It's been so long since I have logged in here that they made me reset my flipping password. *Annoying*

2020 did not hit us too hard, as we are still living on the farm, Jayson is still in his job and extremely unlikely to lose it, and the kids are still homeschooled. So not too much changed, since our homeschool group kinda fizzed out a year before the whole 2020 debacle. We just go into town less often.

I hope all the friends who have fallen out of touch with me are safe and healthy and stay that way. I am still around, and just wanted to let people know, if they try to contact me through LJ.

I've gotten back into sewing, I have a miniature project that I am working on, I relearned my joy of cross-stitch doing presents for people this past Yule, and I learned a little about beekeeping in 2020. I am planning several historical dresses, one mideaval and one regency at least. doing the regency stays will probably be the trickiest part of the whole plan. I have a chemise made and am working on a petticoat. I need to find my corset that still fits before I can work on some later projects.

I am going to try and update here at least once a month this year

I hope this works. I am going to try to post some pictures and a video from when we went to the Henson exhibit at the museum.












Big photo dump. I'm going to try the video again. Nope, won't let me. I get an error message. Too bad.

But since I am not, I thought that I would post an update.

My niece has her birthday party tonight. It's Drive-In themed at my mom's house. She is staying there while my sister is at college out of town. They were both staying there with my uncle last year, but there were a lot of issues with her school, and how they sent her to counseling without informing my sister and a bunch of other stuff.

So we are going to that. Jayson is going to drop us off on his way to work, and Mom will bring us back after.

Xander has gotten back into Veggie Tales. I wish I could find our copy of Lord of the Beans or The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. No idea where they have gotten to. Seth really likes Choose Your Own Adventure books. And Wishbone, since I found some episodes on YouTube. I wish they would put that up on one of the streaming sites because YouTube does not have that much and the quality is iffy. It was a good show. We have 3 Wishbone books that I got in a bin of books from my stepmom when she and my dad were cleaning off their carport. They were her classroom library books from her teaching days. Some I already had, some I did not. I am keeping about half of them and donating the rest to the thrift store that helps support the local children's group home.

In other news, we have been invaded by fire ants and the other night they were biting me in my bed when I was trying to go to sleep. So I am about ready to resort to pesticides around the house. I will just have to hope that the lizards don't eat any of the bait. I like the lizards, but the ants have gone too far. And the ant bait traps from Walmart do not work at all.

And it's a Full Moon tonight! The Harvest Moon! So that hardly ever happens, and this has never been an unlucky day for me, so I'm not worried.

Also, it is my LiveJournal friend devifemme birthday today! So Happy Birthday to you! I hope you have a wonderful day!

I have grocery shopping to do today and children who are wondering what the big deal about Friday 13th is. Fortunately, I got an email that explains the history of the superstitions around it today. Convenient.

Also happening this weekend, my sister will be dyeing my hair in the "Galaxy" style. Should look amazing. I will try to post pictures. Which reminds me I need to upload the stuff on my phone and post some of those.

Hope everyone has a lovely day!

First of all, I would just like to say that I hope all my friends along the east coast are staying safe from the storms.

Secondly, I had a little adventure this morning. I was just leaving to go register the boys with the attendance officer, and I had already pulled out onto the road when I saw a big brown lizard looking at me through the windshield! I was surprised, but fortunately, I was not past Uncle Kim's driveway yet, so I pulled in there and herded it off the car. It ran kind of under the back end of the car, so I hope it got out of the way when I pulled out. He was a lovely big lizard, about 8 inches long I think.

Got the boys all registered, so done with that paperwork until next year. Then I went to the grocery store because we needed milk, juice, water, sandwich meat, and yogurt. And I got chocolate chip muffins because they had some on the clearance baked goods rack. I got bananas too. Lucked out and managed to get 6 loaves of the good bread from the bread store. Now I can make cucumber sandwiches.

Watched Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It was great. I kinda hope they have another season in the works. Jayson said that he saw a review that said it "lacked depth" I said "Compared to what? The Challenger Deep?" Plenty of depth in that show. Makes me want to watch the original movie again. We were having a timeline argument about how far after the series the movie happens. Also, the big wormy things were making me want to watch the old school Dune again.

Gotta go work on reducing the pile of laundry some more. I hope all of Xander's clothes are done, I don't think I can squeeze any more shirts or pants into his drawers.

Just trying to get the boys back in the swing of school. Gotta get them registered with the attendance officer.

Working on getting the house clean and organized. Got a big pile of laundry I am working through. Sorting out all the baby clothes that are too small for l'il bit, I am going to donate them. Clearing out some stuff that does not fit me anymore, or "spark joy" like the Marie Kondo fans say. Still trying to find all the matches to my socks. I know they are in this house somewhere.

Netflix is calling me, but I can't watch the Dark Crystal series without Jayson, because we started watching it together, so I have to wait for his next night off. The New season of Agents of SHEILD dropped too, so there is that one. And I am in the middle of three books, but I have got to get the housework handled first. Too many things sucking up my time. Gotta prioritize. The boys' school and housework need to come first.

Splurged a little bit on a Squishable sale. One for each of the boys, and one bigger one (that is retiring and was almost sold out) for me. Duo got the Mini Seagull with Captain's Hat, Seth got the Mini Manatee, and Xander got the Mini Chocolate Milk carton. I got the Soft Serve Swirl Ice Cream Cone.

Duo has been doing pretty well with his schoolwork, although he is ignoring his math. I'm not going to fight about it now. We can work on other stuff for the time being. Advantage of sort of un-schooling, and living in MS, where the regulations allow for flexibility in home-study programs.

I can't believe Duo is 14 now! He is taller than I am, and will probably be taller than Jayson by the time he is 18. Crazy. He just had his birthday, and I think it was a pretty good one. He got at least a few presents he liked, and two pies. Plus the Squishable he is getting. He is collecting the Birbs. I collect the Unicorns and the Comfort Foods. I really would like the Massive Avocado, but that is sadly out of budget range.

I should really go put away some clean laundry and get to bed.

My dreams, I should start by saying, are always weird. Some more so than others. This was probably normal level weird except for the person involved.

So I was helping Gaia (the goddess) on her quest to save the planet from Mankind's destruction. There were other deities involved, but that part is all fuzzy. There was one guy with a huge backpack and a pet pig who was doing recon/spy work for Gaia, but that is all I remember about that. So me and Gaia were good friends, and she was dating this guy who was basically Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Who at one point decided to try and seduce me (which was weird because my dreams hardly ever go towards sexy times, or not the ones I remember anyway) and he compliments my intelligence (because who doesn't like to be appreciated for more than their appearance right?) and he's in this big bed (Gaia had just left after I delivered a report) and I was sitting on the edge of the bed and he runs his fingers up the back of my scalp, which is totally a thing with me, head scritches are the best. And I won't lie, there was some mutual attraction there, but my libido does not control me. So I backed up and said, "Look, you are dating Gaia and she is like my best friend, and I would NEVER do that to her, and secondly, I am happily married and I would never to that to him either."

