Monday, time-confused

Nov7

The Daylight Savings Time Fall back thing seems to have confused my internal clock as much as the cat.(“It’s early. Or late. Or something, and I’m hungry. Feed me?”). I woke up late today and was nearly late to work… but now am Very Awake.

It was a good weekend. We acquired cheap butternut squash and tasty apple cider, made steel-cut oats with pureed butternut, and I wrote a lot of words, most of them on my nano.

I have left to do: 2 long pieces for Rix, 1 short piece for Ysabet, a setting-piece or something for the comments perk (Still don’t know what to do about that; the story with the most comments isn’t really *in* a setting) and the extension piece, which looks to be “Rule 2.” Somehow, I don’t think this is all getting done before Saturday’s Giraffe Call.

~
If you have things you like for the Winter Holiday, it’s getting to time to post a wish list or lodge a request for baked goodies.
~

meeks has posted an update to Teddy’s Travels (and on LJ).

And ysabetwordsmith has posted Opening the Gate, from September’s mid-month donor prompt session, based in part on my prompt.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/168127.html. You can comment here or there.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Nov6

Not a lot to share lately; life has sort of focused down to apples and nano.

On the former, I have ~9 quarts of something like applesauce ready to can (I really need a second big pot, as the big pot is soaking off burnt apple bits before I can boil the cans), another 2-3 quarts of apple butter ready to go, and boxes of apples everywhere.

We went out to our favorite cider mill yesterday for some more cider and two big butternut squash, cooked one up last night (peel, slice into bits, microwave for 10 minutes, and then roast for a couple to get some caramelization (and if you’re not pan-roasting the seeds, you’re missing the best part)) and this morning we made Steel Cut Oats with ‘Pumpkin’ for breakfast. Om nom.

Nano’s doing decently, though we’ll see how I do when we get to the Giraffe Call.

Speaking of that – next Saturday, with a theme of “Family.”

Beginning to ponder Winter Holiday gifts.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/167487.html. You can comment here or there.

Wednesday morning after emergency Lowe’s run

Nov2

I got a message from T. as I was about to leave work yesterday – “either you need to stop on the way home or we need to go out once you’re home.”

Seems the threshold to our house had died a messy death.

(This is amusing to me because I’m a big fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden’verse, where the threshold is the word used for the magical protection of one’s own home, and something similar exists in Addergoole/Fae Apoc, where you cannot enter someone’s home without their permission).

But in this case, the wood under the metal and weather stripping and above the slab had disintegrated. Not nearly as magical, no demons, and we just needed some wood and a new metal threshold & weather stripping to replace…. which T. will be doing today.

meeks has uploaded a new detail view of Rin‘s picture 🙂 It’s the city! (Livjournal and Dreamwidth.

She’s also posted a new sketch on DW and LJ – to jjhunter‘s poem The Lamb’s Plea To Them Both, which is definitely worth a read.

ysabetwordsmith had her monthly Fishbowl yesterday (sorry for lack of boost; 1st/month is mad for me); of the poems she’s posted so far (which you should read), I think “The Funny Farm” is my favorite.

Aaannndd… (A little late, sorry) lilfluff wrote this story to my prompt – I’m eager to see more of this world!!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/165535.html. You can comment here or there.

Monday, Hallowe’en, almost Nano

Oct31

Woo! This weekend, we picked more apples (the cold snap had not hurt those still on the tree, thankfully, so we managed to get another 2 buckets and 2 boxes worth).

(I need a bushel basket to have a decent idea how many apples we have!)

We also made applesauce and began apple butter, made and devoured apple cake, raked leaves (peh) and planted crocuses.

I found a computer-based post-it-noted system and started making notes for my nano novella (yeah, started. I’m not that good at this).

Aaand… that’s about it.

Oh! check out this! Rix-scaedu painted the Primordial card from Heirlooms & Old Lace 🙂

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/163670.html. You can comment here or there.

Wednesday, yes?

Oct26

eseme asked how Drake was doing, and, as I just made his semi-annual blood-test appointment…

Drake is doing wonderfully! He loves the stairs, and loves running up and down them over and over again. He’s eating well, happy, and generally content with his humans (although the noises of house renovation bother him, and T. being outside but in sight of a window makes him yowl. A lot).

He seems to be maintaining a healthy weight, and does well enough with the shots – he’ll come ask for them if we forget them.

