maichan, mypetconcubine and aerynsun5, thank you so much for the lovely cards! So, so pretty and such lovely words. *hugs you hard* Guess those are the last of the holiday cards. Although I do accept cards all year round. ;)



I have news! We finally sold the apartment! Yay! Not for quite as much as we wanted but enough. Yay again!

I was getting really worried, it's been on the market since July and we've been paying for two places since September. Which is basically money down the drain, paying for a place we're not even using. But now we're finally free! Which means we have to empty the storage room in our old place, which we had been putting off because it's soooo much work and soooo boring, and fetch the piano, which we had also been putting off because it costs an arm and a leg to move.

The buyer is a young transwoman, her parents live in the building across the road. She hasn't legally changed her name yet so when we saw the name on the offer we of course thought it was a guy, and here is where I admit my own sexist prejudice, because when I saw the male name I thought to myself, oh that's good since the apartment needs some fixing. Never mind that my guy is bloody awful at fixing things just as I, f.ex., can't cook to save my life. And still that was my first thought. *rolls eyes at self* Well, at least I realise when I'm being sexist. First step to recovery, right?

Anyway...

I've been looking through a few of the boxes and found old photo albums, books I thought were lost and things from my childhood I had quite forgotten. And right now I am washing the first machine of what promises to be gazillion from 11 big trash bags filled with clothes that I have to wash and then either give or throw away or find space for in our closets. This is our punishment for years of hating doing laundry to the point that we ended up stashing bags of dirty laundry in the storage room. Some of those bags have been there since we moved into the apartment 11 years ago! And yes, you can say it, we are the worst slobs ever. Even if I doubt any of my clothes fit me anymore they might by now fit the girl, if they're not too dorky. lol And of course all the children's clothes are way too small for them by now. We could sell some of them, I guess, but I'd rather just give them away to people who actually need them.

Also, nostalgia. With David Bowie dying and us re-watching X-Files and me going through all this old stuff I've found myself getting pretty emotional and contemplative. Not helped by the fact that tomorrow it will be one year since dad's funeral. I look at some of these photos and it feels like yesterday but then I look myself in the mirror and I'm just... "Who the fuck are you?" *sighs*

Mood: nostalgic Tags: # dad, rl, x-mas cards

My dad passed away around half past 9 last night. He went peacefully after spending the last day mostly sleeping. Just before we left him, around 6 pm, I talked to him, told him not to worry about us, we were okay and it was time for him to leave. Then I kissed him good night. I want to believe he heard me because his heart was still beating regularly and strongly and his breathing was even and unlabored so they were a bit surprised when he died so shortly after.

I'm sad but I am also so relieved that it didn't take longer and that he died before I had to leave on Monday. We went to see him this morning and he looked so peaceful. Then we spent 2 1/2 hours at the funeral home, making arrangements, and I was completely exhausted after and had to take a nap. I only slept 5 hours last night. Two of his wife's daughters are here now, we're gonna eat sushi and have a nice evening. Her third daughter had a baby on Wednesday by C-section, 5 hours away, so she can't come down. And yesterday was both my son's and my sister's daughter's birthday. So we decided not to tell them until today and say he went during the night. The funeral won't be until a month from now, there's the baby, the holidays, us having to travel over from Iceland, and my brother has finals the first week of January. It feels a bit weird waiting so long but I think it's the easiest solution for everyone.

It's damn hard being away from mr Felis and my kids at such an emotional time, but I'm still glad I'm here. But I'll also be so glad to get home on Monday and be able to hug my kids and cry on mr Felis's shoulder.


One other thing, I was going to do LJ Xmas cards this year but then this happened and now I just can't think about that anymore, it will be too late anyway when I at last come home. So we'll do them next year, ok?

Thank you all, who have left me comments and messages. They're so very much appreciated. *hugs you all*

Mood: tired Tags: # dad, family, in memoriam, rl

Last night I was reading in bed when I turned to mr Felis and said "Let's go live abroad for a while" and he smiled and said "Ok, where do you wanna live?" "Somewhere in Europe. London or Paris or Rome. Venice maybe. I just need a change, I feel stuck." "Ok." "So you get some kind of diplomatic job that pays well enough that I can just be writing in some tiny cafés." "Ok." "Great, then that's settled."