So then I left the room and went to round up my kids, who were hanging around. And then the 4 yo needed the toilet so we went looking for one, and since it was a dream, all the bathrooms had rows of toilets with no stall doors or walls, and half of them were nasty and filthy, but eventually we found one, and he peed and then we went to leave and were going to walk home through the city and that was when I woke up.

My dreams are weird. I prefer the Loki dreams where we are always heisting really randomly weird shit.

Tired but can't sleep, got stuff to do. Lots has happened (little stuff, but lots). I need to eat before I go to bed, and baby boy is sleeping already so I really need to hit the hay.

Re-arranging the living room, hopefully getting new bookcases (we really need them) and then I can get the books off the stacks on the floor where they are now.

Primary day was --- interesting. They had the Democrats filling out the computer form, but the Republicans were doing the written ballots. Smelled awfully fishy to me.

Cat has worms. Caught him pooping some out and he ran off with some dangling out of his butthole and I had to chase him through the house. They have both been dosed with de-wormer, and I am confining them to the bathroom until further notice. I dunno how they could have gotten worms, they have never been outside! Ugh. So nasty.

Food, toilet, and bed for me now.

Until next time.

So the primary elections are today, and I am planning to go, assuming the Navy Base ever turns my husband loose so we can go vote. They are having drills today, after the twelve hour shift last night, and the meeting he thought was at 1 pm but wasn't until 3, so he got very little sleep yesterday and he is scheduled to work tonight too, and I hope the asshat who put them on 12 hour shifts gets pesticide resistant crotch lice.

So you don't have to register to a party to vote here. But you only get to vote in one group, not for both sides. And you can only vote in the runoff (if there is one) of the party who you voted for in the primary. Anyway, they do NOT make it easy to find your district online. So I still have no clue which state rep it is because there are 122 districts and ZERO maps online that I can find. Lame.

Starting the boys back to school work this week, now that I have finally gotten little bit onto a mostly daytime schedule. He slept until 2:30 am this morning. Hopefully we can make it later than that tonight. If I can just keep him up until about 6 pm, and me too.

The older boys keep trying to get me to go play Fallen London. They are both hooked. But I have enough time consuming games, with Diggy's Adventure, June's Journey, and my newest (yesterday) Lily's Garden. Plus I play Emoji Blitz, although that is starting to feel like slogging, and I'll let one of the boys play for me half the time.

I think I forgot to mention that we have kittens. From the same litter, a friend has a female cat who got out because their landlord left the door open. One of the people they were going to give a kitten to backed out at the last minute, so we got 2. They are both boys, black with greenish eyes. One has grey bits on his ears and some tiny white bits scattered in his fur, the other is all black except for a white patch on his belly at the hind end. We named them Loki and Hod. They are appalling little shits. OMG, they poop more in one day than Oliver did in a week, I swear. But I finally got them litter box trained. Or mostly. They still occasionally pee on the floor outside the box. And we have fleas, because PetCo no longer sells the flea pills for cats. Dammit. We are going to have to take them to the vet to get the pills now. They keep trying to hop in my lap when I am on the toilet. Very annoying. It's fun to watch them chase the red dot. They can be quite entertaining when they aren't being obnoxious poop monsters. I probably would not have agreed to take both of them if I had realized how much more food and poop two make. It is not a 1+1, it is exponential. Still working on teaching them that the cat tree is the only thing they are allowed to sharpen their claws on. And I have to keep after the boys to keep papers off the floor, b/c they think that means it's a good place to pee.

We got Descendants 3 in the mail yesterday (I had pre-ordered it) but I was exhausted and fell asleep around 4, so we haven't watched it yet. Should probably go do that now. And I need to find out who ate my PB Twix that was in the fridge. It was there last night, and I know it wasn't little bit. Seth claims he doesn't like Twix and I asked Jayson, and he said he didn't, and if he had he would have copped to it and promised to buy me another one. Which leaves Duo.

So this is the first post I have made anywhere (except some retweets on Twitter) in months. I ditched FaceButt, and meant to go over to MeWe, but no one I really know was really over there much, so it wasn't all that pressing. Or interesting. (Also these creeper guys kept trying to friend me. If your profile pic is a dick pic? I'm not gonna accept your request, I'm gonna block you.)

I lost the last real life girl friend I had in the state. She split over irreconcilable differences, and decided to pretend to still be my friend but never invite us to any of her family events anymore, none of her kid's birthday parties, not her wedding party, nothing. So when Seth saw the newest post from her little girl's birthday party and cried his poor little heart out, I unfriended her on FB, deleted her info from my phone, and did my best to forget about her. Only heard from her once, when she was looking for someone to buy her P.O.S. van. Apparently we are only friends when she wants money from me. And now that her oldest is old enough to babysit, she doesn't need me anymore and dropped me like a hot coal.

So, I've lost most of my old FB friends too, if they weren't on MeWe, although I let everyone know I was going over there. I have a permanent account here though, and no clue how to transfer all my stuff elsewhere, even if I wanted to.

We got four baby goats born this year, and only one lousy mama. The survivor of that set of twins with a lousy mama went to my mom's house, where my sister was taking care of it. The boys go out to feed the animals and check on the goats every day, but I still have to remind them and make sure. We had a bumper crop of blueberries, and the figs came in early, but nobody wants to pick them. LOL. They like to eat the stuff I make, but they don't like to put in the work to get it. Makes me feel like the Little Red Hen some days.

Work has Jason on 12 hour shifts, so- fun (sarcasm). He may or may not rank up to Captain soon. The people on base would like if the brass did give him the job, but it's not really up to the people in the field or even lower level management. And the top level management frequently has shit for brains.

Seth is reading more and enjoying it. He is starting to learn guitar.
Duo is all angsty teenage moodiness. I will be glad when that passes. Sometimes he's not too bad, but others . . . Ugh.
Xander walks the fine line between adorableness and driving me up the freakin wall. He got an abcessed tooth (which I feel terrible about, even though the dentist says it happens to some kids no matter what) and we are having to shell out $2k+ to get his teeth fixed. He had some cavities in other teeth too. Now the tooth is out though, the kid is eating almost constantly. He is SO HUNGRY. So more tooth brushing, and we go back to the dentist for the placeholder and the rest of the fillings in a few weeks. They are super busy in the summer, appointments are hard to get. It should be easier once school starts though. Which is good, because I think Seth has a cavity too. Dammit.

