(no subject)

Dec. 8th, 2025 08:59 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
I think work is finally slowing down. I came into small numbers today and I'm expecting even smaller number tomorrow. If this continues, I may be able to get fully caught up by the end of the week!

And, yeah, I know, I said I wasn't going to stress about catching up. I'm not, really. It's just that with Christmas and New Year's coming up, I'd like to not have to worry about how much is being left on my table during the days I'll have off.

(no subject)

Dec. 7th, 2025 11:58 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
Well, I wasted almost my entire weekend, so that sucks. You know what, though, whatever. Gonna get a good night's sleep. Gonna get up a little early and get done some of what I wanted to get done today and yesterday. Gonna do better next week.

In the meantime! Anyone who'd like to exchange holiday cards this year, let me know! I should still have some of your addresses from last year but of course PM me if it's changed :)

(no subject)

Dec. 6th, 2025 08:46 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
I can squash my OCD tendencies pretty well when it comes to important stuff-- by which I mostly mean work stuff. It makes the back of my brain itch something fierce but I kinda have to accept that things cannot be Proper and Correct in those instances, y'know? Patients need to be helped and I need to not lose my job.

Then there are also occasions where the issues present themselves in personal matters where someone is counting on me for something, so I have that external pressure at my back.

And then. There are the instances where it's just me. And it's not that I can never squeak myself by, right, but omg it's like walking through tar to even consider it. I have an Ed, Edd n Eddy fic I finished years ago sitting in drafts right now. You know why? Because all the other fics I've been working on from then to now have been for Transformers and I Simply Cannot post a single EEnE fic in the middle of an otherwise uninterrupted line of Transformers fics. It doesn't Go There, you see. Heck, I am right now trying to make myself post a Transfomers fic but my mind recoils because it's the wrong kind of Transformers. The "wrong" continuity, the "wrong" characters.

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH THIS DOES NOT MATTER.

But even knowing that it doesn't matter doesn't make it any easier, because of frikkin course it doesn't :/

(no subject)

Dec. 5th, 2025 08:59 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
HR lady wasn't even at work today, lol. I ended up having to text her. I handed the marshmallows off to another coworker who I guess lives near enough to drop them off.

Which, I mean, is all fine and good but I wish she'd messaged me to begin with. When I texted, she said that she wasn't sure I'd have remembered and didn't want to bother me with reminders. Which makes sense if I was just doing her a favor but she was a customer in this scenario. I'd have melted into goo if I'd forgotten to do something someone offered to pay me money for, haha. Idk. It's mostly getting to me because I'd have preferred for her to have seen and approved them before they left my hands. I used a silicone candy mold to make smaller pieces but it wasted enough marshmallow mixture that I supplemented with cuts off the "framework" left behind by the larger pieces that got cookie-cut instead of repeating the process. And obviously those cuts came out a lot messier. They still taste the same, of course, but I feel kinda bad giving them to someone for an event, y'know what I mean?

Ah, well. I guess I'll hear from her about how well they go over.

Collage Journaling: Xmas 2025 #2

Dec. 5th, 2025 05:09 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: gnome (xmasgnome)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Another card which turned out well.

(no subject)

Dec. 4th, 2025 07:50 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
Made the mistake of getting all comfy and cozy before I remembered I need to make those marshmallows my HR lady ordered. Getting up to do it now or else I'll need to wake up super early and I'm not doing that, lol. At least I made sure already to have everything I need readily available. Just gotta walk into the kitchen and get it done now.

I still haven't decided what I should charge... Eh, I'll talk myself through it as I work on them, I guess. At least she's the type to encourage fair pricing for homemade goods, so I don't think I have to worry about being undercut.
stonepicnicking_okapi: otherwords (otherwords)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Chicago and December By W. S. Di Piero

Trying to find my roost
one lidded, late afternoon,
the consolation of color
worked up like neediness,
like craving chocolate,
I’m at Art Institute favorites:
Velasquez’s “Servant,”
her bashful attention fixed
to place things just right,
Beckmann’s “Self-Portrait,”
whose fishy fingers seem
never to do a day’s work,
the great stone lions outside
monumentally pissed
by jumbo wreaths and ribbons
municipal good cheer
yoked around their heads.
Mealy mist. Furred air.
I walk north across
the river, Christmas lights
crushed on skyscraper glass,
bling stringing Michigan Ave.,
sunlight’s last-gasp sighing
through the artless fog.
Vague fatigued promise hangs
in the low darkened sky
when bunched scrawny starlings
rattle up from trees,
switchback and snag
like tossed rags dressing
the bare wintering branches,
black-on-black shining,
and I’m in a moment
more like a fore-moment:
from the sidewalk, watching them
poised without purpose,
I feel lifted inside the common
hazards and orders of things
when from their stillness,
the formal, aimless, not-waiting birds
erupt again, clap, elated weather-
making wing-clouds changing,
smithereened back and forth,
now already gone to follow
the river’s running course.

