I don't have the largest friends-list, but I still thought I would pass this on:

From The Alcott Arts Center in KCKS:
For those of you who know the Alcott we are usually closed at this time of year due to NO Heat. Well this year we got a request to host a fundraiser for a Local Talent who was injured while being a Good Samaritan, so the Alcott will open for one day only. We will host a Benefit on Nov. 20 8pm $12 913-233-2787 or for more details www.alcottartscenter.org The Alcott is NOT ADA Accessible, Yet !
In the very early morning hours of Sunday, November 8, Kansas City Actor/Director Paul B. was thrust into the middle of a physical altercation that left him with one hundred and fifty stitches in his face. In an effort to try to protect a friend who was physically incapable of protecting himself, Paul nearly lost his life, the blade that cut him missing his Jugular by a couple of millimeters. He was treated and released at a nearby emergency room, and is recovering very nicely. Because Paul has no medical insurance, he not only has to suffer the emotional aftermath of being attacked and scarred for life, but he also has to suffer the financial hardships of being on the hook for emergency room fees. Proceeds will go to help Paul with these fees, and any extra funds raised will be donated to The Kansas City Free Health Clinic.

On November 20, 8:00 pm at the Alcott Center, there will be an evening of performance, music, a silent auction, food and drink (adult and otherwise). There will be a $12 cover at the door, and inside you will find libation in exchange for your further donation. Doors will open at 7:30.
The evening will include performances from .....
Dean Vivian
Lezlie Revelle
Vi Tran
a special performance from Sony recording artist and American Tenor, Nathan Granner!
http://www.alcottartscenter.org
If you can't make this event, but still would like to contribute, you can use your paypal account to send money to cskippy2000@aol.com.

If you wish to donate items or services to the auction, or volunteer to help out, email me at cskippy2000@aol.com

Hope to see you there !!!


sablessam also recently posted about this. I know times are tight for just about everyone but needs like this look like great holiday giving to me :).

Preview went well last night, had a small, but lively crowd, including some LJ folks. So far, costumes are holding up but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed through tonight.

Did have a couple of comments on the costumes that I take as compliments; One friend, whose husband made the chainmail coif worn by one of the knights, thought the gambeson and surcoat had come out of an SCA closet they looked so real. Score! They were dyed mattress pads w/ fake suede cloth edging to look like leather :). I didn't get time to talk to her very much but there was someone who said she also did costuming and had noticed the different fabrics in each of the priest's tunics and thought it fit for a large period household. Part of my reason for doing it, the other being the inablity to find enough fabric on one bolt, at the right price :). Then Rev L., our liason with St Mary's, asked what the director was going to do with the cope after the show. She was hoping to use it, it apparently looked that good :).

So feeling good going into opening night, and then a weekend to catch up with waaaay to many things. I suppose cleaning needs to be in there somewhere but I really want to dig out the embroidery. Belated B-day dinner will be Dim Sum on sunday but Himself surprised me with Sheridon's when I finally got home last night. Thanks Dear!

Shilling for my show:

I'm the costumer for a show opening tomorrow: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. It is about the murder of Thomas Beckett and is being performed *in* St Mary's cathedral downtown. Which is just an awesome setting for this story! To highlight the timelessness of Beckett's story the director's vision was to span the centuries costume-wise (what do you mean I can't just put everyone in T-tunics?!?!?! :) ). I think it works tho, and if I do say so myself it has created some very effective imagery. More info on dates, times, etc. may be found here: http://blessedthomas.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple of pics of the costumes from the first costume check. Behind cut..... ( Read more... )

renniemom and nottygypsy have already posted but I'm ratting out galactusprime to anyone who may have missed it:

It's his Birthday Today! And he is 50!

He didn't want a big fuss but what's a little post on LJ :).

And here is a pic in a costume folks may not have seen before:



They are growing them taller at the North Pole these days :).

Happy Birthday Dear!!!

Quick post for the folks that are house hunting:

If you are looking for a house in the NE Johnson county area there is one in our neighborhood for sale. It was a foreclosure but, at least on the outside, is in very good shape. Haven't seen the inside so I don't know about it. I think this was a case of someone getting the house in the divorce but not being able to keep up the payments. 60th & Antioch. Faces 60th but driveway/parking is on the Antioch side. 3 BR, 1 BA, partially finished basement, drive-out 1-car garage, backyard w/privacy fence. I think it is listing for 85K.

