Your result for Which fantasy writer are you?...

Katharine Kerr (b. 1944)

-25 High-Brow, -29 Violent, 7 Experimental and -3 Cynical!

Take Which fantasy writer are you? at HelloQuizzy

Love always,
Kat

Fricking Facebook apps are addictive. I just had to close the bugger down, especially since I gave out my daily limit of fishes for other reefs. I'm a giver. What can I say? :D

But I've spent the last two days almost exclusively online since it's been raining. CONSTANTLY since yesterday morning. The weatherman LIED and said it was at least going to be warm and sunny yesterday. WRONG. Cold. Crappy. Rainy. Today's at least a little warmer, but it's still been raining/drizzling most of the day.

Teh suck.

Double suck.

So this means no gardening, and no lawn repair this weekend. And, according to the NOAA, we're not going to see the sun again until Wednesday. My yard, FWIW, is turning into a swamp. There's a spot where if I step in it, I'll sink up to my ankles in mud.

Grrr. *heavy sighs*

So it's basically been a blah weekend inside. *shaking fist at the sky* Can we PLEASE change things around so that it's crappy during the week while everyone's at work and have it nice on the weekends? Kthx.

I guess that's enough grumping. Remember to help out my little dragon if you can/feel like it. Hope your weekend has been going nicer than mine!

I managed to get back into the Dragon Cave and adopt an egg. Click, please, and help him or her grow. My singlet black one must be so lonely. Thank you in advance!

Easily, that's jenny_evergreen...although melissawithem is up there too (not top due to long friendship hiatus)

But I'm looking forward to cultivating many long and cherished friendships with my newer friends too. :)

*hugs and catwhiskerkissles (slightly puppy-drool flavored) for everone*

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Well, two of my oldest friends here have cut me from their friends lists, and I wish them well. Perhaps when I know I will be more regularly on here, Ill approach them again. In the meantime, I thak all of you who have decided to stick with me despite my poor presence here. My heart and love go out to you. :)

Since we've got Conner this weekend, I will be splitting my free time between crocheting the afghan for Jerry's mom, caring for the furries, and catching up a little here. I've been missing you all, and even though I'm not here much, you all are still very much on my mind and in my heart.

Jerry and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary and Valentine's Day last weekend. Jerry gave me the cutest little fuzzy red teddy bear (as opposed to flowers since Ozzy eats flowers). I took him out to dinner at Red Lobster, and then we spent the rest of the evening at home enjoying a relatively quiet evening (so as not to wake the puppy in the middle of festivities. LOL). :D

Shadow is doing well. Starting Monday, he's going to be staying at home in his playpen for about 4 hours while I'm at work. I'll then come home midday, take him out, feed him, and play with him. Then it's back in the pen so I can go back to work. It's going to be doubling my mileage for a couple of months until he's okay to be at home while I'm off at work. I've got to work on making his pen bigger so he's got a little more room for play with his toys and stretching his legs. This means that the kitchen table is going in the office for a little while. No biggie as we hardly ever use it. It's usually a catch-all that I have to clean off every couple of weeks or so. Yes, I know eating on the couch in front of the TV is a bad habit, but it's just us, so it's no big deal. :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed. At least the kitchen floor will be easy to clean. Once he's able to go 4 1/2 hours without messing in his pen, I'll block off the kitchen so that he'll have run of that...and then when he can go all day without messing in the kitchen for a decent amount of time, I'll let him have the run of the house. Keeping my fingers crossed. He's a stubborn little boy and potty training him is turning out to be a chore. But we'll keep working on it. The boy is a sweetie.

Well, we're heading out to go see the new Friday the 13th movie. I'll let you know how it goes!

