Lux

I'm not doing challenge #3 because I don't have any communities etc to recommend, but I've been enjoying going through everyone elses recommendations and discovering new-to-me places on DW

Challenge #4

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I want to blog more. I seem to have lost doing that in the last 18 months or so and I'm missing it. snowflake_challenge seems to be a good kickstart to getting back into it and I hope the momentum continues.

I want to write fanfic. I have ideas for lovely Daniel/Jack BDSM fic, I have a beautiful image in my head of Jack strapped down on a spanking bench and Daniel with a paddle. But I don't know if I know how to write.

Non-fannish goals include
Study something related to space
Keep taking my medication. Keep going to therapy. Try & stop overthinking things
Talk J&S into a beach holiday somewhere hot.
Try meditating and mindfulness

I've seen a few people taking part in snowflake_challenge and thought it seemed like fun and hopefully a good way to get back into blogging. I never know what to blog about so these prompts should help with that.

The first challenge is

In your own space, introduce yourself! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

If you already have a sticky post or full bio, make sure they’re up to date so that people visiting your journal can learn something about you. Update your interests; make sure your fic posts are current; check that all your links work, etc. If you don’t already have a post introducing yourself, create one!

I always find introducing myself really hard, trying to find the line between not enough and too munch information. But, here goes nothing.

Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm a 41-year old bisexual, polyamorous, submissive, English woman living in South Wales my partners of 9 years, J & S.

I've suffered with mental illness since I was a teenager and have both ADHD and Schizoaffective disorder - think all the fun of schizophrenia with all the fun of being bipolar. I'm pretty extraverted (yet socially awkward) and sarcastic, and have been told I have a warped sense of humour. I don't have a clear sense of where 'the line' is. I'm a pessimist yet a big kid at heart.

I'm a homemaker, I love to bake and cook (and eat) and organise. I find cleaning to be very therapeutic. I hate gardening and DIY.

I'm a fan of 80s rock music, science-fiction, urban fantasy and superheros (both Marvel and DC). I love to play boardgames, knit and have recently taken up yoga. I love angels, anthropology, bullet journals, cryptozoology, dinosaurs, doctor who, elephants, ghosts, good omens, lucifer, mythology, paranormal, space, star wars, and time travel. I'm currently a little bit obsessed with learning about serial killers. I can lose myself in a game of Tetris, Solitaire or Candy Crush for hours.

Hello Dreamwidth

I'm going to pretend it hasn't been... most of the year since I've updated and just straight back on in with blogging.

Today is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. 41 years old. I suppose I should change all my profile shit to say '40-something' instead of 30-something. My main present from J&S was a new computer which I'm sitting on to write this post. Yay shiny new tech.

The first thing I've done is come online, re-customise my browser, sign in to social meda and now I'm working my way through a seriously fucking high number of emails. I always seem to be doing that. Maybe I should try coming online more often and keeping on top the emails. I'm also logging all the books I've read since the summer on Goodreads - bless my Bujo for helping me remember what books I've read and the ratings I've given them.

Other than that, things are good. S went back to work at the start of the semester, it took her 6 weeks or so to get back into the swing of things. J and I are still missing having her home all day and we're finding our feet with the new schedule, it's still a work-in-progress but we're getting there are things are good.

I don't really have anything to say. You'd think I would, after such a long time. I guess I need to get back into the swing of blogging, find my voice again.

I've had a really good day today, despite the fact I've caught a cold and haven't been able to stop coughing or sneezing all day. But I've taken lemsip and plenty of cough sweets and I've been relegated to the couch.

I'd got my inbox down to 1500 last night and my goal for today was to half that again down to 750. I'm currently down to 950 so I'm not doing too badly. I have also written 1500 words of a Jack/Daniel story where a drunk Daniel turns up on Jack's doorstop to proposition him.

Speaking of Jack - although mine and not O'Neill - I have not been the only one punished this weekend for computer-related behaviour. My ass is still a little tender after the spanking S gave me and I wasn't allowed to particpate in Sunday morning play time. Although that's part punishment and part because I'm not well.

