Well, I’m quite late tonight – but never mind, it’s been a rather strange day today, what with the funeral an’ all… However, between last night and this morning, I did mange to get the Quel’Dorei “Grumpy Old Farts” Guild Bank, and my own personal Bank, all sorted out! On Julian’s advice, I cleared just about everything out of the Guild Bank, and just… vendored it 😦 A good five years worth of hording and scrimping and saving – all sold for next to nothing! Oh, it hurt! But… there’s nothing I can do now to get any of it back again, as once you log out, you can’t go back to the Merchant and buy your goods back again. So I guess I’ll just have to start haunting the Auction House, and traveling to little known areas where fancy armor (read: “pretty” armor) or weapons are sold, amassing armor, weapons, trinkets and other falderal, all over again! F’rinstance, there’s a little, quite out-of-the-way homestead in the far reaches of the Wetlands, that sells – or used to sell – a rather pretty maxi-skirt, with semi-decent attributes. I think it was leather, but I may be wrong mistaken, but I might go and check it out, anyway. The thing is, there was so much in the Guild Bank that never got used! We either forgot it was there, or we thought “No, I’m not going to use that now – I’ll probably level up today, and it would be a waste to only use it for another couple of hours! I’ll leave it for the next person…” And, of course, the “next person” thought exactly the same (not surprisingly, as they were all either Julian or myself!) All the food that Wynterthyme made, as she max’ed out her Cooking – there was enough enchanted food with boosts to just about any and all attributes to feed a dozen armies and their Pets for a hundred years, which was never used! Mouselet occasionally got me to make him some special skill or health-boosting food, which he did use (and benefit from) but even so, most of it got left in the Guild Bank. Well, Wynterthyme is still a max’ed out cook, and as long as the mats (materials) to make the food are there, she can re-create it all. And frankly, that’s about all I did keep in the Guild Bank! Materials! Materials from the Gathering Professions (Skinning, Herb Picking, and Mining) materials from “drops” (items dropped by mobs when you kill them) like fabric, fruits, and special quest items, including armor and weapons. I did keep a set of three gloves, which had been enchanted to give an extra boost to your Herb Picking, and I kept some “medicinal”, or “healing” bandages for use with First Aid (a “secondary” Profession) Pretty much anything that could be “Crafted” into either usable, or “profitable” (to sell) goods, I kept – everything else went, including a lot of useful and valuable potions, which never got used – mostly for the reasons given above – that is, we either forgot that they were there, or decided that it would be “a waste” to use them for…. whatever, and that it would be better to “save them up for something more important”. Anyway, we now have a clean, tidy, and somewhat more “roomy” Guild Bank – for the moment, anyway. My favourite eldest daughter tells me that us Garrison Owners (or should that be “Garrison Commanders”?) will get access to the Guild Bank when we’re able to build our “Level 2” Storehouse – so that’s a bit of good news! 🙂 I also found out that it’s possible to get an extra two Guild Bank Vaults, but as that’s subject to your Guild’s level and standing, it rules us out completely! Oh well, I guess you can’t “have it all”, sometimes! 
Today we went to the funeral service for Terry’s mother, out in Noble Park. It was a fairly good funeral, as funerals go… Terry and his sister Julie read the Eulogy – quite well too, I thought, under the circumstances (I know there was no way known that I could have spoken at my mother’s funeral!) The Celebrant was a quaint little man with a distinctly Irish brogue, and the whole thing went off quite smoothly. If one good thing did come out of this very sad occasion, it was that Terry finally got to see, and spend a fair amount of time talking to his sixteen year old daughter (his eldest daughter is apparently overseas) Unfortunately, his ex-wife was also there – s’funny, you know, I’ve never met her, or seen a photo of her, and she’s never even been described to me, but I knew who she was the moment I set eyes on her. Luckily she kept mostly out of everyone’s way, as she’s not a nice person. Terry’s mother had a lot of good friends there, and it was touching and a real tribute to Jo that the “light refreshments” offered after the service were provided not by a catering service, but by these friends of hers who all brought plates of delicious home-made sandwiches (with real fillings in them! The egg and lettuce one I tried was the best I’ve had for (quite literally!) years!) and little squares of different “slices” – which I’m afraid I ate all too many of! *blush for shame!* (Winter wails: “But they were soooo delicious!”) And although I didn’t have any, I’m told that even the coffee was “brewed”, and not a “commercial instant” brand! The Burial Service and interment is to be held on Wednesday, at the Healesville Cemetery (I wonder if they’ll have the same Celebrant?)