Good going to the Steelers for winning the Super Bowl. The last quarter really was the most interesting of the game. Glad I stayed tuned in. :)

Mid January, we got a call from Jerry's mom that the doctors were giving Jerry's dad about 24-48 hours to live. I took time off work, and we boogied down to Tennessee again. He did look in pretty bad shape. His lungs were down to 10% capacity, and his blood pressure was really low at around 80/50. He was also on a morphine drip for pain and there was a significant amount of blood in his urine. We were there Wednesday through Saturday night. Friday, his dad was home receiving hospice care. Unfortunately, we had to leave Saturday late afternoon. Neither Jerry nor I could afford to take more time off of work. The entire family was down there, including the brother that had distanced himself from the entire family some 10 years ago.

I'm happy to say that Jerry's dad is still alive and is doing better. He's still on morphine and oxygen all the time, but he's getting up and around and a lot more there. Since his lung function is still around 10%, his time on this earth is numbered, but the man does love proving the doctors wrong. He'll go in his own time, when he's ready.

While we were there, Bud's daughter brought over a 5 week old puppy for Jerry's dad (under the impression that he was asking her for a puppy when he was really asking why she was giving him the puppy-dog eyes--between the morphine and not having his teeth in, I can see how that would cause confusion). It was pretty clear that Jerry's parents didn't have time for a puppy, so Becky, Jerry's sis, said she'd take it. She just had to clear it with John, her husband, first. I volunteered to bring the puppy back (since we drove and she flew down). In the meantime, I bonded a little with the pup and generally kept out of the way as much as possible or ran errands for Jerry's mom.

Well, to make a long story short, we were driving back to Illinois, and as we crossed the border from Tennessee to Kentucky, I got a text message from Becky stating that John wouldn't let her have the puppy. We were already three hours into the drive, and it was too late to turn back. So...we've inherited a puppy.



His name is Shadow. He's (as far as we can tell), part Jack Russell Terrier, and the rest is all mutt. As you can see, he looks like a miniature black lab. He's a bundle of fun, and the rest of the animals are starting to get used to him. It's a good thing I didn't bother having the carpets cleaned yet. Potty training is a bitch. Bruce is letting me bring him to work (since he's quiet as long as he's aound people) to help out with the potty-training at least for a few weeks until he can hold it for 4 hours. At that point in time, I'll be coming home mid-day to take him out, feed him, play with him for a bit, and then head back in to work for another four hours. In the meantime, I've got

I know. I'm crazy. But we're giving it a go and going to do our best to make this work. He's got a small crate for when he comes with me to work, and I've got a playyard set up in the kitchen for sleeping at home. I haven't had many full nights of sleep since a full bladder and lonliness does not a happy puppy make. But I'm holding it together best I can.

In the meantime, I know I've been a bad friend here and not been on. I continue to apologize and thank those of you who have decided to keep me around anyway. For those of you on the fence about keeping me or cutting me, I will totally understand if you do cut me from your friends list. No harm, no foul, and the best of everything to you.

*hugs to everyone before I totter off to bed*

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! *snorglehuggles*

So it's been, what, about a month since I last logged on? It took me that long to get through the making of many crafty gifts for everyone on my list. And, I'm telling you, I still haven't seemed to have made a dent in my copious amounts of yarn leftovers. *lmao* Guess I'll have to start making blankets if I'm going to get rid of all of it. ;)

This season has been hard on a lot of us, I'd imagine, with the economy in the toilet and all. But, all in all, I feel that spending time with friends, family, and loved ones is really what it's all about, so if you have the chance to do that, you're still in pretty good shape.

As for me, I got halfway done with my Christmas shopping when my pocket was picked at a local gas station and someone took off with my keys. I had just got done unloading $100 on new locks for my house (and installing them myself without too much screwing up) when I came outside to let Blackie out and noticed a couple of people sitting in a running car outside of my house. Normally I wouldn't have thought much of it, but the fact that they were shining a flashlight up at the house and at my car (thank goodness Jerry was home and brought my spare set of car keys...I wasn't about to leave my car sitting back at the gas station) and continued to act suspiciously for quite some time (until Jerry pulled up in behind my car--they only drove away then). That made me nervous. I knew the house was safe since the locks were already redone, but what about my car? The following morning, I took my car in to have all the locks changed. $800 later, and my car is relatively safe once again. But there went any funds I had set aside for shopping and then some.

