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#july and august are crazy work months because of holiday season
livwritesstuff · 3 months
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‘tis my birthday today (it’s gotta be one of the worst birthdays to have, we don’t need to talk about it) anyways that’s where this is coming from
(also i’m not trying to imply that jan 1 is eddie’s bday. i wouldn’t wish that on anybody. besides, he is def a weirdo february aquarius)
The second half of the calendar year is nothing short of pandemonium for Eddie and Steve and their three daughters.
Moe’s birthday in late July kicks it off, almost immediately followed by Steve’s birthday in early August, then Hazel’s in September. Robbie’s birthday comes mere days after Halloween, and from there they dive headfirst into the bedlam of the holiday season.
Much to Eddie's relief, they all made it to yet another New Year's Day, and while the girls are definitely feeling the end-of-winter-break blues, Eddie welcomes the reprieve in festivities, brief as it may be.
His own birthday is up next – though not for another month.
He’s really not a birthday kind of guy. Never had been.
He loves making birthdays exciting for Steve and their daughters (they have a whole slew of traditions and everything – there’s names spelled out in pancakes involved; it's a very big deal), but his own…not so much.
It managed to fly under the radar for the past few years, but since this year is the big Five-Oh, he knows Steve won’t let him get away with that again.
Eddie has a complicated relationship with his birthday. When he was younger and the weight of Birthday Importance was at its peak, he never really celebrated the way other kids got to, and now, as an adult, he doesn’t know how to feel the things you’re supposed to feel about your birthday. 
Steve does a good job, despite Eddie’s weirdness. 
His favorite, Eddie thinks, was the year Moe was born, when Steve had managed to catch him off guard by renting a tiny cottage up in Maine for a few days.
“Moe or no Moe,” Steve had asked, “I’ve got Rob and Nance on standby.”
(They’d taken Moe. She saw snow for the first time. It was amazing, and people who don't want to involve their kids in stuff are a bunch of fucking weirdos).
Steve gives him a letter every year – handwritten on notebook paper and folded into whatever cheesy card he picks out.
Eddie keeps most of the letters in a fireproof lockbox along with all their passports and social security cards and birth certificates (look – Eddie doesn’t fuck around with priceless shit), but he keeps the most recent one – the one Steve gave him for his forty-ninth birthday nearly a year ago – in the top drawer of his bedside table.
He has it pretty much memorized at this point.
It says:
Ed! (with an exclamation point and everything – god, does Eddie love him)
49.
Holy shit we’re getting old.
Writing this is making me think about all the ones from the beginning, when I’d write about our future together even though we didn’t have a damn clue what we were working towards for a while.
I think we’re in it, man. Crazy, right?
(The ink color suddenly switches from blue to purple)
Sorry for the color change. Hazy decided she needed a blue pen immediately. Hope your vision hasn’t gone totally to shit and you can still read the purple.
Anyways, since I have you hostage reading this, I’m gonna take the opportunity to discuss you, because you don’t let me in real life most of the time.
You are gorgeous. Best looking face I’ve ever seen. I wonder how much time I’ve lost off my day just staring at you (actually, not a loss. I take that back)
You suck at puzzles – I know that sounds bad, but it’s great for me. I need that to rub off on Moe because she’s getting pretty good and that’s gonna be a problem for me.
You make me laugh so fucking hard every day. I’m praying the girls get your sense of “elevated” humor or whatever you like to call it
You’re so fucking smart, Eddie. I count myself lucky for it endlessly
You are completely 100% you all the time. I’m still working on that I think but I’m getting there because of you. I’m glad all that shit we went through didn’t take that away from you.
the BEST dad. Can’t believe I didn’t say that sooner. Not to brag but our kids are turning out pretty awesome (can’t go around saying that too much though it’ll go right to their heads and then any power we have left goes out the window)
You’re probably the best person I’ve ever known. Don’t think I’ll be forgetting what a catch you are any time soon, because I won't.
Thank you for loving me even all these years later. My life is better every day that I’m with you.
We’ll keep things quiet this year. Don’t get used to it though. Next year’s gonna be a rager.
Love you always!
- Steve :) ♡ ☆
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stregacorvina · 1 year
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2022 recap - Part 2
And here we are with the second part of this 2022 recap! I hope it will be shorter than the first half XD
- In July I got the results from the exams and I PASSED THEM ALL! I was so happy that all the sacrifices, the stress and the time took from sewing finally had a meaning but I was also really scared because that means that In september my life will drastically change...I will be a teacher OMG! I was hoping to pass but I really wasn’t expecting it... But it was finally time to go back sewing full time, I had a lot of backlogs and some delayed commissions to deliver so I made the final rush for Emma Swan and Regina Mills cosplays from Once upon a time along with other commissions from My Etsy shop (another Todoroki Fantasy cosplay, another Momo Yaoyorozu hero suit and a season 1 version of Bakugo shirt...it was really a month dedicated to My Hero Academia XD)
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Also I managed to finish on time one of the biggest embroidery project since 2B in 2021, a yukata covered in leaf embroideries. I enjoyed this project so much and I really was so upset that I cannot use my embroidery machine in all the ways I planned at the beginning of the year!
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I also sewed the last Princess Serenity gown of the year, for a 1/4 BJD.
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- In August we finally went back to travel and after few days on the mountains we finally flyed again to Norway and it was one of the best holiday in a while! I took almost 15/20 days off to try to recover my health but the season of the biggest conventions here in Italy was about to start so I needed to resume sewing as soon as I can.
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During August I also decided to close my Etsy shop for a while (it’s still closed right now) because I received a very big order when we were on holyday and it really stressed me out because as a matter of fact, I didn’t have the time to make it at all....but I maneged anyway! It was a groom outfit based on the Dracula cosplay I did few years ago.
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The cosplays due for this month (for a convention at the beginning of September) were a quite easy summer kimono (or yukaya) and again a very big embroidery project! Rapunzel dress based on the doll version, one of my favourite of the year for sure! I was also really happy to sew a male version of Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail (even if I don’t like her character so much the anime is one of my favorite at the moment !)
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Also at the end of August I received the news that I was officially a teacher in a Fashion and Graphic Design High School here in Milan and starting from the 1st of September I had to go to school everyday! So to celebrate this event I bought another Smartdoll XD This time the head only (I will buy the body around December as a birthday gift from a very nice girl from Finland) so here it is Moment, or Sonhora, as Violaine sister.
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- September was starting and so my high school career, but also I need to deliver some cosplays until December (i’ve orders until February if I have to be honest XD) so again no rest at all...School in the morning and sewing like crazy in the evening/night! Even with this crazy schedule I manage to deliver quite a few cosplays...while I was getting used to my new schedule I sewed some “easy” projects: a Ravenclaw Quidditch robe and one of the outfit Arshes Nei wore in the Bastard reboot serie
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Meanwhile I made some friends at school among my colleagues and it was really nice meeting new people after so long time. Also the girls I have to teach were slowly starting to open up to me and with the majority of them I have a really good relationship right now.
- October as per usual is my busiest month as here in Italy we have the Lucca Comics and Games convention, one of the biggest in Italy and in Europe and I always have a lot of big works to deliver. This yeas was no exception and I had three big projects! I started a bit of each of them during the previous months so I didn’t start from scratch but it was soooo exausting anyway
The projects were Shionne from Tales of Arise, Merida from Brave in an alternative outfit and Kadaj from Final Tantasy 7 AC. I was really excited to sew all of them but at this point I was so exausted to sew that I didn’t enjoy them as much as I expected and that really sadden me a lot. 
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I also manage to sew just in time a new Halloween outfit for my dolls to take some pictures in the Halloween weekend. 
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- I really don’t remember at all what I did in November, even if it’s so close in time. I think i just rested and cleaned my sewing lab and trying to get hold of my life again XD Also during this month I decided to put cosplay commissions on hiatus because even doing quotations was becoming a real struggle for me and I still don’t know right now when I will be able to resume taking them.
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- Between November and December I worked on some old works that needed mending or alterations (I will deliver the last one in a few days) and started to rest in a proper way. Right now I am still on holyday (only for a couple of days alas!) and before this week on the Mountains I was at my parents’ house for Christmas. Of course I brought Violaine to sew some new clothes and take new pictures.
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And as December is also the month of my Birthday I really make use of my new paycheck and bought a lot of gifts for myself XD Two girls from the new Shadow High serie (Natasha and Shanelle) and as I said before a second hand body for my second Smartdoll Sonhora. I know, a lot of dolls, but this was supposed to be my "dolls year".. (I also gifted myself an iPad for Christmas XD)
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What a year! It happened a lot and it was quite difficult to remember everything to write this entry (it took me more than 5 days to finish it!) A lot of good things happened so I really cannot complain but I was hoping for a different year this time after the 2020 and the 2021...
Who knows that 2023 will bring, I think I will finally adjust to my new life as a teacher but at the same time I will do my best to start sewing again, but with a slower pace...and for a while I will focus more on the things I enjoy making (dolls clothes, embroideries, developing new skills....) until I will be mentally and physically ready to start taking commissions again.
So as we’re almost a week in the 2023 (I started writing this entry on the 2nd of January) I was glad I was able to look back at my last year and see how much I’ve accomplished. It was such a frantic year that I didn’t realize how many things I’ve sewed while studying like crazy for almost half of the year and starting a new job. I also bought a lot of gifts for myself ahahah...next year I have to limit myself a bit!
As for New Year Resolutions, I really don’t have much planned: on a personal level I just want to be healty again (resume my daily yoga and pilates lessons and eat better) and spend more quality time with my family (my boyfriend and my cat here in Milan and the rest of my family in Rome as well). And also finally try to catch up with all the tv series I’ve lost these years I was so busy (Stranger Things, House of Dragon, Dark, the Boys...just to name a few - and I’ve already started as I’ve binge watched Wednesday during these holidays and I’ve almost done with Mirai Nikki (it passed so long that I almost don't remember when I started watching it) On a working/hobby level I just wanted to be back to enjoy what I sew again and to finally be able to re-open my Etsy shops (at least for cosplay sewing patterns and the dolls one), to sew a lot of items in my whishlist and to start using my stash materials more instead of buying new things! I also really wanted to start again learining new thigs, I hope to be able to commit more to Skillshare courses this year (the first thing I wanna learn is how to use Procreate properly now that finally I have an iPad XD) and maybe open the Youtube Channel I was talking about at the end of 2021!
And this was my 2022, how about yours? Did your year went as planned or like mine went totally downhill? XD I hope to be more consistent here on my blog too this year and to post at least one entry per month!
I really wish you all a wonderfull 2023 and let’s work hard together to have the best year in a while! ❤️
Chiara (StregaCorvina)
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bronzeagelove · 3 years
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I’m a bit sad I won’t be able to play MELE for at least another month or two, but I got some graduatin’ to do.
For now, I have decided to blacklist the #mele and #mass effect legendary edition tags so I can experience it for myself when I get to it.
The only thing I’d be happy to know is how it performs when played with mouse and keyboard. So if anyone playing it on PC with mouse and keyboard could give me feedback on that, I’d be super happy! Otherwise, I’ll see you all in October or so and I’ll join the squealing and excitement then :)
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twilightvolt · 3 years
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Well....that was one way to start a new decade, i guess. >  >’
Ok, from the death and destruction to the quarantine caused by viral disease to large parts of the world literally going up in flames, this year was like an ominous beginning that revealed the true ugly colors of everyone around us.
But there’s something telling me that that was just the universe releasing all of it’s built up rage from the last decade, so to think on the bright side, the only way to go is up now, right?
Regardless, pushing all the crap that happened this year aside, this feels like one of my best years yet in terms of art. i don’t think there’s any wedge of this clock that i wasn’t completely satisfied with and i had a TON of tough decisions on what to put in said wedges cuz i just luved almost everything i’ve created this year.
If you’re up to it, i’ll have my usual month to month reflection under the cutoff, but if you’re not, i hope to keep giving y’all even better art next year! ^  ^
So without further ado, let’s review!
