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Current Mood: cheerful

Al-anon and Starsky and Hutch

Overslept this morning a bit, then got up and had breakfast and coffee, and showered and dressed. Then I headed off to my Al-anon meeting, using the new Queens bus system.

Fortunately the 28 had not been rerouted, just a lot of stops removed, so I was able to get there. The meeting was very good, quite large.

Went to the diner afterward, and had a bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant, and an iced coffee.

Then I had to figure how to get home. The 13 still stops at that stop but has been rerouted, but still goes to Flushing. Nothing on their signs told me where it actually ends though. I took the risk and took the 13, to the end and found that it ends at Roosevelt and (supposedly) Union St. Actually it stops about a half blovk past Union, but close enough.

So I walked from there, no big deal. Next eek however, I'll try the alternate route of taking the 13 to the 23 and see where THAT goes.

Anyway, I got home, and went to the Starsky and Hutch chat. The episodes this week were Los Vegas Strangler parts 1 and 2. I got here in time for part 2. So that was nice.

We chatted til a little after 7:00, when we got off and I Teamed the FWiB.

We talked for about an hour and a half. Then I got off and puttered online. I called the Kid but she didn't pick up, so I texted her.

Then I went to the bedroom and called

mashfanficchick for a bit, then played solitaire til pet feeding time, then came out and fed the pets and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My meetings and the people in them.

3. The 28 bus not rerouted.

4. Able to get home on the 13.

5. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

6. Lovely weather.

Saturday

Volleyball was fine. Elbow coffee was fine. And now the rest of the day is mine which is VERY fine.

Dick and Jan (the new peops) were at elbow coffee this morning. They actually, officially, move in on Monday. The California king bed that they have slept on for years will not fit into their new bedroom so they are bed shopping. They said that the bad new is their bed won't fit but the good news is that Dick has now shrunken in his old age and he fits on a regular king which does fit! So win. They are a cute couple.

I got an email from Microsoft that they wanted $20 for another year of One Drive. Nope. After the password debacle, I'm over you, Microsoft. Plus, I pay for storage on my web site host so I'll just pop important stuff there. Mail is already copied so all I really need is the stuff on my Google Drive. Which is 23 4GB zip files. I was going to download them all and then upload them all but why? cheaper and easier just to plop them onto an external drive that I already have. So that's the plan.

I also figured out how to get Apple TV without fighting Apple. Somehow my Apple TV account got hosed and Apple won't let me back in. NFW am I going to call them which is my only option. BUT! Prime Video let's me subscribe through them AND they are having a sale. Win win.

Where there's a will...

My foot is far less purple and not nearly as hurty today. I did not even think about it while playing volleyball. And neither one of my feet or ankles are even remotely swollen. Nice.

There is stuff around here (Timber Ridge) that bugs me. Food stuff, services, stuff, options stuff. Having Scott and Julie around to point out all the marvelous thing here, has led me to rethink. I agree with them both that this place is lovely and impressive and comfortable and caring and a great place for me to live. But, I forget all of that when they replace french fries at lunch with fucking tater tots. Or they change the package receiving system so that I can't get my packages in a timely fashion. And then I tend to focus solely on the bits that are annoying.

I have two packages, neither of which is critical and one is a jacket I can't even wear til fall. I have a photo of the package being received so I'm fairly certain it won't get lost in the waiting. I have a lot of french fries in the freezer.

So what remains is training myself to NOT focus on the annoying bits. I think I can do that and that's today's project. I was going to do laundry but that will be tomorrow. In my fridge, for lunch I have fixin's for BLT's and two fried chicken thighs and one whole hot dog with chopped onions and potato salad. I'm not going to be hurting for meals anytime soon.

I having knitting to do and baseball to watch. And I might even watch some Wimbledon.

In 1985, I got to go to Wimbledon with my mother. My father gave her the trip for Christmas and then, at the last minute, could not go (union problems at work) and she asked me if I wanted to. ER.... yes!! We had a great time but it was, that year, the hottest Wimbledon on record. We fried our asses just sitting there moving our heads back and forth. I understand they are celebrating this 20th anniversary with even hotter weather. But, alas, without us.

I will be here in the cool, apartment remembering.

Current Mood: enthralled

Entry tags:

Sunshine Revival #2: What do you love? (it's totally the twins)

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Uh.... +shoves her "Alisaie" tag in your direction+ For those visiting my journal and going "nani?": Alisaie is a character from Final Fantasy XIV and I love her to pieces. I've written about her extensively for the

snowflake_challenge and I *could* write about her more now, too, but I think it's time to let her twin brother Alphinaud shine.

