April 26, 2010
Sheep and Wool Pre Festival Plan
You know you are in trouble when you have to make a pre festival plan. LOL. I’m sure I’m not the only one, making lists, checking vendors, planning my attack for the big day…that’s right, it’s that time of year again. The first weekend in May. Time for none other than the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. A knitter/spinner’s idea of heaven.
Last year was my first experience and while I completely enjoyed myself, I was a little overwhelmed. Partially due to the fact that I was jet lagged from my recent trip back to the US from Azerbaijan, partially due to the fact that I had been having serious fiber withdraw from living overseas and lastly due to the fact that I was walking around smelling lamb cooking, but everyone was speaking english. It was kind of like and out of body experience. I remember passing many booths by just because I was too overwhelmed to look at anything but yarn or fiber. I didn’t want to be tempted by notions or soaps, or dyes or paintings. I do remember buying some maple peanuts though and while they were tasty, that’s $10 that I couldn’t spend on yarn! LOL.
This year I plan to get an earlier start, take my time and really get into it. I have my must sees, but I also want to do a little gift shopping while I’m there. Since I come from a family full of crafters this is one stop shopping for me. I would really love to go on Saturday and be able to do all my shopping and then go back on Sunday to see the animals and take a bunch of pictures. We’ll see, the weather is going to be the determining factor. I really don’t want to trudge around outside in the rain. Rain + Fairgrounds = MUD!
Here are my must sees (in no particular order).
Tess’s Designer Yarns (home of Man Candy)
Fleece Sale – looking for a white fleece this year, because my dye pot will be here soon, Cande will be living nearby which means - lots of white fleece will be needed for dyeing….of course, grey and light brown might be interesting too…..see the dilemma I face at the fleece sale. I really am thinking BFL!
I’ve been dreaming about a Majacraft Wheel lately. I love the way they look. Of course I also love the old antique style too. Did I mention I’ll have my own place again soon…..mwahaahaa!
Ok, time to sleep and dream of the weekend…..I’m off to count sheep! LOL.
September 10, 2009
2009 Summer Beach Bar Classic
I’d like to start by saying that I THINK a good time was had by all, but I’m not entirely sure! : )
We started off the event by decorating our T-shirts – so people would know that we were together and that something special was taking place of course.
Michelle and Heahter aka Micellicious and Super Star.
L – Train aka Luke
JMack aka Yours Truly
These pictures are actually taken at the second hole so let me go back and give you hole 1.
There we are, the golfers with our Orange Crushes at Mangos in Rosehaven. This was my first taste of the Orange Crush, and I must say I really liked it. Fresh squeezed OJ and LOTS of vodka. Kind of a healthy version of a screwdriver if you will.
If you look on the bar in front of us you’ll notice our scorecards and the cute miniature mechanical pencils that I found. We were well prepared for the event. What wasn’t so well prepared were the rules and I take full responsibility for that. I also had to apologize for my righteousness which was displayed when discussing the rules after I had started to consume alcohol. Note to self and others….discuss the rules before the drinking portion of the game begins.
So we were off to the second hole – Thursday’s. Blue Moon’s for the real players and a Coor’s Light for L-Train.
Next we headed next door to BilVil for the 3rd hole. Bil and Sandy came out to say hi and offered up Hot Dogs at the turn for our next event! Food is a great idea and we’ll hear more about food later. Here we are, enjoying a brew on the deck at BilVil.
My brew was a Backfin Pale Ale by a brewery in Fredneck. I mean Fredrick, MD. Good stuff.
Next off to Neptune’s where I decided that I was going to get something to eat. It was probably 4:30-5pm by this point and all I’d had all day long other than the booze was a bowl of watermelon for breakfast and that just wasn’t cutting it.
Neptunes where in front of us you’ll see the empty plate of zucchini straws which was split at least 3 ways. That was dinner, which I knew then, and confirmed later in the evening was definitely not enough. You’ll also notice that Luke looks a little shiny. I could fix it with Photoshop, but I’m finished doing favors for that guy and you’ll see why later!
Beach Cove was next on the list – Hole 5. This is where I had the “Neri Sighting”. Now if you know anything about me and my beach history. Neri Sightings are usually not a good thing. This one proved to be uneventful thank goodness. The best plan in case of a Neri sighting is one of three things 1. RUN
2. Ignore
3. Limit exposure
For this sighting I chose to combine numbers 2 and 3. Very effective.
The crew inside Beach Cove – their menu looks pretty good so we’re planning to return for dinner one night.
Hole 6 – Crooked I, formerly known as Chaney’s. This was my first time at Crooked I. I like it. Anytime you can sit outside and view the water while you enjoy your beverage is a good thing.
Now this is where it really starts to get fuzzy….Hole 7 @ The Freaky Deaky Tiki
I’d like to point out that I am hammered by this point and all of my friends still look sober. How is that possible? I guess I’m just really out of practice.