And if anyone needs a *really* good home inspector I recommend this guy:
http://insideout-inspections.com/index.html

He has done several inspections for family and friends and everyone has been very happy. He is very thorough.

Good luck all!

Need to start making a list again, and prioritize it! The organizational device in the dining room has been accumulating 'stuff' (how does that happen?) again and is now over a foot deep. Measurements and fabric have finally come together for a lot of the show sooooo naturally, just as the temperatures drop, I need to be down in the sweat(NOT)shop to sew. I'm at faire this sunday and of course only have the HOT weather garb dug out of the closet. I love faire when it is cool but I will not be a happy camper in lt-weight linen and even lighter weight cotton. Need to find time to dig in the closet, and be sure something is wearable.

And I keep getting distracted with EGA temptations. Must. Resist. Shiney. Beads.

More details behind cut.... ( Read more... )

And to all my LJ friends with four-footed members of your family; give them a hug. It is a rough season right now, several friends have lost one of these family members. My thoughts are with them.

Last week went so fast, this one is dragging. Finally hump day however!

Got a lot done over the weekend. EGA class was great, of course now I can't put the project down (a little sampler strawberry, to cute!). Also dug out the henna and I'm a redhead again. Went a little overboard, forgot I usually only use half a box.... Oh well, it will fade, but in the meantime, in the right light, I look like a new penny :).

No renfaire again this weekend, which may be a good thing. Seems to be some respiratory crude going through folks out there (so far not the cutelittlepiggy flu, so far as anyone knows) and I am just as happy to miss it. Himself has also managed to miss it, at least so far, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Speaking of the flu, had the first full read-through of the show I am costuming last night. That could be a big concern there. Folks were advised that the director would be a bit lenient about missed rehearsals if you are coming down with something. Stay home so you won't infect the rest of the cast! I've seen actors plough through while being really sick but this one doesn't sound like it would be so easy, not to mention how contagious it seems to be. Hope we can avoid it.

Hope to get to Coronation this weekend. Would be nice to see folks, altho it means I will be within reach of a certain Evil Baron (tm)................

I really like that combination but the weekend is never long enough and this is always a bad week to be short. Summary behind cut.... ( Read more... )

Need to get my priority list put together for the next couple of weeks. Have one deadline to shoot for next weekend but the others are, unfortunately, flexible. Don't give me flexible, it's is to easy for me to get distracted............ooooo shiney!

Been a hectic week here at work, and a couple of busy evenings this week. Was very nice to have the break on wednesday with everyone at the dress rehearsal for the Feast at renfaire however. Our bunch came prepared with a feast and were royal entertained by the talented cast. Notty and I also went prepared and avoided the swarm of mosquitos I'm sure were lying in wait :).

It looks like the weather is going to be pretty nice this weekend (a miracle around here on Labor Day weekend) so I will be out at faire on sunday. I missed the first weekend last year so I am looking forward to seeing everyone from the beginning this year. I was sitting hear at work to day realizing that I need to get prepped however! Our current faire routine is nothing like it used to be (or I would still be chained to the sewing maching this week) but I do need to get my costume our and checked and my usual bag of faire supplies (small cooler, allergy meds, doggie treats, sewing kit, etc.) packed out for the run.

The above will be the to-do list for saturday, with hopefully some quick errands that also need to be run. If I do get everything done then monday can be recovery and more work on the PR patterns. Those are the weekend priorities, at least for now :)!

To the point that folks are having trouble getting out of our building :).

They have been working on the HVAC off and on for a couple of weeks, supposedly regular maintenance (the building is only a couple of years old!). This can result in 'interesting' air flow and our supposedly secure doors (you have to flash ID to get into the building and on certain floors) stand open on their own or a rush of air blows you back when you try and enter. Wellll, the air handlers just went down, unexpectedly, but the exhaust fans are still on. Professors are being blown down the hallway, the chair couldn't get one of the hallway doors open (and he is a pretty fit guy) to get out of the building, not to mention the supposedly hermetically sealed windows, are whistling. I'm having to pop my ears every couple of minutes. They are supposed to be working on the problem.

I soooo love working in a structure built by the guys who put in the lowest bid........

