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June 30 -- Henry swam twice again today :) Dan came out with us the second time and it was really nice to sit with him and watch little Henry swimming and playing! Hmm what else happened today... Dan taught me how to play Starcraft, which is pretty fun, and I cut out all the pattern pieces for my new shirt. There are 11 or 12 of them... I started laying them out on the cloth and then decided to practice my banjo for a while. I'll work more on my shirt tomorrow. Oh I also unloaded all the digital pictures from the fair, so one of these days I'll make a nice webpage with thumbnails. I think Henry would probably enjoy helping me write captions for them!

June 29 -- Lovely summery day, but not TOO hot yet. Took Henry swimming twice when he looked out his window and saw fun kids in the pool. I hid in the shade and knitted (working on a little project in "domino knitting" which is new to me and kind of fun) and read my book. When Henry wasn't swimming, I worked on a vest for him, a vest for his Morris dancing costume. He's getting good enough to perform with the team, so he needs a vest :) I did a good job, if I say so myself. I made a good pattern, and then after I got the main pieces sewn together, I understitched all the way around, which is a pain but absolutely necessary if you want smooth nice edges. I did a good job topstitching and doing the buttons and buttonholes, too, and it looks really great on him! Ok time for a little food and then early to bed.

June 28 -- Henry and I spent all day at the fair! We had a wonderful day. Henry won a blue ribbon in the "Best Animal Noise" contest, we watched some "Botbash" robotic combat and the Team Penning, looked through the commercial buildings, looked at the horses, hung out with Sally for a little while, watched the amazing Hypnotist... It was a lovely day :)

June 27 -- I spent an hour and a half at the fabric store today, thinking and planning and browsing. It was lovely :) I only spent $13, too! I got some black batiste for a new shirt -- I bought the pattern years ago but it's really complicated so I got scared and never used it. I think I'm brave enough to give it a shot now; I'm a better dressmaker than I used to be. Also got some darling green batiked fabric for a pair of drawstring shorts. I think I'll add pockets this time. And I got half a yard of iron-on interfacing just to be sure I had enough. I must have looked at every piece of cloth they had! It was very relaxing and fun :) Henry came home in the afternoon, and we played a little Zelda and then watched some TV together. He's into The Justice League which is a cartoon full of all the superheroes you can think of, so of course he thinks it's the best thing EVER. Also worked a little on a new web design project. (I think KC can guess... :)

June 26 -- Dan took me out to dinner tonight -- a nice treat :) I worked all day on a new sleeveless blouse. I started it a long time ago, trying to recreate a lovely blouse I saw in the J.Jill catalogue but didn't want to pay $70 for :) Well, something went awry, and I gave up temporarily. Today I dug it out and figured out how to salvage it by changing the front slightly, so I did that and it turned out great. I almost gave up again, because I didn't think it was turning out very well, but Dan said it was looking really good and that I should finish it so I did! Here's how to draw a dragon! Check out all his majesty!

June 25 -- Hmm, did a lot of stuff today... groceries, started making a new LoTR tape for Henry (one of his old ones broke the other night and he was tragically sad, so we're re-recording that section of the book), also sewed a tough apron-thing for Dan so his clothes won't get destroyed while he tinkers with his helicopter, um what else... taught piano students, took Henry to karate, picked up a library book that Wastrel recommended, unjammed Dad's printer, took H down to SD... and tonight I lazed around on our giant bed and played with Dan's Powerbook while he did helicopter stuff. And we listened to Loveline :) Chloe if you're reading this my email to you is still bouncing and yes I'm sure I'm using the right address (just hitting "reply" to your letters)... I'll try again tomorrow :)

June 24 -- After Karate, we went for a little walk on the beach. Today was the first day this year that really felt like summer, and the beach was so lovely! Henry played in a giant hole, and I walked back and forth in the soft sand for a little while. We didn't stay long... I didn't have a hat or sunscreen or anything so i was afraid I'd get burned (yes, even at 6pm). We have a plan to go back again on Friday, after work! Picked up some sturdy denim at the fabric store for a work apron for Dan. Lots of lovely stuff is on sale this week so I'm planning to go back soon :) I'm really enjoying sewing lately because I have this nice large work area! Kirsten came over tonight and we introduced her to homestarrunner.com. Heheheheh.

