#i am making cookies for our downstairs neighbors today

[ban-joey]

there was a time when i was pretty critical of erotica specifically for always having characters be super vocal. i was like, not being able to have sex quietly is a skill issue/this is unrealistic. and yknow. it can certainly be excessive in things I've read. but also i just was not having good sex ever

[inkskinned]

it is the first snow today. i think we should all have off work, even though it didn't stick. i think there should be 4 national holidays, one for each season. happy first snow, go home and make cookies. for spring it can be the first crocus. for summer the first lightning bug. for autumn, the first golden leaf. go home, kiss your dog, feed your cat (who is absolutely already-fed but somehow still starving.)

i think we should all take more showers together, but i mean that in the soft way. i mean it like taking a nap. two years ago i had 5 adult friends in my queen bed, all of us laying across each other, head over belly over thigh over hand. any time one of us would giggle, it would ripple over each of us, like pulling on a spiderweb. kim actually needed to nap and didn't get to sleep and i am still sorry for it even though this is one of my most precious memories.

i think we should all wash each other's hair, i mean. i walk my dog and i watch someone put up twinkle lights around their front porch. alex and i just moved, and i love the neighborhood. already so many of our new neighbors have stopped by to say hello. the nice lady downstairs also collects plants, like me. she gave us her number on a pink post-it note. i am trying to decide whether to make her cookies or brownies.

i am going through a very hard time. something bad happened this weekend that i do not wish to discuss. it is hanging over me. i think of the green ribbon, and the woman who had her throat cut. it feels like that sometimes, inside of my body. like i am walking and talking despite being half-corpsed. like i am hanging on by a ribbon, standing on some kind of cusp. i keep saying - at least it wasn't worse. we are so lucky it wasn't worse. the idea is river-rock smooth now, all the edges worried off.

in this very dark night - the sun sets by 3 now - people don't need to, but they try anyway. they paint the missing light into things. i have an embarrassing number of missed calls and texts, but i feel the love from them nevertheless - hey. if you need something, i'm here. i will bring you food/puzzles/anything. i got you.

i think we should all have a big group chat where we do errands with strangers. this week i got lost in a home depot, which is wild because i'm a lesbian and we are actually hatched in a lowe's lumber section. there were two other women in the whole store. we ended up shopping together, at first by accident (we all needed things in the same aisle), and then because, well, why not. one of the ladies was taller than me, so she pulled down the screws i needed. i am agile and have the personality of a raccoon, so they sent me after anything below 3 feet. we talked about holiday plans and never learned each other's names, but did learn all the drama about each other's families.

i am making you cupcakes, because i have so much affection i want to pour it into batter. you ask me if i am eating enough per meal. i wrap your gift twice, trying to do it prettily. i get excited to give it to you, just because i hope you'll be excited too.

my parents drive an hour just to see the new apartment and to do the parent thing; standing in the kitchen saying things like "oh you'll get so much use from this dishwasher" and "well, you could paint that" and "when your mother and i moved it was uphill both ways and in a snowstorm and of course your brother was an infant." my mother brought me a plant for housewarming. i always say i love you before she leaves.

i play dnd on tuesdays still, after all these years. we all keep that night free. at one point, between grad school and marriage and all of it, we had to have a serious discussion about how to keep it running. we will keep going, we decided eventually. just to see each other, even if we don't play - you are all important to me. sebastian is not prone to affection but last night he stole my usual sign off - i love you all, be good, he said. he was laughing.

i don't love the winter, actually. i like snow in theory, but i grew up in the north, and am too-familiar with the season of "mud and sludge". i don't like being cold. but i do love something kind of soft and rare: every year around this time, people remember oh yes. you and i are human together. and i have love to spare.

it is the first snow, and something in my heart is finally warm again. i have spent what felt like the last 18 months just going-through-the-motions. it has felt blank and immediate, like i would never actually feel again. that sounds extremely trite and stupid - but that is the boring and familiar experience of depression. life just washes up against your windows, and you watch it happening. you see things that should be lovely and affecting, and it just whispers too-thin. i was desperately uncreative. uninterested in my hobbies. unimpressed by my writing. i told my therapist, often, i don't know how to find hope again.

almost sheepishly, something strange and lovely is burning in my chest. i keep not-looking at it, worried it will scamper back into the shadows again. it is skittish and wild, but it is so warm i want to sink my hands into its fur and feel it breathing. i love-hate it: if it's real, it can hurt me when it leaves again. but i am icarus-born, sun-lover and poet: i can't help myself. despite my best intentions, i am falling in love with life again.

i am planning to make cookies for my friends. alex and i are going to go christmas tree shopping. we picked out matching dish towels last night, and they have little mushrooms on them.

i love you. it does come back. yes, even after a long time. even for you. i promise. keep trying. you will wake up and it will be a day you can smile about.

write me when you get there. we will take the day off of work, and i will wash your hair, and we will both be laughing.

[endcant]

an incomplete list of things that are mundane but that i miss because i don't have access to them right now:

the foods i am allergic to now

dandelion tea

being part of a large team of people

making red bean paste

having a garden that isn't in pots on a balcony. it doesn't have to be big. i just miss the actual ground.

dancing without downstairs neighbors

sidewalks between me and almost anything i could ever want

getting somewhere early

having my own other place where i can lock things away and not just during work hours

being able to feel like i have a positive impact on people as regularly as i did at the tutoring center. but where else could i ever work that i can get profuse thank-yous every 15 minutes on the dot? with my skillset?

fishing with dad in california

bringing maple cookies to school friends in batches of 30

parking really far whenever i go anywhere and having a nice walk to and from my car

serving moms whiskey samples at noon on a sunday in a california grocery store

coffee and pumpkin jojos with my sister

walking a dog

feeding fish

the sierras

hot, dry, yellow landscapes

meeting someone else's older relatives every time i visit a friend's house.

feeling safe in a really big crowd of people

saving coffee for the security guard who would lock up at the art gallery i worked at for awhile. never got his name but i knew how he liked his coffee.

frequently meeting much older people who are currently attending community college and therefore are interested in learning new things

just having free agency to move around in much larger groups of people by myself in general (as a kid in california this experience was mandatory, as an adult in tennessee this experience costs a lot of money and also usually involves friends who expect me to stick with them the whole time)

piano with weighted keys

the scent of peach tea and wet dog at the same time

living in a room that was big enough for all of my earthly possessions and i never had to share that space with anybody and none of my stuff ever moved from where i expected it to be (thanks stephanie)

going to concerts in town

buying lots of books and having enough room to keep them all on shelves

when the creek's biodiversity wasn't obliterated by the city extending its gas pipelines to new developments

living somewhere WITH fences and WITHOUT "i will shoot you if you come onto my property" culture, both of which resulted in an overall better experience for Walkers

an incomplete list of things i have right now that i will miss if/when i do not have them later:

my roommates are incredibly generous and supportive and have helped a lot when ive had money problems

baldur is curled up on my keyboard and occasionally stands up, turns around and lays back down

both of my roommates laugh really loudly from their respective rooms at regular intervals

friend group chats are fairly active right now

the sound of cicadas is really relaxing

there were no dangerous storms for the past few days, so i have been able to go outside for basically any excuse

i have all the medications i need right now

i have my allergen-free spice mix that i can use anytime

i did a lot of laundry today and my back doesn't hurt. my back will hurt soon because i am about to do dishes, so i really have to enjoy this right now.

i am reading a library book about regional witchcraft right now. it is amazing. i will have to give it back, which is a little sad. i want to buy a copy one day when i have the money

i am not yet tired of the songs i am learning right now

all of my devices are currently functional

in general, my pain levels have been pretty bearable for the past month or so

our folding table is really helpful and not THAT bent yet

big lamp with daylight bulb keeps me sane

tall, thin, blessed candle that i got as a gift from a priestess will one day be used up or lost or broken

i have lots of art supplies right now

i have something specific to look forward to that is guaranteed to happen and that i can prepare for all i like in any way i want, but ultimately i'll still "succeed" in some basic way as long as i show up

there is a poem i want to memorize

[faghubby]

FAIRY TALES

I had my head buried in a pillow my ass in the air. As Jan drove her 8 inch strapon in and out of my ass. My dick waving slightly as it was locked in a pink plastic cage. This was nothing new Jan had been dominating me for several months.

This time though we had gone to my mom's for the holiday and as Jan pounded me in my old bedroom. My mother walked in.

"Oh sorry" my mother said shocked.

"No worries we are done anyway" Jan said pulling the toy from me. My mother paused then just closed the door.

"I guess your secrets out" Jan laughed and smacked my ass. I wanted to rush after my mom and explain. But I had to remove Jan's harness and clean everything first. Jan just pulled her dress back down and left not even putting on her panties. By the time I came downstairs. My mother, Jan and my little sister Bree where all in the kitchen.

"He isn't very big, and is quick on the draw" Jan was telling them.

"How's that ass feel?" Bree asked. My mother was unable to not snicker at the comment as well.

"FUCK OFF" I shot back at Bree. Jan jumped up and pushed me right over the kitchen counter. My mom had been baking. Jan grabbed a spatchula from the bowl and spanked me over and over.

"Appologize to Bree now" She told me.

"I am sorry Bree" I said head looking down

"She was concerned about you and you attacked her for no reason" Jan continued. "We are guest in her home" She continued to berate me. Although it was my mom's house Bree still lived there.

"I think you should do her chores while we are here" She told me.

"Yes, dear" I responded.

"Bree could you please make a list of your chores so Timmy can do them for you during our stay" Jan asked. Bree stiffled an all out laugh. While my mother just looked on shocked. Bree started texting. Then my phone dinged she had sent me a list of chores. Jan took my phone and forwarded to her as well.

"Might as well get started" Jan said dismissing me. I heard them I. Whispered voices after I left the room. And went to clean the bathrooms. Jan also had me clean up for my mother so they could go last minute shopping.

"Don't worry he will finish the cookies and have this all cleaned up before we get back." My mother was doubtful I had never done any of my chores as a kid unless she stood over me. But Jan insisted and the ladies left me alone. I knew Jan would expect everything done and no shortcuts before they got back. They where gone for hours. I had done all Bree's chores. Cleaned the kitchen top to bottom finished all the cookies. Then vacuumed and made all the beds. When they got home I even had a fire in the fireplace and candles burning so I smelled like Christmas.

"The house looks wonderful" my mother praised. Even Bree had nothing negative to say.

The tablecloths are still in the dryer, and I just put dinner in the oven" I informed my mother. She gave me a big hug.

"Bree got you something" Jan told me. Bree was a little awkward about giving it to me.

"Not sure if you will like this but thought, maybe" She handed me a pink Victoria Secret bag. All the ladies looked on as I pulled out a pair of panties that said ho ho ho on the ass. I had never worn panties and looked at Jan she just smiled.

"Thank you" is all I said

"Well I will finish dinner Tim, why don't you take Jan out and show her around town." She suggested I grabbed my coat and Jan and I went for a walk in the snow.

"Do you like Bree's gift?" Jan asked before we even got to the driveway.

"I never" I started

"I know but you could" She told me as she held my arm we walked around the block.

"You did a nice job cleaning up today" She to me. We stopped and chatted quickly with a neighbor.

"Tim, I that you" Mrs Herrend called out from her porch trying to move a big box inside. I ran over to help.

"Come in come in" She told me. "Its a present for my grandson" She told me. I introduced Jan. Then we where on our way.

"She was nice" Jan told me. "And you didn't even hesitate to help her" She was proud of me. A few months ago I was a self centered ass. That would have never offered to help. Let alone clean my mom's house.

When Jan had told me she had had enough, I begged her to reconsider. That is when she locked me in chastity. After that changing my behavior was easy she had told me. At first it was a few days then weeks. Now it was almost 2 months. She had first pegged me about a month ago. And now we both loved it. I had a strapon as well that I used on her. But mostly I just preformed orally.

"Through there is where we used to go party" pointing to a trail behind the ball field. "There is an old cabin back there"

"Show me" Jan said so I led her down the snowy path. The cabin was still there. Inside Keri hiked up her dress She still worn no panties. She pushed me to my knees and I dove in eating her as she leaned against the wall. Just then the door opened and in walked a tall man.

"Whoops" he said. Jan dropped her dress and I stood.

"Tim?" Charlie laughed. Charlie was my best friend in high school.

"Jan, Charlie Charlie Jan" I introduced them

"Sorry I am interrupting" Charlie said

"Nonsense" Jan replied. She asked several questions about me in school all the whole flirting with Charlie. Charlie looked over at me several times. I said nothing.

"Its cold let's go back to your place Charlie" Jan told him taking his arm. He lived just on the other side of the ball field.

