(morning writing)
Dec. 18th, 2025 07:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elainegreyIf i miss writing in time, i hope everyone is able have the observations that make passing through this solstice period a joy or at least the darkness eased. I am enjoying my LED lit branch (up all year) and tree during the long dark morning, and found that BritBox has streaming holiday light shows to run in the background of doing other things.
Some quick notes
no car news, but we don't really need two vehicles, so we are OK. What we have is a good reliable car (that is now dmaged) and a vehicle for taking things to the dump. Christine managed to find a really nice take things to the dump vehicle some years back, so we'll drive it about more and live with the lousy gas mileage.
Bruno and Marlowe have had a step of improvement in how they get along and how Bruno believes he can access the rest of the house. He doesn't need coaxing to leave his safe room, Marlowe is not nearly as vigilant. It's odd to see how things seem to have little jumps and not gradual change. We went from much coaxing to get him to leave his room on his own to him dashing out in the morning.
Christine is having a more serious flare (infection) of the issue that sent her to the emergency room in June. Less than a month to the surgery that should resolve things.
I am fighting my own self denigration around gift giving and not really winning but avoiding. I hope i can take some time off today to label and wrap and pack and ship. I had so much joy making and thinking about giving -- years of it imagining when i could gift things from the orchard -- and ... anyhow, i will focus on that and try to take the insecure part of me and tell her ... that people already know i am a flake so it's ok? No, wait, that's not the message. We'll work on that.
i've gotten in my (pathetically low count of) steps the past two days. I think i feel better for it. I am worried about how fatigue hit me out of the blue a few weeks ago, but i have no evidence that the fatigue is caused by doing things, i just NOTICE when i am doing things. Acting like i am fatigued all the time is not the solution.
Day 17 Summary Post
Dec. 18th, 2025 07:14 amtorino10154 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
adventdrabblesHarry Potter
digthewriter wrote It's a Vibe. - Luna/Ginnytorino10154 wrote Holiday Hurricane [AO3] - Severus/Harryenchanted_jae wrote Spending Christmas in Love - Harry/Draco, Arthur/Molly, Narcissa, ocsBTS
stonepicnicking_okapi wrote Too muchLet us know if there are any omissions or errors. Thanks!
Interesting Links for 18-12-2025
Dec. 18th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Why Do Commercial Spaces Sit Vacant?
- (tags:business property finance economics banking )
- 2. What Happens When Netflix Buys Warner Bros. (nothing good)
- (tags:netflix movies history WarnerBrothers video doom )
- 3. UK energy costs likely to halve by 2050, says system operator
- (tags:UK renewables electricity thefuture )
- 4. Teachers to be trained to spot early signs of misogyny in boys
- (tags:misogyny UK children boys )
- 5. One month to go: Edinburgh-Fife rail upgrades begin soon (closing the line for a week)
- (tags:Scotland transport trains )
- 6. Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Is Having a Renaissance
- (tags:hydroelectric electricity storage )
The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, Dec 17)
Dec. 18th, 2025 06:59 amspikedluvI did zero shopping which made the morning even better. I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I cooked a strip roast with potatoes and baby carrots for supper. It was really good!
Today is my first injection of the higher dose of Trulicity (as decided when I had the appt with my PCP last Monday). I hope it doesn’t cause me digestive issues because I have not missed those. *fingers crossed*
I started Boyfriend Material, watched another ep of The Pitt and the current ep of one of my favorite HGTV programs, Fixer to Fabulous. Secrets of the Zoo was my background tv in the evening.
Temps started out at 32.9(F) (the temps got down to 22 before we went to bed, so it had warmed up substantially overnight) and reached 45.3!!! It was mostly cloudy, but the snow melted so that it was tough to walk in.
Today is the first of three ‘warm’ days (though it was only supposed to reach 39). Tomorrow is supposed to be mid-40s and Friday is supposed to hit the 50s! And then drop 20 degrees to being cold again. Me no likey.
Mom Update:
Mom didn’t sound good today. ( more back here )
20 Christmas Cats in Santa Hats to Scroll Under the Mistletoe
Dec. 18th, 2025 02:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
icanhascheezburger_feedMerry (almost) Christmas, cat lovers. The holidays bring out different things in all of us – for some, it makes us joyful, euphoric, and in an upbeat mood. For others, it can make us pressured, anxious, nervous and overthinking about what to get people for their gifts. Don't be a Scrooge, be a cat loving, meme scrolling, holiday hooligan and enjoy life while we still can! No matter if you're a Scrooge or not, you can still enjoy these cat photos and memes of felines in Santa hats celebrating one of the best holidays yet. And who can deny a little coquettish kiss under some mistletoe. What's more enticing than a pine tree stem hovering above you?
