Distracted By Something Shiny

Every day I swear I’m going to be productive and then I am not productive. I didn’t even write last week. But I caught up on comments this week and today I arted for an hour, so maybe tomorrow I’ll actually tackle the 20 tabs I have open. On the upside, I am feeing better than I was. Still tired and low on energy, but less hot flashes/vertigo/shakes, though my stomach is still weirdly out of sorts. My brother convinced me to try yogurt, says it has helped both him and The Nephew with their stomach issues. I fucking hate yogurt though. I choked down about half of one and it was gross. I don’t like the texture - it’s weird!

( More blahblahblah under the cut! )

In happier news, I forgot to share with you all about The Nephew’s Halloween costume. He was Return Of The Jedi Luke Skywalker, in the all black, and he even called here to ask us which hand to put the glove on because he wanted to be 100% accurate. And he insisted that his baby sister be Leia. I said, “She’d make a good Yoda, cuz she is so tiny,” and he said, “Yeah, but Yoda and Luke aren’t siblings. Like we are. And like Luke and Leia are.” Valid argument. His Halloween kind of sucked though because they don’t really live in a neighborhood-area and it was raining and his friend got hurt - (she fell down and her vampire fangs went up through her lip). Next year Halloween is on a Friday and we are hoping to do steam-punk vampires, so we told his dad they should just come in and trick-or-treat in our neighborhood and then leave The Nephew here to help us pass out candy and spend the night!

Anyways, this is me checking in. How are all of you?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERBODY! IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! So, I ended up dropping my X-Files Halloween fic I was working on. It was coming along good, I was happy with it, but it was a case-fic, so very plot-orientated and I have been way too sick for that much brain power. I knew I wasn’t going to get it done in time. Hopefully I can finish it up anyway and save it for next year! In the meantime, I turned out a silly Avengers Halloween fic. I only finished it last night and today is a very busy day what with terrorizing the neighborhood children and all, but I plan to get the fic up tomorrow (unless I am laid out on my ass from all the fun and candy!). It’s a ridiculous fun fic for all. But for today, have some links to Halloween fics of old:

The Door To Nowhere - If only Darcy had listened to Tony and not gone down into that part of the basement. Now the nightmares won’t stop, even when she’s awake. - 13k of Darcy in the haunted Stark family home, plus Tony, Pepper & Bruce! Warning: Had reoccurring nightmares while I was writing this. Seriously.

Where The Sidewalk Ends - Jon can’t believe he aired his last show. He can’t believe those were his last words. He can’t believe he is in a bunker during the freaking zombie apocalypse. - 700 words of Jon Stewart in the zombie apocalypse. Angst and Drama all around.

Also, have some Halloween fanvid recs, all done to the song Thriller.

And here’s some links for our decorations of years past: Our pumpkins from last year. Last year's decoration post and the year before that.

And here are this year’s pictures! We bought the glove and my sister turned it into a creepy hand on the mailbox! Also, she did all the work on the pumpkins this year - The Headless Phantom is my favorite.





Hope your holiday was a wicked one, guys!

So last week, I was severely sleep-deprived from The Week Of The Roofing that came before. Then on Sunday, my wrist/arm was hurting so freaking bad. I could barely grip anything. IDEK, but I wrapped it in an icy-hot patch and then an ace-wrap too, which helped but it was an entire day without the use of my hand. (I had to spoon feed myself my pills that night). On Monday, I woke up to...people on the roof! WHAT THE FUCK EVEN? I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I started crying. I was just so tired, you guys. I’d pushed through by saying that I just had to get through that one week and I did and then they came back on Monday! I had no spoons left to deal with that nonsense. Thankfully that was the actual last day but I was horribly sick all Monday, just from the stress and claustrophobia and lack of sleep. I felt better on Tuesday, but then stupidly tried to do shit and went to therapy and woke on Wednesday nauseous all over again. And then on Thursday, I started my Awesome Time Of Month. Fuck that noise. Plus, we found out the hospital is sending Dad home - not because he is better, but because they have reached their limits on what they can do for him. His infection is better but he is still barely mobile and has extreme arm/back pain which they 'fixed’ with a steroid shot - which is not a long-term fix. UGH - I just feel better about things when he isn’t at his house in the middle of fucking nowhere, with no one to make sure he takes his meds and drink 20 liters of Pepsi a week (yeah, he does that) and take notice when he isn't sleeping.