"My mom and Dad are working" he informed us. Charlie house was always a bit run down. But I loved hanging out there growing up. As soon as we where inside Jan kissed Charlie deep on the mouth. She looked around.

"Timmy, why don't you help Charlie here and do the dishes as he shows me around. She led him upstairs. She had never openly cheated on me like this but I couldn't bring myself to argue. So I set out cleaning up. His parents worked alot so the house was never "clean" so to say. I heard the notices of sex coming from upstairs.

Jan appeared about 30 minutes later I had cleaned most of the kitchen.

"We need to get going dinner be ready soon" Jan told me. She called out her goodbyes to Charlie and we left.

"I would like you to wear Bree's gift tomarrow morning when we open presents" Bree told me. As she held my arm all the way home. I didn't bring up Charlie neither did she.

After dinner I cleared the table and did the dishes it was bree's chore. Then Jan took me upstairs. Where she disrobed. I could see dried cum all over her leg and matted in her pubic hair. She just smiled.and went to take a shower. My mother knocked on the door loudly then waited.

"Bree and I are going to church" She informed me. I just shook my head knowing it was an offer to come along. Just then Jan came out of the bathroom in her robe

"He would love too" She told my mom.

"Be down in 10 minutes" She continued. My mom openly happy I was going didn't argue how.

"Get changed" Jan told me. She pulled out clothes for me. Slacks and a button down shirt. Then the panties Bree had bought me. And a pair of her stockings.

"Not a word" She warned and helped me get dressed. Then spritzed me with her perfume. I was ready in 5 and met my mom at the door.

"You smell nice, like Jan" Bree smiled.

"Thank you" I answered Jan smiling from the top of the stairs. I sat through service and mom telling everyone how well I was doing. It was Christmas service so it was midnight when we got home.

"You should shave your legs if your going to wear pantyhose" Bree said as soon as we walked inside. This made my mother look as well and I think she was more embarrassed. I headed straight to bed. I found Jan naked covered in cum.

"Charlie bought your friend Pete with him" She whispered in my ear.

She kissed me and I could taste cum on her lips. I pulled away.

Jan pulled my hair and kissed me again.

"How dare you pull away" She whispered. And pushed my head to her cum covered tits.

"Taste them" again she rasped. Not wanting to attract my sister or mother I did as told. As I finished shepushed my head south. And I ate my first creampie as well. She held me all night wanting me to keep the taste of them in my mouth. I woke early I always did now. The cage made it hard to sleep sometimes. Jan was sitting up when I returned from the bathroom. She had several presents laid out.

"You should open these in private" I opened the first it was a new chastity cage steel and smaller. Jan immediately swapped them. She had a ice pack handy. She obviously planned this all.

"So?" She asksd

"Its a bit tight" I whined

"You will shrink into it" She smiled.

Next was a new more realistic attachment for the strapon it was alot bigger.

"We can try that out later" She giggled

Next was a set of pajamas they where obviously woman's pajamas with lace around the edges. the bottom where either shorts or pants. Jan told me to wear the shorts. We got up and went downstairs Bree and Mom already there handed us each a coffee. Mom looked at our matching pj's. But Jan wore the pants. I handed out the presents like I had always done since I was a kid. As I bent and twisted.

"I know what to get you for your birthday" Bree said pulling down my pj's to expose the panties she had gotten me.

"He wore them all night" Jan informed her. They talked as if I wasn't there, about me needing to shave my legs. Mom ended the sex talk and focused on Christmas. All presents handed out.

Jan looked around. "Where is your present to me?" She asked a bit disappointed. I reached into the tree and presented her with a small box.

"Will you marry me?" I asked a bit shocked she pulled me from the room. And in hushed tones.

"Nothing changes" She told me "it may get worse, I will never let you out" She told me.

"I know" I responded She kissed me and said yes then informed Bree and my mom everyone was excited.

Then Bree asked, "Who will wear the wedding dress?"

"We will have to wait and see" Jan responded.

And we lived happily ever after.

[thiswasinevitableid]

62. you set off the fire alarm and I have a test tomorrow, and I might strangle you

Sternclay, sfw, please!

Why do fire alarms only go off in March? The one time Stern set one off (he fell asleep studying and the dinner he was reheating started smoking) it was in that endless stretch of time where the snow is no longer festive but will keep falling for at least two more months.

More importantly, who is responsible for interrupting his carefully planned out six hours of sleep before his midterm at eight this morning?

He stands in the freezing cold with the building’s other three occupants; the single man who looks like he stars in lumberjack porn and the girlfriends who live on the ground floor.

“Sorry” The other man mumbles, “I was making doughnuts and the oil I was using got too hot without me noticing.”

Stern runs a hand through his hair and keeps his voice low, “Why were you cooking with hot oil at three in the morning?”

“When I can’t sleep, I bake.”

“Can I suggest a less flammable hobby in the future?”

“Hey man, it was an accident. And it’s not my fault they stuck the fire alarm too high up for me to get to it before it called the fire department.”

“Too high? You’re taller than I am and I can reach mine.”

“My ceilings are higher and it was tucked between the cabinets and the roof.”

“Oh yeah, ours is in a super-weird place too.” Aubrey, one of the ground-floor neighbors, pats the offenders arm, “it’s okay Barclay, it’s just a little smoke.”

“That may be the case for you three, but I have an exam that’s worth thirty percent of my grade in six hours and I need my goddamn sleep.”

“Yeesh, man, chill out. They’re already waving us back in.” Aubrey points to the door of the three story house.

“I timed everything to optimize my sleep schedule so it actually is a big deal.”

Barclay glowers at him, “Look, I said sorry. But maybe get used to the fact the world doesn’t run on your schedule, mr. control freak, and fucking get over it.”

Stern keeps a smile flat as he bites out, “go to hell” and heads upstairs to salvage what’s left of his schedule.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The crash from downstairs comes at nine p.m; he has a huge day at his internship tomorrow, but Stern doesn’t hear any sounds after it, and he is not about to let a neighbor die on his watch.

“Barclay? Are you okay?” He puts his ear to the door, the heater drowning out all ambient noise.

“Nope, not really, agh, fuck, the doors locked, lemme try to stand-”

“Stay put.” He runs upstairs, grabs his wallet, and uses his debit card to trick the lock, “Shit, what happened?”

Barclay is clutching his forehead, blood between his fingers, and his ankle is swelling. “I got really dizzy, caught my foot on the couch and then my forehead on the table on the way down. Ow, fuck, it better not be broken” he growls as Stern kneels to look at his foot, “I’ve got a shift in six hours.”

“I can’t tell. You should get to a hospital; if it’s injured and you try to work on it, you might have an even worse fall.”

“Fuck, I’m not even sure I can afford the ambulance, let alone the fucking E.R.”

He knows Dani and Aubrey are out, “Any family in town, or a boyfriend?”

“No, if there I woulda called them.” He snaps, then tries for a slow inhale, “sorry, it just, it hurts-”

“I can take you in my car, that’ll be one less worry.” Stern helps Barclay up, gets him to his sedan, then tells him to hold tight while he gets something for his head. He ends up grabbing the first clean fabris he finds, which is how Barclay ends up in the E.R while holding a “Roswell, NM” tank-top to his forehead.

“Sorry to ruin your, uh, souvenir?” He mumbles as they wait for the doctor.

“It’s for a good cause. Besides, I know how to get bloodstains out of fabric.”

“That...that makes you sound like a serial killer.”

“If I were a serial killer I would wear things that could stain.” Stern winces, “sorry, I read too many true crime books.”

“I just don’t have the stomach for them. I like fictional mysteries but real ones?” he shivers, “makes me think an axe murderer is gonna break into my place. I mean, you did it with a credit card.”

“If you’d had the chain thrown it might have been another story. “

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Barclay shifts in the plastic seat, “you, uh, you don’t have to hang around. Know you got a rigid schedule.”

Joseph runs a hand through his hair, “I’m sorry for being so annoyed last week when you set off the alarm. I’m not always great at handling changes.”

“To be fair, doughnuts probably weren’t the best stress baking choice.”

“Did they turn out?”

“Nah. I’ll have to try ‘em another time. Did, uh, did your test go okay?”

“Yes. I, um, I got a perfect score.”

Barclay laughs, the sound like warm honey, and Stern blushes at looking so deeply nerdy in front of someone with a smile like that.

“Mr. Cobb? We’re ready to see you.”

The bearded man gives an slightly awkward wave as he follows the nurse through the double doors. Stern returns the gesture, pulls up the chess app on his phone, and settles in to wait until his neighbor is done.

-------------------------------------

Barclay comes out his nap the scrchh of a brush on tile. His first thought is that he’s so late for work he’s unavoidably fucked. His second one is who the fuck is in his bathroom?

His ankle twinges, jogging his memory; he got back from the hospital at 11:30, no stitches needed on his head but bedrest required for his ankle. He’d been contemplating how to convince his manager to let him shift from the warehouse to somewhere he could sit. Joseph raised an eyebrow and asked for his phone while telling him to go get into bed. All Barclay overheard was a polite, steely voice mentioning the labor laws in Dane County and how it’d be a shame if someone were to arrange an OSHA spot check. The last thing he recalls before falling asleep was Joseph telling him he had the next day off.

That doesn’t explain the cleaning sounds, though.

“Oh, you’re up.” Joseph pokes his head in from the hall. His hair is coming loose from his usual slicked-down style and he’s in a V-neck and sweatpants instead of the suit Barclay sees him in most days, “I hope I didn’t wake you; since you gave me the spare key I thought I’d check on you when I got back from my internship and leave you some take-out from the Thai place around the corner--you said the green curry was your favorite--but then I thought I should wait until you got up to see if you needed anything, so I, um, I cleaned your tub while I waited for you to wake up.”

Barclay isn’t sure what part of that is the most baffling. Or the most touching.

“Why the tub?” He eases his legs over so he’s sitting on the edge of the bed.

“It’s satisfying. And I, um, I clean when I’m stressed.” He wipes his hands on the rag in his front pocket, “I was worried about you, and my internship was murder today. They’re mounting a case against one of the biggest employers in the state and everyone’s on edge.”

“Heh, kinda makes me glad I work at WalMart.” Barclay takes the crutch Joseph offers him and hobbles into the kitchen, “oh, uh, if you want to try some cake, there’s leftover cinnamon spice cake in the fridge.”

“I think I will, thank you.” He bends into the fridge and wow has his ass always been that nice, “can I grab you a drink from in here?”

“One of those pre-bottled Kahlua things in the door; have ‘em for a friend but one sounds good right now.” He watches Joseph open it for him, setting it down before he pulls out Barclay’s chair for him. Normally, the kind of fussing and light ordering around Joseph has directed at him makes him bristle. This last day, it just made him feel safe and cared about.

He could get used to this.

----------------------

“Good lord, we’ve even got a flood warning.” Joseph sets down his phone as rain attempts to pummel the house to dust, “Some days I wish we lived closer to one of the lakes but this is not one of them. Should we check to see if Dani and Aubrey need any emergency supplies for if we have to shelter here? I always keep more than I need.”

“Nah, Dani’s got a strong self-sufficiency streak; got her a bucket emergency kit for Christmas last year.” Barclay pops the cork on the Pinot Grigio they got for dinner, “and I don’t think they forgot your semi-drunk promise that if they ever had to run from a flood they had full permission to break open your front door to be safe on the third floor.”

“I meant it, drunk or no.” Joseph takes down the plates and portions out the carbonara; he’s been trying to cook when he has time, both because he likes it and because it gives him and Barclay something to talk about. Not that they need the help.

Things changed after the trip to the E.R; Barclay would bring Joseph fresh cookies or pie. Joseph would offer Barclay rides when their schedules overlapped. Barclay introduced him to his favorite trivia night spot. Joseph took some of his cookies to a worker-owned bakery where a former co-student worked, which led to Barclay getting a new job.

Now they see each other almost every day, whether that’s watching movies on Barclay’s cramped couch or joining Dani and Aubrey for board game night.

He’s pleased with how the pasta turned out, even more so with the fact that when their legs bump together beneath the table, Barclay doesn’t pull away.

They’re on the couch, chatting about the recurring themes in ghost movies, when the storm starts in earnest. The sky is so dark it may as well be nine at night, the lighting and thunder performing a cacophonous two-man show across it. The closer the thunder gets, the more Barclay tenses.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah” a thunderclap makes him jump, “I know it’s silly but I fucking hate thunderstorms, I have since I was a kid.” He chuckles, “my mom would always end up making a pillow fort for me to hide in.”

“We could do that now.” He offers, tapping his foot against Barclay’s own.

