I took my mom and her partner to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO for the holiday lights last week. It was . . . a time. : ) We all really enjoyed stopping at Top of the Rock for the golf cart nature trail and museum on Wednesday. It would have been a little pricy probably for the value, but Carl's a Vietnam vet and we got the whole thing for half off.

( pics I did not take, and were probably doctored, but are still pretty )

We went to Cheddar's where I was disappointed in my steak. there is a theme

Thursday we were going to go to the 14 inch pancake place, but it was stuffed and packed past full, and Carl didn't want to wait. I mean, mom and I didn't really want to either, but unfortunately, then I had to drive us to Cracker Barrel. I bought a bag of super long twizzlers, however breakfast was a disappointment.

Then we went junk store shopping. Fine.

THEN it was Silver Dollar City time. My plan the whole time was to bounce from food place to food place, order whatever holiday thing they had and share it between the three of us so no one got stuffed but we'd get to try a bunch of stuff. We started with a funnel cake, and mom wanted the cheesecake chocolate one . . . fine I guess, I wanted the gingerbread or red velvet, but I'm easy going. I think the cake broke my mom, because of course it's a big plateful and Carl decided he didn't want even a bite. So I'm only eating the gooey fantastic bits and then I'm ready to throw the rest away. But it was a lot to throw away and mom got it in her head that we were going to be spending way too much money just to throw most of it away. So I didn't get to try anything else of the tasty stuff I'd investigated online. Fine. I guess.

They did about an hour long musical rendition of A Christmas Carol which was really pretty okay. But it was so loud I ended up with a headache that followed for the rest of the day.

The "funny" show was super lame. But it was the fun kind of super lame? At least until the vaguely amusing and really dumb show ground to a halt so one of the women dressed as an old timey saloon girl could tell me about her lord and savior, drone a bible verse, and lead the crowd in Joy to the World. The intrusive voice in my head wanted to yell "Hail Satan! I mean, Santa, I'm dyslexic!" but I resisted. I should have expected the overtly religious parts of the show/city/decorations, but I didn't and it was a bit of a shock to my little secular heart.

For similar reasons, we skipped the Living Nativity.

Ate at their BBQ place. It was disappointing.

The lights were so good! And we got hot chocolate with the works for toppings and it was delicious!

Carl did not want to stay for the kid's parade and honestly I was pretty done.



I am very glad I never have to do it again.

On Friday, the only thing Carl had asked to do was to go to this restaurant Flaming Margaritas. It sounds like a fun place, right? You look it up on Facebook and it's a vibrant, hip place where people are having fun and the food looks good and big Mexican fair. There's no way I could be disappointed, right? Right?!? Unfortunately that was the older location. They wanted to go to the new location on the Landing. This place is beige on beige on beige. It is not fun and hip and it has tacos, but they were lame. I ended up with a surf and turf burger that was way over cooked and pretty bland.

Alas I was cursed the entire trip to sad food choices. I got home Friday night and ordered my favorite chicken and waffles from Hatch for breakfast on Saturday morning to make up for it.

I went to work on Saturday, and then drove to the other family Sunday, still exhausted and over peopled. But this is part 2 and requires background about my brother's arrest for coke in the early summer.

I am the sorest girl is sore town. But this story starts one week ago.

Some of y'all might remember a post a couple of months ago where I just needed to vent about an absent mom and heavily unequal effort in our relationship. She did finally text back, and without really opening up about her thoughts and her life, apologized and did actually invite me over at a specific time with a specific activity planned. And she did try a little harder to text and call back and forth in the meantime.

On Tuesday, I loaded up the dogs and off we went. We got idk, 9.5/10th of the way there before the car started clicking and decided it was done. Very busy highway and I am suddenly doing 30 mph - I'm imagining I got flipped off quite a bit. But there was a nice little rest pull out, and I waited for Mom and Carl to come out and drive the rest of the way with me just in case.

Long story, still kind of long - I have to replace the engine. WHY ARE ENGINES SO EXPENSIVE?!?

I still actually had a very good visit. And she tried really hard to be present and do things.

