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My Uncle (Godfather) works here. He had just gone in for lunch when it happened. He said the explosion was so strong he thought a truck had run into his office trailer and was pushing it over.

My Dad called him and the first thing he said was, "I'm alive."

But his partner is doing pretty bad, my Uncle said he was on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth.

Jesus Christ.

Let's pray for these men today.

I spent most of the afternoon today trying to get my hair up into victory rolls. I managed once, though they were lopsided and loose. I will keep trying! But my arms are tired now. :( Arara! I will do it!

It's snowing, which I am not excited about having to drive in later.

Egads my arms are aching. Don't spend 2 hours trying to pin your hair in place folks. I'm surprised I have any hair left. I have baby fine hair that is VERY hard to style and keep in style without using loads of hairspray which I am reluctant to do.

As SHIT! My printer is out of ink! *GRAH* I have class tonight! I wonder if I have a spare inking floating around.....

I am SO unprepared for everything.

EDIT Class was canceled because of the weather.

I'm broke. Crap! Uhhh... yes. I haven't been this broke in a while.

But in other news Happy Groundhog's Day everyone! We have presents for the kids and cupcakes that will be decorated to look like groundhogs - so PARTY! Six more weeks of winter? *laughs* Try at least 12. Yay Maine!

My Advanced Writing Class starts tomorrow night, so I'm getting the first 10 pages of 28 days together to bring with me.

And that's it, I guess I'll go make dinner now!

I finished his vest yesterday finally, though he still needs his coat and hat and some shoes! But I took him down to the library (as in ours, downstairs from my room, not the public library) and snapped a few shots. This one is my favorite. On my way out the door more to come later.

Can you believe tomorrow is February 1st? January flew by!



While I appreciate cities, I don't want to live in one. Too claustrophobic.

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, hot tea - iced tea is my drink of choice in the summer time... but anyhow I wanted to try something different, so while in the grocery store the other day I perused the very small tea section and came away with a box of decaffeinated Earl Grey tea. It was the only decaf tea that wasn't fruit flavored, and I only wanted something lighter tasting than Red Rose, which I enjoy but is tasting a bit too bitter these days.

So I brought it home and tried it. It was all right at the first cup, not too thrilled with it but it's something different right? It has a taste I can't place - until the next night when I realize what the flavor reminds me of.

Let me just say that Captain Picard does not strike me as the kind of man who would drink tea that tastes like Froot Loops.

In other news the chickens EXPLODED out of the hen house today they were so happy to get outside. The rain melted most of the snow so I could let them in the yard. Tomorrow is supposed to be mild again so I will let them out once more.

I was going to muck out the chicken and the goat house today but I was down for the count this afternoon, was afraid I was coming down with something until The Evil™ arrived and I knew what was what. I should have known as my legs were cramping like a mother-fucker.

Oh - I lent Mom my laptop and my big PC is slow as hell so I'm hardly ever on the computer anymore if anyone wonders where I'm at.

Kitty and I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang tonight, which I had forgotten how fucking funny it was. I haven't laughed like that in a while. Now to distract myself from cramps with a book or something.... I really should draw.

...this was my day....

Woke up around 8:30 after having gone to bed at 12:30, then woken u pat 2:00am to check the basement and make sure it wasn't flooded. There were still dry patches and the pump was working so all was good.

It was still raining this morning when I got up, so I had to wait to feed the animals. Do the dishes, clean up the house, go downstairs to check the basement - 4 inches of standing water at the stairs (deeper in other places, our basement floor was laid in the 20s (as evidence by initials and a date) and is very uneven.) Stand at the bottom of the stairs for 5 minutes - the pump is not running.

Go back upstairs and call Mom and Dad to see what to do, they say call Brian and see if he can fix it. OK - go outside to take care of the animals first. Here was the damage assessment and what I had to fix, by myself mind you -

+ turkey shade and food shelter, an approximately 5 foot tall construction of 2x4s and plywood was completely flipped upside down by the wind and the bird netting was shredded.

+ 3 goat shade/rain shelters flipped upside down, these require 2 people to carry, they are not light.

+ wall of wind shelter attached to goat house completely blown off and laying a good 5 feet away in their pen, which they had walked all over and crapped on. Had to clean that off then remove the stripped remaining screws, walk all the way back to the house to get the screwgun and a mallet then walk all the way back to their pen to lift and reattach this plywood and 2x4 wall.

+ tarp over the tractor blown off and buried under the last of the heavy snow and ice in the yard, which I had to dig out the best I could and recover the tractor.

+ plastic cover over chicken house ripped off with holes in the remaining piece (I need plastic for this so I have this to do)

After I took care of all that and feed and watered the animals I went inside and called Brian. Cassie dropped him off and we went to work on the pump. It was completely burnt out, so we had to cut the pipe to remove it, then drive all the way over to the hardware store to get a new one and install that and get it running. Oh and we had to set up the portable pump and drag the hoses out across the yard to the downhill slope away from the house. It took about 4 hours to get everything fixed and running again.

