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Jul. 19th, 2013 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Today was productive, but too many spoons. I had a lunchtime appointment for car repairs. These turned out to be free and 15 minutes total, including me quizzing my honest mechanic about car recommendations. Then, being already up and at the car dealership end of town, I went scouting. I started with the two brands I was most likely to buy. Hit another I was sort of interested in, then tried out two high end reliable brands for comparison. (I missed one I wanted to look at at the low end and will likely stop there before purchase). I looked at new cars, on the grounds I can always do financing or recent used for cheaper and knowing the most I would have to pay is useful. I was honest, that how much I had to spend depended on the price of the condo I was buying, that I was trying other dealerships, and that I would not be buying until Augustish. I was mostly interested in gas mileage, trunk space, and comfortable seating. Assuming there is money for a good down payment, I am likely to buy one of three cars at the first dealership. At the most expensive place, I asked what payments were with half in downpayment. It was slightly higher than our current cable bill. This leaves me hopeful that a proportional down payment on a car half to 2/3 the price might be in the realm of our current electrical bill. I'd rather be entirely out of debt and have money left over each month to save for property taxes, but as we are likely about to lose the power bill and part of the cable/Internet/phone bill this might be debt worth taking on in exchange for using way less gas and not having to always need repairs.
I then got an oil and filter change on the beat up monster we are currently using, paid storage rent, and scouted a locally owned bed store. I got a likeable older gentleman, who was able, from my description to find the perfect bed frame set, which he tried to down sell me from. I assured him the price was in budget and very worth it. I have guaranteed estimates for King and Queen sized. He had try out multiple mattresses, but the first one he led to me was perfect, the right firm so it won't wiggle, but super soft on top. They don't have the right shelving, but I wasn't expecting to find any there. I need to poke around to see what other stores in the area look good to price those out. My feeling is, that I am unlikely to ever move again after this one. I want furniture I can use for the rest of my life, and that means sturdy wood frames. I am not replacing all the furniture, but my old ugly plywood shelves are breaking down under more than two decades of heavy loads and the Queen futon I'm sleeping on was the one Skye bought when we were first dating and the frame is breaking down.
Money Priorities are: 1. Housing and moving costs. 2. Bed and shelves. 3. Paint (If it's allowed). 4. My wee surgery in San Fransisco. 5. ID upgrade (Pennsylvania birth certificate, Social security, get new passport). 6. Small financial cushion. 7. Small, durable, energy efficient car. 8. Laser eye surgery. (Really, this would have been better with another $40,000. We're a little close to blowing everything.)
* Tomorrow we get up too damned early again to choose a place to live. What I really need is three or four rest days to rebuild a few spoons, as I am mostly running on will power and adrenaline and the crash is going to be terrible, given the pain I'm already in and the difficulty I'm having sleeping.
* Tonight Scent's player brought a friend to play Marigold Sharp Tooth, one of the pack of NPCs, our pack is friends with, having allied with them in Pangea. Unfortunately, Marigold and her pack were BSDs, a fact the Crow discovered at the very end of last session. This got interesting.
The packs had agreed to split the cold iron and help each other take the lost caern. In aid of this Kenna was going to do the smithing, with our Bear and Bozo of the March from the BSD pack assisting. They cold iron plated a sword and a knife for the BSDs and made a long poled mace, claw caps, a knife, and a fetish for our pack. Kenna did her fetishe herself and while off negotiating in the Umbra, went to see the sun. She asked for a weapon, but the sun offered instead something that when combined with the rite of cleansing gave Marigold and her pack a chance at redemption. She took the cleansing light.
Kenna carefully said nothing to the pack, but formed a plan involving the left over sleeping potion that works on Garou. Meanwhile, Scent, Marigold, and the Tiger had a deer hunting contest, nut Scent and the Tiger tied by catching the same deer.
