend time at moriden's place while giving him back his closet.