Woodburning and Pai Sho

Last Sunday I bought a new toy. I've been having a bit of fun with my new wood burner. I've only done a bit of practicing so far to figure out how a few of the 11 tips work. I'm loving it. I've already ordered the 108 blank round wood discs I will need to make Pai Sho pieces. For those of you who don't know, Pai Sho is a fictional game played by the characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender (an American animated T.V. series). From the various screen shots and in series use of the game several fans have worked out some playable rules for Pai Sho. I've been following the progress on creating the (unofficial) variations of the game and really want to play it for myself. So the plan is to make a set of the tiles and a travel board (either laminated paper or maybe an imprinted/burned/embossed animal hide) at first. Eventually I plan on making an actual Pai Sho table - I figure it would function as a pretty coffee table when not in use for games.

I've also been looking at making a piecepack (follow the link to learn more). A piecepack is the following set of game pieces:
24 tiles (square):
one tile per suit/value pair
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (but I've seen different suits and plan on making a themed piecepack)
values are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
faces are marked with value at center and a small suit symbol at top-left, both in color to match suit
backs are marked with small black crosses to suggest a division into four square quarters

24 coins (round):
one tile per suit/value pair
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (again, I'm planning on using a theme set of suits)
values are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
faces are marked with value in black (aces are spiral symbols)
backs are marked with suit in appropriate color
both fronts and backs are marked with a small mark near the edge to indicate direction

4 dice (cubic):
one die per suit
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (I'll be changing the suits to fit my theme)
values on each die are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
die sides are marked with value in color to match suit

4 pawns (non-specific shape):
one pawn per color (I'm thinking 2 male and 2 female pawn people)

So I need to figure out what theme to use.
Theme: Possible Suits
Star Wars: Imperial Cog, Rebel Alliance Symbol, Mythosaur skull (symbol of the Mand'alor), Sith Symbol, Jedi Symbol - I think the only issue with this one would be picking which four symbols to use
Avatar - The Last Airbender: Earth, Water, Air, Fire - this one was easy
Harry Potter: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw (might have to save this for a House Cup project)
Firefly: Hands of Blue (blue), Brown Coat(brown), Wash's Dinos (orange), Vera (silver), cupcake dress (pink)
The fandom list goes on...

Also I am currently reading The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny - which includes all 10 books in the Amber Chronicles, because a friend of mine recommended it. I've already finished book one and am definitely enjoying it.

Into The Mix

My In-Laws were able to visit over the weekend. We enjoyed some wonderful time with them. While they were here, we went bowling, shopping, watched Thor, took a walking tour of Riverfront park, and played, Rummikub (I think we had equal wins on this one over the last few days), Hand & Foot (Mum & Bevan stomped Dad & I in the first game, but the second two games were ours: overall scores for all 3 games M&B - 31105 D&I - 33750 making it a 2645 point spread, rather close point spread for Hand and Foot), and Jenga (I lost 2 games before we all decided to play something that didn't end so loudly). We also enjoyed some good food while they were here:

• Winger's Grill & Bar - First time we'd eaten here. I had the blackened chicken alfredo - delicious with a bit of a kick. That atmosphere was nice (once you tuned out the screaming toddler at the next table). The waitress was on top of things (despite her co-worker sticking a bar code tag on her shirt). Doesn't make the top list of places I've eaten, but it's no where near the bottom.
• P.F. Chang's (my favorite Chinese restaurant) - I love the chicken lettuce wraps (I've found a recipe I plan on trying at home sometime soon). All their food is always delicious. Even tried Wok-Seared Lamb, a dish I hadn't had before. It was delicious. We ordered several dishes to share: Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Crispy Honey Shrimp, Beef With Broccoli, Wok-Seared Lamb, and P.F. Chang's Pork Fried Rice. This dinner was to celebrate both Mother's Day (belated) and Father's Day (early) with my In-Laws. We had a blast.
• David's Pizza - After walking around Riverfront Park - we stopped in for lunch. David's Pizza was delicious as always.
• Raclette - This one took place at our home and involves a Raclette plate in the middle of our coffee table, roast potatoes, various dipping sauces, cubed steak, diced brats, shrimp, onion, green/yellow/red pepper, and a Raclette cheese substitute (I still haven't found a local place that sells Raclette cheese). The potatoes are cooked before hand while everything else is cooked/melted on the Raclette plate. It's a fun social dinner and basically works like a main course fondue.

