coffee_n_cocoa

The Chiefs beat the Broncos today, finishing their season at 7-9. This was actually better than the 6-10 I predicted at the beginning of the season; and if we hadn't lost Eric Berry, Jamaal Charles and Tony Moeaki early in the year and then Matt Cassel later on, we might have finished with a better record. Add in the fact that we went 2-1 after Haley was fired, and the ever-hopeful fans in Chiefs Country can't help but wonder: If we went 7-9 this year with half our starting line-up out with injuries and an incompetent head coach, just imagine what we can do next season with a healthy line-up and a halfway decent coach!

*dreams*

Now, to cheer on the 49ers through the playoffs!

Current Mood: cheerful
Crossposts: http://coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com/516778.html

We still have about 90 minutes before the clock strikes midnight where I am. I have a White Russian in a very large glass, the kiddo is in bed, and I am ready to see 2011 off into history.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Crossposts: http://coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com/516544.html

Hubby just took down the Christmas tree. It always makes me sad even though I know it can't stay up forever. :(

Crossposts: http://coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com/516276.html

Now that the year is nearly done, it's time to reflect on the 2011 that was. My year was fairly dull, considering money is/was still tight and I had pretty much nothing in the way of disposable income to do anything fun. I'm hoping that will change in 2012!

( 2011 in hindsight )

Crossposts: http://coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com/516007.html

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule to those who celebrate those instead! Happy Sunday to everyone else!

Bean made out like a bandit this year, as usual. She received a stuffed penguin, a penguin snuggie-type blanket, a new Barbie, new Barbie clothes, new crayons and drawing paper, a Cars 2 DVD, and yes, a red yo-yo.

I received new clothes, one of those Magic Bullet blenders, and The Hunger Games trilogy, so I made out quite well also.

I have also received nifty gifts of both the fic and artistic varieties!

Firstly, and it is horribly and most egregiously late for me to mention this,

katmarajade wrote me a lovely R-rated Neville/Ginny ficlet, Evergreen Entrapment, which is both sweet and sexy, and everyone should go read it.

Secondly, a lovely artist over at

daily_deviant drew These aren't your usual Christmas crackers for me, a NWS bit of Neville/Ginny naughtiness, which should be seen if only for the fine figure Ginny cuts in her high heels, stockings, and naught else. :D

Lastly,

tealeaf23 wrote a sweet Neville/Draco ficlet for me, Christmas Confessions, which is just deliciously romantic.

Go! Look! Leave love for all of them!

And Happy Holidays to all of you!

Current Mood: content
Crossposts: http://coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com/515767.html

Happy Birthday, NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM!!!

You will always be my hero and favorite BAMF!

Current Mood: drained

What if you combined Game of Thrones with My Little Ponies?

My Game of Thronies!

Oh god, the big eyes!

Current Mood: amused

Bean went on her first field trip today with her daycare, and by extension I went on my first field trip as a mom. We went to a local pumpkin patch and petting zoo, where Bean and the other kids got to see chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowl and peacocks; goats and sheep and bunnies, and a calf and a pig. After they all got to pet the goats and calf and oohed and aahed over the other animals, especially the enormous lop-eared bunny, we all climbed aboard a tractor-pulled wagon and headed out to pick our pumpkins. Bean chose a very nice little one and she's been showing it off to everyone.

Anyway, watching eleven prekindergartners is like herding cats. Believe me, I have a lot more respect for daycare workers who have to put up with all that constant energy from multiple sources day in and day out! I overheard one of the other moms who came along that she was ready for a nap after helping keep track of everyone.

I wore my autumn-themed sweatshirt, which features a rustic scarecrow and two pumpkins under a crescent moon, and the rest of the kids thought it was the most awesomest shirt ever for the occasion. So I now have cool points with Bean's classmates. :)

My sisters and I are having pictures taken of all the grandkids to give to Mom as a Christmas gift. Which is all well and good, since Oldest Nephew is a senior in high school this year and will be away at college this time next year, so this is probably the last chance in awhile to get everyone together for photos.

However...Middle Sis (the one who adopted the three girls and a boy from Colombia last year) and Youngest Sis (who only has boys) both decided it would be just wonderful if all the kids wore matching outfits for the sitting. Which means I have to buy a new dress for Bean. True, Middle Sis will be buying three dresses for her girls, but ugh. Do they not have perfectly serviceable dresses in their closets already? *sigh* Both of my sisters are much more Martha Stewart-ish than I am (especially Middle Sis), so of course they thought it was a brilliant plan, and I got overridden. So now I have to buy a fancy dress Bean will probably only wear the once. Right now it looks like the sitting itself will be happening the first weekend of November.