January: ~ Days ~
Runner up: Team Solar Rises Again! (drawing in celebration of PMD finally returning with a remake of the first game)
Kicking off right where 2019 left off, i was hot on the heels of my Beastars phase, still cranking out countless drawings and doodles, mostly featuring Legoshi, and even hanging around the Beastars Amino and making some new friends there. this piece in particular i think encapsulates what i was mostly doing at the time, making up stories and stuff within canon to give myself more wolf boi content. which is something that i rarely do normally since i’ve mostly just done OC related writing before this.
February: - Sk8ter Wolf -
Runner up: Re:Hukaro (That thing i drew for Moon)
Ahh yes, the day i peaked with punk rock energy and created something in a highschool notebook sketch style. ngl, with the release of Beastars’ english dub on the way and the fandom quickly growing, i felt like i was on fire with the amount of stuff i was drawing. i felt so inspired and things can’t possibly go bad.
Or can it?
March: We Can Be Heroes
Runner up: One More Day, Emo Bird Boi Sketchies
Ahh yes, the month the worldwide quarantine started because they discovered the virus around this time. from this point onward, time pretty much meant absolutely nothing since i was stuck indoors for a majority of the year, only going out if i had to. on top of that, i tried a little attempt at a fandub and got picked on immediately by yahoos on Youtube. it...wasn’t fun.
I tried doing a little challenge i made up called Animarch where i drew a drawing representing anime i liked every day, but i only got about 5 days in i think? ehh, whatever. i did try, so that means something. lol
April: - ANOTHER SIDE -
Runner up: BEAST CROSSING ~Legoshi & Raymond
This was pretty much the final month i drew anything Beastars related as i slowly started shifting back to Pokemon due to the wait for season 2. but not before getting the new Animal Crossing and drawing a thing with Raymond and Legoshi that would blow up with hundreds of notes and interactions across every platform i posted it on. lmao
Regardless, i feel like Another Side was a perfect way to end that phase of my art journey. it’s like a nice finale to a long string of ideas that i will totally return to once season 2 drops next year.
May: - KOUJI -
Runner up: Fashion (that sketch of Alex and Jet in casual clothing)
What happened this month again? oh right, i went back to Digimon for a hot minute cuz i continued playing the copy of Cyber Sleuth Complete that i won from a giveaway on Twitter and created Alex and Jet, my latest Tamer and her Hawkmon partner. i should really do some more stuff with them.
ANYWAY,
June: - DOUBLE TROUBLE -
Runner up: “No Time to Waste! HENSHIN!” (AF attack against IonicIsaac on Twitter), Cafe Mix ~Ace, Yagami, Lance and Seliph
Art Fight. third year. and this time i kicked things up a notch and beat my old record from last year!...after uhh....cramming in 8 attacks at the very last night and totally going insane from the amount of sleep i lost. ^  ^’
But trust me when i say i will NOT do that again next year, i swear.
July: Squad Up
Runner up: Comin’ Out to Stun (Jet the Hawk sketches)
So after playing and beating PMDX, i started fleshing out Lance and Selpih’s characters and made more art and stories surrounding them and the rest of the team. one of those being a drawing for Mystery Dungeon Day, which happens the day after Odaiba Day. which is in August. why did i put this down for July then? some questions just don’t need to be answered.
August: - TOGETHER -
Runner up: In the Storm
You can tell by now just how uneventful life was this year cuz i have literally nothing else to talk about other than the art parts. no life issues, no big adventures like moving or something. just....indoor stuff.
It’s...kinda sad, now that i think about it. but hey, at least i was making the most of my time, trying new things and getting around a bit more.
September: Small World
Runner up: Rescue Together, PMD Forever!, Midnight Adventuring, Down Time
So this year, i turned 21, which a lotta people say is important. not really, if you can’t do much i guess. though, i did crank out a ton of art i’m super satisfied with as you can see by how hard it was to frickin’ pick one to use for this month’s wedge on the clock.
October: Feathers of the Shadows
Runner up: PAPERMOON - Final Mix - (not picked because it’s a touch up of an older drawing)
Hoo boi, this month was crazy. cuz i drew a whole lotta e d g e .....and a whole lotta Murkrow. lol
It was fun letting my inner edgelord out this month. even if nothing really significant happened in reality.
November: ~ One More Game ~
Runner up: UPokerap Project: Frogadier, - LEAF STORM -
This month....was actually kinda rough. it was basically me falling into a depressive episode after a scare at the dentist made me worry about my self image and insecurities again. but this time it really hit me just how much permanent damage i’ve done to myself in that aspect of my appearance. i know i shouldn’t worry so much, but it’s not great when people tell you to smile when the most i can do is grin since i’m just so....unhappy with my teeth.
But then around the end of the month, i stumbled upon a Pokemon themed Discord server with people that made me feel....not as alone as i suddenly felt i was. which i’m glad i could meet them even after only knowing them for a month now. if they’re reading this, i hope you know i’m thankful for raising my spirits when there’s still things i just can’t do due to financial issues.
December: Colors of the Heart  + Happy Holidays! ~Grovyle ver.
Runner up: ~ After the Battle ~ (the two part KHII anniversary drawing), - XIII -, Sketchmon: Buizel
And now this month. on top of my insecurities, i’ve now been struggling with my frustration with not being noticed as much as i should, watching as some people quickly climb up in following when i’m going much slower. honestly, i feel like the months when everything started lightening up for the world....was when things started falling apart for me. yeah, i know. pretty depressing way to end, huh? i hit 300 before the year ended thanks to the support from my new friends though, so i’m actually pretty happy.
But that doesn’t mean i’m not still scared of the future. i mean i have my teeth to worry about and also my wisdom teeth are coming in. so next few months...might be kinda rough.
Though, that’s not to say i didn’t soldier through it. this month i pushed myself, plowed through as many commissions as i could get to raise money for my new computer and made some of the best drawings that to me, feel like a great accomplishment. even if a couple of them weren’t as grandiose as some of my previous work. it was a big step forward for me as an artist. at least in my eyes.
And i have a feeling....that it can only get better from here.
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feelingfolegandros · 3 years
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Day 14 - 35: November 8 - 30 2020
Continuing on… It was strange to be in the house without B.W. A decent amount of her belongings remained, which I eventually shipped back to Germany for her.
On Sunday November 8, I was happy to pick up my kitten Salem from my friend P.I.’s house. She was sweet enough to keep him for a few weeks while I was back in Berlin and for a bonus period after that. He had grown a bit, as was to be expected, and was getting along pretty well with P.I.’s younger sister’s new kitten, Simba. Her mother invited me to stay for lunch. We had matsata (homemade Greek pasta) with a meat I can’t remember. It was delicious and her family is so wonderful. P.I. and I caught up in the back of her house, reminiscing about the summer and filling each other in about everything. We met in the summer at a café on the beach she was working at. She’s also a Cancer like me, and so is Salem according to the vet. He was born July 10, 2020, apparently. 
The following weeks were spent catching up on life. I had overdue writing assignments and clients to reschedule with. Writing, sessions, eating, hanging out with Z.X., talking to a few friends and family members via my little phone screen. They were a pleasant blur. I listened to podcasts, I wondered whether or not I’m a good cat mom because Salem’s poops were unsatisfactory. I experimented with different cat food.  
I managed to swim several times this month. Each time made me feel so amazing and very Canadian, being able to “brave the cold.” Most recently was on Saturday at Fyra, a short walk from Agali beach. I went with my new friend K.P. I met her a few weeks ago when Z.X. and I were at Agios Nikolaus. I was semi-shocked to see a cool woman around my age who seemed not entirely Greek swimming naked. As soon as she uttered her first word in my direction, I knew she wasn’t from Folegandros, but from North America. Turns out, she’s from Montreal, where I lived for 6 years, and normally lives in the same German city as me! Craziness. She’s half Greek, half French Canadian, and has been coming to Folegandros for 20 years. I can’t imagine how many changes she’s observed here over the years. 
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Since we met, we’ve established a ritual of meeting up on Fridays, hanging out and cooking something at the house she’s staying at. The first time, we tried to watch VHS tapes but they were all demagnetized. She made an incredible vegetable curry, though. Luckily, there were DVDs - we chose Interview with the Vampire followed by The Ninth Gate. The second time, P.I. joined us, and we walked around a part of the island called Petoussis, then Agali. We stopped by Z.X.’s house for a surprise visit on the way back. He was excited to serve us coffee and tea and little treats. Later, we baked an incredible apple pie and made pasta. K.P. even made fresh whipped cream. That house is extra amazing because of the fireplace, and K.P. is an expert fire starter, in more ways than one. 
One thing I found interesting in recent weeks is that there is no dental floss to purchase on the island. I need to investigate this further…
However, I finally made it to the hardware store, which is a fascinating place. They have electronics and Christmas decorations and Harry Potter flashlights and of course, practical things to fix your home or restaurant or hotel or whatever. Z.X. said he’s going to order some meat from Naxos. It’s not that you can’t get meat here, it’s just that it’s probably going to be frozen unless you know someone with livestock on the island. I’ve seen fresh meat at the grocery store in bulk, but I don’t feel confident enough to take it out of the fridge nor attempt to package it myself, nor ask about the price. Today was a lucky day at the grocery store because there were fresh eggs from Folegandros chickens. It makes me so happy to see a bunch of random, still kind of dirty eggs strewn in a plastic bucket that once contained feta or something. Yesterday, I finally saw my friend Q.E. She’s an older woman from Northern Europe that’s been living here for decades. We hadn’t seen each other since early October, so it was wonderful to tell each other stories and settle into our friendship again. I met her in August, a friend of the friend that first invited me to Folegandros. She came to my house, and since Z.X. was still around, we all talked, while her sweet dog Nana and Salem got acquainted. Salem, being a cat, wasn’t too happy about the situation, hissing in protest. When we felt ready, Q.E. and I went down to her house at the port, briefly saw her husband, then went for a leisurely drive to the other end of the island. She hadn’t been to Fyra in a while, so we walked there with Nana from Agali. It was cloudy but still beautiful. Even after four decades here, she’s still so mesmerized by the colours of the rock and how they change with the seasons. I love that she feels things so deeply and shares these observations with people around her. 
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It’s strange to think it’s the end of November, that it’s nearly the end of this year. It will be the first time I celebrate Christmas without my family, and I’m sure there are many other people on Planet Earth that will be experiencing some holiday weirdness too. I’m hoping to have some sort of gathering at my house…K.P. found a beautiful branch that she graciously carried for me through the paths on our way to the beach this weekend. It will be my Christmas tree, soon decorated with random trinkets from the hardware store. More updates soon, as my “life” continues to unfold here! Thank you for reading. I’m sending love to your corner of the planet :)
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desertangell · 4 years
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End of the Year
I’m going to be sappy for a second because I’m definitely one of those people that takes this time of year to reflect upon all that has happened and how it all may affect the new year.
The beginning of 2019 was difficult. A lot happened that made me struggle with my mental health, but I also finally took the steps I needed to seek the help that would get me through the day. My 90 days as the ZooMobile Coordinator occurred on January 12th, and I spent that next weekend in Santa Monica. The fact that I live so close to California and the ocean still eludes me. January also included my decision to participate in my first aerial showcase at Vertical Fix. Little did I know how much it would mean to me.
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February didn’t include anything major from what I can remember. I continued training as an aerialist, learning to love the trapeze, and I traveled to some fun places in Arizona, including Ajo, where they have a lot of beautiful murals to explore.
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My first aerial performance was on March 22nd, and I had so many people show up to support me. I overcame my stage fright, fell in love with my makeup and costume, and I put everything I had into what I brought to the audience. It was magical. Of course, that meant I had to do it again in another few months!
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March was also the month when I met April. We started talking via Instagram and met in Papago Park to take pictures of yoga poses. Needless to say, we became fast friends, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have her in my life.
