coffee_n_cocoa

Bean and I went to our town's Strawberry Festival yesterday. It takes place on the grounds of a fully restored Victorian mansion where you can take tours. There were vendors selling various wares, a display of antique cars, a band that played a mix of patriotic and old classic tunes such as "When You Wish Upon a Star"; and of course, strawberries. You could buy a dish of strawberries plain, with or without vanilla ice cream and/or shortcake, strawberry floats, frozen strawberry popsicle bars....yum. There was also a booth selling sandwiches and another selling hot dogs for those wanting something a bit more substantial with the strawberry offerings. We bought a crocheted dress for her Barbie dolls, an Origami Owl locket, and a bar of locally-made strawberry-scented soap that the business owners had created especially for the festival. Their other scents smelled divine, so I took a business card as well.

We visited Mom G at the hospital earlier this afternoon. Her platelet count is up to 98, so the docs are hopeful they will finally be able to do her lung biopsy either tomorrow or Tuesday. She's trying to stay in good spirits, but she's tired. There are people coming in around the clock for various reasons, which isn't exactly conducive to rest. We left after she'd finished lunch so she could try to take a quick nap.

Now, to finish laundry before dinner. We're having pizza tonight. I picked up Canadian bacon and fresh mozzarella to go on top alongside the hamburger already thawing at home.

Well, I'm still slowly and steadily moving my old fics over to Ao3 (Bryonia_Alba, for those who don't yet know). I hadn't realized just how many I'd written during the years I was in fandom, well over a hundred. Not nearly as prolific as some, but a bit more than just a handful, LOL. There were stories I'd nearly forgotten I'd written, and some I'd forgotten just how much I actually liked after writing it, and some I'd forgotten I'd written that I actually liked after writing it.

It kinda makes me wonder who took up the Neville-promoting mantle after I left. Who writes the Neville-fic now?

Anyway. Bean, who is no longer a little girl and needs a new nickname, just finished fourth grade. Her latest passion is something on the internet called Country Balls, where different balls colored with various national flags interact with each other. She also collects rocks and gemstones, and reads encyclopedias for fun just like her mother did, back in the day.

Mom G is currently in the hospital, having tests run. They've already diagnosed a blood clot in one lung that they're treating with blood thinners; but there's a second spot on her lung that will be biopsied on Tuesday. That's the one we're all worried about, hoping it's not the C word.

Saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with Bean and loved it. Thanks to last year's Comic-Con, she's quick to point out all of Stan Lee's cameos whenever we rewatch a Marvel film. Looking forward to seeing Wonder Woman with her as well.

Next month Bean, hubby, and I are going on our first official out-of-state vacation. Which exotic location did we select? Well, we're going to Omaha, Nebraska for a week. We're going to the zoo, to a Royals AAA farm team game, and taking a day trip to Lincoln to see the state university museum's gemstone exhibit. It should be fun!

Today was the stereotypical sort of Monday where if something can go wrong it will. Our washer broke and it'll be at least a few days before we can buy a new one. Fortunately, we all have enough clothes to get us through the week.

I also had a plate break in my hand while I was rinsing it for the dishwasher. Fortunately, I only got a little cut on one finger.

However, the weekend trip to Joplin was fun. Hubby's youngest cousin is getting married in May, and her bridal shower was this past weekend. Her older sister is seven months pregnant and due in May. She's also the matron of honor, and when we asked her if there was a Plan B in case she had her baby the same time as the wedding, she said the plan was to just go on without her. As it stands, we'll probably have her baby shower the day after her sister's wedding, so out of town family won't have to make separate trips. Both sisters seem cool with that, which I suppose is the important thing.

We got a tour of what Joplin looks like now, nearly one year after the tornado ripped through. Many of the businesses have rebuilt or are in the process of being rebuilt, but we saw the pile of rubble where the high school used to be and the skeleton of the hospital, which is also in the process of demolition. There were blocks and blocks of empty foundation lots, dotted with the occasional rebuilt or rebuilding home. The trees had been snapped off, but it was both inspiring and strange to see them with spindly new branches and new green leaves on many of them. The family said people still show up every weekend to help with construction and cleanup, and that sales of storm shelters are understandably brisk. They also said they won't take tornado warning sirens for granted again.

I got an extension for my Beholder fic. I have until Saturday to finish it.

I also haven't yet watched last night's season opener for Game of Thrones. I'll do that after I've put Bean to bed.

Prop 8 has been ruled unconstitutional!

Another Sunday, another minimum four loads of laundry. *yawn* My predictable life, let me show you it.

Tonight we tried leeks, as part of a hash with red potatoes and pancetta. It was good, and this time even Dad G liked it, although next time I plan to dial waaaay back on the red pepper flakes. The recipe called for one tablespoon, I used half that in the recipe, and it was still a bit too much on the spicy side for our family's tamer tastes. I think next time I'll use maybe half a teaspoon, which should be enough to give the dish heat without it feeling like swallowing a blowtorch. The recipe also had paprika and thyme, so it's not as though it will lack any seasoning whatsoever.

(Yes, we are wusses.)

Anyhoo, remember the half-grown kitten we adopted last summer? He's not nearly so little anymore. In fact, I'm tempted to rename him Garfield!