June 23 -- H and I went to the wild animal park tonight! They're open at night for summer. We got there about 6, and went on the monorail tour right away which was great -- the animals were very active and there were only about 15 people on the whole train so when our driver stopped so we could look at things, it was very quiet and we could hear the animals making neat animal noises. There were also tons of native bunnies and mule deer running around :) Then we ate our picnic and ran back to the car for my coat because I was freezing, heh. Then we saw the nifty African Acrobats show, and then Henry played with some nice kids and then we headed home. It was really super-fun, and we're looking forward to lots more night-time visits this summer. Dan sent me this article about the guys who do homestarrunner.com. Good article, smart clever guys, great website :)

June 22 -- Henry's home! He's such a sweetie. He helped me make lemon cupcakes for dessert! And his wiggly tooth FINALLY fell out, so the tooth fairy can come tonight. I started reading a very interesting book: "I Want That! How We All Became Shoppers" by Thomas Hine. It's kind a cultural history of shopping and it's really neat so far.

June 21 -- Ugh nyip's colo had serious connectivity problems and Dan had to deal with it all day... We had a good day anyway though :) I finished my plaid pants! I made bias binding for cuffs, very cute. Dan took pictures... here's one of me looking pretty normal and here's one of me striking a goofy model pose. Yes it was a royal pain to get the plaid matched. I basted it all by hand, before I machine sewed it. Tonight we watched all six hours of the BBC Pride and Prejudice! I hadn't watched it in a long time and it was really fun to watch it all in one day.

June 20 -- I worked on my long plaid pants! Got them cut out (took forever to match the plaid), basted, sewn, edges finished, zipper installed. Will finish hem and waist tomorrow. It will be a cold day in hell before I make anything out of stretchy plaid again! Heheheh :) Very late, time for bed. Except I'm hungry and I won't sleep well so now I'd better find some food.

June 19 -- I just saw the most amazing segment of Antiques Roadshow. This nice old guy brought in an old Navajo blanket... and it turns out to be worth possibly a half a million dollars -- it's extremely rare, and a National Treasure. You can read the whole story here. I was glad that such a pleasant old gentleman got the good news, and not one of those know-it-all bitchy old women who bring in their stuff and then argue with the appraiser ;-) It's pretty funny when they do that... they start giving the appraiser lots of "facts" about whatever-it-is, and then the appraiser tells it like it is and the old women look like they bit a lemon. Anyway, reading the article about the navajo blanket was fascinating -- I never went to the Antiques Roadshow website before but it's really neat. I spent a ton of time today reading reviews of portable mp3/cd players... there are so many, but I'm thinking the iRock "bling" is a pretty good choice. Terrible name, but it looks like it does everything I want and it's < $100. Hmm, I'd better make a birthday list ;-)

June 18 -- It's been a good couple of days for movies. Thanks, TCM and the TiVo :) Yesterday I watched "It Happened One Night" (1934, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert) and finally got to see the end! That's an excellent movie. It does teach one important lesson: if you go somewhere unexpectedly, leave a NOTE! And today I finally got around to watching "Guys and Dolls" (for the umpteenth time). I don't care much for Sky and Sarah, so I tend to fast-forward their scenes and get straight to Nathan and Adelaide. "Yes, it's good old reliable NATHAN! Nathan Nathan Nathan DETROIT!" There are some killer songs in that show, the kind that you keep singing for three days :) Henry and I sing "Adalaide's Lament" in the car a lot.

June 17 -- Tonight Dan gave me the most lovely ring I have ever seen. It's white gold, with delicate little patterns carved into it, a dark-blue sapphire in the center, and four little diamonds on the sides. It's so beautiful. Thank you Dan -- I love my ring and I love you :)

June 16 -- Henry and I went for a walk on the beach this evening, when I was done doing stuff at Mom's house. It was very gloomy, but not very cold, and I took a good fast walk for about 20 minutes, while Henry dug in the sand and buried himself :) I walked back and forth near him, 100 feet in one direction and then 100 the other. Very nice! I read "The Mirror Crack'd" by Agatha Christie a couple days ago... I remembered it as being pretty good but really, it wasn't. There were a lot of odd plot holes and stuff that the author never explained. There are a few more of her books in the same volume, so I'll give another one a try... Also I have a book of short stories by Dorothy Sayers to work on. I finished another pair of shorts today, so next I will work on my long plaid pants and a Morris dancing vest for Henry.

June 15 -- Watched "Father of the Bride" tonight (1950, Spencer Tracy, Liz Taylor). What a treat to see such a fine movie... well acted, well written, delightful dialogue, not a single clunky moment. I wonder if any movie made this year will hold up so well in 53 years... Somehow I doubt it.

