The house ate my life!

I know, I've gone a long time without posting. The house pretty much ate the first two weeks of July, and I've been playing catch-up ever since. We spent a solid week (after spending the week between my last post and the 4th of July recovering) spackling and skim-coating and sanding the walls. I'm pretty good at the plastering, but the sanding completely sucks, all the way around. I painted the master bath a light purple on Friday, and then my family descended en masse on Saturday, and Dad, Alec, and Brad worked on replacing the subfloor (and, it turned, out, the toilet), while Mom and Jess helped us paint. Leif spent most of the day helping, too, and we actually got everything done. The hall was supposed to be a pale gray-ish green, but on the wall, it's more of a pale blue. Totally not the color it was supposed to be, but it's nice. The pink bathroom is a denim-y blue, that really tones the pink down. The library is "Belgian waffle," and it really does look like pancake batter. The dropcloths have been removed, and the shelves are in place, and Neale has started putting books on them.

So, we got the house taken care of, but then I had to catch up on the projects I had been wanting to do, but the house got in the way of, and now I'm mostly caught up. I made a summer caftan that I can wear without a kamis, because propriety be damned, when it's hot, I want one layer. I entered my first a&s competition, which has been a goal of mine for a while, but I will save this weekend for another post.

Right now, I am sore from a morning in the dentist's chair, and I think I've put off solid food about as long as I can. On the plus side, my teeth look great, and the worst part of replacing my bridgework is over. Yea!

The wallpaper is gone in all but 3 rooms! Of course, the hall, library, and both bathrooms look pretty ugly now, but looking out into the hall, I'd say the bare primer, with patches of something else showing where the paper pulled the primer off is an improvement.

Originally, it was just going to be the hall and the library. The library was easy, we just pulled it off. The paper was this really thick vinyl stuff, with a canvas-like backing that just peeled off the wall in sheets. We didn't even have to use the steamer. Then, Mom and Dad decided we should do the bathrooms. The pink bathroom, I don't think was quite worth it, because they put the paper up over bare sheetrock, and it was hell getting it off. I think we should have just peeled off the top layer, and left the paper backing, I don't think it was ever going to come off. It was a good thing we did the master bath, though. For one thing, the paper was on top of older paper, which, although hideously ugly, was the same kind as the library paper, and the whole thing just came right off. The more important thing, though, was that I noticed that the floor dipped right beside the toilet. I pulled back the carpet, and the tile underneath was all loose. There didn't appear to be any kind of mastic under it, and the subfloor was rotted. To the point that the toilet could have eventually fallen through the floor. Lovely, no?

The awesome thing is, Dad can fix it. He and Mom are coming back, probably in two weeks. He said it'll take a new wax ring for the toilet, probably some new bolts, a piece of wood, and whatever we want to put on the floor. He also wants to get thinner plywood, like 1/2" instead of 3/4", and put concrete board on top of it, so even if the toilet leaks again, it won't damage the subfloor. This is a lot sooner than we'd planned on re-doing the bathroom floor, but better now than later, when it would involved having to hire contractors and plumbers, possibly after one of us sat down on the toilet and ended up in a hole. Besides, we can totally do the whole thing with one box of peel-and-stick vinyl tile, and if we come to a place where the ceramic tile is actually still attached, I might get to use a sledgehammer.

The upside

My rosebuds are opening! Not quite the huge flowers in the catalogue, but at this point, the plant itself is little more than a stick. I'll post pictures soon.

Just to get it off my chest....

If your infant is not sleeping through the night, they ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO SLEEP IN A CABIN AT AN EVENT. Unless, of course you get a private cabin or have the consent of all the other people staying in the cabin. I'm not saying don't bring your child, even your baby, but wait until they're sleeping through the night at least most of the time. Do not be so inconsiderate as to bring a child who will scream in the night and wake people up to a cabin full of people who want to get a good night's sleep. Tent or stay off site!

Holy crap, I think I just redacted a period recipe!

