Ashes

cheeky_duckie @ 2012-04-18T15:35:00

2012-04-18T20:35:47Z

So weird, vaguely adult thing just happened.

My period was running long, though not actually late as per how long the stupid thing can run (28 - 42 days), so we had the vague discussion of, "What if babies?" We've been discussing that if he gets the promotion, we would be able to that whole have insurance, have second baby thing, but not. You know. Right this second.

So, today that business got started today. (Slowly, granted, but it's going down happened.) I was disappointed. Even poorly planned, I still got the baby rabies. But then I told Andy, and even he was a little disappointed.

Huh. We might actually plan a child yet.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-26T22:44:00

2012-03-27T03:44:37Z

Is anyone else having trouble with LJ comments today? They keep stalling, hanging, or simply not posting when I hit the submit button.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-22T20:04:00

2012-03-23T01:24:10Z

I usually have a staunch policy against seeking out and reading spoilers. I don't like spoilers. I like to be surprised. But I keep reading spoilers for 07x17.

WHY. WHY.

It's actually really kind of brilliant and terrible all at once.

( SPOILERS AHEAD. )

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-22T14:42:00

2012-03-22T19:42:06Z

So, I have a list of potential big bang titles, and so far Those Fortune Favors, Time Forgets is the only one that keeps my eye. I think I'm going to stick with it, but I keep waffling. I want the perfect title. Does the perfect title exist?

Also: this beer is delightful.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-13T10:21:00

2012-03-13T15:21:48Z

I grabbed a metal handle on a pan that had just come out of a 450 degree oven.

I have never more wanted to remove my hand. It took about six hours before I could use it without being reduced to near-tears. I went through a whole bottle of burn relief spray.

Oooooowwwwwwwwww.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-12T02:35:00

2012-03-12T07:35:13Z

Every time I open up the big bang I swear my brain collapses and yells NO.

I don't know why. I actually like this story. I suppose it's the fact that I'm behind. Like, way behind. To be fair, the mod has a lot of their plate too, it seems, so I don't know that they've noticed yet. Poor mod could probably use a co-mod, but I know people have offered. And to be fair, I'm glad the mod is scattered right now too because damn.

Also, it's fucking stupid that it's 2:30 right now. This 2:30 is bullshit.

Ann is coming over tomorrow, and we're working on her website again. She's more organized now, has more work, and offered me $300. I would be a dumb motherfucker to turn it down. And it's a project I'd wanted to tackle a year ago when I was still working with her more actively, but she wasn't receptive to it. Now she finally is.

Anyway. Big bang or bust.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-12T00:19:00

2012-03-12T05:19:30Z

So my in-laws took us to On the Border today, which was tasty. We got there after them -- we stopped to pick up August -- and they'd told the hostess that it was Miles' birthday. So, as you'd expect, they brought him some tasty deserts and sang their birthday song. When one waiter in the back goes, "How old is he?" our waitress replied, "He's turning 21." They laughed. Then they legit yelled out, "Today Miles is celebrating his 21st birthday!"

He got shy during the song and buried his head in my shoulder.

Then he nommed on his dessert. I actually had to lean away from it, because the smell made my stomach turn.

[/childstories]

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-11T11:22:00

2012-03-11T16:42:54Z

Yesterday was Miles' birthday party -- though today is his birthday. My in-laws cancelled because they went to the Kansas Republican Caucus, and instead are coming out for lunch today. Then Josh & Ann (and by extension Veronica) cancelled and want to come out today as well. And then I tried to cook all the too-much-pizza at once, so the two smaller ones burnt while the bigger one was doughy. It was a rough hour.

But Miles loves the frosting. He licked the frosting off of something like six cupcakes. And ate some leftover frosting.

Later August and I, thinking that there would be more people home drinking after Miles went to bed, bought this giant thing of Sangria and had to try to kill the thing ourselves. August, being my girlfriend, is fun to drink with. We were wasted before ten o'clock. I slept like a baby. And fell asleep in my bra. I can sum the whole day up three pictures, actually.

( Read more... )

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-03-03T22:40:00

2012-03-04T04:44:37Z

I've been watching Fullmetal Alchemist on Netflix while I work on <em>Dreaming of Eden</em>, and I'd been watching it before we cancelled Netflix last October. I just skipped ahead based on the last summary that sounded familiar.