Thanked Brian profusely then went inside to vacuum all the hay and dirt we had tracked all over the house from the garage and the basement. Fed and watered the animals again. Did the dishes, then took a shower. Made brownies - then the kids came over and we had dinner again and played Rock Band.

So tonight was pretty fun, the earlier part of the day was just NON-STOP.

Tomorrow I have to take advantage of the weather being nice and the snow being melted and muck out the chickens and the goats. Maybe the turkeys if I don't fall down dead.

I probably won't be going to Anime Boston this year. It's fun to dress up and browse and stuff, but I'd rather save my money and maybe take that trip back to the U.K. this summer. Most of the time when I hit the cons I just go to the dealer's room and buy a bunch of crap I didn't need because it's there and I'm an impulse shopper.

It's overcast and raining here today, it's 44 out which is NICE but the air is damp and there's still a chill.

I need to use up some eggs. Look's like I'll be baking at some point today.

Took Cassie and Katelyn to see Sherlock Holmes last night, they both loved it - so that's 4 times for me and Kitty. Now if we can drag Tobias along...

My record for movies is Fellowship of the Ring, which I saw 13 times in theaters. After that it's Aladdin tied with Holmes for 4 times, but we'll definitely be seeing Holmes again so... that 4 is not the final count.

In other news... Aeso is a sailor. I found this out the other night. So instead of a frock coat he's getting a pea coat and a sailor's cap. He's got a book of ghost stories, now he needs one of naval charts or seafaring or something.

I brought the PS3 down to the lodge again and have immersed myself in LotR: The Third Age again. Such a fun game! I'm in Eastern Moria at the moment, would play more but I have errands to run.

Dad got the job in Texas, and a great package too which is awesome. We already had our cell phones turned back on - mostly though because he and Mom are going to start the drive out there tomorrow. It's a four day drive too so they want to be in contact with us while they go. It's only until April, but it could segue into a 2 - 3 year job in New Mexico.

I'm letting Mom take my laptop so she can play WoW on it while she's there, her laptop is OLD AS HELL and won't run it without problems, and it's foolish for her to lug her desktop out there for a month or so. (She'll be returning when Kitty leaves for Korea).

So I'm back on my old monster PC which I barely touch anymore unless it's for art related stuff (my tablet, Photoshop, etc. are on here). I'll be purchasing one of those MONDO portable hard drives for myself soon, one of the ones that's like 500 gigs for $100, because this PC has only 70 gigs of HD space and there's only 18 gigs free at the moment. I want a separate drive to store the rest of my crap on.

(Our first real computer (radioshack tandy in the 80s doesn't count) had less than a gig of space on it and I thought that was MASSIVE. How quickly technology advances).

Dad might have work in Texas through April, which will be awesome because we'll have $$ again, Mom and Dad can pay me back the money they borrowed and I can probably coast on in to May and get a summer job at the Fort.

PLEASE LET THIS HAPPEN!

Anyway dinner - time to eat! Chicken and white bean chili, thanks Mom! :)

We had to shovel again! The whole driveway! -_-;

Not as much but right when we got to the end it started snowing again!

I keep telling myself - 3 more months only - 3 more months!

We made plans yesterday to go out today and see Sherlock Holmes again with Cassie and her family (who haven't seen it, with the exception of Rach who we took a few weekends ago). Woke up this morning to 4 inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling.

Dad and I trooped out to take care of the animals, then commenced with the shoveling. We're broke at the moment so we didn't have the $$ to pay our normal plow guy - so Dad and I shoveled our whole drive way ourselves. It took 3 hours. According to Google Earth measurements, it's about 3700 square feet of driveway. Dad estimates we could park 22 cars on it easily - it's HUGE.

So I am very much DONE.

Last night we went overto Cassie's for pizza and a few hours of Rock Band/Guitar Hero. Nobody else will sing but me - I hope I'm not killing anyone. XD

Now I will play a few rounds of Majong and then maybe bed. Or reading and then bed. I dunno. I'm IN bed, but I mean lights out and sleeping.

Or maybe some DS screencapping.

Oh ~ I'm in the process of making Aeso his first book. Tougher than I thought but pretty cool. I need to find more doll item tutorials.

7 Currents. List what applies currently for each item.

Your current desktop:


Your current ringtone for your cellphone: I don't have one - but it was "I Feel You" by Depeche Mode
Your current bedtime: Lately around 2am which is bad!
The book you are currently reading: A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans - I picked it out by pointing to it at random in the fantasy section. We'll see how it goes.
Currently, the item you want to buy most is: jointed hands for Aeso, or boots/shoes for him. Everything else I have or can make
The current condition of your room/house: clean but cluttered - everything is stacked neatly, but I have some sewing stuff out and a stack of books on my floor
You're currently longing to..: See the snow melt and have it be spring again!