Of course we're not going anywhere. But just for a moment it felt so great just imagining what it would be like.

Maybe in five years or so when the kids are older. Then the girl will be finishing junior college and the boy will be in his first year. Then again, who knows where we'll be in five years. We might be dead for all we know.

Mood: restless Tags: # rl

There's something endearing about watching a big, burly, bearded and maned viking wearing combat boots and an army coat, sipping coffee from a tiny flowery (pink!) cup.

Mood: amused Tags: # rl

I really want to add a piece of slash art to that article I'm doing on fanfiction, fandom and slash (yes, it's finally about to be done) for a new online Icelandic magazine but it obviously has to be legit aka not stolen off the internet without permission. I'm not talking anything porny, just adoring looks or something, preferably starring characters people will recognise. (Wincest might be a bit too much for regular folks, though. lol) Where should I look?

Also that hamburger comparison, you know, "The book, the movie, the fanfiction", I've been trying to find a source for it (I remember it was on Tumblr, first a comparison between "the book" and "the movie" and then someone added "the fanfiction") but all I find are reposts of copy/pasted images and a combined picture with no artist credited. It's just such a great way of explaining it, I would love to be able to use it.

I have a Harry Potter drawing my daughter made that I'm going to use as an example of fanart, with permission of course. :) I don't even know if I can have more than one picture per article (it's in two parts) but since the second half is all about slash I'd love some kind of picture/art to head it.

Help?

[ETA. Oh, and does anyone know where the Joss Whedon quote "There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it's called 'fanfiction'" originally came from? I've googled my ass off and can't find the origin mentioned anywhere.]

Mood: working Tags: # rl

The internet is filled with pictures of Jensen Ackles and I'm a happy, happy bunny. :)

Here, have one more.


(From here)

I'm off to a gala event with the government and its staff. This is what my life has become, surreal and weird and pretty intimidating, tbh. I haven't had a haircut since December, haven't done my eyebrows since October but I did shave my legs (and toes!) this morning so that's something. Even if I'm wearing (silver sparkly!) leggings that hide them I feel all smooth and nice.

There will be lots of food and my favourite pop artist will be singing so it should be fun. Even if it's stuffy politicians and their no-doubt glamorous wives there will be "regular" folks like me from the staff also so yay. And my sister. The one with the big mouth who has a thing for saying what she thinks without actually thinking first. And who hates the government, even if she's working for them. Yay? We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I'll have a drink for mister Ackles. Possibly even two.

Any time you feel like your parents are holding you back, remember that I can never get a Doctor's degree on the account that the abbreviation Dr put in front of my RL name would, in my language, mean slut.

My sister, who actually has a doctor's degree, got off a lot easier. Hers only means "booming noise" or you know, a loud fart.



This brought to you by a conversation I had with my classmates yesterday about staying in school indefinitely instead of having to go into the real world and find a job. Obviously that is not an option for me. lol

Mood: weird Tags: # rl, uni

I think we need to work on our communication skills in this family.

Apparently when I say, "We need to straighten up and clean the apartment," what everyone else hears is "I'm going to clean the apartment, you don't need to do anything."
When I say, "The kitchen is a mess, we need to do the dishes," they hear, "I'm going to do the dishes and clean the kitchen, you go have fun."
When I say, "There's trash that needs taking out," they hear, "I'll take the trash out later, don't you worry about it."
When I say, "We need to do laundry," my husband washes two shirts. His own.
When I say, "Ugh, the litter box needs changing, the cat needs its meds, we're out of cat food, damn they puked all over the couch again," they hear, "You pet the cat, I'll take care of the rest."

And then people keep telling me, "Your husband does all the cooking? How is that fair? Shouldn't you do your part?"

*headdesk to infinity*


Hmmm, Seems I now only have Buffy icons since I forgot to renew LJ. Not that they aren't pretty, I just miss my SPN boys. Must fix tomorrow.

Talking about SPN, how awesome was the season 9 premier? So fucking awesome! And my new SPN t-shirt arrived just in time for me to wear it while watching. Yay!