Add on top of that the $900 I have to put into my furnace again (this time a new blend-air unit), and my bonus money and any money I might be getting back in taxes is gone as well.

*headthud*

My brother and his wife didn't even bother sending me a Christmas card. *wry frown* Guess I shouldn't have told Peter to at least call Dad on Thanksgiving to wish him a happy one. *shaking head* Well, if he's bound and determined to alienate the whole family, he's well on his way. Whatever.

All that aside, I DO have a lot to be thankful for. I still have a job, I've got a good man in my life, I'm relatively healthy, the people closest to me are healthy and doing all right, my furnace is still pushing out heat even with the blend air unit off, and I have the funds to pay for the stuff going wrong (even if it leaves me rather skint). Things could be much, much worse, and they aren't, so thank you, G-d, for that.

Might I request the end of the snowfall for a little bit, though. I've had quite enough of the stuff for awhile, and I don't have any place left to put the snow that does fall until some of the current stuff melts away...either that, or I need to grow about 6 more inches so that I can toss it on top of the piles I've already got (over my head now!!). *hee hee*

Jerry and I spent last evening visiting with his sister and her family as well as our friends Debbie and Donnie. By the time we got home, it was pretty late, so we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (always a classic, and if you haven't seen it, do so!) and went to bed around 1AM. So now I'm up about 5 hours later and figured now would be a good time to come and visit. :) We'll be picking up Conner around 10AM and heading over to my folks' house for gift-opening (and Conner's made out like a bandit!!) and dinner. Should be a good time. My folks already told me I'm getting the gift of green, and I am completely fine with that. Jerry already gave me one of my presents early...season 1 of the show "House." SWEET! I love Hugh Laurie. I'll have pictures later to share. In the meantime, I leave you with this one of us.



Aaaaaand one of my spiffy new 7 1/2' tall skinny tree all decked out in LED lights. While definitely more energy efficient, they don't have that same mellow glow that the incandescent ones do.



Hmm...any more pictures while I'm at it? OH! Lincoln Park Zoo's Zoo Lights festival was AWESOME. Seriously cool stuff.



Thank you to everyone who sent me cards. Loved them all. :D *hugs*

***eta--new layout since it's decidedly not fall anymore. *thhbbpt*

1. You have 10 dollars and need to buy snacks at a gas station, what do you buy?
Reese's peanut butter cups and/or KitKats, diet pepsi, Funyuns. No, I do not eat them all at the same time. LOL

2. If you were reincarnated as another creature, what would you be:
Wolf...maybe tiger or mountain lion. Who knows. Maybe Bunnger the Tibbit would make an appearance.

3. Who's your favorite red head?
that_sakka_girl and a handful of others. :D

4. What do you order when you're at IHOP?
Anything fruity on the rare occasion I'm there.

5. Last book you read?
breaking dawn by Stephenie Meyer. Still working on The Terror

6. What is important in a relationship?
Honesty, open lines of communication, a broad base of commonalities, sex. Yeah. *grin*

7. Describe the last time you were injured?
I'm continuously injured. LOL Most recently was when I burned my forearm on the stove when I was pulling some biscuits out of the oven.

8. Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in a well with?
Okay...call out your height everyone. My pick would be the tallest one here. ;)

9. Rock concert or symphony?
Hm. Depends on the music.

10. What is the wallpaper of your cell phone?
Fall meadow scene

11. Soda?
Diet Pepsi, Sprite, or that Cranberry Sierra Mist or the Mandarin Orange one. Both quite tasty.

12. Cranium or Monopoly?
Haven't played Cranium, so I'll pick Monopoly

13. One type of transportation for the rest of your life?
Personal helicopter? Seriously though, I'll happily keep my ability to successfully ambulate for the rest of my life.

14. Most recent movie you've watched in the theater?
"The Dark Knight" and "Hancock"--double feature at the Keno Drive-In.