On the plus side, I booked a hotel for my trip to Chicago in October! It's not far from Lake Michigan and isn't overtly expensive (for Chicago) and I am excited to finally get to meet rhymephile and dugindeep in person! Also, omg you guys, The Tigers are SO FUCKING CLOSE to taking the Central League Division! If Cleveland would just back the fuck up off our asses for two goddamn seconds. And, I got to see my Texas Cousin and her baby - they just recently moved in from out of state and I haven't seen her in like four years, so that was AWESOME. Her boy is 15 months old and the biggest flirt ever! And it's almost Halloween! Saturday is the trip to the Halloween store for our big purchase of the year and then the madness begins!

Also, on the plus side, The Nephew has started writing me a 'book series' about himself and his superhero team - (a giant robot and a man made of lightening) - and the adventures they go on. His super power is that he can turn into anyone, so in one story he turns into Bilbo and uses Sting and in another story he turns into both Thorin and The Hulk. Also, we recently had a talk about the legend of King Arthur and the Sword In The Stone and I explained how people have been rewriting that story in books and movies for years and years. Next thing I know, he has written a story where all of these big bad tough guys keep trying to pull the Mango (why it's a mango, Idek) from the ground after it crash lands there and no one can do it and the one guy is sure he can because he's the biggest guy in town and then a girl rides up and she is the only one that can do it! HE WROTE A STORY WHERE THE GIRL BEATS OUT ALL THE BIG TOUGH MEN. Then she disappears because Surprise Twist, she was an alien. I feel like there was more, but that's enough for now, I suppose. Night all!

I meant to make this post last week, but then Sandy hit and the World Series seemed less important suddenly. And then my Halloween fic came back from beta and then the election happened. So now…let’s talk a few things.

Not only did the Tigers lose the World Series, but we got completely swept, losing the first four games right off the bat. Ugh, boo. For the record, my appreciation for the San Francisco Giants has turned bitter. No amount of adorable flirty fanfic about their pitchers and cute little talented catcher will sway me now. San Francisco, you’re officially on my list!

This is the problem with being overly invested in these things. What an anti-climatic letdown that was. Still, I am going to get myself an American League Champions shirt because the Tigers are still amazeballs and that was an awesome season! And I still hate The Yankees. This year was the 11th ALCS win for the Tigers since they were founded in 1894...112 seasons, all of them in Detroit! Just wish we hadn’t got swept so bad in The World Series.

And now baseball season is over and…/gasp/…I can go back to filling my days reading fanfic! I know, you’re all shocked.

In other news that makes me sad-face, Halloween kind of blew. The BFF was sick and didn’t come down. Half of our tombstones were ripped or destroyed. It was too cold out to do our witches theme in the front yard. And we only got, maybe, 1/3 of our usual trick-or-treaters. Both the weather and those stupid trunk-or-treat things kept them away. (Raise your hand if you know what Trunk-Or-Treat is - I am curious as to what other states have this.) We sat for an entire hour without a single trick-or-treater. Finally we got about 30 kids and my sister gave away the candy in handfuls, because it was obvious that we weren’t going to get our usual 150+ kids. Of course, after she gave away the candy, we got 20 more kids at the door and I had to send them away empty-handed. The whole thing was a bust.

Here’s to next year, I guess.

Finally, on a better note, I would like to take a minute to say ‘THANK YOU’ to lizibabes, denig37 and vikingprincess for the V-gifts of Halloween cookies. I think I am really hungry right now because suddenly I am craving cookies coated in delicious sugary frosting.

Halloween fic for everyone! When I started this, I just wanted to write a little haunted house fic. Three weeks later I had more than 13,000 words. I almost doubled my record monthly word count. This is the second longest piece of fanfic I have ever written in my life. And, though this fic is Gen, I totally ship Darcy/Bruce now. Now go search the phrase ‘Door To Nowhere’ on the internet and see what comes up.

Thanks to the amazingly awesome rhymephile, who turned this thing around for me in two days.

Summary: If only Darcy had listened to Tony and not gone down into that part of the basement. Now the nightmares won’t stop, even when she’s awake. -- Gen, Drama, Horror with Darcy, Pepper, Bruce, Tony & a little Coulson. Rated ‘R’ for vivid nightmares about imprisonment and torture. 13,463 words.