J has been in serious trouble all weekend. He got a tablet for Christmas but with everything that's been going on, he hadn't been using it. He's just started, been mostly using it for word games and crosswords and football stuff but he's got this farming game he's got addicted to. It's hilarious because a few years ago when I played Farmville he used to mock me, but he's got completely addicted to this game. And yesterday morning when he and S were getting ready to go to Tesco, he was on his tablet and when she said it was time to leave, he didn't even look up from his game, just said "in a sec, love."

S took the tablet off him, and he's spent most of today with bondage mitts on his hands so he's not been able to do anything. And when he whined, she gagged him. For the rest of the week, he's only allowed his tablet for an hour a day!

This afternoon has been spent with Jack pouting, I've been continuing to clear my inbox and writing and S has been watching The Blacklist. I've been half-watching but not really paying attention. James Spader is still incredibly easy on the eyes, isn't he?

I've just asked in the Spacemonkey group on Facebook about a beta as I have no idea how I'd go about finding one. I was going to say something else but the kitchen timer dinged to tell me that the tuna casserole I'm cooking is done so I should go and sort dinner out. Wonder if S is going to take the mitts of J's hands so he can eat?

It's funny, even though I don't work outside the house, I don't like Monday mornings. I love spending the weekends with S, even though we didn't see her much this weekend because she was working. But Monday mornings when she gets up and goes to work it's the end of the weekend.

I got into the habit of getting up with her and J and I'm still in the habit of doing it. Get the coffee maker on, make breakfast and see her off. J sometimes joins us, reads the paper while having breakfast and sometimes stays in bed. Routine isn't as important for him.

Today I took out the recycling and emptied the bins. Cleaned the bathrooms, wiped down the kitchen counters, swept the kitchen floor, did some general decluttering and did laundry. There was a strange smell in the kitchen which J and I eventually narrowed down to being the drain from the sink. He did some quick work on it, we cleared the blockage and I hadn't even noticed it wasn't draining as quickly as it did. I aired the kitchen out and the smell has cleared nicely.

This afternoon I made donuts, wrapped up my sisters Christmas presents, read and watched some TV. I made plans to meet up with my friend David in the New Year

I live such an exciting life, don't I?

I see someone injected Dreamwidth with some adrenalin while I wasn't looking. I've come back today and there's people everywhere and my circle is swelling and I don't think I've ever had to go so far back in my reading page... this is awesome!

As tempting as it is to go through the friending memes and the addme communities and add everyone... I think I need to get used to actually having an active page to keep up with before I add even more new people than I already have.

Even S said to me yesterday that she suddenly saw why online communities can be so much fun when there's actually things happening.

Hi to all my new friends, welcome. I'll try to be interesting and cool and all those other things but we all know I won't be haha. I'm excited to meet you all and I'm looking forward to getting to know you. I think all the important information about me is in my profile but if there's anything you're DYING to know, just ask!

I've just got back from grocery shopping with J. He's now futzing around with his Spotify and doing a crossword. S is sequestered away in her study marking exams and papers and is a little stressed. I'm killing time before I meet up with a friend for lunch.

I think when I've finished reading the Discworld books, I'm due for a Narnia re-read. I haven't read them in at least a couple of years and I'm feeling drawn back to the world.

I've always loved them - and the shows and movies based on them. Maybe I'm pre-disposed to it being named after one of the Pevensie siblings and having been brought up with the stories. Although it's funny because Peter & Susan grew to hate them and Polly & Esme are pretty ambivalent.

But me? No, I love the whole shebang.
I love the books.
I love the recent movies.
I utterly adore the BBC shows from the late 80s/early 90s.
I am super excited to see what Netflix do now that they have the rights for the full series.
I really really really want Magicians's Nephew to actually be adapted this time!