“Know this might be hard to believe, but I wasn’t always six-two.” The other man teases.

“Don’t count me out just yet. Wait here.”

It takes some precarity and most of his thumb-tacks, but soon he’s waving Barclay to come join him.

“Holy shit” Barclay laughs as he sees the bed and part of the floor in Joseph’s tiny bedroom are curtained in blankets, “do you ever half-ass stuff?”

“No one can ever prove I haven’t.”

“Uh huh.” Barclay climbs into the fort, “that’s Joseph speak for ‘no.’”

Joseph plugs in his UFO lights and follows him in, “I’ve failed plenty of times.”

“Not on this. Man, this is gr-” A thunderclap makes him jump, nearly knocking one blanket down, “uh, maybe if I…” He lays on the bed, Joseph deciding it’s the least awkward option to join him in that position.

“You really didn’t have to do this.” The green of the lights add a charming tint to Barclay’s eyes.

“I wanted to.”

His friend looks away, keeps his gaze on his feet as he murmurs, “How come you’re always so nice to me?”

“Because we’re friends.”

“It’s, uh, it’s not because you want something from me?”

“Of course not. Barclay,” he touches the cooks arm, “anything you’re thinking is a favor with an ulterior motive....well, it isn’t. It’s something I did to look out for you.”

“What if I, uh, I didn’t think it was favor hunting and was, uh, a different word that started with “F’?”

This time, when the thunder sounds, Barclay nestles closer to him.

“Oh, Barclay” he drapes a protective arm over his waists, “I didn’t mean it to be. At least, most of the time. There were, um, sometimes when I was more flirtatious than I’d have been if it were anybody else.”

“Do you...want to flirt more?” Barclay mumbles into his shoulder.

Joseph tips Barclay’s chin with his hand, brings their lips together as lightning flashes through the window. When he pulls back, Barclay’s eyes are wide. He kisses him once more just to see if he can make them entirely pupil, then whispers, “I hope we can do more than just flirt.”

“Joseph” strong arms slip below and across him, “fuck, babe, if it’s not flooded tomorrow, promise you’ll let me take you out tomorrow?”

“I’d like nothing better, big guy. In the meantime..” he rolls so Barclay is atop him, “I have some thoughts on how to keep your mind off the storm.”

[saharamae21]

All of My Wrongs - Chapter Two

Pairing: Topper x OC and Rafe x OC

Summary: As Rory adjust to her new home, she spends her time trying to reinvent herself. She tries to fit herself into a certain image, just like she’s done in every other place she’s ever been. After accidently offending Topper, she wonders if she will ever truly get along with the others around her, but it actually ends up bringing them closer. 

Thanks @anonymous0writer​ for helping me plan and hyping me up! Love you Mags

Word Count: 2.4K

A/N: Sorry if these first chapters come off as boring. Its going to be a slow moving fic in order for me to really build connections with the characters. I really like it though and I hope you do too… Let me know what you think! I really want some feedback on this…

Also I’m only 6 followers away from 300..... Ahhhhh

Get Added to this Series Tag List

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I walked through the house and tried to get used to all of the marble. It was everywhere. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the decorations, but I was used to wood and low ceilings. This house was nothing like any place we’ve ever had before. It looked as if we told Skip that he got to pick the next house we lived in. I ascended up the curved staircase and ran my fingers across the white walls. This wasn’t who we were.

I opened the door to my room and was greeted by a queen sized bed. A vanity set stood in the corner and the closet was bigger than some of the rooms I had previously occupied. The room was painted this nice off white and my stuff sat sadly in two boxes. There was no way that I had enough stuff to fill this room. I opened the top box and pulled out some picture frames. They were mostly of my family with a few others mixed in, but I had never really had many friends. After the first few moves I stopped trying to make them, so I wouldn’t miss them when I left. I placed them on the vanity before looking at myself in the mirror.

Staring back at me was a girl who looked scared. It was a reflection of the inner me. On the outside, I was this carefree and fun loving girl who just wanted to have a good time, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t understand how everyone saw that. The girl in front of me was terrified. She shook when people stared at her. She was constantly haunted by a ghost from my past. The ghost stood behind me, looming over my shoulder. I closed my eyes and when I looked back up, they were gone. I just wished that the sad girl staring back at me was gone as well.

“What do you think?” I heard my mom ask. I turned to see her at the threshold. I told her the house was gorgeous. “But does it feel like home?”

“Yeah,” I said, lying to her. I didn’t want to make her feel bad and more importantly, I wanted to stay here. I didn’t want to move again. She smiled at me and asked about my friends. She asked where I stayed last night. “Oh, I met the neighbor boy and his girlfriend. I stayed at her house since Skip locked me out.”

I loved my mom. She was always so bright, like a ray of sunshine. The only weakness she had was her emotions. She had very little control on them and it got even worse after Skip was born. We all got through it though. I sat on my bed and looked at her as she continued to make small talk. I felt bad that I wasn’t as close to her as I used to be. I heard the kitchen timer go off and she told me that she was making cookies for the neighbors. I chuckled thinking about how we always did this. I wondered if Topper’s family would even eat the cookies. She ran downstairs to pull them out of the oven. I laid back in my bed and started up at the ceiling. I wondered how mad my parents would be if I painted it. I promised myself that when we moved into a house for good I would paint the ceiling like the night sky. I always wanted to fall asleep under the stars every night.

“Rory, can you run these to the neighbors while they’re still warm?” I heard my mom shout from downstairs. I sighed and got up, making my way down the steps. I grabbed the plate of cookies and walked out the front door. As soon as I was out, I could hear yells echoing through the air. They were coming from the backyard of Topper’s house. I could hear his mom shouting at him and he was yelling back. I walked into my own backyard and his mom stopped yelling when she saw me.

“Hi,” I said, smiling at her. Somehow, she looked even more uptight than her son. “I’m Aurora Lansing. My family just moved in. My mom asked me to give you these.” I held the plate out for her and she smiled. She took them from me and told me to send gratitude to my mother. Everyone here was way too formal. I glanced over Topper who looked distressed. His mom apologized for the noise and excused herself to bring the cookies into the house.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly. His face was tense, but his eyes were emotionless. I couldn’t tell if he heard me or not, so I took a few steps forward and placed my hand on his arm. He flung my arm off angrily and I stumbled back, missing my footing and falling onto my butt. His eyes expression softened immediately.

“Shit…” he mumbled. “I’m sorry Aurora.”

He helped me up and I brushed myself off. At this point, I really didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but the look in his eyes said he needed something. I asked once again if he was okay. He shook his head. I already knew that though. His emotions read on his face like a book. I hoped that he knew how much trouble that could get him in.

“Wanna get out of here?” I asked. For the first time today, he smiled, even if it was only a little one. He walked to the front of the house with me following a few steps behind. He opened up the door to his huge jeep and I crawled in. He closed it behind me and got behind the wheel. “So are you gonna tell me what’s bothering you?”

“No matter what I do, it's not enough in my mom’s eyes,” he said. I stared at his side profile and he truly looked defeated. I listened to him explain that someone sank their boat and his mom won’t listen to him. He knew that it wasn’t his fault. I sighed as I got a better read on him. He had to live to a certain standard that he might never accomplish. His parents expected nothing less than perfection from him.

“I see why you’re so uptight all the time, Bottom,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. He was less than thrilled.

“Is everything a joke to you?” he asked. I felt my chest tighten. “God, why am I even telling you this?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “You know that you don’t have to be perfect though right? Who cares if you don’t fit their standards. I don’t really know you-”

“You’re right. You don’t know me. You don’t get it because you’ve never had to be anything, but your annoying, carefree self,” he muttered angrily at me.

I closed my mouth, not continuing my sentence. However, the thought wouldn’t leave my head. I don’t really know you, but you can’t keep taking pieces of yourself off and reassembling them into something else. You’re going to lose sight of yourself and then what are you left with when you have no pieces left to shape? It’s exhausting and you shouldn’t do that to yourself.

I sat in silence as we turned around to go home. I wanted to keep talking to him, but I clearly wasn’t helping. I stared out the window and stared at the ocean. I felt him look over at me, but I didn’t avert my gaze. We pulled into his driveway and I got out quickly. I began walking back to my house, saying goodbye in the process.

“Aurora-” he said my name and I turned to look at him. I could tell apologizing wasn’t something he did often. He opened his mouth to say it, but nothing came out.

“It’s fine,” I said, before turning around and walking back up to my house.

I walked back up to my room and laid down on my bed. I stared up at the ceiling and thought about if I would truly like it here. I shut my eyes and imagined all the Aurora’s before this one. I remembered when we lived in Washington. That Aurora was cool and couldn’t be bothered. She was the stoic, moody, wallflower type. Then there was Minnesota Aurora. She was adventurous and rebellious. I wondered who Outer Banks Aurora would be. Maybe she could be preppy and snarky like Rafe would probably enjoy. Maybe she could be quite and reserved like Topper would probably enjoy. She could be anything I wanted, except for who I actually was. The real me was annoying and hard to tolerate. She was emotional and sensitive. She was vulnerable.

When I opened my eyes back up, the sun was setting. I sat up and placed a smile upon my face. I looked so natural for how forced it was. I pushed myself up from the bed and opened my bedroom door. The house looked even more ridiculous now that the midday light was gone. The fancy chandelier twinkled brighter than the stars and the stainless steel appliances were shinier than anything I have ever owned in my life. I walked into the kitchen and saw my dad working on some paperwork.

“Hey,” I said, opening the fridge in order to grab myself something to drink. He asked me why I had locked myself up in my room all day. I shrugged in response. This wasn’t unusual behavior for me so he didn’t worry too much. He called it my post-move blues. For him, this was an adjustment period and he didn’t ask too many questions. If only he knew that this was a rebranding period. Everything that I was going to tell Topper not to do, I did every few months. I was such a hypocrite.

My head shot towards the door as a knock echoed through our nearly empty house. My dad and I exchanged a weird look and I told him I would get it. When I opened up the door, Topper stood there awkwardly. He was rubbing his neck with one hand and holding our plate in the other. I felt my shoulders sink a bit when I saw him.

“Hey, I brought your plate back,” he said. “The cookies were really good.”

I took the plate from him and told him that I was glad they enjoyed them. I could tell that he still felt bad about earlier and I wondered if he had even volunteered to bring the dish back. I gave a small smile and thanked him for bringing it back. I grabbed the door handle, not expecting the conversation to continue.

“Wait!” he said, placing a hand on the door. “Can we talk?”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find the right words. I nodded and told him to wait there. I ran the plate to the sink and told my dad I would be out for a little bit. I told him not to lock the doors and walked back to the front.

We walked in silence from my front door to his dock. I sat down on the wood panels and dipped my feet in the water. The golden light shined down across the water, but even that beauty wasn’t enough to eliminate the awkward tension that filled the space between us. I pursed my lips together and wondered if he would ever start talking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. I turned my head to look at him and smiled. I told him that it was fine. He wasn’t buying it though. I wondered if every little thing was this big of a deal to him? Did he dwell on every conversation for hours? “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. You were just trying to help.” “It’s fine,” I said with a small laugh to let him know that I meant it. I told him that he worried too much and that I wasn’t upset. “You shouldn’t do that to yourself though.”

“Do what?” he asked. His eyes stared at me, clearly engaged in the conversation.

“Expect perfection,” I said with a sigh. “It can be really draining. You’ll run yourself ragged if you continue to shape yourself into a certain image.”

He stared at me as I tried to shake the sad expression from my face. A faint smile painted itself across my face almost in a sarcastic manner. It looked fake unlike any other one he had seen on me. He just nodded and stared back out over the water. He stared at how the water rippled ever so slightly and we sat there, just enjoying another person’s company.

“Hey Aurora?” he asked. I turned to look at him as he spoke. “What do you want to do after this? After high school?”

The truth was far from what I told him. The truth was that I wanted to go to college and make a home for myself. I wanted friends and a family. Most importantly, I wanted to stay in one spot. Surely I would travel, but at the end of the day, I would go back to my home with my family and be happy. I would forget about saving the world and everyone else. I would work on saving me.

“I’ll probably go to college and major in Environmental Sustainability or Journalism. Then, join the peace coup like my parents,” I said. “You know, save the world and stuff. How about you?”

“I’ll go to college in Chapel Hill, just like my mom,” he muttered. “I’ll get a solid job and move back to the Figure Eight.”

“I thought we were talking about dreams, not reality,” I said with a cheeky smile. He smiled back at me before he said something that blew my mind.

“Yeah, but it’s a two way street, Rory,” he said. His smile turned into a smirk as he called me by a nickname for the first time ever. “You don’t get to know mine, if I don’t get to know yours.”

