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dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-21 07:56 pm

(no subject)

Guess who made beignets~

Me! :D

I came across the recipe being recommended on Tumblr at the same time that I had songs from The Princess and the Frog stuck in my head, so I kinda had to. It required a trip to the dollar store because I didn't have the right kind of flour but at least the weather was pretty decent. And, hey, there's the walk I didn't take outside yesterday. Nice! The recipe itself was easy enough and I got some reading in while waiting for the dough to rise. I didn't really have a very suitable pan for frying but found one that worked well enough. The first half or so of the dough, I used to make something more like beignet bites. That would've been what I used all the dough for but I got tired of dealing with such small portions at a time, especially since some of them really didn't want to turn over. Too bad, since they cooked so quickly. The rest of the dough made more of regular sized beignets, which had its own issues-- namely, they were a liiittle too big to fry comfortable in my pan once they'd puffed up.

The finished products didn't end up being the prettiest, especially the bites, but they taste good and that's the important part. I'm taking the bites with me to work tomorrow!

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with the leftover oil. It's clean enough still that I'd rather not just toss it but I don't really dip-fry a lot of food. Nor is there a lot of food in the house right now that I would want to dip-fry. I'll probably just slice up some potatoes, tbh.
smallhobbit: (Gloucestershire Peregrine)
smallhobbit ([personal profile] smallhobbit) wrote2025-09-21 03:36 pm

View from the Window - September

The trees are remaining in leaf, as we come into autumn, and the grass has recovered due to our recent rain.

dustbunny105: (Default)
dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-20 08:59 pm

(no subject)

I completely forgot that I had meant to do to the post office today to send off my charity squares orz

The deadline isn't for like a month but I really wanted them in the mail asap. And yet. I wasn't able to get it taken care of last week because the weather was bad for walking in but it was nice out today. Would've been a pleasant walk too. Which, lemme tell ya, I needed. I slept in, started out alright when I finally got up but then jut lost track of myself during the day. I'll still finish the menial chores I wanted to do this weekend but, uh. Yeah, I'm definitely not getting the floors done, lol.
stonepicnicking_okapi: 2025 (2025)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-20 03:00 pm
Entry tags:

25 in 2025

1. learn to hem pants
2. go to a new grocery store
3. attend a jhope concert in Brooklyn
4. make an essential oil spray
5. submit an application for a job
6. interview for a job
7. participate in a fic exchange
8. read a manga
9. go to Costco
10. work!
11. eat at a new restaurant
12. explore a trail at a new state park
13. try a new craft
14. play new board games (Canvas & EXIT game)
15. try new recipe
16. play a sport (PICKLEBALL! I went to my first intro to pickleball class today at the YMCA and it was fun. I may go back).
smallhobbit: (Default)
smallhobbit ([personal profile] smallhobbit) wrote2025-09-20 11:56 am
Entry tags:

Dulverton

We're just back from a couple of days break in Dulverton, which is a village on Exmoor.

Dulverton )
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dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-19 08:59 pm

(no subject)

Once again-- the weekend! I think I'm gonna try to get the floors waxed again but I'm not married to the idea. As long as I finish some tidying up and get my usual maintenance chores done-- which I, uh, kinda mostly forgot about doing last weekend, oops-- I'll be pretty happy. Well, that and tossing my bedding into the laundry. I've put that off longer than usual because I've got crochet stuff roughly organized on my bed but this isn't really sustainable.

I haven't gotten another reply yet from my prison penpal but I think I'll write him again anyway. Idk how often he actually has the opportunity to write, come to think of it. His last letter didn't mention anything about that or about how much he has in his commissary for paper/stamps(/envelopes? dunno if they have to pay for those). Feels weird to "skip" him, especially since we've barely got a conversation going yet, but just a short update or something shouldn't mess us up too badly.
stonepicnicking_okapi: journal (journal)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-19 07:17 am
Entry tags:

Collage Journaling: three

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. Thanks to [personal profile] sweettartheart for sending me the Tim Holtz phrase stickers. I have never used those before (but many, many YTers do) and I think it is a good effect.





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dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-18 08:58 pm

(no subject)

Bat season is upon me! I've only actually seen the bats once so far but there were maybe four of them flapping about. Swooping a little lower than I'm used to, I gotta say...

Anyway, since the weather is improving slowly but surely, I'm looking forward to going outside in the evenings and watching them. I've been looking for motivation to walk outside and here it is!
stonepicnicking_okapi: ChopSuey (chopsuey)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-18 06:42 pm
Entry tags:

Into the void: crystal anniversary edition

So today is my wedding anniversary (15 years! we were dating 6 years before we married. Traditional gift would be crystal and modern gift would be glass, the interweb tells me) and I feel VERY different than I have in the past. I am...normal...about it. No angst. No weird horrible suicidal feelings. No wishing I forgot it. No urge to cut.