Turns out I'm watching the Brotherhood series, though I could've sworn I checked to make sure I wasn't. I've already made enough headway that I really don't want to go back and start at the beginning. >_>; Honestly, this all seems familiar -- I read the manga up to a point, though I can't remember the *exact* point -- so I'm pretty comfortable.

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Kitty!

2012-03-03T23:18:58Z

Andy and I went out to the Humane Society yesterday and picked up a cat. I don't even remember why I concluded yesterday was the day that we were ready for another cat, but it resonated and we went out on the town to get supplies and make it happen.

We stopped by a local pet store, where they had giant turtles and birds (Miles wanted a bird), and we got the litter box and whatnot there. The Humane Society was actually hard to find -- it's way the hell on the outside of town -- but once we got there they were cool. We wandered about the cat room for a while, and the woman running the room directed us toward the cat we brought home:

(We, um, took the bandana off of him. August said we robbed him of all his street cred.)

He's two and a half years old, and a total sweetheart. Andy picked him up out of his cage and fell in love pretty much immediately, so that was that. He's got a stomach parasite, and they gave us the medication to treat him. He's on that until the 7th, so he'll be good by the time we have Miles' birthday on the 10th. (A bunch of the people visiting have cats, so we were told to make sure all cat owners who come in contact with him keep their hands clean and wash their clothes before handling their own cats.)

He's adapting beautifully; we were worried he might be a bit skiddish, especially since they recommended letting him chill in the bathroom for 24 hours but we couldn't get Miles to leave the door closed and he was out to explore pretty much the second he could. But he's comfortable, and he's decided his safe place is underneath this chair in our living room. He handles affection well. I'm a little worried he's not eating enough, but he has been eating and drinking, so right now we're keeping an eye on him.

We've got to take him to the vet next week -- it's actually in the contract we signed at the Humane Society that we take him over to one, but they also offer a free vet visit with his adoption, so.

I still feel a little strange here and there, adapting to having a cat that's not Gandalf, but I'm glad we got him.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-02-22T22:12:00

2012-02-23T04:13:01Z

Web servers are hellish little dicks. I'm taking a break and coming at it with a clear head tomorrow.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-02-12T03:05:00

2012-02-12T09:37:13Z

I'm trying out a standing desk situation. Not an actual desk, really; we use a dresser as an entertainment center, and I appropriated half of it because the height is perfect for typing and the spare monitor we have is actually stupid tall. (It flips into portrait mode and it makes the top five list of tech I've been given by friends who didn't need it or counted it as broken.)

So far, I like it:

I usually sit on the squishy couch, hunched over my laptop, which I balance by sitting crosslegged. I do this for long periods of time. Combine that with the fact that I am large and squishy myself, the end result is creaking and limping when my knees inevitably go "WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?" I'm not terribly pleased with being so sedentary, so. Giving it a shot. Starting gradually; I can't connect the Mac to the monitor, so I tend to use that on the couch still. (Like, right this second.)

That said, my ankles, knees and back are definitely not used to the work of standing for that long, so I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Or rather, remain sore. So!

Yesterday I initially wanted to find some shelving unit or something to serve as a dedicated desk, rather than rigging something up on the table. (The dresser has not yet occurred to me.) Despite my general decision to avoid the Salvation Army, I swung by to see if they had anything. They didn't. I take back route on my way to Cartridge World and as I'm driving through this residential area I see the most perfect lumbery, handmade shelf thing sitting on the curb with a ton of other stuff. It's literally exactly what I needed. I drove by twice before working up the nerve to park (about a block away, because streetside parking), walk over with MIles, knock on the door and ask if they were tossing it. I felt like a creeper (and said as much) but really it was a great victory, from a social anxiety standpoint.

They were cool with it.

It's bigger and heavier than I expected, but I manage to carry it braced on one shoulder while holding Miles' hand and walking to the car. Victory! Except it turns out I've overestimated the size of the RAV4. I spend an hour in 20 degree weather trying to get this in the trunk, tied to the roof, removed one of the backseats -- anything. I finally give in when I realize that Miles (being very agreeable in his carseat) was getting cold and I was rapidly losing any parental goodwill possible. But then I have to move the thing back to the curb. Miles was getting shivery and I didn't want to carry it, but I went for it. Thankfully once we crossed the street a nice guy walking by helped me carry it back. There were some kids outside doing the "Free stuff!" thing, and I just explained that I couldn't fit in my car. Later that night, after Andy was home from work I cleared out the back of the RAV entirely and drove back just in case, but it was gone.

