InsaneJournal

Current mood:

busy

Rambly bits and bobs
I've been meaning to post for ages, it seems but with one thing and another, I just haven't had the time. So here are a few rambly, disjointed notes and thoughts...


For those of you who've been following our car saga via odogoddess's posts, I'm happy to report the poor wee beastie is home again, having had intensive surgery to its cooling system. Last Tuesday, I was stopped at the signal at the top of my usual freeway offramp, when the car shuddered, rattled, gasped, and died. Oh, dear. :-( I managed to get it started and nursed it a few blocks, turning on the heater to try to cool the engine down, but after restarting it a couple more times, I decided not to risk warping the head, so I called AAA and had them tow me to the garage two doors down from where I work.

It took the better part of three days, but they managed to diagnose and replace a cracked flange, only to find that when they buttoned it all up and pressure-tested the system, the brand new radiator that we'd had installed a few weeks ago was now leaking! Fortunately it was under warranty, so the shop that installed it had the car towed back across town and took another day and a half replacing it.

Well, that put a dent in our plans to drive up north to visit my mother this weekend. :-( We'll have to reschedule, now that the car's "well" again. It also meant several days of riding the bus (2.5 hours each way, plus a long slog up two steep hills at the home end) to and from work. Bleah. The garage that replaced the radiator did spring for a rental car for the last day and a half, so at least we managed to get out and pick up some medication and groceries on Friday.

I finally picked the car up yesterday, and it seems to be running fine. The mechanic was sorry to inform me that it seems to have a pretty bad oil leak, but (in a comforting burst of honesty) also said that to diagnose where the leak was coming from would require having the engine steam cleaned top and bottom at some other facility, then bringing it back so they could put in a UV dye additive and find out where it leaks through. Even then, he said, it could be a $3 seal that would cost $500 to replace, because they might have to drop the transmission to get to it. Far cheaper to simply check oil regularly and keep the car topped up. *rg*

Moving right along...





My company is having a big whoop-te-do this coming Friday, at a very formal and stuffy venue. Long story as to why this particular venue was chosen, but I'll spare you all and just say some of the Old Guard insisted, (then were astonished to hear how bloody expensive it's going to be, but still refused to reconsider...*sigh*) and the rest of us would far rather be going someplace rather more relaxed and fun. Anyway...this is definitely a "dressy" place, and although I might have an outfit I could scrounge together (and may have to yet), odogoddess and I have got to get stuff to wear for it.

We scored big, last night! I'll let her tell you about it, if she so chooses, but I'll just say we found an outfit that fits her beautifully, looks elegant and festive, and it was a real steal! *G* We also picked up evening bags for both of us, as our usual purses just wouldn't cut it for this occasion, and I hate to be without a purse of some sort - even if it's only got my ID, debit card and PDA in it!

We both need shoes, and we'll try tackling that later today, along with a visit to the salon for hair trims.

As for me...well, in a mild fit of insanity, I succumbed to the "but I can make it myself!" voices in my head, and bought 8 yards of "costume satin" off the $2 table at Walmart - very silky, nice and drapey, just about the shade of a melted Hershey's milk chocolate bar, plus soft off-white lining and a pattern.

After I picked up the car yesterday, I stopped at JoAnn's to get the required notions, and I spotted some really pretty organza in chocolate brown, with a light sparkle finish to it, and decided to get a couple of yards for the bolero, if I have time to make it (if not, I'll edge-finish it and just use it as a shawl.) A very nice lady ahead of me in checkout even gave me her 40% off coupon to use, as everything she was buying was already on sale, and the coupon expired in a couple of days! :-)

I trimmed the pattern out last night, and odogoddess helped me fit it. Now I've got to hack out the fabric and run it up on the machine. If everything cooperates, it should go together fairly simply; the pattern's all straight lines, and I'm not fussing with shoulder straps or ruffles. I will have to unearth my sewing machine though...or odogoddess's, whichever I find first! ;-)

Further updates as events warrant. ;-)





I gots bunnies. Oh, man, does I gots bunnies! *rg*

I have the next chapter of "Far from the Tree" almost ready to post. It needs a couple of XXXXX's replaced with place names, and a quick beta...but before I post it, I need to post the previous chapters here and/or to lupin_snape here on IJ, and fix all the chapter links, as all the existing links are to the LJ posts on Lupin_Snape.

DH actually gave me new ideas for a couple of WIPs that had been simmering away, and I think I'm going to be able to combine two or possibly three of them into one story. It'll take a while, though, as I've got a lot of fest writing to do between now and November.

I signed up for merry_smutmas, snupin_santa and, after some pondering and tempting (looks at odogoddess and bethbethbeth), Smutty_Claus as well. I have my assignments for the first two - and was quite tickled with them - still waiting on the third. Snupin_Santa should be fun to write (knock wood!), and I got a positively twisty bunny for Smutmas. *rg* I'm going to try tacking that one first - I'm outlining now - and see if I can finish it this month. *crossing fingers*

odogoddess and I have plans for a couple of collaborative post-DH stories, but I don't know when we'll be able to get to them, what with all the other writing we're both planning. It will actually be a first for us; as long as we've known each other and beta'd for each other, would you believe we've never written fic together?



I don't have the energy to say anything about the LJ kerfluffle right now, nor to go into my thoughts and feelings on DH, but I'll get to both of those at some point. I'll just say that I intend IJ to be my primary journal, but I'm still reading my flist on LJ as well, and will try to post links to my IJ posts on my LJ, for those friends who haven't yet migrated.

As for DH...well, like I said before the book came out, canon is closed now, and the Wizarding World is ours to play with. And JKR can't hurt "our" characters any longer. We can rescue them, revive them, awaken them from their nightmares, reboot the system and try a different way.

And just so you know...Severus Snape is alive and well and living in Southern California with two very affectionate-- er...and happy! ;-)