In researching period bread, I came across this website: http://www.whirlwind-design.com/madbaker/breadfaq.html#Q2, which had this recipe from Libro Nuovo: Prima per Fare Cinquante Pani de Latte e Zuccaro di Oncie nove l'uno"Fatto Che haverai la tua Sconza, o levaturo, pigliarai di fiori di farina burattata libre 35. e tanto meno, quanto meno sara quella di che haverai fatto il levaturo, e libre 6.di zuccaro ben bianco, e Torli dUova 75 e libre 3 d'acqua rosata, e libre 6 di latte fresco, e oncie 6 di butiro fresco, e impastarai il tuo Pane, avuertirai bene, chee l'acqua, o latte non scottasse, e farai anchor ache torli d'uovu sian caldetti, & li scalderai, ponondoli nell'acqua calda, e li porri, il conveniente sale, e farai la pasta, sic he non siane dura, ne tenera, ma pui tosto ch'habbia del saldetto, e la gramarai moto bene, e poi farai il tuo pane, e lo lasciaraben (?) levare, e lo cuocerai con grande ordine, si che non pigli troppo fuoco, ma che al tuo Giuditio stia bene, e questo pane e piu bell a farlo tondo, che intorto, o in pinzoni, sia dopoi piu grande, o piu picciolo, come tu vorrai: ti governerai adunque secondo questo modo, che e provato."

This translates to: When you have made your sourdough or yeast, you shall take thirty-five pounds of the flower of sifted wheat and a much less amount, so that it shall be enough to have made the yeast (starter), and six pounds of good white sugar, and seventy-five egg yolks, three pounds of rose water, and six pounds of fresh milk, and six ounces of fresh butter, and you shall knead your bread.You shall note well that the water or milk does not scorch, and you shall make certain that the egg yolks are to be warm, and you shall scald them, putting in the hot water. And you shall put suitable salt, and you shall make the dough, so that it is neither hard nor tender, but harder than you shall have at firm. And you shall knead it very well and then you shall make your bread, and you shall leave them to rise well, and you shall cook them with serious method so that they do not take too much fire, but that at your very good judgment.And this bread is more beautiful by making them round, that twist, or in buns. Then they can be made larger or smaller, what ever you shall want. You shall govern yourself to one according to this way, which is proven.

This has got to be the recipe for the baker's daily batch, or something. 35 lbs of flour does not make one family's daily bread. I took the amounts, converted them (VERY approximately) to volumetric measurements and got:
140 cups flour, 12 c milk, 23 c sugar, 6 c rosewater.
I think the 6 ounces of butter is wrong. I think it should be 6 lbs for 35 lbs of flour. Most bread recipes call for between 3 and 5 cups of flour. I decided to go with 5. Scaling this down for a recipe calling for 5 cups of flour, I got:
5 c flour, 1/2 cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 egg yolks, 3 tbsp rosewater, 6 tbsp butter.
Based on other recipes, those proportions look about right to me for a sweet bread.

I think I'm going to go with a starter on this. Not a sourdough starter, but basically combining the yeast with some of the flour and some water and letting it sit overnight to sort of give the yeast a head start. I think it will also help with the texture. Rose bread. It will be an interesting experiment. It will also be a test of baking by feel. I also want to go with the recipe for plain bread that's on the same website. Again, interesting experiment in baking by feel.

SCA griping

I've been part of many discussions of the SCA, and specifically, what's wrong with our local group. The event last weekend showed an alarming trend in very glaring light. The barony just won't pull together anymore. The leadership, in my opinion, is not doing enough to step in if it's obvious that someone isn't quite doing their job. The seneschal could have told the autocrat to find a co-autocrat who could come to business meetings, or the bid would be withdrawn, but that didn't happen. A lot of people have also been taking the attitude that if they're not on the bid, it's not their responsibility, or if they have a pointy hat, or have been in so long, kissed so much ass, are so important, it's not their responsibility. News flash people: if the barony is hosting an event, and you are a member of said barony, yes, it is your responsibility. There was no nastycrat this weekend. The bathrooms didn't get cleaned, because nobody ever volunteered to clean them. Why not? Granted, I could have done more than I did, too, but what about our peers, our leaders? Why didn't someone have a herald announce "we need volunteers, if you're willing to help, come see the autocrat?" Why didn't the autocrat, acting seneschal, baronet, or local peer grab a couple of barony members before site opened, or shortly after, and say, the nastycrat's not here yet, can you help clean the toilets, they look really bad?

