Counting Stars...

So, I confess I've been ducking this. I still feel so awkward about being here. But i just read my 'reading' page, and I have to make the effort so...hi. Promise more of a post tomorrow.

Well, just had the final Christmas get-together with friends, so today I am de-decorating. On the one hand, I'm happy to put things away, but on the other, it's fun to have festive stuff out. Glad to have had it up til now.

This week, hubs is putting together my new shelves in the study. Yay! Pics will follow. So now I have: desk, sofa, new ceiling fan/light (with Supernatural pulls!), and an area rug. The shelves will start clearing up the boxes I have sitting full of stuff. I still need a TV. Ultimately will also have a docking station and monitor for the laptop, and we'll paint. Yes, painting should probably have been first, but rather do it when the windows can be open, plus nothing would have changed yet.

I joined Noom some months ago, and i really like it. Way more doable that WW for me. But because I was doing it so-so, I've only lost 10 lbs. Now, before Noom, I wasn't sure I'd ever lose anything again, so I am pretty happy about the 10. Nonetheless, more must be dropped. Made it through the holidays without a gain (a 2 lb. fluctuation back and forth) so now I am recommitted.

One of the stumbling blocks is drinking. I like to drink. Since pandemic, hubs and I have been drinking substantially more :-P Now with holidays over, we are taking ourselves in hand. My current allowance is two a day Sunday-through Thursday, and then I can have an extra on Friday and Saturday, if I choose. I'm hoping for more weight loss, plus it's when I have more to drink that the eating self-discipline tends to fail ;-)

Also, I'm now on the treadmill twice a week. Hoping to go to 3 times this week, after two weeks at the 2x. I'm going slowly because I am way out of shape and don't want an injury derailing me. I haven't done karate since (again) pandemic, so I'm also gently walking thought some forms and combinations, to loosen up. Lots of stretching. This should also help with the weight loss, and also toning.

Writing update on firesign10.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Christmas was absolutely lovely. I actually helped with shopping (IRL and online) and had fun doing so! Christmas Eve day I got pretty anxious for a while, stupid anxiety disorder, but I kept doing things. By evening it was a lot better. CHristmas day itself was perfect. Becca, Vic, and DaddyMark all came over, and we had pastry and coffee and fruit whilst opening gifts. After that (which takes a long time because we go one at a time), we had REAL bagels and REAL bacon with more coffee and eggnog for those who could drink it. Mark stayed most of the day, and Becca & Vic stayed overnight. We all took a nap around 5, and then Mike made an incredible shrimp boil for dinner. After that, it was drinks, nibbles, and Cards Against Humanity until 2:30 a.m. lol. PERFECT!!!!

So that was just so lovely and enjoyable. The following week was very lazy. Mike only had to attend a couple of virtual meetings, and we just kinda lazed around and relaxed.

The one downside was that on the Monday after Christmas, Ethan was exposed to COVID. He's had to quarantine in his room since then :-( The first testing appt he was able to get is Tuesday the 4th. When he's out of his room, we are all masked. It ruined his New Year's, because he was going to have a few friends over, including his new girlfriend. So that was a huge bummer. So far, he's had no symptoms, so of course we are hoping his test is negative.

Posted a story for sn_specials Saturday Night Specials on New Year's Day. Sparks and Ashes, inspired by an art piece by tx_devilorangel. Some new things on deck for writing, so that update is on firesign10.

( a couple of Pictures )

well, I would say how I suck here, but I've noticed that I'm being kinda mean to myself lately. So I'll just again plead for forgiveness for being so errantly absent. I have been reading more, but just not posting.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Daughter and her SO, her dad, Ethan, Mike, and Ethan's best friend were all here. Mike smoked two turkeys (AMAZING) and Becca made everything else. It was all so delicious. Even more though was the wonderful time. We had all afternoon, ate around 6:30, and then just digested while playing dominoes. It was everything you could wish for for a holiday.

Getting ready for CHristmas now, and I'm working on not stressing too much. I love Christmas, but it's often past my ability/anxiety level. This year, the house is in upheaval, which is yikes. Basement/family room was taken over by attic stuff, so we have to finish dealing with that in order to set up tree and furniture and look like a room. The kids last week went through all of their stuff, which was super helpful, so I think we're down to putting away a bunch of empty tubs and just stashing what's left over to one side.

I'm excited that my study (Becca's old bedroom) has made significant progress, but there's still a bunch of boxes in there I have to go through. My desk is here, and Monday my loveseat/sleeper sofa arrives. So, very exciting, but we really weren't thinking about the timing lol.

I've done a little shopping in person, and we're doing a bunch of online ordering, thank goodness. As of this moment, there is not a single bit of decor or anything out. Today Mike will bring the Christmas tubs down from the attic and I'll hopefully start putting some things out.

Mike was sick this last week, so of course we were worried it was COVID. We all masked up, and he slept downstairs for a few nights. Two home tests (one and then a second later) were negative though, so that was a relif. Just a bug. He stayed masked just to help not give it to us. He's much better now.

I haven't written since my 3 Halloween SPookfest stories. I was wrestling with some self-esteem issues and a little resultant block, but I fell I'm about past it now. Once the dust settles from all this house hoo-ha, I'll be back at it. More about what's up on deck at firesign10.

Hugs and happy holidays to everyone!!

From Saturday Night Specials:


Trick or Treat! Trick or Treat!
Give me something good to eat!

Now it's time for Candy Corn
or maybe just some spooky porn!