15. What's your favorite kind of cake?
Dark Chocolate (my "Black Magic" cake)

16. Name an actor/actress who you think is hot:
Just one? Nic Cage.

17. What did you have for dinner last night?
Nuggets and fries. Yeah...Conner was still around.

18. Look to your left, what do you see?
Jerry munching on cookies and milk while watching "The Magnificent Seven."

19. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Not usually unless I can't get them off without doing so.

20. Favorite toy as a child?
Spirograph

21. Do you buy your own groceries?
No, I send the cats out to do the shopping. It would explain the unusually large amounts of tuna and fishie treats in the cabinets.

22. Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
Undoubtedly. Hopefully mostly good things. If not...*shrug* Like that song I hear not too long ago..."If you love me then thank-you! If you hate me then fuck-you!" or something along those lines.

23. When's the last time you had sour gummy worms?
When I was still married.

24. What's your favorite fruit?
Pineapple and pomegranate

25. Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel?
Not on me, but my mom does. I was about 7 or so.

26. How do you feel about long distance relationships?
I've always been on the losing end of them, but I know they can work.

27. Have you ever eaten snow?
Yes.

28. What color are your bed sheets?
purple plaid right now

29. What's your favorite flower?
Lilacs!

30. Were you or are you in ballet?
I was as a child. I also took jazz dance and tap around the same time.

31. Do you listen to classical music?
Yes

32. Do you have a "wacky noodle"?
No. *snort* Jerry's is perfectly normal.

33. Do you watch Spongebob?
Only if forced to

34. Last food you ate?
Pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans. Oh, and a hand full of Brach's candy corn. Dessert, dont'cha know. ;)

35. Do people consider you smart?
Some do, some don't. I'm not the smartest cookie in the world, but I can mostly hold my own.

36. What time is it?
10:22 PM

37. Is your away message on?
I don't currently have any IM programs going.

38. Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together?
Tried? No. Did so on accident, yes.

39. What curse word do you use the most?
the big nasty f-bomb, unfortunately. Though a few come in as a close second

40. Do you own an iPod?
No

41. What time is your alarm clock set for?
4:15 AM for Jerry

42. What CD is currently in your CD player?
Some mix CD I put together ages ago

43. What movie do you know every line to?
The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Kentucky Fried Movie, Amazon Women on the Moon, Labrynth, Meaning of Life, V for Vendetta, and a couple others.

44. What is your favorite salad dressing?
Ranch and variants or basalmic vinagrette, depending on the salad

45. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
Sure

46. How old will you be on your next birthday?
36. *sighs*

47. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Absolutely

48. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?
At the top of the first hill on Raging Bull

49. What's the way people most often mispronounce any part of your name?
Linkwist is how most people pronounce my last name. The middle part is a bit tricky.

50. How much money do you have?
On me? About $12 in cash and another $2-3 in change in my cup holder in my car. As for savings and whatnot, I think that it's enough to get my ass out of trouble, but not near enough to put down on a house much less retire on. That should give you a pretty close idea. :D

My friend, ankita_1 is collecting donations to help fund breast cancer reasearch.

Details can be found here.

Even if you can't donate, feel free to pass this along/repost in your own journal. I know at least one of my friends is going through breast cancer right now (and handling it like one hell of a trooper, I might add!), and every little bit counts.

:D *hugs*

xanthvamp, I received your payment and will get your packet sent to you tomorrow.