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The next month included seeing Cirque du Soleil’s AmaLuna and hanging out in Las Vegas with my sister, Lizzy, and two of her friends who also became my friends! We didn’t do anything too crazy, but it was an incredibly fun weekend and one I still look back on fondly.
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May brought the end of my overnight travel season for ZooMobile. The season had come and gone, and my last couple of weeks were spent in Flagstaff. I also got my wisdom teeth out! Which wasn’t super fun but the process was fairly easy and didn’t end up in any issues afterwards. I also started rehearsals for my second student showcase at Vertical Fix! This time, I was set on doing a performance on sling, a squishy version of the trapeze.
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In June, I went on my first long vacation since moving to Arizona. I went up to Wisconsin to stay with Lizzy and also got to spend a couple of days with my other sister, mom, and my grandma. We celebrated her 90th birthday! When Lizzy visited me over the holidays in 2018, she said she wanted to retire in Phoenix. When I was in Wisconsin, I said I would retire there.
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July included so many great things, and I didn’t even know it at the time. I went to LA to visit Laura for her birthday, and we went to Disneyland. My first visit! She and I had decided that we were going to be roommates, so it was also a great opportunity to get to know each other better. Of course, she did take me to a boarded up mental hospital…at night. My second student showcase was on July 20th, and I completely loved becoming the Mad Hatter. April came to see me with her husband, and she was sold on being involved in the next one! I also decided to go on a date with someone named Tim on July 26th. We liked each other pretty quickly, and it continued on from there.
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Once August started, it was time to begin my ZooMobile season again. I wouldn’t be doing any overnights just yet, but the summer had gone by fast. I did decide to begin volunteering as a Volunteer Keeper Assistant in our Equine Department, and I loved spending my Mondays with the horses!
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My brother, Mario, turned 30 in September, so that meant I got to plan my first trip back home since moving to Phoenix. Right before his birthday, though, I spent time with Tim to celebrate his birthday. We went on a great hike in Prescott and had some pretty delicious food! He had also helped me move into my new apartment with Laura before my vacation. Vacation with my family meant a new tattoo, paying for my brother to get his first tattoo, and making tamales from scratch for the first time! I had only ever helped assemble them in the past. It felt like a rite of passage, and me and Lizzy did a really great job! All too fast, though, my vacation came to an end, and I went back to the Southwest.
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October! One of my favorite months of the year. Tim and I went to Vegas together for a weekend. We had a great time, and he was definitely more of an adult than I was. We also said “I love you” for the first time, and I still feel lucky to have him in my life. In my new apartment, I adopted two cats from a friend, and I loved them immediately. Posey and Fester are my children now, and I get sad when I’m away from them for even just a few days.
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Before I knew it, November was here. I attended the Vertical Fix showcase to see April and other friends perform, and it made me realize that I would have to try and be in the next one. Tim and I took our first long vacation together and spent a week in Park City, Utah. We did a lot of staying in the hotel, but it was so relaxing. One of the highlights, though, was getting to swim in hot springs that are in a crater! It was incredible. Tim and I also took part in a 5K Bubble Run. The bubbles were dyed to color our clothes, and we did more walking than running, but it was an accomplishment! At the end of November, I had gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving with Tim and his family and hosted a Friendsgiving for all of the amazing people I’ve met thus far while living in Arizona.
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And now, it’s December. With less than one week until 2020, I can’t believe everything that has happened this year. For my birthday, my friend Alex hosted a birthday party with an Ugly Christmas Sweater theme, and I received my first aerial apparatus as a gift from Tim. On Christmas Day, I went with Tim to spend the day with his family. His parents and sisters had gotten me gifts as well, and I felt very special. The holidays may not be my favorite time of year anymore, but they are made exponentially better when they aren’t spent alone. I’ve created a home here, and my life is rich with the people I’ve met. There are difficult days, and I sometimes only want to stay in bed. I don’t know if I am working in the job I want to stay in forever, and I still miss having more trees and green grass surrounding me. But overall, 2019 has given me a lot. I can only hope 2020 has even more exciting plans in store.
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rawratinyrawr · 5 years
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How is it August already?😳
August 3, 2019
July was a busy month for us, and it went by so fast! And the year...like how is it August already?
I still can't believe our little baby turned 1 a month ago. This kid is 13 months old today!! How did that happen? It feels like he was just born...and now...he's a walking, talking, tantrum throwing toddler!🤣
There is still a part of me that misses my little baby. I had some pretty crazy baby fever for awhile because of it. But for the most part it's not as bad as it was. I wanted to (again) experience pregnancy, labor, and have another baby SO BAD for awhile there. Now I am trying to just chill and enjoy the age he is at right now. I mean, it really is a fun age.
He is walking as much or more than he is crawling now. And he plays so much more. He got a smart shots sports center (basketball/soccer) for his birthday and it's so cute watching him try to play. Some of the toys he got for Christmas he is just now really showing an interest in playing with too. And that's a lot of fun to watch. He pushes his little step2 slide/ladder around the living room and gives us heart attacks climbing and playing on it. 🤣
We thought right before his birthday that he was cutting 2 more teeth. But I realized the other week that it actually feels/looks like he is cutting 6!😳😣 So that's been a bit crazy. Poor little guy.
He had his 12 month wellness appt a few weeks ago and was able to stand on the scales for the first time to be weighed. I nearly cried!!😭
So yeah, July was a pretty busy month. My wife worked some extra shifts. Micah had a fever for a few days week before last. Thank goodness we didn't have to make any trips to the doctor or ER like last time. We sold my little orange honda fit in July too. At 270,000 miles it was still going strong and in great shape! (It needed about $150 of work to pass inspection this year but that's it.) Since we had planned to sell it in a few months anyways we decided not to put the money into it and went ahead and sold it to a guy my wife works with who needed a car. He fixed her up, did some extra cosmetic work, (like orange rims😍) and she looks amazing!!! I'm so happy we were able to sell her to someone who will love her as much as we did. We visited Mimi one day in July, but never had a chance to fill up and play in the kiddy pool with Micah and his cousins. I'm sure we still have a couple more weeks of weather hot enough to do it. Maybe next week or the week after. Last year it was very warm or hot all of August, September, and even most of October. So I know there's still time to do some warm weather activities.
A small part of me is SO HYPED FOR FALL THO! Crisp, cool weather. Flannels, layers, leggings, & jeans. And my beloved jean jacket!! AND the pumpkin patch at Orr's and Halloween! EEEK! My wife and I love & celebrate(low key)all things goth, Autumn, and HALLOWEEN all year long. Guess it's the old school goth still in us from our younger years.
I don't want to rush the seasons or holidays though. Especially now, with a kid, time seems sometimes to be the enemy. I want to slow it down. Or at least bask in each moment, day, week, month, season, holiday.
BUT...still excited for fall. And as much as I loathe super cold weather...being with my wife (who LOVES THE SNOW) has helped me to love snow days again. (Not having to drive to work in it helps too🤣and that was really the only thing that made me start to hate it as an adult anyways) And I can't wait to see Micah in the snow now that he's a little older.
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mia-cooper · 5 years
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2018: Fanfic Year in Review (Part 1)
Listing my favourite fic I've posted each month this year. (You’ll note there are only 9 fics on this list, for reasons I’ll explain below.)
Coming soon: another post where I'll pick my favourite fics posted by other writers in each month of the year, which will (hopefully) help other writers feel good and (also hopefully) give readers something new to enjoy, or remind them to revisit a favourite. (This one will be hard because of all the quality fic that’s been posted this year, but I’ll do my best!)
All I ask from you is if there’s a fic you enjoy/ed on either list, mine or someone else’s, please give it a kudos or comment, especially if you haven’t done so already. ♥
My 2018 Fic Review Roundup
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January – Queen of Swords (T)
ST:DSC, ST:MU | Mirror Burnham x Mirror Lorca, Mirror Georgiou x Mirror Lorca
Okay, so I didn’t have a whole lot of choice for this month because this was the only fic I wrote. Nonetheless, I don’t hate it. I’m grateful to Discovery for exciting my spleen over the Mirror Universe status of Gabriel Lorca (about which I am still, and will forever be, bitter) as it was the only thing that inspired me to write about anything during my post-Christmas mental wasteland.
It’s about Mirror Michael Burnham’s competitive, twisted affair with Mirror Lorca, but it’s really more about the toxic relationship between Burnham and her foster mother, Emperor Georgiou. It’s about escaping abuse and trying to find a new, better way, but not having the tools to do so. It’s about being caught between loyalties and being unable to choose. And there are some heavy Macbeth references in there, but I see Michael more in the role of Hamlet, though her fate at the end of the story is ambiguous.
February – Open Hand (M)
ST:VOY | Janeway x Chakotay
This was another dry month for the muse, so again, I had only one choice for Fic of the Month, and it was one I’d never planned on writing. @writtenndust commented in a discord chat about the role played by Janeway’s and Chakotay’s hands in a number of episodes throughout the show (these are the things we shippers analyse in crazy detail), and I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about hand-clasping being the most contact we saw in canon between these two and how many opportunities were missed, and then I climbed inside Janeway’s head as she was debriefed post-homecoming and she got very introspective about it.
I really like this fic. I like its melancholy feel, Janeway’s self-understanding and her calm acceptance that sometimes you don’t get the fairytale ending. And I like that we do get the fairytale after all.
March – Warmth and Colour (T)
ST:TNG | Guinan x Lwaxana Troi
Once again, the only fic I published all month (are we sensing a pattern here?) This one was for @gluecookie for the Trek Rarepair Swap, and I don’t mind admitting that it took forever to get into. I absolutely love both of these characters but I’d never thought about shipping them before, and I couldn’t word for some reason, and the more I tried to find the right angle the more twisted up I got. In the end, though I’d wanted to give my recipient something meatier, I ended up with a pretty light story full of banter and a couple of slightly more serious personal revelations.
The most amazing thing about this story? My recipient not only loved it, they gifted me back with fanart they drew themselves. This is the most wonderful thing that can happen to a fanfic writer! (Incidentally, I’ve been lucky enough to have been gifted a soundtrack for The Bitter End by @cheile and a moodboard for Laced and Bound by @supernovacoffee and I couldn’t be happier about it.) And I’m actually planning a sequel to Warmth and Colour, hopefully sometime early in 2019.
April – Displaced (T)
ST:TNG, ST:DSC, ST:MU | Lorca x Garrett
What do you know, I have two fics and two drabbles to choose from this month!
This is one of the weirder fics I’ve written. It not only involves an impossible pairing (Rachel Garrett is from a different century to Gabriel Lorca), it’s set on an alternate plane of existence: both of them are dead, and they meet in some kind of limbo or spiritual waiting room. Each of them has one last chance to connect with another human being, but then each gets to make the choice between life and death.
This story is also an attempt to explain what happened to Prime Lorca, and it’s not a happy ending; there’s a sequel, In the Wrong Light, that’s a whole lot darker than this fic.
May – Abandoned (M)
ST:VOY | Janeway x Torres
Wow, May was a great month for writing – I bashed out 10 fics in 3 fandoms at a total of over 25,000 words! This was mainly thanks to the inspiring prompt memes on tumblr – a kiss + a ship and six sexy words – and consequently, most of these works veered on the nsfw side. (I have a stack more prompts to write to in 2019, as well.)
As for a favourite? I’m going to have to go with Abandoned. It’s set during Year of Hell, one of my all-time favourite Voyager episodes, and it’s hurt/comfort and angst, and it’s about love that’s unspoken and complicated but no less real for it. And I like B’Elanna being the strong one for the captain, because in canon we only really get to see Janeway being strong for her.
June – To Those Who Wait (M)
ST:VOY | Sekaya x Phoebe Janeway
This is actually a work in progress – I’ve planned another three chapters – and it fits into a larger universe of loosely-connected stories that @jhelenoftrek and I have been blathering about for over a year now and we are definitely going to get started on the series that brings them all together in 2019, aren’t we Helen?
