What I'm Doing Wednesday
Mar. 18th, 2026 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sageEDITED TO ADD: The GoFundMe to support MinoanMiss/RubyNye's burial/memorial costs is here.
books
A Murderous Relation (Veronica Speedwell #5) by Deanna Raybourn. 2020. Kinky London again.
An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6). 2021. Mountaineering.
An Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell #7). 2022. Return of Martin Guerre. Too much romance by far.
A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell #8). 2023. Dinosaur house party. Too much romance, still.
A Grave Robbery (Veronica Speedwell #9). 2024. Evil lesbian Dr Frankenstein. *sigh*
currently reading: A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell #10). 2026. Dracula.
yarning
Sold a snek, a turkey leg, and 2 mushrooms. Got the carrots and kickbunny to KA in the mail (and worked out Click-n-Ship after USPS disabled my old login info). Didn't go to yarn group, even though I was dressed and ready. A strong cold front was on the verge of coming in and I just felt bad. So that's five in a row that I've missed, doh. I did post some pics to the group chat, so they know I'm still involved.
media
The free Importance of Being Earnest is expiring this evening. REALLY fun! <333
healthcrap
I finally called to renew my healthcare coverage, and there are delays on their end, thanks to their new system. Had to reschedule botox for migraines until next month.
#resist
+ Check locally for anti-war protests. I'm finding Reddit and Instagram to be fairly good sources if you check often.
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3
astrology
Mercury Retrograde ends on the 20th, the same day as the Equinox (yay SPRING)! OTOH, the last time that all the outer planets were in their current positions, we were in the US Civil War. That doesn't mean we're headed into a new civil war by any means, obvsly, but it's a prettydreadful interesting time in the skies.
I hope all of you are doing well! <333
books
A Murderous Relation (Veronica Speedwell #5) by Deanna Raybourn. 2020. Kinky London again.
An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6). 2021. Mountaineering.
An Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell #7). 2022. Return of Martin Guerre. Too much romance by far.
A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell #8). 2023. Dinosaur house party. Too much romance, still.
A Grave Robbery (Veronica Speedwell #9). 2024. Evil lesbian Dr Frankenstein. *sigh*
currently reading: A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell #10). 2026. Dracula.
yarning
Sold a snek, a turkey leg, and 2 mushrooms. Got the carrots and kickbunny to KA in the mail (and worked out Click-n-Ship after USPS disabled my old login info). Didn't go to yarn group, even though I was dressed and ready. A strong cold front was on the verge of coming in and I just felt bad. So that's five in a row that I've missed, doh. I did post some pics to the group chat, so they know I'm still involved.
media
The free Importance of Being Earnest is expiring this evening. REALLY fun! <333
healthcrap
I finally called to renew my healthcare coverage, and there are delays on their end, thanks to their new system. Had to reschedule botox for migraines until next month.
#resist
+ Check locally for anti-war protests. I'm finding Reddit and Instagram to be fairly good sources if you check often.
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3
astrology
Mercury Retrograde ends on the 20th, the same day as the Equinox (yay SPRING)! OTOH, the last time that all the outer planets were in their current positions, we were in the US Civil War. That doesn't mean we're headed into a new civil war by any means, obvsly, but it's a pretty
I hope all of you are doing well! <333
voluntary constraint of choice: a rediscovery
Mar. 18th, 2026 04:38 pmwychwoodI was fascinated to read Jo Walton's post on How to read sixteen books at once at all times, because I have recently - and somewhat inadvertently - set up something similar for myself.
In mid-February I got fed up of all the half-read things in my ebook reader, so I went through and tagged a bunch of them - things I wanted to read, things I meant to get around to, etc - in a special collection, and then said "OK now you can only read things from this collection". I started out with 25 books, but added a few more either because a) they were new Dick Francis books that I wanted to read (2 books), or b) they were for a book group meeting that I had suddenly realised was approaching (2 books). Since then I have read only one ebook not in that collection (another book group! but a chapter-by-chapter one, so I don't want to read the whole thing yet), one paper book (oh look for a different book group), and a few chapters of other paper books, and the collection is down to 12.
It's actually been tremendously productive as an approach ( rambling about my reading habits )
In conclusion, it's been great for my reading but terrible for my booklog, which is sadly behind even though I've been working on it reasonably regularly.
In mid-February I got fed up of all the half-read things in my ebook reader, so I went through and tagged a bunch of them - things I wanted to read, things I meant to get around to, etc - in a special collection, and then said "OK now you can only read things from this collection". I started out with 25 books, but added a few more either because a) they were new Dick Francis books that I wanted to read (2 books), or b) they were for a book group meeting that I had suddenly realised was approaching (2 books). Since then I have read only one ebook not in that collection (another book group! but a chapter-by-chapter one, so I don't want to read the whole thing yet), one paper book (oh look for a different book group), and a few chapters of other paper books, and the collection is down to 12.