---

I think this is what is referred to as Velasquez’s “Servant.” Max Beckmann has done more than a few self-portraits.


kitchen maid

(no subject)

Dec. 3rd, 2025 08:33 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
I'm behind on the scarves for my niblings but not by too many. Gonna try to marathon-crochet this weekend, get those finished and also work on some little hats and booties. I figure that'll be a good way to get rid of a lot of my scraps. I also have a blanket idea I'd like to get started. My goal is to get my yarn stash busted down by at least half by the end of the month.

Into the Void

Dec. 3rd, 2025 08:04 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: ChopSuey (chopsuey)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
1. My first Christmas card is in the post. Huzzah!

2. I went to Minor's cross country banquet and I got the sense I am getting more mature because I was able to see the really good parts (the coach gave an excellent overview of the season and had something nice and specific and positive to say about every single kid on the team (all 60) so really well done) and the not-so-fun parts (being at an event where I knew no one and no one knew me and felt very alone and awkward and the end when they let some of the kids start giving speeches when I really just wanted to go home and Minor being a typical 14 year old who acts like I have the plague). And not let the bad parts taint the whole experience. Like seeing the good and bad simultaneously. Sort of anti-'all or nothing' which has been my MO for half a century.

3. I put up my little table top tree. 2 strands of lights and about a dozen ornaments but it's done. One strand of lights on the balcony. 3 nutcrackers in the windowsill and a strand of lights by my bed and my blinking reindeer antler headband and Santa hat so Christmas is on.

4. Thank you to everyone who said nice things about me in the holiday meme. I am saving them in my inbox for the dark times.

More fun with Ryua.

Word: Consanguinity

Dec. 3rd, 2025 07:58 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Wednesday's word is...

...consanguinity [kon-sang-gwin-i-tee]

noun

1. relationship by descent from a common ancestor; kinship (affinity).

2. close relationship or connection.

---

This was the word of the day for dictionary.com a few days ago, and it was new to me.

example:

The findings, now published in Genetics in Medicine OPEN, revealed a correlation between occurrences of complex genetic disorders in those families with increased levels of consanguinity when compared to unaffected populations. from Science Daily

(no subject)

Dec. 2nd, 2025 08:54 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
Let me get this straight... The next few days, it's going to be cold enough to snow. But it's not going to snow.

What a waste of freezing temps :/

Signal Boost: Advent Drabbles

Dec. 2nd, 2025 09:57 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: candycanes (candycanes)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
The mods at [community profile] adventdrabbles have said this will be the last year of it so if you like writing seasonal drabbles (a new photo prompt every day of December), go on over. I am going to try to fill as many as I can.

I've done 3 so far.

Two for Day 1

Title: Provoked
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Prompt: Day 1: dog with hat
Characters: Holmes & Watson & Toby the dog
Notes: Not exactly the photo but similar. Also for emotion100 prompt: provoked. H/c.
Summary: Toby helps Holmes see reason after the end of a grueling case on Christmas Eve.

Read more... )

Title: Distressed
Fandom: BTS
Rating: Gen
Prompt: Day 1: dog with hat
Characters: SUGA & Min Holly
Notes: Also for emotion100 prompt: distressed.
Summary: Min Holly is acting strangely.

Read more... )

And one for Day 2

Title: The card
Fandom: Carmilla
Rating: Gen
Prompt: Day 2: two witches holding hands
Notes: dialogue only, also for [community profile] sweetandshort prompt: Christmas cards
Summary: Laura's children talk about why Mummy's upset

Read more... )

(no subject)

Dec. 1st, 2025 08:31 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
I admit, I did not give full thought to the fact that making pudding would mean having to eat all the pudding. I'm so used to my sister coming over with the kids, lol. Ah, well, it is good pudding. The texture isn't perfect but it isn't bad either. I want to make a thicker batch to use as a pie filling. Thinking of making a kind of s'mores pie; graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding, marshmallow on top.

Speaking of, this is the week I need to be ready to make the marshmallows for the HR lady. Did I tell you guys that the HR lady offered to pay me for marshmallows? If not, this is me telling you. Her church ladies group is having some kind of event and there's going to be a hot cocoa bar and she asked me to make enough for seventy people. She also told me to just tell her what she owes me, so I've gotta get that figured out too...

Music Monday: Christmas Jazz

Dec. 1st, 2025 07:38 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: record player (recordplayer)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Upstairs neighbors are noisy. So are my sons. I am using this to drown out both! It's a good channel if you like no-lyrics background music.

Happy December!

Dec. 1st, 2025 07:31 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: candycanes (candycanes)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
Wishing everyone a happy December!

I have definitely shifted to Xmas mode. Here's the first card I made yesterday:

12 Days of Christmas - Thing #25

Dec. 1st, 2025 04:13 pm
smallhobbit: (Christmas tree 2025)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Every year I offer to write ficlets for friends which will be posted between 26 December and 6 January.  This year is no different.

My range of fandoms can be found on AO3, where I'm Small_Hobbit, where, if you're not already aware, you can see the sort of things I write.  Do note that there is no guarantee in the way my brain will work, but I will attempt to produce something you like.

