The Sinister Scribe

It just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. *groan*

Today was one of those days. I just tried to do too much and am paying for it now. Or I will be once I pay the parking ticket.

Went to Fall RUSH today. Was supposed to be helping at the event. Almost attended the glass bead making workshop. But I was saved from another expensive hobby by my own forgetfulness… Bob’s keys and wallet were in the van and he needed them so he could leave for a business trip. So I packed the kids back into the car. (Did I mention it was pouring rain?)

Got back to the site and found our lunch buddies…. and got a parking ticket. (Did I mention I THOUGHT the handicap lot was OK to park in for this event?)  Can you say OUCH? Lunch was good, but Jessie got sick in the car. (just tired and cold) Needless to say, we didn’t go back.
So I’m off to sell some beloved books to pay for the ticket and devour some chocolate truffles that one of our wonderful RUSH crashers gave us.  Too bad there isn’t any wine in the house.

Since Bob has promised our presence at Estrella next year, the planning has begun.

I’ve worked up a beginning budget and it seems doable. If we can save $200/mo starting with July, we can do it. We can save that much IF we don’t eat out and IF we adhere to a strict grocery budget. I’m thinking of putting one of those thermometer icons on the fridge showing our goal and how much we’ve saved. LOL!

One of the things included in the budget is a tent. Midwest Tent has a Norman wedge for a doable price. We’d still have to do the supports ourselves but buying the tent from them is about as much as it would cost for the treated canvas. MTs tent won’t be available for order until September though. I also need to ask them if it can be set up like the viking tent here.

I keep seeing reference to experienced folk saying it is cheaper to make the tent cloth yourself but I am just not seeing that. The Sunforger treated canvas is $5 - $7 per yard and the place I found it at $5/yard had a 50 yard minimum. If I calculated correctly (12.5 oz per yard times 50 yards is 625 ounces) it should weight about 30 pounds. So say $50 for shipping and $250 for fabric. $300-ish. The Viking/Norman wedge at Midwest tent is $370. Hmmm… $70 more and someone else does the sewing with two colors of fabric no less. Me likey! There is however, Highland Tents, that is having a sale on SF flame-retardant canvas for $5.85/yard. Twenty yards of that with shipping should be around $200 but then I’d have to sew it. *sigh* Much to think about…

And much to do. Bob and I need more garb. Hmmm… need to add some money to the budget for fabric. Sam will need garb too. Jessie is set thanks to a good friend with a daughter a little older than she is.
Then there is shoes. For Bob and I at least. Maybe the kids. This could wait if budget demands but it would be nice to be able to make them. I found a medieval shoe list and am waiting for my first post to be approved.
Last, but not least, there is Eilidh’s AoA scroll and a few other scribey things. I need to get them done so that they can be delivered at Estrella. I’m going to have to alternate sewing with scribing I think. ‘Course all this means that Queen’s Prize and the Beekeeping classes will have to wait until 2009.

Yawn. Back to the present. I need to finish packing Bob’s lunch and get to bed. Sam has packed his since he goes to a day camp for the next 2 weeks. It starts at 8:30 a.m. so he’ll be getting up earlier which is good. Right after camp we go back to our serious homeschooling schedule.

We did it! Our first overnight camping trip in years.
We arrived Friday evening in time to see the fireworks. It was really hot still and we pretty much just climbed onto (not into) our sleeping bags once camp was set. I was very itchy and worried that I wouldn’t make it through the night but a Benedryl helped a lot.

Next morning came way too early but we managed. Bob made a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham, coffee and tea. It was greedily consumed!

The day quickly became hot and much of it was spent trying to escape that. My linen coif was usually wet. I need to make several so that I have a clean one for each day and a spare for court if necessary. The lake was a blessing and a curse. It did make the heat more bearable but it also made sunburn inevitable. None of us weren’t burned too badly. We kept applying sunblock but the water would quickly wash it away.

Both Sam and Jessie did very well in their first lake swim. The all the swim area was about shoulder height on Sam. At one point he was being tossed in the air (flipping too) and came up with a big grin. Maybe instead of swim lessons, we just need to go to more lakeside wars? Jessie was not sure about the squishy mud at first, but soon discovered it made great mud pies.

By late afternoon we were all overheated. Sam was looking kinda bad so we decided to pack it up. We were really hoping to make it to court and the heraldic display competition (This is what those tabbards were for) but didn’t think we could make it. As it turned out, we were packed up just in time to make it to the 6:30 p.m. judging line-up. So we made it to that and left right after.

I feel bad for not usually being able to make it to court. I like to see who gets recognized for what. I still don’t know if Amlesmore won the heraldic display competition! But right not it is just not possible (or pleasant).

So we’re home now, recovering. Planning what we’ll do different for next year at Lilies.