Crescent Dreams aMuse'd Kat

Update...

2025-01-10T03:01:49Z

I haven't posted here in over 12 years.

And yet, dreamwidth is a great space, and I follow rahaeli over on bluesky (I'm crescentdreams there, same as here).

I also use tumblr a lot (see amusedreams there, although I have little original content and mostly reblog).

Mostly, I'm just making this post so my last post isn't my most recent post. And who knows? Maybe my brain will start allowing for writing again. I can always cross-post to tumblr.

Hope anyone out there who checks this blog is doing well.

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Arizona, USA Koi Pond Enthusiast?

2012-03-10T02:21:45Z

Then please click this link. Unless you already read Ursula Vernon the artist's blog, in which case you've read this already. But she said to spread it around, so I am.

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1489528.html

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Head Count Please?

2011-03-06T20:04:11Z

So normally I mostly do with suspecting that those of you who were kind enough to allow me mutual access/friend me/etc lurk quietly, commenting when you have the urge. And while I feel guilty rattling the doors, I sort of want to know:

Where do you read me?

If you wouldn't mind commenting, I'd appreciate it. Currently, I actually POST on DreamWidth, have it push through the entry to LiveJournal, which theoretically (but ~~never~~ rarely actually) pushes to FaceBook.

I read on all three, although what usually happens is I read on LJ then scoot over to DW for commenting if I know the writer prefers to comment there, and when I remember, I click the notes tab on FB.

I actually use FB as a keeping-track-of-family site, mostly skimming status updates and reading links, occasionally playing 2 games, and answering messages there. It's sort of like a heavier duty Twitter for me, though I do check the notes section there, often the only difference is that some folks not on the journal sites are posting memes. I use AdBlock, so I rarely see the hideousness perpetrated there. Unfortunately, some of the new hideous ads ARE busting through on LJ, probably because they're more "game" focused in LJ's view, and are being listed differently. Games don't belong on a primarily journal oriented site, in my mind, but perhaps I'm close minded.

I also have ANOTHER blog over on Blogspot that I rarely post to, but probably could figure out how to cobble in here with everything else if it came down to it.

So... if y'all wouldn't mind letting me know? I think there are 3 or 4 or maybe even 6 of you still active. I know at least one friend recently, vehemently declared Enough! with LJ and was going to be leaving. I don't mind having DW push things through, so I don't know that I'll stop, but I might bother cleaning it up even more than I already have.

Thanks!

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Positive vs Negative - Oblivious vs Aware

2011-01-15T21:24:20Z

Is it possible to focus on the positive, without ignoring the negative? Without pretending that negativity doesn't exist?

I want to be a fully participating adult in society. I want to be aware, and vote for people I think will help us be good citizens of the world - not just my city, state, or country. But most of what I read and see, about everything from causes and laws to small marketing commercials about which toothbrush or car or pizza shop is the best tends to rely very hard on telling me why the competition is the worst.

What's wrong with saying "I am good because I helped my community do this. I made a promise and I kept it. I said I was making my pizza with fresh ingredients and I did, and it tastes great!" Why do we have to tack on "My opponent said s/he would help and did not. My competitor promised s/he would honor a coupon and didn't. That pizza shop down the road says they use fresh ingredients, but really? They're flash frozen. Doesn't it taste horrible now that you know that?"

I'm not saying I should be able to hide my head in the sand, or put blinders on. I'm asking why everything has to build itself on someone else's misery? It's frustrating, and depressing, and it seems to me that it often does the opposite of helping. It often serves to make the other person feel trapped in that spot, defensive, and as if they have to return the attack.

I even understand the urge, and how we get trapped in a cycle. But what's wrong with trying harder to not give in to that. To just do something good for the sake of doing something good? Isn't it awesome when your neighbor brings you something fresh from the oven because "there was extra, and I thought you might like some". Isn't it neat when someone helps that mom in the mall pick up the change that spilled out of her bag because she caught the toddler and kept them from falling instead of worrying about her money? Doesn't that make you smile? Someone just being good. For no reason other than it was what was right?

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Sunday Thankful

2010-11-29T05:13:31Z

...Today is harder to come up with, in some ways. I'm hoping it'll get easier as I go.

I am thankful for taking a moment to really look at and appreciate the cuteness of a sleeping Domino and Terry in bed, since I got up first.
I am thankful for having enough eggs to totally botch an attempt at making a Dutch Baby in the oven, and yet still have enough for scrambled eggs and bacon.
I am thankful for being able to talk through a confusion with Terry, and not finding what we wanted, but being okay with that.
I am thankful for leftovers, because they made dinner easy.
I am thankful for a washing machine and dryer that work.
I am thankful for chocolate and silly people (zammi, mousewords, wildfeather and rustynorman (a character, actually) on Twitter) with whom I could share the tasting of chocolate and generally play-time.
I am thankful for friends.
I am thankful that I have a basic understanding of plumbing fixtures, vice grips, and reading installation instructions.
I am thankful for poteca cats, who snore slightly when they curl up so tight, but are still adorable with pink noses and toes, even when they snore.

...not too bad I guess. *hugs* Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week.

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Saturday Thanks

2010-11-28T01:12:57Z

Today, I'm thankful for mostly patient post-Black Friday shoppers/drivers.
I'm thankful for more or less in and out shopping.
I'm thankful for leftovers, because they made lunch much simpler.
I'm thankful for a rumbly-purring cat.
I'm thankful for chocolate!
I'm thankful for Terry having awesome friends so that he could go see a really fun basketball game.
I'm thankful for cell phone cameras and consistent stocking, so that my sister and I could figure out that Lowe's had a shower chair that might work for mom - even though she is in Georgia and I am in Oregon.
I'm thankful that I can follow instructions and have the basic strength to put things together and do handy-man stuff.
And of course, I'm thankful for Terry and friends and family who are there for me to lean on and talk to when I need an ear to bend.

