Flying updates...

[ysabet]

Lessee, in no particular order:

1.  I'm still alive, despite stress from work, family and other elements attempting to murder me.  Yay, alive!

2.  Blessings upon my friend Sarah for lending me her sewing machine last night; after a brief revival, mine has totally and completely died.  When I can afford it I'll see if it's revivable, but right now,

Comments

[dqbunny]

*squish* I've not been using my sewing machine much lately and I'm not in a position money-wise to be sewing anything any time in the next month or so. If you'd like, next time I meander toward Tucson, I can lend you my machine.

[ysabet]

Mucho thankees; but no, after The State of Ysabet's Bank Account gets somewhat caught up I'm gonna take my ancient Singer in and get it fixed. I don't think it's anything major, probably just new belts and a serious cleaning-job-- it tends to spit bobbin-thread out like a tentacle monster, and it starts smelling like burning dust after you use it for more than a few minutes.

And I know what you mean about how much sewing can cost; I just went through my fabric stash in a big way and yanked out stuff I'd forgotten I had. I did buy a length of beautiful brown linen/poly and some polar fleece, both at serious sale-prices; that's it for new fabric buys for now. Just too bloody costly!

[dqbunny]

My new fabric buys will definitely come after the war. I just pray it's mostly warm for the day I daytrip, because I never did get around to making any sort of cloak or anything like that. I'm hoping to take the pattern making and measuring classes that are being offered the day I'm out there. *crosses fingers*

[ytak]

My suggestion: sweet potatoes. But, that's probably because I'm pretty much addicted to them right now.

Hops sound awesome. Are they hard to grow?

[ysabet]

Oooh. I absolutely LOVE sweet potatos! I might even have some already growing, because every time a potato gets sprouty I stick it in one of a couple of huge pots in my backyard, and some of 'em are coming up right now. Not sure what kind of potatos they are... >_>

Hops are lovely; pretty vines, beautifully-shaped leaves... I managed to get 'em to grow here in AZ, so I think they'll grow just about anywhere. They need a trellis or fence and some shade from the sun. When they bloom, the flowers are clumped like wisteria and sort of a mix of tawny brown/reddish/greenish; they're sticky, and the stickiness is the stuff needed in beer to make it tasty and aromatic. I dearly, dearly love the smell of hops-- it's kind of bitter and penetrating and tangy and green.

You can find rootstock and seeds for just about ANYTHING you want from http://www.richters.com/. Amazing site with amazing stuff!

[ytak]

I don't know if sweet potatoes start to sprout like that. From what I've read, they aren't really a potato (don't shoot out new sprouts from eyes) and they are not yams (an entirely different species). They are actually part of the same family as the morning glory. ^_^ Still, you ought to dig up a few of those potatoes and enjoy them. ^__^ My favorite way to eat a sweet potato is put a little brown sugar on it and mash it all up.

Then you should grow them. Sounds like you really liked growing them before. That means you should do it again.

Ooooo, lots of nice plants. Looks like an excellent place to get seeds from. I'm considering growing stevia as an alternative to sugar for sweetening. My aunt and uncle like to use it.

[ysabet]

I tried growing that out here once, only I couldn't keep it alive after it got too hot; It's almost a succulent (not quite that moist) and likes cooler air and a damper climate than Arizona, I think.

Damn... Richter's won't ship hops-rootstock to the US anymore. Wonder why?

[johannes_sca]

Sam Vimes?? Thank you! Would never had made that comparison.
I too am pulling hair out getting ready for war, and you know how difficult that is for me to do. :)

Looking forward to seeing you at war. I will set up your tent as far from the road as I can get it to you won't have as much traffic noise keeping you awake at night.

Johannes

[ysabet]

BLESS YOU. **salutes** We'll find you a copper badge!

[lil_1337]

If John is Sam Vimes then I should be a rich duchess. Damn! Why is that not true?

*hugs and cuddles you* Stress is not good and you need to take care of yourself.

[ysabet]

^__^ Actively working on that, I promise. Today, however, has been very weird. I'm doing the OMG-I-Only-Have-FridayMonday&Tuesday-To-Get-All-This-Shit-Done Dance, and the VERY first thing I picked up this morning from the fax machine was a suicide note. It had been faxed in to go along with an incident report I'd already received, but they sent it with no cover sheet or name on it, and the person who wrote it didn't sign it. CRIPTIC SUICIDE NOTE OH NOES AAAIIIIEEEE!!! Fortunately, I figured it out. But yes, that was rather a freakish way to begin my day. o_O

[lil_1337]

Eeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk not a good way to start off the day or end the week. Someone needs to learn fax etiquette.

[ysabet]

I think it was just a goof on their part, seriously. It looked like maybe (from the original fax's cover-sheet) that the fax had separated and they'd retried the last bit. But it was definitely a surreal way to begin a morning; thought for a sec there that one of my coworkers had decided on a rather novel way to, well, quit.

[candy__chan]

*huuuuugs* Adding my well-wishes to everyone else's~ Stay stress-free and happy!

[ysabet]

**hugs back** You too! Oooh, cute icon!