Also coming up: fall party at Bean's daycare, Halloween, a trip to the circus...the calendar is rapidly filling up at Chez G!

Now, if I could just get my Muse to cooperate!

Thanks to

atala,

blueaisling,

juniperus,

kaleidoscopeheart,

marie_j_granger,

madam_minnie,

schnurble,

psyfic,

alisanne,

faye_jan49, and

celandineb for the birthday wishes!

Thanks to

ceirdwenfc and

sra_danvers for the virtual gifts!

Well, I'm 42 now, so does this mean this is the year I discover the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything? If it is, it's going to have to wait until this nasty cold is over and done with, and with that I am off to bed. Nothing sucks quite as much as being sick on your birthday. Bleah.

Bean isn't quite ready to let summer go just yet. It was in the 40s this morning. She cried when I wouldn't let her wear shorts and a tank top to daycare, and when I asked her if she wanted to wear her purple shoes, her pink shoes, or her princess shoes, she cried again when I denied her request to wear her sandals. Mean old Mommy was being especially mean for Monday!

On top of that, Mom G has bronchitis, and Bean and I both have colds. Just in time for my birthday, yay. Ah well, it wasn't like I had anything special planned anyway.

What better way to spend a cool, cloudy day than to bake cookies with your four-year-old? Bean added the ingredients to the mixing bowl when I told her too, rolled the dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and helped lay them on the cookie sheets.

They turned out rather tasty!

Tonight, I write. Sometime this week I need to come up with plots for my Yule Balls and Smutty Claus fics, both of which will feature pairings I haven't written in...well, a long time.

We had the insurance adjuster out today to look at the roof, and we need to have it replaced because of the hailstorm we had last weekend. Fortunately, the homeowners insurance will cover the majority of the replacement costs. What sucks is that we just had the roof replaced three years ago (because it was old, but a hailstorm back then was the final nail in that coffin). Ah well, life in the Midwest.

Bean was moved up to the next class at her daycare, and she seems really happy there. Not that she wasn't happy before, but she adapted to the change in routine and teachers really well.

And we're putting up the Halloween lights this weekend, whee!!! Bean is getting really excited about the upcoming holiday, which is neat. We're going to have so much fun trick-or-treating this year!

So! NCIS 8X01 "Spider and the Fly": Who wants to discuss? I know there are peeps on my flist who watch this show...

J postponed our meeting this past Saturday because the weather was just too horrific. Fortunately, she missed the baseball-sized hail, but it was still raining buckets. Hubby and I went out to dinner anyway, intending to visit the Halloween store afterward, and ended up wishing we'd stayed home. The wind picked up, the rain was blowing sideways, leaves were torn off the trees, we got additional pea-sized hail, and when we got to the Halloween store the power was out. Then we had to take an alternate route home because the street hubby originally took was flooding. Yeah, awesome night out.

We met J for lunch yesterday instead, and we caught up for a couple of hours over good German food before she had to catch her flight back to New Mexico. Hopefully next time we'll be able to spend a bit more time together.

I received my

hp_yule_balls assignment. There are two pairings I can do, but I haven't been inspired yet. I also picked up a prompt at Kinky Kristmas, and was thrilled to see mine got picked up on the first day. Now I'm just waiting for my

smutty_claus prompt to arrive.

We're having a spot of stormy weather. I was in the shower and heard some thumping noises over the sound of water from the faucet and wondered what it was. Once I shut off the water hubby said to look out the window once I was decent, and so I got to watch the hail as it fell. Golf ball size, mostly, though some were easily the size of my fist, and I read later that there was baseball size hail in our area too. Some of it broke the skylights at the shopping mall located five miles from the house.

Our friend J is visiting from New Mexico this weekend, and we're supposed to meet later at the Indian restaurant. It's located...across the street from the mall. Hee. Fortunately, the hail's stopped, and we're just expecting rain the rest of the evening while we enjoy chai and conversation.

I'll catch the latest episode of Merlin once I get home. Pretty boys are pretty.

I didn't sleep much last night. Part of that, I'm sure, has to do with the fact that the Chiefs opened up their season with the late Monday night game against the Chargers. We won 21-14, complete with a goal line stand in the last minute of the game. It was great seeing a team with actual defense and special teams again! The offense is still iffy, though. I still predict we will do better than 4-12 this year. Either way, the stadium was full despite the rain moving through during the first half, and there was a lot of energy in the crowd. I imagine I'm not the only one feeling a bit zombified from lack of sleep today.

