The buttons were finished with time to spare (5-15 minutes, I didn't notice as this was when I had to do stuff). Then Signy and I were shoved into the cotes (already wearing the rest) and buttoned in. I felt like an astronaut (OK, maybe a noble) having all those people helping me get dressed. But it's a good thing I had them as I had utterly forgotten how to fasten buttons!

Tippits were sewn onto the cotes while we were wearing them. I was dubious, but Gwyn didn't poke me or even sew me into my clothes (which my mother has done more than once).

With 5 minutes left (an unexpected 5 minutes, the judges had changed which clock they were using), it was realized that Signy's buttons weren't quite straight, and in a flurry of activity, they were fixed. I was hooded (and tried to resist, as I was so tired I thought that the hood was similar to a cloak in that I would want my belt on before it), belted, and circlet-ed. The circlet was fussed over, I had to retuck my under tunic into my hose several times before it was good enough, the shoes I was borrowing didn't fit nearly as well as they had without hose.

Lisa showed up, even though we hadn't been able to get ahold of her.

Dinner was served, we were dressed, so the team ate. Then they had us line up for the presentation. We went third, right after a presentation that was done entirely in persona, which was pretty neat. Our presentation rocked. Kadija wrote it out like a fashion show. It was hilarious. She got all the information across that she needed to get across, people could hear her, and it was funny. I'm sure it didn't hurt that my reaction to stage fright is to get very silly, so I was hamming it up, which went well with the presentation.

We went back to eating. There were some pretty cool outfits. I couldn't hear a thing, which was annoying. Georgia did eventually ask one team to bring their model forward of the rest of the team so we could see her. There was one outfit where the bottom of the codpiece was not attached. It's a good thing they hadn't done that whole thing perfectly authentically with that mistake!

Then there was an interminable wait while the judges judged. The autocrats gave out awards to every team. We got "best organized" or something like that, they were very impressed that we had more sewing machines than people. Of course, we had 3 sergers because we were serging with three colors of thread. And everyone brought their own machine because you sew better and faster on a familiar machine. But they were impressed.

We started packing up. I took the first load out to the car and there was 4-6 inches of snow on the ground! And still coming down fast. Since I'd had the most sleep, I did most of the packing into Gwyn's car. On one trip in, Munanori shook my hand. I was impressed he recognized me in my Carhart and wool stocking cap! It always makes me feel special that he knows who I am, because he only knows me because he's also a Mistig Waetru alum.

When the whole team was packed up, we sat around and ate cookies and talked. Everyone started checking in with their husbands. Then calling other people on their cell phones. Lee and I felt left out, so we started calling down the list of people on our cell phone. No-one was home. I left a message on my sister's machine which apparently scared her so badly that she called my mother asking what was going on. I guess I was more tired than I thought!

Finally. Finally! The judges were done! The early period division only had a novice team. They had made a sword scabbard on site. First in our division was a bliaut. They had a lot of layers, but their color choice was lame. We got second (of four?) and scored a basket of loot.

Before we went home, the autocrats announced that the weather was horrid. If anyone wanted crash space, it could be found, please don't be stupid. One lady volunteered, "You can crash at my house in Canada!" Laughter. "Hey, I'm closer than most of you here!" and it was true. A lot of people asked us how far we had to go, and were reassured that we were only trying for a hotel by the airport.

I was the most rested, so I drove. The alley to the parking lot was almost blocked by some idiot who decided it would be a good idea to park there. We made it up the little hill to the main road. We got on the freeway heading towards 94. The road was not plowed. It was at the right temperature that the snow was like grease or slick mud. It was interesting driving. Keeping up with traffic was 30-35 mph. Which was as fast as I was comfortable driving a reasonably unfamiliar car in that weather. 94 was no better. At one point, I decided that we should be going faster than 15 (in retrospect, I think I was afraid of getting stuck that slow, and the interstate doesn't curve fast enough to worry about falling off), and zipped past 2-3 cars at the breakneck speed of 30. I discovered new muscles that keep the clutch covered, and the entire way there I could feel my back knotting from the base up. It took a very long time to go a very short distance.

We got there, checked in, and staggered through the unplowed parking lot. The lady checking us in thought we were stranded, which was silly since we had reservations, maybe it had already been a long night for her. Everyone took their wet jeans off. I put on my hose, because they're so comfy, and I was cold! Kadija was very clever and decided that we all needed real food before going to bed. She phoned the front desk and got the best delivery place's menu. There was a lot of debate over what everyone should eat. Gwyn expressed a want for milk, which sounded good to me, but wasn't on the menu. Saint Keina said "I've got too much energy to sleep, I'll walk over to the gas station and get you some." And off she went into the storm. The delivery place was called, and said it would be 50 minutes. Reasonable. When the guy showed up an hour and a half later, he was greeted by worshipful women. I hope he appreciated it, because Keina was rather miffed when she found that he hadn't brought her garlic bread. We all assumed that he had gotten hungry on the way there and eaten it.

I got the knots in my back rubbed out, which has got to be the best feeling in the world.

We looked at our scores. We got good scores from one judge for working within the skills of the team, and bad scores from one judge for only working within the skills of our team. They liked our fashion show presentation. One judge said I looked like I was born in my garb! *preen*

We split up the loot. Wow. At one point, Keina said, "Wait, does Virithos have anything?" "I got garb! And I didn't do anything, I'm happy, I don't need anything." They decided that I'd done enough hauling that I deserved something, how about this bone bobbin with linen thread? I accepted that, since that was the only thing in the basket that I'd looked at and thought "I want!" So it all worked out.

Sunday I drove most of the way home. We found an excellent place for lunch, at exit 29 in MI on 94, Sophie's Pancakes or something. The three of us could have shared a breakfast and been fed up full.

The team worked really well together. I didn't see any fights or even crankiness at another person (I admit, I was asleep through a lot of the night). Gwyn organized things amazingly well, people got breaks, but it looked like the work was relatively evenly distributed, and people didn't have idle hands for too long. I'm sure every single member of the team has a different story about how things went, this is just what I can pull from my fuzzy memories :-)

The sanctuary of the church is amazing.

Doing this the week after Winter Camping was stupid. The timing will definitely impact whether or not Signy and I go next year.