Dedication: For all my Flisties for Halloween, the most wonderful time of the year! And for liptonrm and vikingprincess for basically getting me to discover the awesome of Darcy in the first place.

( Header Info. )

( The house is looming over them, up on a hill and blocked partially from view by old dead trees with barren branches, save for the crows sitting on them. )

I was going to make a post about the grumpy day I had yesterday. I was actually going to make it last night but I was writing and editing my Halloween story until midnight. Now, in light of the storm damage, I thought I'd just be grateful instead. So, since I promised you all Halloween pics, let’s do that now.

( Here, let me talk about scaring little kids. )

I was going to post the actual pictures but my sister did that over at her journal this year, so I will just link to those. She does all the work anyways, so if you are impressed, drop her a comment!

Here are the pictures I posted last year, with a lot of night time shots.



Here are the pictures from this year, at my sister’s journal, with some really good close-ups.



And this is the Grim Reaper, the big new addition to the graveyard this year.

Next year we have to do some serious work on supporting the tombstones because the weather has just killed them this year. Anyways, enjoy the creepy and have an awesome Halloween! And stay dry and warm, if you can!

As my sister is fond of singing as she sets up the decorations - “It’s the most wonderful time of the year. When children are crying and parents are dying and it’s all in good cheer…” I think she needs to work on her lyrics a little, but the sentiment remains - We Love Halloween.

It’s weird because at my Mom’s house, we got lots of trick-or-treaters. So much so that eventually I would turn off the porch light, just so I could save some candy for myself. I liked to dress up and when my sister moved home, she would join me for some good horror movie watching/candy passing out. One year she made me a Pippin Took outfit, with cardboard ears and everything - (she tied the tops of werewolf feet to my shoes for my Hobbit feet). We carved pumpkins - (our infamous Krusty the Klown) - but we didn’t really do the whole scary thing back then.

Then we moved in together but we were in an apartment, so we didn’t really get trick-or-treaters. The apartment complex did have a Halloween decoration contest, but mostly people just hung lights off their balconies or carved pumpkins. There wasn’t a lot you could do to decorate outside an apartment. I was always so bummed. We still watched horror movies, but there wasn’t much point in dressing up without trick-or-treaters and there was no decorating either. We still did pumpkins but Halloween felt so lame, when usually it was the holiday I enjoyed the most - (lots of candy and no family to deal with). My sister promised when we got a house, we would celebrate right.

Boy, she was NOT kidding. It started with a few gravestones and then a witch that cackled and it has just grown from there. They first year we lived in the house was also the year I broke both my legs, so my sister took pity on me and bought me a skimpy little pixie outfit, which of course I loved. But I live in Michigan and it is too fucking cold for the sexy outfits - (after about an hour I had to go put my jeans on). After that we started doing themes - zombies, then grim reapers - (that was last year when The BFF and I stood in the window in long black robes with our faces painted white and a light on us. The effect was such that all you could see from the outside was just our white faces. Several of the children thought we were decorations or even holograms and when they got close enough, we would slowly rotate our heads and make them piss themselves. It was awesome).

This year we still have the black robes from last year, so we are doing a witch theme. We have a giant cauldron that we plan on putting some sort of fog machine in so it looks like we are brewing something, and then a smaller cauldron that kids will have to stick their hands in to get at the candy. We are actually going to be outside on the front lawn this year, so it will be performance art all night for us.

Yeah, we take this holiday seriously.

Let's talk TV!! Just a few random thoughts I have on a slew of shows I watch…

( Some mild spoils for Supernatural and H50. )

NCIS:LA: Nell and Eric were adorable in their uniforms!! Awwwww. You know what made up for Kensi's all-too-brief appearance on H5-0? KENSI IN HER UNDERWEAR!! KENSI IN HER UNDERWEAR!! I am not surprised it was black underwear but it was very sporty. I would have thought the tough chick secretly wore really girly underwear. Not that I've spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking about Kensi's underwear.