Two things that I wish I could put on a banner to hang at every event: "They rule because we believe," and "it will not be, unless we make it so."

One more minor, ok, catty, thing: if your corset nips in at the waist and flares over your hips, to give you an hourglass figure, it is a Victorian style corset. It is 200 years out of period for the SCA, don't wear it. Also, corsets are underwear. Underwear on the outside is only for superheroes, or to go up a level in Super Munchkin. For the chemise/skirt/supportive garment outfit, you need a bodice, which may or may not be boned for support, and should stop at the waist all the way around, except maybe for a point in the front. If your bodice is not boned, you need a corset, but it should be one that gives a conical or cylindrical line to the torso. That is period. Hourglass figures (or emphasizing them) are not.

I have two rosebuds on my bush! I can't wait for them to open!

Who the hell rakes the forest?

Well, the weekend was.....interesting. Looked after Hunter at Live Weapons. It was fun, but tiring. It was hard being tied down and not be able to just go do something. Of course, it also didn't help that I had been in fairly serious pain from straining a muscle the night before, and hadn't slept well at all. I learned (too late) that if I'd taken her back to the cabin, instead of staying in the hall, she probably would have taken a nap. Oh, well, I know for future reference. Making up the pallet on the floor worked really well. I put a bigger, slightly scrunched quilt down, and put a smaller one on top. That way, she had space outside the play yard to move around, and cushioning from the inevitable face-plants when she lost her balance. The problem was that the idea was to have a clean space off the nasty floor. Would have been nice if people had kept their dirty shoes off it when they came to make funny faces at the baby. I was particularly pissed at certain people who wheeled their big-ass stroller across it. I won't mention names, but one of them made a point of talking to Hunter, while I was holding her, without so much as saying "hello" to me. Oh, well, must let go of being angry over this crap.

Hunter liked my honey bear, she talked to it a lot, and she really liked it when Leif made the bear talk. One day I will remind her of this, and that SCA awards are nice, but you shouldn't get so attached that you wouldn't let a child play with your regalia, because after all, it's just a game.

Didn't end up dancing. I'm pretty disappointed about that. By that point, though, I felt pretty bad. We ended up leaving after feast to go home, because I so badly wanted to sleep in my own bed. I was afraid that, after a week of getting up early and being really tired, if I didn't get good sleep Saturday, I would be in bad shape for the rest of the week.

We were warned before the business meeting that some people had some "concerns" about Taloha. Of course, none of these people with "concerns" were people who have done work on the site. Some of them were legitimate. The caretaker needs to get off his butt and start doing more. We keep getting told that he's going to take care of this and that, and from one work day to the next, nothing gets done. There was no nastycrat to clean the bathrooms this time, so yeah, they were gross (which is typical), but the white toilet that was dark gray on the inside was a bit much. Wouldn't kill the guy to occasionally spray the toilets, showers, and mattresses in the cabins with a bleach solution to keep the mold and mildew down. Some of the stuff was unfair, though. Someone complained that the wooded area where people were camping, and in between the cabins wasn't raked. Now, they keep the roads clear (it's been graded and gaveled recently, btw), they keep the grass mowed, which I typically see at campgrounds. Who the hell rakes the woods? Nobody, because it's the woods. When you camp at a state park, do you complain to the ranger that your campsite has leaves all over it? No, because you're in the damn forest! There are trees there, and they drop leaves! You want it raked, rake it your damn self! Concerned about running to the pool or bathhouse barefoot? WEAR SHOES! By the way, there are bugs, too. Don't like it? Bring a can of Raid.