I’m so thankful that Troy & I got that bedroom stuff done yesterday & I’m actually looking forward to doing the sewing tomorrow. I really just want to take the day to take care of things around here. I’m not going to stress out about the amount of vendors we have, who wants to sell noxycut or sunglasses, the fact that I have nothing to ear or any of that. I’m just going to take a day to get things done that I’ve been putting off for months. It will feel good to do that & have them done. The only break I intend to take is to go walking at 4 tomorrow, because that still has to matter to me, especially since we’re skipping the gym today.

Today, if I get everything else done in time to have some free time, I’ll start cutting the panels to size and get all of that ready so that all I have to do is sew them together. I’ll probably start out by getting the 3 smaller projects I want to do cut out & ready to go, though, because I can whip those out quickly & at least feel like I’m making progress. We still need to buy all of the wood & such for our encampment, but we can do that soon & get started on that, too. I can’t wait to see it all set up, it’s going to look really cool, I think.

We have the carpet we need for the back area of our stage & probably enough to do the actual stage walls, too. Troy & Jason got lucky while they were out trying to get donations the other day & got a huge amount. I’m excited to get started on that, it’ll be good to get that done.

Troy & I got the bedroom taken care of today, so that Tuesday, after we get the garden raked & ready for actual plants to go in it, I can sew the walls for our booth & curtains for the bedroom & kitchen. We got all of the booth inventory out of the workshop & into the much cooler house, too, which was none too soon, since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 90s before the next 2 weeks are over.

I can’t sew tomorrow, I need to get the house & yard ready for another party. Our friend Desi is having her engagement party over here tomorrow evening, mostly because everyone she wanted to invite already knows where I live & all. That’s okay, but I’m telling everyone that I’m taking the next two weekends off from everything, to try to get things done around here & take time to just relax. I swear they ought to sell mechanical breakdown insurance for humans, just for those of us who push ourselves too far & spread ourselves too thinly, because we all eventually breakdown if we don’t take time off.

I’m going to take the rest of the evening off in a few minutes to go & watch a movie, just because I’m in a movie mood & we have so many I haven’t seen yet. I hope that Troy will join me, but I’m not going to hold my breath, we all do what we can to relax, after all.

We have been getting a lot of calls for Faire lately, most of them are alright, just vendors needing more information or wanting to make sure of things before mailing off their applications. I always enjoy talking to those vendors and they always seem surprised when I remember them. It’s the stupid calls that I hate. I had a potential vendor call the other day, telling me they sold the “best diet pills” ever, not just good ones, but the best! She was very perky & excited about it, until I told her that her booth would have to look period & she’d have to wear garb. She told me that she’d get back to me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we probably wouldn’t even accept her as a vendor anyway.

Today it was a member of a belly dance troupe that we had already contacted & turned down. We have the two troupes we always use & trust me, coordinating two of them is like magic as it is. We don’t need another one, we tried that two years ago, it didn’t work for us. I sent them an email earlier in the year telling them just that, which of course she claimed to have never received. She tried to change my mind, but we really have no more room for bigger acts at the current time. We only have so many hours a day, after all.

I’ll be glad when this faire is up & running for the year, so I can start thinking about next year & what needs to change, again. It’s an ongoing process and a lot of work for something we all volunteer for, we must really love this faire, that’s all I can say.

I’ve just started to realize that my hair is really short to fit into period for Faire. I wouldn’t really care except for procession when I’m supposed to be what passes for royalty at our faire. It’s kind of important to somewhat look the part, although I’m not sure how well I’ll be managing that this year, since nothing really fits me and I don’t really have anything nice anymore. I guess I’m just wishing for a miracle or something. New beautiful garb that fits me perfectly & long hair that fits into period, at least for that week. I’d better start investing in hair growth shampoos along with hoping for that miracle.

The more reasonable approach would be to get a fall for my hair & go over to Dawn’s and go through our loaner garb & see what fits me & whether I have anything suitable for that role. If I don’t, then I need to start trying to figure out what I’m going to do about it while I still have a little bit of time. I hate that I’ve let time creep up on me again, I really do, so that yet again, I’m completely unprepared for faire. Sunday, I’m getting that bedroom ready to sew in if it freakin’ kills me, I swear to God.

Do any of you readers (I do have some, don’t I?) actually attend renaissance faires? Any Renne Rats aboard? If so, are any of you, your friends or your loved ones diabetic? If that’s the case, do they (or are you familiar with) own diabetic socks? I was wondering about their suitability for wearing under boots & if they’d help Troy out any at the end of the day, when he’s tired, his feet aren’t feeling great & all of that. What do they do exactly? Increase the circulation or what? Troy is literally on his feet from the time we get there at about 8:30am until we get in the car at around 11pm. He may sit down a couple of times to grab a quick meal, but other than that, he’s either up & down emptying trash or on stage or running back and forth across the park & something has to help, right? I just don’t know what. Any suggestions from anyone?

