After my grandmother passed away last Wednesday, I learned later that florahart organized a collection (I guess you'd call it). I'm shocked and amazed at this, and I can't really put my gratitude into words beyond 'thank you', which really sounds silly in comparison to what florahart and those who contributed managed to do for me and my family. Flora gave me the names of the people who made donations this evening, and I wanted to make a post thanking them all. It means more than I can really say, and it's helped out a lot during a stressful time.

So thank you: accioslash. aidenfire, annearchy, auntee_mame, bethbethbeth, celandineb, chazpure, cloverdew, cordelia_v, cordeliadelayne, emiime, emmagrant01, fluffyllama, gmth, heather11483, idea_of_sarcasm, imaginarycircus, kaalee, lelek, marginaliana, miss_bowtruckle, odogoddess, purelush, robriki, sciencegeek, seshat1, snegurochka_lee, sophie_richard, sugarquill39, sweet_lemmon, the_rainbow_jen, vimeslady, writersblock76 54321sherry, and the Quidditch Pitch Captains. And, of course, florahart. *hugs you all tight*

This is very, very, very homosexual.



Write me Gene/Frank (or Joseph/Clarence or Gabey/Chip or Eddie/Dennis but BONUS POINTS for sailor suits) and you can have my soul.

Also very homosexual, and very NAKED so it's going under a cut:

( boyband arse! )

I don't know what's wrong with my idiot computer. It's taking forever just to load an email or LJ page. Roar. I might get another one from work because we're thinking about upgrading there, but since the work computers keep crashing and losing stuff, I'm not sure how helpful that's going to be. Maybe it's just Sage being a bastard. I don't want Sage. I only want Y!M and AIM and PSP and Winamp. ;_;

Too frustrated to function. I think I'm going to make a ham and pickle toastie and watch shit telly. Roooaaar.

GIP.


eta: I found some actual content! Here it is:

I'm so clever I managed to accidentally push the button to defrost the freezerbox at the top of my fridge yesterday morning without realising, so when I got home from work ten hours later everything had melted. NO IDEA HOW THAT HAPPENED. Maybe Ziggy did it, or there's a very strange kind of burglar who doesn't actually steal anything, just gets off on defrosting freezers and imagining the chaos. Luckily there was nothing in there except about twelve Fab ice lollies. THE SAD THING WAS I was very excited to see how they'd refreeze - AND NOW THEY LOOK LIKE ZAPS! But sort of pink instead of yellow. It's magical. Do they still make Zaps? I haven't had one in yeeeaaars. They were amazing.

Usually there's at least a bit of quiet-time between sorting out all the orders taken at the March trade fair and getting all the new stuff ready for the September trade fair, but there's hardly been any at all this year. >.< Mad mad mad mad MAD busy. It's from winning the award again. We knew it'd get a bit crazy, but not this crazy. Oh well. Lots of work = money = YAY. Sanity. Pft. Who needs sanity?

My computer's been SHIT recently. I usually want browser, music, PSP, notepad and IM windows open at the same time, but now it's decided to throw a tantrum and go reeeaaally slow. Music and PSP and IMs keep making it freeze up totally. INFURIATION. I don't know what's wrong. I should try and clear out a bit of memory or something, see if that helps.

Comments-party? Entertain me! I should really be doing useful stuff like tidying up but I'm all headachey and lethargic and really not in the mood. Argh. Needs doing, though. And I should cook something and stop living off beansnbangers on toast. Maybe tomorrow.

I am so tired. I feel like I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks, which is acually true but still. The dinner thing was this afternoon, and it seemed to go well. We had enough food for everyone, and people didn't argue or anything (hey, family gatherings often lead to arguments so that was a yay). I've barely had time to think lately, much less keep up with LJ or road_ahead. I've tried reading RA when I can, and have loved everything I read, but I still feel like I'm so far behind and barely treading water to keep up with the area of my life that I love and enjoy so much (fandom). It's all over now, though, so we'll see how things go from tomorrow forward. It'll be huge changes around here and new routines that will change when my aunt/cousin leave in a week or two and then when I can find a job and all that. I miss RPing and writing, so I'm hoping that I can find time soon to get back into that before I go crazy. I feel sick tonight, some sort of stomach thing that might be stress related for all I know, and I'm just drained.

Thank you to everyone who has commented during all this and sent hugs or things in the post or whatnot. Special thanks to heather11483 and sugarquill39 for the flowers, to florahart for the relaxation package, adamanteve19 for the book/audiobook, and severusslave_76 for the VR Gifts. I'll have more thanks coming soon, I know.