June 14 -- Well, since I goofed up my plaid pants and had to buy more cloth anyway, I used the pieces I had already cut and the leftover cloth and made the World's Cutest Shorts. They are short and tight and stretchy and plaid! We rented "The Rock" tonight (Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage). It was pretty good. It would be good if action movies would concentrate on action, plot, and story, and forget about being heartwarming and/or funny. Also, skip the long, pointless, boring car chases and just make the movie shorter. That will be fine. But Sean Connery makes any movie good. :) I'm very tired tonight so I'm dictating this to Dan (hi!) :)

June 13 -- We had a great day at the fair. :) Tickets were only a dollar at the grocery store, for opening day, so it was totally crowded. Mercy. We parked in the far-away, park-for-free lot and waited more than an hour to catch the shuttle, but we finally got there and had a great time together. My afghan won 2nd place in my division!! And Henry's collection won 2nd place in his!! So that was very exciting to see :) We also looked at the animals, and some of the other crafts and hobbies, and took a quick walk through the Design in Wood room. We had to leave pretty early so there's a lot of stuff we missed, but that's ok -- as exhibitors, we got two free tickets so we can go again before the fair is over :) Maybe we'll go in two weeks, when they are doing the Team Penning in the arena. I think Henry would enjoy that! We took lots of other good pictures and I just thumbnailed and uploaded them but I'm pretty tired so I think I'll fix up my picture page tomorrow sometime. Hmm, maybe I can get Dan to take his laptop to the field and I can do it from there! Dan has been working for _hours_ tonight on my old Riovolt, which completely quit working a while ago so I've been musicless in my car. He's got it all taken apart, and he's not sure he can fix it but he seems to be having fun, trying. Wonderful Dan :)

June 12 -- Late night I slept well and didn't wake up 'til the alarm went off. And my neck is almost all better, too! It was a very pleasant day. I took henry to play with Mom, which made him extremely happy and joyful. He's so lucky to have such a fun grandmother! While they played I did a few errands, came home, deleted my spam, took a shower, and then went back to pick him up. After we got home and I made lunch for everyone, I read him another Junie B. Jones book (Junie B. Jones and the Ucky Blucky Friutcake) which had us laughing out loud! And then I took him to gymnastics and then went over to Dad's house and then home again. Henry and I are going to the FAIR tomorrow! We're very excited! We'll probably go see his collection first, and then my afghan, and see if we won ribbons!

June 11 -- I woke up yesterday with a horribly stiff/sore neck and shoulders... also slept badly and woke up too early so I felt pretty crummy all day. That's why I didn't post an update here yesterday. Today my neck is a bit better. Woke up with a headache (blah) but I had a good day anyway. Henry helped me with the grocery shopping and all, and he and Dan were extra-sweet to me :) I went in our room and closed the door and had some lovely quiet time this afternoon which was really nice -- I lay there in the cool quiet dark room and listened to my new audiobook, which RULES. It's so funny -- I was lying there laughing out loud! It is "Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson. I can hardly wait to listen to the next disk!

June 09 -- Caring for your Introvert -- interesting article. I think a lot of the people in my family are introverts. (Understatement) This morning I took Henry to the zoo, and we had a fine time! We watched the Sea Lion show (as usual) and walked around the Hoof and Horn mesa to see the zebras and giraffes and things, and then down into Cat Canyon to visit the Panther, and then up to see the new orangs-and-siamangs exhibit which is awesome!

June 08 -- I spent hours and hours today planning my new plaid pants and matching up the plaid and cutting out the fronts... and then, as I was laying out the back pattern I realized that I'd cut the fronts out with the stretch going the wrong way -- up-and-down. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Dan was very very sympathetic and offered to buy me more cloth! I'm so glad that fabric was on sale. Boy I would have felt terrible if it had been more expensive. I stopped at the fabric store and bought another two yards so I can get it right this time :) After I picked Henry up he ate his dinner while I played a little more Zelda. I think we're nearly to the Boss in this dungeon. Eeek! Let's see what else happened today... I started watching "June Bride" (a Bette Davis comedy) and am enjoying it a lot. Thank goodness for TCM -- one of the few stations that ever plays anything worth watching.