They avoided patrols, heading South to the Lost Cearn. They sent the three loaner packs into the Umbra, lest they slaughter most of the players. Kenna ran communications. They went to look at the Dark Fae Caern, which is ringed my the twitched rotted mummylike dead on impaling poles. The Tiger made a good battle plan with the five warriors in an outer ring, the three weaker shifters in an inner ring, and Kenna, who can make herself invisible to the fae in the center with the magic acorn. The idea was the outer ring would fight dark fae, the second ring would destroy the stump of the Sacred Oak, and Kenna would do her cleansing ceremony, guard the owlet, and plant the acorn.
It was at this point that it dawned on Kenna that her plan to put the zap on the BSDs at the big victory party might not work if the BSDs turned on them the second they'd defeated the Fae. She proposed they fall back to a safe clearing. She proposed a toast with mead to bless their combat. The toast was beautiful, by the way. The mead of the BSD had the shifter specific sleep potion in it. Kenna announced that the allied pack were Black Spiral Dancers. People were shocked. The Tiger didn't understand and they had to explain. It was a huge betrayal. The Tiger was furious at Kenna for not telling earlier. Kenna tried the special cleansing, with Scent standing over them to slit throats of those who failed. Marigold, Stares, and Sleeps with Fishes came through. The popular Bozo of the March and Runs with Knives did not. They are still prone to taint and temptation, but now White Howlers again.
After much cajoling, they talked the Tiger into taking back the cearn. They decided to let the howlers fight at their side. The rotted Saxon mummies attacked. Knocking the poles down and burning them turned out to be good responses. Smacking mummies together caused people to inhale tainted mummy dust. They made the summit with no other problems and attacked the stump. The stump attacked back with root tentacles which tried to grab them and suck out their life. It was at this point that they discovered why the crows had told Kenna to wear bells and clothing inside out. The clothing was worth a point of armour and the bells gave a die of damage bonus to their +2 cold iron attack. Alas, no one told the Howlers, and taking your pants off while fighting a tentacle monster is a notoriously bad idea. Only the Bear got hurt, luckily, and the serious fighters sliced the roots. Then the horde appeared from the woods. First to arrive were fish belly pale bat winged things that cast a spell. The really long pole with cold iron spikes in the hands of a twelve foot tall were tiger turned out to be the ideal weapon, though the other two warriors fought too. The Bear, Stares, and Swims attacked the enter of the massive stump in the hopes of making a hole big enough for the acorn. It was slow going. The pac took out the swarm, but not before the spell was cast. Scent and Marigold are turning to the dark side when we pick up next week.
* I suspect that Jeff Bridges is not a real grown up.
* My Scented Home Products Circular Swap is looking for people to sign up: http://www.bpal.org/topic/81082-summer-scented-home-products-circular-swap/
* The Clutch:
I then got an oil and filter change on the beat up monster we are currently using, paid storage rent, and scouted a locally owned bed store. I got a likeable older gentleman, who was able, from my description to find the perfect bed frame set, which he tried to down sell me from. I assured him the price was in budget and very worth it. I have guaranteed estimates for King and Queen sized. He had try out multiple mattresses, but the first one he led to me was perfect, the right firm so it won't wiggle, but super soft on top. They don't have the right shelving, but I wasn't expecting to find any there. I need to poke around to see what other stores in the area look good to price those out. My feeling is, that I am unlikely to ever move again after this one. I want furniture I can use for the rest of my life, and that means sturdy wood frames. I am not replacing all the furniture, but my old ugly plywood shelves are breaking down under more than two decades of heavy loads and the Queen futon I'm sleeping on was the one Skye bought when we were first dating and the frame is breaking down.
Money Priorities are: 1. Housing and moving costs. 2. Bed and shelves. 3. Paint (If it's allowed). 4. My wee surgery in San Fransisco. 5. ID upgrade (Pennsylvania birth certificate, Social security, get new passport). 6. Small financial cushion. 7. Small, durable, energy efficient car. 8. Laser eye surgery. (Really, this would have been better with another $40,000. We're a little close to blowing everything.)
* Tomorrow we get up too damned early again to choose a place to live. What I really need is three or four rest days to rebuild a few spoons, as I am mostly running on will power and adrenaline and the crash is going to be terrible, given the pain I'm already in and the difficulty I'm having sleeping.
