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Feb. 28th, 2026 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyBrain is mush but update I will. Ordered new shoes after Cass mentioned doing the same, though mine is more "wore the last pair out" and hers was "lost so much weight that now my shoe size has changed." But new shoes are on the way.
Work's been interesting. Spent the last two nights resetting the deo/shave aisle and I think Z was trying to get me to either shit talk A or justify my chaos gremlin idea to start on the hardest part of that section (deo) instead of on page 1. My good dude, the idea was mine and A went along with it because it made sense to do the hard part first, especially on a night when, in theory, we'd have more time to work on it since it shouldn't have been as busy as it wound up being. What I did not mention was that I also wanted to make sure the shelves FINALLY got moved (to be fair, we didn't move them last year but that's because we were two bays in before we realized they should've been moved and um, no, not happening at that point and also there was a reset between then and now and no one moved them then either) and the only way to do that was to do it ourselves.
Was it unorthodox? Duh, obviously. Did things move faster than they have in years for that reset? YUP. Every other time it's been a three day affair, bare minimum, and that included having two people who were really good at resets working on it at some point during those days. So I'm calling it a win.
This was also the first time in known history that when I attempted to move shelves, they did so with minimal fuss on my end. On A's end? Ehhhhhh, not so much with the easy, which is weird since I normally tag her in when I hit a shelf that fucking hates me.
Anyway, got a text from boss lady saying the aisle looks great.
Brother is stressing me out. Boo.
One more night.
Work's been interesting. Spent the last two nights resetting the deo/shave aisle and I think Z was trying to get me to either shit talk A or justify my chaos gremlin idea to start on the hardest part of that section (deo) instead of on page 1. My good dude, the idea was mine and A went along with it because it made sense to do the hard part first, especially on a night when, in theory, we'd have more time to work on it since it shouldn't have been as busy as it wound up being. What I did not mention was that I also wanted to make sure the shelves FINALLY got moved (to be fair, we didn't move them last year but that's because we were two bays in before we realized they should've been moved and um, no, not happening at that point and also there was a reset between then and now and no one moved them then either) and the only way to do that was to do it ourselves.
Was it unorthodox? Duh, obviously. Did things move faster than they have in years for that reset? YUP. Every other time it's been a three day affair, bare minimum, and that included having two people who were really good at resets working on it at some point during those days. So I'm calling it a win.
This was also the first time in known history that when I attempted to move shelves, they did so with minimal fuss on my end. On A's end? Ehhhhhh, not so much with the easy, which is weird since I normally tag her in when I hit a shelf that fucking hates me.
Anyway, got a text from boss lady saying the aisle looks great.
Brother is stressing me out. Boo.
One more night.
Everyting Unexpected
Feb. 27th, 2026 08:08 amcarrot_khan I saw a muskrat the other day as I was driving home from PT. I've never seen one in the wild and certain never would have expected to see one in the Chicagoland suburban sprawl. But hey - coyotes have adpated to city living along the lake front and the pseudo green corridors of the highways, so why not a muskrat skittering across the ice in a retention pond? I didn't think they were native to IL and had to look it up to see if someone had dumped an illegal pet and IL would eventually have an invasive specices issue. Nope. They're native to IL. That made me pretty happy to know that there are pockets of wildlife going on - beyond the usual raccoons and skunks and occasional possums.
I saw my surgeon's wingman on Monday and he declared my knee to be satisfactory, with maybe a Baker cycst behind my knee, which is giving me the resistance on bending it as much as I want to. The way he just casually declared me to be in good bendy made me wonder if all the doom and gloom of "If you don't get to 125 degrees, we're going to have to break it under anesthesia" was a scare tactic to make me push it. Especially since I didn't see my surgeon or his assistant - the two people I'd been seeing this entire time. Now I see another member of the team and suddenly I'm getting gold stars? Hrm.
They took me off the Codeine and put me on an anti-inflammatory which weirdly seems to be working better. My knee still hurts like sharp woah if its in one position too long and I move it, or if I walk to much, but weirdly I think the anti-inflammatories are working a lot better than the Tylenol w/Codiene.