Mood: aggravated Tags: # rl

As I think I mentioned I will be doing a series of articles (<600 words each, in Icelandic) for an online culture magazine about fic, slash, fandom and other things related. Yes, I am terrified but also a bit excited. Seeing as most people here have no idea this phenomenon even exists I'm using the opportunity to make it a positive introduction (but acknowledging the nay-sayers and their reasons for not liking it).

Anyway, I'm looking for interesting articles you can remember reading about these topics, whether we're talking facts and numbers or opinions and speculations. Also videos (I've already bookmarked danisnotonfire's great videos about fandoms and shipping), comics, songs ... anything really that might help me make it a fun but yet informative thing. Also, ideas for different topics would be nice. I will be doing one about its history but other than that I haven't decided anything yet.

Ps. Don't worry I'm not going to link to anyone's fanfic. Unless you don't mind or actually want me to, then go ahead, throw me a link. :) If I do want to quote something I guess I can always just snip something from one of my unpublished ones, no need to tell them it's mine.

Mood: hopeful Tags: # fandom, rl

Our fridge was getting so full of ice there was hardly any space left for the food in it so I've been trying to clean it out for the last three hours. Hot water in a bowl, then hacking away with grandmas old thick and sturdy knife. I'm getting very good at stabbing, I could very well start a career as a serial killer if we need extra cash some day. Also, it was a nice outlet for my pissed off mood after finding my favourite (and very expensive) goat cheese floating in melted ice in the cheese box after someone left the fridge door open. Which is why I decided to finally tackle the damn ice problem. Still have half of it left. I'm talking HUGE ice block in there. Don't ask me why we let it get that bad. We're just very lazy people, okay. Also, it does this all the time. Stupid fridge. Last time we managed to divide it into smaller blocks by shooting hot water out of a water pistol on it but I can't find the damn thing. The sink is now filled with ice, the floor is wet and my hands hurt. And all our food is out on the balcony so I have to finish it tonight. *groans*

Mr Felis is out, buying me french fries because I damn well deserve them. *grumbles*

In other far better news, I bought the newest Supernatural Qwertee t-shirt. From owning no fandom shirts a year and a half ago to now owning four (the new one, "Got fandom?", Dean art deco style and a Doctor Who "Keep calm and don't blink!")  ... I think I'm finally embracing my inner fangirl. (She's a lot younger, thinner and cuter than me and very kickass. In my head she looks like Faith.)

[ETA. Haha! Found the water pistol and mr Felis is taking care of the rest of the fridge. Just as well, I was starting to get very tired.]

Mood: tired Tags: # clothes, fandom, rl

*sorted through my daughter's clothes
*baked bread
*baked lemon meringue pie
*went on a 45 minute walk around the neighbourhood lake
*went grocery shopping
*waited on my daughter hand and foot (when you break a bone you get a one-day full-service contract, lol)

It might not seem much but compared to my usual day of sitting on my butt, writing and web surfing, I feel quite accomplished.

Every time I see a chirpy little Chevrolet Spark I imagine Dean sighing and patting the Impala lovingly and saying, "I know, baby, I know. But we can't torch them all."

In other news, congrats to the Ackles family on their newest member! If Jared hasn't already given them a bib that says "These idiots put my cape in backwards" I'll be very disappointed. ;)

In other, other news I might be going to Canada in the first week of August. Celebrating the Icelandic Festival (Íslendingadagurinn) in Gimli, Manitoba to be more specific. Long shot I know, but any fandom peeps live around there?

In yet other news, I'm supposed to be writing. So maybe I'll go do that.

Instead of my neverending search for a bigger penis it now seems I have signed up for about six different dating sites and they all have multiple matches for me. Yay, I can finally find my soul mate. Woohoo! *snorts*

On the bright side there were only 55 spam messages even if I haven't checked that box for months.

The weather is pretty if rather cold, we've had brunch with my side of the family and coffee and cakes with Mr Felis's, plus going to our girl's exhibition as it was the end of her second Manga class. Everyone kept praising her and telling us how talented she is. *beams* And to make a good day better, Mr Felis will possibly be home for dinner.

Now, if I could just figure out where the cat pee smell is coming from...