I tried responding to the comment, and the comments in LJ seem to be down.

acelightning--now you've gone and done it. Must need ice cream. Nao. *hee hee*

Hugo Weaving. Hm. Not a bad possibility. Talent-wise, definitely yeah, but I've never actually seen him in a Western, so I don't know if he'd LOOK right for the part.

castlelady--I can totally see either of us as Catwoman...but I guess my "green" tendencies overrode the cat ones. *hee hee*



Gearing up for the Tennessee trip. We're leaving Friday night, so I'm making sure we've got everything ready to go by then. My folks are on puppy and kitty-duty, so that's all set. Sorry I haven't been on...AGAIN, but this past weekend (with Conner and all) had us hopping. We went to the Drive-In in Kenosha to see The Dark Knight (UBER-awesome) and Hancock (eh...okay, but definitely could have been better) on Friday night. On Saturday, we went swimming, and on Sunday, we set up our tent (the one I can park my car in) to make sure we had all the needed parts. Luckily, we did. I've also borrowed two sleeping bags from my folks (I have one and didn't want to spend the money on two more), had my oil changed again in my car, got it detailed (after which a few birds promptly shit all over it--feathery bastards), and have been cleaning up my house/getting laundry done/etc since then.

I'm definitely looking forward to having half a week to MYSELF to do whatever the hell it is that I want to do. *hee hee* Things with Jerry and I are just fine, but I am looking forward to quiet time with me, the furries, a few good books, and my computer.

So...big news, anyone?

Off to see if jenny_evergreen had her baby (priority number one here), and then I'll catch up with the rest of you.

ETA She did! YAYSQUEEOMGSNORGLE! Finian was born early Saturday morning after a relatively quick labor. YAY! He's home, doing fine, and VERY attached to mom right now. Oh, happy day!

Loves and snorgles! *grin*

I've changed my layout again. *hee hee* I apologize to those who don't like my more brightly colored ones, but I was in a dandelion mood. I'm not the most exotic of flowers, but I am tenacious. ;)

*huggles to all*

For those of you who are interested, go here. There's still plenty up for grabs. :) *hugs*

In light of my recent financial pitfall, I've got a crapload of BPAL up for sale. If you need scent descriptions for any of these, you can find them at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab under the "search" function, or you can comment with a request, and I'll respond to you with it.

An imp, for those of you curious, is a 1 ml sample of one of the scents offered by BPAL. A decant is a 1 ml sample straight from the bottle of one of their general catalog or limited edition scents (which are not normally offered by BPAL as samples).

First come, first served on all of these imps, including the decants, so please check the comments first as to availabilty. I'll be updating this post with who gets what periodically. I am accepting paypal or money order on these, so once your selections have been confirmed, I'll get a total for you, and we can discuss payment at that time. Shipping costs (including postage, bubble packaging, and padded envelope for first-class postage domestically with delivery confirmation) will be as follows: $2.00 for up to 5 imps, $3.00 for 6-10 imps, and $4.00 for 11 and up. I am willing to ship internationally as well, but those shipping rates will be increased based on destination, obviously.

( What's Up for Grabs? )
This sale will also be noted in decantations, so expect to see some new names in the comments. :) Thank you all in advance for helping me out. I found out today that the repair on my AC unit ALONE (not including what's going to have to be done with the floor) is going to be just shy of $1,000.00. ::facethud::

Oh...and this sale will be ongoing, so if you don't have the funds just now (though I'll only be expecting payment by 6/23/2008, but I have to receive payment before I can ship out your order, obviously), you can revisit the sale later on.

**ETA**-- When you Paypal me (or if we arrange a money order thing), PLEASE make sure to include your LJ username in the comments field of your order. I've started putting these together already and am using your LJ name on the bags of BPAL goodies as I get them sorted and decanted. THANK YOU AGAIN!

Make with the clicky, please!!! Pretty please! He's only got a day left!

Hope your day goes well and is filled with love and laughter.

*hugs and many catwhiskerkisses*

ziyda has joined the ranks of my little asylum over heyuh yondah. I'm assuming through popfiend, and that's as good a recommendation as any. :) Hope you enjoy it here!

BPAL Wishlist

( Cut to save real estate )

Favorites I currently have:
Black Pearl
Jack
Carnaval Diabolique
Jabberwocky
Kumari Kandam
Hunters Moon 2007
Dorian
Gluttony
Velvet
The Raven
The Bow and Crown of Conquest (really need a big bottle)
Tamora