Stephieface

I mentioned a while back that I was running a tabletop roleplaying game for the Mister and a few of our friends. I still am, so I passed the curse of the 2 game spread (where people who run games for the Mister only ever run twice and quit, forcing the Mister to ALWAYS run) and this is a good thing.

Why am I a weirdo?

Well, my game’s setting is a local park nearby, South Park, and the areas round abouts there. I am a serious detail lover, so I went to the park and took a ton of pictures so I wouldn’t have to drive myself nuts describing everything. Also great if the players of your game want to actually go to some place they’ve been in the game…. at least they know what it looks like (like a bar, building , etc). This past Saturday, the game took a turn in a way that they were going in to a building that is rumored to be an adult entertainment establishment. So I need shots of the outside.

Mind you, whenever I have to to take pictures for the game, my children are always with me……….

Yeah, makes for an interesting conundrum doesn’t it?

So I took shots of the building from inside my car as we drove by…….

Hopefully it portrays enough detail.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, since Jenica posted a video link on her blog and I of course followed it.

While I love the message they are giving (and let’s not forget how awesome their products are, I use them and lurv them….. my arm pits really did become underarms) I will take this time to point out that the company using “Real Beauty” and angles of “forget beauty industry standards of beauty” sell some of the more expensive products on the shelf. Just saying.

I am still having an epic battle with my phone. The Verizon guys showed up to fix it (with one guy sporting a Billy Ray Cyrus circa Achy Breaky Heart worthy mullet…. it was mulletastic) and it worked until the next day when it rang one time and stopped working again. Yeah.

But- I leave you with the Jonathon Coulton song “Flickr” (written for photos he saw posted on Flickr [makes me more cautious about what I would put there now... lol!])

(Tissues because it rhymes with Issues and nothing more)

First off, one of the issues… my computer crapped out this weekend so I am having to use the Mister’s computer.

Issue the second, Comcast sent us a message a while ago saying we had to conform or get out (they were no longer carrying standard good old regular everyday phone service…. only new fangled phone lines and services that I would have to get lines in my apartment replaced for)…. we opted to remain nonconformist and switched to another phone carrier. That was last week, and so far in the switch over I’ve lost a dial tone and cannot make or receive calls…… though if you call my house you’ll get the ring (but I’ll never answer because of the previous). So as I sit and try to mucky muck my way through voice activated menu options which hate my voice, I’m kind of happy… this means all the Hillary and Obama people who have been calling my house non stop (sometimes 4 or 5 times a day) before tomorrow’s primary now have no way to reach me.

I did notice something today. I think a pattern I wrote showed up on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Seriously. Go to this entry and scroll down to the TP cover entries. Look for Edgar Allen Poo. I’m pretty sure that Edgar Allen Poo and Annabelle Pee are Pocket Pixies…. which is pretty fanfreakingtastic if you ask me. I love little EAP and his “ooops I just farted” face that his knitter gave him……. after a little bit of knitterly investigation I discovered that the TP cover was knit by hizKNITS. Hi hizKNITS! Let me know if those are Pocket Pixies- I would just Schmidst myself if they are- I love em! You brightened my day!

ETA: Stephen from hizKNITS has corrected my findings (thanks Stephen!) Edgar Allen Poo was made by MiriKnits, Stephen made the Crapotis….. which also rocks seriously and I would be more likely to make it than an actual clapotis.

On the karma front, I’m trying to work up that good karma. This morning I found the contents of someone’s business/contracting binder and have tried to do whatever I could to return it all to its owner. It hasn’t been easy, but I hope someone would do the same for me had it been my stuff that was lost. Go Team Good Karma!

So I went to the field trip and actually had alot of fun. The things i had issue with weren’t the kids at all- I know, strange! The school promised to provide breakfast and lunches for the parents who came along. While they did, they negelected to say ‘You will be given the same food your children are eating’ which meant for breakfast that the other parents and I got a singular blueberry muffin each, the muffin which was the size of a spool of thread- no lie. The kids also got fruit, but there wasn’t enough fruit for kids and parents. The other parents and I exchanged glances of “crap”.

We all loaded up on the bus. Now, unlike the field trips of my youth, the bus had three car seats each seat, each car seat furnished with a 5 point harnass. I thought this was awesome, that is until I noticed there were only 4 seats that had no car seats in them and those were all taken by the teachers. This meant the other parents and I had to sit on the kiddie car seats and pray for no potholes.