We went to the kabob place, just the two of us, ate, and it was fine.

Am I in a better place or am I resigned to my fate? The job means I am bringing in income and having more interaction with people and getting out of the house, so I THINK it means that I am in a better place mentally.

Or have I just stopped hoping for a way out or a way that things could be better?

I am going to choose to think it's a good thing until proven otherwise, not to be so plagued with negativity about being married. I still think it was a mistake, and I still don't like the concept of marriage at all, in any way, but it was nice to just go eat a meal and come home and feel...normal. No worse than any other day.

That's a good thing, right? I don't know.
stonepicnicking_okapi: otherwords (otherwords)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-18 07:06 am

Poet's Corner: Fog by Carl Sandburg

September's theme is POEMS I LEARNED IN SCHOOL. Thank you [personal profile] thatjustwontbreak!

Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
dustbunny105: (Default)
dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-17 08:59 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I recently remembered that embossed crochet is a thing and I want to try it so bad. I'm pretty sure it's just some kind of back and front post stitch pattern? In which case it should be pretty easy to pick up, though figuring out how to do freehand designs be something of a headache. At first, anyway. I'm sure once you get the hang of how it works, it's probably pretty smooth. That's how I felt about entralac, even though I ended up not liking it much.

Anyway, I've had a colorwork project in mind for a long while now and I think the embossed look would be perfect for it. I'm gonna look up some tutorials and maybe do a small practice project, then see if I can figure out how to mak eit work for the bigger piece I have in mind :D
stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-17 07:13 am
Entry tags:

Word: Atramentous

Wednesday's word is copy-and-pasted from [personal profile] prettygoodword which you should subscribe to if you're keen on this type of thing (also [community profile] 1word1day).

atramentous (a-truh-MEN-tuhs) - adj., black as ink, inky.


Also atramental, but that seems to be even less common. This goes back to the 1640s, a time when a lot of words were being imported into English directly from Latin, in this case ātrāmentum, a liquid used to blacken, which could be (and often was) ink but also a dye/stain for leather or wood, from ātrāre, to blacken, from āter, black, ultimately from PIE *h₂eh₁ter-, fire. ātrāmentum also gave Middle English atrament, black ink.

And an example of its variation in Clark Ashton-Smith's “The Dream-God’s Realm” provided by [personal profile] full_metal_ox.

Till, lo! the atramental veil of night
That, stifling, hung about, behind, before,
Was sudden parted by some unseen hand,
And on my vision leapt a marvelous sight -
A green and joyous plain, with fair skies o'er,
The Dream-god's sunlight-drenched, enchanted land.
dustbunny105: (Default)
dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-16 08:38 pm

(no subject)

I see the UN has finally officially declared that the genocide in Gaza is, indeed, a genocide. Thanks for finally chiming in on that one, guys, I've spent these last two years all in a tizzy of uncertainty.

People are speaking up who didn't before, countries are threatening to drop out of Eurovision, sanctions are being threatened and even carried out, IDF members are being banned as tourists. Late is better than never but ffs. It turns out that it really is that easy, huh? Can you imagine if they'd all done this from the beginning? Or even a few months in? Even a year ago? So many lives could've been saved.
stonepicnicking_okapi: cat (cat)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-16 08:27 pm

Views & News

1. If you would like a homemade collage Halloween card (or two! I have a lot of material!) and I don't have your mailing address, please message it to me. I have plenty of international stamps so in or out of the US.

2. We got some rain today and it was nice.

3. I fell victim to candy corn already and have made myself sick twice. There is no such thing as moderation when it comes to candy corn.

4. I finished the Miles Davis autobiography. Amazing artist but not someone who respected the women in his life at all. Also I am glad I never tried heroin. I also finished the third book in the Tracker series. I think I am done with Tracker for a while. He's getting to be a Bit Much. I am almost finished with Rebus #21 and I am sad because there aren't many more books in the series and Rebus has COPD from all the cigarettes :(

5. I have decided to time my UK trip with this exhibit at the British Museum: https://events.bl.uk/exhibitions/agathachristie

In case there isn't enough tap dancing on your feed: Arthur Duncan, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Steve Condos, Harold Nicholas, Sandman Sims, Sammy Davis Jr.

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dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-15 08:59 pm

(no subject)

Got an email from the HR lady today to let me know that I stand to lose ten PTO days if I don't get them scheduled by the end of the year. Which, on the one hand, is pretty cool for the obvious reasons. On the other hand... what am I gonna do with ten PTO days?

She suggested I tack some of that time onto my TFcon PTO, which does make sense. I don't really have anything else to do at that time, though. I can't take extra time for the trip itself because I'm not the one driving. Unless I want to roadtrip up and then fork out to catch a plane back, lol. I certainly don't need the days leading up to pack. And even if I wanted the days after for something, someone else in accessioning already has that whole next week off.