I have a reading list that is probably as tall as I am, and I am working through it slowly. I need to go through all the boxes in the house and donate all the baby stuff and probably throw some stuff out, and just generally see what we can get rid of because we really do not have room. Even the attic is pretty darn full. Even if a lot of that is Halloween decorations. We need a bigger house. And more bookshelves. But that is extremely unlikely unless I win the PCH sweepstakes, which I have been entering faithfully. Cross your fingers for me, unless you are in it too. In which case, I hope if I don't win, that you do.

So our good friend Andy is getting married next week on Samhain. It's a theme wedding, looks like it will be very cool.

Boys are mostly doing well. Duo likes to try and skip out on his schoolwork, but I don't let him. Seth is spending the night at Papaw's tonight because tomorrow they are going out to see them turn sugar cane into syrup. So he gets an educational field trip. Xander is a bossy little thing. He likes to throw a fit when he does not get what he wants RIGHT THEN. He'll be three this December. Still not speaking much English. His favorite show is Clangers at the moment, though he will watch other things sometimes. Like Wonder Pets. He knows the important words like: Cookie, Cake, Ice Cream, and Blast off! He also knows Apple, which he says for all fruit, and Pancake dog, and cup.

I delved back into the realm of fanfiction (reading rather more than writing) and have discovered lots of excellent finished works, and one or two sadly unfinished, and three years after the last posting date, looking unlikely ever to be finished.

Xander is a night owl, hence my posting at 2 a.m.

Very much looking forward to the Ragnarok movie coming out next month. Next week, actually. Me and Jayson are going to make a date night of it.

It's gotten so dead on LJ. If I didn't have a permanent account I would give it up. No one replies or reads my posts hardly at all.

It's been over ten days since I posted the second chapter in my story and the people who said they would beta read it still have not done so, or at least have not said anything to me about it. I guess I am just writing for my own edification then. Oh well.

Jayson's birthday was Sunday, we ate out at Logan's. Watched Crimson Peak. Had fun. He liked his present. He has one more that hasn't gotten here yet. We got Cards Against Humanity today. It looks like it will be lots of fun if we can ever get together with other adults to play it.

Duo's birthday is on Friday. He will be 12. ARGH!! How the heck did that happen? Time just goes by so fast! He's getting Legos and a Nintendo DS game. And a thing of caramels. They are his favourite.

We have a vacation planned for Sept. So only about three more weeks until that.

Day 2
PB&J

Loki spent most of the night in the chair, getting up once to drink the rest of the soup, get more water, use the facilities, and find a book. He was restless and felt like pacing but with every bone in his body aching, ribs worst of all, not to mention his side, it seemed better to be still. So he created an illusion of himself to do it for him. That made him feel a tiny bit better. He took the time to examine his surroundings. The floor was bare concrete. Besides the chair he was already thinking of as his, there was a battered looking sofa and two bunk beds by the wall. One door opened into a small bathing chamber, another to a room with a larger bed, stripped of linens. There was a shelf with books, and a kitchen area with a stove, cabinets, and ice box.

He watched himself pace as he puzzled over the mystery of the Emily girl. Why was she aiding him when she was so clearly terrified, not of him specifically, but he suspected, men in general. Midgard history was full of mortals attempting to destroy anything they feared. What was her motivation for helping a stranger? He fell asleep still puzzling over it only to fall into the nightmare of the Void. When he finally tore himself free from it, his throat was raw from screaming and his too slowly healing muscles ached from the tension. He did not manage to relax enough to doze off again until dawn.

* * *

Emily was up, showered, dressed, and almost done making a big stack of sandwiches, before the rest of the family was even out of bed. She had over half the sandwiches packed in a bag and was pouring milk into the biggest Thermos they had when her mom came downstairs.

"I thought I heard you down here. Do you really need that much milk?"

"They're PB&J's mom, I don't want to risk running out of milk before I run out of peanut butter," Emily said, tucking the remainder of the sandwiches and the Thermos into the bag and closing it before her mother saw how much food there really was.

"I see you're all ready to head out," her mom said, looking her over with that gaze all moms seemed to have, designed to ferret secrets out of children who were up to something.

It would not work on her today. "Yep," Emily said cheerfully. "I'll be back to check in first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe we could have pancakes?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure thing sweetie," her mom said with a smile.

"And bacon, lots of bacon."

"You can never have too much bacon," her mom agreed.

"Amen to that," her dad said, coming in to the kitchen and kissing his wife. "Remember to watch out for snakes, Em."

"Yessir." She pulled on her hiking backpack with the sleeping bag strapped on and picked up the bag that had all the food. In addition to the sandwiches she had a smaller thermos with orange juice, 4 apples, and a few little boxes of raisins. She stopped off at the chicken coop to snag 6 eggs which she carefully placed in a box full of shredded paper she had in her pack. As she trekked towards the camp-house, she thought her spiking pulse might be due more to anticipation than fear, and wondered when that had changed.

When she reached the camp-house she crept up and quietly opened the door, half fearing yesterday's events had all been in her imagination. She sighed softly in relief when she saw him asleep in the recliner. He looked younger when he was asleep. She moved quietly into the kitchen, placing her bags silently on the table. He needed rest, and she of all people understood how elusive sleep could be.

He woke to the light brush of a fingertip on the back of his hand. Emily stood in front of him peering at him through her hair, as usual. "I'm sorry to wake you up but I made some scrambled eggs for you and they aren't very good when they're cold." She moved to help him to the table, still talking in that whispery tone which seemed to be the only one she used. "I'd bring a plate to you in the chair, but if you don't move your muscles will stiffen up and hurt more later." It sounded like she spoke from personal experience, he thought. He did not really need her aid to get the few feet from the chair to the table, but he allowed her to take his arm. As he sat down he realized the soup he had eaten last night had not been nearly enough. Emily's eyes widened at the speed the eggs disappeared, and quickly went to scramble the other three as Loki drained the glass of water she'd placed on the table. He practically inhaled the second batch the instant she scraped them onto his plate. "That's all of them," Emily said with no small amount of awe. If you're still hungry I have some packs of instant oatmeal, I just have to heat up some water. And I have some apples."

"I'll have an apple while the water heats up then," Loki replied. He knew he would need to eat a good deal more to regain his full strength and heal properly.

Emily handed him the apple and put the kettle on the stove. While it heated and Loki ate the apple much more slowly than he had the eggs, she got out a bowl and emptied two oatmeal packets into it. "How is the apple?" He had been chewing every bite slowly and thoughtfully, and he was still half finished already.

"It's good. Nothing like Iduna's apples of course, but quite tasty."