He stood up, holding out his hand to help me up as well. I took it and he gently yanked me to my feet. My smile was uncontrollable and real for the first time in years as I stared at the first person to ever see though my mask. He paid attention in the same way I did. Maybe that’s why he over analyzes everything. The sun was almost completely set at this point. I remember that I had early morning plans with Rafe tomorrow and decided that it was late enough.

“I should head in. Don’t want to get locked out again,” I said with a chuckle, forcing myself to leave despite how intrigued I was. “Night Bottom.”

“Night Rory.”

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Tag List “ @outerbankslut​ @jellyfishbeansontoast​ @jiaraendgame​ @bricksatanakinswindow​ @outerbongs​ @kiarascarreras​ @ilovejjmaybank​ @potterheadhollander​ @rudths​ @spilledtee​ @queenieloveswriting​ @multifandomlovess​ @starlightstarkey​ @tomhardybby​ @diverdcwn​

[alj4890]

RCD Appreciation Week Day 1 Prompt

(Thomas Hunt x oc*Amanda) with the first day's prompt being a holiday.

(Thomas x Amanda) taken from my storyline And Then I Met You

@lxaah11​​ @alleksa16​​ @penguininapinktuxedo​​ @blackcoffee85​​ @stopforamoment​​ @darley1101​​ @hopefulmoonobject​​   @krsnlove​​   @annekebbphotography​​ @gibbles82​​  @cora-nova​​ @bella-ca​  @hopelessromantic1352​ . @sunflowergirl05​ @desiree-0816​ @greywitchyshots​ @lilyofchoices​ @emceesynonymroll​ @dr-nancy-house​ @aworldoffandoms​ @ab1901​ @pixieferry​ @lolablackwrites​ @flyawayboo​ @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​ . @trappedinfandoms​ @rcd-appreciation​

Masterlist

Table for One

Three weeks before Thanksgiving

With a soft click, Thomas turned off the bathroom light and took a moment to simply enjoy the sight before him. Amanda had fallen asleep with a few open books around her. Her laptop was propped on his bed pillow and a notepad had slipped off on her side of the bed. A ballpoint pen hung loosely between her fingers.

He wondered if he would ever truly get used to the thought of her as his wife. They had been married for a little over eight months, and yet there were times he still found himself in awe of her. His lips curved as they typically did when seeing her in his bed. It was amazing how she had found that unknown empty niche in his life and filled it as if it had been created specifically for her.

He walked silently over and began to clear away the books, careful to mark her place, and laptop. He eased the pen out of her grip and glanced down at her notes. His eyebrow lifted. She had created quite the list of ingredients.

"Thanksgiving dinner options." He muttered and turned off her lamp.

Amanda's eyes opened when he eased into bed beside her. She smiled sleepily when he softly kissed her. "I didn't mean to doze off."

His lips brushed hers again. "What are you up to?"

She moved closer in his embrace and placed her lips on his neck. "We have a holiday coming upon us and I want to make it special for you. I am afraid I don't know much about Thanksgiving other than what I have learned from movies. So, I was doing some research."

"Do you have something similar in Cordonia?" He closed his eyes when her hand drifted lower.

"Hmm." The vibration against his neck made his heart race. "I suppose our celebration of the day Queen Kenna united the Five Kingdoms is a combination of your Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Perhaps our King Hunter's Day of Plenty is a closer match."

Thomas captured her lips in a deep kiss. "What is that holiday?"

"It is a day where baskets of food and needed items are exchanged. Lords and Ladies of the realm were to share their bounty with neighboring nobles and the people that worked their lands. It has evolved over the years to almost a second Christmas with the givers trying to outdo each other with extravagant gift baskets." She explained. Her lips traveled to his ear and she spoke softly while teasing his earlobe. "Though from what I read about King Hunter's reputation with the ladies, I believe there were quite a few who received a rather special basket from him."

Thomas could not remember history or holidays for that matter ever holding his attention as well as this particular conversation was. He kissed her when she began to ask about Thanksgiving.

"I would like to continue your traditions." She gasped when his lips moved down her neck. "Thomas!" A surprised laugh burst out when his fingers brushed her ticklish ribs. She smiled when she heard his chuckle before he lifted his head.

"My family never followed a tradition for Thanksgiving." Thomas explained. "In fact, my parents made it a point to plan some type of work or leisure activity to avoid getting together with extended family."

Amanda's eyes searched his face in the dim light of the moon filtering through the crack in the drapes. "Oh. Well, how have you celebrated it as an adult?"

"Alone." He explained. "I spend the day relaxed, order something special for dinner, and finish the night watching a movie while drinking an expensive bottle of something special." A smile slowly formed with a memory. "One of my best Thanksgivings was after my first movie was so well received. I had refused invitations to various gatherings and ordered Beef Wellington for my dinner. I then opened an excellent bottle of port, had a decadent piece of chocolate cake, and watched Frank Capra movies. It was absolutely perfect."

Amanda's brow puckered at that one detail that seemed to go against all her research. "You normally spend Thanksgiving alone?"

He nodded. "I prefer it. I look at it as a day to recharge before being forced to spend Christmas and New Year's with people." He pressed a heated kiss to her lips. "Do not worry about creating a massive turkey dinner. I don't need it."

Before she could argue for something a bit more traditional, he diverted her attention to stealing every thought she had with his lips.

____________

The night before Thanksgiving

Amanda grinned at what she had secretly arranged. The table was set perfectly and all was made ready for the next day's quiet relaxation. She quickly took some pumpkin muffins out of the oven and placed them on a cooling rack. She readied Thomas's coffee pot for the morning.

"Breakfast finished." She muttered while checking items off her list. "Dinner ordered. Dessert?" She smiled at the triple chocolate cake sitting under a glass cake cover. "Ready. Bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to pair with the Beef Wellington and the Graham’s Ne Oublie Tawny Port for something extravagant." She lifted the elegant black bottle that had cost nearly eight thousand dollars and set it on the counter. She thought it would make her husband's Thanksgiving even better.

Amanda checked the theater room and had It Happened One Night and Meet John Doe ready to play. She then returned to the kitchen to compose a short letter. She pressed her lips to the bottom once finished and smiled at the kiss mark.

She set the folded note on the kitchen table and quietly crept upstairs. Thomas had fallen asleep hours ago. She grabbed her cell phone, shut the door, and left the house.

_____________

Thanksgiving Day

Thomas opened his eyes. He had an unusual feeling that something was off. He rolled over and frowned at Amanda's undisturbed side of the bed. Had she fallen asleep downstairs? He got up and went to find her. He yawned on his way to start his coffee and could smell the lingering aroma of ginger and cinnamon.

His wife had made her pumpkin muffins. Between those and her pumpkin cookies, he couldn't seem to get enough. His lips curved at the whimsical muffin tin she had used that had shaped the muffins as turkeys, leaves, and acorns. Yawning once more, he noticed the folded note sitting on the kitchen table.

His frown deepened when he noticed the table had been decorated and set for one. He read what she had written.

Dearest Thomas

Happy Thanksgiving! I have tried to recreate your favorite one. You don't have to worry about anything today except relaxing. Dinner will be delievered around five. I ordered your Beef Wellington. I also have a very rare port for you to enjoy with your chocolate cake. Frank Capra movies are set in the theater room. Enjoy your needed solitude, my love. I will see you tomorrow.

All my love,

Amanda

Thomas stared at the letter in utter disbelief. He thought back to the night they had discussed Thanksgiving. What had he said to make her think he wanted to be by himself today? He told her he needed to be alone with her. That was blatantly understood now that they were married.

He dropped the letter and went to find his phone. He called her to see where she was. When there was no answer, he tried to control his temper. His voice held an edge of barely restrained rage when he left a voice message asking her to call him immediately.

He checked the hall closet to see how much luggage she had taken. Nothing had been used making him even more perplexed. He started checking the guest bedrooms, hoping she had decided to spend the day in there.

"Where did she go without luggage?" He muttered to himself. He went back to their bedroom. Only a small satchel was missing. His shoulders slumped as he returned to the kitchen.

The hours dragged by. He tried to relax but couldn't turn his mind off. He checked his phone every five to ten minutes, expecting her to call back. His dinner was delievered promptly and he sat down at the kitchen table.

He hated every moment of it. Amanda should be here, he thought. She can't just up and leave me on a holiday after making me used to her. The loneliness was felt acutely and all because it was a holiday, one he wanted to spend with her. He missed her laughter and gentle teasing. He missed the conversation they would most likely be having right now about Frank Capra's work. Thomas wanted her home with him, reminding him how much he had to be grateful for.

The past year with her in work and marriage had been the best of his life. He needed her there to tell her that. He took a sip of the wine she had picked for him and frowned even more. It was as if it was meant to specifically be paired with his dinner. How could he make her blush with compliments for creating a perfect holiday meal if she wasn't there?

He forced down the solitary meal. Thomas then saw the port. His eyes widened at the three silver ringed bottle. She had truly outdone herself with her generosity and research. He cut a piece of the cake covered in dark chocolate ganache. He opened the extremely rare bottle of port and took a deep breath. Hints of honey, dried fruit, orange zest, and caramel wafted up. He poured a glass and took it with his cake into the theater room.

He started the movie and grimaced. She would pick the romantic one first. Just like Clark Gable's grumpy cynical reporter, he too had fallen for and met his match in a wealthy society lady. Much to his relief, his was not quite as difficult as Claudette Colbert.

He took a sip of the port and closed his eyes. It was sublime. The bite of chocolate cake that followed set off the notes of flavors to create a moment of gastronomic perfection. Now if he only had his wife to thank properly.

He finished his glass and slice of cake by the time the first movie ended. Thomas picked up his dishes to take back to the kitchen. He glanced out the bay window looking out over his backyard and stilled. Was that a light flickering in the newly rebuilt guest house?

He moved closer to the window and focused on the faint glow that seemed to be from a television screen. With a grim smile, he grabbed a set of keys and set off down the cobblestone path.

Amanda had turned the lights off while snuggling under a blanket. She picked up her plate of pumpkin pie and jumped when a woman's scream came out of nowhere in the movie, The Uninvited.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have gone horror, even 1944 horror." She mumbled with a nervous laugh.

Thomas leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms. He waited for her to notice that she was no longer alone. Her attention was focused on the movie as she reached for her glass of milk. It was empty prompting her to get up. She paused the movie then let out a scream when she saw Thomas in the shadows.

She set her glass down and clutched her chest. "If I didn't know better, I would swear you were trying to scare me to death. Need I remind you that this is Thanksgiving, not Halloween."

His eyes narrowed. "I am well aware what day it is."

She calmed her heart and sat down. "Is something wrong? Your dinner wasn't late, was it?"

"No." He replied, slowly advancing on her.

Whatever she saw in his expression had her scooting across the small couch. When she ran out of space, he pounced on her. Her laughter made him smile as his lips touched hers. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him even closer. "You didn't have to end your Thanksgiving early on my account."

"About that...what gave you the idea to leave me alone?" His dark gaze closely observed as confusion clouded her hazel eyes.

"You told me you preferred spending the holiday alone. That you needed time away from people." She gently smoothed his hair off his forehead. "I wanted you to have that."

Thomas's deepening frown made her eyes widen. "Listen very carefully." He ordered in a serious tone. "Whenever I say I want to be alone, it will always mean I want to be alone with you." His intense dark eyes searched hers for understanding.

Her lips eased into a smile. "Oh." She pulled his head down and met his lips in a tender kiss.

He opened his eyes and forced himself to not give in to smiling back at her. He needed to stress this point. "It doesn't matter if it is an American holiday or a Cordonian one, we will spend them all together. I don't care if you hear me say I loved spending one alone, that will no longer be the case. Is that understood?"

"I understand." Her voice was soft and filled with emotion.

He swallowed and sat up. "Good. Now get your things. We are going back to our home."

She cleaned up the few dishes she had used and gathered the couple of items she brought over. He took her bag from her and turned everything off. She paused outside while he locked up their guesthouse. He wrapped his arm around her as they walked silently back.

He dropped her things on the kitchen table and took her into the theater room. He sat down, pulling her with him and hit play on the next movie. She curled her legs under her while getting more comfortable against his side.

As a scene unfolded with James Gleason's character dealing with phone calls caused by Barbara Stanwyck's, Thomas stiffened.

"Why didn't you answer my calls?" He asked..

Her eyes widened again. "What calls? I didn't receive any." She left him to check her phone and came back grimacing. "I had it on silent."

He tugged her back onto the couch and relaxed once more when she settled next to him. He pressed a sweet kiss to the top of her head while he told her how perfect his meal and port was. She blushed some at his bragging on her and then even more when he told her the ways he intended to show his appreciation.