We got to the Science Center and everything went well. There were enough parent volunteers that each grown up got 2 kids each. I, of course, had my own children. I was privy to overhearing them divying the children up, as to who got who etc. There were two little girls that no one wanted really to take, because they are a little on the “invloved” side. So they were foisted upon Sister Augustina, a nun from the school who came with us. At one point during the trip, Sister Augustina was invloved with one of the involved girls in the restroom so I took the other girl- and she stayed with me for the rest of the trip.

Now, I had been there in the mornings when the little girl’s mom would drop her pff and dip out of the door because K (the little girl) is a crying screamer. The minute she notices her mom is gone she is in tearful hysterics for the rest of the morning. Sometimes they have to get a teacher from another class to come and just be with her so that they can deal with the other children. This time however, she held my hand, sat next to me at lunch, talked to me during the Mister Roger’s Sky movie thing, and stole my carrots. Not one tear or sniffle.

This made Sam jealous, not because I was paying attention to another kid, but because some other kid liked being with me who wasn’t him.

Lunch was interesting, and not just because K stole my (and TJ’s) carrots. The parents weren’t handed lunch bags until 10 minutes before we had to leave the cafeteria for another school group. I’ve never seen so many parents choke down some PB&J Uncrustables as fast as the parents who were with me.

I think if they had asked on the permission slip which parents were going, and then let us know that we’d be getting the same meals as the kids… perhaps the parents would have brought some extra cash so they could buy lunch if they wanted. One parent escaped and got a food court hamburger, and we all longingly looked at his tray as we lead the children to the next section…. him catching up with us later during  the Mister Rogers movie.

Overall though, it was a good time, and I loved having little K with me.

I just may volunteer for the zoo trip next month.

So my mom spent all of Friday at the hospital and the surgery did not happen. I have to say… Wow, you guys and your prayers and well wishes- you well wished her surgery right away!

In all seriousness, there were some issues so the surgery didn’t happen and they are coming up with some alternative plans. My mom has started to get frustrated enough that “Could you just cut this off so I don’t have to worry about this crap anymore” is starting to look really appealling… so its good you all gave suggestions about what kinds of boobs I could make, (if you have more fire away!) so I’ll be ready should she go that route.

Wednesday, the boys have their first field trip (15 kids age 5 to 3) and I was asked to come along. Awesome or madness? You decide.

Lately it seems that everyone I love is ending up somewhere near a hospital.

My mom called this morning on her way to an appointment. I haven’t really talked about it much (because really I’d be talking about my mom’s boobs on my blog and I wasn’t too sure how she’d feel about that), but a while ago my mom found a lump in her breast, got it checked, it is cancer, and was today on her way to get it removed.

Most of the time when she and I talked about it, I made jokes and such because frankly that’s what I do. I already committed to knitting her a new boobie should she need it (we were discussing what colors she’d like … she said varigated and I suggested black since it goes with everything) what’s funny is that I think my mom initially thought I was making the fact that a pattern exists for knitted boobies up. I was going to joke with her about how dad could ask to juggle her boobies and she could just hand them over and ask for them back when he was done…. but I had forgot at the time to mention that. I also mentioned that should she need chemo I could knit her hair as well. I could make something using this chart, but my mom is an anti-”f” word kind of lady so that’s already a no go.

I’ve mentioned that I was looking to get my hair cut here soon, and now I think I may save it up… you know just in case – of course I have no idea how my mom will look with auburny reddish hair since she’s always had dark dark dark brown hair for like forever.

Good Luck Mom! I’ve got my fingers crossed for you (and sorry for talking about your boobies on my blog).

This is me and my mom at the Three Rivers Arts Festival when I was pregnant with TJ. There’s a little old man who does paper cutting there, who made me a paper cut out of a pregnant lady that when you pull her legs a baby’s head pops out of you know where.

A few years ago I accepted the fact that I am a huge nerd. While, yes, I am one of those fun kinds of nerds instead of one of those crazy ones you avoid at all costs, it still remains that I am in fact a nerd.

Case(s) in point:

I wear costumes and have gone to Live Action Roleplaying Events.

I have an abnormal fixation on the game Rock Band.

I have played World of Warcraft, and on occasion will farm honor (do a special game within the game over and over and over and over [called farming]) for the Mister while he is at work.

I have played Hellgate London, and wrote a review of it on its own seperate page from which I get an average of 30 hits a day (from that post alone).

To some the fact that I knit makes me a nerd, but I don’t see how that is.

And finally I can actually hold a conversation with my 11-year-old about things he currently likes and know what the heck he’s talking about (because I like them too).