So they send my monthly doc note in on Monday with the usual "Desk work only". I don't think about it much, because everyone has been telling me that its a six month mandatory down time and on Wen I get a call from Larsen's principal saying 'So, you're coming back tomorrow?" and I went into a panic. I guess HR decided that they could accomodate me and said "come back tomorrow" in an email. I"m thinking "come back to work tomorrow" after any sort of work comp is a little aggressive. The school agreed with me saying "We're not ready, we're going to tell HR you're coming back Monday."
Which does not please me. I'm still in PT three times a week, I have a raft of other doctor appointments in the next two weeks that I can't reschedule (haveing been scheduled months ago). I was sure I wasnt' going to go back until April at the earliest and am now overwhelmed with the stress of going back on Monday and trying to do all the things I need to do. Part of that spending every weekend selling Girl Scout Cookies at the cookie booths - which drains my brain and my spirit and my ability to do anything else.
On top of my knee draining my will to do anything.
I saw my surgeon's wingman on Monday and he declared my knee to be satisfactory, with maybe a Baker cycst behind my knee, which is giving me the resistance on bending it as much as I want to. The way he just casually declared me to be in good bendy made me wonder if all the doom and gloom of "If you don't get to 125 degrees, we're going to have to break it under anesthesia" was a scare tactic to make me push it. Especially since I didn't see my surgeon or his assistant - the two people I'd been seeing this entire time. Now I see another member of the team and suddenly I'm getting gold stars? Hrm.
They took me off the Codeine and put me on an anti-inflammatory which weirdly seems to be working better. My knee still hurts like sharp woah if its in one position too long and I move it, or if I walk to much, but weirdly I think the anti-inflammatories are working a lot better than the Tylenol w/Codiene.
So they send my monthly doc note in on Monday with the usual "Desk work only". I don't think about it much, because everyone has been telling me that its a six month mandatory down time and on Wen I get a call from Larsen's principal saying 'So, you're coming back tomorrow?" and I went into a panic. I guess HR decided that they could accomodate me and said "come back tomorrow" in an email. I"m thinking "come back to work tomorrow" after any sort of work comp is a little aggressive. The school agreed with me saying "We're not ready, we're going to tell HR you're coming back Monday."
Which does not please me. I'm still in PT three times a week, I have a raft of other doctor appointments in the next two weeks that I can't reschedule (haveing been scheduled months ago). I was sure I wasnt' going to go back until April at the earliest and am now overwhelmed with the stress of going back on Monday and trying to do all the things I need to do. Part of that spending every weekend selling Girl Scout Cookies at the cookie booths - which drains my brain and my spirit and my ability to do anything else.
On top of my knee draining my will to do anything.
Rich and flavorful
Feb. 27th, 2026 03:49 pmcarrot_khanI dreamed I had a castle of some sort. It was a little rough, but I couldn't tell you if it was because it had been abandoned or if it was unfunished. I know it had a very large pool and the court yard would occasionally go from pristine to wild neglect. I apparently had a castle owning neighor up on a ridge - the silhouette was reminiscent of the Water Tower in Chicago - that wedding cake like escalation of large square to central tower. I don't know if there was some rivalry or tradition or what, but there was a point where the other castle inhabitants were lobbing small rocks at us (fake rocks?) and rather than be pissed off, I was kinda delighted that our neighbors had a trebuchet and were engaging in a seige. At some point they were either invited down or they just showed up and we all shook hands (I might have shook the main guy's way to long and made it weird) and I told them they were welcome any time. After all, we had a nice pool and they didn't and we could hang out and have parties.
Somehow that translated into me looking up "If Alice Cooper was my roomate, who would I have in my pool" on Google. I don't know what kind of answer I was expecting to that as my waking brain is pretty sure that Alice Cooper was not my castle owning neighbor. But maybe they were connected to Alice Cooper and who knew who he might bring if invited to a pool party.
Somewhere in the side quests there was Baroness Epona and Duchess Ari. There was a book - Rumi poetry all beautiful illustrations and written in Arabic - that had been ruined. It was a modern paperback, and laying in the wild growth of the courtyard, it had become wrinkled and torn, clearly left into the elements and starting to crumble. I was a little dismayed finding it saying that "X had given them to all of us girls". I don't quite remember who X was and I thought that a book was even given to Ari as if to include her the nerd girl group that grown up local (Ari isn't very active, but we want her to be). It is also possible I dreamed that twice and was sad to see it because Ari had given them as gifts to us.