Anyway, I’m fond of this story. It was a birthday present for Helen in which I tried to combine a number of her favourite things because she’s one of my favourite people, and it’s the only Sekaya x Phoebe Janeway story on AO3, which is kind of cool. And Phoebe is sexy and angry and mouthy, and Sekaya is gorgeous and lonely and rebellious, and Mark is weird and self-aware and ridiculously in love with Kathryn, who’s damaged and brave and brittle, and Chakotay is confident and sarcastic and big-brotherly and has no idea of the tragedy that’s in store for him and his sister.
And J/C pass like ships in the night long before they meet in canon, and their siblings have a passionate, tempestuous one-night-stand which (spoiler alert) isn’t going to fit the one-night-stand category in the end.
July – Trigger (E)
ST:VOY | Janeway x Chakotay
Another fic prompted by tumblr memes, and one I’d been wanting to write for quite a while. It’s not my only Equinox-inspired fic (another of my favourite episodes) and probably won’t be my last. I wanted to explore Janeway’s loss of control in this one – her anger and bitterness and rage, and the way she takes them out on the people she loves – and I wanted more of Chakotay supporting her publicly but in private, not backing down one whit.
And I wanted really hot sex. Hopefully I achieved that.
(August and September are fic-free because I was posting The Epic. I’ll come back to that one.)
October – Nothing Like a Dame (T)
ST:VOY | Paris x Torres
Ah, fictober, how I loved you. For those who don’t already know, I decided to embark on fictober at approximately 8pm on September 30, despite having a thousand other things I should have been committing to. Just to make it trickier, I also decided I would write a missing-scene ficlet to every single daily prompt, and I’d keep it canon-consistent and in order of episode airing. As you can imagine, this was quite a challenge, and resulted in me producing almost 29,000 words in a single month.
Of these 31 ficlets, I think this one is my favourite. The two protagonists aren’t even really main characters on the show – they’re mindwiped alter egos in a World War II holodeck program – but they’re still relatable both to the show’s characters and to the world today. What ‘Brigitte’ experiences as a collaborateur horizontale is the kind of thing women go through in every war, and what ‘Bobby’ learns from her is a lesson a lot of men in power today could stand to learn.
It’s also given me an idea for a Killing Game-based fic series, so stay tuned for that, sometime in 2027, probably.
(November is fic-free because I hate the only fic I posted that month so much I deleted it from AO3)
December – Desperate Measures (E)
ST:VOY | Janeway x Chakotay, Janeway x other male, Chakotay x Seven, Kim x Seven
I mean, I had to include The Epic. And strictly speaking I’ve been writing it for well over a year, but it counts. At over 70,000 words so far – my longest fic to date – it absobloodylutely counts.
This is an Endgame-fixing post-DQ action adventure featuring angst, romance, conspiracy, drama and smut. Perfect for the holiday season, right? (And no promises, but I’ll do my level best to finish it before the end of January!)
______
Coming soon: My favourite fics by other people for every month of 2018
Happy reading (and reviewing)!
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thuthu220100 · 3 years
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Meal planning makes grocery shopping and weeknight dinners less hectic, and we could all use a little less stress in our lives. If you’re new to meal planning or just need some new inspiration, our weekly meal plans are a great place to start.
Each week, we’ll be adding the meal plan featured in our Meal Prep & Planning newsletter. Sign up now if you’d like to get these meal plans sent straight to your inbox.
Check out the Expert’s Guide to Meal Planning for tons more plans, recipes and tips that’ll keep you organized.
This Week's Plan: 4-Ingredient Dinners
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Sunday: Special Pork Chops
I work nine hours a day, so I need delicious and simple recipes like this one. My husband thinks I work hard fixing meals, but this dish is good and easy. In summer, I can my own salsa and use some to top these chops. —LaDane Wilson, Alexander City, Alabama
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Monday: Caesar Chicken with Feta
My tomatoey chicken is the perfect answer on those crazy days when supper has to be on the table in 30 minutes, tops (doesn't hurt that it's delicious, too). —Denise Chelpka, Phoenix, Arizona
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Tuesday: Weeknight Ravioli Lasagna
My husband and I love lasagna, but it's time-consuming to build and we always end up with too much. Using frozen ravioli solves everything. —Pamela Nicholson, Festus, Missouri
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Wednesday: In-a-Pinch Chicken & Spinach
I needed a fast supper while babysitting my grandchild. I used what my daughter-in-law had in the fridge and turned it into what's now one of our favorite chicken and spinach recipes. —Sandra Ellis, Stockbridge, Georgia
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Thursday: Garlic Toast Pizzas
Between working full-time, going to school and raising three children, finding time-saving recipes that my family likes is one of my biggest challenges. These quick pizzas pack a huge amount of flavor. —Amy Grim, Chillicothe, Ohio
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Friday: Oven-Roasted Salmon
When I’m starving after work, I want a fast meal with no-fail technique. Roasted salmon is super tender and has a delicate sweetness. It’s also an easy wowza for company. —Jeanne Ambrose, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Saturday: Sesame Cilantro Shrimp
On days when I don't feel like spending much time in the kitchen, I reach for shrimp. I can have a hot meal in the table in 10 minutes. —Tami Penunuri, League City, Texas
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Find more weekly meal plans here.
Stressful weeks need easy dinners, like these. This week, we’re focusing on 4-ingredient dinners that come together in a snap. Because when life is hectic, dinner shouldn’t be.
Last Week's Plan: Canned Goods
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Sunday: Effortless Black Bean Chili
My mom found the inspiration for this chili in a slow-cooker cookbook. After a few updates, all of us love it (even those of us who steer clear of beans). We think it's even better served over rice. —Amelia Gormley, Ephrata, Pennsylvania
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Monday: Family-Favorite Cheeseburger Pasta
I created this cheeseburger pasta recipe to satisfy a craving. What a delicious, healthy classic! —Raquel Haggard, Edmond, Oklahoma
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Tuesday: Greek Brown and Wild Rice Bowls
This fresh rice dish tastes like the Mediterranean in a bowl! It's short on ingredients, but packs in so much flavor. For a hand-held version, leave out the rice and tuck the rest of the ingredients in a pita pocket. —Darla Andrews, Schertz, Texas
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Wednesday: Spinach Salad with Tortellini & Roasted Onions
Spinach and tortellini go so well together, and this salad makes an easy meal with leftover cooked chicken. What really makes it special is the roasted onion that adds oomph to bottled salad dressing. —Robin Haas, Hyde Park, Massachusetts
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Thursday: Contest-Winning Hearty Hamburger Soup
At family get-togethers, our children always request this spirit-warming ground beef soup along with a fresh loaf of homemade bread and tall glasses of milk. This hamburger soup has robust flavor, plenty of fresh-tasting vegetables and is easy to make. —Barbara Brown, Janesville, Wisconsin
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Friday: Creamy Tuna-Noodle Casserole
When you need supper fast, this tuna noodle casserole makes a super one-dish meal. Cooked chicken breast works well in place of the tuna. —Edie DeSpain, Logan, Utah
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Saturday: Classic Chicken Potpie
Our neighbors and a friend from back home are always after me to make "those yummy potpies". That's all the encouragement I need, since we really like 'em, too! —Ada May Smith, Citrus Springs, Florida.
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Find more weekly meal plans here.
Canned goods are a great starting point for countless meals, including these. Each of this week’s dinners relies on canned foods—beans, tomatoes, tuna and more—to make your meal prep stress free.
Want to make your own plan? Check out our meal plan template.
April Weekly Meal Plans
A warm up is on the way! Celebrate spring this month with recipes featuring Mediterranean flavors, roast chicken and more. April is also a great month to get thrifty and experiment with making meals out of pantry staples or minimal ingredients. (After all, we’ve been saving up for spring break!)
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Easter Leftovers
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with 4-Ingredient Dinners
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Taco Meat
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A 7-Day Meal Plan With Roast Chicken
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A 7-Day Mediterranean Dinners Meal Plan
March Weekly Meal Plans
Spring is on the horizon. As you start spending more time outdoors (goodbye, snow), make dinner quick with recipes that require just 15 minutes of prep. Making a big batch of meat and grains on Sunday also helps speed up weeknight dinners. And don’t forget about St. Patrick’s Day. We have ideas for the entire week—corned beef, reubens and other Irish-inspired meals.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Rice
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A 7-Day Meal Plan For St. Patrick's Day Week
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A 7-Day 15-Minute Prep Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Slow Cooker Pot Roast
February Weekly Meal Plans
February may seem dull and dreary, but it does have some holidays and events. If you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with your special someone or observing Lent, we’ve got a meal plan for you. And if you’re in the mood to use your favorite small kitchen appliances—like the Instant Pot and slow cooker—to cook up some comfort food, you’ll find lots of ideas this month.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Your Instant Pot
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A 7-Day Meal Plan for Valentine's Day Week
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A 7-Day Meal Plan During Lent
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Slow Cooker Chicken
January Weekly Meal Plans
January is all about starting fresh—and that applies to your meal plans, too! We’re enjoying lots of lightened-up meals, as well as classic comfort foods to keep us warm on cold nights. January is also a great month to experiment in the kitchen, whether that means trying a new global recipe or finally putting your Dutch oven to work. Stay warm out there!
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Healthy Meals
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Winter Dinners
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A 7-Day Indian Dinners Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of One-Pot Meals
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Kid-Friendly Dinners
December Weekly Meal Plans
If you ask us, December is the best month of the year. And whether you’re craving something healthy in between bites of Christmas cookies or you need ideas for using up leftovers, these meal plans have you covered. Plus, they’re all easy! (We know you’ve got your hands full with holiday prep).
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Freezer Meals
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Fresh Salads
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Between Christmas and New Year's
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Leftover Ham
November Weekly Meal Plans
We look forward to November all year long. And while Thanksgiving Day is a major food holiday, the rest of the month doesn’t have to be quite as laborious. That’s why we love these oh-so-simple meal plans for sheet pan suppers, 5-minute meals and more. There’s nothing wrong with taking it easy!
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of Sheet Pan Suppers
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Prep-Ahead Soups
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with 5-Minute Meals
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Leftovers
October Weekly Meal Plans
Fall is in full swing, and we are loving seasonal ingredients. This month, incorporate pumpkin, squash, Brussels sprouts and more autumnal produce into your meals. This is also a great month to dig into cozy casseroles and hearty German eats (Hello, Oktoberfest!).
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Featuring Fall Flavors
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using a Rotisserie Chicken
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A 7-Day German Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Fall Casseroles
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10 Recipes with 10 Ingredients
September Weekly Meal Plans
September brings a lot of change—cooler weather, back to school and shorter days. Make the most of it with prep-ahead meals, global eats and plans that incorporate your favorite kitchen appliances.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of September Dinners
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Appliances
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A 7-Day Greek Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Prep-Ahead Casseroles
August Weekly Meal Plans
The dog days of summer are here. Cool off with summer meal plans built around grilled meats, family favorites and simple ingredients. This is a great month to take advantage of peak seasonal produce, too. (We’re serving sliced watermelon with almost every meal!)
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A 7-Day Meal Plan for the Summer
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A 7-Day Plan Using Marinated Chicken
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A 7-Day Asian Meal Plan
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A 7-Day School Night Dinner Plan
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A 7-Day Italian Meal Plan
July Weekly Meal Plans
Lazy summer days are coming right up. Enjoy easy, no-cook meals, 30-minute plans and more. Plus, since we know your garden is bursting, find creative ways to utilize fresh basil or mushrooms. Our goal is to help you cook less so you can enjoy more time outdoors.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan of No-Cook Dinners
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A 7-Day 30-Minute Summer Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Fresh Basil
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Mushrooms
June Weekly Meal Plans
Longer, warmer days have us wanting to eat a little lighter. This month we’re enjoying simple meals and meat-free entrees. At the store (or farmers market!), keep an eye out for tons of fresh summer fruits and leafy greens.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Repeating Favorite Dinners
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A 7-Day Meal Plan That Keeps It Simple
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A 7-Day Vegetarian Dinners Meal Plan
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Hard-Boiled Eggs
May Weekly Meal Plans
See ya spring—and hello summer! May is a great transition month and the perfect time to start experimenting with fresh flavors in your kitchen. Put seasonal ingredients to work, like tomatoes and grilled chicken, and enjoy time well spent on the patio.