Stuck to the plan and made more progress, Woot! Cut for space... ( Read more... )

Renfaire starts this weekend and the forecast is looking fairly decent. Of course my scale for this is almost any temperature under 85 degrees and rain less than a tropical torrent. Seen the torrent, and opening temps of 100+, don't want. Seriously, a decent temp for the first 3-day weekend is a life saver and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for folks. If it stays decent I may make it out for one day so next weekend's list is going to be tentative for a few days.

Altho not in all the ways I was anticipating. Note to self: remember that EGA is as much a social group as a stitching group and not everyone has the same skill levels.

Cut for probable lengthy rambling..... ( Read more... )

Prepping the list for this weekend. I've decided to keep an actual hard copy to-do list, mostly not to loose track of the lower priority projects. This weekend has at least one errand, more work in the sweatshop (some sorting but otherwise small repairs to get out of the way), need to get out in the yard (that means dealing with the mosquitos, ugh), fun on the computer with patterns, and maybe a little knitting(muffler, the extent of my knitting ambitions at this time). I'm also starting to realize the house probably needs a list of it's own, but 99% of that would also need to be on the budget, which is not going to happen anytime soon. Oh well.

Looking forward to some cool mornings on the deck the weekend!

Monthly EGA meeting that I said I would teach the penny rug class at is tonight. Last night I was able to leisurely double-check the bag and put the finishing touches on the recycled wool examples. Sooo nice not to be rushing around. Now here is hoping I haven't forgotten anything at the last minute :).

Working on the 'to do' list and priorities for this weekend. Some yard and house work may need to be in there, probably more time in the sweatshop too but hey, I can find things there now :).

And partially for keeping track of these myself. Over on SCA LJ these links were posted about a major redo of Dover Castle to the period of Henry II:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.16921

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/heritage_today_article.pdf

And then this one to another living history site in England (they have a lot :) ) this one also has a virtual tour:

http://www.barleyhall.org.uk/

http://www.r3.org/barley_hall/tour/24hall1.html

Sigh, I would really like to have a 16th century living history site around here....

And a list.

So far, the plan of a list with priorities is working! Resisted the temptation to run errands (ie: goof off) this weekend and got a ton of stuff DONE! Primarily that was the sweat shop. Didn't leave the house all weekend (except to enjoy the cool mornings on the deck with my coffee) and really hit the list. Made sure the PR class supplies were ready, then thought I would drift down to the sweat shop and check on what I had on-hand, fabric wise, for the show. Wellll, a little bit of time grew into the better part of two days but I have a basket full of fabric for consideration for the show, a bag and a half of trash (yes, I actually threw some fabric (scraps) away, and 3 bags/piles of fabric odds and ends to go to other folks for some specific projects. Pre-washed and dried a bunch of fabric that had just been sitting around, then got the new shelf up and tubs sorted and labeled so that now, GASP, I actually know where a few things are :). And the work space is useable, not piled with stuff waiting to get put away. Go Me :) :) :).

Oh yeah, and I have enough green linen, at least for now :). Once I got all the odd pieces I had in one place, there was enough to fill a whole tub! Altho naturally they are all each just a bit different shade of green. Unless I need more than 5 yards of one shade though, I'm pretty set for awhile :).

Other highlights behind the cut ( Read more... )

And for Hdsgrl, some pics of the penny rug ornaments I've designed:

The cardinal and holly were my first patterns, Dove was developed from the cardinal pattern. The cat was specifically for a friend who has greys like our Murf. The little wren is one of the more recent, and probably my favorite, alltho it is a little tricky to stitch.

Now to work on the list for this week..........

Oh brother do I have a list! Put one together earlier this week, then kept thinking of things to add, and add, and add. You see, I am a handicraft junkie, especially historic handicrafts. Nothing I like better than trolling through books, craft shows or the internet looking for a really cool project someone has done or a new historical tidbit about some (probably) very esoteric bit of textile history. I always have a new technique or project I want to do, lots of them, to many of them.

Cut 'cause this may get long and I'm polite...... ( Read more... )
So I have a plan for the weekend, hope it goes smoothly!

What the heck happened to my mellow summer ?!?!?

School is back with a vengance, first exam coming up for the med students next week. Grad students had orientation today, and seminar program starts in two weeks but I've only heard from one of the first 3 speakers. Hello, need to make plane reservations!!!

On the home front, planning has started for both the EGA seminar and the show. Seminar is not until 2011 but lots of committee positions to get in place now. Show is in November but I like being able to get started on the costume planning, and fabric shopping early so both have been kicked off.