"Who is Iduna?"

"She tends the apple orchards in Asgard. They have the best apples there." He had been lying when he said the apple was tasty, it was barely edible, with no real flavour and the texture was awful. Contrary to what some believed however, he could be polite when he wished. The eggs had been quite good, but he suspected the concoction she was making now would have more in common with the apple. No one in any of the realms he had been to had ever managed to make anything instant more than edible. Quality took both time and skill.

The water was done heating by the time Loki had finished choking down the less than satisfactory apple. He regarded her actions with interest, as she mixed in the water, and sprinkled some sort of spice over it before mixing that in also. She placed the bowl in front of him. It smelled surprisingly pleasant.

"I added some cinnamon. Instant oatmeal isn't the greatest, but you looked so hungry I didn't think you would want to wait for me to cook some. It takes a long time to do properly," she said, unconsciously echoing his earlier thought.

He tasted it cautiously and found it not too bad for an instant food. "This will do. You were right about my not wanting to wait. The cinnamon does improve it," he said between bites. She asked him if he would like some orange juice. When he nodded, she poured him a glass. He sipped at first, then gulped it down finding it surprisingly refreshing.

Emily looked pleased before her dangling locks hid her expression. "I juiced the oranges this morning. Fresh is much better than store-bought."

The food had taken the edge off his hunger, although he was far from sated. He hesitated to ask for anything more, he had imposed upon her hospitality enough. He said only,"Thank you for the food, fair one. You have truly been a most gracious hostess." He decided it was rather fun making Emily blush. She turned a most becoming shade of pink when he complimented her.

Emily fidgeted uncertainly. Now what do we do? Her guts were still calm and her pulse wasn't jumping nearly as high as yesterday. Her mind was still screaming DANGER at her, but she found it was a little easier to ignore. She asked,"What would you like to do now?"

He considered her question carefully for a moment, before he said,"What I would really like is to get cleaned up. Unfortunately I have no other clothing."

The corners of Emily's mouth quirked up for a second. "I actually thought of that." She pulled a faded black t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants out of her pack. "I hope these will be alright."

Loki smiled at her. "They look serviceable enough. It is very generous of you to supply me with clothing as well as food and shelter. Truly I am in your debt my lady."

She blushed again,"It was no trouble, really. We'll need to change your bandages afterward though." She thought it would be a relief to get him covered up. She was finding his bare chest oddly distracting, in spite of the bruising which had begun to appear on his ribs.

"Of course." He moved to rise and she stepped quickly to his side to help. "I can manage on my own," he told her gently. "I know it is difficult for you to be so close to me."

She gazed up at him as he leaned slightly on the table for balance. "It's not so bad."

He could tell she was lying, but he shrugged, flinched as the movement pulled strained muscles, and replied, "As my lady wishes," sparking another blush which she hid behind her hair. His fingers itched with the desire to brush it back. He held himself perfectly still as she slipped her hands around his arm for support. He hardly needed her support, the food was already speeding his recovery. When they arrived he said reluctantly,"I may require assistance removing my boots." He did not fail to hear her sharp intake of breath when he said "removing", nor the sigh of relief which followed the word boots. He sat on the lid of what she called a "commode" and she knelt before him, tugging his boots off with ease.

She put the boots outside the door, showed him which knob was hot and which for cold water, and speedily exited. He peeled his trousers off with difficulty and no small pain from the required contortions. He turned on the water of the "shower", adjusted the temperature, and stepped into the spray of water. He moved slowly, as he had no desire to further inflame his injury. As he scrubbed himself clean he thought he must be losing his sanity, why should he be so concerned for her feelings when she would surely think him a monster if she saw his true face. Was he as much a fool as Thor, to allow a mortal woman to bewitch him so? On that road lay nothing but heartache. As soon as he recovered, he would leave. That would be best. He couldn't possibly get attached to the mortal in the two or three days it should take to heal.

By the time he had finished washing, drying, and pulled on the loose, soft trousers provided, he was shaking with exhaustion and his side was bloody. He opened the door and leaned heavily against the door-frame. As soon as Emily saw his deathly pale face she hurried over and half carried him to the recliner. The medical kit was already there, so she briskly stripped off the old bandages and replaced them with new ones, too focused on her task to flinch at some accidental skin contact.
Loki leaned back into the chair gratefully and closed his eyes. A few moments later he felt a soft warm hand on his brow and opened his eyes to meet a pair of worried blue ones a mere hand-span from his face. He must look even worse than he felt for her to come so close and be so concerned.

"Loki, you feel very cold. I'm going to get you a blanket." Emily ran into the other room and came back with a purple sleeping bag. It was hers, but he needed it more. She unzipped it and tucked it around him where he reclined, eyes half shut, breathing much too shallowly and quickly for her peace of mind. She saw that his hair was still soaking wet and ran to grab a towel. She brought it back and carefully began to towel dry his hair.

She thought he was asleep until he said,"That feels nice." She jumped, startled.

"Are you warmer now? You could still go into shock, with as much blood as you've lost." She continued drying his hair with the towel.

"It is not that. My normal temperature is just colder than yours. Nothing to worry about really." He felt her warm hand against his forehead again, and opened his eyes once more. "Honestly. I just need to rest and I will be perfectly fine."

She looked at him doubtfully.

"Some more soup might help," he said, when it became obvious she would not accept his answer. She went to heat up more soup and while it was heating she returned to drying his hair, as gently as when she had thought him asleep. By the time she had gotten most of the moisture out of his hair, the soup was ready. She handed him the mug and went to wash all the dirty dishes. Loki sipped the warm liquid slowly. It was more the hunger than his temperature which was the problem, he knew. Cold had never really bothered him. When he had finished the soup in his hand, Emily refilled the mug.

"If you are still hungry, I brought sandwiches," Emily told him.

"Famished," he replied.

She gave him her tiny smile, and two of the meat and cheese sandwiches. They were wrapped in waxed paper held shut with yellow flower stickers. Loki raised his eyebrows a bit when he saw them.

"It was what I had handy,"she said, blushing. It was so easy to make her blush.

He ate slowly but steadily. These were much better than the oatmeal. When he finished, she handed him another, with a purple flower sticker on it this time. Then she gave him a glass of milk. He opened the wrapper. He wasn't certain what this was, it did not look like anything he had seen before. "What filling is this? Jam and . . .?"

She gaped at him. "Haven't you ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before?" She sounded as though she could not believe such a thing was possible.

"This is the first I have heard of it,"he replied, sniffing the sandwich cautiously. It smelled marvelous.

"Where the heck is Asgard that you've never heard of a PBJ?!"

