D&D and SCA

Learning to be a dungeon master has been a mixture of fun and frustration.  There are only two more days after today that we will be having the club.  Today my group was down by two players and the ones that were left made some decisions that surprised me.  None of them are dead yet though.

There is a letter that my daughter and I need to write in order to be officially considered for the positions of Baroness and Baron(ess) of our local SCA group.  K wrote a draft today and I edited it and added more detail to the information in there.  Getting that first part done is my happy for today.  The letter may still get some revisions but the majority is done and we have time to sit on it for a few days and then edit it with fresh eyes later.

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Happy Mother's Day

This morning we waited for close to 2 hours just for a table for breakfast.  Tucker's is a very popular place.  Gideon and I walked around the block once while waiting and than I did it again before we sat down inside and waited a bit more.  Breakfast was great, I could have made a better choice, but it was all good.  After that I had a mostly relaxing day at home while the rest of the family went off to be with Z's family.  I chose not to go with them so I could work on Dungeons and Dragons for tomorrow's after school club.  C called for Mother's Day and gave me some ideas for the D&D game too.  It was a happy and relaxed day.

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A Wedding Day

Umbrellas were up as guests made their way to damp seats late this afternoon.  While the Bride and her procession prepared themselves the drizzle that had brought a chill to this outdoor wedding stopped and the umbrellas closed.  The energy of the day kept us warm as her father walked her up the stone path to join the Groom.  They exchanged vows under a canopy of young leaves with spring blossoms adding color to the landscape.

Then the party started and a good time was had by all.  The wedding, time with friends-old and new- and dancing the night away are my happy things for today.

🌹  ☮  🌹

Happy Friday

Once I was past the initial new job fear of becoming a para educator, I feel I was more enthusiastic? energetic?  I am not sure of the word I am searching for.  Let me just say that I looked forward to the day more then than I seem to be now.  It isn't that I don't like the job anymore, or that I am burnt out, more that I am worn down a bit.  I am completely understanding reasons for having so many breaks and a long time off in the summer.  It has been a very long time prior to this job that I have had one with traditional weekends and now that I have one, I look forward to the weekends.  The students heightened levels of anxiety and excitement leading up to the weekends is perhaps contagious.  Or their behavior deteriorates so much as the weekends get closer that the adults just really need the break.  When I home schooled my kids, I don't remember wanting the weekend like this.  Motherhood doesn't pause the same way that public education does though.

Although I am happy that today marks the beginning of the weekend, my happy for today is that I have actually made my step count 4 of the last 5 days this week.  It has been a while since I have done that.  My weekly step goal has been met thanks to a day with over 17,000 steps.  Hopefully I will be able to keep this activity level up.

The camera looking straight up this morning.

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Shopping

It is almost a given that when I go shopping for clothes, I eventually feel that I would have been more productive had I stayed home and sewed what I wanted.  I think I have everything to sew a dress I want,  but I didn't.  So after work and this evening my daughter, K,  & I went shopping for something to wear to a wedding this weekend.  It took quite some time and eventually she found something, I did not.  There is a back up plan.  Time spent with K is my happy for today.

Buds and leaves of spring color

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Endurance

In Science class the students are preparing to make terrariums.  There is a trail by the school that leads to a nature's classroom area with some benches and such to use.  We went there today and the students collected some items for the terrariums.  I went back and forth to the area 5 times and actually had my step count reached before leaving school today.  That doesn't tend to happen very often.  It is a scenic area by a pond, perfect for studying ecosystems.

During school my daughter sent me some text messages, which is rather unusual, and one contained information about a speaker at the library today.  The speaker, Jennifer Pharr Davis, recently released a book and this was a promotion of the book.  It was an engaging and entertaining presentation about her hikes and life experiences on the AT as well as other places all over the world.  I chose to head home after rather than wait in line to speak with her.  I really didn't have any questions and chose not to buy the book tonight.  I hope to find it, or one of her other books, at the library or through Audible at another time.  Watching the presentation is my happy for today.

It was a beautiful evening too.

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Watery Coloring

For cooking club today after school we made a chicken and rice dish in an Instant Pot. An Instant Pot is like an electronic pressure cooker.  The food was good and came out really well.  It has been a while since I have used my regular stove top pressure cooker.  From what I can tell from an internet search there is no cooking time difference between a regular pressure cooker and the Instant Pot.  The difference is with the safety of the Instant Pot and that it would not need as much attention.  The Instant Pot can also be used as a slow cooker so there theoretically could be less appliances in the kitchen.  

After work I met a friend at the library for Coloring Night.  The person who seemed to organized it set us up with a water brush (similar to this) and these

to use like water colors.  This is what I color/painted with that product:

As soon as I started the background I knew it was a mistake.  It would have looked better with just the white background.  Before injuring my hand I had a coloring book I was using.  It is around here somewhere and I hope to find it.

When this was finished with the cats I started going through a large pile of other coloring options.  I decided to try the watercolor pencils this time.  I wasn't sure if I would like them or not so I started by using them as pencils and then sat back and looked at it before using the water brush.  I ended up really liking how the colors blended.  I didn't think to take a before picture, but here is the result:

I ran out of time and didn't get the wagon wheel or post colored at all.  They kind of work well with the black and white tones though.  Coloring with a friend is my happy for today.

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