You'd think with me pretty much doing nothing but sitting at my computer I'd remember to update every day...

Enjoyed the Hobbit a lot, probably aided by the fact that I read the book like 35 years ago and don't really remember much. February looks like a good movie month with Jupiter Rising and Kingsmen (will see former with dad and latter with mom as she's a huge Colin Firth fan).

The real happy for Saturday was that I got a box of coffee from a wish list participant. Two 12 ounce bags of artisan coffee from Kansas City, whole beans, and three little one pot bags of flavored coffee. I've tried the two bean ones and they are both delicious!

Sunday's happy was that I got my fic written that was due, and my solo at church went well. The Chiefs won but that was a happy with an asterisk as we didn't make the play offs. Probably a good thing as our QB has a lacerated spleen.

Still, a winning season.

Church ended a bit awkward. It was the traditional 'ask the minister questions' service most UU churches have for the Sunday between Christmas and New Years, and as she wrapped up the question period some guy wanted to speak and say why he was no longer a member. She kindly told him he could talk after the service and he tried again as she tried to announce the hymn and she ended up just talking over him. I would have been freaking out. Apparently he was a disturbed member in the late 80s/early 90s. Dad recognized him.

As I mentioned, my solo went well, though both our usual sound guys were gone so we were scrambling setting up the mike.

Mom caught a cold so didn't go to church. She's better today. We hope to see Into the Woods this weekend.

Yesterday (Monday) I watched three Big 12 bowl games in which all three Big 12 teams sucked and lost. Brother and nephew arrived so I went out to parents' for dinner and chatting.

Monday's happy was that I got some writing done for hurt/comfort bingo, found out that the deadline is Saturday not tomorrow, and also that handy dude put my fence back up.

Brother is both gray and wearing glasses all the time. I found this more amusing than I should.

Today I wrote nothing. *sigh* I read a lot of fanfic, watched some bball, was lazy until time to go to the game.

That would be today's happy. Going to any KU basketball game is a joy and a pleasure, but we won so that was a plus. Beat Kent State. We didn't play great, only were up by six at the half after trailing for awhile (they, of course, were hitting threes like crazy) won by sixteen on a last second lay up by the coach's walk-on son, but it was fantastic to be there.

Brother got decent seats, about 2/3 up and about eight feet in from the south goal. I've never sat on that side before. At least this time we weren't behind students who stood the whole time. Also, brother bought four seats as none of us are small people.

Dad dropped us about two blocks away and then went to my house to watch the game. It was one of those on the Jayhawk Network that he doesn't get since he has Dish. His eyesight makes it difficult to watch a game live, and it was so bitterly cold (and we walked into a north wind that stole my breath and made my face sting) he would have really suffered with his lung disease. I wore socks, ankle boots, leggings, a denim skirt, a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a head scarf, my hooded coat with the hood up, and heavy gloves and STILL was cold.

I got a hotdog and got back to my seat in time to sing the alma mater. People were still trickling in but by 7:15 the place was probably 95% full. I took a video of the crowd at the end of half-time. It's amazing how we fill the place even for a throw-away game between Christmas and New Years. So many arenas are half empty even during conference play!

Really, if you're a fan of college basketball, you should make a pilgrimage to Allen Fieldhouse. It really is magical. If I had the money, I'd have season tickets. I loved going when my parents had them. I remember when the "Beware of the Phog" banner was PAPER and strung up for the first time. I remember when we just had cheerleaders and no KU dancers (who were formerly the Crimson Girls). I remember when there was a scoreboard and no video board. I remember when the rafters had a lot fewer Final Four banners.

I remember when Danny Manning played on that floor. Now his son does. *g*

Okay, enough nostalgia.

Rewatching the game. *g*

Oh, and dad got the flat we've had in recent years in London for this September. We arrive for ten days on my birthday. It had been remodeled before our last trip to a three bedroom, two and half bath and they jacked the price, so we looked at a couple others in the Seven Dials (within a couple blocks of the one on Cambridge Circus) but he asked for a reduced rate on the one we've been staying in and got it.:) Brother probably can help get business class tickets as he has a ridiculous number of miles--he and nephew flew first class from Chicago to KC because why not?

I have got to lose some weight and get back to walking to get in better shape before we go. Dad and I'll do a couple days of research at the National Archives, but mostly I'll just be wandering the West End like I usually do.:)

Oh look, I'm channeling SNL.

Let's see, the first half of KU v. Florida on Friday night was a travesty, a disaster, etc. etc. We were behind fifteen at the half.

Then we whittled our way from eighteen down to win by six because that's what we do at home. :)

I'm hoping it was a learning experience. Better than a blow out or easy win. To struggle from that far down and dominate the last fifteen minutes says something.

On the game post on phognet people were blaming the presence of the new football coach. *snort* Apparently the sky is falling because of the hire.

Whatever. KU football is NEVER going to be the thing here. Basketball is king.

On Saturday I dragged myself to the post office and got there two minutes before it opened and was still ten people back. Worst thing about the holiday season.

Then I watched football and basketball and read fanfic and dithered over writing anything until I finally vomited out a couple hurt/comfort bingo fics that I have yet to edit and post.

This morning I slept in, dragged myself to church which was a cute play in which the wives of the three wisemen gave the baby useful things like food and pillows and blankets, came home and finally started a fic due by the end of the day, then watched the Chiefs dominate for nearly three quarters and then suck and lose, before writing more, eating dinner and watching the Simpsons, before finishing the fic with a couple hours to spare. 3500 words, and I'm pretty happy with it. Still rough and may add a bit but it's complete as is. Also got stuff ordered for nephew and sis-in-law and have a couple ideas for brother. Tomorrow I'm hitting up Penneys after work and then ordering stuff for the parents' depending on what I get there, if anything.

Oh, and the Big 12, by not having a conference championship in football because, despite the name, we only have ten teams, screwed itself out of a spot in the playoffs. The board is screaming for adding two teams, pretty much any two teams. We did get seven of the ten in bowl games, all from December 29 on so good ones.

I've kept up with feedbacking someone every day. :) I have a few more things to babble about, though nothing until later this week, so go give me ideas.

Also, I plan to do my holiday cards this coming weekend, so please get me your address if you haven't already. :) Overseas is fine, too, and you don't need to reciprocate.

Yesterday's happy was that I discovered that TNT was airing all three Librarian movies today so I don't have to pay for them on Amazon. :) I probably won't get to any of them or the new show until the holidays as I have 49 1/2 hours currently on my DVR which is only 14% full. God I love this new DVR brand. The old one, that many hours would have filled it. And I've lost power a couple times and haven't had the thing wipe clean.

Today's happy certainly wasn't the Chiefs (and I've now worn my Chiefs tshirt for the last three losses and it's going in the closet once it's washed). I'll go with getting the fic done.

I still have to make a list of everything I need to do before Christmas. I did get all the wrapping stuff into the dining room ready to go. I need to wrap stuff tomorrow so I can mail my Secret Ho package on Tuesday before work and so I can take the few things I bought nephew and sis-in-law over to mom so she can add it to her UPS package.

Oh, I figured out I have another symptom of steroid use--thin skin. What I thought was a burn on my left arm last week wasn't. It was me scratching and bringing blood to the surface as I did it to my right arm on Friday night. *sigh* At least the itching is mostly gone. Still hoping it's a wool thing and not a pill thing.

Dad and I were going shopping this Thursday after work but we now have a special choir practice (for our concert this Sunday as our pianist couldn't do it Saturday morning) so we're going Saturday morning after I get my hair cut and colored. Weather's supposed to be in the 40s and lower 50s for the next week, so that's good and the holiday parade downtown was yesterday so we won't run into that like we did one year. We have the only holiday horse parade in the midwest. The only time I've been to it was that year and it was inadvertent.

Well, probably should watch some tv or edit these fics or write more or read something...

For most of Friday I had little to do at work (even got Gotham watched) and then all of a sudden around 2:30 it went crazy--phone ringing off the hook, people coming in, work being thrown at me. Gah

Then I had errands to run and finally got to the grocery for the week (I usually go Monday). I collapsed with dinner and watched a bunch of tv. I didn't even realize I hadn't posted until today.

Yesterday's happy was that I caught the last half of Walking Dead's first ep of the season and saw the real end with Morgan (my recording stopped before that) and YAY!

Today I woke up around 6:30 and just stayed up. Finished reading "Ever After" and started the next and penultimate book in the Hollows series. My plan to work outside got derailed by how frickin' cold it was, so I spent about 90 minutes in the garage breaking down boxes and filling bags with clothes and goodwill stuff. Found several vintage items and some clothes that will fit me.

Mom stopped by with a "Be Loyal" tshirt for the Royals with the implied message of 'loyal since 1985' which mostly, yes, except for about ten years from the 1994 strike, not that I was loyal to any other baseball team; I just was sick of the huge salaries and egos (also a couple years later I was consumed by Buffy and online fandom).

I printed off the form to order a dumpster and it was so confusing I called the waste department and I can't just order one over the phone, but I can bring the form into the office on Monday (opens at 7:30) and they'll help me fill it out. Whatevs. For some reason they need a picture ID as well (plus a deposit).

I'm pretty sure I got water here without needing show a picture ID.

But then I can't buy allergy medicine without showing a picture ID.

I keep forgetting that the World Series is on Fox and not TBS. I get Fox on all my tvs, not just the on with the digital box/DVR, so on Wed I can record two shows at both 7:00 and 8:00 and watch the game in my bedroom when I'll switch out my summer for winter clothes during commercials.

So, I assume Yuletide has already made fandom wank over the whole unofficial/official letter posts. *snort* Screening comments that weren't critical at all really doesn't help your case, "official letter grid creator". Letters aren't required anyway! If you're going to volunteer to set up a grid of them, then any help you're offered should be graciously accepted. It's like they got their noses out of joint because someone else started a letter post and grid.

Also, I'm probably doing Yuletide wrong but I haven't even decided on what I'm asking for let alone come close to drafting a letter! The tagset isn't even official yet! I usually don't do my letter until assignments go out (because frankly I forget about it). I guess for some people they start reading letters before sign ups even begin and start ficcing treats! I have so many other fics due before December even rolls around, that's not going to happen. If I have time I'll try for some pinch hits, but I have big bangs to write and other holiday exchanges as well. Maybe a lot of people only participate in Yuletide. Not me.