I didn't particular like Alphinaud during A Realm Reborn. I didn't *hate* him, but his voice actor at the time played him as a self-assured know-it-all brat, and did a fantastic job at it, so it was hard to feel warm and fuzzy towards him.

That changed during Heavensward, the first expansion of the game. Alphinaud had just gone through something that was very hard on him -- I'm not saying because it's a hell of a ride and I don't want to spoil it for people who might want to play in the future -- and at first he was very dejected and wallowing in misery, but soon he finds his determination to make things right and carry on. And, well, I greatly admired him for this. When the worst happens, it's hard to pick yourself up and try again, but Alphinaud had the courage to do so.

Going back to the voice actors: Now that I've played A Realm Reborn five times (...what?), I've grown very fond of Sam Riegal's interpretation of Alphinaud. I think it was the right choice for where Alphinaud was in his journey. Sam did an amazing job, especially when the shit DID hit the fan and he had to show Alphinaud's reaction to everything. Thank you, Sam, for doing a memorable job!

When Heavensward started, they changed many of the voice actors, and that was true of Alphinaud, too: he is now played by Colin Ryan. People have talked about what a jump scare it was when Alphinaud's voice suddenly changed, and it fact, here's Colin reacting to the change himself:

Watch on YouTube

SO ADORABLE!!!!

Anyway! Colin has done an AMAZING job voicing Alphinaud, and his work is partially why I've come to grow so fond of the character. As Heavensward went on, I came to like Alphi more and more. Yes, he still can be a know-it-all. He's still very much a leader and into diplomacy and politics. But he reflects on the things he's done wrong in the past, and considers how to do different in the future. He doesn't let his past stop him (unlike me, who is always going "BUT THINGS ARE GOING TO TURN OUT EXACTLY THE SAME AS IN THE PAST AND THAT WAS AWFUL", sigh).

Alphinaud goes through some character growth during the game. There's a scene where he greets Estinien warmly, and Alisaie remarks on that--in a nutshell, she implies that Alphinaud didn't really have friends when they were younger but now has people he looks up to and admires, like Estinien. It's heartwarming to see him, well, warm up to others and consider their advice and counsel.

I have said many times that I need to get my own place again so I can have cats, and I intend to adopt a brother/sister pair and name them Alphinaud and Alisaie, because I do adore the twins so much. They are incredible characters! And I'm thankful to their VAs for doing such an amazing job.

Entry tags:

Q&A on Living in Sweden While I Do Make Up

I answer questions about living in Sweden while I do my make up.

Watch on YouTube

Sunshine revival Challenge: Love

The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

I posted about this on tumblr, but I've said in the past that I don't really care about romantic storylines. Except I've come to realize, that's not true at all. There have been a lot of pairings I've loved, both in canon and in fanfiction. (Sometimes more in one than the other.)

Since this is meant to be a positive entry, I'll focus on what I love in my romantic pairings. I love seeing two people working together - perhaps in the sense that they're coworkers or have intersecting jobs, perhaps in the sense that they have a common mission, be it something major or minor. I love when the story is less about whether or not they'll be together, and more about what happens once they are. I love seeing them connect with one another's friends and family. I love seeing them help each other be their best selves. I love when conflict isn't about whether or not they "truly" love each other, but how new information or a miscommunication has - temporarily - rocked the boat. I love physicality. The way they hug and kiss, the way they move together, in a natural tandem.

Don't get me wrong - I'm here for some UST and other things you often see. I love a little drama. :P I just prefer all of that as the starting point, and I lose interest if it drags out for too long. I love even more when none of that happens, and the couple just... comes into being.

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Leftfield, Leftism

Entry tags:

Aphelion, Academia, Aesthetics, and Athletics

Yesterday was the aphelion when the Earth reached the furthest distance from the sun at 157 million km (the closest distance, the perihelion, is 146 million km). It seemed appropriate on that day to describe the relatively flat shape of the solar system and how "flat earthers" need to think bigger. Interestingly, the aphelion and perihelion change with some regularity measured as Milankovitch cycles, which is a driver of long-term climate change. On that topic, I had an interview this week concerning my doctoral progress and grades to date ("mention très bien", to use the Université de Paris system). The next part of my studies is "Climate Change Denialism", which I am sure will be absolutely fascinating, having missed out on doing climate change psychology at the University of Wellington. Speaking of which, I attended a University of Wellingto alumni event on during the week with a Professor of Statistics, Peter Smith, talking on "Fluids in your phones?", about the development of liquid antenna for the next generation of mobile devices. And, to continue the theme, I have been recently offered the role to coordinate alumni events for Murdoch University here in Melbourne.