I'm hoping to get some fandom back into this LJ, since it's been a lot of RL lately. *crosses fingers* I hope that all of you have had a great weekend and are doing well. If I've missed anything during the last five or six days, please let me know. I've just been skimming LJ when I've found time. *hugs everyone*

I'm in love with Martin Simpson. *_* My dad's a big fan but I never paid that much attention to him before. GLORY.

Prestatyn Carnival was today. XD I wish they'd stop calling it a carnival. It's a load of dirty trailers with bits of tissue paper stuck to the sides, and girls in ugly bridesmaid dresses sitting in the open boots of cars driving down the high street. SO MANY BATON TWIRLERS AND FOLK DANCERS. I forget I'm living in the land of the eisteddfod now. We had morris-dancing and well-dressing in Derby, but omg the Welsh take this shit SERIOUSLY. One of the marching bands was really good (made me miss Guide parade! *nostalgia*) but the rest, eurgh, embarrassing. It all seems very cringeworthy and AmericaniZed. It's very very beauty-pageant. SKINCRAWL. And people don't know when to give up! Seeing a Ford drive past with its boot open and a late-teenage girl in there who really should be out taking drugs and catching chlamydia, wearing a fugly meringue of a prom dress and a plastic tiara and a sash informing us all that she was the Abergele Empress in 2004... bit sad. Stop now. Give it up.


Cleverness today: burned myself with a soldering iron, dropped my purse so all my change went rolling off down the high street, stood on the poodle and made him screech, knocked a cup of hot tea all over myself (pain not so bad, but looking and feeling like you've pissed yourself is never pleasant), and rammed wire so deep under my nail I had to literally bite through my lip and make it bleed so I wouldn't black out from ~PAIN~ >.< It was just One Of Those Days.


Nothing to do with anything, but WHEN IS MYLEENE KLASS GOING TO MARRY ME?

Act III - Dr. Horrible - My Reaction

JOSS WHEDON!!! OMG!!! T.T

(why are you so amazing?)

I am so tired. In a way, it feels like much more than a day since my Nanny passed away. It was so early on Wednesday morning that we had the entire day full of things we had to do, and, today, we spent the whole day getting things ready for a wake/service type thing that we're doing. She wanted something informal with any family and friends who wanted to drop by, and we managed to get access to the banquet room area of a church nearby for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. She didn't go to church, so she didn't want a service thing, but this room isn't in the main church, so we think it'd be okay. I think that those of you who would want to drop by aren't in this area to attend but, if I'm wrong, let me know and I'll give the address. Someone had asked about sending flowers, but I think I gave the address to that person. Maybe. It's hard to remember right now. If I didn't and you wanted it, let me know. I'll pass it along. *rubs braindead head*

Today was spent arranging for food, buying things needed for serving and all, getting kids clothes/shoes for wake/service thing, getting some flowers so that there are some from us and all. Tomorrow, it's more errands, haircuts for kids, getting groceries, and I don't even know what else. Saturday is baking and fixing a few trays with veggies/fruits that we decided to do ourselves instead of buying already done. Having things to do keeps us busy and makes it easier to deal, in a way.

I'm going to be pretty busy from now until Sunday afternoon, but I'm really looking forward to having some me-time for RPing at road_ahead, which I miss dearly, and even just not feeling exhausted by the time I sit down at night. I want to try to focus on writing that Ronathon fic (yeah, this interrupted my brainstorming for something that would let me write it so the poor winner is still waiting and I suck for losing my muse on it months ago) and the recent auction winner's requests and maybe just some things for myself to let me relax and be creative. I miss writing and RPing and everyone here. *nods*

I hope that everyone is having a great week. I want to thank you all for the kind words and support right now. It means a lot. Also, thanks to the people who have sent me things. They know who they are and I really appreciated the surprises. *hugs everyone* *goes to collapse in exhaustion*

UUUGH. I am not not not starting to get hangovers in my old age (I never get hangovers) but I'm definitely getting more susceptible to the horrors of my kryptonite, red wine. WHY IS IT SO DELICIOUS? Slightly the worse for wear this morning. NOT hungover and not sick, just a bit headachey and fuzzy-mouthed. Blah. Dinner with the adopted grandparents, between attempts to teach them how to use the internet, and it was at their house so the wine just kept flowing. They're the sort who go "OH COME ON, YOU'RE WASTING AWAY, HAVE ANOTHER TWELVE SLICES OF CAKE AND ANOTHER BOTTLE OF WINE, COME ON!" and... cake. Cake is a whole food group on its own. CAKE CAKE CAKE. I have no willpower.

