My Mates
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November 26th, 2009
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| The pumpkin was good, but there are 4 other offerings that I still need to try once dinner stops filling me up. So far we've had Grannie Jeckle with only glimpses of Gannie Hyde. The glimpses have been directed at other people...so far I've sent off a Thanksgiving themed NCIS fic for beta. Coming soon. Sends good vibes to ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} tejas hoping that her connectivity is soon restored.*watches Giants game* *pets* ![[info - livejournal.com]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) media_junkie New house that she can't move into, and by halftime she's probably run out of velcro referee to throw at the TV. | ||||||
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November 26th, 2009
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| I love to bake. I don't know why I prefer baking to making actual meals, I don't have much of a sweet tooth really, will almost always pick crisps over chocolate, but I love to bake. Possibly because I resent meals and being hungry, and baked goods are a *treat* and therefore fun. I like being able to take stuff into work and feed the masses (did I tell you? entire tray/dish of brownies gone by 11am a few weeks ago - gannets the lot of 'em) and make people smile and enjoy the food. But it's not important food, you know, if people don't like it it doesn't matter because I'm not feeding them a meal which has to get them through a third of the day, whatever it is I make it's *extra* and fun. I have issues, I'm aware. Whatever! I make several standard recipes: Lemon cheesecake - this is a very very simple recipe which I've posted once before here and I love it because it is very very adaptable. Dark chocolate brownies - this recipe here. I have much appreciation for this site, it breaks down recipes in a way I understand. And this recipe is, say it with me, very very adaptable. I have added all sorts of things into this one, not sticking with nuts (though I've done nuts) but lots of different fruit, sometimes all at the same time! Last time I made them I had dried cherries, raspberries and strawberries in there - yum. I'm thinking of trying it nearer Christmas and taking out the vanilla essence and adding in some blackcurrant brandy. I used to make some simple cookies (a Jamie Oliver recipe) but I've gone off them recently and am planning on experimenting with different cookie and biscuit recipes a bit in the New Year. I also used to make a (forgive me German speakers for mangling this spelling) Marmorgugelhupf which was a ring cake marbled cocoa and rum cake with pale sponge with lemon rind/juice with a lemon icing which was a complete devil to make and I loved. But I lost the recipe. My problem now is that I don't know the basics, and the science. For example I've just made some chocolate fudge (using ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} trulybloom's recipe - thank you (ps had to leave the marshmallow out as I can't get it here - sorry)) and now I'm wondering - if I leave out the chocolate do I need to add something else or will the sugar/butter/evaporated milk 'be' fudge in their own right? If I leave out the vanilla essence and add some blackcurrant brandy instead will it do something fatal to the consistency? If I use caster sugar, or light brown sugar instead of the granulated which I had on hand what difference will it make? (I have a feeling the only answer is experimentation and some very sugar-rushed colleagues.)But I would like, somewhen, to find a good explanation of the balance of ingredients required to make cake, or fudge, or biscuits, because the more I play the more I risk complete failure and if I don't know what I did wrong then I can't put it right and play even more. And I like playing with baking! | ||||||||
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November 25th, 2009
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| I know I have several good topic suggestions left from when I asked a week or so ago and I am planning on using them but not tonight. Tonight I have worn my body out (well, tonight and last night) and my brain has followed. Today at work I got asked if I was OK by Allegra. And Hugh. And Lucy. (Lucy also informed me that I looked 'worn' which really, yeah, probably!) I'm kinda interested in exactly how I looked so bad ... did people expect me to produce an axe and start slashing at other people or myself?! Or was it more a case of any minute I may hide under my desk and whimper? Anyway it hasn't actually been a particularly bad day, or even week. No amazingly stupid edicts have come down from on high, the customers I've spoken to have been surprisingly mellow and helpful and appreciative, I've made some inroads into the mountains of paper which are my desk ... yeah, not particularly bad, especially compared to the last few months. Huh.::shrugs:: Dunno. I do know that in addition to the two days off I have early December where I'm heading to Oxford a-steampunkin' I also have an additional three days I need to take off before the end of December. Frankly I wanted to be able to carry them over to next year but the PTB have ruled that no leave can be carried over (a bit of a bugger for Wizard, my boss, who has 22 days left!) so I need to take three random days off in the next 5 weeks or so. Maybe I'll just have the next three Mondays off and have some long weekends. Possibly then I'll look less 'worn' and more ... something. | ||||||||
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November 24th, 2009