( Sunny the Not-So-Little Cat )

Originally posted by morgandawn at Seems I Am Not The Only One....

2011 was a reaaaaaaalllllly slow fic year for me. Compared to 2010 where I wrote three drabbles, fifteen ficlets, and twelve fics, in 2011 I wrote a grand total of...three stories.

Three. Four, if you count a retooled story I originally wrote in 2009.

Yeah, it was an off year. There were no additions to Neville's stable of conquests, either. Most tragically, I wrote no Neville/Ginny last year. If nothing else, that will hopefully change this year.

On to the (short) list of fic!

Making a Splash, (Neville/Lavender, NC-17), written for ozma_katiebell for wizard_love 2011. When her date with Neville turns potentially disastrous, Lavender finds a way to salvage the evening.

Lavender Fields Forever, (Neville/Lavender, NC-17), written for starrika for smutty_claus 2011. Lavender became something of a workaholic after the war. Fortunately, a certain professor teaches her how to stop and smell the flowers again.

Mermaid's Suede, (Charlie/Neville, NC-17), written for kabal42 for daily_deviant's Kinky Kristmas 2011. It was difficult to imagine such an affable bloke being so, well, kinky, if Charlie hadn’t witnessed it firsthand.

The tweaked fic was The Naming of Direwolves, (Jon Snow and his siblings, gen, G). Jon Snow and his trueborn siblings feed their direwolf pups and decide on names.

So that closes the book on a dismal writing year. We'll see if this one improves at all!

Well, that's what happens when you lose internet for a few days...all sorts of stuff happens, and once you get it back there's nuthin.

So, today you get All the Things that happened last week!

For instance, Bean's favorite vegetable is carrots. I asked her if she wanted to help me make carrot soup, and she said yes. So I tried a new recipe for Curried Carrot Soup. She wasn't fond of the results and didn't eat more than a few bites (so much for the reasoning that having kids help in the kitchen will expand their culinary appetites), but I thought it was delicious and will probably make it again.

Also, last Thursday in class we all played with syringes and needles, and I didn't pass out or anything! True, none of them were exactly pointed in my direction, which definitely helped. But we practiced reconstituting vials and drawing up the contents into the syringes before injecting them into IV bags. It's the type of activity pharm techs typically perform in a hospital or long-term care institution rather than in a retail setting, but it was still good knowledge to have.

I also made a batch of cranberry orange scones. There was a ton of good fruit sales last week, so I picked up strawberries, blueberries, bananas, kiwi fruit, and oranges, and whipped up a fruit salad. Apparently I wasn't the only one jonesing for fresh fruit, because the rest of the family devoured it. I still have oranges and blueberries left, and will probably make another batch of scones and some blueberry muffins this weekend, and take them in to school next week as study fuel. Midterms are next week, and at the moment I am NOT failing algebra! *\o/*

Also, reveals happened for the two holiday fests I participated in, and I can now thank the lovely people who created their fantastic gifts for me!

Firstly, I must thank nightfalltwen for her incredible Neville/Lavender fic The Right Recipe, which is not only a gloriously romantic story, it also includes links scattered throughout the fic, all going to delicious-sounding recipes like gingerbread and cream scones. If you haven't already, go, read, and give love!

Secondly, I must thank its_art for the sizzling Neville/Ginny artwork These aren't your usual Christmas crackers she drew for me for daily_deviant's Kinky Kristmas! It's hot and cool, and I love Neville's impish expression and Ginny's pose. It's lovely, so take a look and leave more praise!

Incidentally, I also committed fic, both of which I've reposted to my fic journals.

I wrote the Charlie/Neville fic Mermaid's Suede for kabal42 for Kinky Kristmas.

I wrote the Neville/Lavender fic Lavender Fields Forever for starrika for smutty_claus.

On a less happy note, this week we've begun the process of arranging for speech therapy for Bean. She's an intelligent little girl, but while she understands what's being said to her, she's fallen further behind her peers in actual speech and vocabulary, which is affecting her social development. Hopefully by getting her into a speech program we can make noticeable progress by the time she starts kindergarten later this year. I was the same way when I was her age, but I really wish she hadn't inherited her speech/social inadequacies from me! Wish us luck!

I submitted my Valensmut fic last night, so now I just need to come up with a plotbunny for the prompt I picked up at Wizard Love.

We also had our second dusting of snow two days ago. So far this winter we've had less than an inch of snow total, which is unusual. Poor Bean is so anxious for a real snowstorm!

Bean returned to school today; I go back tomorrow. She was happy to go back, greeted her teachers cheerfully, started playing right away. We're still a year or so away before the back-to-school groans kick into high gear.

I was mostly lazy today, although I did box up some of Bean's old clothes to give to Goodwill. Tomorrow I need to clean out the closet and see what else I can donate. There are several outfits I can give away that haven't fallen apart, and others I can rip up for the rag bag.

The holiday fests have finished posting. I'm fairly predictable, but I'll toss it out there anyway: Who can guess what I wrote for Smutty Claus and Kinky Kristmas?

I'd make a year-end fic post, but I only wrote three stories all year, none of which were all that great. I suppose I might make one anyway, despite the extremely short list, just for the sake of posterity.