Arontius of Bygelswade

.....TBT's preparation for Christmas? Finishing the hard wood floors enough to be able to put up the Christmas Tree. Even as I type the air nailer is going 'Pop', 'Pop', 'Pop'. :-)

.....The presents have been purchased for the most part. The Rhys Monster is going to have a pretty good Christmas. :-) Just a couple left to get, primarily for Mom. TBT and I went out into the world first thing this morning to brave the crowds, and found Silverdale to be still rather navigable at 1000. Costco already had a line of people at the door, but the usual frenetic pace was not yet in place. The crowds were still polite at Target when we buzzed through there.

.....However, when the Rhys Monster finally made it out of bed and dressed, and we hit the shopping trail, things were not so friendly! Traffic was much more intense and the crowds much less polite. But we still managed to get everything done within a couple of hours. JoAnn's was relatively easy, although the Rhys Monster was rather disappointed as JoAnn's has obviously been picked over hard by the holiday shoppers. He had to do some major searching to find things he wanted to get. Target was a little easier for him, as was Cost Plus. But I think a lesson has been learned. Either shop earlier, or shop the Internet. :-)

.....Kharma is not a nice creature. I waited until almost the last minute to use our Vision Insurance for 2011. I have needed new glasses for a while now. I'm getting really tired of squinting at everything, even with my glasses in place. :-) There are only a handful of Optometrists in Kitsap County who accept our insurance in the first place, and only one who had something available in the next week. Guess where that was? Yup, WalMart. I will be forced to enter the Proverbial Den of Evil tomorrow at 1PM, in Poulsbo. Sigh! Oh, well, it was my own fault.

.....Yesterday was a trip to Seattle, to places we had been wanting to go for a while and just never had time to do. Madrun went along with us. Pike Place was the first stop. I love the feeling of Pike Place, and all the variety. Many eclectic little shops everywhere. Maybe a few less seeing how we're in mid-Winter versus Summer.

.....There was one shop that was an artists' Co-Op store, where art work made by individual artists was sold in one place. TBT could immediately see a venue for some of the things she creates. Like the little creatures she puts together for Christmas every year. It would be interesting to see how much she could charge for some of the things she makes. As Madrun reminded me, artists rarely get paid even a minimum wage for the artwork they create, unless they are either creating unique pieces, or creating mass pieces for a commercial market.

.....I was somewhat sad to see that Shark-In-The-Morning has left Pike Place. It was always a good place to go and put your hands on all the unusual instruments of the world that you heard and read, but had never actually seen in person. I never bought anything from them as they were always outrageously expensive, which is probably why they got rid of their storefront and went primarily internet.

.....Went to one of Madrun's favorite book stores on Capitol Hill where I promptly became engrossed in a couple of books of Arthurian Legends and scholarly interpretations of the meanings involved. Very inspiring actually. Lots of good ideas.

.....Next stop was an Import store and apothecary. Primarily Asian merchandize. There was a carpet bag there of monstrous size that, had it been made out of some other material and not been $250, would have made a great armor bag. :-) But I was thinking that it would make a good instrument bag as well as it was compartmentalized to a degree. And looked rather cool. But $250 was a bit more than I wanted to pay.

.....Ran down to Freemont as I wanted to visit Dusty Strings. But I couldn't find parking to save my life, and we were starting to get hungry. So we ran off to have late lunch. Met Countee E. and Cire at Zoopa's in Tukwilla. Lots of good conversation over how things have been going in Dragon's Laire and Madrone. I continually find it amazing how culturally different Dragon's Laire is from Madrone, even though we are so close to each other geographically. Not better or worse or anything, just different.

.....Traded good advice. Vented on our current frustrations. There are things that can't be 'fixed,' in reality and so must be tolerated gracefully, even if they are frustrating. :-)

.....Spent a couple of hours there and hit the road in a hurry when we realized it was already 4PM and the commute was starting to hit full swing. As it was we had to sit through a couple of good back-ups. Which was a good reminder that Kitsap County traffic is not necessarily that bad really.

.....Tomorrow I have some errands to run in the morning, then my eye appointment at 1PM. But I'd sure like to get a few things struck from my 'to-do' List of Doom.

.....New Cell Phones are finally starting to hit the PRZ (Probable Reality Zone). Costco has some nice discounted plans, through Sprint. There are even a couple of phone that we liked, which we had the opportunity to pick up and feel at Target today. Now we just have to make that one last step and make the deal happen. For me the only part I don't like is the renewal of a two year commitment. I would rather have gone the direction of Ralph and a cheaper version of pay as you go. But I could never fall in love with the phones available or other features.

.....Turkey AND Salmon on the Christmas Eve dinner menu. :-) I love holiday roast turkey. With a fifteen pound bird, there might even be some leftovers for turkey sandwiches for a few days afterwards as well. :-)

.....Hmmm, now I'm hungry. Time to find something on which to nibble.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....Wow! I love Seattle! :-)

.....I had a whole list of things I was SUPPOSED to do today. But in the end I ended up bagging that list. There are just too many cool things to do in Seattle. And it is vacation for the next two weeks, so I convinced myself to just BE for a day. :-)

.....I DID manage to clean up after myself this morning. Did dishes. Put away the pile o'stuff that I drug over to the beloved Laurellen's house last night. Answered some e-mail. Then I lounged on the couch and napped for a while. It felt good. :-)

.....Around about noon, I decided it was time to get out and DO SOMETHING. So I went to the Goodwill store by I-5, a favorite haunt of mine. After finding myself with an armload of books I decided that I needed to get out of there. :-) Then I went and did something TRULY dangerous. I went to Dusty Strings in Freemont. Wow! Talk about drool city! I LOVE their harps. Their sound is just exquisite! And the shape is truly wondrous and feels perfect in the hands. The curves are almost as sumptuous as Laurellen herself, and the softness almost as mesmerizing. I had to tear myself away before I did something stupid and spent some money that I need to spend on other things. :-) Thankfully, Dusty Strings did not have what I was really looking to see, a set of shawms. I was in there about a year ago and they had a really nice set at a good price and I wanted to take a look at the alto. I've really wanted an Alto Crumhorn, but the price of a decent one is just outrageous and I just can't bring myself to buy a plastic one.

.....After waking up from the daze of Dusty Strings I wandered Freemont a while (I'd live there if I could :-)). Then I finally convinced myself that I needed to get a few things done before the day was totally spent. I went back into Burien and did some shopping at Trader Joes and then Fred Meyers. Was able to find everything that was needed. Then had lunch at a good Mongolian Grill next to Trader Joes. I really like their set-up, besides the standard choices they also offer fresh sliced jalapenos and fresh chopped cilantro. Yummm!

.....It's days like this that remind me how redneck Kitsap County really is! It also makes me start thinking that maybe a move to Seattle would have definite advantages. I'm sure though that a week of that commute to Bremerton I'd be singing a different tune all together. :-)

.....Tomorrow is Day 1 of the Rhys watch. I think that we're going to hit Target as early as possible to finish Christmas shopping. Then we'll meet the beloved Laurellen for lunch. Then it is off to the Seattle Aquarium I think. Have to talk about it with Rhys though.

.....Then tomorrow night it's a run to Ralg's birthday get-together and a night at the house. Gotta feed Tia and get a jump start at Christmas present wrapping. Was going to get that done on Friday, but time seems to be moving way too freakin' fast! Gotta make hay while the sun shines. :-)

.....Could get really used to this vacation thing. :-)

.....Have fun everyone! Stay warm! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.