I've finally, finally got around to uploading "Closure" onto TPP, Ashwinder and OWL. It's still in queue at OWL, but it's up on the other two sites.

"Closure" is the... erm... fluffy(?) companion piece to "Traitor," and posting this finishes off that storyline completely. I say it's fluffy because the only warnings I would give are the mention of unpleasantness and a character death. Kind of. It's not happy, but it's not brutal either.

Anyway, just thought you might like to know.

It can be found in 28 small chapters at TPP (OWL is experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment), or in 3 parts at FFN.

*does happy dance*

To chapter 26 (3.7) at TPP. I can't seem to upload on OWL, so it might take a bit longer there. :-( It's now in queue at OWL.  We're getting very close to the end, here, though.


In other news, I have decided that Freecycle is one of the coolest things on the face of the planet. Especially living in a relatively affluent area. :-) Not only have I got rid of Babe's crib and other baby stuff that people I know can't use, but yesterday Geoff and I picked up an over the range microwave. It's not new, obviously, but as far as the microwave goes, it's a heck of a lot better than our counter hogging fifteen-year-old (maybe more like twenty-year-old) .6 cu.ft. wimpoid of a microwave. This one might be able to defrost something faster than the stove could. :-)

So, now I just have to go through all our junk and see what I really, really want to get rid of. I already know that there's a child carrier backpack that is going to go, although I have to figure out a better way to describe it.

Also, our tax refund came already. Yay. That'll help a fair amount.

Oh.  And I'm now PI accredited.  My score wasn't as high as I wanted it, but, eh, I passed.  (Damn commas!)

To chapter 21 (3.2) at TPP. In queue at OWL (yes, I am terribly, terribly impatient. But I'm not worth suing, honestly.)

Chapter summary: Another step taken.

First, I got my exchange prompt yesterday. It's rather scary that one of the prompts is something very similar to a plot bunny I was wanting to explore further.  Granted is it was a plot bunny for an original piece, but, hey...

Second, chapter 18 is up at OWL and TPP.  I'll upload chapter 19 (end of part II) this afternoon sometime. :-)

So... I updated Traitor to chapter 15 or 2.2. It's the calm before the storm. Or one of the calms before the many storms.

I have a sore throat, only part of which I blame on going to choir practice last night. Babe has been very blah lately, and I think I've caught the blah from him, complete with sniffles, sneezes and soreness. And if he's had the same mild sore throat, it's no wonder he hasn't been wanting anything to eat besides tortillas. (Digression: What a perfect word for a child to learn, btw. Unless you're English and pronounce the L's. It is one of the few words he says perfectly clearly and would be understood by all, with the mild dipthong giving no problems whatsoever. Much easier than "cracker" which Babe pronounces something like "crahhckr" only with his voice way in the back of his throat. It's prety funny, really.)

Other news? Nope. 'M tired, which probably goes along with the blahs. But yesterday was actually productive. Not only did I get the majority of the laundry done, but I also caught up on paperwork (ick) and made a pumpkin pie. Actually, I made two, only the filling for the other one went in the freezer for some rainy day that calls for comfort food. It's good, but I think I should have followed the recipe a little closer and used the called for amount of sugar. I added all the maple syrup called for, but only about half, maybe a third, of the brown sugar, as I didn't pack it down. As a result, it really needs some sweetened whipped cream for topping.

But the banana bread I made the other day is good, and the peanut butter cookies (which, amazingly, are still around) are also quite nice, if a little too sweet. The yeast bread I made was a little too yeasty, unfortunately, although letting it sit for a day has improved it dramatically.

And, because I've been so mortally lazy when it comes to posting recipes, here's a glut of them.

( banana nut (optional) bread )


( pumpkin pie )


( My mum's white bread, as adapted by me )


So, I think that's enough for the time being. :-) Now to go try and get Babe to eat and perchancs to eat, myself.

Cheers!

So, chapter 12 of Traitor is up at TPP and in queue at OWL.

Also, chapter 15 of SMHC is finally up at SH. That only took... what, six weeks?  Oh, it was only four.

But, sad to say, there are no art updates. Week seven's (or is it eight's?) piece is still on the easel, although after yesterday's work, it looks almost decent. It's taking far, far longer than I anticipated, and it will be a weird meshing of things I have done before (Black, White, Untitled 1 & 2, and Geoff) and, well, a typical still life, only of flowers. I think the end result will probably be pretty cool, if very different from what I consider my style. At this point, all I know is that it looks much better in natural lighting, because the cool light clarifies the blues, kicks up the greens and tones down the yellows.

Ah, the hell with it. Here's a pic of the in-progress piece.


The other update is on the spaghetti sauce.  And the freezer. (Image heavy)

Well, it seems that posting "Traitor" is slowly exorcising it from my system. That and getting some feedback to soothe my worried nerves. At this point I'm kind of wishing I had just decided to post it as three parts (probably 4 or 5 chapters), although, I must say it's fun to see how people react, chapter by chapter. I am really, really glad that no one is liking Snape. I would seriously worry if they did. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how people react to the penultimate chapter. I'm hoping for some swear words, actually. Maybe a flame or two? (Nah... those who get through the first part probably aren't the type to flame.)

I've written an add-on to the story, and am waffling as to whether I should post it as the epilogue, or as its own story. The style's the same, the view points are different, and the tone is quite different. Either way, its title will be "Closure." That sounds hopeful, doesn't it? (Summary: If you're willing to sell your soul for freedom, what would you give for redemption?)

As that horrible story slowly gets excised, I'm finding myself able to start writing other things. Namely, I've managed to write the first "love letter" for SMHC!!! I think it works. I've also plotted out the next chapter and have written about a page. Well, maybe two pages counting the conversation I came up with for later on in the chapter. This is going to be a difficult chapter to write though, I can already tell. It's a major transition chapter. Not only does it transition the movement of time from plodding to something more fluid, but it also is that awkward inbetween period after the first date and before the trial. But, the love letter (and its delivery) is (more or less) written, so that's good.

I've also got the very beginnings of chapter 17 written. It's basically a paragraph saying how the rest of the week passes. Can you imagine that? An entire week in a paragraph! For this story, that's... positively dynamic.


( Musings on writing other stuff )

I'm tired, sleep deprived, there's lots I have to do tomorrow, and I know that I will be up at an unreasonable hour thanks to Babe. But I don't want to go to bed.

So, here I sit at the computer. Stalling.

I hate it when I make myself feel like I'm five years old again.

"But I don't wanna go to bed! I'm *yawn* not tired! *yawns again* Really, I'm not!"

Uh-huh.

But, on the upside, I get to report that not only do I think that I've figured out how to solve the whole composition problem of my last art piece (which is the reason I love art, btw. Problem solving rocks!), but I've also revisited the fic from hell, and the first part really isn't so horrible. It goes downhill pretty fast after the second half of the second part, but the first part should provide enough chapters to give me time to solve thar problem as well.

I hope.

So... tomorrow...

Tomorrow I need to:( make a to do list... )

Yep. Really should be in bed now.

Uh-huh.

*whistling in the dark*

Yeppers.

*now whistling the tune 'whistling in the dark'*



Must. Go. To. Bed!