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Spaghetti Sauce
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Grilled Chicken
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A 7-Day Meal Plan with Theme Nights
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A 7-Day Meal Plan Using Summer Produce
How do I make my weekly meal plan?
In the mood to make your own meal plan? We suggest starting with a few core ingredients that you can use throughout the week. Roast chicken, for example, can work as a Sunday night dinner, a Monday night taco filling and a Tuesday soup starter. We also recommend picking simple, family-friendly meals. After all, meal planning is supposed to make your life easier—don’t feel pressured to whip up a 27-step gourmet meal after a busy day.
Editor’s tip: If you’re on a budget, use grocery store sale flyers to guide your ingredient selection.
What meals can I cook for a week?
Most meal plans focus on dinner, but you can also meal plan for breakfast and lunch—or all three! To save time, we recommend repeating meals for breakfast and lunch. Overnight oats are a great meal prep option to enjoy all week. And a big batch of grains, roasted veggies and grilled chicken prepared on Sunday can feed you for lunch the entire week.
If you’re looking for meal plans that fit a particular lifestyle, check out our low-carb meal plan, vegetarian meal plan and vegan meal plan. We also have tips for creating a healthy meal plan, too.
Next up: How to Stock Your Pantry According to Our Kitchen Expert
The post Your Weekly Meal Planner appeared first on Taste of Home.
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murfeelee · 6 years
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End of Year Tag - Best of 2017
Rules: Find your fave pics of your story or your blog in general and post them up in a collage! :D it can be 1 picture or 100 whatever you want. But just reflect on your fave moments in your story or on your blog. It can be cute moments or pictures you’re just really proud of - when you’re done tag 5 people or more :) tag me, @shysimblr, because i wanna see all your collages!!
Thanks @venusprincess-simblr for tagging me! (here) You are SUCH a huge gift to the community; thank you for always looking after the male and trans sims! <3
I did one last year and tagged people, so this time around I’ll tag @alice-and-white-lapin, @lifeasasim, @nativeafua, @putrulance, @tyrellsimsoficeandfire, and @vpixels because they all take gorgeous pictures.
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year! :)
MY THOUGHTS (a lot of them - under the cut):
January: Daruma Burning - Y’all know I’m obsessed with Japan. Every Lunar New Year I try to do something special; it’s my second favorite holiday after Halloween. In this post I was testing a ton of Shinto CC I shared, using my favorite Miko sim.
February: Spartacus Insp. Egypt AU - For Black History Month I took my sim!Spartacus households to Al Simhara, and played around with the accessory conversions I shared. Oenomaus was Pharaoh, and Naevia was a Hathor-Isis fusion. One of my prettiest gameplays, IMO.
May-June: Sesshomaru Homage - Inuyasha’s my second fave anime after Sailor Moon, and one of my very first anime crushes was the Perfect Killer (aka Aristocratic Assassin in the English dubs), Lord Sesshomaru~~! (X X X) I hate making CAS CC, but I was determined to get that set uploaded.
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June: Spartacus Insp. Pride ‘17 - For LGBT Pride Month I took my sim!Spartacus household on a cruise! “Love, exciting and new. Come aboard; we're expecting you! And love, life's sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you! The Love Boat soon will be making another run. The Love Boat promises something for everyone. Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance. And Love won't hurt anymore. It's an open smile on a friendly shore! IT’S LOOOOOOOOVE!  Welcome aboard, it's LOOOOOOOOOOOVE!”  XD XD
July: Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau - I spent July marathoning American Horror Story, and fell in love with Angela Bassett’s portrayal of Louisiana’s most famous voodoo queen. So, naturally, I turned her into a sim. :P She looked so fierce! Then I took it a step forward and built her entire house and shop for TSR and played around with the dead and the soon-to-be dead chickens in it.
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August: MALEC - The month of August changed the whole game for me. I marathoned Shadowhunters, read a few of The Mortal Instruments books, and fell hopelessly in love with the character Magnus Bane. He’s just the most fabulous “freewheeling bisexual Asian warlock” the world’s ever seen~~!
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September: Machinima - This was another busy month, and I got a lot done and uploaded. But my favorite thing this whole year was doing my first ever music machinima! I chose Ciara’s cover of Paint It, Black -- one of my favorite songs. *Swirling around with my black lace shawl like Stevie Nicks*
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October - Simblreen! This was an amazing month; I enjoyed myself so much. I love Halloween! I took my entire sim!Spartacus household to the Twinbrook Fire Station for a Halloween costume party. I couldn’t resist having Crixus mess with Agron -- the French onion-johnny versus the German zombie, lol! :P And of course there was Nagron being all adorable together, as usual. :3
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November - December: The Shadow Market -  I did all kinds of boho/witchy/spoopy things all year, and got a bunch of stuff uploaded this fall. I’m still working on finishing the Shadow Market lot I want to upload, but I posted a ton of pictures of the different shops inside: the Gold Bug relics shop, the Sugary Skulls sweets shop,  the GreenHaus Gardens general store, and the Cauldrons Pub bar, so y’all could see my progress with everything.
December: 2 Fandoms; 4 Pets! - I started playing with the Pets EP this month, so I tried out the cats, dogs, and birds in my Shadowhunters gameplay, and the horses in my Spartacus Al Simhara AU gameplay. (I also tested the snakes with Nasir, but those pics won’t go up until January.) So far the cats are my favorite, and the horses second. The dogs were crazy; they wouldn’t stop fighting!!! >_< But I guess it’s my fault for making one Aggressive and the other Brave. Talk. Sh!t. Get. Hit. :P
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It’s great being part of the simming community. Thanks everyone for the continued support, as I continue my journey aboard Murf’s Crazy Train of Fandom Inspiration! :P :P
I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!! \(^0^)/
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ahcomicmagic · 6 years
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!
Our page has been on the quiet side because it's been a pretty crazy month for us. But we got December done! The last character in our "months of the year" personification project ~~
We're hoping to give this project an official name soon, because you'll be seeing more of these characters in the future!
Also we're hoping to get calendars printed off in January. If you are interested in grabbing one, please let us know so we have an idea of how many we should order! :D
But for now, it's time for you to meet December!
December can be short tempered, impatient, and hasty -- but nothing calms him down or cheers him up more than the Christmas season. He loves everything about Christmas! As a child, Christmas was always the happiest time for him and his family. His family, who didn't always get along very great, were full of peace and joy whenever Christmas came along. December was able to relax and see his parents genuinely smile and not fight. It was the one day of year his older brother and sister left him alone. Christmas became a comfort and a light, a spirit that although it passes quickly, December tries to hold on to even when the holidays end. Like mentioned above, December can get frustrated easily. When he does, he usually walks away to take deep breaths and recollect himself, rather than blowing up on his friends and family. He doesn't want to handle conflict the way his siblings and parents always have and still do. When calm, he is very wise and naturally a good, influential leader. Christmas is his most favorite thing, but December also loves Earl Grey tea, classical music, and drawing (especially with pencil, charcoal, and pastels).
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed, happy new year!! Thank you for all your support thus far. We're looking forward to an amazing 2018! <3
(The last few pages of Chapter 2 of our comic, The Safekeepers is still being worked on too by the way -- we're hoping to have them up next week! Thank you for your patience.)
Character and art © Hannah Fry and Amelia Buff, 2017 (A&H Comic Magic)
Check out all of our other Month characters:
January  / February  / March / April / May / June / July / August / September  / October / November
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thisislizheather · 4 years
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2019 Resolutions Revisited
2019 was actually a pretty great year. Some highlights? I moved in a great new apartment, Nathan did The Tonight Show, I went to Niagara Falls with most of my family, I celebrated ten years with Nathan by going to Vermont, I spent Thanksgiving in the Bahamas with my parents, I went to New Orleans with Jenn, I went to Canada for the holidays, and there are so many great photos that I love (and I started using the free Google Photos so I never lose my photos again). As you may recall, I made some resolutions last year, so let’s see how they went.
1. Read at least one book per season.
For winter, I read Busy Philipps' This Will Only Hurt A Little, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper. For spring, I read absolutely nothing. For summer, I read Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. And for autumn, I read Abbi Jacobson’s I Might Regret This and Lindy West’s The Witches Are Coming. So since I read six books all year, I’m counting that as a success since my goal was four.
2. Go to the gym or do some kind of physically strenuous activity at least ten times a month.
I crunched the numbers and let’s just say that I didn’t quite hit my target. This was the first year in a long time that I really just hated going to the gym and I’ve gotta change something about that because I used to love going to my old gym (they had a wicked pilates schedule, but unfortunately closed down). I miss pilates. I hate NYSC. I’ve got to make some changes this year.
3. Juice at least five times a month.
January: 11 times
February: 7 times
March: 8 times
April: 3 times
May: 1 time
June: None
July: 2 times
August: 2 times
September: 9 times
October: 2 times
November: 1 time
December: None
Yikes. I mean… I started off strong and then fully fell off the wagon. Will try harder in 2020.
4. Take Baby Dog on an adventure at least twice a season.
I only managed to take her on only one outing per season. I can do better. I must do better.
5. Properly go on a date with Nathan at least once a month.
I just looked over the entire yearly schedule that I keep and holy shit, we completed this. The only months we didn’t do were October and December which were arguably the busiest ones when I look back at the calendar. This is great! Some of the dates included: dinners, drinks, movies, museums and a Raptors game.
6. Go on an alone trip.
I really, really wanted to do this one but it didn’t pan out because of other trips that were taken. I will do this one day!
7. Clean makeup brushes on the first of each month.
There were only four months that I didn’t do this one! That’s a fucking miracle! And when compared with my numerous zero-times-a-year statistic, I’m counting this one as a raging success.
8. Try at least one new restaurant each month.
January: Emily (love this place, such great pizza, the burger is good but wildly overpriced), Xi’an Famous Foods (really good, one entree is enough for two people for sure), The Dutch (which has one of the best steak tartares in this whole damn city), Tavern On The Green (it was very okay but the service was great) and Dough (too dough-y! Ugh!)
February: Ten Bells (the food was average, the service was surprisingly good since the place is so crowded), Charlie Palmer Steak (nothing great, needn’t go again), The Huntress (great wings and I’m a wing-hater), Scarr’s (too inconsistent, won’t return), Empellon Al Pastor (too expensive for Avenue A, not really worth it), Mama’s TOO! (as good as they say) and Sardi’s (I ordered badly, which is my fault, but the service was impeccable)
March: Manhatta (fantastic for lunch, phenomenal view), Lilia (for my birthday, great pasta, though mafaldini is way too al dente), Pulqueria (pretty good!), Lions & Tigers & Squares Detroit Pizza (just a party, so so good), Raclette (nothing special, won’t return), Al Di La (again, nothing to write home about) and Daily Provisions (big fan, but hate the no-cash aspect)
April: Cactus Club in Etobicoke (fucking in love with the short rib pappardelle)
May: Cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery (good but way too sugary) (and yes, I’m six years late to this trend, SUE ME) and La Contenta (disappointing)
June: The Astorian (insanely good poutine - just shockingly good), Chama Mama (decent but there’s no reason to ever go again) and Whit’s End (good but I wish the burger was larger)
July: Misi (it was good, but it’s in Brooklyn so I’ll likely never go again), Pat LaFrieda’s Original Filet Mignon Steak Sandwich (really good for a stadium sandwich) and Village Yokocho (crazy good)
August: I was going to name this one dive-y place that my brother took me to for their calamari but it’s so aggressively average there’s no point in me listing it here, I hope you’re reading this, Robbie.