Plus, I have to admit I love it when the Chiefs get a nationally televised game, because the broadcasters without exception always mention how Arrowhead is the best-smelling place in the NFL because of all the barbecuing tailgaters showing up before the game. Nothing smells better than barbecue!

I've got to start my samhain_smut fic this week. I picked up a wonderful prompt, but the Muse is being uncooperative. Probably because I can't quite decide if I want to write something angsty with the smut, or keep it on the fluffier side. It could go either way.

Title: The Second First Time
Author:

coffee_n_cocoa
Pairing(s): Neville/Ginny
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction set in the Harry Potter universe – all recognisable characters and settings are the property of J. K. Rowling and her associates. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this work. Please observe your local laws with regards to the age-limit and content of this work.
Warning(s): EWE, established relationship, mild bondage, f/m rimming, pegging, a bit of genderfuck
Word Count: 3610
Summary: Neville took Ginny’s virginity on their wedding night. Now, it’s her turn to return the favour.
Author's Notes: Written for

hp_ssc_fest 2010. Many thanks to

ragdoll for the beta and encouragement.

The Second First Time (Link goes to fic journal on LJ)

Dad G and I went shopping for a new microwave this morning, finally finding the one we wanted at Sears. We also went to Sam's where we got napkins and laundry soap and a few other things before grabbing lunch and heading home. Then it clouded up and rained just enough to make things really sticky and uncomfortable while hubby and I went on our weekly grocery run. Hubby went ahead and turned on the A/C after we got home, even though it really wasn't all that hot outside, it was just humid which made things feel warmer than it was. I just rolled my eyes, because we're probably just going to turn it off again tomorrow. It's that time of year, with growing stretches of not using the A/C at all, followed by a day or two of it turned back on, then off, and then BAM! It's time to turn on the furnace!

Also, our local seasonal Halloween store is open. We'll have to stop in sometime soon with Bean and have her pick out a costume. I'm a bit sadface about that actually, since I've picked out all her costumes before now. I have no idea what she wants to be! Possibly Tinkerbell or a princess, but right now she's absolutely obsessed with bumblebees for some reason we haven't been able to figure out yet, so she might decide to be a bumblebee.

The Nationwide auto race is on tonight, and while I have no interest whatsoever in NASCAR or its sister Nationwide or truck races, I still thought the Toyota Design It commercials were pretty cute, especially the one with the little girl who designed a pink car with rainbows and kittens and little baby seals. And tonight, Kyle Busch is driving...a pink car with rainbows and kittens and little baby seals. His jumpsuit is bright pink with a kitten on the front and flowers on the trouser legs. It's quite funny.

Here's the commercial, for those outside the States who, like me, probably don't have any interest in watching cars go around in circles for three hours in the name of entertainment:

Finally, I LOLed when I read that Danica McKellar (Winnie from "The Wonder Years", god I feel old) and her husband just had their first child, and they named him...Draco. I kid you not. She says she named him for the constellation, but you know everyone will ask if he was named for the Harry Potter character!

Our old microwave suddenly and unexpectedly gave up the ghost earlier today, so tomorrow Dad G and I are going shopping for a replacement. I wonder if we'll end up bringing home some extra kitchen gadgets along the way...

We're getting brushed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine, although most of it's well south of us. We've had some light drizzle, and we'll probably get some light rain between now and the end of the day, but luckily we'll escape the flash flooding.

Our neighbors have taken in their grandkids for awhile; I believe their son is job-hunting in North Carolina or some such and will take the kids back once settled. I haven't heard the reason directly. Anyway, there's an 11-year-old girl who's thrilled because her classmate happens to live across the street, a 6-year-old boy who'd made friends with the boys who live one street over, and a girl who is the same age as Bean. Bean, of course, is thrilled to finally have a playmate in the neighborhood, and has spent every evening this past week next door playing with C. Two nights ago it was drawing in the street with colored chalk, and last night they were blowing bubbles. They also have two cats Bean loves petting, and the older girl also has a puppy. So there are kids! And animals! Bean is in heaven.

Fandom-wise,

taraxacumoff asked if she could translate my Neville/Katie ficlet into French. She sent me the link, and you can see the French translation of "Libraries Versus Greenhouses" here: Bibliothèques Contre Serres.

I'm rather excited. I've never had anything I've written translated into another language before (that I know of) until now!

Darnit. Hubby had a cold a couple of weeks ago. He passed it on to Bean, who still has a runny nose, although it's not nearly as bad as it was, and she's pretty much over it.

I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and the need for Kleenex has grown throughout the day. Hubby and I are supposed to go out on an actual date tomorrow night. I've a feeling I'll be sneezing through much of it.

Bleah.