Lots of other odds and ends sitting around to be done so I am borrowing a page from rougewench and starting a to-do list here. Hopefully this will help me stay focused on what needs to get done, as opposed to what is waaay to easy to get distracted into doing: looking at pretty pictures of embroidery for research and playing with shiney beads. List behind cut ( Read more... )

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that should get me started...........

Not that I have any corns, yet, but I did get a splinter taken out of the bottom of my foot yesterday and the doc recommended them for a couple of days.

The splinter has been there for awhile. Couldn't get it out, looked like just a spec left when I first got it, and tried to remove, so I figured it would eventually work it's way out. That was in May. Wasn't much of a problem in June and July, but this month I was finally trying to get back to walking, which meant wearing shoes with better arch supports (and firmer soles) than my crocs flats. Hmmm, that nagging little pain in the bottom of the foot was getting worse.

Tried to dig for it again, soaked it, scraped off the small callous that had developed, no luck so I gave in and called the doc. Fortunately I got in with one of my favorites. She wanted to be sure it wasn't something like a plantar's wart but I assured her it wasn't. Ok, time to numb up the spot. OW! That darn stuff burns!!! So anyway she sliced of the callous, found a small speck, latched onto it with her tweezers, and pulled out a 1/3 in long splinter that had gone straight into the foot! No wonder it hurt when I walked!!! She thought it was a pretty big splinter but having taken larger ones out of various animals at the farm, and myself, I wasn't so impressed :).

No pain last night, uncomfortable this morning but the aforementioned corn pad is helping. Probably take it a little easy today and tomorrow but hopefully should be cleared up soon then, back to walking!

Probably more than anyone really wanted to know with their morning coffee :).

What happened to summer? I blinked and missed it. It was the end of July, August stretched ahead, a few more weeks to take it easy but Nooooo: I forgot about med school starting, sigh.

For some reason I decided at the last minute to take a day of vacation the last day of July and boy am I glad I did. The weather was perfect! Enjoyed coffee on the deck, lunch with a friend and some leisurely time to run errands so they weren't all crammed into that saturday. Had a family event on saturday, got back to work monday and everything hit. All of a sudden folks have remembered they have to get some things done for the class that started, oh, that day! Not to mention it was time to start the seminar and student day prep. So work is now pretty much back up to normal speed, and then some.

On the home front I have been continuing to try and get the accumulating stash organized, and have managed to hang onto some of the progress made so far while still putting some new projects in the pipeline. Oh what I could do with a whole week off and nothing else scheduled!

Cutting the rest for length: the projects....... ( Read more... )

That's all for now!

The American Junior Golf Assoc is looking for someone who is CPR-certified to be their first-aid station at their gold tournament next week (starts sunday and runs through thursday) here in the Kansas City area. They offer polo shirt, hat, meals, and plenty of golf watching to someone who is interested. Some funds are available for a stipend but being non-profit, they are first looking for volunteers.

If you or someone you know are interested, and qualified, drop me an email.

The wedding went off pretty much without a hitch. The bride was nervous, clung to her dad's arm down the aisle but seemed to get her feet back under her once she arrived. It was a comfy sized group in attendance, who pretty much all came to the reception/dinner afterwards. There was a dance floor, what was mostly used by the very very young kids (2 - 6 yrs) to begin with. A mixed older crowd joined them after dinner.

I can now post the pic of the wedding dress:
This was at the final fitting a week ago sunday, she was a little excited :)> Her hair was done up in a bouffant for the wedding, I think I like this a little better. Perfect dress for her, she was a fairy princess!

On the home front I FINALLY found new cabinet handles for the kitchen, they arrived and Himself got them all installed this weekend. This has been an ongoing process to update the kitchen. It had good 'bones', but yellow plaid wallpaper and old, dark colonial style handles. It proved a bigger job than I thought to find new, simpler handles, as the drill holes for the old ones were a slightly unusual size and we really didn't want to redrill over 30 cabinets and drawers to fit new ones. They make a big difference in the loook of the kitchen. I suppose that eventually new counter tops would be nice but I think the floor may demand attention before then: it is linoleum, in two pieces, and starting to come up in at least one spot. Also up for consideration, what with the new handles, is a new light fixture. Why is it a redecorating job never seems to be done :).