It was a great visit, too short, but lots of fun. I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with them. My Father-In-Law even brought my mixer (a Christmas gift from a few years back) as his carry-on on the plane. I received the mixer as a gift from my Mum & Dad (Mum & Dad = In-Laws, Mom & Dad = my parents) the Christmas before we left Madison. As where and when to move was up in the air at that point, we decided it would be better to leave the mixer at their house and they would get it to us once we settled in. Since I didn't have my own kitchen until about 2 months ago, I hadn't needed the mixer until now. It was like Christmas all over again. I was so excited that I would finally get to use my beautiful red mixer! And I had just the recipe to break it in.

You see, I've had bananas ripening on the counter for a while, and I'm sure my husband will be very happy to see that they have now been used. So I glanced over my cookbooks and decided that the simplest banana bread recipe would probably be in the cookbook that was my absolute favorite to cook from as a child, Alpha-Bakery. Sure enough, there was the easy recipe I remember for Banana Bread.




This cookbook is geared towards kids, but I still love the monkey picture.


All the ingredients minus the eggs that I forgot to pull out for the picture.


I took a picture of each ingredient as I added it (but decided that I didn't really need to overload you by posting all 100ish pictures). Side note: It's amazing how many pictures I can take in a short time when not limited by the 24 picture film that we used to use.

I also realized that I needed to pay better attention to which measuring cup I used, as I realized after adding in the vegetable oil that I had put in 3 1/2 cups instead of 3 1/4 cups. Luckily, I hadn't mixed the ingredients together yet and was able to pull out the 3/4 cup extra I had added.


The batter looks much better in this picture then it did when it was just sugar, eggs, oil, and banana.


Time to start baking.


Now I remember why Mom makes mini-muffins instead of loaves. They cook in half the time. But it was worth it.



Yummy banana bread!

Accomplished Kitty

[Warning: Post contains potty training content.]

So I have an ongoing joke with my Mother that my cat, Kaylee will be potty trained before my 2 year old brother is. They are both currently potty training, I'm pretty sure that my little brother is ahead, but I am very proud of my little Kaylee. She's had peeing in the toilet down since day two of the reinstatement of the Litter Kwitter (we had tried it when she was a kitten, but stopped when company visited and never restarted), but getting her to poop in the toilet has been a challenge. Friday the 13th of May she had her first successful day of full usage of the toilet. Then she went right back to her normal routine until today, when she managed her second success. This step will come a bit slower as I basically have to catch her preparing to squat and quickly move her to the toilet (this method only works well when I am home all day - for obvious reasons). She used to be a morning girl like clock work - so I had assumed (bad idea) that she would maintain her schedule and make the process easy. She has sense hit the random button on her internal clock and I can only guess when it might be time. Still, I am confident that she will master this step - thus eliminating the need for kitty litter from our home. She is a very smart cat (she taught herself fetch at a young age and will sit or stand on her back paws on command). So with lots of love, praise, and kitty treats we will conquer this phase and move away from smelly litter boxes.

8 years... of geek love.

So eight years ago today, the love of my life told me he thought he was falling in love with me. It all started ten days earlier when he accepted a dare one of his online friends had given him 'talk to the next girl to enter the thread'. The next girl happened to be me and we hit it off. Of all the places to find a guy, I never expected to find mine on a Star Wars message board because of a dare. So I have Star Wars (my Dad and a high school buddy for getting me hooked), Brandyn (for the dare), and theforce.net (for providing the virtual location) to thank for bringing my love and I together. There aren't many places an Aussie living in Colorado can meet a geeky girl living in Washington.

