Problems With Photos - Sadly, my photo site was down (again) this week, but it seems the tech support team managed to "correct a folder's permissions" and all (or most of) the images are visible again. I'm working on a new hosting company, and if possible I may be able to make a full backup of the existing site, move all the files, and trigger the DNS change (internet-speak) so that it moves seamlessly and no one even notices. *sigh* I hate when companies let me down. That's twice I had a major problem with my photo site host. Ah well. Theresa/Mariam came to my rescue (yippee!!) and we may have a solution quickly.

Just One Costume Image - Meala is convinced she's going to get me into a non-cotehardie dress some day. Right after Pentathlon, she pulled out her Janet Arnold "Elizabeth Unlocked" and I found only one outfit I really like, one of Elenora de Toledo's gowns. I'm seriously considering doing that outfit, entirely by hand, for Pentathlon two years from now (with all the embroidery and everything).

Tue Apr 3: Second Night of Passover - I'm not certain how many people observe two seders in a row, but printed books that give you the service have a section that is for only on the second night. There's the "counting the omer" which links Passover to Shavuot, the next festival. There are exactly 50 days between them, and the omer was an offering brought by the priests to the Temple. Also, this leds up to when the Jews received the Torah at Sinai, so while Passover is an escape from slavery, the real treasure comes at the end of when the Jews received the Law. I'd read about each of these details before, but I'd never really *noticed* them before this year.

Second Night was held at Caterina and Lot's again, and this time was mostly attended by extended friends and family. Marc and Renee were able to be there, Jeff and Adrienne our hosts of course, me, my roommate Mel, Emily and Philip, Matt and Tamara, Saul, Lilya and Dylan and Nathan, and Erika managed to drop in at the end of the night. The dinner was just as amazing as the night before, and there was a moment at the end of the evening where just Erika and I were left alone with a room full of men. *hee hee* As we do, friends all just curled up on the couches and chairs, lounging around with one another and chatting for a bit. I love my friends!

Wed Apr 4: Leftovers and Visiting - Marc and Renee were hoping I might get the chance to come and visit with them once more before they flew back home to Wisconsin. So after work on Wednesday, I realized my only visit time would be either Wed or Fri. Since they were planning on doing some sight-seeing in CA later in the week, I dropped by Jeff and Adrienne's after work to enjoy some Passover leftovers and visit time with "Mom and Dad." We snapped a few photos, just Renee and Adrienne and me, and I eventually returned home with my cardtable and four chairs (loaned for all the extra Passover seating). Of course, this time I forgot my spinning at Adrienne's house (ha!) so I'll need to pick that up sometime soon.

Thu Apr 5: Shire Meeting - Last night I went up to my Shire in the north for the monthly council meeting. I'm woefully behind on all the web programming I have in life (both my shire and baronial site, the theatre site, my photo site, etc.) but I did manage to get there for the meeting. Afterwards, a group of ladies and I went out for coffee and tea together, which is certainly one of my favorite things about going to the Shire meeting. I don't get to socialize with these long-time friends of mine nearly enough, so I still really treasure our monthly coffee or dinner together.

Scott rang me up while we were at coffee, and reminded us both that we need to make our final hotel plans for Crown Tourney next weekend (eep!). This also reminds me that I have *got* to sew every night for the next week, if I'm going to have a new dress for Crown. I have some gorgeous deep green linen that Mina bought for me up in the garment district months and months ago, which I've been dying to make into a true fitted cotehardie with laces and tippets and everything. I also need to order a bolt of white linen online right away, so that I can finish making shirts for the boys and more chemises for me. I owe both Saul and Eric shirts that I promised for both of the wars earlier this year, and again, I'm woefully behind on my projects.

Don't misunderstand: I love being employed. I love having a good boss again and having true assignments again. But I do miss the luxury of basically being paid to be "on-call" because there was no work to do, so I stayed at home, and got lots of projects done, waiting for someone at work to have something for me to do. Now I go over to the Navy base every day, and spend hours with my head down over my computer, barely coming up for lunch or air or anything. I'm sure I'll find a way to cope. I always do.

More Good News - Oh, and some final good news about weight loss: I was fluctuating up and down the same 2-3 pounds for a while now, and have started dropping again. Nathan even had a tiny ring with him at 2nd Night Seder that fits my pinky fingers -- which means I finally have a pinky ring again. I've lost enough weight lately that none of my rings fit correctly, and I've been wearing my pinky rings on my ring-fingers, stacking my ring-finger rings right on top of them (so two rings on each my right and left ring-fingers). My thumb rings used to fit on my thumbs, my first fingers, and my middle fingers. Now they're squished flatter just to barely stay on my thumb or first finger, and they're way too big for my middle fingers.

And at Gulf Wars, on the drive out to the event, I noticed I was able to pull my green slacks over my hips without even undoing the button fly. When I bought the pants, they were tight. Then the zipper failed (bad construction, not because I popped the zipper), and so I replaced it with five buttons. They've always been snug, then I was able to pull the pants off without unbuttoning them. I just pulled them out of the closet this morning, and they were still buttoned from the laundry from Gulf Wars. So I was curious, could I just pull them on without unbuttoning them? Yup. I still can. I'm back down to within less than a pound of my lowest weight so far, and I'm incredibly pleased. Of course, soon I'll have to start taking all my pants in again, and I'll have to add another notch on my belt or buy a new belt. I'm on my last notch, and I'm contemplating cutting some of the excess leather off the end of the belt. I've been faithfully walking with Meala every Monday for two weeks now, and that's fitting nicely into my schedule.

And I've come up with a new hair trick I really like: I've been curling my white streak this week, when I was dressing up for Passover, and I just adore the effect. It's nice to feel good about how I look. It's definitely adding a bounce to my step.

Well, off to work I go. Tonight I'm not sure if I have any plans, other than to pack for the weekend. Tomorrow is an Anniversary tournament east of here, Sunday is Easter with the family around early afternoon, and Sunday evening is Passover Seder with the larger SCA community throughout the Kingdom. Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Amy, Lisa, and Catherine -- I've missed spending time with you, and it was lovely to see you each again on Thursday.

PS: I finally remembered to update the side bar with the temperature outside, my car's odometer, my weight loss, etc. Sheesh, it had been a month since I'd updated the side bar!