( Blue Heritage Spring Center near Eureka Springs pics )

Rented a car to get back home for work because they don't expect my car to be done before Friday, and Enterprise gives me a brand new Camry with a thousand miles on it. I looked at it and immediately suspected a trap. I finally figured out the A/C, then I finally figured out the bluetooth, eventually I figure out the cruise control. This car is so much smarter than I am. It was fun to drive, but also, little terrified of messing it up.

On Sunday, I grab the car keys to go to work, and it isn't until I pull back up the driveway that I realized I forgot to grab my house keys which I had not added to the GIANT car fob.

Alas.

So I gotta break into my own house. Okay. How hard can it be? I don't lock any of the windows, and I have some tools and a ladder. I go around the backyard, because I don't really want this to be a neighborhood slapstick show, and pick the window for the utility room because there's less stuff to break in there. I pop the screen and the poorly fitting glass out, wedge my little spade under the window and leverage it up several inches. This house has a crawl space, so it's up. I say this because it's also a very old wooden window I haven't tried to open in the last three years.

( the set up )

I heaved. I struggled. I worked one side, and then the other. I bent at the knees, straightened my arms out and used all my strength . . .

and I still didn't have a chase_acow sized opening. But I could see the cats* sitting in the doorway watching my increasingly pathetic attempts. They do not seem to care.

Both my guy-friend dispatchers are on nightshift, so I wasn't going to bother them in the middle of the afternoon. My other dude coworker is currently on duty in his black pajamas, so he's a last resort. But I do have neighbors with teenagers. I usually try not to bother them because except for their dogs during the day, and when the 23 year old makes the 13 year old cry, they keep to themselves and mow their yard. Unfortunately, mama redneck (affectionately) rouses the 23 year old and sends him over, beggars can't be choosers, and he does manage to wedge the window up another four inches before he declares that's it and heads back to his nap.

All right, it's now or never.

I first try head first. There's an end table under the window to help stabilize my weight while I wiggle in. I get to my waist, realize how much it'll hurt and how impossible it will be to change my mind once I commit. I back out and study the situation again. I grab a smaller wooden ladder, get up on the top rung and swing one leg through while balancing on the other leg and . . . I don't know how to keep going. But all my weight is on one leg which is quickly letting me know that it's struggling.

Oh no. I'm too high to duck my head and upper body through the window. I have probably less than a minute before my other leg gives out. I am now regretting every single decision the universe has ever made that has led to my birth which has led to this day.

Luckily, lightbulb comes on. I step down one rung while clinging to the window so I don't overbalance, this gives me room to duck through and I am now standing inside my house! \0/

I immediately went to attach my house key to the car fob. And two days later I am still so sore in such weird places!

I took the neighbors chocolate chip cookies to thank them, and so they'll help me the next time too.


*more about the cat status later!

1.
( one more on the cloudier next day )

a. I spent Fri/Sat nights at a cabin at Foss State Park and had a good time. The lake was real low, and sadly I did not have a good view from the cabin, but there was a great rooster across the street that crowed at any and every time of the day.
b. It was really for my little brother's wedding in a tiny town about 20 mins away. The wedding was cute and everyone in our stupid family behaved. They've got three kids altogether and they did a great job blending their families and getting all the kids involved.
c. I also spent three hours watching my football team choke away a conference championship in a game that came down to the last second and about ten inches. (We wouldn't have been in a nail biter if it hadn't been for the FOUR F-ING INTERCEPTIONS and TERRIBLE PLAY CALLING IN BACK-TO-BACK RED ZONE POSSESSIONS!!!) I'm fine.

2. I'm doing episode reaction posts over at disneyplusshows for the Hawkeye series. I'm really enjoying Kate, a disaster, Lucky, he eats pizza, and the soundtrack, holiday music!
episode 3, episode 2, and episode 1
2a. Friendly reminder that if someone is ruining a community or your network page, there is a CSS code you can use to block their posts and comments so that you don't have to see their crappy commentary. Here's the tumblr post explaining, but if you need any help, let me know!

3. I finally posted my Professional Wrestling AU Sam/Bucky fic for marvel_bang! I'm so glad to get it out of my wip folder cuz I had a lot of fun with it, but I also wanted to strangle it at several points.