A flicker of sadness passed over his face. "Very far from here indeed." Then he took a bite. It was divine, even better than it smelled. He could eat a dozen and still want more, he thought. As he chewed, he began to notice it was sticky as well as delicious.

Emily was watching his face, and told him, "Have some of the milk. It helps. You should always have some milk when you eat peanut butter. I can't believe you've never had it before. I thought they had peanut butter everywhere, even Australia."

"Not in Asgard. Although if I have any say in the matter is is a deficit which will be remedied in the future."

Emily smiled behind her hair. A real smile, still small, but not her usual ghost of a smile. "So you like it then?"

"I do indeed. Do you have any more?"

"Yes." She brought him three, which left two PBJ's and six meat and cheese for later.

"Are you not going to eat?"

"I will, I wanted to make sure you were alright first. I can see you are feeling better now."

"Food helps the healing process."

Emily got herself half a PBJ, half an apple, and a glass of milk. She then sat on the floor in front of Loki's chair.

Loki eyed her portion sizes disapprovingly. "That cannot possibly be enough. I will not deprive you of your sustenance."

"You're not. I admit you're eating more than I expected, but I haven't given you any of the food I planned to eat myself."

He scowled at her a bit. "That is not enough food, even for one so small as you."

Emily set the sandwich down. She hated it when people remarked on how small she was. She met his gaze, and said calmly, "I had a big breakfast and it's still early for lunch. I'm only eating now to keep you company."

Loki felt the righteous indignation which had been building up inside him abruptly drain away. "Oh." Then he wondered why he even cared how much she ate and told himself it was only because he needed her assistance until he healed. He hoped that would be soon. He hated having to rely on anyone, but especially a mortal. This mortal in particular, he found extremely disconcerting.

They continued eating in somewhat strained silence. When they had both finished their food, Emily cleared away the paper and the cups. Then she said, "You should try to get some more rest."

"You are probably correct," Loki responded.

"You'll probably be more comfortable if you reclined the chair," Emily said.

"What?" he asked, looking perplexed.

She returned his puzzled look, and showed him the lever on the side that lifted the footrest.

"Yes, I see how this could be quite comfortable."

"I'm going to go outside for a bit and let you rest. I won't be far, if you need anything."

"Alright."

Emily slipped quietly out the door and Loki watched her go with mixed emotion. Then he took a few careful deep breaths, testing how his ribs and side were healing. Not as bad as yesterday, or even this morning. He settled himself into the reclining chair as comfortably as he could and before too long he was fast asleep.

Emily walked alongside her streamlet, letting the forest soothe her turmoil, as it had so often before. Loki was quite a puzzle. He was so strange, and how could he not know peanut butter? And why did he stir up emotions inside her that she had not felt in years, in fact had thought never to feel again? Those feelings frightened her in a way that Loki did not. She had a therapy appointment day after tomorrow. She wasn't sure how much she would be able to say without getting in a blazing mess of trouble. Dr/Patient confidentiality or not, she was technically a minor for 3 more weeks and Dr. ________ would definitely tell her parents. And then someone would come and haul him off to Hospital and she would never see him again. She wasn't sure what had made her think that. But she didn't like the idea of never seeing him again. There was just something about him. That sadness in his eyes when he spoke of where he was from. As if he could never go back. The way he had been all worried that she'd given him her food. And now she was perturbed. What did she know about him really, other than he had never had peanut butter before, and he could make her blush like she was 13 and innocent again. And of course the truly momentous thing. Her guts didn't twist up in knots even when she touched him. That had to mean something, even if she didn't know what.

It was getting late. She should head back. She peeked through the screen door and saw Loki was still asleep. So she decided to sit out on the porch edge for a while. After some time of sitting in silent contemplation, she began to sing softly to herself.

Loki awoke to the sound of a light soprano voice nearby. He opened his eyes, but Emily was not to be seen. He carefully got up, feeling improvement in his side already. He crept stealthily towards the open door. She was outside. He stopped just inside the doorway. He could see her on the porch. It was a pretty little tune she sang, but sad, rather like its singer. He listened carefully and heard: "Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound." It was a lovely sad little song, and Emily sang it beautifully. He waited until she was finished before saying,"That was exquisite. You have a lovely voice."

Emily whipped around to face him, startled eyes wide. "I'm sorry I woke you, I didn't think you would hear me out here."

"Apologies are unnecessary. It is very pleasant to awaken to a lovely song such as that." She had her hair tucked back behind her ears for once. This was the clearest view he had ever gotten of her face, so he took a moment to study it before she hid again. Her wide, bright blue eyes, eyebrows a few shades lighter than her hair. Her chin was softly rounded, but not weak. Her mouth though. Now he could see it clearly, he couldn't stop himself from staring. The top lip was smaller, with a bow's curve, while the bottom lip was fuller, not quite to pouting. It was one of the most kissable mouths he had seen in at least 100 years.

She reddened under his gaze, and finally remembered her hair was back. She untucked it and let it swing forward, but it was too late, the damage was done. Loki hoped whoever had caused her to hide herself away as she did was suffering indescribable torments at this very moment.

There remained an awkward silence between them until dinner. They ate the rest of the sandwiches, Emily taking one of the meat and cheese, leaving all the PBJ's to Loki, since he liked them so much. Also there was soup, and Emily had a little box of raisins. It transpired Loki did not know those either.

"In Asgard grapes swiftly become wine. They are never left long enough to dry out this way. These are rather tasty."

Emily kept giving him puzzled glances from the corner of her eye. She was beginning to feel as though she had slipped into some sort of Twilight Zone.

Loki pretended to ignore her, while perusing a book called Dune. It held some interesting premises, and should serve to pass an hour or so if he could not fall asleep later.

Emily went to take a shower, locked the door, washed quickly, got into her PJs, and came out to tell Loki she was going to bed. He insisted she take her sleeping bag back. She found him a blanket in the bedroom closet. Then she set herself up on the floor between the bed and the wall opposite the door.

"Good night, Emily."

"Good night, Loki."

Soon they both drifted off to the chorus of frogs and crickets, trying not to remember their pain filled pasts.

Well, here goes, the first chapter of the longest story I have ever written, I think. I'm writing chapter 3 currently. It is a Marvel Cinematic Alternate Universe, taking place after the events of the first Thor movie, and set before Avengers.


Loki Fic AU
Day 1: Fate Lays a Tricky Path

He fell endlessly through the void of the universe suffering incalculable agonies of body and soul. His entire life, his self turned upside down and ripped to shreds by Odin's callous, "Your destiny was to die as a child!"

