cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

So since I have this shiny new laptop, Downwood bought me Heroes V. It's just as addictive as Heroes III, a game I cherish for many reasons, and it's awfully pretty. I'm now working my way through the demon campaign and I have to say that the evil giggle of the succubi upon throwing chain fireballs at the enemy is very cute. I would go so far as to say that I'm relatively hooked on this game, though I can quit any time I want.

In between missions, I've been trying to clean my house a little. Really, I should have done this before Val came to visit and apartment hunt last week, but it's only now that I have the time and motivation. Rain's not too thrilled with having all of her bedding washed and I can guarantee that she's going to have major problems with it when I start vacuuming. I'm slowly making our home look like responsible adults live here instead of slacker gamers.

The bowls of dice on the end tables can stay, though. So can the D&D books in the dining room.

Speaking of gaming and dining room, Downwood's been making me a dungeon. It's really damn spiffy. About 1/4-1/3 of it is done and it takes up about half our dining room table. When the whole thing is constructed, we're going to have to use the Gaming Table of Doom in the basement if we want to use every piece.

I've started planning the Ultimate Dungeon Mega-Crawl of Doomity Doom that I'll run when it's all assembled and painted. I figure I've got plenty of time to work out the details. As part of this planning, I've started to pick up some scary monsters and other bad guys to pit against my players. I spent most of last evening filing, smashing bricks for scenery, and gluing minis together. When I went to bed, I had silver coats of dried super glue and pewter dust on both thumbs and index fingers.

We made a quick trip up to the game store so that I could pick up a book that I ordered. Before we left, I grabbed a couple of my favorite minis from the cabinet. I showed them to the owner-boss and she put them straight into the display case on the counter!! I saved my flailing and Uber-Squee for the car. I used the elation from that as drive to finish a mini that I've been stalled on for a couple weeks. She turned out pretty darn good, but I won't know how good until I've photographed her. It will make sense eventually, I promise.

The dog is finally sacked out on her bed. She was very confused with the clean-smelling cover and blanket on it and that it got up almost 80 degrees today. (80! In March!) She kept following me around, leaning against me, putting her head under my arm when I was painting, and panting up a storm. And since she has the brain of a goldfish, she wouldn't drink water or lay down in front of the fan. Dingbat dog.

Downwood suggested that we go to the dog park and let her run around for a while. While we were there, we heard her growl and bark more than in the entire time we've had her. There was a very aggressive little lab mix that got in her face and she stood her ground, put her head down, and barked at him. The useless owners of the other dog were trying to call him over from across the park but otherwise did nothing to corral him. We did a lap and she went over to the gate to tell us that she was done and could we please go home now? We got home and she got a bath to get all the mud off of her. But since then she's gotten bits of potato and grilled pork and some chicken jerky treats and lots and lots of pettins. Her new collars are simply stunning and she's back to being our couch potato greyhound.

All in all, I'd say this has been a splendid weekend. I really liked today.

I have a bodice completely cut out, awaiting assembly. There's a chemise on my ironing board, requiring only some bias tape and elastic to finish. The skirt linens are waiting for a rough hem length before getting hit with scissors and needle.

I've also finished two minis in the last three days. Granted, one of them had been in progress for about two weeks, but I'm very happy with how they both turned out.

( Pictures of recently painted minis )

Today has been a good day for resolutions.
( On happiness in the home )( On bridal showers )( On the ending of drama )( On painting )

I took a several month break from painting miniatures. Say what you will about my lack of anything resembling an attention span, but I maintain that I simply have too many enjoyable hobbies. Which reminds me that I must cut out and assemble some garb tomorrow. Yes.

Anyway, I got nudged back into painting by a Warhammer 40k RPG. That game has, sadly, ended, but the paints and brushes stayed out. I picked up one of the minis I prepped a Very Long Time Ago and started painting her over the weekend. And, in my usual habit of jumping in without checking the water depth, I decided to try something new.