Cats kiss under the mistletoe too. If you don't believe us, go home and try it today, but if you end up with a furball caught in your throat after your cat goes in for first base, don't blame us! If your holiday plans include avoiding awkward mistletoe encounters and aggressively relaxing with your phone, then 25 Christmas Cats in Santa Hats to Scroll Under the Mistletoe is exactly the festive distraction you deserve. These cats have donned their tiny red hats (against their will, legally speaking) and are here to spread cheer, chaos, and an unreasonable amount of judgment.
icanhascheezburger_feedOh, lawd - Biggie Smalls is coming! He's coming, he's going, he's gaining followers, and losing pounds. Biggie arrived to The Big House Sanctuary & Rehab in Ottawa at a shocking 43 pounds. His organs were getting pushed out of the way, and even walking was hard for him. But, the workers at this sanctuary didn't give up on him. We're happy to announce that Biggie has lost… drum roll, please… almost 20 pounds! He's still a chonker, but he's literally lost almost half of himself since he started this journey.
Biggie quickly became an internet celebrity in the cat world due to his purrfectly round nature. He has millions of likes and followers, everyone pawistively invested in his de-chonkification. He's still got about five or ten more pounds to lose, but it's not about racing to the finish, it's about getting there in the furst place! We've been in love with him since the beginning, and we can't wait to see the cat he will become in the future. We're all about body pawsitivity, but we're also equally about healthy cats leading healthy lives.
He may no longer be round in body, but he is still round in spirit. Read more about the notorious C.A.T. by scrolling down!
icanhascheezburger_feedThe year 2025 has been one big challenge. And we mean that in varios ways, of course, but what we are taking about specifically here is the challenge of just… going online. So much negativity, so much drama, so much clickbait and madness. It has been everywhere. But inside all of that madness, something meowgical was happening. It was the same thing that happens every year. Cats. No matter what was going on online, there were always viral stories of cats for us to enjoy. And this year, one genre of cat post that we have seen go viral over and over again was unique and rare cats.
We think that people just wanted a little extra beauty in their lives, espeically on the internet. And so, every week, we would open some social media platform, and every week, there would be at least one unique and beautiful cat for us to stare at. Something about thsese posts captured the hearts of the people, so we thought that it was only right to give the people what they have been asking for, so we put together the coolest cats of 2025.
Just One Thing (18 December 2025)
Dec. 18th, 2025 08:41 amnanila posting in awesomeersComment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
DEC 18: Red and Ridiculous (f: harry potter)
Dec. 18th, 2025 02:58 amdigthewriter posting in adventdrabblesFandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Ginny/Luna
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Sexy Red Christmas underwear.
( Red and Ridiculous )
2025 Disneyland Trip #78 (12/17/25)
Dec. 17th, 2025 11:40 pmtorachan( Read more... )
12 Days (til) Christmas Day 5
Dec. 17th, 2025 11:13 pmashkittyNativus (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock)
Rated G
‘By the time they reach the surface, it is no longer the barren wasteland the initial scans had indicated. They stand surrounded by vegetation, lush and thick and a shade of green so bright it's almost gold; by the sound of trickling streams and the growing thrum of insect life. The tricorders vibrate with each new discovery as lifesigns appear around them with increasing rapidity, and above them coloured clouds rush through the sky like a gymnastic rainbow.…’
Song: Silent Night (There are of course many versions; this is the absolutely haunting one by Sinead O'Connor.)
Fic rec: Feast of the Unwise Men by Drayton (Oxford Time Travel)
Rated G
Technically this is an Epiphany fic, but since I'm doing pre-Christmas days and not post-Christmas days, here we are. It's about those few days after Dunworthy and Colin retrieve Kivrin from the Black Death, and the fallout - while knowledge of the canon will definitely help here, it's also a fic for anyone who has had to deal with university administrations.
Back to Day 4 | On to Day 6
Daily Happiness
Dec. 17th, 2025 11:17 pmtorachan2. We went to Disneyland for dinner. Still way more crowded than I would have thought with so many passholders blocked out, but not quite as bad as last Monday. We did have some really delicious food, though. And we finally managed to get some more of those cranberry orange loaves from Jolly Holiday and brought them home for breakfast tomorrow.
3. Jasper's really loving the warming bed now that it has lost its sides and become a warming cushion. Not sure if it's because of the new shape or because it's on top of a chest rather than on the floor, but he's into it.
Signup Post: Arts and Crafts Challenges in 2026
Dec. 17th, 2025 08:31 pmysabetwordsmith posting in goals_on_dwget_knitted makes regular checkin posts for your craft projects.You can pick whichever challenge(s) you want to set as a goal in 2026 and reply with a comment. Below the list of challenges is a short form for listing which you have chosen. Make a post in your blog like "I signed up for the Arts and Crafts challenge in
goals_on_dw" -- or list the specific challenge if you're doing an official one somewhere else instead of a personal one here. Then make a tag for it like "Arts and Crafts Challenge" and put that on the post; it should stick that way. Check your Interests page to see if you have Art, Crafts, Crochet, Painting, etc. listed there, which helps people find you. You don't have to sign up to participate, it just helps spread the word and attract more readers.See also the Fannish 50 challenge, which simply aims to post fifty entries on any topic in fandom. If you want to crochet the crew of the Enterprise, sew a complete capsule wardrobe inspired by hobbits, or carve a replica of Hogwarts, go for it. Either writing about or posting pictures of your progress will count. You can even double-count anything that applies to two or more goals, e.g. stashbusting, crochet, and Fannish 50.