Hole 8 – Smokey Joes
It appears that we have a 5th player now. I think Billy joined us at Hole 5. I also notice the shooter in front of me and Michelle and that could not have been a good thing, but I’m sure I made par at that hole!
Last but not least Trader’s – Hole 9
I remember being here. I remember running my lips to and with Patty, Ann and Katie (sorry guys), and I remember walking back to Michelle’s. Everything else about it is a blur….I see Luke ditched his shirt at this point which should be an 8 stroke penalty for being out of dress code. AND I see that Heather is missing from the group photo which also should be some penalty, but we’ll have to talk about that when the board convenes later tonight over crabs!
So there you have it the 2009 Summer Beach Bar Classic. Good time was had by all – at least the pictures make me think so. I have no idea what my final score was or even if there was a winner but, according to a few of the pictures I’m was the LOSER! Thanks Luke! Arrrr.
January 3, 2009
My Latest Addiction
It’s happened again. I’ve fallen victim to the online game demons. I’m hopelessly addicted to a game called Mousehunt. One of my friends (Nancy) on Facebook was participating in an event and I wanted to know more about it so I clicked…BIG MISTAKE.
I started playing on December 29th and now I won’t be able to stop until I’ve reached the highest level I can reach (Hero). I’m sure that will be a while. I’m still only on the first level, Novice at 85%. With the hours I’ve been logging I am hoping to reach the second level, Apprentice by the end of the weekend…maybe by the end of the day but that’s a tall order.
With Mousehunt you are hunter and your goal is to set up a trap to catch mice. You build your trap, choose your cheese, hunting area and wait. Every fifteen minutes you can sound the “Hunter’s Horn”. At this time you “go hunting” then return to camp and check your hunter’s journal to see if you caught anything. You are awarded gold and points for mice that you catch.
You have to buy cheese to bait your trap and you can buy more powerful traps with more gold and points as the game progresses through the seven skill levels from Novice to Hero. Each level offers new challenges, new hunting areas and new mice to catch.
It’s a passive game and you can spend as little as a few minutes a day or as many hours as you can stay awake playing.
The best part about the game (and the original reason I signed up) is that they give away actual prizes…including CASH! They had a New Year’s Eve giveaway and since Scott was sick and we were staying in I figured I’d might as well try to win some cash…that was HOURS ago. I only saw one prize mouse visit my trap. He visited my trap, stole my bait, but didn’t drop the $200 he was carrying! That dirty rat! He was a Leprachaun Mouse and I’ll be waiting and ready for him next time! There were about 200 prizes given away during the event over the course of two days. Around 20,000 people were online consistently playing during those two days.
You can also recruit friends to join your Hunting Group. I have 43 people in my group so far and I actually personally know 9 of them. The first one in my group was Nancy. I love Nancy. She and I were friends in High School. She gave me 20,000 gold to get started and introduced me to her Hunting Group and some of them gave me gold and off I went!
It’s good to have higher ranking players in your Hunting Group so that you can ask questions and so that they can give advice.
So, I’ll keep you posted about my status and leveling. As I’m ending this I’m now at 87%, I just sounded the Hunter’s Horn, caught a Dwarf Mouse worth 221 points and 455 gold in the Town of Gwania. FUN! I caught this guy using the trap pictured above, The Trebuchet and wooden base with target using Marble cheese.
Ok, now Scott and I have an in person date in the living room to play board games! I’m sure we’ll both be taking breaks every 15 minutes to check our traps! : )
October 7, 2008
The Ballet
I’m going to the BALLET! I’m so excited. This Saturday, lead dancers from the Bolshoy and Stanislavski Theatres in Russia will be here in Baku performing SWAN LAKE!
I am going with a couple of friends. The fact that Scott isn’t a ballet fan isn’t new news so I didn’t even ask him if he wanted to attend. He’ll probably sit home doing what he does every night which is play World of Warcraft. To be completely honest I’m pretty sick of that game, but I’ll save that for another post. This one is about FUN!
In honor of the big night I think I’ll even get my hair done! I’m going to make the appointment right now.
September 22, 2008
I’m Into Dyeing
You start with this
and end with this
using this
FUN! Now I just have to wind it in to center pull balls and then turn it in to a pair of socks. Gee, I wonder how long that will take?
I’m going to try some other techniques…onion skins and spinach for starters! : ) Yes I know. I’m a geek. I wanted to do wine, but that’s just a waste of good wine…besides, I’ve read the color turns brown with time. Brown is a nice color, but I’d rather drink the wine I think.
September 20, 2008
Putting Myself Out There
Ok, so I’ve finally figured out the reason that I get nothing done. Actually there is a long list of reasons and here is one of them:
1990 hits a little too close to home and when I find the picture I will post it.
I promise that the pictures from my trip are coming…I keep getting sidetracked. If you are interested in hearing about our Germany Geocaching adventures please visit Tales from the Trails.