No one has the week of my birthday, so I think I'll take that and knock out five days at once. As for the other five, Idk. I don't want to miss out on the days I deserve but I want them to be for something, y'know? Of course, I have been thinking about taking days just to be able to have solid time to devote to working on things at home. Maybe I should take the full week leading up to the convention and use it for that. I can do some general housecleaning and get any rearranging done that I want to do and maybe I'll better enjoy both the vacation and anything I bring home with me.
stonepicnicking_okapi: record player (recordplayer)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-15 04:24 pm
Entry tags:

Music Monday: Wake me Up when September Ends by Green Day

Thank you [personal profile] cornerofmadness!

I hadn't listened to this song a very long time so I wrote a BTS Namjin ficlet for it: https://sweetandshort.dreamwidth.org/271746.html

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dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-14 08:54 pm

(no subject)

Well, I did not get any fics done. I'm disappointed, ngl, but I did still get some solid work done on some first draft wips and I'm trying to be proud of that. It's a little less work that future me will have to do, at any rate.

I did finish a scarf/shawl thing using one of my Yarnia skeins, though! Aside from blocking, anyway, simply because I'm not sure how to go about it. The shape isn't one I've dealt with before and my cork board is too small for it. I knew I should've splurged on some blocking boards, lol. Ah, well. It looks fine as it is for now. Not like I need a scarf at the moment, since the temperature has had the audacity to go back up again.

On an un-creative note, I also finished watching Beast Wars while I worked on the scarf. Trying to decide if I want to move on to Beast Machines. I'm not sure I've ever actually watched it the whole way through and I do want to. On the other hand, I'm also not sure I want to squander the happy nostalgia feelings that Beast Wars gave me, haha. I might just wait a bit. Although, Idk, do you think if it pisses me off enough, it'll kill the ideas I've come up with for BW fics during this rewatch so I can focus on what I'm already working on...? Lol.
stonepicnicking_okapi: holmes in silohuette (holmessilouhette)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-09-14 09:00 am

Casefic Exchange: Sherlock Holmes (ACD) and Cadfael

Author reveal was on Friday for the Casefic Exchange. I received two lovely Sherlock Holmes (ACD) fics about Holmes taking cases involving lost pets which turn more complicated. If that sounds like your cup of tea, please give them some love.

The Case of the Missing Cat and Husband (3339 words) by septemberbells
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson
Additional Tags: Minor Case-Related OCs, casefic, missing cat, Rural Setting, missing husband, Relatively short case I would say
Summary:

A cosy, compounding mystery for Holmes and Watsons in the Cotswolds.



The Adventure of the Speckled Spaniel (3316 words) by EdosianOrchids901
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Dogs, Burglary, Banter, Investigations, Secrets, Friendship
Summary:

When a client asks Holmes to find her missing dog, Holmes is originally unimpressed by the commission. Soon, it becomes clear that the case may be more complicated than he first assumed.



And I wrote a Cadfael fic.

Bitter Medicine (6507 words) by okapi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters, Cadfael (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Brother Cadfael, Brother Oswin (Cadfael Chronicles), Brother Jerome (Cadfael Chronicles), Hugh Beringar, Original Characters, Brother Rhys - Character, Cynfrith ap Rhys
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Medieval Medicine, Riddles, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:

Brother Cadfael sets off on a journey to the Welsh border to fulfill a fellow Benedictine's dying wish.

For 2025 Case Fic Exchange

dustbunny105: (Default)
dustbunny105 ([personal profile] dustbunny105) wrote2025-09-13 08:59 pm

(no subject)

Not sure what it was today but I could hardly make myself get anything done that I wanted to. I suppose it might've started with deciding not to do the farmers market. That would've gotten me up and moving. Only I don't regret not going. Aside from the hassle of taking the bus, it was stupid hot, stupid early. Not the weather I'd anticipated when I was considering going. So, Idk.

Anyhow, the day wasn't a total loss. I cleaned out the fridge, which I've been meaning to do for ages. I got a lot of reading done, too, though, I'm at a part in the book where second-hand embarrassment is making it hard to focus, lol. Phil's new screen arrive, so that's taken care of. I might even do a little writing before bed still. I haven't given up on finishing something this weekend.
smallhobbit: (Book bibliophile)
smallhobbit ([personal profile] smallhobbit) wrote2025-09-13 01:11 pm
Entry tags:

The Friday Five: Randomosity

This week's [community profile] thefridayfive 

1. What is your favourite fruit?
Raspberries

2. What is the last book you read?
'The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers 1804-1999' by Misha Glenny.  This one took me about 7.5 months, so I'll also say 'Death and the Conjurer' by Tom Mead

3. Do you like any of your school photos?
So long ago, I no longer have any of them and haven't got a clue what I thought at the time.

4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?
It had never even occurred to me, so no.

5. What was the last film you watched?
'Mr Burton' back in May, at our local indy cinema