Later that night as they laid in bed, they breathlessly spoke of what they were most thankful for. Each blessing expressed began and ended with a kiss that became more and more intense as the lists went on.

Thomas held Amanda close as the chimes from the downstairs clock revealed it to be midnight. She smiled while her hands slowly roamed his warm skin. "I think this might need to be our annual Thanksgiving tradition. I can't think of a better place to tell you how thankful I am for you."

His lips curved while his arms tightened around her. "Our tradition." He kissed her, groaning when she pushed him back against the pillows to continue the kiss. He broke away to cup her face. "I believe you and I are going to have many holiday traditions that are perfect for us."

[placesiputpoems]

4/19/20 - Adina

Mom blog format again. Mom blogs and friend blogs are all I have right now. Also, Rachel, YES re: the book. I actually recommend it to everyone -- it’s sort of like exactly what you want a novel to be. 

DOING: Last night we had a FOUR AND A HALF HOUR-LONG Zoom with Ryan’s brother and sister-in-law and our friends Jonathan and Alia and ... I do not recommend that length of Zoom for anyone. Everyone is either a lawyer or ten years older than us so they were all sitting around talking about how they’re going to buy used cars and Ryan and I were sort of like ... we purchased a plant today.

HEARING: Well, it’s 8am on a Sunday which means my downstairs neighbors SHOULD be blasting techno music in a way that denotes either sex or lifting weights -- it’s impossible to tell -- and yet it’s silent, so I’m worried that something has happened to them. Also, the new Fiona Apple album over and over again (I keep saying things to Ryan like, “Who do you think Fiona Apple’s best friend is?” and he’s like ... Adina please leave me alone) and a new-to-me angry woman band called Sass. Also, LeeLee, the other day I made an executive decision to include Blink-182 on my angry women Spotify playlist and I thought of you and Coby.

DRINKING: Ryan realized that his beer is going to be ready to bottle this Monday, rather than next like he initially thought, which meant that we need to drink two six packs this weekend so he has enough empty bottles in which to store the homemade stuff ... this has been alarmingly easy. Also, my ginger bug finished fermenting and I used it to make a homemade ginger beer that’s bubbling away in our closet!

BUYING: MORE PLANTS. We tried to get these from the great plant place on 116th and 5th Ave but the corn plants there were $140 to Home Depot’s $35 ... I’m sorry, small businesses. Here’s our new bookshelf ivy and corner corn plant. 

Two highlights for the above photo: 

#1 Those are some blackout curtains on top that I sewed for our apartment! (So we can watch “Unorthodox” during the day time -- there was too much light coming in from that porch door to use the projector). I know it will haunt me at some point that the lower curtains are navy and the top ones are black but I was working with what I had.

#2 You may be wondering, why is there a bedside table in your living room, Adina? THIS THING IS LITERALLY MY NEMESIS. Ryan got it for $10 on Craigslist for his old solo-man apartment. Then we moved here and had no place for it and it has literally been floating around our apartment for MONTHS now. I keep suggesting places we can put it if Ryan truly wants to keep it and none of them are satisfactory. I even put it in the hall outside our apartment at one point and Ryan ... moved it back in. Anyway, when I eventually do lose it (to the extent that I haven’t already), know that it was because of this table.

EATING + COOKING: I made these kind of weird but perfectly chewy cookies as my first post-Pesach bake. 

Also, we have a cookbook from this lady and I adore it -- the other day I made a ratatouille-type thing but with allspice and cardamom -- highly recommend.

LOOKING: At our plant growth! They’re doing so good! C’mon bell pepper!

DECIDING: What we’re going to make for dinner this week, in advance of today’s trip to the farmer’s market. What have you guys been having for meals? We’ve been on a heavy rotation of lentils + fried rice + matzah ball soup.

ENJOYING: Over on the other friend blog, Mariana has been doing hour-by-hour drawings of her days and whenever she posts one it’s always the highlight of my day (gentle suggestion for Dr. Vais to do this with watercolors). I love “10am: Time to start work, I guess. Answering emails and sighing.”

WATCHING: The other night Ryan and I watched this documentary and it was so, so wonderful. I really recommend it to everyone here. Particularly nice for a time like this when you want to get out of your head and be reassured about the world but in a way that feels non-cheesy. This director really artfully highlights the meatiness of life in both its awfulness and glory.

READING: Let’s see if my quarantine mush brain can handle this book by Tisa Bryant. Also, Ryan’s only mail that he’s sent during the pandemic, to his sister Sarah’s pet rat:

WEARING: Our new masks, which I sewed out of dog-themed fabric so that strangers know what’s important to us.

PLANNING: When we’re going to tackle our latest home improvement/craft project: painting our living room closet door with chalkboard paint! I’m excited to be able to see our dinner menus and movie list from pretty much anywhere in the apartment.

PLAYING: Wingspan, that bird game I mentioned in the other post, but with Ryan’s sister over Zoom. It was actually really fun. I’m sort of tired of Zooming just to chat because it feels so draining and I hate staring at a screen extra when I don’t have to, but I am pro Zoom-ing with a purpose.

CRAVING: The return of normal life.

LOVING: My friends, obviously.

SAVORING: Ryan and my morning schedule, which is that I wake up an hour before Ryan and have alone time in our living room while he gets to roll over and spend an extra hour by himself in bed, as stretched out as possible. I think this is how we will all survive the apocalypse (alone time and stretching).

I love you!

Adina

[mikauzoran]

Lukadrien Drabble: Nachtmusik Chapter Twenty-Three

A Little Night Music (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) Chapter Twenty-Three: Sour Cream

“I appreciate you so much,” Adrien moaned through a mouthful of sour cream.

Luka tried not to watch as Adrien’s tongue wrapped around the spoon, a blissful look on Adrien’s face. Luka took a deep breath and pressed a palm over his mouth to suppress an agonized moan of his own. He felt lightheaded; all the blood in his body was rushing south.

“He’s straight. He’s straight. He’s f-ing straight, and he trusts you, Luka Couffaine, so keep your mind out of your pants and your FRIEND out of your fantasies…. God that tongue…uh.”

“Thank you for keeping your fridge stocked for us,” Adrien continued, smiling obliviously at Luka from where Adrien lounged on Luka’s bed. “You have got to let me pay you back for the cheese. I know Plagg eats a lot.”

“Do not,” Plagg snorted from where he was curled up on the pillow Adrien had claimed as “his”.

Adrien laughed sarcastically. “Do too.”

“I don’t eat as much as you do,” Plagg retorted sullenly, in a foul mood because Luka had been out of Brie.

Adrien turned back to Luka and opened his mouth to elicit agreement when it dawned upon him that Luka was staring. “…Did I get some on my face?”

Thankfully, Adrien did, in fact, have sour cream at the corner of his mouth, so Luka was able to nod and point to the corresponding spot on his own cheek.

Unfortunately, Adrien used his tongue to clean up the wayward dollop of cream, sending Luka’s hormones into a flurry all over again.

Luka made a disgruntled noise.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, completely unaware of the power his tongue had over the other teen. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Luka protested a little too quickly.

Adrien chuckled and shook his head, dismissing the episode. “Want some?” He scooped up a bite and held out the spoon to Luka.

Luka, in spite of himself, gravitated over to the bed, taking a seat next to Adrien.

“Say ‘aahh’,” Adrien coached.

Luka closed his eyes and opened his mouth, letting Adrien feed him, letting himself have this moment of indulgence.

He winced as the sour cream actually hit his tongue.

Adrien cackled in delight at the disgusted look on Luka’s face.

Luka tried not to choke as he forced himself to swallow. “That…” He coughed. “…is nasty. How can you eat that straight? Don’t you have a gag reflex?”

Adrien shrugged, happily spooning another bite of sour cream into his own mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is delicious. I love the creamy texture. It’s just a little bit more tart than Greek yogurt, and I kind of like that. Greek yogurt is too sweet sometimes. Well…the plain Greek yogurt is good.”

Luka sighed, reaching out to tussle Adrien’s hair lovingly. “This is because no one feeds you sugar. If you had ice cream more than once a month, you would not be able to eat that sour stuff.”

Adrien shrugged again. “Why don’t you just get out the cookie dough, Orpheus?”

 Juleka came into the main cabin to find Luka slumped on the couch.

His hair was in disarray, and he was clothed in pajamas he’d probably been wearing for a day or two now. He stared blankly into space as he ate spoonful after spoonful of sour cream straight out of the container.

“You’re up,” she observed. “…Have you been drinking again?”

He blinked a few times before his eyes registered her presence and focused on her. “The liquor cabinet is locked, and I gave the key to you to hide, so I don’t see how I could be drinking.”

Juleka shrugged, coming around to sit on the couch next to him. “Just checking.”

She didn’t dare bring up the fact that he could buy alcohol elsewhere (…if he ever went out). She didn’t want to put the idea into his head.

“That stuff is disgusting,” she remarked, indicating the half-empty sour cream container.

Luka nodded and took another bite, wincing as he did so.

“You’re going to make yourself sick.” Juleka reached for the container, trying to take it away.

He pulled back defensively.

She put her hands up in surrender. “Hey, okay. Suit yourself,” she snorted. “…Why are you eating that stuff?”

He shook his head.

She wanted to ask if it were an Adrien thing, but she didn’t want to poke that particular tiger in case it snapped her hand off and turned her brother back into a self-destructive, raging alcoholic again. Juleka never knew which buttons were okay to press anymore.

“Are you okay?” she asked instead.

Luka shook his head. “…Today is Adrien’s birthday. He’s seventeen….”

Juleka nodded. She wanted to groan and shake him and tell him that it had been eight freaking months, but…

He turned his head and looked at her urgently. “How is he? Is he okay? Do you see him very often? I was thinking maybe I could give him a gift…maybe a recording on a CD or some new tracks on a flash drive or something. Something small that you or Rose could sneak him, but…”

Juleka shook her head sadly. “We’re in different classes this year. I don’t see him much, and, when I do, it’s from a distance. I get the impression he’s avoiding us.”

Luka nodded slowly, the animation draining from his face. He took another bite of the sour cream and winced.

She placed her hand over his, stilling it. “Luc, please stop. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

With a sigh, he set down the container and the spoon.

She picked them up, taking them over to the sink where she rinsed out the rest of the sour cream, washed the spoon, and tossed the container in the recycle bin.

Luka went back to staring absently at the far wall.

Juleka sighed, going back over to sit by her brother. “Hey.”

She tapped her knee against his.

“Why don’t you play your violin?” she suggested, indicating the instrument on the seat of the couch beside Luka.

He shrugged, picked up the violin and bow, and brought them into position like an automaton. He started to play Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, imagining Adrien playing the missing piano part.

To Juleka, the plaintive wails of the violin sounded like a swan crying in vain for its lost mate.

Tears welled up in her eyes for her brother and the palpable weight of his suffering.

Silently, she hoped Adrien was having the day from hell for what he had done to Luka.

 “Fiiiifth, come back to beeeed,” Luka groaned.

“Fiiiiirst,” Adrien echoed. “I am starving. Do you know how many calories we just burned? I feel faint.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “Are you really hungry, or do you just want to eat sour cream? Because if you’re actually hungry, I’ll make you dinner…despite the fact that it’s nearly midnight.”

Adrien shrugged, fishing a spoon out of Luka’s desk drawer.

Luka eyed his lover hungrily as Adrien bent over.

“I kind of just want to eat sour cream,” Adrien confessed. “Making food would involve showering and putting clothes on because I don’t think the Capitaine and your sisters would appreciate us using the kitchen naked.”

Luka covered his face with both his hands and moaned.

“What?” Adrien snickered.

“I’m imagining you prancing around the kitchen of our future apartment wearing only an apron,” Luka confessed.

Adrien hummed appreciatively. “I want a house. No upstairs or downstairs neighbors to complain that we’re too loud…and I don’t just mean your instruments.”

“God,” Luka hissed. “Please come back to bed. You’re killing me.”

“Yeah?” Adrien chuckled sadistically, taking his time sauntering over to sit on the bed beside Luka.

“Yeah,” Luka breathed, rolling over onto his side to press airy kisses along Adrien’s hip and leg.

Adrien took a bite of sour cream, smirking around the spoon. “Goodness. Look at what a mess you are.”

“Adrien,” Luka whimpered, reaching out to trail fingers slowly down along the inside of Adrien’s thigh.

A soft purr began to rumble in Adrien’s chest.

“No,” he chuckled, reveling in Luka’s ardent want. It was good to be wanted, needed. “I’m eating. You’ll have to wait.”