The sun is shining in my back yard. :)

KSU and OU keep going back and forth on scoring. Currently 21-17 KSU near the end of the first half. I'm having soup for lunch at halftime. KU plays TT at 2:30.

I need to fic desperately. I need to come up with my IWRY idea as it's due on Tuesday!

To be fair, I was actually really busy at work (sadly as boss and other attorney were gone most of Friday afternoon--though I did get Under the Dome watched while filing).

Friday my happy was that it rained and the ceiling didn't leak, nor did it leak from bathing. On the other hand, it rained while I was running errands after work of course. I hate dealing with an umbrella when I'm in and out of stores so I just got wet. Also it was my parents' 52nd anniversary. :) Also, the Royals beat the Yankees in NY 1-0 and Detroit lost after an early, long rain delay that would have wiped out the game if it had been called and they were losing at that time.

I don't remember anything specifically happy on Thursday. I went to my parents to work that night since they went out to dinner Friday. I guess happy that pro football season started. Kind of lame happy.

Today I'm cleaning the house and watching college football. Iowa State lost in the last minute to Kansas State. *sigh* I was a bit worried as ISU was playing really well and that's the game I'm going to since I thought we could beat them.

KU plays SE Missouri State at 6:00 tonight.

I baked white chocolate chip banana bread for church--god it smelled good.

I'm being way too apathetic about dieting. I go to the doctor in one week and I dread how much weight I've gained.

We're singing "People" next Sunday at church (we've sung it before) and the words are kind of offensive to asexual people. I don't "need people". How come I'm not lucky? Actually, I don't get offended by song lyrics but some people do. I mean, basically the song is saying if you fall in love, if you find your perfect "one" you're the luckiest person in the world. So, if you don't...

Apparently the I-70 choirs (the choirs of the churches along I-70, duh) are putting on annual concerts starting this coming year, like a dozen songs! Except they stupidly scheduled the first one for the April 2015 weekend when the annual regional conference is to which, because it's in Napiersville, IL, a couple towns over from my brother's, mom and I are going (well, dad too but he doesn't sing). They moved the concert to the weekend before. I mean, all the ministers, the church leaders, would be gone. And I'm sure at least a couple of very active members who are in our choir will go to the conference as well so mom and I weren't the only ones.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about a full concert. We've done three or four numbers at one time before, but never a dozen.

Sadly I won't be at the first get together of the bigger choir which is for the installation of Topeka's new minister as it's the same date as the KU/ISU football game and I spent $65 on a ticket and not missing it.

I failed miserably at the fullmoon ficlet prompt. I hope to get some writing done while watching the Royals after the KU game tonight (taping it right now) and then tomorrow during both the Chiefs and Royals game (I'll tape one; actually I'll tape both as they start at noon and church ends at noon).

Well, back to cleaning...

Basically I napped, watched football, read fanfic, dozed, watched baseball, read fanfic...

Really kind of pathetic. My excuse? Three day weekend so wasting one day means it's just a normal weekend?

Lame.

Yesterday's happy was that I actually wrote a fullmoon ficlet fic on time. Also a raccoon ran across my parents' deck in the torrential downpour. Amusing that the weather channel kept saying 'rain coming at 10:30' and it was barely 7:00. *snort* It knocked off their satellite for about ten minutes, not that it mattered because the Royals lost again. :P The storm was so localized that where my parents were, a few miles south of town, they barely got sprinkles. Fifteen miles northwest and it poured. My place, about five miles north of where they were, it rained enough to make puddles.

It made it nice and cool this morning for market. I ran a few errands as well and then settled into the above list of doing nothing.

No heartburn since I started taking nexium again. I don't even take it right--you're supposed to not eat for an hour after taking it, I tend to have breakfast within twenty minutes. And it says it should start working within one to four days and for me it's like instantaneous.

Today's happy I guess is college football is back! (technically it started three days ago, but this is the first Saturday). I actually watched part of the first game today, the one in Dublin, even though I can't stand Penn State. It was Ireland, man. WVU kept Alabama close and OSU is giving Florida State a game, so maybe the top two teams aren't invulnerable this year. Sadly Iowa State lost to North Dakota State, but then they beat KSU last year and KU a couple years ago along with two or three other big conference teams over the last couple years, so it wasn't really surprising. Also gives me hope that KU can beat ISU since that's the game I'm going to.

Also my new brand of DVR seems to hold more. I have 10 1/2 hours on there and it's only 4% full. On the old one that would have been about 15-20% full, I think. So, that's cool, considering I'm already 10 1/2 hours behind due to sports watching. Usually by now I've given up on the Royals, but, heck, even with a Big 12 game on I'm watching them live.

I need to mow in the morning--too wet this morning. It was 70 degrees today at 9:00 and it's supposed to be the same tomorrow so it shouldn't be horrible.

Still have the church meeting tomorrow afternoon but hope to get some writing done before and after. Royals are on ESPN Sunday night baseball so I won't be missing our usual Sunday day game and hope to write during it. I have a 10K rough draft due in 2 1/2 weeks. I have 5K written but so much more to do. And I have all Monday to write, though I need to do laundry and work in the storage room some, too.

And I have a bite on the top of my foot driving me nuts.

The Royals are in extra innings and have stranded fifteen runners (two times leaving the bases loaded) and are about to lose because this pitcher sucks. He gave up a triple to start the 11th and is about to walk the next guy. Nope, guy got a hit and now they're up 2-1. :P I should go wash the dishes...

I had so little to do at work today and my boss was there most of the day so I ended up hole punching. I did get complimented on my outfit by a client--I've been trying to dress up at least two days a week and was wearing a black tulip skirt and silky red and white floral top that, of course, has to be pinned shut with a vintage jet brooch because my boobs would fall out of it if I didn't. I was also wearing my Steve Madden white wedge platform sandals and nearly turned my ankle stepping on the base of one of my boss' chair and ended up slinging a file at him as I stumbled. *g*

We had thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and evening. I'm very scared of them these days (after the damage done with the last one). Still, it was only raining when I left work so I planned to run some errands, until I turned onto 10th street and there was a cop there because half a frickin' tree (a 20 foot tree) fell across a car! So, I went home panicking that my house would have a tree on top of it. But, apparently the high winds mostly hit downtown this time and not my neighborhood.

The Royals won again, therefore winning their sixth series in a row. :) While I watched it, I wrote my fullmoon ficlet fic and did laundry.

It was supposed to rain today but never did, so I ran the errands from yesterday today. I'm addicted to teaberry coffee so I went to World Market (the only place that sells it locally) and bought two bags. Last night I made a pot of Kona (bought on sale at the grocery) and I forgot how much I liked it--so smooth. But teaberry is still better. Went to Target, too, for brita filters, diet cokes, and tv dinners that my main grocery doesn't sell.

Then I got home, turned on the tv and the damn DVR rebooted at some point after last night and erased everything.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

So, of course, I lost the Teen Wolf eps I'd saved, but I do the naughty on them and have them all on my computer. I reconstructed what I lost and thanks to my really decent On Demand, I can watch Falling Skies, The Lottery, Crossbones and Pretty Little Liars there. We get ABC and NBC but not CBS and Fox (though we get FX and FXX) but I can watch the last two 24 eps at fox.com but I only have eleven days to do it. A lot of the cable channels are available like TNT, USA, FX, Lifetime, ABC Family etc. Even MTV so I can watch all the TW eps on my tv if I want.

Since I have to sign up for the HD channels before football starts, I'm taking the damn DVR back and getting a new one. I'm sure it'll fuck up, too, but...

I think I've gotten everything reprogrammed into it.

So, that's the unhappy for the day.

The happy is that...FOOTBALLLLLLLLL! The Chiefs first preseason game is on right now. I'm not paying a lot of attention to it, but I'm hopeful for the season. We're currently up 20-17, the two touchdowns were pick sixes (for those going huh? that's an interception run back for a touchdown). Also, last night I bought a ticket for the KU/Iowa State game in early November. I got a really good seat (well, I paid the highest price but I figure I'm only going to one game, might as well go all out) between the 40 and 50 yard line 58 rows up. I usually go to a preconference game, but the first one is on that tv channel dad doesn't get so he's coming here, and the next one is on the day of my doctor's appointment and the time for the game isn't set yet. Even though the earliest would be 11:00 and my appointment is at 9:00 (and literally two blocks from where I park for the game), you never know if the doctor will be running late or if she'll want to run tests or something and I didn't want to be rushed. So, I picked the one Big 12 game I think we might be able to win.

I just love the atmosphere of the games. I'm really hoping we have a decent season because I want to get season tickets but I'm not spending that kind of money if we're only going to win like two games a season.

So football is my happy for the day and I'm about to leave it to go watch the Royals final game in Arizona, see if we can sweep. :)

It got up to all of 19 degrees yesterday. I didn't even think about dripping the faucet during the day, so after dinner with my parents and rehearsing the pieces for Sunday, I headed home early before it got much colder. No frozen pipes in the kitchen but better safe than sorry. Then I napped on the couch and didn't write anything for fullmoon ficlet. *sigh* I actually was very busy at work yesterday, though I did go through Wishlist and comment and get addresses etc. Also watched the truly bizarre Glee Christmas ep.

Dad and I planned to go to best Buy and Home Depot at 10:00 this morning but he called around 9:30 saying he'd overslept and it would be 11:00, which, since I slept in as well, gave me time to do more decorating, finish the tree, and clean a bit. I even swept all the leaves off the front steps and put out the new mat. Stupidly I did so in a thin t-shirt in twenty degree weather.

Dad brought in the tv and we headed into Saturday holiday shopping traffic, though Best Buy wasn't ve busy. He bought me a stand which is black and chrome with glass shelves so will fit in really well in the living room. He paid for getting everything put together and installed so finally I'll have my Wii, VCR and DVD player hooked up again. They'll be here next Saturday. Then we went next door to Home Depot and I bought a gas snow blower. I'm NOT shoveling shit another year. I also got a pretty wreath for the front door at a nearby garden shop because the ones at Home Depot were cheap looking.