But I can now quickly and efficiently get the back seats out of my car. So that's something.

Then I woke up this morning (well, at noon) feeling like I'd been run over by a dump trick. First I thought that I'd just slept wrong, but after about half an hour of limping and wincing around the house I realized I had probably way overdone it with the shelf thing yesterday. So I can't tell how much of my soreness is residual form that and how much is a result of this standing thing.

Also: I started writing this prompt in a self-cest meme, and I hope no one beats me to it, lol. I love The Losers. True facts. But I'm still working on the specifics of it.

Oh man I need to go to bed. I was doing so well, but now my schedule is all whack again.

That's right, I said whack.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2012-02-05T23:53:00

2012-02-06T05:55:22Z

It was a busy weekend. Kind of. I spent a good chunk of Friday and Saturday frothing at the mouth regarding the Komen & Planned Parenthood issue. (If you terribly care for my teal dear, I blogged about it.) My father-in-law and I were at odds over the issue, though for different reasons (weird), and eventually everyone got comfortable and we didn't denounce each other or anything.

Not much else going on, really. Still working. I've only got about 20 pages left on Dreaming of Eden, but until I get the rest of our rent taken care of it's hard to balance work and getting it done. (IRS says we should get our tax money on the 14th, so once that comes in we'll be breathing so much easier.) It's getting done tomorrow, though. I swear. Absolutely. Because 1) I really want to hear back from readers on it, and 2) I really need to get to editing on fic for <lj user="superwho_bb">. I just saw on my calendar that the final draft is due the 24th, and I went, "ZOMG WTF?" I need to see if that date is still accurate. And I need a fucking title for the thing. Then I need to get to my short story that I really want to work on; it's all up in my head space but I just can't justify putting it before everything else right now.

Now that I have Internet again I can finally start contributing to the writer's group blog (Confabulator Cafe) and I'm excited about that. I'd wanted to start when it first started in January, but I couldn't commit to a weekly post when I didn't know what my general plans were. We had a meeting today, and after missing two months in a row it was great to go again.

I'm installing Linux Mint on my netbook, because I'm a little tired of Unity and want to go back to GNOME -- and I was just ready to try something different.

But yes. Very awesome. I need to get back to work and e-mail my landlord (or rather, the manager for my landlord) to keep her up to date. She's still being very chill, and just asks that I keep her updated on what's going on. I had to hold on to Friday's paycheck for gas and groceries -- though Josh kindly took me to dinner and then filled my car with gas, so that's a huge burden off my shoulders. It's crazy how gas goes so much faster when you're doing it $10 at a time. We also have a WIC appointment last week, and that went well. Miles is smack dab in the 50% area for height and weight.

Okay, rambling. Damn it. Off I go! <3

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cheeky_duckie @ 2011-03-30T22:20:00

2011-03-31T03:20:29Z

Tonight I will be posting a Google Docs link. I'm doing this to myself ~~because I like to suffer~~ because I need to force myself to stop tinkering and just see what people think ~~whygodwhy~~.

And I really need to find those 20 pages I lost somewhere around here so I can get back to editing Dreaming of Eden.

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THIS IS THE OFFICIAL FIC ENTRY OF THE NIGHT. THERE WILL ALSO BE MUSIC.

2011-03-27T03:23:24Z

Last Update:
~~10:21PM~~ (Cage the Elephant - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked)
~~10:25 PM~~(Innerpartysystem - American Trash)
~~10:55 PM~~ (Skillet - Awake & Alive)
~~11:04 PM~~ (Katy Perry - ET) (SHUT IT I LOVE BAD POP.)
~~11:35 PM~~ (Lady Gaga - Bad Romance)
~~11:49 PM~~ ~~11:52 PM~~ (Adele - Rolling the Deep)
~~11:56 PM~~ (REM - Leave)
~~12:45 AM~~ (Within Temptation - Jillian)
~~01:18 AM~~ (Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks)
~~01:45 AM~~ (Jay-Z - Run This Town)
~~02:27 AM~~ (Everlast - What It's Like)
~~02:30 AM~~ ~~02:36 AM~~ (Apocalyptica (feat. Lacey) - Broken Pieces)
~~02:45 AM~~ (My Chemical Romance - House of Wolves)
~~03:37 AM~~ (The Lonely Island - I Just Had Sex)
04:39 AM It's fucking WHAT in the morning? I'm going to bed!