“Nooooo,” Luka whined, hand slipping between Adrien’s legs. “Now.”

Adrien gasped, beginning to change his mind about the sour cream. “Well…” he replied levelly for appearance’s sake. “I guess I could draw all over your body with sour cream and then lick it off, if you really can’t wait.”

Luka paused, looking up curiously. “…Serious offer?”

Adrien thought about it. “Uh…well…I mean…other people lick whipped cream off of one another, don’t they? I don’t see why we couldn’t use sour cream. It’s probably going to get your sheets dirty, though.”

“Dirtier,” Luka corrected with an ironic laugh.

Adrien looked down at the spots already starting to dry on the bedding. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed. “Dirtier.”

“Do it,” Luka begged, and Adrien spent the next twenty minutes finger painting with sour cream, using Luka’s body as his canvas and cleaning it all up with his tongue.

[canaryatlaw]

mmm. well today was good. I didn’t wake up till like 11 or so because nobody woke me up and I guess nothing was going on until then. but I got up and went downstairs, where we had breakfast before doing presents. we normally do presents before breakfast but I guess since we got a late start we wanted to eat first. my mom always makes this ham egg and cheese bread pudding for breakfast on Christmas and it is so damn good, so that’s always enjoyable. we did stockings and then actual presents. I wasn’t expecting too much of anything because I’m going to get a new iphone 11 tomorrow so I knew that would be the main gift, but I still got some cool stuff. my parents got me some nice jewelry, and my brother got me a nice Michael Kors watch, and some other random stuff like a poster, a candle, a book (about Margaret Thatcher, I think, not sure why they thought that would interest me, but oh well) a mug and a pair of ear muffs. so that’s cool. after that I moved on to start my baking for the day, but I quickly realized we only had one egg left and I needed 3 for the cheesecake I was making, so my brothers got sent to various stores trying to find eggs after 7-11 was out but they were all closed, so we ended up borrowing some from our neighbor lol. in the meantime I did the bottom layer of chocolate for the italian rainbow cookies and then let that set in the fridge. once we had the eggs I started making the cheesecake, which didn’t take too long and was in the oven not long afterwards. I did the other layer of chocolate on the top of the italian rainbow cookies, then let that set and then cut them into actual cookie pieces. Once that was done I started on my other contribution to dinner which was this new mac and cheese recipe I was trying, after sorting through a bunch trying to determine what would be the best fit. I had earlier grated all the cheese and separated them accordingly, there were 5 different types of cheese with different ones being added at different points so it was a lot to keep track of. but it went pretty well and it came out looking super delicious and so cheesy and was basically the best thing ever, so I’d call that a success. after dinner we all just chilled for a bit, then I did the final touches on the cheesecake and we had dessert. once that was done we watched Home Alone, which I’m not sure if we’ve made a full tradition out of watching it or not, but I feel like we definitely do watch it every year at some point. after that we watched some episodes of the office and just laughed at the ridiculousness, and it was quite enjoyable. eventually people started heading off to bed and after a while I headed upstairs to shower and start getting ready for bed and now I am here, it’s 12:30 am so I should be getting to sleep, got a new iphone to get tomorrow. Goodnight lovelies. Hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

[theycallmebeccawrites]

Chris & Ellie Bonus: Our Little Family

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: PG

Warnings: n/a

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

Chris & Ellie Bonus Stories Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

December 20, 2028

Chris Evans let himself into the old barn that he and Ellie had converted into home offices for both of them in the loft and a game/media room on the main floor. He quickly reheated the soup he'd carried from the main farm house kitchen then climbed the stairs to where Ellie was working on her second novel.

"Lunch is served," he said, making his presence known.

"It smells amazing," she replied, turning away from her computer screen.

Chris set the soup on the TV tray next to her and smiled as she dug into the soup. He smiled as she moaned over the taste of his mom's famous chicken noodle soup and he was reminded of the first time he served it to her over fifteen years ago.

"Did you hear from your mom?" Ellie asked in between sips of soup.

"Yes, she called while the kids and I were eating lunch," he replied. "The presents and our winter clothes got there this morning and she's already put the winter gear in the van for when she picks us up tomorrow at the airport."

"Good," Ellie nodded. "And the kids?"

"The twins are napping," he told her. "And I told the boys to set out what they wanted to take to Boston on their beds. As soon as I get back to the house, I'll double check what they've pulled out and supervise them putting it in their suitcases."

"Send them with twice as many socks and underwear," she said. "They never seem to have enough when we're there."

"Noted," Chris nodded. He stole a glance at her computer screen. "How goes the writing today?"

"Good," Ellie replied. "I think I should be done by dinner and then I'll get it sent to my editor and I'll be done for the rest of the year."

Though she still worked as an editor, Ellie had written her first novel when she'd been pregnant with the twins, a little over three years ago. The whole process from writing to publishing it had taken nearly a year and a half and had taken its toll on her. She had put off starting her second book until this past fall and was now trying to get the final chapters to her editor before the December 31st due date so she could enjoy the last two weeks of the year with Chris and the kids.

Tomorrow, she, Chris and their five kids—Tommy, 9 ¾, Marcus, 8, and Scottie, 6 ½, Penny, 2, and Stephy, 2—were headed to Boston to spend Christmas Chris's family. After Christmas, the whole Evans family would be spending a few days down in Florida at Disney World. Chris, Ellie and the kids would spend New Year's Eve traveling back to Oregon so the boys would be ready to go back to school on January 2nd.

"How does pizza sound for dinner?" Chris suggested, wanting an easy dinner for the night before they left.

"That sounds perfect," Ellie agreed as she finished eating her soup. "Thank you for lunch, Chris."

"You're welcome," he replied. He gave her a quick kiss then gathered her dishes and left the barn. He made his way back to the old farmhouse that he and Ellie had purchased the Christmas after they'd gotten married.

It had been his idea for them to settle down in Oregon and it had been a lucky chance that they had fallen in love with a farm a few miles down the road from her parents' place. They had rented out most of their land to their surrounding neighbors, but they had kept the barn. The first couple years they'd owned the house it had been a construction zone. They had done as much as they could to conserve the charm of the 100 year old house, but they had also upgraded it with modern necessities. They had also added four small guest cabins with small kitchenettes for when his mom and siblings came to visit.

Entering the house via the mudroom door, Chris toed off his shoes and then made his way into the kitchen. He froze in the doorway when he saw his and Ellie's twin daughters, Penelope and Stephanie, sitting on the counter with the cookie jar open between them. Sitting on the ground in front of them were the family's dogs: Duchess the golden retriever and Nemo the chocolate lab.

"How did you two get downstairs?" Chris asked as he quickly crossed the kitchen. He put Ellie's dishes in the sink and then positioned himself in front of the twins.

"Cookie, dada," Steph said, holding out a slobbery cookie to him.

"You two are little cookie bandits," Chris shook his head. He grabbed a toddler with each arm and nestled them on his hips before he made his way to the stairs, the dogs following him. As the five of them climbed the stairs, he saw that the gate at the top of the stairs was wide open. "BOYS!"

It took a second, but soon all three of his sons were standing in the doorways to their rooms looking at him.

"Who left the toddler gate open?" Chris asked.

"Tommy was the last one upstairs," Scottie tattled.

"Do you three want to know where I found the twins?" Chris asked and then continued without their responses. "They were sitting on the kitchen counter eating cookies when I came back from taking mom her lunch. If the gate had been closed, they wouldn't have gotten down the stairs."

"Sorry, dad," Robert Thomas, "Tommy", muttered as he looked down at his feet.

"We were lucky neither of them got hurt," Chris said. "Just remember next time."

Tommy nodded and disappeared into his room.

"Let me clean up the girls and put them back in their room and then I'll come help you two," Chris told his younger sons.

"Ok, daddy," Scott Wilson nodded before running back into the room he shared with Marcus.

"I'll close the gate," Marcus Alexander offered.

"Thanks, buddy," Chris smiled. He carried the twins into the bathroom and set them down. "You two finished eating your cookies?"

The two blondes nodded their heads and held out their sticky fingers. Chris grabbed a washcloth and got it wet before he knelt down and cleaned up both girls. Once he was finished, he tossed the washcloth down the laundry shoot, making a mental note to do another load of laundry tonight, and then carried the girls back to their room.

"You two need to take a nap," he said, tucking them into the twin bed they shared. They had tried putting them in different toddler beds, but they hadn't liked that at all. So they had gotten a twin bed for them to share. "I love you two."

"Wuv you," Penny smiled up at him.

Chris kissed both girls on the head and then left the room, closing the door behind him. He checked the gate to make sure it was closed and then told Duchess to guard it. The five-year-old golden retriever walked over to the gate and then laid down in front of it.

"Good girl," Chris smiled.

Chris spent the next hour helping his sons pack their suitcases as well as their backpacks with things to do on the plane. Little Scottie hadn't laid out any clothes to pack as he had been more interested in choosing which toys to take to Boston. Since he didn't care about what clothes he had to wear, Chris picked out his outfits and then packed them into the suitcase. Marcus, on the other hand, had laid out too many clothes and it had taken a lot of discussion to narrow it down to what he actually needed to take. When it came to checking Tommy's suitcase, there had been a discussion about how many shoes he really needed to take to Boston where he would only be wearing snow boots outside and Florida where he was going to need a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of flip flops.

Once the boys' suitcases were packed and carried downstairs, Chris went into the girls' room and quietly packed their bags with the outfits he and Ellie had talked about earlier in the week. By the time he was finished, the twins had woken up from their nap and they slid down the stairs on their stomachs, feet first, as he carried their suitcases down.

It was a little after four in the afternoon when Ellie came into the house with a big grin on her face. "It's finished!" she announced after finding him and the kids watching a movie in the living room.

The boys gave her hugs and she sat down on the couch next to Chris and the twins. The twins quickly abandoned him and cradled themselves against her.

Chris smiled as he watched the three of them. The twins had been a surprise addition to their family at the end of October two years ago, Stephanie Marie on the 29th and Penelope Anne on the 30th. They were officially "Super Bowl Babies" as they had been born nine months after the Patriots had won the Super Bowl.

They had done a gender reveal party for the twins, but had found out what they were having in advance, which turned out to be a good thing, because Ellie hadn't been thrilled with the idea of having girls at first. She had been upset with him for a couple days, but then they'd gone to the mall to get some stuff for the boys and he'd found her in the baby girl section crying over the adorable frilly outfits. They'd left the mall with clothes for the boys and sparkly tutus for the girls.

Letting his eyes move to the floor where the boys were stretched out with their eyes glued to the TV, Chris recalled their entrances into the world.

It had taken him and Ellie nearly a year and a half, after they'd gotten married, to get pregnant with Tommy and they'd floated between Oregon, LA and Boston for the first six months of the pregnancy. For the last three months, they'd stayed in Oregon, celebrating Christmas there and planning their first Oregon Super Bowl party in February. Family and friends (including his former roommates and their wives who'd made the trip for the day) had descended on their house with the goal of watching a great game, only to have him and Ellie rush out of the party during the first quarter after her water had broken.

In typical Ellie fashion, she had insisted all morning that she was fine, despite the fact that she was having what she claimed were Braxton Hicks contractions. She had been in the middle of trying to tell her mom that she was fine when her water had broken. Then all hell had broken loose and Chris had jumped into the back seat of his in-law's car while they drove to the hospital. Their family members had come along to the hospital, while their friends had stuck around to help with the party and clean up afterwards.

Robert Thomas had made his appearance a little after nine that night and was the one of the two best things that had happened to his dad that day since his New England Patriots had won the Super Bowl. For their first family photo, Chris had put his Patriots jersey back on and they had wrapped baby Tommy in a Patriots blanket.

Eighteen months later, they'd been back in the hospital when Marcus Alexander made his grand appearance. Chris's mom had come to stay with them in the weeks leading up to Ellie's due date, so she could help with Tommy.

Ellie had woken Chris up in the middle of the night to tell him it was time to go to the hospital. They'd woken up his mom before leaving for the hospital and had asked her to tell everyone else. They were only at the hospital for a little over an hour before Marcus decided it was time to join the world. By the time the rest of the family made it to the hospital, he'd already had his first meal and all three of them were napping.

The naming of their first two boys had been easy; they'd used a family name as well as the name of their favorite quarterbacks: Tom Brady and Marcus Mariota. The hardest part had been deciding which boy would get which name, but they had settled that with a quick best out of 3 paper, scissors, rock. Surprisingly, it had been Ellie who had won, but when she had laid her eyes on her first born, she'd known he was a Tommy. And she'd had the same feeling with her second when she saw him for the first time, he'd been a Marcus.

