Just some chick

sga_santa is off and running, and posting fics.

Already.

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas....

Hung out with wolfshark yesterday. In RL she's a solid, reliable sort with a healthy dose of sardonic humor. Just the type of person you'd want to run comms and see projects through to the end. *tips hat to Sharkie*

And I've now been informed that Victoria Bitter of "Bit Of Earth" donation scam infamy (who absconded with tens of thousands of dollars and tricked Sean Astin into supporting the not-actually-a-charity) has joined the HP fandom. Bitter is refusing all donations -- unless you insist. In which case there's a PayPal link.

*head scratch*

Do I have a PayPal link? Should I have a PayPal link? I mean, if you absolutely insist....

When the muse falls silent ... edit.

For the first time in years, I'm doing as much beta reading as writing.

A friend gave me a newspaper article. The time spent actually writing equals the amount that gets written.

I can take a hint. *gets back to work on that comic McFluff*

• 14:24 @achtung_meggie i know you meant that for erin, but i'd like to thank you as well.... :) #

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Thanks to everyone who responded to my last few posts. You are all so fabulous and I'm unbelievably fortunate to have you.

I had a very productive weekend, despite a small crimp in my plans last night. I got the entire house cleaned, some laundry done, the Christmas tree and decorations up, and ten dozen Pfeffernusse made. Also, a pot of 7 bean soup for lunches next week. Josh went over to a friend's to spend the night, and I was going to get some porn written, but just as I got back from dropping him off and opening a bottle of champagne, I got a call: Josh was barfing his guts out, poor boo. So I put the champagne back in the fridge, went and picked him up, then downloaded Merlin and watched it, instead.

I am really smitten with Merlin. I've been watching and reading, and I may just have to write in this fandom. Maybe. We'll see. I haven't got any ideas, yet, but I feel like the possibility is there, at least. Yay, Merlin!

I did get a little bit of something written this afternoon, though; it's a story I've been working on forever, just a little bit at a time, for a lovely someone on my flist. Here is an excerpt: it's a Prince of Tennis fic, D1, tentatively titled "Key Money".

( Practice usually takes it out of him but today's takes the cake )

I never watch TV, but we watched our tapes of Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph, and when they went off, Extreme Makeover was starting. I left the TV on, and have been crying on and off the whole time it's been on. Wow.

• 20:27 @thevelvetsun NO! I'm so sorry. :( #

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• 20:29 going to the dr tomorrow to get x-rays on my right foot. why do i suddenly have glass bones???? #
• 20:30 am pretty sure its broken...cause it feels exactly like the left one did. in the same spot, too. what the hell #
• 21:52 ha! taught my cockateil a new trick: tell him to "do my nails" and he chews on them. XD #
• 21:52 we're now working on "gimme a kiss" #
• 21:54 @achtung_meggie yeah, this sucks. 1st i spent halloween in a cast, and now it looks like i'll have one for christmas too. :( #

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Just popping in for a moment before I go pick up mom and Amber. I wanted to tell you again just how much all of the pretties on my Profile page have meant to me. They've given me some nice smiles on some really stressful days lately and I thank you all so much for them.

Mom's doing better. I've actually gotten to sleep in the bed the last couple of days instead of the chair in her room so, yay! Lee's been out of town again but he gets back in today which is also wonderful. Of course, we had to pay for his room ourselves again which is fun right here at Christmas but, we'll cope. We'd already decided not to get each other anything any way.

I've been getting more of Lee's mom's jewelry cleaned up and I got a few pieces posted on EBay. They're here if you'd like to take a look. There are some really nice pieces. They're a help to me but it still makes me sad to think of her compulsively buying all this stuff and none of us even knowing about it. I'll probably get more posted as I can because anything I make off of it will help. Especially between Lee's dental stuff and this trip he just made for work.

But, we're all hanging in there and that's the most important part. I even won tickets for us to go see Lights Under Louisville next week which will be fun. It looks neat. It's a huge cavern from an old Rock Quarry and they've decorated the whole thing with Christmas lights. It goes for over a mile. We wanted to see it and now we'll be able to. :)

Well, got to go. It's mom and Amber time. Hope everyone's having a good Friday. I'll check back in as soon as I can.

*hugs*

I'm really not sure my recipient is going to like the story I've written her. I've, er, sort of gone off topic with her choices.

I think I'd better give her two stories, just in case she hates this one.

Oops.

• 15:01 @the_nini it's almost kickoff time! i'm callin you out Dallas vs Giants baby. watch out! :P #

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Just watched the latest Merlin.

Oh, the dragon is not as patient as I expected.

( If only Merlin had read the Lord of the Rings. )

Bring on the fanfic bunnies.

Choooooocolate.

Completely wheat-free.



Flourless Chocolate Cake
(Recipe source The Gourmet Cookbook)

Ingredients:

8 ounces good quality bittersweet (not semi-sweet) chocolate, roughly chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9 or 10 inch springform pan and line the bottom with wax or parchment paper (cut into a circle to fit bottom of pan). Make sure to grease the liner as well.