For a very long time, how long he could not tell, he knew nothing but the pain, excruciating, endless. Until suddenly it stopped. He awoke in a forest, in what realm he knew not. There were several with woodlands such as these. There was not, as far as he could ascertain, a single fiber of his being that did not ache. But the firy agony in his side was the worst. When he worked up the energy to look, he saw a branch at least two finger widths in diameter sticking out from his side just above his left hipbone. He gave a low hiss as the pain in his side spiked sharply with his movement. He steeled himself before jerking the impaling stick free of his flesh, his hands slick with blood from the freshly opened wound, and he slid once more into oblivion.

It was late afternoon when next he awoke, full of raging thirst triggered in part by the faint sound of flowing water. He levered himself upright, holding his right hand over his wound to staunch the blood-flow. He staggered unsteadily from tree to tree in the direction of the sound that had become the sole focus of his thoughts. When he reached it he found little more than a trickle, a finger length deep at most, but clear, cold, and utterly refreshing on the parched flesh of his lips and throat. He drank deep, his face in the water, heedless of his increasingly damp hair. If ever he had tasted anything better, he could not just now recall.
His thirst slaked, he began to carefully remove his tattered jacket and shirt, the better to tend his wound. The shirt was all but ruined anyway so should do as a makeshift bandage once torn into strips. With much wincing and a fair amount of cursing, Loki finally divested himself of the offending garments. The wound did not go all the way through. A small mercy. It hurt, but not so very much more than the rest of him. He did not think it had done any truly severe damage, and if he had not been so battered and weary from his long fall through the void, he likely would have been able to shrug it off as a minor nuisance.

* * *

She walked softly though the shadows of the forest, relaxing more with every step that increased the distance between herself and the rest of humanity. Trees were much nicer than people. She rounded the hill next to her streamlet, believing herself the only person for at least a mile and froze with a sudden sharp intake of breath, fear sending an icy bolt through her core as she beheld the shirtless man standing there in her forest, as if he and not her family owned the place. She hesitated, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights, uncertain of which way to run. Then she saw he was injured. "Oh," she whispered. Ten feet away his face snapped towards her at the sound, eyes full of pain, and just a hint of fear. It was his eyes that made her decide not to flee after all. She said softly, "Let me help you."

Loki's eyes snapped up at the sound of an in-drawn breath, a barely gasped "oh", cursing himself for his weakness, for failing to notice someone approaching. And then he saw her eyes, widened in suprise and no small amount of fear, blue as the summer sky. He was so focused on looking at her, determining if she was a threat, that it took him a few moments to register what she had said. He snarled out raspily, "Why would you want to help me?"

She flinched at the harsh sound of his voice, bursting with pain and rage. Her mind was screaming that she should run, but though her pulse had jumped, her guts were calm. After what had happened . . . Before, she placed a great deal more faith in her gut than her head. She took a moment to think how best to phrase her reply. She swallowed hard to put her racing heart back down where it belonged and said quietly, "This is my place, and that makes you my responsibility. Let me help you. Please." She took a step closer. Her hands began to tremble with the strain of deliberately approaching a strange man. "I have a first aid kid at the camp-house. It isn't far from here. We can get your wound cleaned and bandaged." She took another slow small step forward, her eyes still locked on his. He hadn't moved a muscle since she started speaking. She wasn't sure that he had even taken a breath.

Loki let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding, as he decided the girl was not a threat. Even in his weakened state he could easily snap her fragile form in two if he desired. Now he was more concerned with the mystery of why she was approaching him at all when she was obviously frightened of him. He felt an irrational desire to tell her she was safe with him. He fought it down and said simply, "As you wish then," in tones much less harsh than his first words to her. She was close enough now that Loki could have stretched out his hand and touched her. For some reason he felt she would bolt if he made any sudden moves. She put him in mind of a deer, the way she paused after every step, waiting for him to what? attack? He held himself as still as possible. Her offer was genuine. Accomplished liar that he was, he could sense the truth in her.

As she stepped in close to his right, she broke their locked gaze and lowered her eyes to the ground. Her pulse, which had been pounding so loudly in her ears she thought surely he could hear it too, immediately settled back down to something at least approaching normal. She finally noticed the torn shirt in his hands. "I can help support you from this side if you can hold that to your wound until we get there. It isn't far," she repeated softly. She felt a little more calm now that she wasn't meeting his disconcerting green gaze.

"Can you hold me up, do you think?" he asks softly, nothing in his voice now but pain and a bit of concern.

"I'm stronger than I look. Lean on me if you need to."

Loki did not think she looked very strong at all. The top of her head barely reached the middle of his chest. She let her red-gold hair fall across her face, obscuring her vision, and his view. Even though it was summer, she wore a long sleeved baggy shirt and those trousers Midgardeans called "blue jeans" with quite sensible boots. He held his battered shirt tight to his side as she gently and cautiously slid one hand around the back of his right arm, the other under his elbow, to give support if needed. Her hands were soft, and pleasantly warm.

She pointed the way and they stumbled off, Loki requiring far more of her assistance than he would ever admit, acknowledging to himself that this fragile seeming creature was indeed stronger than she at first appeared. They were both pale and shaking by the time they reached the camp-house. Loki found himself helped into a raggedy looking but surprisingly comfortable chair. The girl went to retrieve the medical kit.

She paused a moment in the bathroom to take some deep breaths and attempt to regain her equilibrium. "Focus," she told her reflection. "Don't think about it now, you have work to do." She grabbed a clean towel from the shelf, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the cabinet, and the first aid kit. with one more deep breath, she went back out to face the stranger. She knelt in front of the recliner peering up at his clenched jaw through the curtain of her hair. "Can you scoot up to the edge? It will be easier to get the bandages around your waist." He silently slid forward, tense from the strain. She pulled the bloody wadded shirt away from his wound as carefully as she could, but it still stuck at the edges of the hole in his side, and his breath hissed out as she peeled it away. "Sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

His voice tight, he attempted to make light of it, "You are doing well, I have been under far less gentle hands than yours." Her face turned pink behind her hair. Surely the girl had been complemented before, Loki thought, and giving in to impulse, he carefully tucked the curtain of her hair behind one ear. She froze at that slight touch, her breath speeding up. What drew Loki's attention, however, was the near panic he saw in her uncovered eye and face. He silently cursed himself for a fool. The blood loss must have been greater than he thought, his wits were usually sharper than this. He withdrew his hand slowly and gripped the arms of the chair. He held her gaze as he said softly, "Please accept my humble apologies my lady. I will not attempt to touch you again. You do not need to fear me, I will not harm you."

She closed her eyes, took five slow deep breaths, and said, "Not your fault, you weren't to know." She opened her eyes, keeping them directed towards his side, and said, "I need to clean it out, this part is going to hurt." Biting her lower lip, she proceeded to pour the contents of a brown bottle over and into the hole in his side, holding the towel underneath .