It's actually been tremendously productive as an approach ( rambling about my reading habits )
In conclusion, it's been great for my reading but terrible for my booklog, which is sadly behind even though I've been working on it reasonably regularly.
PSA: ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
communal_creators spring mini-round is soon!
Mar. 15th, 2026 08:38 pmalthea_valaracommunal_creators is a community of creative types doing all sorts of things. We have two challenges a year: a week-long challenge in the spring and a month-long challenge in the fall.The spring mini-round is starting a week from today! ANYWAY who creates is welcome to join. It's going to be time-based, and there are three tiers to choose from for your daily time goal.
Here's the sign-up post!
I'm serious when I say "anybody who creates". Yes, many of us are writers, but we also have fiber artists (knitting, crochet, weaving, and kumihimo braid), cross-stitchers and other needleworkers, vidders, animators, music creation, bakers... and I'm probably leaving something out.
My goals:
* finish the first sleeve of my cardigan
* maybe work on the t-shirt
* do another section of Neocities work
* write some, hopefully finishing a fic
Which is plenty given that it's just a week long, but it should be a mostly free week for me, except for work. I've got nothing else planned during the week, so hope to make some good progress.
Also tooting my own horn: someone asked for a tracking spreadsheet, so I made one this morning. You can find it in the comments of the sign-up post.
they didn't call it the workshop of the world for nothing
Mar. 14th, 2026 09:05 pmwychwoodWow, that fortnight went fast. I was busy, and when I wasn't busy, I couldn't face anything more demanding than lying around reading. This week had four choir rehearsals on two projects and a concert, but also I had two days off work. On Thursday I went out for birthday brunch at a very fancy place and then to The Coffin Works, which is one of those weird niche local museums - in this case, a factory that made not coffins, but coffin furniture; handles, plates, linings, etc, and also shrouds. It was as much fun as these tiny museums usually are! Which is to say, a lot.
Newman Brothers itself only sold to undertakers, as one would expect, but they aimed at the richer end of the market, and apparently their handles were the ones used by the Royal Warranted undertakers for about fifty years, including for Churchill, George V, Queen Mary, George VI, the Queen Mother, and Princess Diana. When they shut down in 1999, apparently the current holder bought up the entire stock, and the museum is hopeful that the Queen's coffin had them too! But they can't prove it.
It's also really interesting seeing how significant Birmingham was as a manufacturing centre - according to the Pen Museum, Birmingham produced 50% of the world's pen nibs in the 1850s; when the Newman Brothers factory opened, there were fourteen factories in Birmingham making coffin furniture; apparently there were several hundred different clock and watchmakers... I tend to think of, you know, the big automated factories, and gigantic industries like mining and smelting and so on, but Birmingham was just absolutely full of these small operations, making a terrifying percentage of the world's small metalwork components. It's such an interesting picture.
Newman Brothers itself only sold to undertakers, as one would expect, but they aimed at the richer end of the market, and apparently their handles were the ones used by the Royal Warranted undertakers for about fifty years, including for Churchill, George V, Queen Mary, George VI, the Queen Mother, and Princess Diana. When they shut down in 1999, apparently the current holder bought up the entire stock, and the museum is hopeful that the Queen's coffin had them too! But they can't prove it.
It's also really interesting seeing how significant Birmingham was as a manufacturing centre - according to the Pen Museum, Birmingham produced 50% of the world's pen nibs in the 1850s; when the Newman Brothers factory opened, there were fourteen factories in Birmingham making coffin furniture; apparently there were several hundred different clock and watchmakers... I tend to think of, you know, the big automated factories, and gigantic industries like mining and smelting and so on, but Birmingham was just absolutely full of these small operations, making a terrifying percentage of the world's small metalwork components. It's such an interesting picture.
A scattered weekly proof of life
Mar. 14th, 2026 11:24 amumadoshiI have worked. Uh. A lot. Over the past three weeks. o_o But now it's the weekend, and I don't currently have a rewrite to work on, and March Break lies ahead; the spring crunch isn't finished, but it's on hiatus for the week, and a normal workweek is a breath of fresh air at this point. (Also I'm taking a couple of days off during it.)
Yesterday work wrapped up early enough that I had an actual evening, so I was finally able to start Butterfly Effects, the fifteenth (!) InCryptid book. ("Finally" is a bit of a stretch, I guess, since it's still the release week, but this is a Sarah-narrated book. Mostly. SARAH.)
So my hopes for the weekend are pretty much: avoid napping (I don't find naps restorative and feel groggier after than before I started); finish reading Butterfly Effects; watch this week's The Pitt and hopefully the temporarily-streaming production of The Importance of Being Earnest withscruloose; get scruloose to redo my undercut; and (also with scruloose) do a second round of advance-prepping ten or so bags of the dry ingredients for my breakfast banana bread while also baking up a new batch of loaves. I think that last will also require decanting cinnamons from bags into jars, so maybe we'll manage a bit of other spice decanting/sorting while we're at it.
