Updatiness - sewing and gardening

Well, I was doing pretty well with the posting and then suddenly stopped. Phoo.

So! I've continued to muddle along on the sewing. Finished making both the silver and black kimono, still working on embroidering the mon.

Ironed the old black silk hakama today -- they're not in too bad shape, one little tear near the bottom of one leg (mendable), and one tiny burn hole at about knee/upper calf height (not mendable because it would show too much). I made them for when Kai and Genevieve were king and queen and were doing Japanese for their reign. The burn hole surprised me, but I did wear them to Pennsic, so at some point I was too near a fire apparently.

Converted my old white skirt (from when I used to do garland dancing) into knickers for the Loli outfit. Pictures later.

Shortened an old SCA skirt, as the bottom edge was frayed and ragged from being over-long -- part of doing a Spanish well-to-do look. Added gold bullion fringe near the hem so that the bottom of the fringe is at the hemline but it has the fabric in the background to add substance and depth to the fringe. Lyle and I went to a Steampunk party at the Springfield Museums -- great music, fun crowd, great art, and all for $10 for both of us.


Finally mended the leg seam on the silky pants that go with our old Chinese Tai Chi outfits. Also discovered a repair I needed to make on my long petticoat, so that's done too.

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Still working on clearing an area for part of this year's veg garden, but with all the rocks in the soil I can't work on it for very long periods. The goal is to also clear out the grass to the south of this area for the herb garden. Making progress but feeling a little discouraged because it isn't done yet. I need to get out there again today, if only to harvest some stinging nettle, but going to try doing a little more digging too.

L has helped when he can, but he's also been working on keeping the pasture down, clearing all the old plant debris and digging out stumps, removing some of the fencing, etc. The fencing's quite a job, with not only posts to remove but also the fencing is well stapled and/or tied to the posts, and the fences that were still standing had rocks holding down the bottom edge -- underground. Might not have started out that way, as the fencing isn't new, but hard to say. The fencing that's down is this pile that got partly taken down and rolled into a messy pile and left there, and then brush and brambles grew through and over it. I started the work of getting it out and L has continued it. Some of the fencing is salvageable and some not so much.

We gave some of the neighbor's garden stuff away. More to go. The greenhouse is mostly empty.

The grass is growing now, and L has done some mowing already.

Updatiness - everything else

Not sure if I already posted this, but at some point in the past few weeks we've worked on cleaning the used trailer we're buying, at least enough for the dusty things from the family barn. We've only made one trip with stuff from the barn to the trailer, which is just down the hill from the barn at the moment. We probably would have made more trips but both vehicles needed repair.

Still can't move the trailer here, as BIL R thinks the ground is still too soft.

Town meeting was last Saturday and was rather long. The Honda died that morning and we had to borrow Ma's Volvo wagon for the day. Got it towed and got a ride home from nephew C, as it turns out the Volvo still had its winter studded tires on -- a no-no after April 30 here. If we'd realized it sooner, that car wouldn't have left the farm, but we were a little distracted and you can't tell by sound until you get on the right (wrong) kind of road. Town meeting started at 10am but we were late because of the car and stuff. Got there around 11:30am, in meeting until 1:15-1:20pm. Meeting adjourned for lunch, until 2pm, ended at 4:50pm. Ninety-minute discussion of whether the town board of selectmen should put together a snow removal policy for the sidewalks in town -- everyone had to speak their piece on various concerns. It would have gone on longer if the moderator hadn't started stressing that new speakers should offer something _new_ to the discussion... last item of business has been postponed to June 23, when a state rep. and a state senator who wanted to attend can actually make it, to speak and to listen. This would be the citizen petition regarding home rule.

Sunday we managed to get the minivan down to the mechanics and left it there when we picked up the Honda. The Honda was a fairly quick and easy affair, but the Dodge Chrysler minivan was (and still is) a more complex affair. The fact that parts of the brake lines kept breaking didn't help...at least they kept working long enough for us to get down the hill... We finally got it back yesterday. It needs more work this year, but it is safe and driveable now, and can even be driven in the rain :D

Health -- good days and bad days, a work in progress. Blood sugar levels back in normal range this year. Cholesterol levels weren't all ideal, but since I started taking more fish oil daily, among other things, my PRN wants to see what that does for me. Love that she isn't into pushing statins and stuff. Tested thyroid function and it's normal, so one less thing to think about. She did suggest thinking about maybe doing a sleep study, as I do sometimes snore and am often tired. The Vitamin D helps some with the quality of rest though, so we'll keep that option on the back burner for now.

I don't always do all of them, but I am still practicing Baduanjin daily. Started in March and have kept going, and this past week I have done at least half of the exercises daily (rather than just 2 and switching them up), and usual more than half.

Finances are "interesting", and that's as plain as I'm going to get about that. Ma reminded L that there were still some eggs at the family farm in the fridge, so now those are here, and will be a welcome supplement. I hear custards are in my future....

To-Do

Today:

- L is going to put together a table we got from a friend, so I can stack all the egg cartons down in the basement.

- I'm going to make the obi for Kabuki Bat Girl today.

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Over several weeks:

- L has new boss and another co-worker who want to meet in person, and plan to come out sometime in June. House must be cleaned and things put away before then.

- Dragon Con is less than 4 months away and the only outfit I can call finished is the cheerleader outfit (got the socks and made the cyber pony tails). Must keep plugging away.