Two years later, Scott Wilson arrived. Unlike his two older brothers, both who'd come a week or two early, Scottie stayed until he was threatened with eviction. Their middle of November baby became their Thanksgiving baby and ultimately their early December baby when he finally arrived December 1st.

He was named after his Uncle Scott, who was a supporter of Chris and Ellie's relationship even when they hadn't been. His middle name, Wilson, was Ellie's mom's maiden name and not a nod to the former Seahawks Quarterback (or so Ellie claimed). He was an easy going baby and practically started laughing in the womb. He was the perfect combination of Chris and Ellie in looks while his older brothers favored one parent over the other: Tommy more like Ellie and Marcus more like Chris.

Chris was pulled out of his thoughts when two little hands patted his cheeks. Blinking, he looked down and saw Steph sitting in his lap.

"Piza, dada, piza!" she said.

"You want pizza?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Do the rest of you want pizza, too?" Chris asked.

"YES!" the boys shouted and the girls mimicked seconds later.

"Alright, everyone go get your shoes on," Chris instructed. "We'll take the dogs to Meme and Papa's and then we'll go to the pizza place."

"The one with laser tag?" Tommy asked.

"Sure, why not," Chris nodded.

"YES!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Should we invite everyone?" Ellie asked.

"Why not," Chris nodded. "It'll mean we get to play laser tag too."

"Yes!" Ellie exclaimed in a perfect imitation of their son.

An hour later, Chris found himself helping distribute pizza to the kids table. His boys and their cousins, both older and younger, were talking and laughing about everything from comic books to tv shows. It filled his heart with joy to see how much they enjoyed each other, especially knowing that his kids also had a special bond with their cousins in Boston.

It had been Chris's idea for him and Ellie to settle down in Oregon after all three of her sisters had announced they were moving back to the area they all grew up in. He'd known that Ellie would want to stay on the west coast, but he didn't want to live in LA permanently so Oregon was the perfect place.

For all but the summer that Ellie was pregnant with Marcus, Ellie and the kids had spent the end of June through the beginning of August in Boston with Chris's family with Chris joining them if he wasn't working. The kids got along great with their cousins and, more often than not, it was like no time had passed between their last visit.

"And Nonna said that it's gonna snow," Chris heard Marcus tell his cousin closest to him in age. "So we're gonna have a big snowball fight on Christmas for sure!"

Chris chuckled as the cousin expressed some jealousy, especially after Marcus then brought up the trip to Disney World. Both kids knew, however, that come Spring Break, this side of the family would be spending the whole week at Disneyland.

Moving to the adults table, Chris took a seat next to Ellie and nudged her with his shoulder. She turned away from her sister and smiled at him.

"I love you," he told her.

"I love you, too," she smiled.

"I love you, too, man," their brother-in-law said from Chris's other side. Chris laughed as his brother-in-law grabbed him from behind and kissed his cheek.

Chris knew that he and Ellie were lucky to have grown up so close with their siblings and parents and they knew they'd both won the in-law jackpot. As much as Chris wished he got to spend more time with his family in Boston, the Spencers' had taken him (and all three of his brothers-in-law) and had made them their own. It was better than anything he'd ever imagined.

"Get off me, you monkey," Chris said with a laugh. He playfully elbowed his brother-in-law in the side and then shook his head. "Or I'll tell mom what you bought Garrett for our brother-in-law exchange."

The family had gotten together during the past weekend to celebrate Christmas together. The adults had done a gift exchange with everyone buying for two people, but Chris and his brothers-in-law had done a special bonus exchanged. They were mostly gag gifts and what not, but they weren't allowed to do anything below the belt. Though, the first year they had included their brother-in-law Mark, he'd given Chris a month's supply of Rogaine, which had only been funny because Mark was already bald. Other previous gifts had been a year supply of condoms for Chris following Marcus's arrival and then another year supply the Christmas after the twins had come around.

As the gifts were always exchanged in their father-in-law's mancave out of sight of the women, they usually weren't things that were meant to be spoken of again. So with Chris's threat, his brother-in-law's face paled as he quickly shifted his eyes away from the glare that their mother-in-law was giving them.

"Honestly," she said shaking her head. "You boys are almost worse than raising teenage daughters!"

Her sons-in-laws let out belly laughs as her daughters let out cries of disbelief.

Chris wrapped his arms around Ellie and kissed her cheek. "I love our family," he said.

Author’s note: This story was originally written in December 2016. A paragraph regarding the winner of the 2019 Super Bowl was edited on February 3, 2019.

Want to find me off tumblr? I’m @beccatheycallme on twitter. I also post my stories on AO3.

My tag list is always open, just let me know if you’d like to be added!

[cosmosogler]

today when my alarm went off i didn’t want to get up. i got the feeling i was being interrupted, but i can’t seem to remember what i was actually dreaming about. i think it was the same type of dream i’ve been having for the last week or so though...

so i stayed in my room all day. i made some fries for lunch, but got super sick about halfway through eating them. which is a shame, because they took a half hour to prepare. 

i did take wiley out for a walk just after dinner. we walked west along the canal for forty minutes, and then walked the forty minutes back to the neighborhood. it felt like maybe fifteen minutes each way, but when i got back the clock said it was after 7, and we had left around 5:40. then i took eve out for a lap around the block. 

a few minutes into my walk with wiley my abdomen started hurting really bad, but on the wrong side for it to be my appendix. that kind of sucked but i kept walking and forgot about it after a while. we came across a mysterious dude that i couldn’t see because the sun was right behind him. it was like a big mystery because i could not see his face and it was a little intimidating. he had the campiest accent i’ve ever heard and it was great. he warned me that there was a rattler along the road if we turned left at the small group of houses down the road. i made sure to take the other road when it forked. we didn’t run into any snakes. but we did run into every single cloud of gnats that ever existed both ways.

i thought wiley was getting tired, but when we got home and met with the neighbor’s kid and her friend wiley jumped all over them as soon as he got a little attention. i gave the three dogs cookies when we got inside.

then dad and i went to get thai food. i had about half of mine before i got too sick to keep eating, so i put the leftovers in the fridge for later... that’s the first time i’ve had to do that with thai food. i usually eat it all because it’s so good that it makes eating fun again. but the last few months... it’s been tough even when it’s like the best food.

and then i sat in my room all night. i watched a lot of youtube videos and beat the elite four about 22 times and fiddled with my online profile in the multiplayer pokemon hub thing. now it’s almost 1 again... i didn’t realize how wiped i was after that walk until i sat down and tried to get up again. 

while i was writing that first paragraph i heard diogi fall down in the hallway. eve hopped up to check on her right away but i was all tangled up in my headphones and chargers. she was standing when i got to her but she wouldn’t go anywhere. i eventually coaxed her to the stairs and told her to stay while i let the other dogs out. and she did! i asked her if she wanted to go outside and she kind of perked up and waffled at the top of the stairs so i picked her up and carried her down to the back door. she’s not a BIG german shepherd, but, she’s still a german shepherd. i didn’t have trouble while i was carrying her, but after i put her down i realized i was suddenly sweaty and out of breath. 

so we hung out outside for a little bit. when we came inside i asked her if she wanted to stay downstairs and wait for dad to get home or come back upstairs with us. she looked at the stairs, then looked at the front door, then sat down. normally i would agree that dogs don’t really understand sentences (even though i talk to them a lot anyway), but she seemed to know what i was saying with eerie clarity. i haven’t heard her come up the stairs, so i guess she did want to stay down there.

i dunno... she always seems so out of it. she looked so betrayed when i got back home after taking both wiley and eve out for walks. i apologized and petted her and she licked my wrist. whenever she walks she just looks so uncoordinated. jake had the same problem when he got old. didn’t help that he also had an ear infection later on that left him permanently unbalanced. he always had his head tilted when he tried to walk anywhere. i miss him a lot. he was so fluffy and gentle and doofy. and bloat is so painful for the dog. i wish he had died in his sleep instead. i always get anxious when i see wiley horsing around right after he eats. that’s the most common cause of bloat. jake’s case was a little more unusual, since by that point he literally couldn’t run or jump, but not unheard of.

thinking about it makes me sad. i miss jake and randi so much. even as i watch genevieve lick her butt all i can think is “i love that dog.” i guess living with eve is kind of like... i think this is what it’s like to love someone unconditionally. or to love your child. i mean yeah when she ate that horse poop it was totally nasty and i didn’t let her lick me for a whole day afterward but there’s still an overwhelming warmth to every memory of her. i love watching her be interested in something. i love that she sits and watches cars go by on our walks but doesn’t try to follow them. i love that she knows exactly how to get out of my grip when i try to give her a bath. i love that it totally blows her mind that our vet is also my uncle and we see him all the time. i love that she checks up on diogi every time she even makes a weird noise. i love how she gently sucks up treats from my hand with her lips so she doesn’t nick my fingers with her teeth and how she loves peanut butter but seems to forget what it is until she has it in her mouth every time i give her some. i love that one time she ate an entire bag of bagels because she loves bread and ever since then we’ve had to hide anything remotely like bread if we’re not actively eating it. i love that when she gets into the food it’s always neatly unwrapped and only the food is gone. i love that the only time she even tried to bite me was when i was splashing around in the pool and she thought i was drowning so she grabbed my arm and pulled me up while i was... hanging on to the edge of the pool and talking to her. i love that one time she didn’t recognize me and started barking when i came downstairs with sunglasses and a funny hat on. i love that she cries when i ask her what’s wrong.

i dunno. i guess that argument with the therapist kind of got to me more than i wanted it to. animals aren’t alive. they only work off instinct and only do something if it has a purpose. yeah right. i’ve heard that attitude before. from my mother.

eve is like the only living thing in the world i trust to never hurt me on purpose no matter what. and i would never do the same to her either. actually she could probably literally bite me and i would still love her more than anyone else.

sorry i talked about dogs for 30 minutes again. they are my life. i feel like i can’t do anything for myself when i feel so awful, but i can take care of the dogs. and by taking care of them i am sort of taking care of myself, at least in the “i am currently alive and not dead and also i maybe showered today and went outside for a few minutes” sense. and “since the dogs are eating i may as well eat something too.”

i miss my grandparents. i should spend more time with them. we’re playing bunco again on monday at least. but... mom and my roommate’s mom are coming along this time. i don’t want to play dice with my mother. when gramma jokes about her luck it’s charming, but with mom it’s... not charming. i mean, we all laugh at our own jokes. that runs in the family. but mom’s jokes are kind of, cruel at worst and awkward at best? 

i’m kind of frustrated with her right now. she always tells me to just try harder, but she is miserable at her job and does nothing about it. she’s been talking about quitting for like five years. the business isn’t doing well and she’s STILL not quitting and finding a better/less stressful/closer to home job. i guess it’s frustrating because she has the power to actually DO something about her situation and she just never does! she tells me it’s because she has to pay for my and my sister’s and soon my brother’s college tuitions, but with her experience and contacts it really wouldn’t be that hard to find another secure job and move to that one immediately upon quitting her old one. she has nothing nice to say about any of her coworkers except andy. but everyone likes andy. even i like andy.

maybe i shouldn’t say “i’m frustrated with her right now.” i’ve been frustrated with her since i started to understand words. at least with my biological father it’s hard to be frustrated with him because, like, he’s not around and it’s mostly because mom ditched him. and i guess after his mom’s funeral we’ve kind of come to a mutual understanding that neither of us is really ever going to reach out to the other. and i think we’re both ok with that. he does the same “silent internal screaming” thing i do when he’s stressed. that probably drove mom up the wall. and my dad is hard to be frustrated with because it’s like being frustrated with a small child. it doesn’t get you anywhere and they pick up on it and get mad and you almost feel like they don’t know any better.

it’s kind of silly that i have so many extra parents and i don’t like ANY of them. understanding glenn doesn’t mean i like him any more than i’d like any other acquaintance, as fascinating as it is to see someone who acts uncannily like me. understanding mom just makes me kind of hate her. understanding dad just makes me tired.

oh, my pokemon are done on poke pelago. i’m going to start a new round and go to bed i think... it’s been almost an hour since i started writing. man, i really didn’t want to stay up past 1 again.

dang, no moonstones. oh well.