Still bitterly cold but at least the sun was shining for the first time in a couple days.

Finished decorating and took the boxes back downstairs, then watched KU suck and lose on a last second three to Colorado. How can we have this much talent and be this bad???? GAHHHHHHHHHH

Brother updated his wishlist so I ordered gifts for him. Have a couple things for nephew; no clue for sister-in-law, but I spoke to brother on the phone yesterday and he said he'd get me some ideas.

I happily watched Missouri lose to Auburn in football and am now flipping between Duke/FSU and Ohio State/Michigan State while writing. I'm nearly done with the rough draft of the fic due tomorrow (in rough draft format). Then I have to work on the fic due next Sunday. Both Sundays are busy with church, Chiefs, chalice circles so really I have to finish tonight and next Saturday. Then I can concentrate on Yuletide. I picked up a pinch hit because I'm a masochist. I also have two other exchanges to write for. Then, I plan to spend the week between Christmas and New Year working on fandom stocking fills.

Mom finally got dinner scheduled for the 22nd which is also the Solstice service we need to get working on. She called to ask me if I ate roast beef last year as she had a dim memory of making more salmon (one of the guests doesn't eat meat) for me. I think I did skip the beef--never my favorite--but I was being a lot more careful last year as my blood sugar wasn't under control yet and I wanted to eat a Yorkshire pudding and some potatoes. I've been dieting strictly the last two days and tested my blood sugar twice today--90 and 80--both in normal range, so the meds are controlling it. Eating some carbs doesn't scare me as much as it did a year ago.

I really need to make a to-do list for each day leading up to Christmas as I feel really behind.

I feel like I've been shot in the arm with a wolfsbane bullet and need someone to cut it off.

First yesterday there was the extremely painful pap smear (after the embarrassing breast exam because I'm a very modest person--the only thing that saves me is that my doctor is a woman) and then I stupidly reminded her that she'd planned to give me a pneumonia shot. Apparently diabetics are at risk for respiratory diseases--hey the vaccine does work on sinus infections, so maybe I won't get those anymore. I'm pretty sure the pneumonia shot is not the one causing me problems. It's the flu shot I got--wish I could remember which arm was which.

First, I had a mild headache and low grade fever all day yesterday after the shot--side effects. Then I woke up this morning with my arm on fire, hard as a rock, and stinging/burning. Every time I shift my arm, try to raise it, agony. Like want to scream agony. My shirt is rubbing on it just enough to set it off. I guess I'll be wearing a frickin' tank top tonight.

I KNEW I'd react to the damn thing. I've avoided it for years because of side effects. Let's hope I don't get the damn flu--a lady at church who got her shot a couple weeks ago did get it despite my parents swearing that never happens and that my sister-in-law who did is just a hypochondriac (which she is).

So, yesterday I was lethargic and headachy and got no writing done. Today I feel fine except for said arm agony and am trying to write. Have written about 2000 words on IWRY fic due tomorrow. Still hope to get it done.

I didn't actually write anything for last week's fullmoon ficlet prompt. *sigh* Ended up napping most of Friday night instead. Yesterday I watched a lot of football--KU gave us hope again but didn't lose anywhere near as badly to a ranked team as others--read comics, and started the most recent Eve Dallas book, which I'm half way through with.

Baked some lemon blackberry bread for church which was well received. The service on religious language for Unitarians was very interesting--with no "bad feelings" about terminology like worship or church or sermon, the words don't bother me, but they do a lot of people. Our minister tried to explain why we should claim them for ourselves and reimagine them. You don't have to believe in the white bearded sky God to use the word God. Our seminarian who grew up Southern Baptist talked about how he'd been taught that pagans and atheists and agonistics and anything secular (so pretty much all of us he was addressing) were evil and if he hung around any they'd lead him into temptation and therefore damn him.

Have my chalice circle in an hour so I'm recording the Chiefs to watch tonight while hopefully I write some more since it's due tomorrow night. So looking forward to boss being gone for two weeks starting next week so I can get a lot of writing done on both assignments and other things.

Speaking of assignments, I matched on two of the fandoms for Yuletide! That's never happened, though last year I actually wrote one I hadn't offered. Person gave me some prompts and pairings I can write for both. No letter, but I think I have enough. People are freaking because they don't have letters to go off of.

Uh, you know those aren't required, right? Yeah, they're nice to have, but you're only required to write the characters and fandom. If people don't ask for specific prompts, that's hella freeing to me. Sometimes I've had such specific prompts, even in this challenge where you don't have to write them, that I've kind of felt like I should try to write them. Even in challenges where the author is expected to write a specific prompt, I try to give vague ones because I've received some that are so specific it's really tied my hands.

Anyway, I don't worry about lack of prompts or instructions, but then I'm pretty confident in my writing and my ego is pretty secure where that's concerned. I know a lot of people aren't and worry they'll tick off their recipient. I just can't worry about that. I do my best. And, heck, one Yuletide, my recipient buggered off and was never heard from.

I slept through and was gone through the two releases of pinch hits so far. A couple were popular fandoms, so that was kind of surprising. Usually the early pinch hits are really rare ones where there were no matches. So far my name has not popped up--but then there were at least two or three offers for each of my requests so I knew I'd match. Later pinch hits will be ones where people actually default--more chances the fandoms will be ones I can write.

If I get my IWRY fic done tonight, I may check out some letters and get some ideas for Treats. I haven't written any of those for a couple years. Of course, I have the polyamory fic to finish, too, and several other things to start.

Love this time of year for writing but I'm so busy! No way I can try NaNo--between writing for other challenges/holiday things, there's shopping and cooking and decorating and November is just the worst month for this. Why not February when nothing happens?

Except the Olympics are on this year in February. Oh well.

My stomach is ooky. I think nausea is a side effect, too. So not EVER getting another one of these. I could have lived with the mild headache, lethargy and even the nausea since I'm nauseous a lot anyway, but the arm pain...no. If it's still bad by Tuesday I'll call the doctor. I may be wrong and it's the pneumonia shot, but I don't think so. The other side effects aren't associated with the pneumonia shot.

Also found out I have to fast for the blood test at the end of December and can't get it before the 25th (so the 26th) because of insurance for some reason. I'd planned to go in about ten days before my appointment in order to then eat Christmas dinner, Christmas day brunch, etc. I guess I'll diet really hard until the weekend before Christmas and hope that what I do eat for those meals, and Christmas Eve parties/service, won't affect my hemoglobin A1C test.

So, must diet because I still want to lose about twenty pounds before Christmas.

I'm wearing a black lace skirt that has an underskirt that, for years, the lace panel rode up over my fat stomach. It now lies flat except the lace has shrunk so the underskirt shows about two inches. *sigh* Can't win. I'm wearing a red blouse that I love except it's a Size 22 to get it to button over said fat stomach and therefore is too big on top. The boob gathers don't actually go over my boobs.

Oh, in weird news, my doctor asked if I'd dyed my hair (two weeks ago, after my last appointment) and said the color really suits me--makes my eyes pop.

Okay... *g* Also liked my silver nailpolish.

Well, should get ready for chalice circle. Huh, Jets and Patriots just went to OT.

I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another.

So, I somehow, baffling, managed to lose two pounds in the last three months despite eating bad, fattening food and pretty much breaking my diet every other day.

My hemoglobin dropped .1 to 5.9 so I'm only .2 away from high normal, again despite eating bad, carb laden foods and pretty much not dieting etc. etc.

On the other hand, I guess because I was nervous about both the above, while my blood pressure was a respectable 122/80, my heart was racing. It was racing for the nurse and ten minutes later for the doctor, and something made her check my heart up on the table and not at the chair where she always has before. She asked me if I have asthma--which I don't, just allergies which are sucky right now--so maybe she heard something in my congested voice. I dunno.

Obviously no lady exam today--three weeks from now. Yay. :P I managed to get out of there without a flu and pneumonia shot.

Saturdays at the doctor's office are a bit odd. It's appointment only, and only two of the doctors work. They seem to share a nurse and there's one receptionist. No lab people or anything so it's very empty feeling.

I got there at five till opening and there was a young woman waiting outside and I joined her. There were only three cars in the lot, two were ours. It was weird. A couple minutes after 9:00 her doctor opened the door for us. No one else had shown up. He searched for her chart, tried to figure out how to weigh her, it was kind of funny. He also had no idea how to unlock the door from the outside.

Both the receptionist and nurse came in late due to the rain and the receptionist was in a minor car accident and the nurse lives thirty miles away. Anyway...

Just kind of weird.

Nice to have some rain, though, it's stopping.

So, my guess, the meds and insulin are working better than eating right, except I do want to lose weight, so I need to eat right and exercise. I just need to not cheat. I have no will power. It's not an appetite problem, I don't eat because I'm hungry. I just crave carbs and fat. I'd rather have a pint of icecream over a sugar free pudding cup, or a quarter pounder with cheese over a Lean Cuisine. But, then who wouldn't?

I watched CSI after I got home. Man that show just gets better and better. Lots of twists, had me guessing.

Royals won again last night. I dozed through a lot of it, and then napped for two hours after it was over and then went to bed early. Probably got about nine hours sleep total. Could still use more, but need to write.

Nausea all gone. Drinking water may have helped as I started to feel better after drinking about 24 ounces late afternoon at work. I just had some crackers, cheese and a banana for dinner. So looking forward to dinner tonight. I didn't stay at my parents' last night. Mom's supposed to bring me a piece of the pork roast she made last night--smelled so good but I didn't want to risk my tummy.

Speaking of risking an ooky tummy...Oops, forgot to take my other meds that I take with food... I was trying not to drink too much water this morning so only took motrin and sudafed. *sigh* I ate 90 minutes ago, hopefully the food in there will counteract the nauseating metformin.

Huh, how is WVU managing to beat OSU?

Still sick. Coughing up lungs sick. Didn't even drag myself to church sick. Even had a fever again last night sick.

*sigh*

I'm still coughing up gunk and I'm tired but I'm at work. I think I'm on the mend but I felt that way by Saturday evening and then broken glass in throat in the middle of the night. So we still haven't rehearsed our duet for this coming Sunday.

I slept a lot on Saturday, read a lot of fanfic both days, wrote nothing.