It stung and burned, and he let loose a few choice curses in both Asgardian and Jotun while they waited for the bubbling and fizzing to stop. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Yes. Hopefully it will flush out any debris that was in there. You should go to a hospital really. But I think you don't want that." She peered up into his face through her eyelashes.

"I'll heal better outside a hospital," he told her. In truth he was starting to worry. He should have been further along in the healing process by now. He must be more damaged from the fall than he had thought.

"I don't like hospitals either," the girl said softly, absently rubbing her left arm through her shirt sleeve. When the fizzing had subsided she began to place the bandages. He winced as she accidentally brushed her arm against his ribs while wrapping the bandage. "Sorry," she said. "I think some of your ribs may be broken."

"Bruised, not broken I think," Loki replied. "I am not so certain about my skull. I am loathe to admit it but my wits are not as sharp as they should be."

"I'll check when I'm done with this. I don't know what I can do if you do have a concussion or something though."

"Let us both hope I do not then."

She moved behind him, and Loki had to make an effort not to turn and keep her in view. Her fingertips oh so carefully traced paths across his skull, ever so gently lifting his long hair out of the way, methodically searching for any bumps or lacerations. She found nothing, fortunately. As it was, the sensation of her feather light touch on his scalp had nearly caused him to crush the arms of the chair in his steely grip. It would be better for both of them if she did not need to touch him any more. "It seems strange that I still do not know your name, or you mine," Loki said, attempting to diffuse the tension which had sprung up.

Startled, she glanced up, her blue eyes meeting his green ones briefly. He noted less fear in them now. She said,"I'm Emily."

He tried a bit of a smile as he said, "And I, fair maid, am Loki of Asgard. Normally I would bow, but as you can see . . ." he gestured towards his bandaged middle. He took notice that the corner of her mouth quirked up ever so slightly when he had called her "fair maid".

She turned away abruptly. "You should eat something. I think there are some cans of soup here." She moved toward the kitchen area. "I'll heat some up for you before I go."

"You are leaving?" He was startled to discover that he did not want her to leave. Desiring the company of a mortal? He must have scrambled his brains.

"My mother will start to worry if I'm not home soon. I wasn't planning to sleep out here tonight. There's no TV, but the radio works and I like to keep some books out here. So if you can't sleep you needn't be bored. I'll come back tomorrow with more food and stuff." She brought him the warmed soup in a mug, handing it to him handle first to avoid any accidental contact.

"Until the morrow then, Fair Lady Emily." Loki's words were rewarded by a ghost of a smile before she slipped out the door, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

It was later than she usually left, so she ran part of the way home. Running helped to clear her head, and running in the forest forced her to focus on the task at hand rather than the complex swirl of emotions that rose up inside her every time she looked at the stranger who called himself Loki. She burst into the house, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. "Sorry mom," she panted, leaning on the kitchen counter a bit as she caught her breath. "I lost track of time." She hated to see the look of relief on her mother's face every time she came home. It was like every time she went out her mother expected never to see her again. "Sorry," she repeated.

Her mother turned back to the stove and said only,"Go wash up for dinner."

After dinner she told her parents she would like to spend a night or two at the camp-house. She had been doing this on a regular basis since they moved here, but her parents still looked worried every time she asked and made her promise to check in every day. It was a good thing her therapist agreed time spent in nature was good for her or they would suffocate her with their protectiveness.

She went to bed, curled up in a corner underneath the actual bed in a sleeping bag, as usual. Also as usual, she woke shaking, covered in cold fear sweat. Flashback nightmares were the worst. After she calmed herself back down, she started thinking about the mysterious stranger. How did he end up in the middle of their woods wounded like that? Where did he come from? Where was this "Asgard"? She wished she could Google it, but she'd been forbidden computer use since before her hospital stay. She rubbed her arm again, wondering why her guts hadn't twisted up around him like they did around every other male over the age of ten. She fell asleep thinking over the puzzle and had blissfully dreamless sleep until she woke up with the sun shining through her window. That hardly ever happened. In fact, she could count on one hand how many times she had gotten a decent night's sleep in the three years since . . . and one of them she had been sedated, so it didn't really count. She hoped it was a good sign.

So Xander's favourite movie is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I think he has most of the movie memorized. He will act out the scenes that are on and sing along and repeat a lot of the lines, though not always intelligibly. It was so freaking cute when he was doing the Tigger song.

He can also open doors now, so that's trouble waiting to happen.

We have mostly been staying indoors, as it has been super hot and humid out this week.

Disney's Descendants 2 premieres tonight. We will have to wait to see it until it is on dvd unless my dad still has disney channel and can dvr it for us. The boys and I are really looking forward to it.

Next weekend, the Temple Theater is going to play Cars 3 and I plan to take the boys if they want to go.

Gotta go. Stuff to do.

Birthday last year, and some from this spring.

Sadly, our poor little goat ate something that gave her the bloat, and died before we even knew she was sick. Bloat can hit fast and hard. Poor baby. She was the friendliest goat we have ever had. Seth was devastated.

Duo with a model house he built, and in a tent they made in the backyard. Next update, I'll have a video of lil bit dancing to Bohemian Rhapsody, the Muppet version. He loves that.

I'm procrastinating. I need to go chip away at the mineral deposits in the toilet bowl some more. Also the kitchen needs cleaning. I need to pull out the stove and clean behind it, but I am a little scared of what I might find if I do.

I have clothes and towels to put away, and some things in the wash that I'm trying to rid of stains. They are being difficult.

Jason had to work on his days off this week, so he is really looking forward to his next ones. They changed his schedule so he no longer has W/Th off and he is not very happy about that, since Wednesday mornings are training days so he has to stay late. Not so bad when he was off and could sleep in.

Girl Genius is running their new kickstarter, which I will be throwing money at after we get paid tomorrow. They always have some really nice contributor perks. I especially like the travel stickers. I keep them on my vintage Samsonite suitcase.

Xander is feeding himself some yogurt while he watches Pooh Bear and getting quite messy. I should probably do some damage control and then go work on the kitchen before I go work on the toilet.

Laterz.

So Xander's grasp of English is improving in leaps and bounds. He can say: Winnie the Pooh, car, kitty, mama, daddy, hello, what's up?, where did it/he go?, Coca-Cola,yum, apple, bubble, ball, hat, Papaw, up, I do, help and some other words I cannot recall at the moment.
He is a climber and entirely too fond of putting things in his mouth that do not belong there. Every time I sit up in bed he climbs on my back to have a ride, like a baby monkey. His favorite things right now are Pooh Bear, and The Clangers. He likes to wear random things on his head as hats.