There is more evidence that I didn’t add to the list above (but that’s what this post is about) is that we here at Chez Stephieface tabletop game as well. D&D, Warhammer, Rifts, and a plethora of miniature war games. Usually, when it comes to the tabletop roleplaying games (D&D, etc) the Mister runs the game (as the dungeon master… or DM). We’ve had a few guest DMs, but its really usually the Mister. This sometimes annoys the Mister because he would very much like to play a game on occasion rather than run them all the time. This is understandable to me, I liken it to how I would much rather eat (and enjoy) a dinner than have to cook it all the time- so I can see where he’s coming from.

Here’s the thing, no one will run a game for my Mister. Not because he’s a terrible player or anything, but because he’s pretty darned intimidating when it comes to that kind of stuff because he’s really good. Frankly, for years I have been trying to get him to write a novel or submit stuff to gaming/videogame companies because the man is super creative and runs really kick ass fun games (plus if he made lots of money doing something he loved that would just be freaking awesome). It’s like making a movie for Peter Jackson (the guy who made the Lord of the Rings movies) or George Lucas (Star Wars) to watch- that kind of intimidation. Every once in a while someone would step up, run a game night or two, and that would be it…. the Mister having to once again take the game running helm.

However, in all those years, I’ve never stepped up once. Sure, I’ve run game stuff for people before I met the Mister. And sure, I’ve run game stuff for the LARPing events… but I ran that with the Mister, not for him. So I decided to buckle down and step up, what’s the worse that could happen?

Don’t worry, I’ve compiled a list of the Worst Things That Could Happen……

1. I end up running one or two game nights like everyone else (and he still likes everyone else, so I’m okay there)

2. The other people playing don’t want to play any longer (and that’s fine, I’ll run for just him if I have to… all you need is one player and one DM)

3. He doesn’t like it (which could happen, but he’ll keep playing just because its not him running)

As far I can tell, I’ve listed no biblical plagues or death… so I should be good.

First I decided we’d play something I was familiar with and liked, namely werewolves. Then I decided on the setting, which would be local so I could bust out real maps and such. Then I went into DM mode and started compiling all of the info I would need for the game (like the locales, people, plots, creatures, etc). Before the very first game session, this is what I had:

That would be a 3 inch binder that I bought to house my werewolf game stuff. That is not including the handouts I give out to the players (namely the Mister and two of our friends). Because of the nature of the game it could go in any direction so I tend to try and prepare for that, so hence you get the above.

I’ve already run one game night, the setup night, where you get everyone in one group from wherever they start up from. I gave them the beginnings of the story they’d be playing, introduced them to their locale, and gave them the bit of back story they’d need to start.

Already I was told that they liked it. The Mister has been thinking about it since I ran on Saturday (like what is this person’s motive, what he’ll do about __________). One of the other players has stated the game was more serious than he thought I’d pull off ( I am the class clown of the game nights… on my best behavior the night is still filthy with double entendres and jokes)and that he really enjoyed it. The other player has already begun to plan for what he’ll do this week….. so I’ll take that as I did really well. Its not as scary as thought it would be running for the Mister. So that’s one thing down on my list for 2008, the list you shall find out about next post.

Danny does have a ginormous head.

The doctors finally called this morning while I was dropping of the olders at school. They were supposed to call Monday, and I called yesterday to see what was up, and they called back today.

He does have some extra fluid on the brain, but nothing too serious that a shunt would need to be installed. Which was something I was dreading… I freaked out during the test, imagine me during surgery. Yikes.

BUT- everything is aOK- thanks all for the well wishes and prayers, it really helped me out alot.

To take my mind of my monkey’s giant brain pan, I’ve been trying to make stuff to soothe someone else’s soul… so far I’ve frogged a couple of times and have yet to actually succeed. I’ve tried a couple of patterns and so far… nil. I am still persevering though, trying to find the ultimate thing that will allow me to send a little love and hugs far away to someone who I think needs it. If you think you know who I’m talking about, or are just in the joining in kind of mood, and want to help out send me an email at stephieface (at) gmail (dot) c o m. You don’t have to be a knitter, hugs come in many forms. I can’t give too many details out here or else all will spoiled!

ETA: yes, there is actually coffee in my cup… lol. Two thirds of my coffee is in fact coffee, the remaining third is milk (not creamer [non dairy or otherwise] creamer is evile) and 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar (and not one of those honking big table spoons, one of the smaller ones). The Mister takes 2 sugars and a dash of non dairy creamer (being lactose intolerant). When I drink tea I use milk in that too (I usually only drink chai, English breakfast, Irish breakfast, English afternoon, and Lady Grey teas…. though on occasion I do buy chocolate caramel teas and vanilla raspberry ones) though not quite so much… the color comes out the same though.