There was an Enshrouded bit at the end, where it quickly went from me being in the video game, to watching the video game, to it being little figurines that I was moving in and around tiny landscaped senarios where they fought oversized bugs. Clearly that bug scenario was too powerful for the character, which is probably why the brain fast-shifted from me fighting them to me using toys to fight them. It ended where I went down a set of stairs to nowhere, full of dirt and leaves and dead branches and saw the red smokey glow that signifies some treasure under ground that I had to dig for.
Somehow that translated into me looking up "If Alice Cooper was my roomate, who would I have in my pool" on Google. I don't know what kind of answer I was expecting to that as my waking brain is pretty sure that Alice Cooper was not my castle owning neighbor. But maybe they were connected to Alice Cooper and who knew who he might bring if invited to a pool party.
Somewhere in the side quests there was Baroness Epona and Duchess Ari. There was a book - Rumi poetry all beautiful illustrations and written in Arabic - that had been ruined. It was a modern paperback, and laying in the wild growth of the courtyard, it had become wrinkled and torn, clearly left into the elements and starting to crumble. I was a little dismayed finding it saying that "X had given them to all of us girls". I don't quite remember who X was and I thought that a book was even given to Ari as if to include her the nerd girl group that grown up local (Ari isn't very active, but we want her to be). It is also possible I dreamed that twice and was sad to see it because Ari had given them as gifts to us.
There was an Enshrouded bit at the end, where it quickly went from me being in the video game, to watching the video game, to it being little figurines that I was moving in and around tiny landscaped senarios where they fought oversized bugs. Clearly that bug scenario was too powerful for the character, which is probably why the brain fast-shifted from me fighting them to me using toys to fight them. It ended where I went down a set of stairs to nowhere, full of dirt and leaves and dead branches and saw the red smokey glow that signifies some treasure under ground that I had to dig for.
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Feb. 26th, 2026 10:04 amimpyBookcases arrived yesterday. Figures, the one time I wasn't waiting impatiently for something, it showed up early. The boxes are standing in my hallway waiting for the weekend. They're freakin' heavy.
In things that do not make sense land, I finally finally got a "hey, you left something in your cart so here's a coupon code to make it cheaper!" from AG only the things I left in my cart? Are excluded from the code.
And even my backup items are on the no-go list.
In things that do not make sense land, I finally finally got a "hey, you left something in your cart so here's a coupon code to make it cheaper!" from AG only the things I left in my cart? Are excluded from the code.
And even my backup items are on the no-go list.
(no subject)
Feb. 25th, 2026 08:57 amimpyStill need to buy the latest SVT graphic novel, but I did read it via Libby. As per usual, it included a preview of the next one. WHY DO ALL THE ONES I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR THE STORY HAVE THE SHITTY ARTIST? Ahem. Sorry. Not shitty but the one whose SV work is... ehhhhh.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
[More Theo/Harry in the World Project]: Sparkling, Glittering, Glowing, R, 5/6
Feb. 24th, 2026 10:33 pmHigh Adrealine 2026 Letter
Feb. 24th, 2026 10:03 pmdesertvixen
I am fic only for this exchange. Apologies for the slight lateness but I see I am out for Pinch Hit.
GOOD LUCK!
DNW: unrequested mundane AU | female characters in fridges | non-con | violent dub-con | graphic violence | gore | graphic sexual violence | cruelty/death to animals | cruelty/death to children | requested character death | unrelieved grimdark | bigotry by the good guys | first or second POV | reader fic | ABO | soulbonds | wildly OOC in a non-cracky way
SMUT NO: creampies | the word “cunt” | anal | hate each other out of bed | underage | incest
MAYBE: no-harm dubcon (sex pollen or “fertility artifact”) | period typical attitudes | infidelity | power dynamic
I wouldn't expect treats this time...but wouldn't say no either!
My general preferences are here.