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| mabiana suggested I write about my cat. So I shall! Actually I have two cats, brothers, who are around 11 years old. They are rescue cats who were abandoned, rescued, re-homed and then had to be rescued from the home because the woman who took them couldn't cope with them. We got them when they were about 14 weeks old and we went to the rescue place looking for little kittens (like a lot of people do) and these two ... one of 'em just decided we (especially Henry) were theirs. That was it. Done. So yes, two cats. One is ginger and white and I refer to him here as Thing 1 though I don't think it matters if I reveal that his RL name is Jacob. Or Hobbit. Or Hobbos, Jack Hobbos. He's the cat who rules outside, he has his territory and he patrols it religiously. Once when it snowed we could see he followed the exact same route each time he patrolled from the footprints in the snow. He's a very very purry cat and likes to sleep up my right arm onto my chest which makes typing tricky. His brother is Thing 2 who is black and white, has the longest whiskers in the world, and 'rejoices' in the name Isaac. Or Whizzle. Or Whizzle-kit.He rules the indoor arena. He is very very stupid and does not learn. He is the cat who fell out of the upstairs window three times in one weekend and still does fall out of the window whenever he's decided that's where he's sleeping. He also falls off sofa backs, tables, sideboards, the piano, the computer table ... you get the picture. While Jacob is getting slightly less reliable when jumping because I think he's getting a little old in the legs as it were, Isaac has never been good at any kind of physical activity. I would sympathise as this is very much my attitude too if it weren't for the fact he does not learn. At all. Isaac is Henry's cat. Entirely. I can feed him and stroke him but Henry wins his attention every time. Actually by virtue of the fact that my lap is almost always full of laptop Henry is the person of choice for both cats when they're in a lap (rather than a right arm!) mood. Often this results in one cat settling on Henry's lap and the other settling up his chest by sitting on the first cat. Surprisingly neither of them seem that fussed about being sat on by the other one. I don't know how they sleep at night because they're shut in the kitchen but I do know it involves pulling clean clothing off the airer and sleeping on it. Thus making us wash it again! Blinking cats! | ||||||||
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November 24th, 2009
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| I'm alive. I've been sick. I'm better, but tired. And now I must go do my part of the pre-cooking for Thanksgiving, because we'll be driving most of tomorrow, and we want to be able to mostly just heat things up on the day. It'll just be three of us, I think, and I'm looking forward to knitting, spinning, writing, reading, and playing with the cat. Beach later in the week, and then, even later, after a brief moment or two at home, a wedding. We will speak of that no more until I return to whine... Sorting has continued, very slowly (there was lots of sleeping last week), and has spread to the earring mess in my closet (it was small! I could do it in bed!) and the confusion in the craft department, which is in the bedroom, so I could just stop and drop onto the bed when needed. Found the origami paper I was looking for! Found the size 0 Hiya Hiya dpns! Knitting, spinning, and writing all took a hit when I was sick, because there was a lot of Tired and Dizzy (and huge case of Fuzzy Brain), which was mostly med side effects. Yay. Fortunately, I'm now moving along on all of those. I've yet to do any volunteering, due to being sick, but I'll set things up when we get back next week. I hope you are all in good health and spirits. Happy Holiday of Overindulgence and Gratitude to those of you celebrating! Edited to clarify. | ||||||||||||||
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rejuvenatedNovember 24th, 2009
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| Well, American Thanksgiving to those that celebrate. I'm on my way to Nevada to reconnect with the clan *promise not to start the fight with the Grannie* *promise not to start the fight with the Grannie* *promise not to start the fight with the Grannie* I'll be back, late, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. At mom's I should have some connectivity, but I'm not completely sure of the situation. There's an extra grandparent aged person apparently living their now, which would make -My grandmother who has reverted and makes teenagers look sane, even tempered, and pleasant -M's (M is Mom's husband who is not my dad) Dad who was pleasant if curmudgeonly -M's Mom whom I remmebered as being nice -- note that M's mom and dad are divorced. I'm hoping this means that I get the tiny spare room, because that room has the internet connections ;-) In other news, you know how company suddenly results in you cleaning your house like a mad man? Or possibly you've experienced the phenomenon that a ficathon story that's due inspires yardwork? Well I found the flipside last night. Packing for a morning plane flight inspires 1500 word completed stories -- note this does not seem to help with your ongoing WIP. Catch you on later on this week. I'm about to test my new long life batter on the plane. | ||||||
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November 23rd, 2009
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| I am declaring today a skip day. I'm knackered, I have no brain power at all and am planning to go to bed at the same time as my nine year old which is 7.30 which is in just under an hour and boy does that seem a long time to have to stay up. I'll do an extra day on the end, 'k? | ||||||||
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November 21st, 2009
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From soupytwist:I have been thinking about this topic lately, so I would like to hear if you have any Thortz on ambitions - if you have any, what they might be, how you go about achieving them if so. :) I'm a little weird with ambitions, because in many ways 'ambition' to me is linked to a lot of bad behaviour, politically motivated actions and relationships and all the stuff I dislike in the workplace. It's stepping over people and on people and being fake. Someone who is 'ambitious' is someone I probably don't like. And I actually know it's not true, Allegra and Dylan have the ambition of being published authors, Lucy an illustrator, another colleague a musician - these are ambitions I wholeheartedly approve of and support. However, business ambitions aside, having things to aim for is, I think, a fairly necessary part of life. Or at least of mine. If I thought I was going to continue on exactly as I am now for the rest of my life that would be horrendous. Because for me at least growing and stretching myself is very very important, to improve myself in whatever way I can. Because I'm never going to be perfect but I can get better and be a better person. And also I like challenges (I curse 'em, but I like 'em!) and I like using my brain and learning and knowing things. That's a bit vague isn't it?! Do I have specific ambitions? No. But I have some waffley ones!