* Tonight Scent's player brought a friend to play Marigold Sharp Tooth, one of the pack of NPCs, our pack is friends with, having allied with them in Pangea. Unfortunately, Marigold and her pack were BSDs, a fact the Crow discovered at the very end of last session. This got interesting.
The packs had agreed to split the cold iron and help each other take the lost caern. In aid of this Kenna was going to do the smithing, with our Bear and Bozo of the March from the BSD pack assisting. They cold iron plated a sword and a knife for the BSDs and made a long poled mace, claw caps, a knife, and a fetish for our pack. Kenna did her fetishe herself and while off negotiating in the Umbra, went to see the sun. She asked for a weapon, but the sun offered instead something that when combined with the rite of cleansing gave Marigold and her pack a chance at redemption. She took the cleansing light.
Kenna carefully said nothing to the pack, but formed a plan involving the left over sleeping potion that works on Garou. Meanwhile, Scent, Marigold, and the Tiger had a deer hunting contest, nut Scent and the Tiger tied by catching the same deer.
They avoided patrols, heading South to the Lost Cearn. They sent the three loaner packs into the Umbra, lest they slaughter most of the players. Kenna ran communications. They went to look at the Dark Fae Caern, which is ringed my the twitched rotted mummylike dead on impaling poles. The Tiger made a good battle plan with the five warriors in an outer ring, the three weaker shifters in an inner ring, and Kenna, who can make herself invisible to the fae in the center with the magic acorn. The idea was the outer ring would fight dark fae, the second ring would destroy the stump of the Sacred Oak, and Kenna would do her cleansing ceremony, guard the owlet, and plant the acorn.
It was at this point that it dawned on Kenna that her plan to put the zap on the BSDs at the big victory party might not work if the BSDs turned on them the second they'd defeated the Fae. She proposed they fall back to a safe clearing. She proposed a toast with mead to bless their combat. The toast was beautiful, by the way. The mead of the BSD had the shifter specific sleep potion in it. Kenna announced that the allied pack were Black Spiral Dancers. People were shocked. The Tiger didn't understand and they had to explain. It was a huge betrayal. The Tiger was furious at Kenna for not telling earlier. Kenna tried the special cleansing, with Scent standing over them to slit throats of those who failed. Marigold, Stares, and Sleeps with Fishes came through. The popular Bozo of the March and Runs with Knives did not. They are still prone to taint and temptation, but now White Howlers again.
After much cajoling, they talked the Tiger into taking back the cearn. They decided to let the howlers fight at their side. The rotted Saxon mummies attacked. Knocking the poles down and burning them turned out to be good responses. Smacking mummies together caused people to inhale tainted mummy dust. They made the summit with no other problems and attacked the stump. The stump attacked back with root tentacles which tried to grab them and suck out their life. It was at this point that they discovered why the crows had told Kenna to wear bells and clothing inside out. The clothing was worth a point of armour and the bells gave a die of damage bonus to their +2 cold iron attack. Alas, no one told the Howlers, and taking your pants off while fighting a tentacle monster is a notoriously bad idea. Only the Bear got hurt, luckily, and the serious fighters sliced the roots. Then the horde appeared from the woods. First to arrive were fish belly pale bat winged things that cast a spell. The really long pole with cold iron spikes in the hands of a twelve foot tall were tiger turned out to be the ideal weapon, though the other two warriors fought too. The Bear, Stares, and Swims attacked the enter of the massive stump in the hopes of making a hole big enough for the acorn. It was slow going. The pac took out the swarm, but not before the spell was cast. Scent and Marigold are turning to the dark side when we pick up next week.
* I suspect that Jeff Bridges is not a real grown up.
* My Scented Home Products Circular Swap is looking for people to sign up: http://www.bpal.org/topic/81082-summer-scented-home-products-circular-swap/
* The Clutch:
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Date: 2013-07-20 09:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-21 03:37 am (UTC)