June 07 -- Lovely day :) I slept very well last night and felt good all day! I watched "The Miracle Worker" which was an excellent movie, and set up a bunch of auctions, and hung around. Dan treated us to pizza from That Pizza Place (best pizza around) for dinner and I made a chocolate mousse for dessert, and we watched FotR (extended version) up to the part where Frodo gets to Rivendell but we are sleepy now so we'll finish tomorrow. Wowee wow wow, the extended version is AMAZING! It doesn't have that feeling of rushing through the story as the theater version did, and all the tiny little "unimportant" bits that got cut out really add a lot to the feel of the whole thing. I just updated my crafts page so take a look :)

June 06 -- Tonight I watched "Dial M For Murder" which I'd never seen before! Good old Hitchcock. Henry and I delievered his Tiny Vehicle Collection to the Fair today! He set it up in the display case himself and did a great job. The nice lady who stood with him (parents had to sit elsewhere so they wouldn't help) chatted with him a lot and told me afterwards that he's an exceptional child. Yes, he sure is! The kid ahead of us in line was delivering some lego figures that he'd made... After looking at them for a minute it slowly dawned on me that they were homestarrunner characters! He'd made Homestar, The King, The Cheat, and Strong Bad! What a cool kid! I hope the judges know about homestarrunner.com :)

June 05 -- Henry's home! Yayyyyyyyy! I didn't sleep well last night for some reason, so I felt tired and gritty all day, but I still had a nice day. I mended my pants and the nightgown with a torn strap, and _finally_ chopped the tight long sleeves off my flannel dress and gave it sensible short sleeves so now I can wear it! Forgot to mention yesterday that I cleaned about four boxes of junk out of our closet and gave/threw it away so I'm really proud of myself. Today I did a similarly good job in Henry's room so that's a lot of clutter eliminated.

June 04 -- Dan took me out to dinner! We went to the Greek Corner Cafe, which we really like. I had moussaka (I think that's how you spell it) and this really good soup. We had such a nice time! While I was out grocery shopping this morning I stopped at the fabric store to see if they had any incredible bargains, 'cause I need some more shorts and summery pants. I found some darling tan-black-red plaid fabric for less than $3/yard! It's poly/rayon/spandex and has a little stretch, so it will make very cute pants. I'm going to use the pattern I made for my other pants but make them a little tighter, because of the stretch. I bought the zipper, too, and all for less than $8. And now I have a new sewing project!

June 03 -- I'm keeping Dan company while he works on his helicopter... I just did a puzzle in my new GAMES magazine, and read a long article about a cool-sounding game called "Puerto Rico". Like Settlers, it takes at least three people to play and it's very complex, so we'll have to wait until Henry gets a little older. Or we could find some game-playing friends!

June 02 -- Henry left for a little trip to SF with his dad... it's kind of quiet around here now! Dan and I drove around doing errands and stuff for a few hours this afternoon which was unusual and pleasant. And I spent a while at popcap.com playing games. It's a nice site -- the games are java so if your browser will do java, you can play. I like Candy Train a lot, and also Tip-Top which is ODD but strangely addictive and very fun! And if you don't have a palm you can play Bookworm and Bejeweled there, too :) Kirsten came over tonight and we sat around and I showed her how to play Worms World Party (we'll do a three-player game next time maybe) and we watched Malcolm in the Middle which was ok... not as good as last time. Still, a nice change from Seinfeld and Simpsons. I happened to notice an Antiques Roadshow getting recorded! YAY for the Roadshow!

June 01 -- It's June already? When did that happen? Today was a very very good day. First I didn't hear my alarm go off, well, actually I heard it and it made me dream about a garbage truck backing up, heheh. But Dan heard it and kindly woke me up! And then I took the acura to San Diego to pick up Henry, and since the acura has a radio I listened to the "A Way with Words" show on NPR, and then part of PHC on the way home, which was fun! And then Henry kept me company and helped while I played Zelda for a while. I finished the Temple of Earth part (the boss was EASY!) and started the Temple of Winds part. Henry is tremendously good at helping me remember where I've been and where I have to go next, and he helps me remember the little tunes that I have to conduct, and he has good ideas for solving puzzles. And then the three of us went to see the 4:00 show of Finding Nemo but when we got there we discovered that not only was the 4:00 show sold out, but every show up to the 6:50 show was too! Crazy. We went to see Matrix 2 on opening day and it wasn't sold out. Of course, Finding Nemo was _good_... Anyway, we bought tickets for the later show and went home, and passed the time most pleasantly -- Dan worked on his helicopter and we kept him company while I read two Junie B. Jones books out loud to Henry. And then we went to the movie and had a great time all together! We took rice cakes, homemade popcorn, girlscout cookies, and water. We're always paranoid that they'll search my backpack so we hide a few things in pockets too, just in case. They never seem to care though. Finding Nemo was good, very enjoyable. Good job Pixar!

But wait, there's MORE!

2004

jan