After the disaster that shall not be spoken of on Friday night, the Royals won the last two games against Detroit with no real problems. Verlander just isn't the pitcher he used to be. I taped Saturday's game because of football.

Yes, it's that second most glorious sports time of the year, college football. Oh wait, that started last weekend but it didn't seem real since KU didn't play.

Dad came over and we watched KU beat South Dakota. Defense is pretty good, our running backs are awesome, QB has potential when his receivers actually catch the ball, and our walk-on kicker kicked a 45 yard field goal on his first attempt. Last year the longest made FG was 37 yards. No way on earth we'll beat Rice this Saturday at Rice, though.

Also, due to reading this really good TW/Suits crossover, discovered that all of Suits is on Amazon Prime so watched the first episode. So do not need another show. (Have since watched episode 2 a well)

As mentioned, skipped church. Kept an eye on the Chiefs but mostly read fanfic. After giving up an embarrassing safety in the first series we stomped all over them, though their defense mostly shut us down in the second half. Our defense completely shut them down the whole game. Of course, they're a sucky team, only won two games like year like us so really not a good measure of how we'll be.

Did not take the dvr back due to not getting Copper watched but also because I have to go to the grocery after work and didn't want the new machine sitting in the 100 degree car. Will go Wednesday when I can go straight home after work. Also I'm not recording anything that night so if takes overnight to populate the channel/show grid, it's fine.

First new show is Friday--Haven--then next Monday Bones and Sleepy Hollow. I'll have to juggle tv with the Royals since they're still in the playoff hunt and playing teams above them in the wild card race.

Might try to write something today but probably should get to work. *sigh*

(I'm still trying to figure out this barren ruin like thing that's LJ's current header.)

1. Best $25 I've spent in the new year (okay, only money I've spent in the new year *g*) was to two guys to shovel/snowblow the steps, driveway and, most importantly as it's a fineable issue, the sidewalk.

2. Oklahoma State is pounding Purdue into the ground. Purdue is the traditional football foe of my parents' alma mater, Indiana.

3. I forgot to mention that mom and I saw Les Mis on Sunday (after I wasn't booed off the stage for my sermon and service on Unitarian Christianity *g*) and it blew me away. Best movie I've seen all year. Cried for the last half hour. Anne Hathaway, who most people were skeptical of as Fantine, was amazing and Oscar worthy. The kid who played Gavroche was also amazing. The only thing I found a bit weak--and this may be because the London production I saw and the Broadway recording I own have a very powerful Javert--was that Russell Crowe's singing voice just didn't seem powerful enough. He didn't belt anything. Great actor, of course, and his voice is beautiful, it just wasn't what I was used to. Still, superb movie. Casting was just perfect otherwise, production values and costuming and scenery were great. Definitely a buy as soon as it comes out on dvd. Also, the guy who played rebel leader (enjolras?) was Tripp Vanderbilt in Gossip Girl. *g*

4. Yuletide reveals are out. Eventually I'll load the fics onto DW, but for now the links are below. For my assignment I wrote a Copper fic (the only one in the main collection). I'm pretty proud of it. I picked up a pinch hit for Batgirl because it was for Steph as Batgirl and I adore that comic run and miss her, so that was fun to write.

Created Equal, my vision of how Corky and Morehouse's friendship developed.

Two Batgirls In A Coffee Shop, a slice of life fic with Steph and Babs.

OSU just scored again--35-0. I think I'll check out some other game...

What is this bizarre header LJ is using?

*shakes head*

Been a lazy week off. Basically I've watched tv and lots of football and read tons of fanfic. Have written not one word. Considering I have both a thousand word fic and a sermon I have to finish before midnight tonight, probably should get on that, but I have written the children's story, opening and closing words and found a meditation for the service tomorrow and I have a lot of stuff to cobble together into a sermon.

I did manage to go through all four hundred and eighty or so open tabs on my laptop, dump a lot of them, read a lot of the fic, and I'm down to about a hundred and fifty.

I have not gone through fandom stockings yet either. *sigh*

I got both a great Yuletide fic--Darkover, what I've been asking for for three years and finally got!!! (Dyan backstory!)--and a treat for Gladiator which is a great character study of Commodus. Love my bad, broken boys, and got fics for two of them! As always, very few people have read either fic I wrote but the recipients both said very nice things and I think they don't suck, so I'm okay with that.

I did see the Hobbit and quite enjoyed it despite it obviously being "stretched"--not only my dad's comment but a colleague of his made the same one (he and his wife were there, too). Apparently a lot of people didn't realize this wasn't a complete movie? And they seemed very shocked that it's three.

I love Jackson's battle scenes; "Watson" was great as Bilbo; and not having read the book in well over thirty years, I pretty much forgot all the dwarf stuff and had no clue that "Sir Guy" had such a large role. Also a very nice singing voice.

Really, all I remember from the book was Bilbo and the Dragon in all the gold, and Gollum.

It was amusing that all five previews were things dad and I want to see (well, probably not Superman) as they were scifi movies and mom had zilch interest in any of them. Squeeed a lot at Star Trek. Also there were posters for Iron Man 3 and Wolverine, both this summer. Going to be a great movie summer again.

Mom and I are off to Les Mis tomorrow after church.

Other things I've done on staycation--got my blood test; also needed a urine test which no one told me I needed so, as I'd gone to the lab like an hour after getting up, I had to take it home and then return it; went to Target for post Christmas holiday wrapping and card sales; got a prescription refilled; snuck into work at 7:30 in the morning to draft the Order of Service for tomorrow; ate a lot less than I planned as I just have no appetite; have so far kept the blood sugar at reasonable levels; and continued to wait for the snow and ice to melt. It's supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow before it snows again on Monday so hopefully round one from ten days ago will finally disappear from the sidewalks and front steps in time for more to accumulate.

Apparently yesterday it snowed off and on lightly out at my parents all afternoon. Did nothing in town, but it's typically a degree or two warmer here.

I realized I didn't post about Christmas Eve service here--sent a message to friends instead. It was lovely, well attended, and my solo went over very well. I got no applause and our minister made a point to me that this was a very good thing. (We don't actually want applause during a religious service but the other music did get it which made me feel a bit bummed, especially since I managed to screw up the first line of the second verse though I righted it quickly enough--I sang it too fast, so I kept wondering if it was just horrible all throughout, if I was off key or rhythm or something). She said that she could see that people were really listening to the message of the lyrics, something she'd never done either until I started singing this carol at the Fellowship. She'd never really liked it before hearing my version. So that made me feel good. :)

I can't believe staycation is nearly over. It's been a week! Back to work on Wednesday (well, after an hour or so on Monday for payroll and deposits). :( Only a few weeks, though, until another day off for MLK and then a month till one for President's Day, and then I'm taking the two days off at the start of the NCAA tournie in March.

So far the Big 12 is 2-0 in bowl games. We have two tonight as well as KU playing American in basketball, so I need to get the fic done before seven and the sermon worked on.

Probably should have lunch first, though not really hungry...

Apparently I've used that subject line before...

Had a dickens getting the turkey actually done (well, it was done, the thermometer wasn't reading as done, though) but finally, as the temp actually started dropping! I think we must have been hitting a bone or something. I do love my new thermometer that has a cord from the oven to the monitor on the counter. Mom and I gave up and took it out and it was perfectly done and moist and yummy. The other dishes were all done already but still hot and the gravy takes about a minute to make so we were eating by 2:15 or so. I probably ate too much but I had a spoonfull of everything and a small piece of pie.

Our traditional pecan pie has a whole bottle of corn syrup which is bad bad bad, so mom made one with roasted pecans, maple syrup and a couple tablespoons of molasses. She also used a gluten free crust which wasn't bad. The pie was delicious! Much more pecany than our old one and held together better, too. I kept a piece for tonight, which I shouldn't have, but I've mentioned that there's no point in living if you can't occasionally eat foods you like that aren't good for you.

It'll be interesting to see what my blood sugar is. This morning it was 111 but then I ran out of pink stuff (sweetener) and had to put real sugar in my coffee. I kept enough leftover for dinner before back to diet tomorrow.

Really, sweetener and fat free creamer are okay but there is nothing better than sugar and real cream in coffee. *sigh*

Wow, this game has certainly changed. At the end of the first quarter, Dallas was up 3-0 over Washington and I said, unlike the Detroit game, it was going to be low scoring. Washington has scored three touchdowns in the second quarter! ETA, another touchdown with five seconds left in second quarter!

I should go clean the kitchen...

Or watch something I have on tape, which is way too much.

Instead, I'll load that fic and read some fanfic and probably nap. Glee is new tonight but if I'm asleep, it'll tape. Also, Texas/TCU football.

Need to go find Elektra, too. She's scared of dad so she's hiding in the basement. On the other hand, Raine got on the table and licked the butter, dragged her toys out of their basket to show them off, and kept laying in unusual places. Really, she pretty much ignores the basket of toys unless someone other than me is here. It's very weird.

Mom and I are off at 7:00 tomorrow to Penney's, World Market, Michaels, Target. Downtown stores open anywhere from 9:00-10:30 or just aren't mentioning holiday hours. Whatevs. It's not like we buy much on Black Friday anymore, just stuff for dad. We point out things we like (I make note of what dad might want to get her and then we go back downtown in a couple weeks to buy), buy decorations and stuff. All brother and his family's gifts are ordered online these days and shipped up there to be wrapped by sister-in-law for brother and nephew, and brother to wrap sister-in-law's. Last year was nice doing Black Friday up there because we bought all their gifts and wrapped them before heading home, but they went to her parents' in Phoenix for Thanksgiving this year.

Got the Christmas tree up though I'll have to shift it around and plug it all back in. Depending on if I get this Teen Wolf fic done before Sunday I may put off decorating till next weekend as I've got so many things this weekend and the fic needs about 7000 more words. Luckily we didn't have to send in a final draft.

Parents were here for about 3 1/2 hours. Need dad to carve the turkey. That's something I suppose I need to learn to do myself. He mashed the potatoes too, though I can do that--they just tend to be lumpy, unlike my gravy which is always perfect. Mom makes crappy gravy. I have never made lumpy gravy. No clue why.