Mood: content Tags: # rl

As you might or might not know I should be finishing my MA degree in creative writing this spring. I postponed doing the actual thesis (which will be a novella, probably) until this summer, simply because there were so many interesting classes this semester I'd rather be spending my time on.

Well...

I've been thinking.

I'm never good at working in the summer. Seriously, I always have these big plans about all the things I am going to do and then the weather is so nice, the sun keeps shining and being inside is just... not on. So even if I know I have to write this thing I am afraid I'll botch it up. Also? I don't want to finish school and have to get a job and face real life. *whines*

So...

I've been looking at what's available, seeing if there's anything I could add that might stretch this on for another year. Not just escapism but because I don't want to just forget these two years happened and go back to working at a library, you know? I want something new. And writing doesn't exactly pay the big bucks. Or any bucks, actually.

Right now I'm looking at Practical Editing and Publishing Studies. I know I'm good at helping people with their texts, editing and suggesting what might be better. I've been told so by my classmates whose texts I've worked with, they've even asked me outside class to look at their stuff. And my teacher mentioned it to me especially that I gave very good reviews and feedback. Plus it could lead to a job in the publishing industry which sounds more interesting and challenging than going back to being a librarian.

I have to decide before April 15th. Hubby doesn't object so no problem there. (Well he hasn't on Facebook anyway. I haven't really seen him for a week or so but he butted in on a conversation I was having with my BFF about it, telling me to go ahead. This is my life now, talking about life changing things with my hubby on FB. *facepalm*)

I'm just still not sure if I really WANT to do this or if it's just that I DON'T WANT to find a job already. *rolls eyes*

Mood: contemplative Tags: # rl, uni

Happy New Year!!


Ok, instead of whining about the things I didn't manage to do in 2012 I'm going to focus on what I DID do and other happy things.

( Top Ten under the cutCollapse )


I love you guys, have a wonderful 2013!!

Mood: sleepy Music: Fireworks! Tags: # family, health, new year, rl, uni, writing

In the car driving home from leafbread carving with the inlaws:

The girl: So you shouldn't go out when it's raining because it's pee.
Me: The angels are peeing?
The girl: Only when it's a drizzle, otherwise it's God.
The boy: Yes, God is peeing with his giant penis or her giant vagina.
The girl: Isn't God a he?
The boy: It can either be a he God or a she God. Or both.
The girl: How can it be both?
Me: Either or both or none, it can be whatever. Depends on what you believe.
The girl: People believe in God's penis?
Me: Well, kinda. Gods used to be symbols of fertility so there were statues of gods with giant penises or huge breasts.
The boy: Or with leaves on their penises!
Me: That happened later.
The girl: Why are we talking about this. My family is weird.
Mr Felis: Well, I remember a little girl that liked to sing about her dad having a vagina.
The girl: Dad!
The boy: *sings* Dad loves vagina! Dad loves vagina!
The girl: It's has! HAS a vagina.
The boy: *Sings* Dad loves penis! Dad loves penis!
Mr Felis: I think you better stop before you kill your mother.
Me: *trying to catch breath*

Mood: amused Tags: # kids, rl

I posted fic! First one this year. Okay, so it's basically just silly porn with a bit of drama and angst thrown in but still, it's something. You can find it here if you want.

If anyone needs a bit more visual stimulation to go with it there's a rather delicious J2 eyeliner picspam post here that I stumbled upon when looking for inspiration. Yumyum.


In completely different news, I can't get my wedding ring back on! I had to take it off before going to the hospital and now it's shrunk! Well no, not really, obviously. It's been tight for some years but I've always gotten it off if needed (with much difficulty) and on again (with a little less difficulty). Now it just sits right under the last knuckle on a comfy cushion of finger flesh going, "I like it here, this shall be my new throne." Uhm, no. I can't bend my finger with you there, stupid ring. Also, not safe, it keeps slipping off. So I put it on my little finger but ever since I was once told that was for when you're widowed... it just feels weird. Not that I'm THAT superstitious but why tempt Fate, you know? (I tried googling but couldn't find anything about that. Huh.)

Mood: contemplative Tags: # rl, self-pimp

There's a divorced couple, around 50, at the next table arguing LOUDLY about who gets the kids at what time this summer. Like, close to yelling loudly. They and I are the only ones in here. I can hear every single word.