Yesterday work wrapped up early enough that I had an actual evening, so I was finally able to start Butterfly Effects, the fifteenth (!) InCryptid book. ("Finally" is a bit of a stretch, I guess, since it's still the release week, but this is a Sarah-narrated book. Mostly. SARAH.)
So my hopes for the weekend are pretty much: avoid napping (I don't find naps restorative and feel groggier after than before I started); finish reading Butterfly Effects; watch this week's The Pitt and hopefully the temporarily-streaming production of The Importance of Being Earnest with
scruloose; get scruloose to redo my undercut; and (also with scruloose) do a second round of advance-prepping ten or so bags of the dry ingredients for my breakfast banana bread while also baking up a new batch of loaves. I think that last will also require decanting cinnamons from bags into jars, so maybe we'll manage a bit of other spice decanting/sorting while we're at it.
What I'm Doing Wednesday
Mar. 11th, 2026 05:02 pmsage( books (Ghattas, Raybourn) )
yarning
Made and sent 2 catnip-silvervine hearts (to the same customer who has ordered about nine of them now). Missed yarn group due to cold, torrential rain, and DST. Made and sent 2 multicolored kickbunnies. Finished the turquoise kickbunny for kitten academy's current momcat (her kittens are 2 weeks old and adorable!), but haven't gone to the post office yet. Continued Easter carrots after messaging the customer to confirm the number and cost (so stressful!). Now they just need smiles and hanging loops.
healthcrap
I loathe springing forward. Still can't get up at a decent hour. Daytime vertigo is now coming randomly. In the night, it's mostly connected to lying in bed/rolling over/getting up to go to the bathroom. Fun times. I do feel a bit better overall. I got all my healthcare coverage renewal info uploaded and am impatiently awaiting a telephone appt. Tongue still has a hole in it, but it's shallower than it was and is slowly healing...if I can just keep from biting it. Had to start a new tube of benzocaine.
#resist
+ Check locally for anti-war protests. I'm finding Reddit and Instagram to be fairly good sources if you check often. (Last Saturday was a national protest, but I didn't know about it until just a couple of hours beforehand. Doh!)
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3
Thanks for the kind comments on recent posts. I've been terrible at replies. I hope you're all doing well! <333
yarning
Made and sent 2 catnip-silvervine hearts (to the same customer who has ordered about nine of them now). Missed yarn group due to cold, torrential rain, and DST. Made and sent 2 multicolored kickbunnies. Finished the turquoise kickbunny for kitten academy's current momcat (her kittens are 2 weeks old and adorable!), but haven't gone to the post office yet. Continued Easter carrots after messaging the customer to confirm the number and cost (so stressful!). Now they just need smiles and hanging loops.
healthcrap
I loathe springing forward. Still can't get up at a decent hour. Daytime vertigo is now coming randomly. In the night, it's mostly connected to lying in bed/rolling over/getting up to go to the bathroom. Fun times. I do feel a bit better overall. I got all my healthcare coverage renewal info uploaded and am impatiently awaiting a telephone appt. Tongue still has a hole in it, but it's shallower than it was and is slowly healing...if I can just keep from biting it. Had to start a new tube of benzocaine.
#resist
+ Check locally for anti-war protests. I'm finding Reddit and Instagram to be fairly good sources if you check often. (Last Saturday was a national protest, but I didn't know about it until just a couple of hours beforehand. Doh!)
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3
Thanks for the kind comments on recent posts. I've been terrible at replies. I hope you're all doing well! <333
I'm blaming Tyson
Mar. 8th, 2026 02:05 pmsporky_ratSeveral of my larp friends are going wild for Dungeon Crawler Carl, now.
I refuse to not be aware of the books and I've finished the first two in the last two days, so I'll be doing the next one today or tomorrow.
no stream tonight
Mar. 6th, 2026 07:20 pmalthea_valaraAnd maybe not tomorrow, either - I did a TON of knitting the past three days and my hands are OUCH, so I need to rest them. Gonna take a break and read tonight.
Worst case scenario, we'll get back to it next Friday with more FFXI: Wings of the Goddess.
Worst case scenario, we'll get back to it next Friday with more FFXI: Wings of the Goddess.
Firefox for Android
Mar. 7th, 2026 12:26 amvassAnyone know why Private Mode might be failing to clear cookies when I close the browser?
(Saving this draft then closing the app to see whether I can reproduce it on Dreamwidth. Yup.)
That's the bug.
(Saving this draft then closing the app to see whether I can reproduce it on Dreamwidth. Yup.)
That's the bug.