September: The Happiest Hour (super forgettable, you’d think that a place with this name would have cheapish food/drinks, THINK AGAIN) and Bar Sardine (hard pass)
October: Fish by José Andrés (one of the best meals I’ve ever had, the service was perfect), Drago’s (charbroiled oysters aren’t for everyone), Commander’s Palace (very lovely), Luke (great oyster happy hour), Mr. B’s Bistro (great service, great food), Brennan’s (the bananas foster is much too sweet but the performance of making it is fun?), Meril (decent), Delmonico (the service was so odd and not good and the food was equally unimpressive)
November: Mister Paradise (complete bullshit) and Joe & Pat’s (the service is laughably mean/bad, which is fine since the pizza is the most average slice in maybe the whole city? Staten Island can keep it)
December: Uncle Tetsu’s cheesecake (weird, kind of fun, but ultimately nothing special)
9. Limit online shopping to once a month (exception being Christmas).
I think I was actually pretty great at doing this. It helped that I developed an intense hatred for Amazon specifically, so this really worked out.
10. Write for at least two hours per week & submit pieces to publications at least five times each month.
Now this? This makes me feel like shit. I’m going to make this resolution again and try my goddam best to keep it. No more excuses.  I sporadically did this on and off all year but man… this is the year. I’m gonna do it this year.
2019 was really a great year. Thank you so much for continuing to read all of the thoughts that I post on here, it really does means more to me than you’ll ever know.
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stunudo · 7 years
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That Got Away: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction Part 12
Inspired by: Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”
Bill Withers’ “Aint No Sunshine”
Featuring: Spencer Reid x Reader   Setting: Season 4   Rating: Teen
A/N: (^^^ Spencer is so done with your shit, Miriam. ) Ahhhh. Starting with the fluff because its too easy. Sorry guys, it’s a roller coaster. xoxo Stu
Warnings: Violence
I do not own the images, lyrics or characters from the show.
Part 1    Part 10   Part 11
In another life I would be your girl We'd keep all our promises Be us against the world
You knew you had to do something special for Spencer, it was his 18th birthday! You had corralled your suite-mates into singing to him. They loved hearing your stories of the genius doctor you dated over the summer. You knew he would be so embarrassed if he knew how much you talked about him, but you did it anyway. 
The next day on the way home from your job waiting tables, you bought him a scratch off ticket. You knew the odds were abysmal, but he could gamble legally now. It wasn’t like you would send him a pack of smokes, Spencer was far too practical for that sort of unhealthy rite of passage. You bought an overpriced birthday card at the gas station and drew eighteen hearts inside.
On the way back to the dorms, you stopped by the postal desk to snag a stamp. It had Daffy Duck embossed on it. You dramatically kissed the envelope and slid it down the shoot.
Spencer smirked into the security camera after he brought his quiz back down. He tapped his wrist, letting his captors know that time was passing and he was in a hurry. The unsubs were quick with his next sheet. Michelle, ever the delivery woman, brought it to him. It was a photocopy of a New York Times crossword puzzle. Spencer began filling in the answers, which seemed oddly familiar. Michelle lingered near the door, sizing him up.
“So you are a genius after all?” Michelle challenged.
“That’s what they keep telling me,” Spencer retorted, not making eye contact. He was not playing games with this one, his anger at her was too fresh to engage just yet. Spencer ignored her and eventually she left behind the bulk of the door. Spencer had made it through four rows across when Y/N started to scream.
The door in the next room seemed to be having a lot of traffic. You hoped that JJ was fairing better than you were. You didn’t open your eyes, though at some point an overhead light had switched on. The gentle electric hum a welcome distraction from your injuries. It had to be nighttime, which meant that you had been unconscious much longer this time. You sighed, slowing rolling on to your back.
Any kind of movement jostled your throbbing head and face. The tenderness in your chest sent all sorts of speculative diagnosis through your mind. There were people who were paid a lot of money to get the shit kicked out of them. Now you knew why fighting sports were such gambling draws. The very nature of the sport weakened the opponent, and you were not even in training. You had to beat Michelle and Miriam in another way. The state in which you were in wouldn’t let you get far physically.
It was time to get serious. “Help me!” You croaked. Apparently your voice was out of practice, coughing, you had to get out of here.
“Help me!” You yelled as loudly as you could. “I can’t see! Help me!” You let your voice relax by counting to thirty. Then you began the desperate pleas again. After three rounds of screaming and counting, you heard the latch on the door give.
“Oh, thank the gods! Please, HELP ME!” You pathetically rolled into a seated position, reaching your arms out, perpendicular to the doorway. “I can’t see! Please help me!”
Someone entered your “room”, but it wasn’t Aunt Miriam or Michelle because the footfalls were even and not clipped like heels. (Aunt Miriam was always frustratingly formal when it came to wardrobe choices. Michelle’s heel had probably cracked your sternum.)
“What’s the matter?” A gruff voice asked. You shook with the realization that a stranger was involved. Your mind raced at what to do next.
“Please, I need a doctor, my eyes,” You held your forehead for dramatic effect. “I can’t see a thing!” You felt the man approach, he crouched down beside you. One of your eyes was swollen to the point that he couldn’t see it focus, so you used that to your advantage. When his rough hand lifted up your chin, you could smell his stale breath. You let your good eye go slightly crossed, “Please, sir, I need help. I can’t do anything to help Miriam like this. Please I need a doctor.”
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone It's not warm when she's away Ain't no sunshine when she's gone And she's always gone too long Anytime she goes away
It had been one month, two weeks and five days since he had sent his mother to live in a mental care facility. His apartment was too big for him to afford on his own, so he was working on finding a studio apartment on the other side of campus. Spencer hadn’t called the Y/L/N house since August, before Y/N was sent to San Francisco. He was nervous, but also excited as she was coming home for holiday break. 
“Hello?” Dr. Y/L/N answered on the second ring.
Spencer took a deep breath, “Hello, Dr. Y/L/N. It’s, a, it’s Spencer, Spencer Reid. I was wondering, is Y/N home for break yet?” He tucked his hair behind his left ear as he waited.
“Oh, Spencer!” Dr. Y/L/N began, “I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans, son. Y/N isn’t coming home for the holidays this year.”
“She’s not?” Spencer stammered. “But last Friday she told me she would be in town.”
“Yes, well, it was all very last minute wasn’t it?” Y/N dad continued. “She had been on a wait list for a semester abroad trip, being only a sophomore she wasn’t expected to go. But something happened and she got the call the night before last. So, she’s not coming home for break because she is currently flying to Athens, Spencer.”
Spencer’s chest was caving in. How could she not have called him? This was fantastic news and she didn’t feel the need to share it with him? Her boyfriend. He was her boyfriend wasn’t he? He just realized, she had never said those words. There were never labels to what he and she shared. Maybe he had imagined the devotion? Maybe he was in love with Y/N. And perhaps she wasn’t in love with him? The doubt started to avalanche inside his mind.
“Good, good for her,” He said after his moments of confusion and panic. “If you talk to her, tell her I called? Please?”
“Of course, of course,” Dr. Y/L/N agreed. “Spencer, you take care. Happy Holidays!”
“Yeah, thanks. Same to you.” Spencer set the phone back on the cradle gently. Y/N was half way around the world; living her dream. Spencer nodded at her good fortune, sniffed for a second and got back to packing his things. He was beginning to excel at truly burying his feelings.
Spencer’s panic from Y/N screams had subsided, but just barely. He wasn’t sure exactly what she was saying through the walls, but he knew with every fiber of his being that it was her. She needed him and he had put himself in a box, not a decision that would be upholding his genius reputation for long.
He really didn’t care how the New York Times crossword puzzle from July 1999 helped Miriam Y/L/N gain access to her niece’s inheritance. He just wanted Y/N safe. July 1999.  Not just any day in July, a specific date. July 25, 1999. The Sunday morning paper after the fiasco at the re-dedication. Graham Y/L/N had saved this specific puzzle for Spencer. He had left a note on the original in red ink. Spencer closed his eyes in concentration.
‘Sorry about your mother. Hope this challenge litens your mood.’ Oddly, Dr. Y/L/N had misspelled “lightens” and now Spencer knew why.
He wrote over the 8.5 x 11″ sheet of paper in block letters. “LITENS” He held the sheet above his head like a boombox. Next question, please.
The access point for the underground make-shift prison was in the basement of the storage facility adjacent to the hotel and convention center. The building’s exterior did not suggest it held climate controlled storage units, but rather typical offices or apartments. Derek was leading SWAT through the stairwell, Prentiss and Rossi followed the men and women in riot gear. Hotch had stayed at command, he was having reservations of leaving JJ and the conference room unmanned.
The BAU was chomping at the bit to get these unsubs that had been toying with them. JJ was speaking over the comms, “Kurt Hansen just exited Y/N’s cell. Hallway is occupied.”
Derek had reached the basement, checking each line of sight with the thoroughness of years of training and application. The dedicated officers followed his lead. As he approached a double door, he beckoned one of the SWAT to pick the lock, knowing that stealth was their only chance. The doors were opened and Derek led the way to the next hall. They passed a battered elevator after a short curve. Then suddenly, they reached a dead end with a steal enforced service door, wide enough for a forklift to fit through.
“Alright, everyone, I think this is it.” Prentiss called over the comms as she and Rossi caught up with Morgan.
Kurt Hansen was not going down for blinding some lady. He had drugged and kidnapped her, sure, but he did nothing to harm her. That crazy one, Mickey, was the one who had beat this woman senseless and he wasn’t going to let it get worse. He closed the heavy door behind him and went to the next room. His employer kept calling the scrawny guy, Dr. Reid. Maybe he could help keep this lady from permanent blindness.
He unlocked the next door and walked hastily inside. He whistled at the other guy, “Hey, Dr. Mop-top. I need you to follow me, k?”
Spencer eyed the man warily, but he started to follow him despite his reservations. Kurt’s movements were stressed, he kept searching around the hallway as he led Spencer to Y/N’s cell. “She keeps screaming about not being able to see, man. I didn’t hit her, I swear, just see if you can help her?” His concern was genuine, Spencer exhaled in relief and concern.
“Hey, take this answer sheet with you.” Spencer handed over the paper. “I will see that Y/N is, uh, stable.” Spencer flexed his fingers for emphasis. He gingerly approached Y/N, hunched over in the far corner. Kurt slammed the door closed behind the two decoders and quickly headed to Miriam’s office.
“Oh, thank the gods it was him and not Michelle again.” Y/N chuckled once they where alone. “Hiya, Sir-sir.” She smiled as best she could, the swelling from her eye had begun to ooze. Her face a child’s drawing of what was once Y/N’s stunning visage. Spencer ever so gently took her chin, cataloging ever inch of the wrongs done to her. He rested his lips to her forehead and held her in his trembling arms.
“Oh, mon cher, I am so, so sorry,” Spencer voice a shaking whisper. As he quickly exhaled, rubbing his hands on the front of his pant legs. “Had any riddles yet?” She looked up in to his concerned eyes and shook her head. Her hair rustling against the wall.
“You?” She gathered. “Well, they probably weren’t planning on Michelle going all cage fighter on my face. I would have solved mine first anyway.” Spencer smirked at her confident competitiveness. Yeah, Y/N was stable alright.
The red retractable door was not electric, it was an old school crank and pulley garage-style door. The suspects were going to hear them coming. Hotch and a few locals had the janitor’s closet covered if they tried to make it out via the hotel. Agents Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi were ready to get their genius back. They shared a glance and gave SWAT clearance to proceed.
The strength of the officers sped the process up, getting the team through the door in less than a minute. The were four doors lining the hall that ended in a bank of monitors, this must be the desk that JJ called Hotch from. Derek followed a SWAT member into the first room, which was set up like a principal’s office.
Miriam Y/L/N sat at the desk in silence. Her expression could only be described as disappointed.
