Another Rest Day
Nov. 23rd, 2025 09:23 pmGot my grocery order. Had lunch. I’m going to take another nap. Slept for four hours. I’m IBSing. Stomach cramps. Finally stable after three hasty trips to the bathroom. Ordered some new winter pajamas because mine are falling apart.
I found some nice dining chairs from Costway, but I’m not familiar with their company. They get decent reviews.
I need to get to bed early because the fence people will be here early. I’d like to be dressed before they get here. I need to take the dogs out (done) and take my meds first.
vital functions
Nov. 23rd, 2025 10:27 pmReading. ... I think, like, a page or two of Descartes (Treatise on Man), and that's it?
OH. NO. I also finished my first pass through indexing The National Trust Cookbook for EYB. That's right. That's a thing I did.
Watching. Three Whole Entire Episodes of Beddybyes, halfway through the third of which the toddler (who felt it was Very Important that we saw it) pretty much fell asleep where it was sat.
Playing. RIDICULOUS Inkulinati run for Preposterous Amounts Of Prestige.
Cooking. Medlar jelly (plain, spiced). Quince sorbet. Several bread. A batch of buttermilk pancakes. Some terrible First, Burn Your Lettuce, thereby ticking another item off the current Cook The Book project. Buttermilk pancakes.
Eating. One of the CHILLIS from the CHILLI PLANTS we brought HOME from the GREENHOUSE just after first frost (but they were fine); also A turned the small pile of peppers that broke off the sweet pepper I brought home on a bike, still green, into akuri this morning.
Exploring. Important sploshy stomp through the puddles of Barking Park. I... think that's it?
Growing. I have NOT sown any physalis or lemongrass in the electric propagator, to get them hopefully Established by the time I need it for Other Things in the new year. This is a deliberate decision. They can go in next week.
... and now it's very definitely time for bed, goodnight world. <3
Check-In Post - Nov 23rd 2025
Nov. 23rd, 2025 06:31 pmHello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question (courtesy of
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
I now declare this Check-In OPEN!
Fic recs?
Nov. 23rd, 2025 09:01 amAny suggestions?
Done Since 2025-11-16
Nov. 23rd, 2025 01:08 pmI had a lot of trouble getting things done this week. That may have been due in part to having gone out of the house three times (for a doctor's appointment, labs, and picking up drugs at the pharmacy). Each of which burns up two or three hours, and I seem to have trouble switching gears after that. Or maybe I'm just lazy.
Thursday I let the cats out of my room, which may have been a mistake. Picking Bronx up afterward and trying to carry him upstairs to put him back was definitely a mistake, and a firm reminder to keep one hand on the banister every damned time. Fortunately, I got away with it -- this time.
I've started using compression socks; they seem to help somewhat with the edema, but it's still there and doesn't seem much improved in the morning after not wearing the socks at night. Well, I have another appointment this coming Friday.
Linkies: Record Numbers of Younger Women Want to Leave the U.S. -- if you're surprised, you may be reading the wrong blog. Also, Satellite images reveal the fastest Antarctic glacier retreat ever. On the other hand, it seems that A Poem Is All You Need to Jailbreak a chatbot.
And on the gripping hand, here's a filk adjacent cat video: Bohemian Catsody.
This is a real place [geog, surrealism]
Nov. 23rd, 2025 05:16 am2025 Oct 28: PBS Terra [pbsterra on YT]: It Looks Like a Desert. But It Has Thousands of Lakes
When I heard in the video how big it was, I turned on satellite view in Google Maps and popped "Lençóis Maranhenses" into the search bar:
( Image below cut. Content advisory: trypophobes avoid )
Get Rec’d with Amanda – Volume 103
Nov. 23rd, 2025 09:00 amHey, everyone!
Can we all be shocked that there’s no non-fiction in this post? I’m definitely a little proud of myself. We have a middle grade graphic novel, a f/f novella, a cozy fantasy, and an Austen inspired anthology.
Have you received any great recommendations lately? Share them in the comments!
Bea Wolf
This was recommended in the SBTB Podcast Patreon Discord by Clay, and I desperately wanted to share it. Clay mention that this middle grade graphic novel is cute and funny, and that she’s given it successfully as a gift several times.