We celebrated our dating anniversary with a yummy breakfast (waffles, eggs, and bacon), dinner at Red Robin (first date recreation) and will be catching the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This will be the second time we've seen a midnight movie premier to celebrate our dating (the other movie was Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith). My husband got me geeky gifts: The Wildlife of Star Wars - A Field Guide [It has Tauntauns!!! So excited about my costume!] and Munchkin Zombies [Mmmmm... I love him for his braaains...]. Bevan is awesome! He knows just what to get his lovely geek. I'm looking forward to watching his gift with him: Fullmetal Alchemist - Brotherhood - Part 3 & 4 (goes nicely with the Fullmetal Alchemist pocket watch I got him a few years back).

I've been playing LEGO Pirates lately and have to say I am loving it. There is a nice little addictively cute quality to the games (did I mention I've unlocked all the characters and am well on my way to 100% completion?). I think my favorite part is getting to listen to the awesome Pirates music while I play. There is just something about the score that sucks me in. Love it!

Well, I'm off to the theatre.

EDIT: The threatre wasn't as packed as I thought it would be and only three people attended in costume (if it hadn't been a spur of the moment thing I totally would have decked myself out and grabbed my jar of dirt). The movie was fun though! I enjoyed it. Jack made me laugh as usual. The mermaids were freaky and I want to know what happened to Phillip. My one complaint - the 3d glasses made some of the fights scenes blurry. Other than that, I won't comment - I'd rather not spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie. I still <3 me Pirates!

My Novel

Last November I participated in NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month takes place each November. Those who accept the challenge begin writing on November 1st with a goal of writing 50,000 words in their novel before the clock strikes midnight on November 30th. It was a very fun month long event and I managed to clock 50,159 words by the end of November, but my novel was no where near complete. I even participated in a few of the write-ins where I met local people crazy enough to also be attempting to reach 50k. So last November was a great start to get the novel idea that I've had for years onto my computer screen. My thought was to take the first 2 weeks of December off and then get back to writing. So I took the first two weeks of December off and then my appendix decided it should no longer be in my body. Surgery, complications, and then the healing process all ended up used as excuses for not touching my novel. February was consumed with house hunting (hubby and I were pre-approved only to find out that no banks would lend to us due to the short sale we had in early 2009 - so we need to wait another year and a few months before they lend) and then apartment hunting. March was consumed with packing, moving, unpacking, and building shelving. So that takes me up to now. I am finally looking at my novel again.

I challenged my friend to a writing duel. Each week we will earn points for our new word count, edited word count, reading each others works, and critiquing each other. At the end of the month we will tally our points to determine the winner for the month. So the past few days have had me organizing my novel onto a private blog I will use just for that. 'Why do you need to organize it?' you might be asking yourself and the answer would be: My brain does not like to write chronologically. I write part of one scene and then bounce off to the next. So if my novel were a puzzle, all you would see currently would be a couple pieces connected here, a loose piece or two over there, another piece over there, and maybe a few edge pieces and I'm the only one with the ability to see the picture on the box. So the reader of my work so far may find themselves very confused. If you don't mind confusing, little plot holes, big plot gaps, and much of the story to be filled in later - you can request a link to read my in-progress novel. If the thought of gaps and randomness fills you with fear, it is best to wait for me to complete the first draft before you lay eyes on it. The buddy that I have challenged is willing to play detective with my random pieces and so I shall be writing again. I've come to find that I thrive off of competition and love a good challenge. So hopefully this will aid in keeping me focused as I progress.

