Author: Jennifer Kuntz

There are five of them in the library right now, two female and three males. The males are alternately making short charges at the females one at a time, then wheeling around to regroup and concealing themselves behind the library furniture and peering out behind and under it at the females. The males are also making a soft surussus among themselves and calling out to the females with a cry of “Do-you-have-a-brother?”. The females started out by feigning indifference, but have changed their position to bring them closer to the males. There was some mutual admiration of backpacks. The encounter ended when the females withdrew from the area in response to a call from an adult. The males have returned to a homework behavior.

Total encounter time 23 minutes.

Feeling much better after my “sanity day” yesterday. And tiernen was extra-nice to me too. He’s such a sweetie. I cleaned up the papers in the bedroom (well most of them) and dusted. I watched some Arrested Development on DVD. Then I went to Girl Scouts and then to FSU for a workshop on storytelling for some lateral entry teaching students.

I’m mostly ready to be back at work. Lots of paperwork to catch up on. My only nagging thing right now is that I can’t find my 3 hole punch at home. I wanted to put tiernen‘s papers into nifty binders for him and I wasn’t able to do so. I’ll keep looking.

Gosh.

Everything is peeving me today. I think it may be PMS or tiredness/run down from long weeks of work with little time off.

I’m having bad dreams about tiernen leaving me for other women. I’m snappish and irrate. I feel like things are looming over my head and I can’t get out from under them. I’m going to try and take tomorrow off as a sanity day. Maybe if I stay home and clean up and do something constructive I’ll feel more able to handle things (and I won’t make Tiernen late for work for at least one day) and less prone to yelling at people.

Now I just have to get through to the boss and tell her.

*SIGH*

Also, we are planning on going up to PA this weekend to see the mom and hopefully the friends as well. It’s a lot of driving, and it may be a trip we’ll be making again soon, but Tom’s mom asked him to come up, and you just can’t say “No” to a request like that.

Hope everyone else is having a better day than me.

Fun SCA meeting last night. We went out for Coldstone ice cream after and stood around talking in the parking lot for a long time, as they say, Time flies…

I’m going to try and get all of the Gold Key stuff in various stages of repair together for fighter practice this week so we can inventory it and decide what to do with everything. Hopefully Saturday evening. *crosses fingers*

Hey LJ’ers. tiernen has abandoned us for Kings of Chaos. How DARE he! Let’s talk about him until he is compelled by the buzzing in his ears and the itching of his nose to come back to us.

I’ll start. Did you know he’s been in the SCA for almost 15 years and still doesn’t have his AoA or anything. He’s not one to toot his own horn, and tooting on my part is viewed as partisan tooting, so I’ll be partisan. Here’s a list of his many accomplishments:
–Atlantian rapier marshal and deputy to his Canton’s Knights’ Marshal
–Deputy Seneschal for Canton of Attilium
–Has taught 6 rapier fighters from Attilium who have subsequently gone on to authorize in the past two years.
–Maintains, mends and replaces the Canton of Attilium loaner fencing gear
–Helps out setting up tents and carrying loads at almost every event he goes to
–MIC’s for Rapier at Attilium demos
–Marshals for rapier at Baronial demos, and fights as well at these demos
–Acted as deputy seneschal and deputy chatelaine for the Western cadet branch of the Barony of St. Swithin’s Bog in Aethemearc
–Assisted with Pennsic Land Grab for St. Swithin’s Bog in 1998 (the actual Land Grab official was a one-legged guy, you see, and he had trouble getting around by himself, so Tiernen went along in an unofficial capacity to help out…there’s more to the story, but it needs to be told in person)

Like I said, he’s too modest to go around telling everyone about all this stuff. But he’s active and responsible and deserves a little recognition, don’t you think? A great holiday gift for him (he won’t get it until the spring, but it’s the thought that counts) would be to take a minute and write in to Their Atlantian Majesties an recommend Tiernen for his AoA.

Ok, who’s next? Say something. Bring Tiernen back to LJ.

The guy they have gotten to play Krum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is quite the hottie.  I think he looks like someone we know.
Any guesses?

Girl Scouts were interesting last night. We had them “help” us set up our Turkish style tent and then did some show and tell with some cool Mongolian things on loan from Rebecca (thanks Rebecca). This quickly got chaotic as everyone wanted to try on the clothes and hats and boots, they kept taking things and running off, or just running, and SCREAMING. We pulled everyone back in and the Jr’s did a worksheet on symbols while the Brownies did some stretching exercises. Then we played buddy tag, then (mercifully) everyone went home. I’m trying to locate the source of the problem with this group. Having the Brownies and the Juniors together doesn’t work very well, there are behavior issues in both groups and a real problem with not listening. The Juniors don’t work well together, there is a strong clique of older girls, and there is a division in the group by age and maturity. The older girls are hard to motivate and engage, but will stay with a project longer once they are engaged. The younger girls are more willing to try things, but suffer from an extreme lack of focus. They tend to wander off unless things are constantly happening. We need to do more active games and interesting activities, but they are SO bad at following directions I’m afraid someone will get hurt. Maybe we need to do some team building with them before we work further on any badges. I don’t so much want to force them to be friends, just to get to know one another and work more as a team.

Gotta think positive!

The week of stuff concluded with minimal loss of life and sanity all around. I missed Girl Scouts on Tuesday due to the Problem Child at work (note to self: no more favors after 3 PM on Tuesdays, not nobody, not nohow) needing a ride. Yes, I know I’m a marshmallow. Performance review time is coming up and I expect to burst into drippy, gooey, molten flaming wrath on her objectives for next year. Payback is a-coming and it’s riding a mean horse.

I’ve been too mean to tiernen lately. I know it’s mostly stress and aggravation from things not his fault. He just catches the shrapnel more than everyone else, because I can avoid them when they piss me off and divert or blow up in private. He has to go home with snarly ol’ me.

Really what I need is for all of the programs and etc. at work to be over so I can take a little break without feeling too guilty for skipping work. It seems to me like everyone else (with very notable exceptions) I work with suffer absolutely no pangs of conscience when they take half a month off of work. I always feel like I should be helping out and being involved in what is going on at work. Granted when I actually do take the time off, I rarely give work a thought while I’m gone. It’s just a matter of summoning up the gumption to schedule myself for a week off. Really, it’s ridiculous.

On the Tom’s mom front, no change. We’re still waiting to hear from Mike what they decide to do with her.

On the positive side, my grandfather’s 88th birthday is Wednesday. Happy A-day Mr. B.

Dat’s it fer now.

I am bored. Working on the weekend sucks. 1 1/2 hours left and no relief in sight. *sigh*

So Tom talked with his bro a couple of times yesterday. Mom is not better. The mass in her lung has gotten bigger. Whenever they take her off her oxygen mask, her blood oxygen level drops and she starts to suffocate. The doctors want to do more tests and we should know more on Monday. They are talking about sending her to Hospice, managing her pain and just waiting. She has a living will forbidding heroic measures.

We’re trying to decide who should go up and when they should go. This decision is complicated by work committments, available time off (or lack thereof) and the fact that we have one vehicle for the two of us. We’re trying to make the best decisions we can, but it’s not easy.