Me? I love them.
I want to stumble through a wardrobe, discover a world in perpetual winter and become a queen. I want to live int he Golden Age.
I want to help Caspian save the Narnian's when only Aslan's magic can help
I want to sail on the Dawn Treader to the edges of the world to find the seven lords
I want to find Rilian and avenge his mothers death
I want to flee to Narnia on my talking horse
I want to experiment with magic rings, find the place between, awaken Jadis and watch Aslan bring Narnia to life
and I want to be there for the end of the world, to fight for it and to be lead to the "true" Narnia.

I

I am officially bored with the icons I've got. I've been using them a while. And I think I'm growing bored of my layout as well.

Any recommendations of awesome communities for obtaining shiny new ones?

I'm very tired after traipsing around the Bay yesterday but I have the start of a lovely tan. Sadly I'm a little dehydrated so I'm staying out of the sun this morning and trying to get enough water in me. Sam and Jack are in the garden with Jason and Ellie. The men are supposed to be putting up the garden shed but when I came back inside, Ellie was teaching Jack some martial arts moves. Her dad runs a martial arts studio so she's been doing them since she could walk. Don't ask me what type because I don't know.

I love watch Jack with kids, you can tell he really loves them and he's so good with them. I know he missed out on a lot of his son's life being deployed overseas and I know how much that killed him. Kids were never in our life plan though and he's always been ok with that. Sam and I are neither of us maternal. But sometimes, watching him with kids, my hearts just explodes. And when you watch Sam watching him, hers does as well.

That's not what I sat down to write about though. I signed up to Camp Nano this month. I want to write. I have an idea for this Jack/Daniel fic and I've been toying with it a while but I think I needed a... nudge or a push or an excuseto sit down and start writing. So I signed up with a goal of 3000 words - that's just 100 words a day. I've written 102 words while sitting here which is really exciting me and I'm hoping that I can get the story finished over the course of the month!

It's amazing how this new place already feels like home in a way the last place never really did. We've already unpacked more and made it more of our own and I am really loving it.

I don't know how good I'll be a describing this but... I'm going to give it a go.

We're in a 5-bed detached house in a cul-de-sac. You come in to a like a hallway with with doors off to a cloakroom, Sam's study, two reception rooms and the dining room, and the stairs. From both the living room and the family room there are french doors out to the garden. From the family room (or snug as Jack calls it), you go through to the kitchen and the utility room. There's a door from the utility room into the garage as well. On the other side of the dining room, there's what the previous family had as a games room but we've turned into a library.

The main living room has a gorgeous fire place but honestly we tend to use the smaller famiy room/snug more. We've decorated it and it's just cozier and more inviting somehow. We use the bigger one when we've got guests round. The same for the dining room - we tend to eat most of our meals around the breakfast bar in the kitchen. It's just more conventient. Sunday lunch we'll eat in the living room, take our time and make an ocassion of it, just being together. Maybe over the sumer when Sam's schedule is less hectic we'll use it more. I don't know.

Upstairs, there's our master bedroom, which leads through to a dressing room. A dressing room! Jack made one for us in the last house and this one has one in it. And from the dressing room you go through to the en-suite with a bath and a shower.

There's a second en-suite bedroom which is our playroom. The third bedroom is my room for when I need a little space and is mostly a crafting space. There's a family bathroom, and the fourth and fifth bedrooms are spare/guest rooms although Jack and Sam are talking about setting up a telescope in the fifth room and making it for stargazing which would be cool!

We've really made this more our home over the last month and now as Sam's ramping down for the summer we're looking at spending some time over the summer decorating it. The playroom and library are the only rooms we've done so far. The playroom was soundproofed for obvious reasons LOL. Turning the 'games room' into a library was a fun weekend project - carpet down, walls painted. Bookshelves in, some comfy chairs, a desk and computer.

We know what colour scheme we want for the hall/stairs/landing (light bluey/grey walls with a speckled grey carpet) so I think that will be our first project. We're looking forward to tackling it together.