Happy kitty! He also does not think apples are food.

meeks has updated the Rin Sketch again! (and on Livejournal).

<3<3

Pondering nano & Autumn, as well as autumn-the-season. More on that later.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/158746.html. You can comment here or there.

Monday on a Tuesday

Oct25

Wonderful weekend visiting friends, just now getting back into the swing of things.

Applesauce successfully canned. Freezing apples tonight or tomorrow.

Planning on doing Nanowrimo in a not-killing-myself sort of way (i.e., working on the story as my main but not sole project through November and December) – the first Autumn story ever.

~
Giraffe Call:

Updated the linkback incentive (LJ).

Working through to third prompts; if you haven’t left a second or third prompt, you have ’till I get to the bottom of the list again to do so. Then I move on to sponsored prompts/continuations.

DreamWidth – call for prompts here

LiveJournal – call for prompts here

~
Others:

EllenMillion is doing another free abstracts call for prompts today:
free prompted abstracts are now open!

http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/abstracts2.php

This is a fundraiser for EMG-Zine, which is in danger of being canceled after the June 2012 issue. Free prompts are open during today’s window.

This is an awesome Begariad (Eddings) fanfic by recessional

kajones has posted a prompt call. The theme is Halloween, Samhain, Diwali, and Fireworks Night

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/157276.html. You can comment here or there.

Gone Fishing

Oct21

Out of town for the weekend; I’ll try to get a prompt done a day and back to lots-of-writing when I return Sunday night!

DreamWidth – call for prompts here

LiveJournal – call for prompts here

(If you only did one or two prompts, feel free to go back and add a second/third 😉

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/154931.html. You can comment here or there.

Already Wednesday, avec les pommes

Oct19

Yesterday, we made applesauce.
Monday, we made applesauce and apple cake.
Sunday, we made applesauce.
Saturday, we got lost on an Epic!Quest! for apple cider.
Tonight, we will make applesauce. And maybe can it.
(the makeshift canner (our giant pot and a steamer rack from the Chinese food store) will hold 8 quart jars. Our next-biggest pot will hold about 8 cups of applesauce. So batches.)

There hasn’t been as much work on this house this week, but we got a Giant Order Of Stuff from Lowes yesterday (incl. the stuff for the closet, window molding, log rack supplies, door molding, drywall, insulation… and a chest freezer) so there will be Stuff to Do once again. Also, mudding and painting. This bedroom is taking a lot of mudding.

~~
Read The Kiss, from ysabetwordsmith‘s mid-month Monster House Fishbowl, from my prompt.

Read a short Addergoole fanfic, by cluudle!!

Read Ghost Story, by Rix-Scaedu

And someone is trying square foot gardening & Lasagna gardening together!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/152772.html. You can comment here or there.

Thursday, with Soop

Oct13

Yesterday represented a pretense at a break from apples – with butternut soup, our favorite go-to fall recipe (it has cider and apples in it ;-).

Last summer, our garden produced 13 giant butternuts, so we ate a lot of soup and a lot of pumpkin pudding (it’s safe to assume anything that says “pumpkin” in our house is made with butternut; we’ve tried it with pumpkins and don’t like it). This summer, we didn’t have a garden (sadface) (moving), so we had to fake it with farmstands. Not as satisfying, but nearly as tasty.

~~~

Jeriendhal is calling for hallowe’en prompts.

And Rix-scaedu wrote a story based on a typo of mine.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/144881.html. You can comment here or there.

Wednesday, in other people’s stuff

Oct12

One of the projects this weekend was sorting through boxes of ~~crap~~ ~~stuff~~ crap from the attic spaces in the house. The steamer trunk I posted earlier was part of that – more of a treasure than a crap – as well as a solid-wood kitchen cabinet that had been sitting in our (wet) basement (dealing with the leak in the basement is our Major Home Expense for the year, knock on wood).

But among the piles of stuff were two boxes of fabric. Stash, if you will. Someone in this house had, in the 70’s from the looks of things, been the sort of sewer who saves every little scrap. Of polyester plaid. And polyester denim. Oy.

Most of it was too small, too polyester, or too random-bits to be of any use, but I salvaged a few pieces of cotton flannel, their denim scraps (the real denim), and a few other things. And since I found this little contest, some of those scraps will be getting a new life. 🙂

~~~

Micah has posted to let us know she’s not dead!

ysabetwordsmith has introduced me to the Dreamwidth community poetree.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/143302.html. You can comment here or there.

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