“Hands up, I want to see your hands lady!” Morgan barked as he stared down the barrel of his gun.
Prentiss had entered the second with a partner from the local department. It was empty, though they quickly scanned for thoroughness.
Rossi had two SWAT members with him. “Sir, we got you covered.” Thing 1 chirped. Rossi rolled his eyes at their obvious ageism, but followed them in to the empty room. “Clear!”
Morgan had Miriam in cuffs at the entrance of the hall. Rossi nodded at his teammate’s success. He waved Prentiss into the last room and he backed her up. The door screeched as it opened, revealing Reid cradling the younger Dr. Y/L/N’s battered form against his thin chest.
JJ’s voice rang through the comms, “Finally! Seriously, I was dying up here.”
“Hey, guys?” Derek’s voice came over the comms. “Any visual on Hansen or Braxton?”
“Negative,” Rossi answered, “But we’ve got the kid, I mean we have both doctors. Send medics, last door on the right.” Emily approached Spencer and Y/N, “You guys sit tight, okay? We still need to locate two of the suspects.”
“Hansen was just here, he,” Spencer cleared his throat, “He let me in here, he thought I might be able to help Y/N.”
“Are you alright, Dr. Y/L/N?” Prentiss’s soothing voice asked.
“I’m fine, just pretending to be blind,” Y/N chuckled, sounding exhausted. She kept her head on Reid’s shoulder and her eyes softly closed.
“Homer would be proud.” Spencer smirked, kissing the top of her head.
Prentiss followed Rossi back out into the hall. “If Hansen was just here, he couldn’t have gotten too far.”
“Hotch? Any movement at the hatch in the closet?” Rossi checked as Derek regrouped with the other agents.
“We’ve got nothing.” The Unit Chief responded. The paramedics had made it down the old elevator they had passed on the way in. Derek lead the team down the corridor that met the other side of the surveillance station. It was a straight visual to a wooden push door. Rossi and Prentiss were feeling the tension rolling off of Morgan, but followed his direction. Rossi held the door as Prentiss and Morgan rounded the corner on a sloping hallway.
In the shadows below a built in ladder, stood Hansen and Braxton having quite the argument.
“What do you mean you took Spencer into to see Y/N?!” Michelle pushed Hansen forcefully.
“FREEZE!” Morgan bellowed. The suspects spun on the spot, two sets of eyes dilating in fear. “Put your hands up!” Kurt Hansen immediately complied. Michelle’s look pierced into the agents, she shook her head.
“Not today, FEEB.” Michelle started climbing up the ladder.
“Michelle Braxton, I said freeze!” Morgan repeated. She continued to climb the ladder. “Don’t make me shoot you lady!”
Rossi called to Morgan from the far end of the hall, “We’ve got the exit covered Morgan, stand down.”
Derek Morgan released his firing stance and holstered his weapon. Michelle Braxton heard what Rossi said and adjusted. She leaped from the middle of the ladder, crashing into the now unarmed mass that was Derek. She rolled on top of him and began stabbing at him like a feral animal. The shots were fired before anyone knew who had done it.
Michelle Braxton fell to the side of Derek’s body, dead. A graphing compass fell from her muscular hand; she had stabbed him with the murder weapon. Morgan sat up and looked behind him to find Prentiss holstering her weapon. “You good?” Her brown eyes conveying concern and a you’re welcome all at once.
Part 13
@sparkle-dinosaur, @dontshootmespence @reiding-and-writing @speedreiding @reid-my-fortune @sapphire1727 @holagubler @cherry-loves-fanfic @lookingforgalifrey @miss-gleek-freak-geek @criminal-minds-fanfiction @reidbyers @sortaathief @imagicana @milkandcookies528
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rockyrunrun · 7 years
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The Decision.
Beginning of 2017, I was in Sacramento, still looking forwards for a chance to chase a dream and working hard and looking for a promotion. In early March, I took my talents back to the Bay Area and got hired for the new job. Then 2 months of licensing and another month of training, July 24, 2017. I made a decision. I'm leaving a job that I've had since April 13th, 2001 and I'm going to leave it all out on this blog. Reason being? I loved it for a lot of years and I want to remember what I can remember. So if there were anyone and anything that you can blame me for, then, here's my side of the story. 16 years at a company, I think I have the rights to say whatever I want to say. '''Twas was the day that was senior year in high school. I went and started looking for a job because I chose to go to Chabot College, a community college local to most of the East Bay. I went in, first one I met was the General Manager, Eric Martin. When anyone ever talks about first impression, that guy impressed me. I was a 17 year old, looking for a job with no resume in hand. He professionally told me to fill out an application and asked if I wanted to be interviewed immediately. "Sure, let's do it." Two days later I was sitting in the middle of a store front inside Bayfair Mall going through orientation with a bunch of other future co-workers. First person I met, Nam Huynh. We eventually even served popcorn and trained together in Union City. We took over the A side and we had tons of fun. If you want to teach your employees to upsell, just say "managers said if we don't make enough profit, they won't give us raises". Never not upsold ever since then. I met a lot of people like Yolanda, and later on "Army" (yeah I graced him that name) and also Soap, his friends, his family. Hell, we even joked and called ourselves a race team, "Century B16" as in Bayfair 16. The chance came around August, Rush Hour 2 weekend. One of the managers asked if I was interested in working in the booth, turned out to be one of my future best friends, Marvin Capistrano. On to the booth I went. Talking about building up movies, breaking down movies, hanging out with Duane talking about Pootie Tang. Man, crazy days. First time I ever built a movie was, Zoolander. Dry runs after dry runs, hot print break downs on Thursday. I slowly but surely deterred from going to school. Then, a GM put me on probation and wanted to fire me. I will never forget this, simply because I wasn't properly trained and this 30 day probation, I lasted longer than the GM and his crew. I learned one important thing, training. Which is also another thing that I've learned, to be a people's person. Next GM came, Charles, I breezed through it and apparently we were doing a bad job. Let me remind you, at the time, the ATM at Bayfair was stolen!!!! Then, during that time I met my little big sister Erica. Although we didn't exactly work together all the time but we were always close. I love Erica to death. She's definitely bff status. Meanwhile, supposedly the theater wasn't doing good, so this Latino dude name Lazaro came along, and this other Asian ricerocket driving dude name Anthony Tan came about... with Brian Pacquing.... The rest was history. Rios, if you ever get to read this, I still hate you for making me cry. But it was definitely tough love. I learned the most from him. I learned how to be tough on someone, but real. You can't yell at someone that consistently yell, nags and bitch about things. You MUST teach. For that, Rios, I forever owe you. To Anthony Tan, you taught a young kid what's right and what wrong. You taught me how to grow up and be a man. I might not always understand you at the time, but boy I sure received the message. Rios did good and took over and taught me how to be good, but when it was his time to leave, here comes Julius. David Wilson-Scott bka Julius Pirie Scott, you are way beyond a father figure to me and even more as a brother. You taught me how to trust my skills and be great. We went to see Usher, we saw Kanye, and we saw riots at the theater, but you taught me everything and you did not hold back any knowledge. I learned from you to give your knowledge out unconditionally. Thank you. Then, it was time for me to leave. Cinedome 8 East Fremont. Ben Lin, Montry Souvanthong, Ashley Perreira. You three were more than what I can ask for from a new GM, Ben knowing me the most by working with me at Bayfair but the other two kept me sane. Jeff Herzstein, thank you for trusting a 21 year old kid to tell you to spread your wings and trust your skills, thank you for helping me become a fair and smart GM. Adam Bebee and Adam Bauer, you guys were good and ya two taught me how to be a fair GM and I love the fact that you guys gave me respect. To the late Jane Benjamin, may you Rest In Peace, or well, keep going to forever create havoc! I love you Jane, I love the fact that you wanted to work and you love me and respected me. When everyone told me to avoid you, I didn't, I got close to you. Thank you for the countless meals of country way, Disneyland Mickey ears and the bottle of champagne for the holidays. I love you. I hope you look after me. Two years later, when Cinemark came running and bought out Century. I took my talents to Union Landing. Jacqueline Brooks, for the record, I hate you as a co-worker, but I love you as a brother. We never get along not because we have differences, but we don't get along because we all want to look out for each other. Two years at 25 made me love you like you're the big sister I never had. To Leticia Gonzalez Solis, you, you're a beast. Hug hug, kiss kiss, little hug big kiss little kiss. I taught you everything I got and you gave me all your effort every day. Out of all people that followed me, you were not the smartest but I know 100% you worked the hardest. Baby boy Ali, I know you got my back and I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me, but trust me, if you ever need anything, you know I for damn sure wish that was me that took that bottle to the head instead of you. The two years of 25 was so good, it exhibited my skills. Then I earned a promotion to open my own theater. For the fucking record. These years at Hayward, forever let me say what I feel, because I am, and still am very angry about the process on how and what happened. First, when the audit program happened, I was opening the theater. Second, my self destruction and choice of going back to school was directly affected by Cinemark. I opened the theater, the shopping complex and the recession hit hard, so the projected attendance was short by almost 40%. It was 2008. Then Cinemark gave all the managers in the Bay Area reduction in geographical allowance. Mind you, all managers in the Bay Area were "century" pat while I was "Cinemark" pay but the cut was all across, so I got less money. Not to mention, the first day the paycut happened was at a Cinemark conference, that's not encouraging to me. Not to mention, my superior discouraged me for getting higher education, simply telling me to focus more at work and talk about how great advancement is. Then came the budgeting process, I was compared to a 8 screen cinedome on payroll, to reduce payroll at a new location, I was told to also act as the MR guy and the GM 5 days a week during slow season. Then I was blamed for lack of production, bad audit scores, no bonus and also more paycuts. 1600 bi-weekly check to 1200 when I decided to leave. So I'm tired of people saying "you were never there" or "you fucked up the payroll", because I didn't. Snitches gets stitches and even if I blamed my regional manager or higher ups, the small potato in me would never win. The Cinemark algorithm on reduce cost of living in 2009, made us, the managers get a pay cut. I have yet seen the facts and studies. And the small potato in me never mattered. Cinemark, century pay grade, they didn't care. For the second time I'm mentioning it, you take 1/4 of my paycheck and decrease my pay within 3 years, trust me, you would be as mad as me. I did have a good time at Hayward because it was challenging, look at it now, not too shabby, but I hate it. While I was working at this location. I lost my girlfriend. I never get to see her and I was stressed all the time. Don't like Hayward. The city hall wanted the theater to play at least 2-4 art films every week, so they can "attract" people. I was invited to the city hall meeting to have almost 2 hours to answer the fine citizens of Hayward on how a movie theater should be ran. Same people that discouraged me to be around and just wanted things their way. Not a happy place. Then due to poor mid 80s audit scores, I was told that I would have no chance to survive as a general manager, for the third time, let me remind you that you lost 1/4 of your pay at the same time since the beginning. I chose to go to Fremont. I will end this chapter like this. Fremont. It was a time for me to leave the moment I got there. Jason Cardosa, I gave you my all. I don't like to belittle people and it doesn't make me feel good. Countless times I was reminded how poorly I ran Hayward and how much I wasn't trustworthy enough to run a department, while every single department I ran was the best that you ever got when I was there. Strange. Apparently because I have GM experience then it's expected. I know I got skills, but you never really cared and tried to find a solution to solve the issue. You provide patchwork and I provide solutions. We had our differences, but it was much like Jackie and I, because we care. You stuck with me for 2 more years and how ungrateful am I but to leave you so shortly and with pretty close to no notice. I popped my last batch of popcorn, sold my last ticket and used my last set of movie theater broom. I don't care what anyone says, you out of every one that I know have the best potential and you're definitely not too young for a regional leader role, but be personable. That's what Farley taught me. Be there for your people and understand how they feel. I got to know you so much more when we went to watch Oblivion in LA and that was a good trip. I was happy we made that trip because I feel like you actually do care about people, but try that on some other people, they respect you more that way. To every single person I've trained, thank you for listening. To everyone that I screwed over. 16 years later, I am 100% proud to say that I don't have any. So, boom. Cinemark, Century, thanks for the memories. Notice I put all the memories on people? The people made it for me. The lives that I made better and taught, I'm proud of that. I always said I'll go back to Bayfair and kiss the floor before I quit. Well, I'll officially do that on Friday, but 100%, my theater life is done and thank you all.