Suddenly a girl comes in and they both snap their mouth shuts and get up to greet her, smiling like nothing is amiss. They're obviously interviewing her for a childcare position, some kind of aupair it sounds since they're talking about her having to stay somewhere abroad where she won't know anyone. The mother sounds like a drill sergeant, questioning her motives and qualifications, the father is somewhat calmer. (I have the feeling he just wants this over with as quickly as possible.)

Hubby is on his way to pick me up. I just hope he shows before the girl leaves and they start yelling again. This is not helping with my porn writing, people!

Mood: annoyed Tags: # rl

Just dropped in to say I will be more or less out of reach until July 8th. We headed to mom's cabin on Thursday and since we hardly have any electtricity here, let alone internet, I can only get online using hubby's ipad and I hate typing on this thing!
Spending my time mostly reading Big Bang stories on my Kindle, eating, and sleeping. Will try and get some writing done but the kids are distracting.

Oooh! One thing. Proud mommy moment on Thursday before leaving:
The girl was finishing the Dale Carnegie class her grandmother signed her on (she used to teach DC for years) and one of the the things they tackled was prejudice and bullying nd how to put themselves in other people's shoes (which was a bit ironic because most of the kids in the class were like posterkids for bully victims, weird nerds with selfesteem issues). And when she was asked what she had learned from that exercise, instead of repeating what pretty much every kid had said until then, my girl said "Well, my mom has been teaching me from when I was very little that all people are important, that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, only the inside and that I should always put myself in other people's place and try and see things from their side, so there wasn't really much I had to learn from that exercise." I don't think I've ever felt as proud in my life, she had me in tears. Who would have thought my kids actually listen to me?

Well, this ipad is driving me crazy, I keep hitting the wrong keys with my big fingers. Aargh! I just had to share that with you, I've been dying not being able to talk about it to anyone. My girl, ladies and gentlemen!

Mood: lazy Tags: # kids, rl, vacation

Well, this has been one busy and eventful weekend.

Saturday: mr_felis's sister's wedding. The weather was gorgeous, the ceremony lovely and fun, the bride of course was beautiful and the groom handsome. Everyone said yes at the right moment, the priest had to stop them from kissing twice before it was the right time and then the bride almost faceplanted as she was walking down from the altar. lol

We (newly weds + the closest family) had a picnic with bubbly while taking photos in the Parliament's garden, then they took off for more photos and we met again at 5 where the party was held. Nice food (well, I could only eat the main course since there was flour in the soup and of course in the cake, but I ate plenty), fun speeches and songs and videos for entertainment, then dancing. We took off at around 1 am because the girl was falling asleep (the little guy on the other hand had been running in circles non stop, hardly taking a break for cake, and didn't even fall asleep in the taxi on the way home) but apparently, about an hour later, the groom's brother got down on one very shaky knee and proposed to his girlfriend. He was, we're told, absolutely terrified but she said yes so it's all good. lol

Sunday: Iceland's national day. Woohoo! We thought the parade started at 2 pm but at 12:20 hubby went online to check the schedule and found out it started at 1 pm! Somehow, miraculously, we managed to get everyone dressed and out the door to catch the bus 20 minutes later. (Not until we'd picked up our car and was on our way home, 6 hours later, did I check myself in the mirror and saw the bedhead and the mascara in my eyes from last night. Wonderful.) The bus took 35 min but we caught the tail-end of the parade. Then it was the usual: candy floss, balloons, coffee, the kids standing in endless lines for jumping castles and other fun stuff. They had this place were the kids could throw balls and if they hit bullseye, a balloon with water exploded over a guy's head. Obviously some people are more crosseyed than others because one boy managed to hit my little guy straight in the forehead where he was standing to one side. And these are heavy, hard, wooden balls! Poor little guy screamed like a banshee but the one who threw the ball didn't even say sorry, just "Oops," and walked away. o.O He's all right, just a bump and a bruise.

They'd predicted rain so of course it was sunny most of the time and now I'm all sunburned and my eyes are sore because I didn't bring my sunglasses.

Four more days and we're off to the cabin in the woods on the shore.

Mood: sleepy Tags: # rl, summer, vacation