At least we don't have divisive political discussions like many families (there was an article in the paper today about that). It's nice to all have the same political views.

And the weather is shifting, gotten windy and cooler. It got to a low of 60 last night! One of the first things I did this morning was open the kitchen window.

Well, hope everyone's had/having a good Thanksgiving and you survive Black Friday if you venture out!

*sigh* Well, at least we got our first loss over with and it wasn't a total embarrassment. I still hate losing in the last couple minutes after leading most of the game but that seems to be the way we do things in this Champions Classic thing (see last year). But I hate more winning like the first 15 games and being on edge all the time waiting for that first loss. And at least it wasn't at home. (That would be KU basketball for those not playing along.)

Had a busy and lazy weekend. On Saturday, Mom and I went into KC to the Hallmark Open House and then to William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Trader Joes where I got extremely expensive organic eggs rather than stop at Dillons on the way back into town.

Gluten free is the new trend--lots of mixes at WS. Sadly sugar free is not and finding sugar free, low fat is almost impossible.

Blood sugar is mostly hanging between 130-160. My aunt, who is diabetic (by marriage, not blood, so we still don't know where it came from) also said it takes a long time to get to normal. Mom got me a Prevention Magazine for Diabetics (I feel old) and I skimmed through it during the game. Apparently something in red wine is good for bringing down blood sugar and cholesterol and they have pills. Once I'm stabilized and off the second medicine, maybe I'll look into that (drinking wine not recommended as you need to drink to excess plus I hate red wine). Also, apparently red meat and bacon are bad for you. I had a hamburger with a piece of bacon on it last night (96% lean meat on an oroweat sandwich thin). Tough shit. I'm not giving up everything I love all the time. There's no point in living if you never get to eat another piece of chocolate. Moderation is the key. Also, apparently, is eating a treat early in the day and then exercising afterwards, so my English Snickers bar will be my early afternoon Christmas Day treat.

I have noticed that when I'm out walking, like on Saturday, shopping, my evening blood sugar is lower than after days spent lounging on the couch.

Which is pretty much what I did on Monday. I really need to get back on the damn treadmill even if it's only for ten minutes a day to start.

Church was very good on Sunday--are we meeting the spiritual needs of our men and boys. Our church is currently run mostly by women--our minister, most of the worship team, the current and future board chair. We have a women's retreat, GNO, crafting groups, which formed because someone took the time to get them going. Basically we can support our men but if they want say a football watching group (or a men's drum circle etc.), they need to form it!

Oh, and KU football lost yet another heartbreaker. In three games against ranked teams, if just a couple plays had gone differently, we'd have won. I have high hopes for playing ISU here at home this Saturday.

And the Chiefs actually gave me hope. *sigh* Stupid Chiefs.

Mom and I planned the food for the holiday party, most of which I can't eat. *sigh* But then neither can she.

On Monday I napped a lot, but I did get some writing done on both that Buffy/Lucifer fic and the Teen Wolf fic--got through the sex, yay. I have a busy weekend--GNO on Friday night, various shop open houses downtown on Saturday and football that evening; harvest festival at church and tea with friends on Sunday--so I need to find time to write during the week or I won't get either finished in time. I'm really only half done with the TW fic--the whole threesome hasn't even started yet!

So, probably should wrap this up and give writing (er work) a go.

It's very depressing to go through cooking magazines to take out recipes knowing I won't be able to eat half the food ever or for a long time. *sigh* I miss sugar and white bread/rice/pasta.

I thought my blood sugar was doing good coming down but then it was 201 last night. I had, an hour before, eaten a fat free but not low carb yogurt (and I was told to eat a yogurt a day). Maybe that did it? It was down to 156 this morning. It's getting to the point that I'm afraid to eat and that's not good. I was hungry late last night but I didn't have even a sugar free snack because I didn't want the number to be high again this morning. I mean 156 is still way too high (100 is normal) but I've been dieting for two weeks and on the meds for four and the numbers aren't that much lower than when I was still eating ice cream and pasta and bread and crap.

Though a lady at church did ask if I had lost weight so that made me feel good. :)

Speaking of church...I got there a tad early. Is it my fault that none of the sports channels mentioned the time change!? If I'd just looked at the time on my phone instead of just checking my email this morning, well I still would have missed out on a hour of sleep but at least I wouldn't have sat in my car playing angry birds at church for a half hour. I thought I was ten minutes late for choir practice and, instead, I was fifty minutes early. *sigh*

The service went really well. Three good readings and readers and our flautist made it up as we went along on his Native American flute and it was amazing. Our speaker, the teenager, wrote a bit longer this time but was still about eight minutes too short, but we still ended on time due to other elements taking longer. One of the reasons we had three readings rather than two, and a longer musical interlude and longer time spent with the kids on the story of the Garden of Eden. But then I realized that high school students don't usually write more than a couple page papers so writing a five-seven page single spaced sermon is long for her. What she did write was really good.

Anyway, we were encouraged to go out and create something which I will be doing this afternoon--creating smut *g*.

Yuletide assignment actually sparked a possible fic in one of the ones I didn't match with. That's never happened. 3 Ships is going to be a bit outside my comfort zone--not that I've never written the genre, but it's not my preferred. I do like two of the characters of the three (and don't dislike the third). That'll be interesting.

The Chiefs have basically become a joke on the NFL pregame shows. *sigh* At least we have ten days off since we sucked last Thursday and therefore don't play today.

KU didn't totally suck. We did hold Baylor to zero in the fourth quarter but the third got away from us. There's still potential. I think this coach is going in the right direction. KSU, #2 in the polls, had no problem beating OSU. I was so rooting for LSU to beat Alabama (for those of you who've been around here a while, you know I don't like it when the same team wins ALL the time--it's boring to have the same National Champion in any sport year after year) but they did what Texas did to us last week and won in the last minute, and Notre Dame hung on and won in overtime, too.

I guess today I'll watch Denver and then go write my Lucifer/Buffy smut since the second game doesn't hold any interest for me. I have no clue who is playing tonight because at some point while I was at church, my power went off which means my DVR takes up to 24 hours to fill in the future shows almost all now saying "TBA".

KU basketball is on tomorrow night, which I wondered about because we don't play on Mondays unless we're on ESPN and this is just an exhibition game, but then I remembered what Tuesday night is. I am SO worried (not about KU beating Washburn). And will people vote in the NE, the Democratic strongholds? I just have bad, pessimistic feelings here. Of course my vote for president counts for nothing. I hate the electoral college, one of the worst political tools ever created.

Full week of work ahead though an hour off for pedicure on Wednesday, then next Monday off, yay, and then the next week only three days. I can't believe thanksgiving is less than three weeks away because then it's Christmas--at which I can't eat anything I love (cookies, candy, fattening foods of all kinds), though I will eat the Stilton dammit, on buttered Jacobs Cream Crackers, dammit.

I'm determined to keep my house cleanish through the hols so that all I have to do is dust and sweep. Doing pretty well so far. Not too much crap scattered around the family room, just stacks of magazines I'm going through. The fam has Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas morning here. We can bring the Christmas Tree up on Thanksgiving so I can decorate that weekend and hopefully shop, though I've gone through several catalogs and found things to order.

In one Real Simple I read about how a woman had cut out her credit card debt by keeping cash in envelopes for food, Christmas, vacay etc. I need to do that, even if I use credit cards to order stuff--I can put the same amount of cash back into the bank to pay to the credit card (I'm still too old fashioned to use my debit card online). I think I'll start in January. I only have one cc but it's always about $2K from the limit. I'm thinking about talking to my dad and asking to borrow a chunk to pay it half off or something so that I can use the money I pay every month on the bill to buy groceries and stuff I use the cc for. Basically my whole second paycheck each month goes to it. And now I have added expenses with the prescriptions and doctor's visits that aren't covered by my insurance.

I did get the bills for my surgery/hospital stay (though not the doctor's visit yet which is $82) and I owe my deductible of $1000 to the hospital and to the radiology place, and about $1000 more, but my insurance did cover the entire anesthesiologist's bill which I think may be the last thing I was waiting on.

Got lovely art for my poly big bang so probably should finish the darn thing. Final draft is due on the 18th.

Lunch first, though. 97% fat free hotdogs (which are surprisingly good) on a whole grain sandwich thin. I'm making a ginger/lime chicken tonight with brown rice. I miss jasmine rice with my Asian food...*sigh*

So I posted my vampire big bang and LJ decided to stop sending me comments. :P

Saturday mom came over in the morning and we did more house cleaning. We'd started that the weekend before my surgery and said surgery threw off finishing (also laziness and desire to read Teen Wolf fanfic).

By Saturday night I got all done but scrubbing the kitchen floor. Well, all the public areas of the house. Go me. Also discovered that vinegar water on wood floors will cut right through stuck on cat hairballs whereas Mr. Clean won't. You're supposed to use vinegar water on hard wood floors anyway.

Since KU was playing Texas at 11:00 and mom was there till 1:00, I recorded it and I'm glad I did. Yes, we lost, but we lost in the last minute after leading or being tied the whole game! (I had the Mizzu game on for background noise, and muted it during half time and mom made sure I turned away during our mention and I wondered why she kept staring at the tv--we were up 14-7!) There is hope there. We need a kicker, desperately, and there are still issues at QB but OMG our defensive line and one successful goal line stand and one just barely not, and our running backs, oh our running backs. :) Really, we lost because we were on the 7 and there was a bad snap that flew over the QB's head by about 20 yards and we would have scored a TD and didn't get anything (because of said sucky kicker--he did get a 19 yard FG, but then I could probably kick a 19 yard FG--okay I couldn't, but any junior high kicker could).

Anyway massive hopes. I think we have a chance of beating ISU, especially since the game is here and we're much tougher at home.

There are no massive hopes for the KC Chiefs who completely suck at pretty much every aspect of the game EXCEPT their two kickers.

Sunday was Day of the Dead service at church which was very nice. I was kind of zen (or tired). We had an expanded choir with a harpist and sang two numbers.