So. Stuffed and drunk wearing epic 5-inch platforms, being walked home by two old people and a toy poodle because nobody was sober enough to drive. FUN TIMES! <3

♥ ( RL )
♥ The auction at livelongnmarry ends tonight or tomorrow. I need to check. Tons of things offered in many, many fandoms. My offer (10 ficlets 500+ words) is here should anyone feel like checking it out.
♥ road_ahead has been just brilliant, as always, and I'm so tired that I can't even keep up with everything happening there right now. I miss it a lot, and I'm looking forward to being awake enough to read some of the great threads that I've skimmed recently. BTW, we're still looking for some cast to apply and possibly join, so if you want to RP with a fantastic group of people (new and experienced) and explore post-canon in a soon to be post-NEWT world, check it out. We'd love to read apps and such.
♥ Hope everyone is doing well. *hugs you all*

!!!

I met El Speth today, on her way to Loughborough! She was not at all smellie, but fragrant and beautiful. We did a tour of all the interesting bits of Derby town centre (approximately a forty-second job), had soup and resisted the urge to crimp, sat in Starbucks and bitched about fandom, and spent far too long in the Disney store swooning over all the High School Musical crap. All the stuff from the first film is on sale, now all the new bits are in! I wanted SO BADLY to buy these Troy and Gabriella dolls. It was only £10 for the two, down from £40. I need to send my sister in to get them quickly before they sell out, I want them. I thought if I file Gabriella's boobs down and give her a '70s lesbian haircut and a different make-up job, and snip a bit of Troy's hair off and stick it on his upper lip, I'll have Vince and Howard dolls I can strip naked and put into nasty positions and photograph and it will be AMAZING. (and creepy)



I have one single photo-face: sarcastic "OH YEAH, I'M HAVING A GOOD TIME!" I actually was this time, I swear! <3333333333

Brother's birthday-party was kind of hideous. He and his girlfriend are always at this pub near her family's house, so they held a BEACH PARTY there, with a barbecue and limbo competition and everything, and it was awful. It was like one of those concentration-camp holidays where you have to go and suffer in the clubhouse every night, and there weren't enough seats and I had five-inch platforms on and whiiiiinge whinge whinge it was pretty miserable, but I drank a lot of Baileys and my sister and I planned my birthday party (she and her boyfriend are coming to mine on the 9th and we're watching all three series and the live show while getting steadily pissed on flirtinis then painting on my living room walls because it'll be a nice fun surprise when we come out of our comas and realise what we've done) so it was okay, sort of. I just hate pubs, unless the company's right.

I had an epic forty-minute nosebleed on the train. D: A nice old lady came at me from every angle at once, somehow, brandishing about a forest's worth of tissues from her bottomless handbag.

BATHTIME NOW. Back in action tomorrow.

His name is Plot.

I made him for my brother's birthday, because Adam's still got Blue Rabbit from when he was a baby but he's too embarrassed to let Eve see, but I like him SO MUCH and Adam won't appreciate him and I really really want to keep him. Argh. XD

.

I made this last night to take to my mum but she's going to have to put up with only getting half a loaf because the other half seems to have accidentally slipped down my gullet. NOM. It is delicious, so DO IT!

( Swiss carrot bread )

I have a cooking-apron from the official Royal Shakespeare Company merchandise range with the Macbeth witches stirring a pot. GEEEK.

.

Going back to Shitville shortly. BOOO. It's never pleasant. I mean, it IS, because of family, but if they didn't live there I would never ever ever go back. The only thing I miss about Derby is the Big Blue coffee shop and their Dime Bar milkshakes. The rest can burn.

I've been an antisocial mess this week. EPIC PMS and I couldn't even really comfort-eat through it because most food still makes me feel sort of queasy. I can't even drink tea. :O Just smelling it turns my stomach. Chocolate makes me want to throw up, and ice cream, and biscuits, and everything. It's just watery soup and lots of dry toast and litres of water and plenty of fruit, and now this carrot bread. A good thing, really. XD And then this morning I woke up in a pool of snotty nose-blood, which is just what you really really want when you're dying of cheesegrater. WHINGE WHINGE WHINGE, I WILL STOP NOW. Mum-cuddles make everything better!

This post is more about my RL. It'll be under a cut. I'll likely ramble again. *hugs to everyone*

( Sigh )