Vegas Vegas Vegas!
We are going to Las Vegas this weekend. We are leaving on Friday Morning and coming back late on Monday. I took Tuesday off to recover.

This will be my first vacation this year where I haven't gone to Asheville. I am so excited.

( what are we planning to do while there? )

Also, on a completely different note, here is a link to my flickr page. I took a bunch of photos of the clearing where we are going to build our tumbleweed house. http://www.flickr.com/photos/13073825@N07/

So, in case you haven't heard, Atlanta is having a "Gas Crisis". You would think the way everyone is talking; this is the end of the world. However, it certainly isn't pleasant out there.

( this is my gas adventure story... )

I've seen this one around:
Sarah Palin married her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988. The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Anchorage. The Palins have two sons (Track, 19, and Trig, four months) and three daughters (Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7) [ages as of August 2008]. Todd Palin has said Track's name came from the interest Sarah's parents had in the sport and the fact that he was born in the sport's season; Bristol was named after Bristol Bay in Alaska, where Todd grew up and where he does commercial fishing; Willow was named after Willow, Alaska; Piper got her name because it is uncommon and "a cool name"; Trig's name is Norse for "strength".

1)Your first-born will be named after your parents favorite sport:

My mom likes Hockey and my dad likes Baseball.

2)Your second-born will be named after a nearby area that you're not from but you like the sound of part of the name, and maybe you have nostalgic memories of said place:

The Atlanta is so ripe for the picking. How about "Dahlonega"

3)Your third-born will be named after another nearby place, for no reason other than you already have two children and don't have time to put much thought into another name:

"Tallulah Gorge"

4)Your fourth gets a "cool" name:

Olive

5)Your fifth gets something mythological, possibly straight out of Lord of the Rings:

Beowulf Odysseus

I've seen this a few places.
( 1998 )

Just a quick updated. I wanted to tell you all about the Tumbleweed House seminar this weekend.

We are so excited and energized to start building. We learned a lot of great things and had some ideas to make our house work for us. It is typical for people to build a tumbleweed house on a trailer, but we are going to build ours on a foundation because of where on our land we want to put it. So we know what kind of foundation we want to do (concrete peers). We also know that we can do some extra stuff inside the house because we don't have to worry about weight restrictions since we aren't traveling with our tiny house. We also learned that the best siding option for us would be Board and Batton siding. We are going to order the plans soon and start building in the spring.

I will be sure to blog about the experience and I am slowly but surely chipping away at oneandonlymatt to also blog about the building process. I told him that it sounded like a lot of folks were interested in hearing about it. I will, however, be the photo historian.

Tomorrow, oneandonlymatt and I are heading out to Asheville. We have some work around the land that we want to do on Friday and then on Saturday we are attending a seminar led by Jay Shafer. Jay Shafer is the mastermind behind Tumbleweed Tiny Houses (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) and we are going to learn to build one. We have the place on our land picked out and ready to go. Our goal is to start building the tumbleweed house the first part of next year and we expect that we will have it finished by the fall.

The is the first step in a master plan. After the Tumbleweed house, we are going to build a Tree Deck. It won't be a tree house as it will be open air with, at most, canvas to shield from the rain. The we hope to graduate to other forms of building such as Cordwood Masonry.

I am excited to move forward with the plan.

check out http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ and you will see why.

Today we went to the Atlanta Falcons v. Detroit Lions game at the Georgia Dome. You probably know the outcome. If you don't know - we lost. We were hoping to win, but what are you going to do. However, the day was mighty fun.

( our football adventure in Downtown Atlanta )
It was a fantastic day. We got home around 7pm. The only thing that would have made the day better was a win for the Lions. Oh well, there is always next Sunday.

So, here are the events as I remember them. My report won't be as good at dreamsidhe's account, so feel free to refer to her page as well. We did pretty much spend every minute together, so it is an accurate description of my weekend as well.

( Dragon*Con 08 )

The weekend was fantastic. Truthfully, it was one of the best weekends I have had in recent memory. I can't wait for D*C 09. We are even planning some new costumes. We're hooked!