The art is HERE and it is really cute! Please head over there and look at Sam's awesome jacket, and Bucky's yoga pants and how soft they are playing footsie under the table. Also, a kitten!!!!

All American Face (14632 words) by chase_acow
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Explicit
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Professional Wrestling - Freeform, the briefest mentions of pain medication addiction, the briefest mentions of racism and homophobia, ridiculous wrestling soap opera style storylines, Sam's real life is kinda ridiculous too though
Summary:

After Steve is screwed out of the championship by Rumlow and the surprise return of Bucky Barnes now playing a brainwashed goon called the Winter Soldier, Sam has to deal with his real life crush on Bucky and competing professional storylines for the camera.

When he outs them on national television during a tag-team match after Bucky gets hurt, the reaction from the world is actually positive. Sam has to decide what he really wants for a life after wrestling, but not before he wipes that stupid smirk off Rumlow's face and gets his own chance at the title.

( bad things that made me cry a lot )

I had a really good day going to the lake yesterday morning. It was perfect. Cool, still, quiet. I'm a little sore.

avoidant cat has started being more social. she comes out and sits with me and she lets the dog get a little closer than normal. idk what changed, if it was the addition of gma's little dog to our pack or what, but I'm so happy

In the end, I had a good time. Staying at Carl's house though it was still warm and still noisy (barking dog rather than 4+ tv/radio channels) was infinitely better than grandma's house. We still went to see her for a bit everyday and I sadly gave up watching the gooners get their butts handed to them to watch last year's Grinch movie with her. I imagine that mom's still in for some emotional manipulation/guilt tripping for a while, but I'm hoping this will be the year she gets out.

Dasher on the right up there with Rommel had a time. I'm not sure if it was a good time, as he wanted to play but only until Rommel started barking and then the barking would freak him out. He also only wanted to play if I was there for backup. Apparently anytime I left they both just fell over and slept. We did leave them alone to see the movie and they didn't destroy anything, so I'm hoping Dasher now understands that it can be done.

( Saw Star Wars. )

I also made mom watercolor with me, and she seemed to have an all right time. Now I have her flower picture to hang on the wall to remember this holiday and how it wasn't actually the worst.

Now to start taking down all the decorations. . . ugh.

Got a postcard from dine with happy wishes, and it must have worked because despite all the reasons it could have gone sideways, I had a very pleasant Thanksgiving. Sure, it was the worst meal since the last time I had the worst meal up there, but it was edible, and we had destroyed the cheeseball I made before noon. My pie was also well received. There were just seven of us Dad, stepMom (who despite her lack of culinary success might be my favorite parent), me, my brother, uncle and his wife, and aunt.

Aunt and brother are typical trump supporters, dad is a little better educated conservative, stepMom want to be interested but she's just not, uncle and his wife are very christian not much for politics but have a slightly wicked sense of humor and like to poke the bears. Any time anything started maybe straying into politics someone would yell the most random question at Alexa, we'd all listen to the answer and then inevitable conversation would shift to whatever we just learned. Mine (via The Good Place) the largest fish, or most fries eaten in a single setting, or one spirited singing discussion that ended when we realized half of us were talking about Jim Croce's Big Bad Leroy Brown and the other half You Don't Mess Around With Jim.

The last was because when I got there on Tuesday, my dad was sulking a little because since he's gone blind he misses playing games with the family. It took a little work because he didn't want me to mess up his Alexa, but I got him to let me ask her for a game. We started playing Song Quiz where she plays a short clip and you compete to name the title and artist from a picked decade. It was like night and day with him, he got so excited and happy and we had a great time . . . probably we enjoyed the epic failures more than when we got the right answers.

Teal Deer: good time, safe drive, I didn't poison anyone with the food I made.

NaNoWriMo: I ended up with 45,000ish words, but I lost all steam with this last week's holiday and crafting box. I'm nearly finished with lots of things though, and I'm excited about how far I got. The website actually fritzed at the end and started repeatedly counting my total word count instead of just the updates. IDK, I wrote over 50,000 words of creative writing if I include a few other things I did on different platforms, so I'll take it.

in_a_peartree - digital wishlist is open until the 3rd (I think)
holiday_wishes - mix digital/physical wishlist

I'd like to do both. I've shopped around a few different Amazon wishlists that people have posted. I'm working on putting the tree up today. I'm trying to do it in stages so the animals don't get overexcited and knock everything down immediately.