Therefore, if you would like a ficlet, please comment below with your AO3 name if you have one and I don't already know it - not essential, I will make sure to let you know when yours is posted if you don't.  And include your preferred fandom and character(s) (can be a pairing, several characters, or just one), together with a prompt.  The prompt may be seasonal or not, as suits you.  

And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

(no subject)

Nov. 30th, 2025 07:39 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
Feels a bit ridiculous to me that it's the last day of November but here we are.

I ended up not finishing with my room after all BUT only because I kept changing my mind about, y'know. What I wanted to do. I know, I know, the classic "I would've won if I hadn't lost" non-excuse. But, I mean. It's my room, innit? No point doing things that I decide partway through I don't like. Anyway, it's in disarray right now but not a mess, y'know what I mean? Like the big stuff is dealt with, things just need to be better organized and put away properly. Not much to it.
stonepicnicking_okapi: okapi (Default)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
I am struggling to stay positive and not dip into disappointment and, possibly, spiraling because I don't need that going into December. So many things I did, but not enough that I feel REALLY good about. I think it's the lack of REALLY which is bothering me.

The big sadness is that I've gained about 15 lbs, most of it in the past 2 months and that's difficult to swallow (har, har), so I am creeping up on being the largest I've ever been. And it makes exercising, running, even moving about at work (squeezing into spaces to put stuff up, turn clients, shave clients, clean, etc.) more difficult. I think that part of why I had an underwhelming showing at the 5k. I have signed up for the 12 days of fitness at the YMCA for December, so I am going to use that to keep me moving now that the race isn't ahead of me.

And I thought I was going to do Kinktober and Whumptober and the harsh truth is that I just don't have enough free time or mental bandwidth to go gangbusters like I have in the past. So I ended up doing 11 days of Whumptober and 13 days of Kinktober (but I deleted 3 of those yesterday because I am not going to continue with that plot). So, yeah, an effort, not nothing but not what I hoped or even expected and even less than what I had the energy for. It was just getting time to write and the *something* to sit down, not motivation exactly but the willpower (?). And I had to put my soap opera completely on the back burner to do that. I want to get back to that in January.

And Minor stealing my money. I still don't KNOW it was Minor. And we're just moving on. Like nothing happened and some moments I want to punch everybody in the face, including my kids.

And spending! Jesus Christ, the household budget is nowhere to be seen. And yeah some of it is inevitable and kids being expensive, but some of it is ME!

But I am learning to delegate things. For example, there was a task of sending an overseas package which involved Minor and my husband's relatives in Canada. The first time I handled it (taking time, effort, and expense out of my life). But this time, I forced them to handle it. And they did. It might not sound like a win to you but not handling everything myself is a good thing. And I am getting better about it.

The 5k wasn't underwhelming while I was doing it but when I looked back to the last two years, I was sad. Slow. I'm just slow. And fat. I really want to set a goal of running the whole thing next year. And I was toying with the idea of pickleball, but I am really trying to get myself not to be too ambitious and to be REALLY realistic about just how much free time I have. And not commit to things because quitting/bailing/doing a half job makes me super sad.

I got out the Xmas box and looked through stuff and ended up putting up the tree (it's a tiny tabletop with 2 strands of lights and a dozen small ornaments, so not a big deal, really), but still it's done. Check!

And I definitely feel like I'm switching to Xmas mode. Craft-wise, I am going into card-making mode.

Word Count: 18095 [I didn't subtract the deleted chapters but for the record, I only record things that are posted somewhere]

Ficcing: Kinktober, Whumptober, 5 for [community profile] sweetandshort and just 1 for [community profile] vocab_drabbles. But it's about to be Advent season!

Reading: 5 books, most of them audiobooks, ECR Lorac mysteries on this YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheClue-j8j.

Crafting: My big win was getting my sister's gift done in time for her holiday party. I will post a photo of how the tree looked this week. So that was good.

I am giving up on the Hobonichi planner I had and going back to a simple bullet journal notebook (in the Hobonichi cover) for December. It was getting so unwieldy and I wasn't using it so it served me for many months and I learned about the perils and pleasures of combining collaging and functional planning. No decoration in the planner going forward. Keeping the collaging to its own space.

Health & Fitness: I did 16 days of Yoga with Adrienne. And I did cross the finish line of the 5k.

Personal: We did go to someone's house for dinner. That was a big deal. And I got my second client back so I am back to a regular work schedule, and I met a new client (my Indian lady) who I like very much.

I lost my water bottle but I have a back-up water bottle. I got a flat tire, but the boys' father came out to help. Lots of annoying life events but nothing catastrophic.

Anyway, I decided to do this. I can't decide if it's cringe for me to do it but if it helps going into the December with a positive attitude and a calmer feeling about life, probably a good thing. Right?

holiday love meme 2025
my thread here

Crafts - November 2025

Nov. 30th, 2025 02:56 pm
smallhobbit: (Floral SAL)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Here's the final mouse of the SAL:

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Sherlock Holmes: 60 for 60

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