elanya

Still on a KJ Charles kick - I devoured the Will Darling books, and my hold came in on the second of the Doomsday books and I devoured that as well! I didn't love it as much as Country Gentlemen but it was satisfying and a good conclusion to the duology. I also, last week, listened to Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus which was a good side step, but next week I'll go back to KJC for a bit with Think of England which i want to read to properly appreciate the crossover fics with Will Darling ;)

Otherwise - things are pretty samey? Sister and her ex are moving along on the formal separation, which is good, but apparently IL has been making sounds about maybe selling the house after all, which is not ideal, I think for anyone 9including them), but especially not for me. They think they might be able to afford a place with the money from that but. I don't think so, at least not anywhere local. Like basically if they want to move out so they can maybe host the kids, it is going to trigger a much bigger mess as sister can't afford to live here, so that means moving away *with the kids*. Meanwhile my job is here, I also can't afford to live on my own, an I have a dog who needs a lot of space and does not get alone with anyone outside the family, so we'd both be thoroughly screwed. While I can't say I love living with IL, I think it is probably the best solution, financially, and sister feels much the same. It would be better if they wanted to act more like an actual roommate and not like. Still expect what I'll call 'family privileges' (having a clean house and sharing in family meals among other things) but also only contribute beyond finances at the most basic level.

Work continues to be annoying, I feel over-relied upon but also under support and undervalued, and it is frustrating. I had a productive day yesterday but still have a lot on my plate, and it is all petty annoying things. The biggest hassle is trying to get the new back-up service set up, which is me trying to get things out in their online vault, from the networked cloud storage we are trying to back up, which doesn't want to play nice. I have a plan to try out on Monday, but I also have a tour to give (I'm not 100% sure what all Neal actually wants for that? he was unclear).

Talked to grad school friends last night for out regular bi-weekly ladies night check it - US friends are stressed and uncertain, not a lot I can do for them other than listen, and try and talk about more fun things as well, like books and other stuff. I am really glad to still be in touch with them, anyway. I went to queer knitting and was trying to explain ti someone about how I basically grew up with close internet friends and still have those ties, but I don't think I managed to convey how that works for me and how those toes stretch well beyond social media. in fact some of my friends I'm not really tied to on social media at all? Anyway, I feel like I live in a world and context that's very strange to most people. I'm very lucky to have friends all over, including locally. On Monday I'm going to a friends place and we are gonna make sock puppets for a terrible puppet game, for instance. I do feel like probably other online and fandomy people are likely to understand *more* but I always feel like a weirdo wherever I am. Just gotta roll with it at this point!

I am still working on writing, probably by the next time I do an entry, there will at least be things I have written that are able to be read, though still anon. I've got... 4? Fills done for RKB and might finish another this weekend. I have two more planned but we'll see how it all... comes together ;)

In other news, I have got the yard reasonably cleaned up and did some of the tree trimming and such I wanted to do, finally. There is still more but it is a start, at least the minimum I wanted to get done this year. I need to get mulch, and I'd love to get bulk mulch but since IL has to part their car at the back of the driveway in order to plug it in, there isn't as much functional space. Also I need a new wheelbarrow.

Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can get some logs split? If the weather is nice, which is iffy. If i can't physically do it they are just gonna have to remain whole logs, I guess. I need more gear to get the chainsaw going. I was okay using the sawsall but the chainsaw just seems conceptually more dangerous, if only medium so in practice. And also.. I need to, uhhh,... find it :p This will be the year though! and also the power washer. Yeah. This is gonna happen :V the other thing I do need to do is decide if I want any plants form the plant sale this year, and get that order in pronto! Maybe I can do that over lunch, at least. Then some writing :3

Next week - what is time - I am going away for a long weekend with Nary, which i hope will be nice :3 Who knows what the weather will bring, especially up where we are going. But I understand the stars will be really nice to watch so there is at least that to look forward to :3 She's had a lot of family stress recently too, so hopefully it will be a good get away for her as well.

ETA: I ordered the plants! A columbine, big bluestem to replace the one that I planted last fall and fell victim to overenthusiastic plowing (it pushed our entire front step out of alignment and ripped it out of the ground before it was fully established), gonna try a fern out front in the shade of the cedar, and Canada anemone which I will will to take over the front yard with the strawberry :3