Someone finally picked one of my male!Adaar/Dorian Pavus prompts to write for me and I was so pleased! There were bears! And pining! And confessions! Kisses!

Enclosed by Zilentdreamer
“Will it make you feel better if I admit you were right?”

Crouched over Dorian on all fours and surrounded by rock that was still making ominous rumbling noises above them, Jarad thought about it for a second. “Not right now it won’t. Maybe once we’re not half buried under a mountain.”

It was for a male slash flash challenge where the due dates were not especially well explained and ended up with me writing mine in about an hour. I also asked for cop/criminal but when it came to writing it, I froze in the implications of making Sam a criminal. Like sure I could have gone with the comics fauxpas of Snap Wilson and tried to make it better, but I was scared of fucking it up. As much as I like the trope and wanted a more straight take of it, I remembered The Fugitive and off I went.

The Fugitive Sam Wilson/Bucky Barnes -G -1,377 words
“I didn’t kill my partner,” Sam yelled, desperation fueling his voice when all he wanted to do was whimper and mourn. He’d been running for days now and every time he thought he’d found a way back inside his life something had gotten in his way, most recently a particularly aggravating and attractive Federal Marshal.

I also posted a bingo fill for "awkward sex" and now I'm googling "how to spank an adult" and I fear for my search history.

Lube -> Not Just for Weird Stuff Sam Wilson/Bucky Barnes -R -2,144 words
"Listen," Sam said, moving the pot of oatmeal off the lit burner so it could cool. He let his mouth carry him forward before he put this conversation off again. "I have mostly resigned myself to having awkward conversations with time broken, old, white dudes."

-------------

We won the football game yesterday. I mean we were 17.5 pt favorites so, duh, but we also got the drama of the first string qb getting a thumb ouchie the back-up (who is well loved and the fans have been asking for all season) got to play, threw a long-bomb on his first series, and generally didn't make mistakes. The refs weren't calling the other team for some rather egregious chippiness so I also got to boo a lot. I love boo-ing the refs.

Dad was in a mostly good mood. We had a 10am beer and bratwurst. I was not the best seeing-eye-human for him and I felt bad, but he was real sweet. He's a yeller at these things, but he listens to the game on the radio, so he's about 5 seconds behind everyone else when he's congratulating the guy the just caught the ball or whatever. I really enjoyed watching folks react to him.

dine gave me:

salmon - my dad was color blind, he's actually all blind at this point, but when I was in high school he had his Dad Chair TM this recliner he covered with a bright blue/yellow falsa blanket. For years he sat in that recliner defending it to everyone who naysayed. He got remarried and the chair was vetoed to make the move, since a pink chair wouldn't match anything else they were bringing/buying. So dad calls me and demands to know why I never told him he was sitting in a pink chair. I answered, well, it's really more salmon than pink and that mollified him a bit. It was pink, and the blue/yellow was an awful addition. I just thought he liked it!

peanuts - my grandma loved the circus peanut candy, and it was our secret snack for years. She didn't age in a pleasant way, but it's still a nice memory when I'm avoiding her for other reasons.

sand castles - zoo books and the movie Jaws gave me an incredibly unrealistic fear of sharks within the first three feet of water. So I never made sand castles, and I cried both times mom tried to vacation to Galveston. I think they're neat though, I like looking at the pics from competitions. Also there's one in the movie Baywatch and I can't unhear Dwayne Johnson saying 'front bump'

sjnt gave me:

polaroids - my grandma couldn't stand having her picture taken and she instilled that into my mom. So we didn't really have much of a progression of camera technology in the house. Never had a polaroid, but in high school/college i loved disposable cameras and quickly figured out if i was taking the pics I didn't have to be in the pics. I like the way polaroids and I would have loved to get into that hobby.

canals - somehow I thought they were romantic? not in the sexy way, but in the other way. and then in high school we had to watch a documentary on the Panama Canals and they're just these mechanical locks. so not romantic, but intricate. Needful for human ingenuity, but now i wonder what they do to the animal/plant system.