If you want to see some of my photos you can check them out at my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13073825@N07/

I will post some Dragon*con goodness soon. For a great account of the weekend, do check out dreamsidhe's report.

However, in the mean time...please watch the awesomeness that is oneandonlymatt. Thanks to reikimaster and thunder24 for getting this video, since I wasn't there.

( Not only can he play drums...the boy can SING! )

You may have seen this already. The video was all the rage a few months ago on the internets. But I still marvel at it. This is exactly the way that Piglet reacts when she sees oneandonlymatt after a long weekend. Or heck, even after just a day at work. Except Piglet is only 9 pounds and doesn't have the potential to kill and eat him. It amazes me how this lion not only recognizes the men after a year apart, but is so overjoyed to see them he can't contain it. I love the way kitties of all sizes show love.

( Kitty Love )

This one is about oneandonlymatt
( read all about him... )

I can't believe Labor Day weekend and Dragon*Con are finally here. dreamsidhe will be arriving in Atlanta tomorrow. It is the first time I will have seen her since Christmas! Super Squee!

I am all packed up and ready to go. I just need to pack a few last minute things tonight. Then I just have to make it through the work day tomorrow. I will be by myself, so that will be hard without any distractions.

Yay for DC. I will see you all there!

I have already begun packing for Dragon*Con. I have my two costumes and the dress part of dreamsidhe's costume in a garment bag hanging in the closet. This is going to be such a long week. Piglet is sharing my lap with my laptop, making this terribly difficult to type. Silly cat.

I don't really have anything else to say. I guess I'll go do something useful for now.

Oh, and I put my costume on today for no reason except to prace around for a few minutes. It makes me feel pretty.

I sent a CD to dreamsidhe to get her into the Dragon*Con spirit. She just received it, so now I can share the mix with my adoring fans.

( my mix is better than yours... )

Also, I received dreamsidhe's costume via UPS. It is crazy complicated!

I cannot wait until Dragon*Con! Whoo hoo.

We have learned that our land is a haven for box turtles. Hasn't anyone ever told them that they're on a mountain? I guess turtles like mountains. This weekend we saved two of them. They seem to like our lower spring, but they get caught in the chicken wire that is covering it. We want to fix it, but we'll have to do some research and figure out the best method to that. The first one we saved was a grizzled old box turtle who's little box flap didn't work. We were't sure he was going to live but he did eventually toddle off in the other direction. The second one we saved was a much smaller one that was in the spring. We think they know how to get in the spring but we aren't sure if they know how to get out. We thought about building a ramp but I'm not sure if you can teach turtles how to use a ramp.

I've decided that I like box turtles quite a bit.

It has been a long time since I have done any sort of Meme. I saw this on friggasgirl's journal.

( meme from the mountain )

I like to stop in and say hi whenever I am up at Mt. Matt. I think it is because I am finally in a peaceful position, not worrying about the next thing I need to do today. The truth is, I don't have a "next thing" today - we are just relaxing. Eventually we will go into Asheville to see some music and go to Sante.

We are sitting out in the sun right now. There is a light breeze and when I am done with this post I am going to lay down in the lounger.

I met a Grasshopper that only had one back leg. Matt called him a Grassleaner.

There is a thistle plant here that is getting huge. It is taller than me and has a ton of flowers on it. I don't know that I have ever seen a real thistle before.

maybe more later, for now I am going to nap.

Dragon*Con is in only 16 days. The most exciting part for me is that dreamsidhe is coming to visit.

That being said, I wanted to mention that if any of my Atlanta friends are interested in hanging out with the wonderfully fun dreamsidhe let me know and we can work out a meet up. Such meet ups may be subject to change based on the actual Dragon*Con schedule. We will be at the con from Friday evening until early Monday morning. And if you are not going to be at the con proper, maybe we can meet you for a meal somewhere downtown.

anybody?
anybody?

you won't regret it!