Then nursedarry arrived for the week with kidlets (and husband and mother) and we headed off to the pumpkin patch which has existed for god knows how many decades (I went to school with a couple of the now grandkids of the owners who now have kids of their own helping run the place) and I've never gone. It was a gorgeous day--50s, little wind, not a cloud in the sunny sky--unlike the couple days before with 40s and high winds. Everyone in the county decided to go to the pumpkin patch. We were there for about two hours--lots of stuff for kids to do--and now I have two pumpkins sitting in my garage waiting for Wednesday to carve.

After I got home, I dozed on the couch and watched the aforementioned Chiefs suck.

Then met Dar et al at Chili's for dinner. I was very good and had the light grilled chicken sandwich with broccoli and discarded the bun.

I'm so far under my daily WW points each day it's bizarre. Yesterday, even with a late night sugar free ice cream bar, I was 12 points under! I'm just not hungry.

I'm usually hungry enough to have a bowl of cereal or a WW breakfast sandwich for breakfast. Then I eat a banana mid-morning but I'm rarely hungry for it. Lunch is a tv dinner and a lettuce salad with low fat dressing (half the serving size because I don't understand the need to drench a salad). I have to force myself to eat a yogurt late afternoon which rarely sets well with my stomach but I'm supposed to eat one every day and I tend to stick with the low carb ones. Dinner is either another tv dinner and veggies or fish/chicken with whole grain something (had farro the other night, actually liked it) and veggies. Rarely do I get hungry for a late night snack (last night probably because I only had chicken and a veggie for dinner).

The last time I did WW, I added a piece of WW string cheese and sometimes carrots to lunch, had a 100 calorie snack pack or WW cookie early afternoon, often had a couple pieces of WW chocolate candy after dinner, and always had a late night snack.

It's weird not to feel hungry or feel like eating (or feel nauseous which is annoying but not every day anymore at least).

I'm a little bit behind on tv--two Walking Dead, three Gossip Girls, final Alphas, both American Horror Stories, one Fringe, and even last week's SPN--but really enjoyed this past week's CSI (one of the best ever, imo), Last Resort, Vampire Diaries (another excellent ep--turning Elena may have been the best thing this show has done), Once Upon A Time, Arrow, Haven, others.

Oh, and speaking of Arrow, if you read ahead in TV Guides (or dvr listings), I was so right on what I saw in the first ep on that island. *VBG*

Well, just got several evictions faxed over so probably should do those since I'm taking off work Wed and Thur.

And I really need to finish my IWRY fic (which I failed to bring to work) which, unfortunately means, I need to finish the one before that which is Lucifer/Buffy. The IWRY fic is due on Wed. The mod posts so there's no way for me to gauge when I need to have the prequel done. I thought about combining them but there's enough Lucifer/Buffy in the IWRY fic and I really don't want to tick off Buffy/Angel lovers by making their ficathon be like half Buffy doing a fallen angel. *g* But I have been warning my few loyal readers for the last couple years that was coming. I love the way I've developed my Lucifer and his interest in Buffy (and hers in him) way too much to keep ignoring it.

Also, KU basketball starts tomorrow night (preseason). Winning is so nice. *g*

Everyone on the East Coast, stay safe, dry and warm! The tracking right now shows Sandy will hit land at Baltimore. Those in the area (and I do know a couple here!) please stay at home or evacuate when told. ::Hugs::

In related news, my godson (from England) got all excited by seeing a slight dust devil at the pumpkin patch and wants to see a tornado. His mother and I, both Kansas gals, tried to disabuse him of this idea.

Boys, really. *g*

(my Yuletide placeholder really doesn't count) so that people know I'm alive, for one.

Back on Weightwatchers completely, but, I'm rarely hungry and am not eating several of the snacks I used to due to the nausea.

Good thing?

*sigh*

Unfortunately the nausea also makes me want to just sit on the couch and watch tv and read TW fanfic and not clean my house. Last night I finally got the kitchen cleaned which I was planning to do since last Friday and did a load of laundry but I have a long way to go.

And my vampire big bang posts this Saturday and I need to write my IWRY fic before that and nursedarry and the kidlets arrive for next week since it's due on Halloween and we'll be doing Halloweeny stuff. I hope to finish editing the vampire bb tonight, maybe make the sex be, y'know, actual sex. *sigh*

I finally signed up for Yuletide last night. One of my requests was for pretty much the same thing I've asked for the last several years. Someday I will get that fic. *g* One was in a music fandom--and I offered one, too, as I had a lot of fun writing for one last year. I'll get the letter up soon.

Also signed up for Three Ships at the last moment and, naturally, I can't remember all that I asked for. That's a problem with these signups that have moved off LJ (AO3 doesn't count because you have access to it). I never remember to jot down what I've asked for.

And I signed up for the Gabriel BB with some idea of writing about Gabriel trying to rebuild a decaying Heaven. I wrote some ficlets of him finding Heaven falling a part a couple years ago. It's not due till Spring. I'm sure there will be many more holiday exchanges a'coming. I've signed up for Seasonal Spuffy (gah the name burns) and Dean/Cas. I'll do Clexmas again and fandom stocking, and we'll see what else rolls around. Maybe this year I'll actually write some Yuletide treats (as I say every year). I'm taking the week of Christmas off work again.

Stupid phone isn't working (work one--sometimes it just goes off; at least this time all the buttons went orange to tell me it wasn't on).

On Saturday, KU sucked and lost again, but this is no real surprise since it was Oklahoma at Oklahoma. Our coach needs to pick a QB and stick with it. This revolving QB every other play is ridiculous. So the good QB is only 5'10"; make it work (as Tim Gunn says).

Okay, now all the orange lights are flashing...

It did actually work earlier as I got a call around 9:00.

Yay, it's green now.

I'm behind a bit on tv--haven't watched American Horror Story, Walking Dead or Copper and last night I watched Chicago trounce Detroit while I did all those sign ups instead of catching up on Alphas and Gossip Girl.

I did watch SPN finally over the weekend and it didn't suck as badly as some people were saying. I still like Sam's hair...

Arrow got picked up for the full season; I am enjoying that, despite the need to change things for no apparent reason (like "Speedy" can't be a Mia instead of a Thea? and the aforementioned Starling City. Also, Laurel having a sister and being Laurel instead of Dinah...)

And Lost Resort continues to be my new fave, so, of course, it's on the bubble.

Sunday church was very good. "The War on Women" was the service theme. We had a soloist sing a slightly modified version of "Stand" by Idina Mendez and before the last verse our minister asked people to stand if they ex: knew a victim of domestic abuse or a survivor of breast cancer, and I cried, and then had to launch right into the hymn "We Are A Gentle Angry People", one of my favorite Holly Near songs, and I was all choked up.

The children's story was learning "We Are Dancing Sarah's Circle" and the differences between it and "Jacob's Ladder". Our minister did not mentioned the obvious ladder/circle sexual connotations to the kids that she did to me (I just love being a UU because, for one, sex is not a dirty secret). *g* I was the worship associate and when I got there on Sunday morning she said 'and you can sing an a cappella verse of Jacob's Ladder to show the differences, right? *g* Luckily I have absolutely no fear of singing at church anymore; also I dropped it down about six notes.

That afternoon I sped (literally, 75 is WAY TOO FAST) to the airport to pick up my parents' who were on time, though they'd been delayed out of London and had to be expedited through Dallas to make their connection. The Kansas City airport was actually busy. It's never busy. As it was only 4:30 and therefore 10:30 p.m. England time, dad drove home. I was still white knuckled from the drive over. Also, race traffic was beginning to let out at the Kansas Speedway which is right next to two roads we were on. I don't do well with merging traffic unless it's three lanes and I can park myself in the middle lane.

At work full time this week, but next week I have Wednesday and Thursday off so hopefully Dar and I can have some long gabfests. Supposed to be decent weather--50s and low 60s next week--after some horrendous 80s today and tomorrow. I have my AC and my fan back on!

My dad always warns me about deer when I leave their house and dusk had fallen by the time I left Sunday after chatting with them about their trip for an hour, and a stupid deer ran right across their driveway as I started down it! It's mating season.

Well, need to do the monthly billing today and boss could stroll in at any minute or several hours from now.

Oh, and, hey, didn't realize you could subscribe to fics on AO3 like on ff.net. I try to read only complete fics, but there are a couple that are just too good to wait.

Also the phone just went orange again.

Boss came in early for a 9:00 meeting but that was okay because he was in a good mood until client irked him by not being ready for their meeting to prepare for a hearing next week, not understanding, and believing that court and justice you see on TV is real.

*sigh*

But boss went to cremate his step-son's dog and boss will be off drinking this afternoon, so hopefully I won't have to deal with grumpy boss very much because I have very little work to do. I stretched as much as I possibly could yesterday. I do have plenty of work for tomorrow and Friday. Just have to get through today and to GNO.

Last night the Royals showed they could finally beat a sucky team (they've won against the playoff contenders and lost against the cellar dwellers--yeah, IDEK) and then I nearly hit a deer leaving my parents' house. Luckily it was a big deer and I was able to slam on my brakes in time as it meandered across the road (and luckily there's hardly ever any traffic on said road).

I also discovered that someone had chosen my fic in the art claim post for the vampire big bang. I didn't even know the art had been opened for claiming. I kind of expected the mod to put up a 'okay, now that you've had a chance to look at the art, the claims are open' post. Luckily they claimed on Monday and I caught it last night. Now I just have to finish the fic, but that should happen Friday as boss apparently has heart surgery(!) that day. Obviously nothing too serious as it's outpatient surgery, but, I thought he was just having tests!

No one tells me anything.

Monday night I watched the first ep of "The New Normal" and enjoyed it. Haven't had a chance to watch last night's ep, yet. Ellen Barkin's "nana" character makes me uncomfortable at times but maybe that's a good thing.

Sunday was the big day. Church service managed to pull together despite Friday's post from the teenager that she wasn't sure she could write a sermon (even five minutes) and then her apparent disappearance from onlineness). The Chiefs were only three points behind at half time when I squeezed myself into hose (why did I buy a skirt that barely skims my knees?!) and headed back to church for the rehearsal for mom and dad's vow renewal. Still struggling to get the song right--totally blame whomever wrote the piano piece with all the damn codas in it--but we kept working on it.