Since I am writing again, I will also open up character submission as well. For some of you, it won't come as a surprise that my main character likes to take on different personas for the various missions she completes. This is where you come in. Have you ever wanted to be a character in a novel? Now is your chance. If you fill out the following for me, I will do my best to incorporate your character into my book (either as a persona my character changes into or as a character she interacts with [such as a bounty, client, or political figure]). Once I have the scene(s) with your character written, you'll get the first sneak peak. You will also be listed in the acknowledgments of my novel.

A bit about the novel:

Genre: Science Fiction

Chamllella is a bounty hunter who travels the galaxy capturing fugitives and criminals for wealthy clients. She is a graduate of the Galactic Military Academy and has overcome many hardships in her life.

Character Sheet

Answer as much or as little as you would like about the character you want to be.

Name:

Race:

Age:

Weight and Body Type:

Hair Color and Style:

Eye Color:

Complexion and Skin Tone (all colors are possible):

Scent:

Birthmarks:

What does your character look like (can be anything from human to inventive alien species)?

Mannerisms or gestures:

Strongest personality traits:

Weakest personality traits:

Needs of the character:

Ambitions:

Favorite sayings:

Interests and hobbies:

Favorite Color:

Social Class:

Education:

Possessions this character values most:

Does your character have siblings? If so, how many?

What is your character's family life like:

Good guy, neutral, or villain?

How would your character react to stress?

How would your character react to success?

Does your character get jealous easily?

Is your character a fighter or a pacifist?

Anything else you'd really like me to know or would love for me to include?

By submitting any of the above character sheet to me, you are agreeing to allow me to use your submitted character ideas within my story in exchange for being listed in the acknowledgments should my novel be published. I have no idea if my story will ever be published [and I know that even after my draft is complete it will be in need of much polishing before sending it off to even be considered], but I'll be sure to let you know if it is.



April's Project List

My goal is to make more progress on my project list this month. It's a daunting list, but if I can knock one or two things off of it, I will feel accomplished.

Project - Status

Baby blanket for my friend's kiddo - Complete

Crocheting all my little Star Wars stuffed animals - In progress

• Wookiee - Complete
• Yoda - Waiting
• Stormtrooper - Waiting
• R2-D2 - Waiting
• Princess Leia - Waiting
• Luke Skywalker - Waiting
• Han Solo - Waiting
• Ewok - Waiting
• Darth Vader - Waiting
• C-3PO - Waiting

Make the hat Melina designed - Complete

Knitted slippers - In progress

Tauntaun costume - In progress

Hubby's Org. 13 coat - In progress

My Org. 13 coat - Planning mode

Baby blanket for my niece-to-be - In progress

Learn how to draw people better - In progress

Learning Japanese - In progress

Finish the first draft of my novel - In progress

Build Pai Sho table - Planning mode

Build White Queen's Chair - Planning mode

Build Companion Cube ottoman - Planning mode

Make Zelda's Cloak - Planning mode

Get Mom's puzzle ornament website up and running - Planning mode

Castle Crashers Costume - Complete

Top Secret Blanket Project for Bevan - In progress

Video Game Console Shelving Unit - Complete

DVD Shelving Unit - Complete

Board Game Shelves - Complete

Corner Kitchen Shelves - Complete

Project: Baby Blanket

Project: Baby Blanket for Melissa's daughter
Status: Complete
Source: Mom's ZigZag Double Crochet Pattern
Project Type: Blanket - Crochet



Finished the baby blanket for Melissa's soon-to-arrive little girl today! I'm so excited for her coming little girl and so happy to have finished this blanket. The blanket is so soft and I have just enough yarn left over that I may try to make a little teddy bear to send with it. I don't think I'd have to alter the Wookiee pattern too much to achieve the look I'd want. This blanket has been worked on off and on for a long time and it definitely shows the changes in my stitch tightness, but a lot of love went into it and I hope her little one gets many loving years out of this blanket.

My Mikey monkey kindly helped me by modeling the blanket. :) Love and miss ya bro!

Happy Pi Day!