Seth's hair is growing out. Lots of ringlets. He wants it long to wear a ponytail. He is working on getting better at hula hooping. His reading is improving and he can get through several early reader books on his own. He loves Garden Warfare 2, and Lindsey Stirling. He also really likes numbers and math. I have no clue where he gets that from.
We have a monthly crate subscrption to OwlCrate Jr, Kiwi & Tinker Crate, and Little Passports. Duo got a Camera obscura kit in his last Tinker crate and he was not interested at first but after he built it, I could hardly get him to put it down for the next three days.

Seth, Duo and I all love the Owl crate jr boxes. We will be getting a subscription this week, i had ordered back issue boxes to see if we would like it, and the have all been excellent so far. (I read the books first and thoroughly enjoyed the 3 we have, the next one is due in tomorrow, and looks fascinating, I can hardly wait for next month.)

Jayson got me a subscription to Mojo Mama's Grand Conjure Box for my birthday. If the next one is not much better than the first (which was in an envelope, and not a box at all) then I will be getting him to cancel it, and go for an art crate instead. Sketchbox I think.

Duo is working on improving his Geography (not voluntarily) still loves reading and video games, especially Skyrim. He likes to do educational work on his tablet or the computer, but not so much actual writing.

Jayson and I have gotten hooked on The Witcher Saga. He's been playing Witcher 3 and I've been watching the Hexer series in fansubbed Polish on YouTube. Just got the first book yesterday, and so far there is not too much difference, so I cannot see why the series was not better received.

Our cable/internet is still down, so I am behind on all the news, missing much of the hoopla currently infesting the media.

I have a good bit of my Yule shopping done. Mom's internet is spotty and slow, some sites do not like to load. So I have trouble checking my email.

Xander will be two in a month. I have some of his presents already. I got him a bead maze cube activity thing.

They have a little tykes playhouse in the backyard that we are going to repaint either tomorrow or Monday. We got the paint already. Red roof, white walls, brown door, blue shutters. It should look quite nice when we are through.

Internet is broken.
Election will be Tuesday.
Choice is illusion.

Our internet has been down for over two weeks. Comcast will not call back or send anyone to fix it. I am seriously fed up with their crap.

Halloween was a success. We went Trick-or-Treating on base and got some good candy. Then we went to the party our homeschool group had.

Our friend Andy got married, and they came to visit on Thursday. We got to game for the first time in forever. We played Inspectors.

Our tv service is also broken. I need an antenna, as I have missed the past two weeks of Supernatural.

I will post, but sporadically, as I am only able to access the internet from my Mother's house.

So, if anyone actually reads this, if you would be so kind as to let me know what you think of it so far in the comments?
( In the wilds of British ColombiaCollapse )

So since I got the thing sorted out with Etsy, I have regularly been finding new things to drool over and go "I wants it Precious!" about. I finally caved and got myself a birthday present of three month earring club from sihaya09's Etsy shop. I have been drooling over her jewelry for ages, so YAY.

If I ever won the lottery I bet I could drop 100k easy on buying stuff from Etsy.

Anyhoo, it's my birthday tomorrow, and I am pretty sure I know what present Jayson got me (and it wasn't something on my list so I am going to be mildly annoyed, I have a wishlist for a reason after all). I think it is this one: http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/queen-constellations-barbie-doll-x8264 which I mentioned to him I thought was cool. She is the last in a set of three, where I thought all of them were cool, but $100 is more than I wanted to spend on a Barbie. The previous one was http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/empress-aliens-barbie-doll-w3514 and the first one was http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/goddess-galaxy-barbie-doll-t7678. Plus I had been strongly suggesting (I thought) that he should get me the violin (for super cheap) that IS on my wishlist. I've wanted to learn to play violin since I was a kid, but we either didn't have money for lessons or lived someplace where there weren't any teachers. My cousin Becky has had lessons since she was four, and she is freaking awesome now.

I have massive piles of clean clothes to put away today. I've been procrastinating. I need to do it today so I won't have to on my birthday. I've got to go see my dad tomorrow and remind him. Let's see if he forgets my birthday again this year. That will make it about 8 years in a row for No present, no card, no phone call, nothing. He's got no excuse, I've been reminding him this time.

Friday was the birthday of my dearest friend, who I have not seen or spoken to in years, as her husband forbid her to have any contact with me anymore. Not a day passes that I do not think of her and miss her greatly, and wonder how she is, and if she has children now. She hadn't been forbidden to see or speak to me before Duo was born, but our contact was broken before I was ever pregnant with Seth. I have no idea where in the world she is, or even if she is still alive. I know she graduated college, but that is the last I was able to find out.

I doubt she will ever see this, since she has probably not been allowed unchaperoned internet access since our last contact, but I want to post it anyway, just in case. You will always have a place in my heart, and my life if you want it. I miss you more than anyone knows, and think about you every day. I miss hanging out with you, watching our favorite actor in the movies, talking, braiding your hair, and just being together. I will always love you and I will never forget you girl. I'll always be here for you if you ever need me.




So this is for you.

I've got a birthday coming up soon. (yay?) I'm finally getting over this nasty cold, with only occasional coughing and phlegm (TMI!). Finally ordered the Muzzy: German language set for the boys (and a refresher course for me). I fixed my sewing machine with superglue and Duck Tape! Woot! Now I can sew again! I've got a pair of AG size cut-off shorts that I'm working on, I was trying to use this purple thread I got, but it's crappy and kept breaking, so I'll have to go back to the standard I was using before. Then I'm going to start on the punk/goth/rock style t-shirts. I spent more buying doll shoes boots off of ebay than I did buying new shoes for me.

I've become addicted to Teen Wolf, and I blame tsaiko and stoney321. So now I have serious incentive to switch to Satellite so I can get MTV. Also be nice to have a bunch of the other channels, but really I gotta have MTV before season 3 of Teen Wolf starts. Also Switched at Birth, because I love that show too.

My hair is Purple! Also shorter than I would like, due to a bout with some persistent headlice. EEEW. Everyone in the house got a haircut, including me (I was so sad!) I hated to cut the boy's hair too especially since the G-parents had kept on pestering me about getting it cut before then. Not happy.

Have I mentioned on here that we're homeschooling? B/c we are. We're in a local Homeschool group which is cool. Going to have a pool party sometime next week, now that it's finally hot enough. And seriously, the weather has been super weird this spring. It is never cold in May in Mississippi!! I was wearing long sleeves and bundling up under blankets! And now it's gotten so hot (and humid) that we're about to capitulate and turn on the A/C. I don't want to give in just yet though. It would help if we had working ceiling fans. Or ceiling fans at all.

Anyway, that's all I can think of now. I'm going to try and post more often. (I say that every time I post though, don't I?)