A modern middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, featuring a gang of troublemaking kids who must defend their tree house from a fun-hating adult who can instantly turn children into grown-ups.
Listen! Hear a tale of mallow-munchers and warriors who answer candy’s clarion call!
Somewhere in a generic suburb stands Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary where generations of tireless tykes have spent their youths making merry, spilling soda, and staving off the shadow of adulthood. One day, these brave warriors find their fun cut short by their nefarious neighbor Grindle, who can no longer tolerate the sounds of mirth seeping into his joyless adult life.
As the guardian of gloom lays siege to Treeheart, scores of kids suddenly find themselves transformed into pimply teenagers and sullen adults! The survivors of the onslaught cry out for a savior—a warrior whose will is unbreakable and whose appetite for mischief is unbounded.
They call for Bea Wolf.
The Guy Sure Looks Like Plant Food To Me
Obsessed! A f/f novella inspired by one of my favorite musicals.
From the best-selling author of Heartless Heathens, TGSLLPFTM is a killer rom-com, feel-good, magical short story about fated love blooming in the most unexpected of places.
I’VE GIVEN HER SUNSHINE
I’ve given her dirt
She’s given me much more
Than I ever deserved.
I’m begging her sweetly
I’m down on my knees
Oh, please,
KILL FOR ME
TGSLLPFTM Is a novella inspired by Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors
Ladies in Waiting
This really slid under the radar! It’s a short story collection featuring Austen’s side characters from well-known authors, especially in romance.
Celebrate Jane Austen’s classic novels with this short story anthology starring forgotten characters as they experience their own happy endings.
In honor of her 250th birthday, eight authors have come together with wildly imaginative reboots of the lives of several of Jane Austen’s minor characters. Written with plenty of love and wit, these clever stories star everyone from Pride and Prejudice’s snobbish Caroline Bingley to the modern descendant of Sense and Sensibility’s Eliza Williams and much more. Blurring genres and taking us across the oceans, Ladies in Waiting is a heartfelt celebration of Jane Austen and her timeless masterpieces.
Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife
Cozy fantasy had a moment of retiree plots, where an adventurer would hang up their gear to settle down somewhere (often with plans to open up a small business). If you’ve been searching for me, try this one.
Well, this is a new solution to the sandwich conundrum...
Nov. 24th, 2025 02:51 am(Taken from the comments here.)
( Read more... )
Rest Day
Nov. 23rd, 2025 12:45 amWoke up at 8:30 AM. Fed us all. Napped. Slept until 3:30 PM. I hope that helps my cold.
I think that this is going to be rest day.
My singing teacher sent me a message that she could make up my lesson on Tuesday or Wednesday. Tuesday would work for me, but will my cold be better? I’m not coughing as much today.
It’s getting dark already (4:30 PM). Ugh.
Had lunch. Gracie is trolling for food.
I think that I’m going to take some cold meds and go back to sleep. Hmm, I should feed the critters first. No, I’m going to nap first. It’s still a little early. Slept until almost 10 PM. Fed us all.
Sometime this weekend, I need to dig out my gym clothes so that I can start strengthening my knee. I also need to get the security cameras together so that they can be installed.
I wonder if I should get the cats a cat wheel for Christmas? They would get more exercise.
Gracie spit out her pill twice in a hot dog. I tried putting it in a glob of cream cheese, and that worked.
Took Emergen-C, NyQuil, and my nighttime meds. Ordered cold medicine and food for delivery from Walmart. Now it's bedtime again.
I had the most amazing idea the other night
Nov. 19th, 2025 03:09 pm(It turns out I'm not the only person with this idea, which just shows how brilliant it is!)
( Read more... )
Another attempt at plumbing.
Nov. 22nd, 2025 09:13 pmAlso went to Farmer's Market for lettuce, bread and beef.
Got ground up coconut coir to bed the dahlias down in for the winter. Next spring it will be a nice addition to the vegetable beds.
There are fava beans soaking. Tomorrow we have to plant them. Will be my first winter cover crop.