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Friday Thankful

2010-11-27T06:46:29Z

Today, I'm thankful for a company that let me and Terry go see an awesome college football game - it was cold and wet, but lots of fun. (I know, it doesn't rain at Autzen - but the humidity level was AWFULLY HIGH for no rain!) I'm also thankful for incredibly thoughtful friends, especially a certain overseas person. Also thankful for mom feeling well enough to specifically request 4 silly movies - The Incredibles, Ice Age, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. (Enchanted was on tv. She was not impressed. Wanted a palate cleanser.) And finally, am thankful that I am very loved by Terry and my silly spoiled cat, who is curled up beside me dozing as I type.

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Every other day Thankful Post?

2010-11-25T20:03:07Z

So... I managed Monday and Tuesday on Tuesday... so I suppose Wednesday and Thursday today is par. *wry smile*

Let's see... yesterday I was thankful for a quick and easy dinner, work keeping me busy - got quite a lot of housekeeping done in addition to some paperwork, the roads being clear, and when I got home - Terry being silly and saying he'd picked up greens for cooking and to look in the frig to see if they worked okay - beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me! I almost cried on that one, it was so sweet.

Today, I am thankful that we are having dinner closer to supper time, so I got to sleep in a bit! I'm also thankful that mom is next door and can be here for dinner, and that I can borrow her oven for pies, since I didn't get as much done last night as I wanted. :P I'm thankful for the pretty day outside, and family, and of course, for Terry and his kids being part of mine.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and day, however you are celebrating it!

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Daily Thankful Posts

2010-11-24T05:48:44Z

...because a couple people I know are doing it, and sometimes this sort of thing helps when I'm fighting that panicky sense that the world is going to drive over me with a Mack Truck hitched to a locomotive...

Monday, yesterday, I was thankful for Extra Crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken, treatment nurses, mom's physical therapist, liking the smell of cold rain mixed with wood stove smoke, Domino and Terry in general...

Today, I am thankful for a lenient boss who totally understood when I was an hour late to work because people were driving carefully to avoid accidents, also those people who were being careful and patient, Terry's hugs, Domino's be-next-to-mama nature, my sisters, and having a Walgreen's and Albertson's within a mile of the house.

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Strength

2010-11-19T22:00:19Z

The way people perceive strength is a weird thing.

There's the literal sort, wherein a person who can lift 150 pound is stronger than one who can only lift 50 pounds. Both are stronger than someone who can only lift 10 pounds - but perhaps that person has stronger legs, and can kick away at something, causing it to move, whereas the first person is unable to bear their own weight on their legs. Even literal strength is relative and you get stuck in apple and orange comparisons.

Like a lot of people, my job isn't particularly stable at the moment. But I truly love my coworkers and the houses they create - often from original drawings. They become someone's HOME, not just some structure.

My mom has cancer. Again. Different kind. It got stomped down, for a couple months, but she's taking treatment again. When she had it the first time, it was breast cancer, and she was really not expected to have more than 5 years. She had about 15, and this time it's small cell lung cancer. And now, that's gone into her liver. We're really lucky - she's next door, and there is a cancer institute less than 15 miles away. In Texas, she had to drive over an hour to see anyone.

We lost dad to non-small cell lung cancer a few years ago. He was mom's everything, really. He got us all through her breast cancer, in his own way.

I see all of this in a sort of... not exactly glass half-full sort of way, in my own head, more realistic... At least she's here, where I can help. At least she's not in Texas, where the nearest family is still 5 hours away, and more or less trapped by obligations. Now they might feel a little guilty, and worry, but not nearly as guilty and worried as if she was there and they still couldn't get away for some reason. I can drive her to things, or help be a sounding board for if she should and will call for housekeeping assistance, or whatever.

I don't think I'm particularly strong. I deal with each thing a step at a time, and focus on what needs done now, and doing what planning HAS to be done, but honestly I try very hard NOT to plan for things that are frankly impossible to plan for. We have agreements about hospice, when it's time, and she's updated her will for the new state, and we've dealt with quite a lot of paperwork oriented things. But we try very hard not to plan for this person's birthday, or beyond the next holiday. We do vaguely say "It would be nice if..." because Hope is very, very good in fighting cancer, and having dealt with it in our family, we know that.

But I don't see any of that as strength. I see all of how I am as necessity.

So I'm still, more than a day later, somewhat flummoxed and confused by a girlfriend telling me I'm "so strong" and she wouldn't be able to handle this. It... just is. It can be handled by just being. She could. She's a mom. She's handled a lot herself.

There's really no point to this. Just hoping that typing it makes it quit spinning in my head so I can get back to focusing on laundry, and Thanksgiving, and work and stuff.

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NaNoWriMo Headcount

2010-10-20T21:32:41Z

Hi there readers who probably have forgotten I exist.

Would y'all humor me with a headcount?

1. Who has participated in past NaNoWriMo's?

2. Who is going to participate this year?

3. Who has actually finished with the minimum count in past NaNoWriMo's?

I should probably poll this puppy, but am lazy.

I have no idea on item 1. although I can think of a few maybes and 2 definites, on item 2. I've only seen one person mention it so far, and on item 3. I've also no idea, though I can think of 2 folks who I read who might have.

I don't know that I'm in the correct head space for it this year, but am tempted. I've tried before, and usually peter out criminally early, like less than 4k words. *sighs*

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