The week has also witnessed some activities in the aesthetic dimension as well. With an early submission made for Midsumma Festival, I have officially become a producer with my inaugural effort being for Liza Dezfouli's comedy-cabaret "Binosaur". Also, I have ventured out locally with Kate R., twice with aesthetics in mind, once was for Lightscape at the Botanic Gardens, which was beautiful, but rather low numbers due to drizzle, and today for a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria. This evening, I attended the awards ceremony for the Melbourne Poet's Union International Poetry Competition, which featured a marvellous and insightful speech by the well-known anarchist poet, Pi O. Finally, last night I visited ACMI for millihertz producing a rather raw and politically challenging audio-visual production with the descriptive title "Cruise Missile Intersectionality".

To finish the alliterative headings, I will conclude with some reflections on "athletics". Last week, I posted an announcement and a couple of photos of my significant weight loss over the past year (117 to 82 kgs), along with a descriptive essay on how I achieved it. I will point out that I'm not planning to lose anymore, although body composition still has room to change. I've had to hunt through my high school records - four decades in the past - to find when I had a similar weight and, in the process, have discovered my athletic records of the time, which were "quite good". I was among the best in the school for medium and long-distance running, plus I played cricket, rugby, football, and volleyball at an interschool level. But ultimately, I couldn't stand the aggressive competitiveness and the yobbish fans, and dropped out of all those activities. I hope that I can avoid all that in this rejuvenated period of my life.

Entry tags:

Current Mood: chipper

Independence Day

Overslept this morning, turned off the alarm at 10:00 and went back to sleep until 12:30. Then hurried to have breakfast and coffee and shower and dress.

Took my Agatha Christie book and my folding chair and went to

mashfanficchick's place, stopping on the way first to get gluten free Oreos.

Got to zer place, ze was making Rice Crispy treats. Ze finished that up, and then we packed a bag and the insulated backpack and headed off to Forest Park. Asked if Trish wanted to come last night but she didn't.

It was a very nice day. We got a visit from a small dog belonging to the person sitting near to us, which was amusing. We sat in the shade and puttered on our phones, talked, and ate. I got a phone call from John and Denise, which was very nice, we had a good talk. The Kid texted, she has her job interview Monday.

Finally it was getting late. Fireflies came out, more than I've seen in years. We headed back and got back to zer place just in time for the broadcast of the Macy's fireworks.

Sadly the broadcast was somewhat disappointing. The filming was not great, and the musical accompaniment was uninspiring. But it's always nice seeing fireworks.

I requested an Uber, just to see how expensive it would be, to my surprise it was relatively cheap so I set out for home before it got worse.

Got here and fed the pets, then Teamed the FWiB. That was nice.

Now time for bed.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. John and Denise.

3. Fireflies.

4. Friends.

5. Rice Crispy treats.

6. Cooler weather.

July 4

Years and years and years ago, the Vietnamese War killed my patriotism. I was in college. My friends were being drafted to go over and get killed. Then, an hour from my college, the National Guard fired guns at the students at Kent State. And that was the final blow.

I could have - maybe should have - left but never even seriously considered it. I got a little hopeful when Obama was elected but, of course, that's been squashed.

So celebrating the birth of this ugly political pit is not something I gravitate to. Red White and Blue represents stupid old white guys who make ridiculous decisions.

Yes, I have enjoyed the fruits of those stupid white guy decisions and I get the irony but I still hate all patriotic holidays and the crap that goes with them. So... today will be a Friday for me.

New menu day and the last week of my meal month so I need to eat up whatever they are serving. Scott and Julie helped this month so it's not so much of a scramble.

My foot is a little better. It's no longer bruised looking from the shot so there's that. I still have another shot to go but that's not til August. I've been watching my ankles and they are weird. One day they are huge and the next they are back down to normal, lather rinse repeat. I'm now taking an embarrassing number of pills each day. 1 for cholesterol, 2 for high blood pressure, COQ 10, vitamin D, AREDS2, now an allergy pill and one for my feet. That's 8 every morning and another AREDS2 at night. AND I'm healthy! (Oh and the allergy pills are working again so whew!)

Baseball starts at 10 today. And I might do some laundry or not. My little UPS shop is closed but I have nothing to return today anyway.