I think all of the above add up to - my ambition is 'to be a better person', better in terms of being good, better in terms of being effective, better in terms of ... being a person! Just better. (PS soupytwist - That probably was absolutely nothing like you were expecting - sorry!) | ||||||||
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November 19th, 2009
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| Sunday November 8 started fine. 3 happy silly Flat-Coats were playing. Then 10 year old Flyer fell over with a Grand Mal seizure. It stopped; she seemed okay. The vet said to bring her in the next day. That night, she had 2 more seizures; after the last one she was blind, disoriented, and weak. They took blood; analyzed some there and sent the rest off for more specialized testing. We started her on phenobarb and prednisone to stop the seizures and prayed the lab would find an infection we could treat. Otherwise it would be a brain tumor, not uncommon in an older Flattie. Over the week, she got weaker. Friday morning she woke us at 4AM with a seizure. She had another at 6:30 and yet another was starting at 7:15 when we arrived at the vet's office. That afternoon, the lab results came in. No infection. No hope for recovery. We gave her that last shot that sent her to the Rainbow Bridge. She was the best dog I've ever had in 50+ years of living with multiple dogs. She was always willing to go anywhere, to try anything. She was my primary motivation to come back from my stroke in 2005. She needed her human to be able to take her places and do things with her. Flyer has been gone almost a week now and our household just seems...wrong. Penny and Giddy are very subdued; Earl and I cry a lot. We miss her more than words can express. | ||||||||
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November 18th, 2009
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| Maybe the best thing about yoga is that you always approach it as a practice. - You don't expect to hit every position - You don't expect it to heal every ill And very rightly, teachers and students describe the work done on the mat as a practice for life. Sure, it starts off as a physical thing and maybe for some folks it stays that way, hopefully increasing their balance and flexibility over time and easing some aches. But to really get to those goals, you have focus on what you're doing on the mat. It's impossible to balance if you aren't focusing on what your body is doing right then and there. You can't be thinking about where you're going to be in an hour or what a crappy meeting you had earlier in the day. One of the reasons I love yoga is because I know for the length of the practice, I won't be thinking about anything else. And there's a lot about life right there folks. I get some daily articles from Yoga Journal and they pointed to a great article on the site titled The Heart's Intention by Phillip Moffitt. Even if you aren't interested in yoga or Buddihist philosophy, there's good stuff in there about the difference between intentions and expectations; intentions and goals. It may just save you some stress. ( thinky thoughts on expectation ) | ||||||
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November 16th, 2009
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| It was a good post day. Firstly, and most importantly, mabiana Thank you so much! That was way too generous of you but that about made my day, because while the rest of my post (as below) was excellent, I was expecting it, whereas yours was unexpected post and so much yay! and thank you. again.Secondly - So who has two thumbs and the two disk edition of Star Trek (Reboot, I can't never remember the damn number!) with additional comic? That would be me! (Where does this two thumbs thing come from, by the way? I see it everywhere. Why thumbs? Why not nostrils?) I am *planning* on only watching the special features. Really I am. Aside from anything else I'm going round to a friend's tomorrow and watching his BluRay version on his big screen high def. TV (boys and their toys!). *Really* I'm not thinking I may end up watching the film as well ... ( Possible spoilers, if you can have spoilers for special features. ) | ||||||||
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November 16th, 2009
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 http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2881 ♥♥♥Doctor Who♥♥♥ ( spoilers )Current Mood:  impressed &  drunkOriginally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment. | ||||||||
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November 15th, 2009
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| ( Liveblogging Doctor Who - therefore spoilers ) Sorry for a bit of a cheat with today's Wriso, liveblogging a TV episode, but I really didn't have anything else to talk about. | ||||||||
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November 15th, 2009
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| BIRTHDAY! *twirls around* And on top of it, I totally woke up with it's my party and I'll cry if I want to stuck in my head. *pets stupid brain* ... Anyway. Now that the crazy insanity of the big picspam of doom is past [though not really, because there's a chance I might be making icons out of the images now. WHY CAN'T I QUIT, YOU, STUPID PRETTY IMAGES?], let's talk about television: ( How I Met Your Mother ) ( Glee ) ( Bones ) ( Ugly Betty ) ( Being Erica ) ( Legend of the Seeker ) ( V ) ... Yay, birthday! :) | ||||||||||||
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birthday!November 15th, 2009