NOW WITH PICTURES, because I couldn't put the MPREG into words! Bonus: you can see the haircut that makes me look like my 16-year-old brother. And I boast that I think I could win a bitch-face-off.

There's officially TMI about my porn reading habits, but I promise it's nothing, like, untoward or anything like that. MOM, if you're reading this PLEASE STOP I'M SORRY. <3

( God only knows what is going on under here, but I figure better be as not obnoxious about it as possible. I'll add warnings as they apply? At 11:52: I clicked MPREG, Lord help us. )

[Crossposted to DW & LJ, 'cause I'm rock'n'roll like that.]

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-05T00:11:00

2010-11-05T05:11:32Z

SAYS nayana_1120!
Also! I am still winning the word count battle with cheeky_duckie, proving that I am the more awesome sister. She may have caught up with me for a little bit but I made sure to stomp her ass with extra force after that. 8) Clearly I will reign champion in the NaNoDome when this is all over!

MOOORTAAAAAL KOOOOOMMMBAT! *start techno.*

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Serious Business Update

2010-11-04T13:31:58Z

It's been a while since I've done a blog roundup, so today on Serious Business.

I've been pretty light on relevant and interesting content on Domestic Chaos; I shared the lulz that is Natural Harvest, nerded out over repartition my Linux system so I could install 10.10, and tried to work my way through my feelings of being remembered by, "You were breastfeeding your son."

I talked about how I use my Tumblr (needz moar Tumblr buddies?) and cross-posted this moment from Madison that struck me suddenly. I don't know how many of y'all knew me well when I was living in Madison, but years later and some perspective behind me, I can admit a couple things about it. I will probably still always admire Kalynn as a mentor and a friend, but she really was a shitty role model in a lot of ways. She's still running in the same emotionally damaging circles, and seems unable to make the changes she needs to make.

It's hard to admit that your role model is flawed.

I wrote a post for the Carnival of Natural Parenting, and since writing it have felt more and more like a fraud -- like, I get into a handful of natural parenting principles, but I suspect that I'm just a poser compared to some of these people. They'll get back to me to let me know when (if?) the post is supposed to go live.

Then we had crappy video of Miles eating cheese and drawing, proving that I as a parent thing everything my kid does it gold.

Aaaaand via link from azremodehar, I got all BLOG RAGE about the dA gender thing. Hold onto this BLOG RAGE thing, because it's gonna happen again.

I'm trying to fall into a habit of talking about relevant shit on my blog, and I've decided that if I can't AT LEAST find three things to talk about from the Internet a week, I'm rockin' some serious Internet fail. I have some generic, short filler not worth referencing.

Then came NaNoWriMo. I posted my "Totally psyched!" entry, which issued the NaNoDome challenge to nayana_1120! I followed this theme of smack-talk into day 2, posting a second transcription of texts between us.

And then? BLOG RAGE about the Salon article that's all, "F- you, NaNoWrimo." Basicly I said, Yeah, well, f- you, Laura Miller and laid out why I thought she was wrong. August and nayana_1120 agree that her article sounds like a fair amount of whining; August even says, "For a laugh, replace every instance of 'NaNoWriMo' with 'this article'." And he doesn't even care for the NNWM! XD (According to him? He doesn't need NNWM To set him up for failure.)

Aaaand I think that's everything. I need to do this more often, so these updates don't get so long.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-04T03:20:00

2010-11-04T08:20:34Z

5554 / 50000 words. 11% done!

Still being nayana_1120, but by less than 1000 words. CLOSING THE GAP, BE-YOTCH.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-04T02:13:00

2010-11-04T07:13:20Z

Given that I intend to give dA the big ol' fucking finger*, I'm debating re-opening my fic archive on my own webspace; I've got scattering-ashes.com pointing to ashleympoland.com right now, and I could take that and put my fic online.

Then, of course, if there's anyone out there who has the old link and is looking for my work site and not my LOOK AT THE GAY ANIME LOVE site...

Thoughts?