RVs - I like the idea of them, that you can pick up and move and see things and not need to play the game to make sure the neighbors don't get upset over the length of your grass or the placement of your trash can. however, I'm afraid of driving one. Maybe a small one? On day, when I'm running from the government.

yhlee

1. Dice. - I think I'd be a dice snob given the chance. I like the pretty sets that match a character, but I've never actually gotten through a character sheet so my bank account is still secure. However, I am fascinated that dice have been around for all of recorded history. One way or another humans have been tossing these suckers, winning and losing and laughing for so long.

2. Birdsong. - oh man, why do they have to start screeching so early in the morning? I like trying to mimic some of the sounds but I'm not a good whistler. Now I wonder if they're like cats, do they actually make the noises at each other for a reason, or are they just being assholes to us?

3. Maple syrup. - I wish it was what I thought it was? Like I was raised on the fake stuff, so I always had this idea that real maple syrup much be so much better - thicker, sweeter, something magical. I really like the episode of Battle Creek where they have to investigate counterfeit maple syrup. I think I have some vanilla infused small batch in the fridge.

fandom_stocking is open until saturday to submit your stocking for fun surprises. The hope is that when they're posted you look around the stockings and leave a gift or two. Sometime near the end the elves look around for needy stockings and try to find folks to help make sure that everyone gets something. I think it's fun. I like making some icons and trying to write a few 1000 word bits.

clachnaben is hosting a Magical Realism Multifandom fest. There is currently a lot of hockey recs, but I really love some of the prompts that are posted over there. (Fests are a really simple prompt and fill game usually hosted on someone's personal journal.)

holiday_wishes is going strong. Post a 10 wish list and see what happens. I'm a little more strapped for cash and time than last year, so I've only been poking around it here and there. Hopefully I'll get the chance after this week.

This week is a visit by my mom and her boyfriend and I'm excited to have them, but I also want them to be comfortable so I've been slightly insane with the cleaning, organizing, and finally fixing up my extra bedroom. I painted it, bought a bed frame to get it off the floor, curtains/curtain rods, and new sheets. It'll look pretty good when I finish it. I just hate going to my grandma's house because it's so uncomfortable, and if I can lure mom into coming over here instead, I'll be living the good life.

19th: We tried to go shopping down Magazine street, but it really isn't quite the interesting buzz that the guides would like it to be. I did get a super great copper crown with the most reflective gems in it. It wasn't expensive or anything, but wow, I knew it was mine the second I spotted it. Neither mom or Carl believed me at first, but I got it! \0/ I was feeling real grumpy, so I split up from them and went back to the house. In the afternoon we went to their oktoberfest and I was amused and a little sad to go from all the diversity and skin colors of New Orleans to a vague sea of pale. It wasn't as good as OK's fests in food and beer, but where it won was the giant kleiner feigling balloon and the shots of that fig vodka. I love it so much. We got addicted in college, but it's not easy to get my paws on it here. When we were done with that we walked across City Park to a mini golf course. I'm not real sure why I decided we should do it, but it was fun. So hot, dripping with sweat and steam but fun. I wished they'd had a tram or something back to the parking because by now my feet are the most painful things I've fest in my life.

20th: We packed up the house got in the car and drove down to one of the parks north of the French Quarter. They were doing a Mac&Cheese festival and it would have been awesome except that it was so hot again. The food was so good and we tried about five different kinds, but it was hot and everything else was hot. We should have brought lawn chairs, but we're dummies. Since it was so hot, we gave up and walked down to the bars where we spent a few hours sitting in the air conditioning in one place nursing a drink before we moved to the next, got another mint julep or crown and coke and sat there for another four watching whatever football was on TV. I went to Boonedocks, a cop bar there to look for our patch, but it was too dark in the rafters to see most of them. We also ate more oysters, and these were sooooooooo good. Oysters Rockafeller, cooked with spinach and cheese and stuff. The parade was a bummer, we waited for so long, but then they started off with a bunch of personal vehicles decorated, and then I realized the street was so narrow, they wouldn't actually be able to get any of the bigger vehicles I'm used to down it. We decided to cut our losses and left. I drove out of town in the dark and for a couple of hours headed back home before we made it to the town I'd decided we'd spent the last night.