Food stuffz: last night we had the marinated lamb back-straps, pan-fried, not BBQ’d, with rice mixed with fried onion and roasted capsicum pieces, we also had green beans and half a tomato. The lamb back-straps, which had been marinating in the fridge over night, were absolutely divine! They were sooo tender and juicy, with the lemon adding just a little bite to them! That Honey Mint Marinade is definitely a keeper – you should all give it a try! Lunch today was my usual 2 Ryvita crispbreads with low-fat ricotta, sliced ham, and some red capsicum batons… then there was the “light refreshment” after the funeral – half a beautifully made egg and lettuce sandwich, and… er… a few (read: far too many!) little (well, they were very small! About 2.5cm x 2.5cm each) squares of different types of “slice”, and a couple (well, maybe three or four) little round “truffle” balls, with currants in them! Then, luckily for me, we came home. For dinner tonight we had a nice little pork fillet cut into thick-ish slices and pan-fried, with the usual green beans, five chips, and half a tomato – all very yummy – and followed by one of my diet jellies (the raspberry licorice one again)
Weigh-in this morning. Well, I’ve decided that maybe I ought to be eating a little more… which is perhaps why I ate all those delicious and yummy little squares of “slice” today. My weight stayed the same this morning – still on 62.7kg. Now, I know that I’ll go up again tomorrow, not only because of what I ate, but also because I only had time to get in one walk this morning, and what’s more, I didn’t take my anti-fluid pill after lunch, because we were going to the funeral and I didn’t want to be rushing off in the middle of the service, if you get my drift. I didn’t take it when we got home, either, because Josh was coming over to do my hair – so I’ll have fluid retention tomorrow, as well as about three tons of sugar circulating through me! Oh well, I don’t think they’ll be having the “light refreshments” at the Burial Service on Wednesday (and if they do, I just won’t look at them, alright?! 😉 ) So yeah – tomorrow’s not going to be a good day for me on the scales, but I’ll get back on track – don’t I always? 🙂
This evening after Josh had finished with my hair (it really does look good!) the three of us had a bit of a conference about aviaries, the best placement in the back yard for one, and pigeons in general, and Julian managed to take an awkward step and went head over tail onto the grass – on the same ankle that he’d injured once before! It’s swollen up quite alarmingly – and looks like an ostrich has tried to lay an egg on his ankle funny-bone! Hopefully by tomorrow morning it will have calmed down a bit, but I fear there may be some more visits to the lovely Polly, his physiotherapist, in the very near future! He did have “Great Plans” for tomorrow, like picture hanging, and gardening – but they may have to wait another day or two! Julian is a well-known klutz, and I’m not having him clambering up rickety ladders with a bung ankle! And I’m not sure when we’ll be seeing my favourite eldest daughter, apart from Wednesday at the Burial Service – tomorrow is a Public Holiday, and she’ll be at home with Neale – I’m not sure why Thursday is out (though I’m sure she told me) so unless she comes over on Friday, I guess we won’t see her over here this week… and that, my friends, is about it from me once again! 🙂 Don’t forget to drop in again tomorrow night, to find out how Julian’s ankle is, exactly how much my weight went sky-rocketing up, and what other adventures and misadventures we’ve had! So until tomorrow night, please bee good, remember that it’s what we think we know that keeps us from learning – and don’t forget to keep warm – or cool – whichever you prefer, to look after yourselves, and to drive carefully – but most importantly, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 