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annakie · 7 years
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Five Years
Today is my five year anniversary at my job.
Every once in awhile I read back to blog posts I made both here and on Livejournal in the days of old about my old job.  Posts that were mostly ranting and upset and made while very stressed out.  I didn’t always hate that job, but by the end of it I was miserable.  I was there nearly 11 and a half years.
Then, a former co-worker there emailed me at the end of December 2011 and told me there was an opening in his company I’d be perfect for.
I had actually interviewed there a year before for a job I was not qualified for, and loved the company and the people but knew I wouldn’t get the job.
At my job, things were just then at that moment going from terrible to not as bad (I’d gotten moved out of my office two years earlier, I was getting it back, I was having duties that didn’t fall in my job description removed again and was supposed to start training to do more things I wanted to do.  I’d gotten a new boss I liked, for the most part a month or two earlier) so at first I was like... I don’t know if I want to move now that things are getting better.
But I agreed, and had lunch with my co-worker and his boss, who would become my boss, anyway.
That lunch was more like “sit around and talk and laugh and oh here’s 10 minutes where we’ll talk about the job” than an interview.
Afterwards, he emailed me and said he’d be writing up the job offer but it might be awhile til I received it.
I was like “Oh, ok!” thinking “awhile” would be, you know, a week or two.
But I verbally accepted pending negotiations and told my mom.  She was like “Congrats, now let’s burn some of your vacation time before you switch jobs” and got us a last minute deal on a cruise for two weeks later.
Turns out “awhile” was “the next day” and I accepted, pending moving my start date out a bit.  And I negotiated my salary to getting a nearly 30% pay bump over my old job.
I went on vacation with my mom (you got all your vacation at the beginning of the year so they wouldn’t have to pay out when you left, so screw ‘em), came back and turned in my notice, and two weeks later, on February 13th 2012, I started my job here.
Even though I’d contracted a terrible cold my last day at my old job (one last fuck you I guess haha) and so was sick when I got here.  I told everyone I was “just getting over” a cold and didn’t shake hands on my first day.
God, I am so much happier here.  I love my job, tbh.  
I like the work.  Some days it’s challenging.  Some days it’s mundane.  But I’m good at it, and I mostly enjoy it, even during audit season (July & August) when I’m working tons of extra hours and Audit Week is nerve wracking.  But the entire company has my back and our team’s back and we manage to pass without exceptions every year (so far.)
I like the office environment.  Even if the commute is farther than I’d like (~25 minutes in the morning, ~40 minutes home), it’s not crazy.  Our open floorplan for IT and Development keeps us all connected and social, but still we are all courteous to each other.  We get free snacks and drinks, and have the most awesome water cooler with the best tasting water.  We have a cool lounge that our office manager and I put together we use for meetings and hanging out.  When I wanted to paint a wall in the kitchen, our CEO said go for it and let us paint the wall.  We have parties for birthdays, a monthly catered breakfast, and fun outings occasionally.
I like that I get to travel occasionally.  We have other offices in Memphis and Lexington and I love going to visit them.  Road tripping with Eric or Ryan is a lot of fun, and the people there are great.
I love the people I work with.  With only a few exceptions my co-workers are almost all amazing people and though there is some head-butting occasionally and sometimes a new hire that doesn’t work out, 95% of the people I’ve worked with here are amazing, while we’re here we want to do our best and actually get our work done, and work as a team on almost every level.  I mean, there are some problems sometimes, but compared to most places, it’s a dream.
I love that our bosses are understanding about taking time off, flexible scheduling, working from home, not making us come in when it’s dangerous outside, send us home early on pre-holiday days, good benefits.
And I love my team. There are five of us on my team and we are a friend group almost as much as co-workers.  We have a group chat that includes a couple of others we work closely with and chat almost daily, even on weekends. We support each other, and help each other out.  If I need something and I can’t ask my RL friends for it, I can ask my teammates and I know they’ll be there for me.
A lot of things suck in my life right now.  But my job isn’t one of them.  There’s been very very few days in the last five years where I wake up and think “I really don’t want to go to work today.”  (And if I really feel that way, I can just work from home most of the time.)  Coming to work usually brightens my day, and though I love coming from home from work, I almost like getting there as much.  I know very well how blessed and lucky I am to have this job, and rarely complain about it even when I have something to complain about.  When I go on vacation or have a long weekend, I’m usually looking forward to coming back by the end of it.
Sometimes I think back to when I was considering telling Eric “Nah, I don’t want to switch jobs right now” after I’d been at my old job 11.5 years and things were “getting better”.  I’m so glad I didn’t let myself say no.  Because one of the things I regret least in my life is taking this job.
I honestly hope it lasts at least another five years.
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georgewagner · 4 years
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The best times of the year to post your home maintenance job
The Rated People calendar guide to house and garden jobs, by season and month
Your home is your castle, and like every castle it deserves the best upkeep and care. So, from everyday repairs to seasonal pruning, annual pipe checks and larger home improvements, we’ve assembled a calendar of homeowner jobs. Think of it as a way of keeping one step ahead of things and a step ahead of the crowd, because we’ve factored in the best times to avoid the busiest periods for the tradespeople you need.
In the long term, this guide can save you both time and money, and help you to keep everything in your home and garden in tip-top shape.
Winter home maintenance jobs
January
Gardeners start to get busy in April and stay that way through the summer. So, January is a great time to start thinking about garden design and landscaping. Need a gutter installed or a wall putting up? Now’s the time to get to work. The same goes for fencing jobs, they are often done in February so January is a good time to get yours checked – are they sturdy, or are they about to come out of the ground the next time there’s some heavy wind? And, don’t neglect indoor gardening – a pair of professional eyes can be key.
Who: Gardeners and Landscape Gardeners
February
Is the paint beginning to peel on the outside of your house? Or is the colour you painstakingly chose now five shades lighter than it was? If you’re planning on doing any external painting, February is a great time to go to work. If you wait until spring, you may have a hard time finding outside painters, and summer humidity can actually slow the drying process, so it’s a great idea to get ahead of the curve and finally paint that old shed or gazebo at the end of winer.
Who: Painters and Decorators
Spring home maintenance jobs
March
Everything comes to beautiful, blooming life in spring, so March is the ideal time to get your garden ready for summer. Many plants thrive at this time, so it isn’t too early. It’s also the moment to transplant any deciduous shrubs and trees and to fertilize shrubs and evergreens, remove winter mulch, and if you have a vegetable garden, prepare the soil for planting. If you need help planting a vegetable garden, or perhaps you’ve decided that you want to plant some trees, now could be the time for that too because after early April, good gardeners ca be hard to find!
Who: Gardeners and Landscape Gardeners
April
Is it about time that you gave those neglected trees in your garden some love? Tree surgeons get crazy busy in the summer, so get started early! Surgeons will prune and treat old or damaged trees in order to preserve them and even remove trees that may be rotting on the inside. Want a totally different look in your garden? Tree surgeons will also move entire trees and shrubs for you into that new configuration you saw on TV or in a magazine… And, humans aren’t the only ones to catch viruses, so a good tree surgeon will also be able to detect and treat a pesky tree cold! In years with lots of snow or rain, you should also give your entire garden that once-a year check up.
Who: Tree Surgeons
May
Planning on adding some tasteful outside lighting for romantic summer nights? External lighting specialists get busy toward the end of the year with security concerns in the lead up to Christmas, and with Christmas decorating of course, so spring is a good time to act.
Who: Electricians
Roof starting to sag? Afraid that leaks are just around the corner? Does it feel like Siberia in your loft, despite what you thought was “proper” insulation? If you’re planning on having any roofing repairs or insulation done, you should get in touch with a good roofer in spring. The end of summer or going into autumn is getting late because that’s when roofers see a big spike in demand, due to windy weather.
Who: Roofers
Summer home maintenance jobs
June
Avoid a nasty boiler leak or the risk of being left without heat when you really need it, by having your system checked outside of the autumn and winter peak time. Experts recommend having your boiler serviced once a year to make sure it’s safe and functioning properly, including bleeding and filling it as needed. In the process, you’ll keep your heating bills down and avoid costly repair work further on down the line, and probably get a better rate outside of the busiest months.
Who: Gas and heating engineers
July
If you’re thinking about improving your security with CCTV or other home surveillance, summer is the perfect month to get started, or to upgrade what you currently have, because security specialists tend to get busy in autumn and early winter.
Who: Security specialists
August
Listen to those pipes! Summer is a great time to get ahead of the curve and prepare your pipes for winter. That includes insulating them (indoors and outdoors), fixing dripping taps or valves that might freeze in the cold weather, and fitting a smart leak detector or an automatic stop valve. Keep in mind that boilers can be responsible for frozen pipes, if they don’t push enough heat through them – another good reason to make sure yours is serviced.
Who: Plumber
Autumn home maintenance jobs
September
Time to check the gutters. If they’re getting full, act fast because they can easily block and cause drainage problems. Experts recommend cleaning them at least once a year, if not twice, because leaves and moss build up quickly. Roofers get very busy in October so get in there early.
Who: Roofers
Autumn is also a good time to have your carpets cleaned. Ideally, they should be professionally cleaned at least once a year to stop allergens and bacteria from building up. A big bonus: well looked-after carpets last longer and also look better. Get them done before winter, while the weather is nicer and less mud and debris is being brought into the house. Drying times will be faster too.
Who: Cleaners
September is a great time to start planning building work because builders are extremely busy in summer, and at the beginning of the year. So, start thinking about it now for work to begin in October or November.
Who: Builders
October
Let’s face it, winter is not a friend of your garden. So, get a head start, because there’s plenty you can do to make sure that winter doesn’t take too much of a toll, and gardeners have more time in their schedules in Autumn. You should protect small trees and plants with a plant fleece or cloche, but you can also make your garden look great in winter – introduce plants that suit the season – Witch Hazel comes in golds and reds and its flowers will survive the cold. A gardener can help you pick plants that lend themselves to a wintry scene, and they’ll know which ones will suit your soil type.
Who: Gardeners
It’s important to look after outdoor furniture. Need help building or repairing a shed? Your favourite garden furniture can last years if treated well so outside storage can be a great idea. Autumn is also time to clean, repair and tend to BBQs, patio sets, loungers and parasols, before storing them. Also make sure that your shed is free from splits in the roof, leaks or any warped wood panels. And, if you haven’t yet, make sure your outside taps or exposed pipes are covered and insulated to stop pipes from freezing and bursting in winter.
Who: Handymen
It’s a mouse! Fill mice holes so they can’t come in once the temperature drops. You also need to clear outside wood and make sure that you seal food in bottles and packaging that mice can’t nibble through – a handy man can help with all of those tasks.
And, spray for bugs and vermin to make sure you’re clear before winter.
Who: Pest control
Internal painting? Painters get busy in summer, but it can often be too humid then for easy drying. So, better to do it in autumn. You’ll also take advantage of the early light!
Who: Painters and decorators
November
Bathroom and kitchen specialists see a big drop off in jobs from October until January when work starts up again. So, November is a great time to grab them.
Who: Bathroom fitters and Kitchen specialists
Jobs for the run up to Christmas
December
Get help with Christmas decorating, inside and out. Of course, you can do a lot of the work yourself, but a professional will help you get it done quickly and to a high standard, helping you arrange the best Christmas decorations in your neighbourhood.
Who: Handyman
As a matter of course, most trades see a large drop off in December, but many tradespeople want to be working. So, if you can put aside all the holiday madness and Christmas celebrations for a few days to think about home improvements, you’ll have your pick of the crop.
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