I really am going to get those walls made this week. Tomorrow, I’m going to have Troy help me get the bedroom cleared out & the boxes sorted through, then I’ll have space for cutting & sewing again. It’ll be good to get that out of the way, at least the part I can get done right now, anyway. After that, I’ll just have to sew sheets together & then sew them on each of the panels I’m making, just so the walls aren’t so flimsy. I’m excited to see them sewn up, and more excited to see the booth this year.

I’ve been getting a lot of stuff in my email these days that I just don’t understand. I subscribe to several website’s newsletters, because I like to know what’s on sale from week to week. It used to be that you’d only hear about Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales right before Thanksgiving, now it seems like I get a ad for one or the oter every month or so. Don’t get me wrong or anything, the deals are great & everything, and there have been things that I would have bought if I’d had the money to do so. It just feels kind of like they’re taking away from the meaning of the phrase “black Friday,” since it’s supposed to mean the date that retail stores begin to operate “in the black,” or for profit & not solely to pay off debt. I know they aren’t operating in the black this early in the year, it’s pretty much unheard of. They may be cutting into their profit later in the year by removing the significance of the phrases now, you know?

I’m feeling a little better today, sorry, things get harder & harder for me the older I get. I don’t generally go on & on about it, but I was pretty miserable the past few days & it’s honestly all I could think about. Anyway…

We had a fantastic time yesterday with our friends & Rhi’s friends. We had a lot of great food, good company and plenty of laughs. We had a nice little fire out in our makeshift firepit & stayed out quite late, at least for us, considering we have several young children in the group.

Our grand-daughter was so funny, she kept going in the house and coming out with random treats, like an apple or a cookie. It was so nice to see her making herself at home over here, we’ve waited so long to have a closer relationship with & this house has been a true blessing in that way. She has her sandbox & playhouse here, and she knows those are hers. She knows Grandma will most likely let her play with just about anything, too, and takes full advantage of it!

I’m still not enjoying living in my body right now, but I’m surviving. I’ve been up since 5 because it was co=op day & we were volunteering. I feel fat & like I need to be on phentramine today, even though I know that I’m just bloated. What a horrible word that is, isn’t it? It reminds me of roadkill or something. Blech.

I am in a fairly good mood, though. I’m excited for people to get here, and excited for Rhi’s birthday barbecue to start. We should have a lot of fun. Troy & I built a makeshift firepit in the backyard for this evening, and we bottled the first of this year’s mead, everyone seems to be ready for fun & the weather is gorgeous out there, too.

We made turkey burgers and bought hot dogs, Dawn is bringing chips & Elizabeth is making Guacamole, it just feels like it’s going to be a great time. It’s time for excellent Saturdays with even better friends & I’m so ready to be over the winter & the cold. Let’s hope Mother Earth agrees.

I really hate “that time of the month.” I hate the crampiness. I hate the fatigue. I hate the general feeling of unwellness. I’m so ready to be done with that stage in my life. I don’t feel like I’ll miss it at all, honestly. I dread it from the moment I know it’s getting close & hate every day that I’m having it. All I’ve wanted to do all day was eat myself into oblivion & sleep.

Blech. At least the day is almost over, and tomorrow won’t be nearly as hard for me, as far as fatigue & being snacky anyway. It’ll be a really early morning for us, we have to be at our co-op at 5:30 to volunteer & then we have Rhgi’s barbecue later that day, so it’ll be tiring. I’m hoping we can finish getting our bedroom door hung, too, then, instead of worrying about the best sleep aids, I can just kick the cats out of the room at night, and hopefully sleep much better.

Anyway, I need to get a receipt printed & go pick Rhi up so we can go to bed. Have a great weekend!

We had a strange board meeting the other day, but it seems things have been cleared up now. It was just upsetting and always is when one member feels powerless & takes it out on the rest of us, no matter who it is & what’s going on. I doubt that I’m ever going to like being yelled at, and certainly not my people I’m not related to. Anyway, it’s okay now & we even managed to book a juggler/magician who seems like he’s going to be really good. His name is Bryan Sapphire & he’s been on DS9, was in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country & several other shows and movies. I’m very excited to see him perform.

Other than that, I still haven’t gotten a lot accomplished, still in lazy-it’s-not-May mode, and I need to get out of that place before it’s June. I’m sure getting over this stubborn chest cold that I have would help my state of mind immensely and I’d start getting stuff done around here, along with faire stuff, too. Right now all I really feel like doing is napping & watching TV, I’m doing good to get my house cleaned up & dinner cooked every day.

We did go on a nice walk yesterday, with Jason in the leading, encouraging all of us to do better & go further. We made it the whole 3 miles, further than he’s managed with us so far. One of us needs to get a cell phone booster out there, though, in case something happens to one of us, and we need to call for help. There are spots when none of us have any service & that’s kind of scary, what with the snakes & possibilities for injury and all.

Anyway, I think I’m going to go clean my counter tops & dust the living room before passing out on the couch for the afternoon.