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| Today I *must* - do the work I brought home from work Today I *should* - put all my clean clothes away, especially as I've sorted them by where they go and they're all over my bed - refill the bird feeders (though there is still some seed in there - answer all my LJ comments, what's the point in me posting if I don't interact with people when they comment on the posts? - read two submissions to SPM that Allegra sent me over a week ago Today I probably *won't* - tidy up all the junk which I've been dumping on the stairs for the last few months and put it all away - change what's on my bedroom walls and finally hang the lovely Firefly/Serenity travel posters I've had for over a year | ||||||||
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November 14th, 2009
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 ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} scans_daily 2.0 on Insanejournal has closed. You can now find scans_daily on Dreamwidth. Please be sure to read our FAQ!Any questions or concerns can be directed to dailyscans@gmail.com. Thanks so much to all our members who made S_D 2.0 such an awesome place. Hope to see you on Scans_Daily 3.0! | ||||||||
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November 14th, 2009
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| And now as my final post on the IJ version of Scans Daily, the July 2, 1983 issue of Victor. This title also depended heavily on war stories, but not quite as heavily as Warlord. They do however make the covers. At this point, there was a one-page gag strip entitled "Cap'n Hand and his Mutinous Band." It was so mediocre even by the standard of gag strips that I have opted out of showing it. Your thoughts, gentlefolk? Coming up on Dreamwidth, a story with Thrill-Power! And the new darker and edgier take on a childhood favorite. | ||||||||||||
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November 15th, 2009
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| For my last post before the move, I thought I'd post an Amanda Conner commission I found online (and which isn't mine) which encapsulates much of what has made this place so much fun... It has Dick Grayson as Robin, it has Spider-Man, it has cute kids, implied violence (and spanking at that!) and the promise of candy... what better image to summarise us? :)  | ||||||||
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November 14th, 2009
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November 14th, 2009
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| I spent a whole bunch of this afternoon with Grand Designs on in the background. I tend to find Kevin McCloud a bit patronising but I'm intensely curious about the buildings and what is important to people in building their own home. For example today there was a couple who obviously had a lot of money and wanted everything just right, not caring about budget or time frame. When they moved into their new home they took almost nothing from their old home with them. There was also a couple who wanted a Miami Beach style inspired house but had absolutely no idea about planning and building a house so ended up with all the different trades making decisions without them. But everything had to be perfectly symmetrical. I prefer the episodes where the people are conscious of the environment and the impact of building and of materials. I saw an episode a few months ago where a man practically built his entire house himself and the central staircase was carved out of/around a tree trunk. It was almost a hobbit house, if hobbits lived aboveground and I adored it, though I wouldn't have been able to live there as it was too small for my ideal house. And it's got me thinking. I always used to design my own houses, in fact I still do. When I was in my teens my dad and I did a fairly good and to scale set of floor plans for my (then) dream house. Which was huge and way too grand though it did have a hidden door leading to an aviary which I still like as an idea just for the whimsy! And I still do plan houses in my head a lot. I *live* in my head a lot and often wherever I'm living has a house, sometimes the house is more clearly realised than any person or situation. Houses, I realise, are an internal safe place for me. I would *love* to have the money to design and have built my own house. Of course a lot of the things I like in houses are conflicting, and in reality I'd also have to make sure Henry liked the house which would be difficult (he doesn't do 'like' and when he does his thoughts on room sizes are different to mine) but I would so love to do it. It would have a library. And a DVD and media room. And an awful lot of very comfortable sofas. And my bedroom would be barely larger than my bed, just enough space for some shelves around the edges and it would be very very cosy. It would have a lot of natural light and wood floors and ideally the majority of fixtures and fittings would have been sources from reclamation yards. It would be as environmentally friendly as a large house could be in building materials and in systems (e.g. a grey water disposal system watering the garden, and sunlight tubes lighting the bottom floor rooms, and solar and wind energy, and ...). Above all else it would be comfortable, eccentric, and probably fairly messy. I want to build my own house. Dammit. PS I'm not sure how my earlier entry cross-posted so if you didn't see my post about addresses please go here to read it. Thanks. | ||||||||
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My Mates
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