In a double broiler or in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water, add chocolate and butter. Stir constantly until melted. Remove bowl from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Last, sift cocoa powder into mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs and top should have a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes and then remove sides of pan. Invert cake on a plate and then back onto the rack to fully cool before serving.

Yield: 10-12 servings

Ah. My transcripts finally arrived from Seattle Central.

I've dug my SAT scores out of the boxes.

I have the transcripts from UW.

Time to wave it all in front of the state of Maryland Dept of Education to see what I need next to teach.

Listening to the soundtrack from Out Of Bounds.

And snow has frosted all the trees. I think this is going to be a snowy Christmas.

There Are Legends by ras_elased. Merlin/Arthur-Reinkarnationsstory einmal anders herum und das auch noch als Vid! Eine unglaublich toll erzählte Geschichte, die man schauen sollte, wie man sonst Fanfiction liest. Das ist eine geniale konstruierte Realität (der Roadtrip macht's möglich!), die sich wie ein zweiter Canon anfühlt, und bei der einfach alles zusammen passt, inklusive Angst und Happy End. ♥
Instead of Arthur being taken to Avalon and Merlin being immortal and waiting for Arthur to be reincarnated, Merlin trades in his immortality to save Arthur's life, so now Arthur is immortal and waits for Merlin to return from Avalon. Centuries go by, and he mostly lives in the past, unable to let go, until one day he passes Merlin on the street...

• 19:20 Top 3 weekly #lastfm artists: The Killers - 1. Owl City - 1. bit.ly/7K5Qnl #

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The candle made shadows like lace on the wall. The low, omnipresent buzz of electricity was gone.

The kitties cuddled close in confusion. Just because they can see in the dark doesn't mean they like to.

The laundry silenced halfway through its cycle.

The baking had to stay in the fridge.

Eastwick was on ... somewhere else.

The streetlights vanished.

Then the whole world restarted again.

Just a quick note before I take mom to daycare. I still feel like crap, coughing, drainage, all the fun stuff. Can't just go to bed and be sick, though. There's always too much that needs to be done.

Yesterday was a long day. Mom had an appointment with her lung doc in the afternoon. He wants her back on the Levaquin for another ten days because she's still pretty congested. I got her restarted on it last night with her bedtime pills. She's got an appointment with her Heart doc tomorrow at 10:30 but I think that will go well. Her new diuretic seems to be working. There hasn't been any excessive swelling in her face, arms or lungs since she started on it. She goes into heart failure so easily without the help the meds give.

Amber's still home sick from school. Lee's still coughing but is back at work. I told Lee last night we're the croupy family.

No luck on the furniture so far. The only offer we've had was for $130.00. It may be the best we can hope for but I'll give it a little longer. We've had the tables a long time but they're still like new. I'd like to get at least $200.00 for them but it may just not be feasible.

I thought about doing the writer's fanfiction meme but I was afraid no one would remember I even write it's been so long. Maybe next year will be better, huh?

Well, gotta go. Have to get mom to daycare in time for lunch. I'm hoping to have a little time this afternoon just to rest before I go pick her up. I need to be doing laundry but I may have it wait until tonight. Take care, guys, hope that you have a great afternoon.

An interesting article about dating.

My favorite points --

Values vs Interests: Having the same values as your partner is truly a must. Its the glue that keeps you bonding, growing together and connected. Interests are different. For example if you VALUE a family, a belief in a higher being or power, or a fit and health conscious lifestyle your partner should equally believe these are significant in his/her own life. Interests like playing soccer, dance, rock climbing, fishing, fashion or shall I say YOGA, don’t determine compatibility. You don’t have to share every single interest with your partner to make it work.

So true. I've been noticing on online dating sites that people go on and on about interests.

Individuality within a Couple: WHO ARE YOU? Do you know what you desire? What are your dreams? Being an individual is probably one of the more difficult things to hang on to within a relationship. We can get lost in another’s own view and dreams. Staying true to our own desires and dreams is equally important. It makes us happier because we are living our desires and growing from that place. You can’t grow living to please another or gaining approval from another. You are then living another person’s life, and that eventually manifests into resentment, hurt and pain.

I confess, I relied a lot on WG's advice when we were together. He had a knack for seeing straight to the heart of the matter (which holds true regardless of how he's treating me right now). It's fuzzy now how much of that meant he was steering the boat.

Please STOP HIDING who you are! Be yourself, completely. From date one present your authentic self. If you don’t usually wear make up or dress a certain way, then don’t do it for the first date. If you don’t like sports than say so and don’t pretend to be the “sports chick or jock”. If you absolutely dislike smoking than don’t pretend to be ok with that habit in another if you really aren’t. What you are is what you are. Being proud of that is really the first lesson to learn before even attempting to find a date. Pretending to be someone you are not, is not only difficult to maintain but a lie you have to live. How fun is that?

This is so tempting. I'm such a no-makeup, misplaced my comb a week ago kind of gal. But I'm thinking of trying out a different look, playing with a new hairstyle, wearing more makeup than I have been in school. But that's for me though, so I think it's not a pretense.

Funny. I've never dated. Guys have always found me.