Heather did a beautiful job with the slide show of pictures of their life together (despite the last picture of me with my parents being from when I was eleven). The song came off very well. My brother's reflections on their marriage almost made me cry right before I had to sing. My parents' vows did make me cry. It was just beautiful. Mom looked gorgeous in her blue beaded dress and dad looked good in his suit. There was a great crowd in attendance and good food. The mints I ordered from the place that had provided mints for their wedding were a hit. Even mom had one, though she gave her cupcake to my nephew. I got lots of compliments on my singing and some 'I didn't know you could sing' ones from non UU family friends I've none most of my life, so that was cool.

Got home to find out the Chiefs had sucked in the second half and lost big time. *sigh* Fell asleep from exhaustion on the couch for a couple hours. I hadn't slept well the night before due to stress over the service.

Stress over the service. Yes, Saturday was quite exciting. On Friday I'd received that email and had responded with encouragement because if she backed out I was going to kill her. Heard nothing from her. I still needed the two readers and one reading and for her to do opening words. Not getting any response by Saturday noonish, I wrote our minister and she said she'd call her. I found a reading and opening words. I finally got a call from the girl halfway through the KU football game and then her phone died before we could discuss anything important. She could text but not get calls and her email wasn't working either. We plan these services through email! ACK So here I am at my age texting a teenager with one finger. I did find out her sister would be doing the reading we had. I told her I'd found a reading, opening words and would get a reader. And she'd call me from home after 9:00.

Got a reader while I was going downtown for dinner with the fam. Had a delicious trout and corn/cheese crepe main course, and duck and plum pasta for starter. Ice wine, of course, with dessert. I also had a drink before dinner. So needed it. Of course dinner went on and on and I didn't get out of there until 9:15. She'd called; I called back. Everything sorted. Thank god.

Oh, and KU, despite leading most of the game, managed to lose by a field goal in the last ten seconds to Rice.

*head desk*

No way in Hell we're beating TCU this Saturday.

So, very busy weekend. Oh, and my brother couldn't get it arranged this year but he's going to take us all on an Alaskan cruise next summer to celebrate the parents' 50th. I've never been on a cruise and I've been encouraging the parents to take this one for several years. Very nice of brother to offer to take me too since I have no money and he's Midas-like.

This weekend is my birthday so busy again, though I'm just ficcing and footballing all Saturday, the actual day. I asked mom to make pork chops and mashed potatoes with milk gravy on Friday and we're going to a newish Mexican place on Sunday (not after the game because every non-reservation restaurant will be packed). Then I have to pre-clean my downstairs as mom is coming the following Saturday to help me "fall clean" as a part of my birthday present.

Well, expect boss will be back soon...And I'm tired...

Er...didn't really mean to disappear for nine days. Last Sunday I had a really bad diverticulitis attack. I didn't get much sleep because of the pain and even threw up without even attempting it. On Monday I dragged myself to work for three hours, then came home to pretty much sleep the rest of the day. I ate all of two tubs of applesauce, about six or eight saltines and a completely useless for nutrition sugar free jello. By the end of Monday I was hungry and achy from muscle pulls and still kind of crampy.

After seven days I'm still recovering. I'm eating more normally but I'm still occasionally cramping.

I didn't eat any nuts or seeds or corn. All I can think is that I ate a lot of meat and high fat content foods.

Anyway, I've been lazy and sick and just watching a lot of tv and reading.

Also I got my wifi working finally so I tend to have my laptop on the couch where it's not as conducive to writing anything. I've brought it upstairs in an attempt to write actual fic since I have two due (one rough but 3000 words) on November 1.

For IWRY I'm just going to write more Buffy/Angel(us) in Hell fic that only one person (Margot) will read but that's what the on life support muse is croaking out at me. Oh good, just looked and it's not due until November 3.

KU football continues to suck. Thank god basketball starts in like ten days. On the other hand, the Chiefs completely rocked today, demolishing the Raiders with six interceptions and winning 28-0. After the first two games where we were beaten something like 78-7 in scoring, winning the last three has been great. Now, on Monday night football on Halloween, we play the Chargers for the division lead!

As mentioned I've watched a lot of tv. I'm enjoying American Horror Story and I've seen both the first eps of Grimm and Once Upon A Time and liked them both. I need to catch up on PanAm and Gossip Girl but otherwise I'm on top of things.

I've been feeding a friend's cat while they're on vacay and it's always interesting how people feed their cats. I grew up with cats always having dry food and getting wet food twice a day. I continue that with my own cats, giving them about 1/6 each of a small fancy feast can twice a day. My friend gives her cat a tbsp of dry food twice a day and a whole can of fancy feast twice a day. The cat goes for the dry food first always. Mine go for the wet since the dry is there all the time. I can't remember anyone else I've known with cats who hasn't left out dry food all the time.

A KC news station is doing a bit on their erroneous belief that debtor's prisons exist in this country because some guy got arrested for not paying for his furniture.

Uh huh, yeah...NO. I'm sure he got arrested because he was in contempt of court for failing to follow a judge's orders and appear for post judgment hearings. I don't have any sympathy for people who ignore a debt to the point where there's a bench warrant out on them. In Kansas that's several steps along the collection route with at least three opportunities to appear in court. And this all after you get sent a letter giving you thirty days to respond.

Big tip, people, if you get a collection letter, respond! Don't wait the thirty days. Call the attorney. Hey, if it's us, we'll work with you! Heck, we'll take as little as $20 a month if that's all you can afford. And you won't get charged court costs and, anywhere but here, attorney's fees if there's no court. No one wants to go to court. The judges, who are paid to go to court, don't want to go to court.

My dad now has the camera card so it'll be a while till the shoe makes an appearance. Hopefully KU info techie people will download quickly and turn them into pdfs or whatever they do. The 800 pictures of documents, not the shoe. *g*

I did go to church today--felt like it had been forever since I didn't go the week before I left, missed two Sundays while I was gone, and then blew off last week as it sounded dull. We had a full house! Probably around 80-90 plus kids.

The weather here is stupid. It was in the 70s today and is supposed to be in the 80s for the next two days and then plummet to the low 50s during the day and 20s at night by Wednesday. We have had a hard freeze, thank god, so my allergies are lightening up a bit.

There's a small group "occupying" Lawrence. They're camping in one of the two large downtown parks. They finally got cited by the police last night after about ten days in the park. Of course they're being slammed right and left on the local online newspaper. I hate camping so there's no way I'd ever join in--can't sleep if it's below 63 degrees and that's pushing it--but I support their peaceful assembly. And while my town has only about 40 participants, larger cities have larger numbers. We got a report from a guy from church who's in Boston for the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) board meeting and they went to rally with the Boston occupiers--around 500 campers with another 500 or so protesting with them.

I'm not sure this is actually going to do anything but you gotta start somewhere.

Finally, in order to get adobe flash player to upgrade so I could watch the Oklahoma game last night since ABC pulled a major boner and kept showing the very boring Stanford blowout I had to upgrade Firefox. I don't like it. Why move the "reload page" button to the end of the URL box?! And megamanager doesn't work with it. I only use megaupload--it works for me and I have a year paid account. Also, when you right click, the 'open in new tab' used to be in second position. My hand automatically slides the mouse to it. Now it's in first position. WHY??????

And, finally, it no longer gives me the option to save tabs when I simply hit the "X". I have to go into file, and actually formally exit, then when I start up again, go to tools and click to reopen the previous session. WHY??????

None of those changes make sense and the megamanager bit irks the hell out of me, though that may just mean megamanager needs to make changes to work with this version of Firefox so they may be both to blame for that one.

And that's pretty much it for the last nine days. Also, Supernatural rocketh.

It's 59 degrees out! Whee, Fall!

Did mostly nothing all weekend but watch tv--football and baseball and several tv shows and now I'm watching Numb3rs, which I never watched, but I'm enjoying it.

KU won, not televised, but the next two games are so we'll probably lose.

It was delayed 20 minutes for...well, I had absolutely no rain four miles south of the stadium but it must have rained there. Not like in Indiana, Iowa etc. where they had massive lightning strikes that delayed games for hours. Was it at Iowa City where they showed the rain pouring like waterfalls down the stadium steps?

Here's hoping we have phones at work tomorrow.

New tv season programs are starting to appear on my dvr settings for two weeks away! Wheeeeee!

I wrote absolutely nothing.

Didn't even leave the house to get the mail.

Meme snagged from 20hrsinamerica

Chose a number, or several, and I'll answer that question.

1. Five ways to my heart.
2. Something I feel strongly about.
3. My favorite books.
4. Things I want to say to an ex.
5. Five pet peeves.
6. What I ate today.
7. How important I think education is.
8. I'll put my music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play.
9. Five guys whom I find attractive.
10. My opinion about my body and how comfortable I am with it.
11. What I wore today.
12. My zodiac/horoscope and if I think it fits my personality.
13. Something I always think "what if..." about.
14. Something that I'm proud of.
15. A problem I have had.
16. Five items I lust after.
17. My fears.
18. How I hope my future will be like.
19. Something that I miss.
20. Five words/phrases that make me laugh.
21. Something I'm currently worrying about.
22. Things I like and dislike about myself.
23. A quote I try to live by.
24. Somewhere I'd like to move to or visit.
25. Five weird things that I like.
26. One thing I'm excited for.
27. Sexual orientation
28. What I'm really bad at.
29. A description of my self-esteem.
30. What words upset me the most.
31. Who my best friends are.
32. What my greatest achievement(s) is/are.
33. My favorite songs right now.
34. The one place I want to be right now.
35. An internal conflict with myself.
36. Two of my insecurities.
37. A description of the boy I like.
38. Do I like where I am right now?
39. What I hate most about myself.

Never-ending BB fic is still never ending but it's off to the second beta as is. I incorporated all of Mary Ann's corrections--thank god one of us knows the lay/lie difference (that would be her because I suck at it *g*) and I'm about to start the final sex scene in which hopefully Dean will get an erection. If not, see my icon.

