Distracted By Something Shiny

I didn't want you guys to think I had fallen off the face of the Earth! Or, more likely, that I was sick or something. No, instead I have just been really busy. Sis is off work this week, her stay-cation week, her week of rest, her week to stay home and live the dream of doing nothing. Saturday she actually stayed in her pjs all day and basically did nothing. We watched a ton of TV and she played her video games and lazed around. Sunday, unfortunately, she always has to run all the errands. She does all our errands, all of Mom's errands and all of Dad's errands, including all the grocery shopping. Not so much rest that day. On Monday we had some time set aside to work on my cosplay - Brother's having a costume party! - and take me to PT, but otherwise, a chill day. Except, apparently, Sis was done resting! Cuz I wake up on Monday and she is like, "Uh, I invited hiyacynth and Munchy P to come visit. They'll be here this evening." Which, AWESOME - I'd been bugging them about coming! Otoh, 'resting' - Sis keeps using that word, I do not think it means what she thinks it means. And we had already arranged to have The Niece for a few days, as Brother and Sis-In-Law wanted some alone time for SIL's birthday and The Nephew is at camp this week.

So, basically, it boiled down to this: Saturday, rest. Sunday, errands. Hiyacynth and Munchy (age 4) here from Monday evening until Thursday morning. The Niece (age 2 1/2) here from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. BFF here Wednesday afternoon and evening. Little Girl Cousin (age 11) here from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon. Monday, PT. Wednesday, PT. Friday, pain clinic appt. Saturday, Brother's costume party. Sunday, catch up on last week's TV with Sis. Monday, eye doctor appt all day. Tuesday, catch up on my last week of TV watching. Wednesday, PT. Thursday - The Rest Of My Life, sleep.

But, no, it's been TONS of fun!! The first time Niece has stayed here without her brother, so bedtime is a screaming fit for about 10 minutes for Brother, Mommy, Daddy. She actually does this every time, it's just her brother is usually here and being the good kid that he is, he stops what he is doing and helps tuck her in and stuff. Otherwise, she's been all smiles, she is so fricking cute! I have a lot stories to share too, but for now just wanted you to know where I was and all. Hope your weeks are all going good too!

So, the whole Chicago trip turned out much different than planned. It was suppose to be 2 different fangirls, Sis' college roommate and then hiyacynth and her family. But one fangirl had classes and the other had a family emergency and College Roommate had to go out of town at the last minute - and though we missed seeing her, that worked out well because it was soon enough to cancel the hotel and stay at her handicap accessible apartment instead, saving me some serious cash. It ended up just hiyacynth, Geek Husband and Munchy P - (who is 3 ½ now, wtf?!) So we left a little later than planned on Friday, got there, settled in, had Hiyacynth and Fam over for dinner and then sat around watching Harry Potter because we couldn’t make the very outdated Tivo work!

On Saturday, we grabbed breakfast at the diner down the street and then we went to the aquarium, where I have never been before. Hiyacynth and Munchy P joined us there. We did everything! My sister and I went through the entire place. Munchy got tired after a couple hours and they went home and The BFF went to one of the viewing areas and sat for a long while, but my sister and I kept going. There was SO much to see and I honestly could have stayed there all day. My sister was obsessed with the jellyfish and they were very cool - trippy as hell, but super cool. There were ones as small as a contact lens. And translucent ones that had a light that rotated colors in the tank, so they changed colors with the light. The seahorses - I have never seen before and they were so tiny. But they looked exactly like all the picture books I had as a kid. And the sea-dragons were even cooler. (I told Munchy those were dragons in there and he laughed and laughed at me. Auntie is so silly!). And then I got to pet a sturgeon - there was a tank you could stick your hand right inside. And we saw the otters play - (I want one!) - and the Belugas and we went and saw the dolphin show, which was adorable.

But the best part was the tank area where you went underground and the fish were on either side of you and also you could see them overhead in places too. And it should have been claustrophobic, with all those people down there and everyone talking and squeezing up to see along the glass - (this is where the sharks were as well!) - but it wasn’t. I tuned out all the human noise and just stared at the blue water lapping back and forth and watched the fish and sharks swim, like gliding, like flying, through the water, and only let in the sound of the water and the smell of it all and it was so zen and peaceful. I could have stayed there, right there, watching the blue, blue water, all day.

We went home early in the morning and - though it didn’t end up like we had planned and it will sadly be a long while before I get a chance to go back and catch up with the friends I missed - it did end up being a really nice, relaxing, pretty perfect weekend.

So I didn’t put up a 4th of July post, because I was very busy celebrating, but I hope you all had good holidays/Fridays!

It has been a crazy few weeks here. Last weekend I had lunch with my friend C and her daughter on Saturday and then later, my youngest cousin (by which I mean 26 years old), the big gamer in the family, came over with some new strategy board games for us to play. My sister is a strategist and my cousin has spent his whole life determined to beat her at something - I think it’s only happened once. Haunted House On The Hill (I think was the title?) was pretty good - my sister liked it the best because you can betray the other players. I liked Smash Up, which was kind of like War but with more strategy. I highly recommend you check them out if you are a tabletop gamer. My cousin apparently heard about them from Wil Wheaton’s youtube channel.

