The Dressage Ring

i'm testing the cross-post feature at DW.  i've finally decided to move my activity there entirely.  I will continue to cross-post so those who do not have dw journals can keep up with me, but if you have a dw acct, feel free to subscribe to me over there under the same name, and i will reciprocate.

-boogieshoes

It's taken me longer than normal to do the goals post for 2015. The large part of this is that I've been sick. In fact, I'm sick again as I write this. However, this too, shall pass, and it's time to get busy.


( Maintaining the Manor )


( Updating the manor )


( SCA Garden )


( Keeping up with the Joneses )


( SCA life )

( Stitching Crazy )


( Fanlife goals )

( Administrative duties )


( Health is a priority )


( One day, I will finish this chair! )



( My Greed List )
-boogie the busy

I think i can get 5 things into here...

  1) I've been watching Game of Thrones lately, and I do have to say it's beautifully done, and( GoT babble )


2) so... i've been working on a commission embroidery piece for a friend.  Pictures here: http://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/7088 I *loved* working on this piece.  I couldn't put it down.  80 hours and a lot of new-to-me stitches later, i had a finished piece that i really liked the effect of.  I especially liked the bird wings - i did those with buttonhole bars.  most people seem to like the sheep, which is something like 400 french knots.  I also like mr. scott's hair, which is a blended needle, done in bullion knots.  *really* effective.  and you can see *vast* improvement in my split stitch from left (mr scott) to right (noble lord guy).  lot of fun, looking to do more of this in the future.

3)i've also been watching outlander.  i'm sort of miffed that they sold 'season 1 volume 1' and now i need volume 2 to finish the season... because, of course, Jaime and Claire are in a sticky situation at the last ep in volume 1.  This is a series i recommend watching.  Another cable channel series, another series based on books.  the cast and crew are *fantastic*, research for costuming is bloody amazing.  there's a lot of political stuff going on in there, and it helps to have at least a small foundation of history between England and Scotland, but it's not necessary.  beautiful, beautiful scenery of Scotland.

and that's my drama lately.

-boogie

wishing everyone happy holidays this winter - or summer for those south of the equator - season.  as usual, i'll be driving all day tomorrow, so won't have a chance to post good wishes then, or for the next week.

however!  i did find the secret to uploading pics, so hopefully, i can do some much needed posting when i get back.

happy holidays!

-bs, in sleigh bells

i've been having major drama with my computer lately, culminating with an emergency buy this weekend. follow along the story now:


so the guest room is being done in 'bad victoriana impression of ancient egyptian' (because an accurate rendering of ancient egyptian furniture, even for the pharoah, would make guests run, instead of be delighted...), and the stencil being used to put grout lines on the wall got, well, gummy, as repeat stencils tend to do. and i decided to clean it with acetone.

this was my first mistake, because i had the acetone sitting higher than my toshiba laptop, and i was tired, and knocked the bottle over, and it splashed on the toshiba. i let it dry, but the keyboard was fried. so i went and bought a cheapy plug-in mouse and keyboard. then i started having problems with weird input bugs, and i thought it might be the old keyboard reading stuff even though i was using the plug-in. i researched at work, dl'd instructions to take out the on-board keyboard, had second thoughts, and bought a wireless keyboard and mouse. the wireless combo worked for a while, especially after i updated the java script that runs things.

then the input bug came back. and i got frustrated friday night, and decided to finally take the inboard keyboard out... mistake #2.

i killed the toshiba. so Saturday morning i went to the local target, and bought new laptop. and an external hard-drive. then i went to the computer repair shop and asked if i could get a data transfer, and a downgrade to windows 7.

the data transfer was relatively successful. they didn't manage to get some of the programs across - like pidgin, the chat client, adobe reader, openoffice - but they got most of the files across, and did get mozilla firefox and thunderbird across. they got my old email file (yay!), but unfortunately, they didn't get my old bookmark file across. which sucks.

so monday (one of those short saturday/ closed sunday places), i picked up the laptop and brought it home and began to remove the crap windows insists on putting on their new boxes. i'd managed to put pidgin back on the new lappy, and gotten to the chatrooms - always the hardest part of a new machine for me - so i could have help if i needed it.

until i deleted the 'bluetooth thing'. yes, mistake number 3. see, i think bluetooth, and think the schizophrenic phone or smartphone type things. i don't think WLAN drivers... guess what this was? back to the computer store, sigh. and out more $$ to get them to undo my stupidity.

needless to say, i'm no longer going to be fixing my own computer. the local repair shop are nice people and don't make fun of me. at least while i'm in the store, hah.

anyway, i need to rebuild my bookmark file, so i'm taking favorite links in the comments for fanfic, writing tips, neat places to shop... etc.

-boogieshoes, the extremely frustrated

i'm back i'm back i'm back!!!  *hugs her flist so hard*

i had computer trouble the last week and a half - not horrible trouble, but trouble that required going to a shop and waiting for a part to be put in.  and the part ended up back-ordered.  and i realized how addicted i was to the lappy - every 30min i was thinking 'i gotta tell...' , 'i gotta ask...', 'i should google...'

it was *hard*!

i also discovered i dropped too pants sizes thanks to a wardrobe malfunction last wednesday. (zipper broke on work slacks, and they were old enough i just pitched 'em.)  anyway, i went from a size 24 to a size 20.  i'm still kind of plush at near-250lbs, but it's very encouraging to officially lose clothing sizes. :)

i also come back bearing gifts!  i got my ranty-pants on over the break, and will probably post that some time tomorrow, and i shall probably finish the post on visiting Grandpa this weekend and post that.  that last post is a year past due, oops.

i see that lj has changed it's posting interface, too.  eesh.  they keep coming up with these changes, and really ought to *keep it the same* thank you very much. i shall be wrestling with this tomorrow, i suppose...

-bs, in the midst of fandom squee, yet again

Slavelabour gave me a gingerbread cookie!  thank you, it's delicious!  *noms*

-bs

... please please please quit switching the way things look.  it's bad enough this place is a bloody graphics-rich environment without all those graphics constantly changing every 2months!

-bs, muttering

back online, and almost out of the apt - just the entertainment center left and that's being picked up by Goodwill tomorrow - i hope.  if nothing goes wrong.

the parental units are also coming in tomorrow afternoon, so i had to buy them bedding to sleep on... because i have no idea where the extra bedding is.  i also went in for 'window wear on the cheap', because i've got 5 windows in various bedrooms (and another 3 in the living rooms) that are large and clear - and at some point i'd like some privacy, even though the neighbors aren't physically close.

i hope everyone's ok, and no disasters have happened, personally or professionally, for anyone.

*hugs her flist*

-bs

happy thanksgiving, everyone!  yes, even those who don't celebrate it today, or culturally - i promise i'll eat your share of turkey so you won't have to! ;)


today i'm thankful for:

good friends, online and in real life - collectively, they are a true bulwark against my own fears and doubts;
a good job - because even when i'm rolling my eyes at OWS rhetoric, i understand it's a bad economy, there's a lot of luck involved in staying afloat for a lot of people, and this way, i can try to help people here and there;
the health and safety of my friends and family, which is always precarious - although too many of you have been getting sick lately *frowny face*;
good fanfic writers, which i adore reading - you bring me a squeeful joy that makes my life bright;
a good imagination, because it's fun to create, even if it's in me own head;
the life of Anne McCaffrey, and all others who have entertained me on a professional level over the years -
     you are valued teachers of culture, history, knowledge and life-lessons, and i know i'm better for it.

-boogieshoes, not slinging the bs for once