Jensen, Dean, or Soldier Boy
Jared, Cordell, Sam, or Clay
Priestly, Tom, or Forrester
Give us lots of ways to play!

Such sexy boys, we've got great luck
When we write smut, we don't mean 'duck'

So bring your treats and bring your tricks
This Spookfest is all about the pricks!

Welcome to the Saturday Night Specials Halloween Spookfest Comment Meme!

Prompts are open Saturday October 2nd through Friday October 15th. Use any configuration of Jared, Jensen, and/or any of the characters they play in any Halloweenie-spooky-witchy-candy-etc scenario you want! Anonymous prompts accepted. Rated E for Explicit Extra-scary!

Fills open Saturday October 16th through October 31st. Fic, art, and vids are all welcome. Anonymous fills accepted. Fills close at midnight Halloween night!

You can post prompts:
1) here in comments
2) On twitter - either tweet and tag @night_specials, or DM @night_specials, and a mod will bring your prompt here.

Go HERE to read more about it!

Perhaps we can do this once-a-week thing.

I started a wordpress. Well, actually I started a wordpress years ago, but never wrote on it. We'll see how this goes. https://firesign10.wordpress.com/

We're hunkering down here at the Case Firesign10. Not happy with all the variant and case-surge stuff flying around. We've been masking when we go out still, despite being fully vaxxed, but we're going to curtail the outside things again. I don't even mean restaurants or anything, we haven't done that at all. Just going to the store and all. sigh.

I'm using Noom to see about getting a handle on my weight. It's very slow, which is all on me. But still, I'm down 7 lbs., which two months ago I thought I would never lost weight again. So I'm plugging along, and reminding myself that a treat here and there is fie, but let's keep our eyes on the prize. I'm very content with the way I am able to eat, far more than I was on WW, so it's all good.

Don't know if I mentioned, but every week pretty much I am participating in a Zoom panel about some topic on Supernatural. They are posted on the ConTinual group on Faacebook, which also has a Youtube channel. Here's the ConTInual link, it's an online con so there are a lot of tracks of all sorts! https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConTinual/?multi_permalinks=919546525324587

Otherwise, I am puttering around the house. Someday I'll have my office *sigh* I really need my son's help, both with pushing things around and because he has a lot of shit in there. I just started sewing some masks again, after a long sewing hiatus. And I am working on re-writing/re-vamping an older story to republish on AO3, and then there's the story I'm hoping to actually publish, but it needs a ton of work yet.

Never a dull day lol

Look, it's not a month between posts!

I just reset here to no longer publish my tweets anymore. I feel like it just creates a lot of noise. If you would like to follow me on Twitter, I am @true_firesign10

I'm working away on both the story I plan to re-post on AO3 and the one for self-publishing. The AO3 story is moving along well. The self-pub story is slower. The first third is non-au, so I have to do a lot of re-structuring. Also there are a lot of scenes to add in order to fill in the blanks--fanfic gives us a lot of built-in shortcuts that an original fic does not. Once I hit the AU part, it will be MUCH easier!! I'm looking at some of the other stories I plan to adapt and thinking THANK GOD they are AU's out of the gate lol

Trying to clear out Daughter's room so it can become my office/writing/fan room. We managed to get the furniture out last month, although it is still sitting in my carport. There remain a great deal of boxes, but a lot of it is stuff I can't deal with myself (as in there's a pile already packed for her to take at some point, and also a good deal of Son's stuff that he has to go through and he keeps evading). SO a little frustrating. Mike is already looking out for a desk for me :-)

In the meantime, I write and I work on the house, organizing bits and pieces that have been awful for a long time. When one's mental energy and clarity is pretty fully restored, it's amazing what one can do.

Sleep has been an issue for me for a long time. I'm of that certain age when women often have sleep issues, plus I think I have some restless leg stuff going on. However, I recently upped my melatonin to 20mg a night, and HOLY COW what a difference it made!! I am sleeping MUCH better, and that too is enormously restorative. I'm waking up refreshed instead of still fatigued, and addressing things is much less stressful.

What is it about writing a post here that immediately makes me unable to type properly? Good grief. This is where a proper desk should help, instead of the dining room table that is all the wrong ergonomics.

• Wed, 12:33: truth https://t.co/E0seuRHgvY
• Wed, 14:09: Happy birthday to the absolutely delicious @Jerzcaligrl !!!!! https://t.co/KXUU47gs0w
• Wed, 14:13: electric teapot is all boiling, so i turn it off and set the timer for 6 minutes for the tea to steep. Only forgot to put the teabags in LOL SMDH
• Wed, 14:33: RT @StillCrusty: "People are gonna look back and they say, 'You know what, Florida stood by its kids and watched them die.'" Fixed that f…
• Wed, 15:30: Why on earth is Genevieve hanging out with her kids when she has COVID? She should be quarantining!!!
• Wed, 16:34: RT @deanscreampie: TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH 🤤🤤🤤🤤 https://t.co/CXI8lEDPVm
• Wed, 20:53: some nights, you gotta make a run for the border! Taco Bell!
• Wed, 22:09: been really good about following my program, but tonight? TOnight was anything goes!! heheheh tomorrow, back to the salt mine
• Wed, 22:19: Tomorrow I will weigh a gazillion pounds at my morning weigh in, but that’s ok. I’ll move on
• Thu, 08:23: 4 people followed me and one person unfollowed me // automatically checked by https://t.co/Xa4YldCpDP

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