Do you know of any other arts and crafts challenges in 2026? Share a link so they can be added to the list of options.
( Read more... )
icanhascheezburger_feedCats have an extra special way of burrowing into human hearts. Oftentimes, they make us earn their affections, but once we are invited into the exclusive Kitty Friendship Club, that cat will love and trust us for the rest of their days. However, sometimes our soul-cats are taken from us too soon, and like the cat lover in this next story who lost her beloved best friend at only 2 years old, it's tough to replace their meows, their cuddles, and especially their special purrsonalities.
However, only 3 weeks after her cat crossed the rainbow bridge, she discovered a helpless meowing kitten in the snow, literally submerged in the cold. Without her help, the kitten would never have survived, so naturally, she had no choice but to scoop the kitty up. But after inviting the cat into her home, she started noticing unusual behavior from the rambunctious feline.
This cat wasn't just an ordinary stray, but a near carbon copy of her other cat.
Without a shadow of a doubt in her heart, she believed this cat came to her for a reason. Not because he was cold in the snow, needing a home, or because he knew the woman inside was a cat cuddler, but because this cat had been here before.
He was just coming home.
Community Thursday
Dec. 18th, 2025 05:31 amvriddyPosted & commented on
bnha_fans. Final episode of the anime aired. Main series is truly truly over now!!!Commented on
goals_on_dw.Commented on
getyourwordsout.Commented on
common_nature.Promoted
getyourwordsout, worderlands, inkitout, fan_writers.A poll about socks
Dec. 18th, 2025 12:18 ammxcatmoonFeel free to wax poetically about the topic in the comments. What about your characters? Sonny Crockett famously does not wear them. Rico does, but to tell you the truth, I haven't paid them much attention (I'll have to fix that).
Do you have left and right socks?
Of course! Can't wear socks on the wrong feet!
3 (16.7%)
No, it doesn't matter
14 (77.8%)
I don't wear socks
0 (0.0%)
I refuse to answer on the grounds it may incriminate me, but ticky boxes!
1 (5.6%)
(no subject)
Dec. 18th, 2025 12:07 amskygiantsThis did not happen .... although M.T. Anderson cannot stop himself from wielding a sharp knife on occasion, it it turns out the book is indeed mostly a comedy .....
Nicked is based on a Real Historical Medieval Heist: the city of Bari is plague-ridden, and due to various political pressures the City's powers have decided that the way to resolve this is to steal the bones of St. Nicholas from their home in Myra and bring them to Bari to heal the sick, revive the tourism trade, and generally boost the city's fortunes. The central figures on this quest are Nicephorus, a very nice young monk who had the dubious fortune of receiving a dream about St. Nicholas that might possibly serve as some sort of justification for this endeavor, and Tyun, a professional relic hunter (or con artist? Who Could Say) who is not at really very nice at all but is Very Charismatic And Sexy, which is A Problem for Nicephorus.
The two books that Nicked kept reminding me of, as I read it, were Pratchett's Small Gods and Tolmie's All the Horses of Iceland. Both of those books are slightly better books than this, but as both of them are indeed exceptionally good books I don't think it takes too much away from Nicked to say that it's not quite on their level: it's still really very fun! And, unlike in those other somewhat better books, the unlikely companions do indeed get to make out!
I did end it, unsurprisingly, desperately wanting to know more about the sources on which it was based to know what we do know about this Real Historical Medieval Heist, but it turns out they are mostly not translated into English. Foiled again!
Things I did not need
Dec. 17th, 2025 11:53 pmcornerofmadness2. That CVS doesn't have my insulin. Again. I know why. They have a fucking dorm fridge to store all insulins, GPL1s and vaccine (plus other meds surely that I don't know but need refrigerated)
3. taking a half hour to get thru the CVS line and the line to the car wash was even longer so I had to skip it (I had a thing I had to get to) which sucks because I was on the ground floor of the parking garage yesterday and the level above me is outside and they salted it and it dripped everywhere.
4. There was an 18 wheeler on its side and I was thinking that is going to take me forever to get home but they did something I've never seen before. About 5 miles north of the accident they put up 'accident head' signs and moved everyone over there and there was no back up.
5. My olive oil brined garlic leaked in the pantry bin. I was digging through to find the food part of my parents' holiday gift and it didn't just leak, it coated everything in at least an inch of oil. It took over an hour to clean off every can and bottle and toss out things in boxes. Ugh. Ruined my clothes in the process.
6. My vascular surgeon never called in my meds.
At least I got the car partially packed. I still have to clean the kitchen in the morning since the damn pantry issue took up too much time.
Still half ready to cry. But I had my writers zoom thingie and I'm 4K into a story.
What I Just Finished Reading:
Death at the Door - paranormal mystery wanted to bitch slap the protagonist
What I am Currently Reading:
To Die Once - a Maisie Dobbs mystery which I haven't read one of these in a while and this is...slow. It's way more about the effect of war on the English people (who were still recovering from WWI) than it's a mystery
Tell Tale Treat - another paranormal mystery with another protagonist ripe for being bitch slapped
What I Plan to Read Next: Poorly Made and Other Things