Then I spent all week working on The Nephew’s art piece of his superhero team and the accompanying story. I started them last fall, right before I got sick with bronchitis and finally, finally, they are finished!!! I am so happy about it! I took pictures, so I can post them here.

( This weekend under the cut! )

Now the houseguests have all gone and my sister has banished me to my room while she cleans up. And, despite how wiped I am right now, I actually made it through this weekend without fainting or getting overly dizzy or just plain having to crawl into bed and miss out. That, itself, makes me happy. Plus, all the above listed awesomeness!

How have your summers been going?

So, I had a pretty awesome weekend! My glasses came in, for one, so I am no longer straining my eyes. Then I had therapy, whatever, but after I got home, The BFF and I watched The Avengers (Science!Bros FTW!), which was happy-making. But then, best of all, was that on Saturday hiyacynth + Husband & Munchy P (who is 2 ½ now and talking up a storm about everything!) came for a visit. We hung out, grilled out (The BFF is still the Master Of The Grill), Munchy played in the wading pool, then we watched some Community. And on Sunday we all went to the zoo! I haven’t been to the zoo in 6 or 7 years, so this was nice.

( Goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo. )

My sister had Monday and Tuesday off as well, but those were less exciting days and I accidentally watched World War Z and it would be another 500 words if I went into how much that sucked, so No, Nope, Nonono, that’s a whole different post. Suffice to say, if you loved the book, DON’T SEE THE MOVIE. It’s okay, I have now made my life better and cleansed that shit from my brain by watching copious amounts of A-Team fanvids. (I could explain why but let’s just go with “Because I <3 Face & Murdock, shut up!”).

How were your weekends?

The houseguests have departed now. It was a pretty good weekend, I must say, despite my Awesome Time of Month kicking in on Saturday. I had been feeling it coming for a few days, and then I had a killer headache on Friday, and woke up to cramps on Saturday. Ugh.

( My weekend under the cut for spaceage. )

We played some Middle-Earth Jeopardy. I did not win - not even a little surprised there - but I did not do as terrible as I expected I would against the two masters. It helped that I nailed the shit out of the category for other characters the actors of Middle-Earth have played. Today we watched some fanvids and the old LotR MTV Movie Award spots and the interview where Dom pretends to be a German journalist, which is still the funniest fucking thing ever. Dom’s a genius.

Now I am ready to sleep and then chill out tomorrow and catch up on some TV. How were your weekends?

My sister went to Chicago this weekend to visit with hiyacynth and Munchy P. That kid is growing so damn fast - he looks like a whole little man-person now.

( Here I take a moment to vent about my mom. )

In much better news, The BFF came down for the weekend and we got to finally watch Step Up Revolution. As far as the Step Up movies go, story-wise I think it may have been the worst. Though Eddie was a total hottie - The BFF pointed out how he looked like a cross between Josh Hutcherson and Scott Caan, so you see my attraction. But the dancing was the BEST of all the movies by far. The end scene alone was mind-blowing, plus they took a time-out for some nice contemporary dancing that was refreshing in the face of all the club dancing. Then we watched some first season SPN - Asylum and Scarecrow. It was like a cleansing for my soul. Seriously, I feel revitalized after some S1 SPN. Dean was fucking shining and Sam was so wee (yes, at 6’4) and everything is wonderful and beautiful in first season. I long for such a simple time again.

How were your weekends?

I saw a meme floating around and I thought about doing it, but there are like 40 questions on it and I'm too lazy (re: busy playing Wii). So let's just write up my months and maybe if I feel like it next week, I'll do a fic list for the year.

( My Year In Review... )

Wow. That probably took longer than just doing the actual meme. I guess I'll save the year in movies/music/etc for later. I will also tag this later, because now I am tired).

It was clearly a long, crazy year full of ups and downs, goods and bads...and I am grateful that all of you were there with me!

Now I shall tell you a story.

I woke up on Monday with cramps and icky and being a woman sucks. Guess that's why I couldn't bring myself to workout all weekend and just kept playing video games all day. Figured it would be a crappy couple of days here this week.

WRONG.

( Let's continue under here, purely for space purposes. )

Now I away to try to catch up on some shit. I really wanted to have a new story for you all for my birthday - (hobbit tradition states that I am suppose to give gifts on my bday) - but I wouldn't hold my breath on that or anything. Writing is hard, yo.

SERIOUSLY AWESOME WEEK, DUDES.

So this weekend my sister, The BFF and myself all headed to our friend, hiyacynth's, baby shower. We thought the weather might stop us, but thankfully, it did not. Though I did have to get up at the asscrack of dawn.

( Friends do not let friends do crack, Friends go out and grab a snack... )

Honestly, the best Saturday I have had in a long time and I had the most fun hanging out with The BFF.

So, how was your weekend?

On a final note - Hey, Self: when your sister podfics your favorite Dean/Cas AU ever and you fall asleep listening to it - try not to wake up into a hazy consciousness right as your sister's voice is narrating the frottage scene and repeatedly saying the word "cock". It will quite possibly ruin your favorite Dean/Cas love-making scene and also, you know, scar you for life. The End.