Okay, I feel a little lame being so mad about this, because there is nothing deviant about my gender or sexuality -- I'm pretty much as heteronormative as they get -- but it's such a fucked up notion that they would say, "Sorry, but you're totally wrong about your own gender."

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-04T01:46:00

2010-11-04T06:46:24Z

Oh, Oh, I forgot to mention! kj_roundrobin is opening back up! XD author apps ahoy. :D

I'm excited.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-04T00:54:00

2010-11-04T05:54:24Z

I confess to a certain amount of tech-based, "Oooooh, what's what?!" I used IntenseDebate briefly on my blog even though I have virtually no blog traffic -- just because it looked kinda cool. (I ended up not liking it very much, so pfft. Out the window that went.) I found out that the NaNo site is run on a open-source program (Drupal, which in my head goes "Drupal > Rupal > NaNo is run by trannies!" every. single. time.), and I have no idea what it is, but I want to use it.

One thing I always kinda wanted to play with, but never ever needed? A Wiki.

Until Now.

When I set up my hosting plan I got two domain names; at the time it seemed reasonable to give one to Andy, as he always wanted web space though had nothing to do with it. As we started planning the Apokelypse game, I realized that setting his now-neglected-for-a-year web space up as a wiki for all his various and sundry gaming stuff -- he plots a LOT, makes templates and shit -- would be perfect.

I had to use a lower version of MediaWiki because 1and1 apparently doesn't use the most up to date PHP, but WTF-ever; not that critical.

Plus, I got the use the picture that Kim drew of Andy back in college -- he requested a picture of himself knee-deep in pussy.

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-11-02T17:23:00

2010-11-02T22:23:50Z

My sister and I are engaging in EPIC NANOWRIMO BATTLE. We're smacking talk over text message to get pumped up.

I've also decided that when I'm working on my Nano project, I'm going to refer to it as ENTERING THE NANODOME. I'm going to see if I can get anyone else on the planet to use the #NanoDome tag on Twitter. (You knooooooow you want to.)

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cheeky_duckie @ 2010-10-29T09:44:00

2010-10-29T14:44:13Z

Soooo maybe it's because I don't RP, but whenever I see a post where someone is all, "Need someone to RP the other side of X ship," I kinda want to raise an eyebrow and say, "Sooo looking for no-strings-attached RP sex then?"

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Day 06 – Your Day

2010-09-21T14:33:11Z

Meme stolen from purkledragon

Well, my day today is off to a good start -- Miles is playing contentedly in the corner, and he slept until nearly 8:30. <3

Yesterday wasn't bad; I got some work done, though I wished I would've gotten to bed earlier. We got lazy people dinner (i.e. chicken from the grocery store deli and chips), and I tackled some of the disaster that is the kitchen. Of course, I forgot to get an effin' sponge when I was at the store, and coffee, but I can go back later today.

Miles was teething pretty hard yesterday, and was hitting and slapping to show his frustration, so I had to try to show him that his actions were inappropriate without smacking his hand. I don't do it often, but I suspect I do it enough that he equates the action of getting his hand smacked = frustration.

I ended up putting him down when he hit me, and holding his hands and explaining that it was not how we express frustration~~, unless someone hits you first~~. Though Andy had to pull out the Dad Voice when he was chasing and hitting the cat. Miles stopped, but I suspect Andy found it more traumatic.

( The Meme List )

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Day 05 – Your Definition Of Love

2010-09-20T07:10:47Z

Meme stolen from purkledragon

This one? Not easy! Love is... complex, because on one hand I think love is being so entirely caught up in another person that their flaws seem trivial, that comprise becomes second-nature, and that even the big things are worth getting over. And on the other hand, it's hard to define love by saying, "Putting up with someone else's shit and being okay with it," without creating a definition that requires lowering oneself in some way. I don't think love should ever bring you down. I've done that, and when you emerge out the other side it does not leave you unmarred.

So maybe it's better said that love, to me, is something that happens when people (in whatever fashion: romantic, platonic, familial -- though biology kind of demands we love our ~~demanding awful miserable demon spawn~~ children) recognize all the things that suck about the other, and all the things that suck about themselves, and realize that these things are nothing compared to the affection and devotion they feel for each other. That together, their total crazy is going to be worth the life of amazing adventures and stories that they're going to amass, and the fantastic times they'll have together.

( The Meme List )

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