THE SHORT LIST:
YES: not all fluff | not all sad | bittersweet | angst with a happy ending | creepy/eerie | turn the lights on before you go upstairs | humor | romance | adventure | mystery | shiny veneers | skeletons in the closet | this is what REALLY happened | black humor | we can face anything together | can’t be defeated with you by my side | snappy dialogue | female character focused | het | gen | fade to black | do it with the lights on | bodice-ripper crack edition | why are we here and why can’t we leave | Saturday morning cartoons | nighttime soap operas | twisty plots | did not see that coming | roads not taken | what if | straight crossover | cracky handwave crossover | urban legends | vanishing hitchhiker | places that aren’t there anymore | feminine intuition | unsolved mysteries | Unsolved Mysteries | mundane AU by request only | missing moments | slice of life | family (dys)function | found families | friendships | relationships | stop overthinking it | open to all ratings | happy endings | resolved mutual pining | resolved sexual tension | unresolved sexual tension | friends with benefits | friends to lovers | canon-level adventures | banter/flirty bickering | get a room already | vacations | engagements/weddings | case fic | getting together | established relationships | female badasses being badasses | it works for the characters | smash prompts together (unless otherwise noted) | sexy or sweet | gray areas | house party | Regency | Golden Age of Detection | quest for truth | story behind the story | story beyond the story | pre-canon | post-canon | canon | fuck canon | canon broken apply fanfic | canon patchwork | time travel | writer had a better idea | platonic friends | parent POV in BSC | second chances | what happened next
SMUT YES: restraints | blindfolds | banter during sex/dirty talk | someone might see us | someone did see us | sex in a bedroom | sex not in a bedroom | showers are not just for keeping clean | against the wall | oral sex | make her knees give way | fingering/hand jobs | can’t keep our hands off each other | oh no whatever will we do | pleading | affectionate | vanilla sex | light D/s | sexy or sweet | sometimes you just need to fuck | plot what plot | three not always a crowd | strength |
( Rambles )
( Requests )
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Feb. 24th, 2026 12:53 pmimpyAfter eons of waffling, and making an actual pro/con list, I went ahead and ordered two bookcases for my room revamp this coming weekend. I'd like to say there was a great reason for all the hemming and hawing, but it was really just not wanting to commit to something and then regret it, which is still a valid fear.
For a moment I thought I'd found two options of success and then realized reality is cruel. IKEA's back on its not shipping for free BS (and so my lack of IKEA furniture continues), and despite finally remembering I could just fucking look at Walmart, where I know at least one of the two bookcases in my room came from... I read the reviews and realized they shrank the width of the bookcase and to say the reviews were mixed would be a massive understatement. One of the things I didn't want to fuck around with was an ugly back of the shelf if I didn't have to, and once I decided I wasn't rolling the dice on Walmart even for the adjustable shelves, I *think* I chose a set that has a prettier back. (You might think, "isn't the whole point to fill these suckers up so who is gonna see it?" and you wouldn't be wrong, but it's also been like 20 years and I'm still less than thrilled with my white bookcase's backing because it looks like ass.)
Anyway, we'll see how it actually shakes out. My other issue, and this actually kicked in a bit more than the terrible Walmart reviews, was that I'd dragged my feet to the point that a lot of options would either not show up until my weekend was already half over or even after my time off was over.
From an outside perspective, it's funny how after I made my pro/con list and decided yeah, Walmart's okay, I'll just check the reviews and had to immediately change course. Then once I decided maybe I'd go with white this go round, the universe said, "nope, black or the world's ugliest brown." Hi-larious, universe.
If it turns out I absolutely hate them in my room (I'm sure they'll be fine in general), I can always just put them in the hallway. So there's my backup to the backup plan.
Also, I finally realized (or realized again?) that my white and black bookcases do not have the same number of shelves. I'm guessing it's re-realizing because now I have a vague memory of this the last time I moved this massively around on them. But one has 6 shelves and the other has 5... and I keep forgetting that. Which helped free up my decision on what to buy since they weren't going to line up anyway.