Entry tags:

photos,
pixelfed

Photo cross-post

Got halfway to the bus stop to go to the pool and realised I didn't have my shoulder bag. Sprinted home, got it, and made it to the bus.

Got off the bus at the other end, realised Sophia's bag didn't have her swimming costume in it. Got a bus home, grabbed it, now in a taxi.

Fingers crossed that nothing else comes between me and drop-off and work!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Current Mood: okay

Day out

I got up at 10:00, and had breakfast, showered and dressed. Then I went out to go to

mahfanficchick's.

I stopped in Flushing at Duane Reade to pick up prescriptions first, which went perfectly well.

Then I went to zer place, and we hung out all day, along with zer friend Trish. We had lunch and dinner, and watched The Lincoln Lawyer, and the Mets game (Mets won, very exciting).

We also just discussed stuff, such as the calamity of the bill passed today. Enough said.

At 8:30 I called Middle Brother. He has been swimming this week, and is having a barbeque and watching fireworks tomorrow.

Finally I Ubered home, fed the pets, and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB. Missed Teaming him but emailed as always.

2.

mashfanficchick

3. Good TV.

4. Mets win.

5. Air conditioning.

6. Middle Brother is good.

Oh yeah, the Hit and Run and the Ferry

The breach has been mostly contained. Flies have only numbered one now while the smells have been fainter. Our home is full of candles to mask the smell and it makes me feel like I'm ready to start covering my desk in healing crystals. We just came back from a water run thankfully now that the car is back from a hit and run.

Oh that's right, I didn't talk about the hit-and-run over here. It's been a bit dramatic over here, hasn't it? ( tldr: NJ driving, amirite??? )

Between that, there's been a lot of work and allergies have been keeping me down, so work's been obnoxiously slow.

We also realized an easier way to get to NYC aside from Edgewater which is GORGEOUS but also FULL OF GWB TRAFFIC when we found that Staten Island was relatively easier to drive through, so we tested a trip to the Staten Island ferry.

Let me tell you: Staten Island? Kind of in rough shape. But also? Not that different from driving around any other dense but underdeveloped Jersey town. Free ferry was crowded but free and very doable and parking is less stressful compared to Edgewater at comparable rates. I can tell it's also built around a mall to find people excuses to spend money while getting shots of the Statue of Liberty and I'm okay with this. Sadly, a lot of it closes up earlier than I think is good. Also, there's a minor league stadium right there and it looks like it gets frequent use, which is awesome AFAIC.

We kind of figured out a bit more in the process and realized that the St. George ferry goes ironically all the way to where Edgewater's ferry drops us off and is less crowded because you pay for it but also it's less crowded so we're being bougie and using that now. I think it's less annoying and more photogenic for us to take the ferry, so our weekends are going to be based around trying to utilize the ferry more. We'll have an excuse to check out Roosevelt Island again for the first time in awhile! Yay, pneumatic garbage!

Michelle's gotten stronger, which is awesome. She's now carrying close to my weight but a lot less sweatily. I am jealous, yes.

I'm going to add that I'm writing this post while waiting for a work macro to resolve, so I think I'm going to call it now since it's cleaned out enough. AMA

Manual labor

Before I even moved in here, one of the things highest on my list was a built in ironing board. We found a couple that just weren't right and we never found a place to put it and I gave up. I tried living with a little one that you sit on the counter but it was a fail. Then I bought a small apartment sized one and last week, one of the cats knocked it over and mayhem ensued.

Turns out what I really wanted was an always available ironing situation. In the condo, I had an ironing station always at the ready. I hate to iron so just walking up and turning on the iron, doing the deed and walking away was perfect and what I wanted here.

After the flying ironing board incident, I spied an option. My closet is huge by Closets I Have Had In The Past standards but it's also pretty full but there was a spot...

So I ordered this.

It arrived today. The instructions were not too specific and the bits were not totally labeled and so the project was a bit bigger than I expected but I managed it. (Thank you, me, for that more powerful cordless drill you finally bought not long ago. You rock.)

And now it has a home.

It came with a door but I thought that was unnecessary. I already ironed a shirt that got wadded up in the last laundry. Turned on the iron, rolled out the board, did the deed, rolled it back. Done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

And I'm quite delighted.

one legged volleyball

Turns out my foot hurts far less than yesterday UNLESS I'm bouncing on it in the pool. And then, OMG! So I played with one leg and the ouchy foot tucked behind the good leg's knee. That was an experience. It's really hard and after 2 hours I think my back is going to be pissed tomorrow. But I was really surprised when I got out and started walking - it didn't really hurt at all. The 48 hours of pain expire in 4 hours. I'm counting.

