it's like a train wreck, only fluffier

Feel like shit and have orders to do.

Tempted to sack today off since I've already had a moment, and I can't really afford mistakes.  I checked my due dates and was like 'eyyyy, loads of time, calling in sick', and then realised I was only looking at the 'new orders' tab and not taking the 'in progress' tab into consideration.

Augh.

On the plus side, I think the CBD might be having some effect?  I have a cough, and that spikes my pain, but it doesn't seem as bad as it normally is when I have a hacking cough?  IDK, it'd be easier to tell without the misfiring nerve cluster being set off by the tightening in my abdomen.

Went to see brother-in-law's band at the monthly hipster market.  It was bloody freezing, but I have cheesecake, lemon curd cheese, and macarons, so I'm good. 

Four year old niece decided to get on stage just after the band finished setting up, and got behind her dad's drums just like she does at home.  Everyone was like d'awww, look at the cute kid... and then she launched into an epic drum solo that illustrated, beyond any doubt, that she's been playing those drums since before she could walk.  I think she'd just about learned to hold her head up by herself when Glen started propping her up on his knee and guiding her hands through the motions.

When the lead singer got up to the mike he was just like, "...That feeling when your opening act is impossible to follow."

Bless.

I don't think I'm going to make this bingo line before deadline, I can't do short fic any more and my Little Mermaid retelling has spiralled a bit (10K, not even halfway told, woot woot). Still going to try though - I guess I could work on the rest of the line and post the first chapter as my fill, then add the other chapters later? IDK.

Once this month is over I'm going to concentrate on the crime thriller, it's just this month's bingo theme was right up my alley.

Right now I have to do some leather stitching, which I really don't feel up to, but wahey, self employment and the knowledge that pain levels might be even worse tomorrow.

My pins from teeturtle turned up though, so that's nice.

( Pics )
( pics )

 I am trying to get better at this blogging business, lol.

Have worked through some of my 'to-do's - got fertiliser down in garden, emptied out videos and moved fluff into that cupboard, and cleared out under the cherry.

The insurance continues to be a problem.  The worktop seems to have dropped a bit, and as a result the tap leaks, so the worktop is now warped from damp.  Yay.  The leak happened in November, it's now February.  We still have an only semi-usable kitchen that's decaying in front of our eyes.  Congratu-well done, AXA.

In other news I've been looking at book subscription services, and I really like the idea, but I don't think they'd work for me because what if I don't like the book that's sent?  Any money spent on books I don't want to read is less money to spend on books I want to read?  There was one that really caught my eye which sends books from different countries, plus a hot drink and a snack from that country.  I really like the idea of that one, but the trouble is I like a very limited amount of coffees and allergies and my dislike of hot spices torpedoes the hot drink and food side of it.  But!  It did give me an idea: I've sent off for a colour-in world map (I like the scratch off ones better but they're 3 times the price and I'll probably slip and take out another country and then be annoyed with myself).  I'm going to try to read a book from as many countries as I can, and then get a tea subscription to cover the 'surprise box' and 'yummies' side of the subscription.  Jobsaguddun.

I have ordered one Book and a Brew box, but they have the option to order back-issues that they still have stock of, so I know it's a copy of NOS4R2 by Joe Hill, I just don't know what the brew will be.

As far as the tea subscription goes, I was planning to wait until I had the tea situation under control (as per yearly goals), but failed at that utterly in the wee hours of this morning and signed up for one.  I had real difficulty choosing between all the options, so I've decided to do three months of each and pick whichever I liked best after I've worked through them.  tea-enthusiasts won as my first option due entirely to having a 50% off coupon for their first month.

I've done a tea subscription thing before, years ago, when there was literally only one of them in the UK, and it was a total bust: they kept putting insufficient postage on the parcels, so crippled old me had to walk a couple of miles to pick it up, and also you only got one tea, so if you didn't like it you were stuffed for the month.  Most of the newer subscriptions I've taken note of do 2-6 teas, so at least your odds of the entire box being a bust are a bit lower.

Also looked at some vintage book subscriptions, Bookishly and Prudence and the Crow, but again the problem with not knowing the book - not to mention the tea portions with both seem somewhat wanting.  With Prudence and the Crow you can at least narrow down a genre, and with Bookishly the stationery is hella pretty, but eh, idk.  I think the tea subscription and book challenge is a better option.

If anyone wants to join in you're welcome. 

So the insurers are sending someone out to dry the kitchen on Friday. The leak happened mid-November.

So tired, you guys, so tired.

I love when people ask me for dating advice because Chris and I have been together so long and 'work so well as a couple' (21 years as of today). Bunk off doing chemistry homework to play gin rummy in the sixth-form sports hall, obvs. Not sure how useful this will be to your adult self?

Did way too much yesterday (getting rid of a tonne of old videos and rearranging my fibre stash into the space where they were) and am paying for it now. Doc's gonna look at my records and be like "and why did you take codeine here?" and I'm gonna completely deadpan: "I binned a blockbusters and stuffed three sheep into a cupboard."

I'm reading Fire and Fury because everybody else is doing it so why not me. Wolff was completely accurate when he said he wasn't sure about whether to bother publishing because it was already all out in the open, but that's also what's good about it? The news has just been a barrage of 'Bullshit Trump And Co. Pulled Today' and Wolff's joined the dots into a readable narrative; it's kind of reassuring in a way.

I love how the news is all about outdated computer systems and bad firewalls, when it's a PICNIC issue.

Chris's department sent emails out days ago, with pictures, explicitly stating that if you get this email you must not click on it.

Even yesterday, after all the news coverage...

Caller: Hi, yeah, you sent us a warning about some email, telling us not to click on a link...?
Chris: Have you clicked on the link?
Caller: Yes.

No update or firewall can offer protection when dozens upon dozens of government employees genuinely cannot keep themselves from being an IT Crowd punchline.

Ridiculously tired. About ready to murder my postman. And I have bingo updates but html NO BAD.

I've had about three hours sleep thanks to etsy fuckery, so if I leave some really weird comments later on then please forgive me. I get less shy when I'm tired. (I mean, I've straight up referred to etsy's customer service as 'a toxic-waste dumpster fire' and told the survey I trust a barrel of monkeys with my money more than I do them, but hopefully it will give some poor collator a smile).

Still, at least I didn't have to get a passport just to keep my shop open. That being said, my shop is still open purely so that I have some income while I set up elsewhere. I don't need sleepless nights because I've received a message that says "use our payment system or we'll close your shop on May 18th uwu", especially given that I can already predict the nasty cash-grabs to come.

Dickheads.

I was stupid and did way too much over the weekend, so I am taking a Day Off^TM (for a given value of the term: I've still been talking to customers, and I laid a bit more slate in the garden during my least lucid patch of medication. That's less heavy duty than it sounds though - I've got a little colander I fill, so I can rinse the stuff first, so I'm lugging about all of 200g at a time).

My plan for today was to post the bingo fills that I've finished and start doing link-ups, but I'm a bit too bombed to deal with photo-hosting and multiple html. Hopefully I'll get them rounded up this week though. The shop's been super-quiet, worryingly quiet, but things have picked up a bit today at least.

I've been told to watch the new Dirk Gently series, so I reread the books first and now I'm about to embark upon a marathon. I'll admit, I'm wondering whether I should wait until I'm a bit more here, but wahey!

Oh, and hallo to new peeps!