For a moment I thought I'd found two options of success and then realized reality is cruel. IKEA's back on its not shipping for free BS (and so my lack of IKEA furniture continues), and despite finally remembering I could just fucking look at Walmart, where I know at least one of the two bookcases in my room came from... I read the reviews and realized they shrank the width of the bookcase and to say the reviews were mixed would be a massive understatement. One of the things I didn't want to fuck around with was an ugly back of the shelf if I didn't have to, and once I decided I wasn't rolling the dice on Walmart even for the adjustable shelves, I *think* I chose a set that has a prettier back. (You might think, "isn't the whole point to fill these suckers up so who is gonna see it?" and you wouldn't be wrong, but it's also been like 20 years and I'm still less than thrilled with my white bookcase's backing because it looks like ass.)
Anyway, we'll see how it actually shakes out. My other issue, and this actually kicked in a bit more than the terrible Walmart reviews, was that I'd dragged my feet to the point that a lot of options would either not show up until my weekend was already half over or even after my time off was over.
From an outside perspective, it's funny how after I made my pro/con list and decided yeah, Walmart's okay, I'll just check the reviews and had to immediately change course. Then once I decided maybe I'd go with white this go round, the universe said, "nope, black or the world's ugliest brown." Hi-larious, universe.
If it turns out I absolutely hate them in my room (I'm sure they'll be fine in general), I can always just put them in the hallway. So there's my backup to the backup plan.
Also, I finally realized (or realized again?) that my white and black bookcases do not have the same number of shelves. I'm guessing it's re-realizing because now I have a vague memory of this the last time I moved this massively around on them. But one has 6 shelves and the other has 5... and I keep forgetting that. Which helped free up my decision on what to buy since they weren't going to line up anyway.
That was weird
Feb. 20th, 2026 06:06 amcarrot_khan There was a lot going on, but the focus of the dream - or the last part that I remember better than the rest - was that someone I had three boobs. I think by the end I had five going on, but we'll just talk about my sudden discovery of three. I guess I had noticed in the mirror that one was bigger than the other - which happens - but upon examination, I had a third one just tucked under. This sent me into something of an alarming spin because how do you just get a third one without noticing? And I was 100% certain I hadn't been born with three. I looked through photo albums of when I was a baby - looking for those just-in-a-diaper pics to make sure "Yep, only two nips".
So clearly an additional boob had to grow later and as I cuddled an infant Edward, I contemplated that maybe pregnancy hormones would make the body go total wackadoddle and sprout a third. But you'd think I'd notice at some point, right?
At some point in the dream I showed mom and she's like "Huh, well." and she knew what the only answer was and how I was going to pay for it. At my crestfallen demeanor she's like "OH, I'll help, but" which only made it a little better and then she started talking about some diagnosis she had and that it didn't come up until later in life and that spun me talking the fact that maybe the reason I have short little T-rex arms and Corgi legs is because of Ehlers Danlos syndrome. The dream spun out of existance at that point.
I'm pretty sure my dream self brougth up EDS only because I had been reading about it the other day.
****
As an extra suddenly remembered - I dreamed I flew a few days ago. Like Peter Pan type of flying. I haven't dreamed that in a long long time. Someone - Freud probably - states that flying represents sex and when you start having it in real life, you don't dream of flying any more. Ha ha, Freud, take that. Weirdo. The dream is half-remembered, but it was nice to fly again.
So clearly an additional boob had to grow later and as I cuddled an infant Edward, I contemplated that maybe pregnancy hormones would make the body go total wackadoddle and sprout a third. But you'd think I'd notice at some point, right?
At some point in the dream I showed mom and she's like "Huh, well." and she knew what the only answer was and how I was going to pay for it. At my crestfallen demeanor she's like "OH, I'll help, but" which only made it a little better and then she started talking about some diagnosis she had and that it didn't come up until later in life and that spun me talking the fact that maybe the reason I have short little T-rex arms and Corgi legs is because of Ehlers Danlos syndrome. The dream spun out of existance at that point.
I'm pretty sure my dream self brougth up EDS only because I had been reading about it the other day.
****
As an extra suddenly remembered - I dreamed I flew a few days ago. Like Peter Pan type of flying. I haven't dreamed that in a long long time. Someone - Freud probably - states that flying represents sex and when you start having it in real life, you don't dream of flying any more. Ha ha, Freud, take that. Weirdo. The dream is half-remembered, but it was nice to fly again.