And in other good volleyball news, the asshole is gone for a month. It was so lovely this morning without him. I'm going to enjoy July.

2025 is half done today.

AND today is the day I brought Biggie and The Smalls home from the shelter in 2019.

I got an interesting email from Gmail today. It said it was getting ready to close out an old email address of mine for lack of activity. So I thought I'd see if I could resurrect it. I have a giant fear of Google blocking my account. It happened once. I don't remember why. It was years ago and I finally managed to snag the helpful eye of a googler on Twitter who got me back on track. But, since then, I've lived with the fear. That first time, I was unable to come up with a former password or the date I opened the account which were two bits they wanted to prove I was me. Once I got back in, I captured that data and put it into an Outlook email account.

This morning I was interested in pulling the thread on this 'new' email account and seeing if I could get back in. It did ask for a former password and I typed one in that it did not reject. Then it wanted the email address I was using for backup. That took 2 tries. Then it wanted a phone number to text. But, once I got that far, it let me reset the password and BOOM I was in. Cool. Turned out I opened the account in 2005 and looks like I last touched it in 2006. And, shockingly, there were only 300 junk emails. So that now you can easily run multiple Gmail addresses in chrome, I think I'm going to start using it for storing misc bits.

So then I remembered I had not backed up the database that holds my notes. So I did that - which goes to email so then I decided to check and make sure it went to my backup email. All of the mail that comes into my main Gmail account automatically also gets sent to my backup account. So I went to Outlook and could not get in!! It let me reset my password but still would not let me in! so I noodled around a little and found a reddit thread about VPN which I do not use but it did lead me to try turning off wifi and using my cell data on my phone with a hot link to my Chromebook and BOOM! Microsoft is happy again. What a PIA. THEN I discovered remembered that because Microsoft is such a PIA, I had moved my backup email to me@susandennis.com which is over on my website hoster. So I go over there, log in and BOOM! There's all my email safely waiting for me and not connected to Google or Microsoft.

An interesting thread pulling for sure. But I do like that I finally got in everywhere and my stuff is safe.

All that thread pulling was time consuming. It's now 9:30 and I'm still in my robe from the pool. I need to make my daily run to UPS. I'd better get dressed first.

Entry tags:

Current Mood: cheerful

D&D night

Got up at 11:00 and had breakfast, showered and dressed.

I actually walked to the post office to mail my request to the Niagara County Clerk. I made the discovery that there is a veterinarian off ice which I didn't know about between here and the post office, which is a very good thing. I haven't taken Oreo to a vet since I've owned him, s he really needs a checkup.

Came home and did not much of anything, but a very little cleaning, and took out kitty litter, and walked around the block.

I also read a little in the Agatha Christie I'm on now, Cat Among the Pigeons.

My psychologist called, and renewed my med prescriptions, which I will pick up tomorrow.

Then at 7:00 I Teamed the FWiB, and we talked til 8:00 when I had my D&D game. He had something he wanted to do too so that worked out.

The game was short two people but we played anyway, fighting two abominations, and an evil computer thing.

Then I had dinner and fed the pets, and called

mashfanficchick about plans for tomorrow.

And then I started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got my meds refilled.

3. My D&D group, which is now been going three years.

4. Found a close by vet.

5. The Kid texted, she has a job interview.

6. Air conditioning.

Drive bys

It is rare that I complain about cold - especially in Summer but... Our Safeway thinks it's in the center of the Arizona desert at noon. Holy fuck. I have heard enough TV weather people explain what happens when cold air hits hot to wonder why it's not pour rain at the Safeway door.

Turned in two shoe returns at UPS. Picked up a new pair from the Amazon lockers. They are too short. So my daily trips to UPS continue.

My cortisone foot is hard to walk on. I need it volleyball ready tomorrow. But, actually, I could play volleyball on one foot so no big deal.

My brother told me to watch Dept Q on Netflix. It was very good instruction. Great acting, great plot, good visuals and, honestly, I'm wallowing in this delicious Scottish accent.

I'm working on a test ghost to go with my pumpkin head guy for Halloween shelf giveaways.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

sunshine revival

Sunshine Revival #1 (aka, I like journal challenges)

Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.

Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Okay, well, I'm a fiber artist and I *love* being a fiber artist, but the craft is S-L-O-W. I could knock out another coaster or Other Brother Darryl in about an hour, but I've done +checks Ravelry+ at least 16 of the coasters and at least 8 of Other Brother Darryl. I really don't need to make any more. So instead of crafting something for this challenge, I will talk about my crafting plans for July and beyond.

