Stuff I did while I wasn't posting

• Went to my Grandma's 80th birthday celebration Saturday, came back Monday
  
• Helped strike X-mas carol at the Rep Monday night
  
• Went to Donald's Grandparent's house in Odessa for X-mas day Tuesday
  
• Pulled a New Year's Eve concert together in about 2 days Wednesday thru Friday
  

It's the New Year's Eve concert that's kept me busiest for the last few days. I got stuff ready the day after X-mas. Thursday we hung the rest of the lights in the morning, focused in the afternoon, and I wrote cues in the evening. All day long there were changes happening, "scenery" being moved around, the songs were all rearranged, etc. Yesterday we teched the show in about 3 hours, and opened last night. It was pretty unorganized. But now that it's all together, it's a fun concert featuring both singers from Love, Janis and one singer from It Ain't Nothin But The Blues. Good music, halfway decent lighting, 5 more performances.

What D& D character are you?

I Am A: True Neutral GnomeDruid/Rogue (2nd/1st Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-13
Dexterity-13
Constitution-12
Intelligence-13
Wisdom-14
Charisma-12

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Gnomes are in wide demand as alchemists, inventors, and technicians, though most prefer to remain among their own kind in simple comfort. Gnomes adore animals, gems, and jokes, especially pranks. They love to learn by personal experience, and are always trying new ways to build things. Gnomes stand 3 to 3.5 feet tall and live about 350 to 500 years.

Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Secondary Class:
Rogues have little in common with each other. While some - maybe even the majority - are stealthy thieves, many serve as scouts, spies, investigators, diplomats, and simple thugs. Rogues are versatile, adaptable, and skilled at getting what others don't want them to get. While not equal to a fighter in combat, a rogue knows how to hit where it hurts, and a sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage. Rogues also seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding danger. Experienced rogues develop nearly magical powers and skills as they master the arts of stealth, evasion, and sneak attacks. In addition, while not capable of casting spells on their own, a rogue can sometimes 'fake it' well enough to cast spells from scrolls, activate wands, and use just about any other magic item.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Candied Walnuts

I'm very pleased with the walnuts. I'll say this was actually cooking since it involved measuring things, breaking an egg, and using the oven. The recipe for 1 cup of walnuts uses 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 egg white. Getting the walnuts onto the pan to bake is pretty sticky, but now that I've done it once I'll do it better next time. These are damn tasty.

Treats

I made treats yesterday. I won't say cooked, because I mostly melted chocolate, and some peanut butter candy. I dipped 3 trays of chocolate and peanut butter pretzels and 1 tray of regular chocolate and white chocolate pretzels. Then I made peppermint bark, which involved not only melting chocolate (and white chocolate) but smashing up candy canes. It came out pretty well this time. The first time I made it too thick so it was really hard to break apart. Also- broken up candy canes are very stabby. This time I made sure to spread the chocolate thin and it worked nicely.

I'm making all these treats to give to family. I got cellophane bags from the craft store so all the food can look pretty in its individual packaging. I'll probably add some curly ribbon for decoration.


Next up: candied walnuts and chex mix. The holiday snuck up on me so I don't think I'll be making pumpkin bread this year.

She sees you

Anna is watching you through the computer. Behave!

Do you need stamps?

If you do you should get Yoda stamps:

Or these Tiffany stamps are lovely too:

The Tiffany stamp is actually .41 as well. Dear post office: raising the price of stamps all the time only makes people less inclined to send letters.

Damn youse weather

Yesterday we went to visit Donald's grandparents a little before noon. We spent a few minutes chipping ice off the car before we left, and sliding about on the driveway while we chipped. The majority of the driveway was not too icy. We left their house around 3:30, and chipped a bit more ice. We made it home and up the driveway, and decided to stay in. Looking back, it may have been a bad idea to go up the driveway. We were home by 4 and it kept sleeting the rest of the day. It's certainly all iced over now, and then it snowed on top of that. We'll have to go out and check it out at some point today, since Donald will have to go to work Monday. Sigh.

Snow boots got put to use

I had a busy day yesterday. I started off by going to the grocery store with my mom, because it was snowing and she felt compelled to "stock up." I got quite a few tasty things, including cinnamon raisin bread, (yay toast) a couple croissants and tasty lemon curd.

After I got home, I swept the snow off the front steps again, then ate delicious cinnamon raisin toast. Then I shoveled about half of the driveway, starting at the point where it goes up the hill then flattens out. That's the spot you get stuck on when it gets icy. It was still snowing, so by the time I finished, there was a good bit of snow again. Bah. I quit shoveling, and let the handymen into the house to re-caulk my tub and such.

Later my dad appeared in the back with his snowblower. I watched him for a minute then felt guilty, so I went to shovel some more. The lower part of the driveway was pretty clear, since Jon took up shoveling a short while after I quit. There are definite advantages to sharing a driveway. It stopped snowing by then, so dad and I managed to pretty much clear out the back parking area.

I was pretty tired after that! Shoveling is damn hard work when the snow melts and gets heavy. I made meatloaf for dinner and finished our holiday cards, Donald and I watched Grey's Anatomy, and put up our (fiber optic) tree. My arms are tired today.

Snowing!

I love to watch the snow. It's a nice winter feeling to be inside my (relatively) warm house, working on a project while it snows outside. Yesterday I made a necklace for my secret santee, then made one for myself. I spent the rest of the day working on my holiday cards. Last week I cut up all the paper into 2-card sheets, then I ran them through the printer to put the Anna picture on the back. I'm making about 30 cards, so I do one step at a time, to the whole batch of cards. Yesterday I did a paint step, then let them all dry, then cut the sheets into single cards. Then I did 2 glue steps and let them all dry in between, while being pressed under a pile of books. (Thanks Brockett, I knew you were good for something.) That took a long time. While things were drying I did a few sample paint things on scraps of paper and made a few stencil templates.

Today I'll do more paint stuff. That'll be fun.

PS: It's really starting to come down now. I wonder if it'll build up?

Not buying stuff is surprisingly tiring

I went shopping today. I thought I saw a coat at Target I might want, so I went to find out. They didn't have my size of the coat. I looked at the other coats, tried on a shirt that didn't fit, looked for presents for our nephews, and looked for something for Donald but didn't find it. Then I looked at a shoe store and didn't find anything. I saw lots of shoes that I liked, but none of them were comfortable. I'm not paying $40 (or more) for shoes that look flimsy and will make my feet hurt in the long run.

Next I went to Petco, Old Navy, Waldo Pets and Sutherlands and didn't buy anything. Then I went to the grocery store and bought plenty. After I went home and unloaded all that, I went to Costco and bought plenty more. I love the samples there, and it's pure genius. You're going to think twice about buying a 3 pound bag of chicken tenderloins. What if you don't like them? If you have the chance to taste them first, it's a done deal. Because those chicken tenderloins are pretty tasty. I tasted 2 kinds of cheese, a quiche, spanikopita, chicken, bourbon chicken, juice, sparkling juice, and finished it off with a chocolate covered macadamia nut. It was like a tiny, weird, lunch.

I am useless

Donald said I could be replaced at the theater by a drinking water bird. :(