I sat on my butt most of the day and made screen caps. That was productive! /sarcasm But I did find I already owned some hooks and eyes for Aeso's vest, somewhere along the line Mom had bought them for me in her infinite wisdom and I had them stashed in my sewing box. I might sew those on tonight. I promise to show him off when I get his outfit done.

I finished Death is a Lonely Business last night and was really satisfied with it. I've never read a murder mystery before that played itself almost as a supernatural thriller. Must seek out more of Ray Bradbury's work.

Anyhow I got tagged!

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it."

( The Seven )

Huh. That got kind of depressing there at the end didn't it?

Well - no icons yet. I've totally spammed myself on Quentin and Beth icons so to round it out sometime later this week I'll pop in a disc or two of Nicholas Blair and get some vamp!Angelique era ones done - and maybe some 1795, which is awesome if you ignore the Vicki stuff.

Oh and I tag the following:

cholomunkers
pooka_pest
lyingpeacefully
mintbunny
vilawolf
flinkie
otaku_tslg

PS - Ragabash-sama! I didn't forget Xavier, I've got a sketch in the works, I'll scan it for you when I've cleaned it up a bit.

Kind of watching/capping the ghosts of Quentin & Beth storyline, because it's my favorite you see - and now I really want to start in on 1897 again. So expect some icons tomorrow. I made 10 tonight - and they're not all of Quentin! Ha! But that's only because I haven't gotten to the heavy ghost-centric episodes yet - he's only shown up once or twice in physical manifestation. The rest of the time it was either speaking through David or using the gramophone as a sort of response.

I keep thinking of scenes from 1897 and am getting antsy to throw in the DVDs. Ah ~ tomorrow. But I should finish Aeso's coat first. Tomorrow night then?

Farm show was fun, tried goat - which was good and homemade sausage which was EXCELLENT. Learned a lot of stuff about bees and goats and electric fencing and feed and manure. LOL! But it will come in handy when we need it. Oh and I became a member of the antique tractor club of Maine. And we entered a bunch of raffles. Hope we win something!

Going to an agriculture expo with Mom and Dad today. Not really keen on it, but figure it wouldn't hurt if I went and learned something.

Will start on Aeso's coat tonight. I need to find some hooks for his vest to keep it closed.

So we went to see Sherlock Holmes again last night, 3rd time you see. We love it. We originally went to the 7:10 showing but some college kids came in, sat right behind us, and then proceeded to talk to each other for the first 10 - 15 minutes of the movie. I asked them to stop but they wouldn't, so we left and exchanged our tickets for the 9:55 showing.

To kill time between movies we looked at pay as you go phones, but none of non-contract phones had coverage in our area, and we don't want to buy into a contract phone for two years in case Dad gets a job elsewhere and we move. Then we went to Uno's and had some appetizers, and then off to the movies. We pulled in, I open my door, and there's a HUGE pile of hurl in the next space over. I can only hope it was those jack-asses from earlier.

We did go to Jo-Ann fabrics where I picked up some awesome material for Aeso's outfit. I got some brown corduroy for his pants, a thick material for his vest and lining of his coat, and some off-green corduroy for his jacket. I'll probably be strapped to the sewing machine today.

I woke up this morning, took care of the animals, took a shower, etc. Then just happened to look over at Aeso and Kui and Aeso was giving me a very What the Fuck? kind of look. Poor boy had been in Kui's pajamas for almost a month, so I acquiesced and sat down and sketched out his first outfit idea and am in the process of putting it together.

Kitty and I have plans to go up to Bangor to see Sherlock Holmes again today, so I want to hit Jo-Ann fabrics and look for some material for his outfit. I'm not quite sure what material I want to make his pants out of yet, something other than broadcloth or muslin, something thicker and with texture - maybe some type of corduroy? I totally love the jacket Holmes wears through most of the movie, so I'd like to make him something plush like that. Ah ~ Victorian clothing!

I signed up for the advanced creative writing class this morning. Can't wait for that to start in February. I'll be bringing in 28 Days as my project. I opened it up last night for the first time since Nanowrimo and decided 2 things:

1. I will probably NOT be doing Nanowrimo next year as this stream of unbroken consciousness makes me dizzy when I read it - which is not a good sign and not how I write. A lot of good things came out of the exercise, but I won't be repeating it. It's not focused and there are large portions I wrote only to put words down on the page and sections I wrote that I don't even remember writing.

2. I need to break it down in chapter and write it that way. I've got 94 pages in one document and it makes my head whirl when I read it. I need precise breaks for revision.

How the hell is it 2 already? I need to stop staying up so late! (But WoW and Stargate last night with Kitty was fun so I don't really regret it.)

Before I forget again - Kitty and I saw a bald eagle land in a tree overlooking the river behind Hannaford's the other day. If I had had my camera with me, I totally would have stopped.

Note to self: Carry a camera with you!