...though if you want to see crafts I've made, you can check out my Crafting Update tab to see the pretties!

Gnomes

I have two nieces and four nephews, and I started a tradition of making them something for Christmas. It started with crocheted snowflakes, but last year I did small Christmas stockings. This year, I'm planning to make them gnomes, because gnomes are popular and fun. I've bought some yarn, and have a pattern picked out. I really should get started on these NOW, because last year I spent 100 hours crafting in December and it wore me out.

Incidentally, I participate in a crafting tournament on Ravelry called Nerdopolis. We get themes to craft to each round, that we can then tie to our team's Nerdery for a chance to win a prize. Well, one of the themes this month is Orchard Fruits and cherries, which are red, are orchard fruits. I was going to use red for the nieces' gnomes, so that will work nicely. Just need to sit down and do it.

iPad Mini holder

I crocheted some phone holders for me and mom a few months back, and my older sister was admiring mom's and wanted one for her iPad Mini, so I'm going to bang it out this month. It will fit nicely in the Nerdopolis challenge on Communication, as electronic devices such as iPads can be used to communicate with others.

Sophie Scarf

I started this last month for a Nerdopolis challenge but didn't finish it. I'd like to finish in the next two months. It can be submitted to Nerdopolis' Area 51 which is for completed UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

Secret Project

IT'S A SECRET! I hope to finish this month, but since I am designing it myself, there's a lot of ripping back and redoing to get it perfect. Wish me luck!

Motion Picture Mosaic Cardi

This was supposed to be my January project, but them I effed up my shoulder and couldn't really craft for a while. I did start this in January but HAHAHAHAHA NOPE DIDN'T FINISH. It's a huge project that is taking a lot of time. I mean, not only is it a large oversized long cardigan but it's also large in general as I am a large circumference type person. Getting awfully tired of rows of plain HDC... but I do desire this cardi very much, so I'll keep working on it.

The 42 WIPs (and counting)

...yeah, I have a LOT of projects I started in the past and didn't finish. I did just go through my Ravelry projects today and marked some as completed/frogged if I knew I'd never finish them, but there's still a lot that I'd really like to do someday. So how about making a goal to do, um, I think three is a good choice? by the end of the year? I mean, technically all the ones I listed above are WIPs, but let's face it, I have some that have been hibernating for ages (my oldest WIP is from 2008, yikes) so let's pick a few and get them done.

Amontillado, Part 2

There's a new smell in town.

A week ago there was a sound of scurrying around my room and I thought another squirrel got inside but when I checked the roof it turned out the sound was not from up there (it's too damn hot to be up there anyway), so I figured it was something in the walls. Well I was proven right because now we've got a smell and flies are finding a way inside.

I've used up a tube and a half of sealing caulk and while it's been a great way to figure out where to where the breaches in the walls are, it's been a neverending fight as I fill in door frames, screw holes, and light panels with caulk and then wiping out excess and plastering my hand to mummy status. There is caulk on a bunch of things that I did not want to have caulk on thanks to a faster curing one we just switched to (Michelle wanted it to be quicker) while I am trying my best to figure out why the lower floor is starting to smell like corpse.

Sure I'm learning a shitload about how to caulk effectively but also learning that I could not handle living next to a abattoir, to the surprise of no one but also this goddamn smell.

The flies that find a way in here are also annoying as hell as I don't know where they're coming from. There's some holes that I realized are big enough for them to squeeze out of but also I thought I sealed them well enough but maybe not now and the frustration continues.

If this is a rodent of some kind, I'm told this will be a week or two.

It's been awhile since I posted and there's obviously a lot more but this has been my current fixation and I guess since I took a day off (woke up with a nasty headache and all this), I figured I might as well post this.

Al-anon and Starsky and Hutch

Saturday

Sunshine Revival #2: What do you love? (it's totally the twins)

Q&A on Living in Sweden While I Do Make Up

Sunshine revival Challenge: Love

Aphelion, Academia, Aesthetics, and Athletics

Interesting Links for 05-07-2025

Independence Day

July 4

Interesting Links for 04-07-2025

Photo cross-post

Day out

Oh yeah, the Hit and Run and the Ferry

Manual labor

one legged volleyball

Interesting Links for 03-07-2025

D&D night

Drive bys

Sunshine Revival #1 (aka, I like journal challenges)

Amontillado, Part 2