You see, the paint manufacturers make metallic paints. These are very pretty and are useful for painting metallic things: weapons, armor, jewelry, sparkly bits, etc. They're very pretty, but can occasionally look flat.

To remedy this, there's the technique for Non-Metallic Metals (NMM). Yes, the name is silly. No, I'm really not very good at it. NMM requires very good knowledge of the physics of light and how colors are affected by same. I have a sneaking suspicion that Czar Victaar would be insanely good at this.

To me, at my current skill level, this seems unreasonably difficult, but the results? The results can be spectacular! I know better than to compare myself to the people who do this sort of thing professionally, but check out some of these links:

http://www.blackmoor.ca/gw40ksmchaplain1.htm
http://www.harbingermagazine.com/showcasewin23.htm
http://www.harbingermagazine.com/images/news/darkage004.jpg
http://www.jenova.dk/FemaleHumanCleric.htm
http://www.jenova.dk/Alvhaera.htm
http://www.arjayslotd.com/empchamp.html
http://www.arjayslotd.com/ashlynn.html
http://www.arjayslotd.com/GKdread.html
http://www.arjayslotd.com/BCStern.html
http://www.arjayslotd.com/bard.html

• Bag for hated trip to CA - Packed
  
• Practice corset - Half the boning channels sewn, ran out of boning. I think it's going to be too big, but I might be able to make it work regardless. Definitely need more boning and some bias tape to bind the edges.
  
• Sisters of Battle squad - First and second coats of red on the armor and a blister on my thumb. Put away until next weekend.
  
• Copious amounts of tea - Drunk
  
• Downwood's parents - Introduced to Rain and all the locations for the wedding.
  
• Laundry - Clean clothes for the both of us
  
• Other cleaning - Ignored
  
• Worry and stress levels - Skyrocketed

Yep, I'm still in Mega-Panic mode about this trip. I really don't deal well with change, even in the short-term like this. Yeah, when Downwood was in Chicago, we would go every week not seeing each other from Monday to Friday. But I've gotten extremely spoiled the last few months. I like knowing that he's going to be next to me when I wake up.

Everything's going to be fine. I hope. I'm taking workout clothes, game prep stuff, some books, a computer, and the blackwork for The Project That Won't Die (aka Downwood's new faire shirt). I'll have phone software on the computer and Gmail chat. And all my email accesses. Of course, I'm working 6:30 AM to 7 PM shifts, so it'll be late nights that I update and try to find someone to talk to.

*deep breath* I think dinner's done. I'm going to go soak up some more time with my sweetie. It'll be okay. Really. I think I believe me.

I think paintbrushes are still 40% off at Wisconsin Craft Market. They also had a pretty good selection of brushes on clearance for $.50. Good terrain paint and fun yarns are also on sale. Just, you know, in case anyone else does any crafts with these sorts of items.



Downwood and I were both very productive today. He painted the bridge that he made last night and I painted two commanders for his Warhammer Fantasy army (the Skeleton Horde edition). Rain is crashed out, enjoying us sitting in the living room with her; Phantom is walking around like a spaz, meowing his fool head off. Today's been a good day.

Is it bad that I'm considering buying a 7th Sea book just so I can use the extremely cool pirate chick I'm painting?



Must stay good...have many other books to read and worlds to build first...stay...good...

Free time? What is this free time you speak of?

I finished with the painting of my druid's wolf. Genetically speaking, I am ill-suited for the painting of teeny things. I have my grandmother's hands: long, thin, and shaky. Throwing helped train some of it out of me, but it's still a problem.

Haven't yet started on druid girly or the translating of vague story kernels into a rule-based system. I've got time. Right. Time. Someone get on my case if I haven't done anything in a week or so.

I'd like to say that Silk Nog is really yummy. It's not so heavy as real egg nog nor does it have the same worrying raw egg ingredient as the real stuff. I haven't yet tried it with bourbon or brandy (don't have any - the only reason), but a sprinkling of nutmeg is awfully tasty.

And CSI:NY has officially SOLD OUT. Grr. Stupid ring tone commercial inside the show.