I watched Bones and Fringe live. Enjoyed both. I have no problem with the alternating worlds thing on Fringe even if that means less Peter, but apparently many people are up in arms. I just can't be fussed about stuff like that. I can't think of a show I've stopped watching because they've axed a character...Wait, I did stop watching Days of Our Lives when they got rid of John and Marlena, but I can't think of a prime time show. I watched MASH after Henry died and Trapper left, CSI after Grissom left, even SG1 after Jack left (though it was never the same). I've suffered through pairings I can't tolerate and never getting the pairings I do want. Whatever, for me it's just tv. Even Buffy. People hating season six. I loved it. *shrug*

Speaking of not getting fussed about things I can't change--I have no position on the current Buffy/Spike shipper split. I read the comics (though I'm behind) and if they're Joss' vision of Season 8, that's fine. It's his playground. I'm not going to hate them because Buffy has sex with Angel and not Spike. I'm not surprised, really. I have my own visions and fanons and I always have. I started reading and writing fic in Season 2, remember. I wrote Buffy and Spike three and a half seasons before Joss gave them to us.

I've always said, if you don't like the way characters or a ship are being portrayed on the show (or in comics in this case) write your own version! That's the glory of fic.

And don't be a hater.

Today at work my boss was with his attorney all day (stupid lawsuit that the guy suing my boss and his partner is going to lose) and I kept getting interrupted by them wanting me to print out accounting crap and to try to remember stuff from seven years ago. I've been with my boss for fifteen years. They all blend together.

At one point I overheard the attorney say something like 'and Lara will say that...' and I'm like 'Lara ain't saying shit. I'm not testifying! I have to answer the phones!' Seriously, I'm not testifying!

Our law clerk becomes a real boy (or attorney) tomorrow. Apparently it takes all day to swear 400 some attorneys in.

Apparently tv has decided that KU football is going to be fun to watch this season with you never knowing who'll show up, because now our fifth game is televised. Which is good because it's on at 11:00 a.m. and I can watch it before a certain LJers wedding. :)

It's fun watching the idiots on Survivor shoot themselves in the feet. Last night's evictee was a complete idiot at Tribal Council. You just don't say shit like that anymore! Even Probst was stunned.

And, finally, I have cramps.

*snort*

Wheeee, fic done! Over 13,000 words of vampire smut old skool style!

It's nice to dip back into my early fandom dayz. And I figured out what to do with those two first person sections I wrote over ten years ago that have just been sitting there in the middle of the fic mocking me with their existence.

Posting starts...hell, I don't know. I'll link it here when it's my day. Probably in October some time. (checked, it's September 25-October 8, so if you wanna read Spike/Dru/Angel(us) season two fic, be on the lookout)

It was a nice day of football, not enough upsets, but, y'know, can't happen every weekend. Some close games, though, including Oklahoma.

And the thunder never quite heralded a storm at my house, just a tiny bit of rain, so despite the weather alarm going off and waking me from a doze, nothing happened here.

Now to get back to the Cas/Dean monstrosity. I really have to finish it tomorrow and then leave editing for later in the week, because I realized that there's new tv every night and if it's not done by Friday night, it's not getting done, since my Saturday is full and that's the day it's due. I can probably find time at work to edit, but the writing has to be done tomorrow.

And I have to go to church because I'm convening. *sigh*

But, not tonight. No more writing. Gonna watch some SPN, naturally, despite having at least half a dozen new shows taped to watch.

Must go buy more userpics...

Left for work at 8:05. Got to work at 8:45. It's a fifteen minute drive at the most.

That would be due to being stuck at the foot of my driveway for twenty-five minutes as I dug out the snow beneath the car and burned enough rubber to pollute the county for a month.

:P:P:P

Such a nice way to start a Monday...NOT!

Of course the cuff of my nice white sweater is all grimy, my feet were frozen again, and the shovel is in my passenger seat, but I got the damn tiny car out. Y'know, when I leased it, it was so cute and small, my little half-car.

Next time I'm getting an SUV.

The problem was the snow between the lanes, still too high despite my shoveling, and the car way too low-slung. I'm thinking of parking on the street tonight as I have to go the grocery and won't get home until after dark, then trying to shovel more out tomorrow after work. Not a thrilling prospect but I'm afraid of trying to get the car in and getting stuck again with it sticking halfway into the street. Hopefully it'll start in the morning or I may just say to hell with the rest of the week. My boss already offered to close on Wednesday and I stupidly said no.

The street itself was no problem at all, once I finally got into it and the rest of the streets I drove on--all main streets--were okay, though Mass is pretty much 3 lanes and not 4 since, in places, the outer lanes are half full of snow. They'd plowed my parking lot and did an excellent job on the sidewalk and maintenance was finishing up on the steps going to the street in front of our door.

But with temps only in the low 30s a couple days this week it's never going to melt.

*grumps, growls*

*hates on snow*

The only plus was that my boss got in early and had my heater going so my desk was all warmed up. He was fine and understanding of me being late--he had to drive his son into work at 6:00 a.m. since he lives next door on top of the mountain in the county and they only have one four-wheel drive between the families and it's my boss' wife's.

Also not happy that the first Big 12 bowl game starts at 4:00 this afternoon. What a stupid time! I should get home for half-time.

*grumps*

We also play no games on New Years Day, which is weird. We play three on New Years Eve and two on the day after.

Well, this large stack of files isn't going away by itself.

Today was baking day. Before she left town mom gave me a handful of basil from her indoor growing thingie (so it wouldn't hit the light and burn) and I'd already planned my menus sans basil but I'd just gotten a recipe for purple basil parmesan biscuits. Basil is basil and I had the other ingredients, so I decided to give it a try. I was making an Italian tomato soup for lunch today and having spaghetti on Monday night, with which I usually have a small roll, so I figured I'd try these.

I've never made biscuits from scratch and naturally I don't own a biscuit cutter. I ended up with kind of half cut/half drop biscuits but they're YUMMY even without butter!

So was the soup. Incredibly simple and fast using marinara sauce instead of tomatoes and very hearty with pasta, carrots and cannolini beans.

I also made my reduced fat version of peanut butter cookies. Still high in points--three a piece--but then there's a whole cup of PB for twelve cookies, and even reduced fat is only 25% less fat than normal. Still, although they were not quite as good as the real ones, they're worth the points. The splenda worked well in replace of the sugar and I baked them about three minutes less (as the splenda box directed).

I'm so loving the cooking and baking! I didn't realize how much I missed it on the previous diet. And I'm losing weight quite obviously (naturally first in my wrists and boobs but also in my stomach as my very tight slips are now looser) and I'm back to walking thirty minutes at two MPH on the treadmill. Since I had to go out to my parents' the last two nights to check on whether or not dad's stupid mail order bacon had arrived (which it hadn't) I walked both nights and I'm starting to feel it in the back of my thighs, which is good.

Just watched Oklahoma lose and am currently watching Nebraska lose. I hope this isn't a trend today with Big 8 teams playing Southwest Conf. teams (OU v. Texas and Neb. v. Tex. Tech) though we play Colorado, former Big 8 team. We're on tv at 6:00 and then MU v. OSU is on at 8:15. Good Big 12 football day.

Now if I could just write something other than this (which will be posted late tonight as I still have no wireless and my laptop is currently on the couch well away from the modem).

I also need to practice the choir piece from tomorrow. I may be the only tenor and I don't know it. I keep wanting to sing the alto part.

Talked to mom today and found out we can get free tickets to a Cirque show if we sit in the light booth! (Dad has a colleague who has a daughter who works for Cirque in Vegas) So we're going somewhere really fancy for our dinner. Also, dad got a very well paying assignment to write a thirty page article so they're going with an LED tv instead of the typical LCD. My brother has a 50 inch LED in his new media room and apparently dad is addicted to watching sports on it. I'm sure they'll be getting it before KU basketball starts. This means dad will be watching sports upstairs though so they'll probably end up with two so that they have one in the basement tv room and mom can spend her Saturdays watching sappy English movies and comedies on dvd upstairs.

I'm still enjoying SGU. I'm not quite sure why we have cliffhangers every ep, but it's an interesting show. Also, Fringe is very good this season. I'm behind a couple eps on Smallville, haven't watched any of Dollhouse, and have a handful of shows from this past week to watch but I just watched all eight eps of Top Chef. Also really liking Flash Forward.

Also, SPN rocked, as usual. Cas was...perfection. :) Thankfully only one week off before it and Vampire Diaries are back. I'm really loving the darkness on VD (okay, that's just wrong lolol). Really didn't expect what happened this past week to happen to any of the main characters!

Where comics are concerned, I haven't read much of the past few weeks but I did read Red Robin and I still love Tim to pieces (and Tam is cool, too) but the best one of the past week was Adventure. Not only was the art gorgeous--most beautiful Tim I've seen anyone draw--but OMG so wonderful. The best reunion we could get--a lot of sorrow and angst and Tim being crazy and Kon being supportive and what I've missed since the early days of TT. And the tear....*happy sigh*

The sun finally came out fully today. This last week has been ridiculous. Rainy, bitterly cold (I mean, really 42 as a high before the middle of October?!) and yesterday's sun was that weak wintery sun way too many months early. It's supposed to warm up over the next few days back into the low 60s, thankfully. I'm almost missing that time in June when my AC wasn't working and it was 90 in my house. (as I sit here with a heating pad on my lap, a sweater on, and socks that I can feel the cold through).

Okay, all for now...

....

(Much later)

CRAP!

*goes off to pout over crappy defense*

*actually goes to read angel porn*

Well, KU nearly gave the damn thing away but they hung on, thanks to the Defense finally showing up in the last two minutes.

I wrote some of the 'free writing' character fics and will finish them and post them all tomorrow.

So, before I go make some fat free popcorn and watch Jus in Bello a couple more memes...

A. Has my portrayal of a character(s) changed the way you think of him/her?

B. Pick one of my characters (Edited to add "name the series if that's applicable") and I'll answer the following questions about him or her.

1. What would your character kill for? What would they die for?
2. What would they refuse to do under any circumstances? Why?
3. What do they dream about?
4. What's their biggest fear?
5. What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with? Why?
6. What is their fondest memory?
7. What is their worst memory?
8. What or who was their most significant influence? Expound.
9. What do they believe makes a successful life?
10. What makes them laugh?
11. What are their religious views?
12. What is their greatest strength?
13. Do they have a fatal flaw? If so, what is it?
14. Who is the most important person in their life?
15. If they died, who would miss them most? How would they die?