( Totally spoilery for The Walking Dead and American Horror Story. )

Death Valley: If you are not watching this show - WHY NOT? It's on MTV and you should start watching it right the fuck now. I know, you are all, "But it's on MTV." No, don't let that stop you - it's like COPS but with vampires and werewolves and zombies. And not like an apocalypse, but just like normal everyday life going on with these supernatural beings as a daily part of it. You don't need to know anything about it to jump right in - so JUMP RIGHT IN. Billy is my cop boyfriend and I know he is a douche-idiot, but god I love him. He is like The Todd from "Scrubs" except instead of being a surgeon with a scalpel, he is a cop with a gun. He's like...he's...I can't even explain it to you, but he is like my perfect man. And that probably explains so much about me to all of you.

Glee: Glee came back last night and Tivo missed it!! It didn't tape. Apparently it was listed as a rerun and lots of people missed it because their Tivos/DVRs didn't pick it up. Boo!! I wasn't that excited about its return, but still.. PUCK.

Wilfred: I recently found myself really, really missing this genius little show. I have quite a wait in store. I am really worried about what the ending of the season means for Bear.

Psych: I have waaaaaay too many thoughts, so let's just go with - WHO SAW LASSITER/ZACHARIAH?! Yes, Zachariah like Kurt Fuller. THEY WERE CUDDLING!!!!!!! IT'S CANON ON THE SHOW NOW, RIGHT?! Sadly, Woody (Kurt Fuller) seems to be married.

Once Upon a Time and Grimm: I have started watching these but it is still too early for me to have any thoughts. I like to give all new shows like three episodes before I decide one way or another. They both seem to have good potential though.

There are a few other shows that I watch too, but I think that is all the thoughts I have for now.

In Sum: Billy/Me/The Todd would be my ideal lifemate scenario. Also - KENSI IN HER UNDERWEAR!!!

So, when we lived in an apartment, we never did anything for Halloween (except watch scary movies). Now that we live in a house, we go all out. The first year we started with a few tombstones and the giant spider. Every year we try to add a few more tombstones and some larger item. This year we added the bat. It is way bigger than an actual bat but still looks very realistic. It actually creeps me out quite a bit. When we got it home, we realized that it lights up and screeches as well. The neighbor kids are prone to daring each other to sneak up and touch something in the yard and then run away - I hope the bat "wakes up" on them and makes them crap their pants!

Anyways, I thought I would share some pictures.

Yep, this is my house.


( More creepy crawlies under the cut. )

Yeah, we really enjoy Halloween around here. I don't know what scary movies we will select for this year, but we tend to turn on something we have seen a thousand times while we pass out candy. I feel like watching some H2O this year maybe.

See my "Monster Squad" icon? It was made by bloodyretro, and I love it. Go check out bloodyretro's icons for some Halloween/Horror goodness.

Anyway, that's Eugene in my icon and he gets shit done. I remember my brother and I watching that movie so much when we were younger. And when The Boy Cousin was about 5, my mother bought it for him for Christmas one year, because she remembers my brother loving that movie.

Only now I also have it, on DVD, and I am under the current belief that my mother never actually watched "Monster Squad" all those times that she let us watch it. These are the most fouled-mouthed, ill-behaved, politically incorrect (even for that era) children ever. And Rudy, at least, is pretty damn sex-crazed. It may be appropriate for a 12 year old. Not an 8 year old, which is what my brother was. And certainly not a five year old. The number of times they say the word "bitch" alone...

Though they do promote being friends with Frankenstein Monster, because it isn't his fault he looks so scary...he was just built that way!

But I look forward to re-watching "Monster Squad" this Halloween. (by which I mean Friday, cuz there is no way I would ever get The BFF and The Sister to watch it with me, so I'll do it while they are at work.)

( I just finished the extras on Buffy Season Three. )

Today I had three new ideas for stories that came out of nowhere and one that is now completely written in my head. Yesterday I had two new story ideas. It's like this everyday. Can you believe I am complaining about this?

But you know what I'm going to do with this burst of creativity?

Nothing.

Because I can't seem to actually write any of them. I have a million ideas - (and by a million, I think my list has reached 43 fic plots) - and I can't seem to start any of them. And when I do, I can't seem to finish any of them.

It's frustrating because I am being very creative with the mass plots and shit...and yet also, not creative at all because as soon as I sit down to type, it's all gone. If I could transcribe my thoughts to a computer while in the shower, I'd be golden.


It is totally thundering outside right now. Hey, 13chapters, how is the weather in CA, now that you aren't here with the tornadoes and shit?

Now...someone write me some CW RPS as The Monster Squad kid!fic, k? Great. Christian Kane should be Rudy.