[chelsea-robinson]

Love

Warning: this is a long post that 90% of you won’t care to read so pass it up now, here’s your chance. The last two days I’ve been really trying to ‘relax’ and enjoy before I head back to school tomorrow. Relaxing is not something I do easily. At all. I hate being stuck inside all day with no where to go or no one to see. I clean and clean and then just about drive myself crazy. So today I thought I’d do a little reflecting. Yesterday I went and played Yahtzee with my mom and dad; something that we always do just once a year normally around Christmas time and today when I was looking through my photos on my phone I saw a picture I snapped (along with one a video of my many Yahtzees of course). I got to thinking, scary I know, but this year I’ll be turning 27. My parents are getting older, more grey, wrinkly, but still so full of love. I’ve lost some of the best grandparents and great grandparents I could ever ask for, though don’t get me wrong, I am still so blessed for the grandparents I still have in my life. But I sat and thought of things that I will always remember about the people who I love so much in my life. What will I tell my children about them? How will I explain them? How will I give justice and portray them in the best way possible? Here are some memories that I’ll always remember.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Cooper, or 'Coopy’ as we always called them. I grew up just three houses down (four from Grandma and Grandpa Swisher) and if I wasn’t cutting through the back of my neighbors’ yard to get to their house I was riding my sister’s pink hand me down banana seat bike to and from their house. I remember their TV in the front room, how it was lined with the many kids meal toys my brother and I always were getting. The spice drops that stayed in a glass container on the table in the living room. The organ, oh I’ll never forget the organ. Riding up and down their long blacktop driveway. The little tree in between the drive and the sidewalk where I accidentally squished a robin’s egg (I’ll never forget the disgusting smell). Playing on the typewriter in the basement , the fluffy toilet top covers, and of course in my grandma’s powder with the big fuzzy applicator. Playing Indian school on the stairs, listening to my grandpa play guitar and sing. Bread and butter pickles, the raspberry tea in the orange pitcher, oatmeal cream pies, and Keebler cookies. Going there after school and getting Taco Bell or Long John Silver’s and going to the park. But most importantly their love. Their love for each other, their family, and their love for the Lord.

Grandma and Grandpa Swisher, just a short little brick walk from Grandma and Grandpa Coopy’s house. I will forever remember Grandpa teaching me how to mow, and always believing in me. Have me run to the metal barn or anywhere and ALWAYS timing me. Pretending to be in the olympics and doing dives into the pool and then giving me a 1-10 score. Having me practice my jumping for volleyball on the wall, and telling me to grunt to throw father. Grandma bringing over an Old Towne Video bag of essentially school materials to work on with Taylor and I. I recall when the tornado sirens went off when we were in Meijer in Champaign and they decided we weren’t staying there so they gave me a cat in red shoes pillow to put over my head as we drove the interstate home-and I saw a tornado hit a barn. I remember Grandpa’s lifesaver mints and his designated pew at Farmers Chapel, and always watching grandma sing, and ALWAYS thinking she was the best voice up there. Grandpa always had his cars looking nice and him teaching me how to wax my car. Spending the night and having homemade popcorn and playing every card game under the sun-but our favorites were crazy 8’s and King’s Corner. Shut the box, dominos, the jack daniel’s cards were among some of the things you could find in the house. I loved the bathroom and the area that was set up for grandma to do her makeup. Teaching me how to mow, even after I burnt myself on the muffler of the lawn mower. I remember how you always bragged about how good your yard looked and how happy I was when I learned how to mow in a diagonal. The tickles and the night time stories will always be something I will hold dear. Grandma and grandpa were at EVERY sporting event, school play, and graduation. They loved their grandchildren and it showed so much.

Grandma Robinson I didn’t see Grandma Robinson much but I will always remember going out to her house on Christmas Eve. I’ll remember playing with those other two little girls ( though I cannot remember their names). Taylor and I always had so much fun there.

Grandma Meers I remember walking to your house from Grandma and Grandpa Fletchers. I also remember mowing your yard. I could give the layout to your house (the downstairs of course) and can still smell your house and it is something I will always remember. We were never allowed upstairs and I remember sneaking up ¾ of the way and trying to peek in rooms, though I’m not sure why we weren’t allowed up there.

And I will not leave out my living grandparents. I was lucky enough to have two sets of super amazing grandparents.

Grandma and grandpa Fletcher, I will always hold dear to me the fishing trips, grandpa letting me drive the white van through the cemetery, and the many nights I slept over growing up. I always had a blast, stuffing my face with whatever I wanted and always getting sick. The bacon, toast, and the coffee for breakfast and playing word searches. Your Christmas tree with the tinsel, and the AMAZING Chex mix; but let’s not forget when we decided to start having pizzas on Christmas Eve, something I look forward to. I always loved calling you on Christmas morning and having you come up and me laying all of my gifts out. I will always know when grandpa answers the phone 'yellow’, 'oopsa day’, and his other little phrases. I don’t think there’s anything Grandpa can’t fix. I will forever love teasing him about his hair (or lack thereof), and cracking jokes with grandma. The violets, the braves, and cutting up fish. I don’t think there’s a thing Grandpa can’t fix. I remember riding the bicycle with the seat on the back-it was the COOLEST, and especially cool riding it down the huge bridge and around town. I also liked going to the small park and playing ball. Of course I can't forget the FLETCHBURGERS.

Needless to say, in the almost 27 years of my life I have been straight BLESSED with some amazing role models in my life. I hope that they loved seeing me grow up and I pray that I am still making them proud.

[fashiontrendin-blog]

How I Avoided Sunday Scaries Last Week: A Detailed Account

http://fashion-trendin.com/how-i-avoided-sunday-scaries-last-week-a-detailed-account/

How I Avoided Sunday Scaries Last Week: A Detailed Account

This Sunday Scaries diary starts in the middle of the night…

4:30 a.m.

I wake up to Avi getting out of my bed and leaving the room. I presume he’s moving to the couch, which he occasionally does when he’s having insomnia and is nervous about waking me up. I lay awake for 30 minutes, mind turning over the previous day. When I hear him stir, I say that I’m awake too, and he joins me back in bed. We talk for the next hour about life — what’s keeping us up, what’s exciting us, getting us down — and eventually both drift off to sleep.

9:50 a.m.

I wake up to Avi’s voice: “My mom’s flight just landed.”

“What time is it?”

“9:50.”

“She’s early.”

“Yeah. I gotta go. I’ll call you.”

He pulls on his pants, kisses my check and is gone.

10 a.m.

I lay in bed and consider falling back asleep. I had a rough couple nights of sleep and have been playing catch-up. When I realize it’s not going to happen, I succumb to the blue light and check my phone. It’s dead. The memory of last night returns: My charger wasn’t plugging in properly, as if there was something stuck in the inlet. I grab my phone, my sewing kit, and make my way to the couch.

10:21 a.m.

I’ve been using various tools to dig something out of the charging port of my phone for 20 minutes. It looks like cookie dough. I’m squinting and trying to see inside. I don’t test it until I’m confident it feels clean. When I finally try the charger, it works. Hurray! Blessed be the fruit.

10:24 a.m.

I decide to make myself a smoothie bowl, which have a reputation for being snooty and expensive, but which I think might be the hidden secret of breakfast. The ones I make are cheap, healthy-ish, delicious and don’t require fresh food. Here’s how I make them:

-One frozen banana (I keep a bowl of them in my freezer at all times) -A big handful of whatever frozen berries I have on hand (usually blueberries, strawberries and raspberries) -A few glugs of almond milk (I buy cartons two at a time and they last forever) -A tablespoon of flax seeds (or chia seeds, or whatever seeds) -Blend until smooth -Top with honey, gluten-free granola, goji berries

As the blender roars, I make up a story in my head about my neighbors hating the all-too-frequent sound and having an inside joke about how much they hate me. When it’s done, I return to the couch with my bowl. I reach for the remote but stop myself and grab a book instead. I’m reading Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh.

“Reading makes me happier than TV,” I announce to an empty room, like a weirdo.

10:45 a.m.

I’m still reading Eileen. It’s good.

11 a.m.

I suddenly occurs to me, mid-page, that there were two Man Repeller stories I was supposed to finish editing on Friday but didn’t. I drag my computer to the couch and get to work on editing what will eventually become 12 Home Decor Tips I Can’t Stop Thinking About and Why “Black Girl Magic” Doesn’t Always Sit Right With Me.

11:22 a.m.

My brother Andy FaceTimes me mid-edit. He’s smooshed into his couch too. We rehash the picnic we had last night at Transmitter Park. He had to leave early and wants to know what he missed. He has a general existential fear of missing out, which always makes me laugh because I don’t know anyone who does as much fun and interesting stuff as he does.

12:35 p.m.

I finish editing and suddenly remember I’m supposed to be recording my day today for Man Repeller’s Sunday Scaries franchise. I spend the next 15 minutes documenting the above. Now I need to rush to get ready to meet up with Avi and his mom for lunch.

12:55 p.m.

I shower off but decide not to do anything with my hair as it looks fine. For my skin, I put on EasyDew Active Soothing Serum mixed with The Nue Co vitamin-C power to start, followed by Honest Beauty Nourishing Lotion, then Glossier sunscreen mixed with a drop of Drunk Elephant bronzing liquid, and finish with Glossier Cloud Paint in Haze. Then I move to my closet to get dressed.

1:19 p.m.

Omg. That took me forever and I don’t even like my outfit. I panicked! How does one dress for a day with one’s boyfriend’s mother when one has no idea what the day entails? After trying a basic dress and sandals and realizing I felt entirely unlike myself, I put on navy blue wide-leg pants I haven’t worn in a year and a black puff-sleeve shirt. I feel very whatever about this outfit but I have no further time to deliberate or I’ll be late!

1:25 p.m.

IT IS VERY HOT. Why am I wearing pants? Why am I wearing such dark colors? I’m fired.

1:42 p.m.

I arrive at Avi’s looking so hot and sweaty his mother immediately dotes on me — bringing me water, sitting me in front of the air conditioner, etc. It’s very sweet. Avi says he’s calling a car because we’re going to Jackson Heights! As they put on their shoes, I run downstairs and buy myself an iced coffee.

1:58 p.m.

Avi, his mother Rita and I are squeezed into the back of a car on our way to Queens. Rita and I are discussing how chubby Avi was as a baby. She says her doctor put him on a diet at six weeks old! Apparently he was taking down double the milk he was supposed to. This delights me to no end.

2:25 p.m.

We arrive at Sri Maha Vallabha GanaPati, a Hindu temple in Queens — said to be one of the first Hindu temples in the U.S. (Also, did you know some people call Queens one of the most diverse places on Earth? The whole neighborhood is incredible and feels completely different depending on where in the borough you are.)

We remove our shoes before entering the temple and I take note of a sign that says shorts and ripped jeans are prohibited. I’m suddenly thankful for my full-coverage outfit. Avi and I walk around looking at the shrines, leaving his mother to pray on her own. I’m struck by one of the plaques that reads: “When I study, grant me success (by means of right understanding) always.” I make a mental note; I like that definition of success.

2:53 p.m.

After we leave, we head to the temple canteen for lunch, which Avi heard serves the best Dosa in New York. The canteen is underground, looks like a cafeteria and smells delicious. We order too much food, confirm it is indeed the best dosa, and spend the meal discussing Indian politics, Avi’s mother’s argument with Avi’s father about what car to buy next, and Avi’s mother’s similarities to my mother.

4:09 p.m.

After a long lunch, we head out. Next we are going to Patel Brothers, which is the largest Indian American supermarket chain in the U.S. It’s a mile away. We decide to walk because it’s beautiful out. I’m not worried about a thing, except that my brother missed out on lunch. (He’s been talking about going to Jackson Heights for months.)

Avi and I are laughing because we can’t seem to get 10 feet without his mother stopping to identify a plant and discuss its properties. It’s very charming.

Avi: “Mom, you’re too Michigan. Have you ever walked a mile straight?”

Rita: “This is the simple life, Avi. You should learn it.”

4:28 p.m.

We arrive at Patel Brothers. I follow the two of them around like a puppy, laughing in delight as they argue about things like whether Avi needs a 50-pound bag of rice. At times I can’t tell who is trolling who.

5:04 p.m.

All done! When we walk outside, it feels like it’s going to rain, so I call us a car home. The train would take double the time, unfortunately. When it arrives, we pile in for a 40-minute ride back to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where we both live.

5:32 p.m.

On the drive home, I feel a vague fondness for driving on the highway. I don’t do it much. The car is lulling me to sleep. Our middle-of-the-night antics are catching up to me.

6:11 p.m.

We are home! Took much longer than expected. I immediately crank Avi’s A/C unit and put on one of his sweatshirts — I’m in the mood to be cozy. Avi puts on a Michael Bublé holiday music video as a joke to tease his mom, who he claims loves Bublé, which she denies. We pretend it’s Christmas for three minutes while Rita makes us tea.

6:40 p.m.

Tea’s up. Avi puts on Jaws for our afternoon nap time, for no discernible reason.

6:57 p.m.

Wow, the aesthetic of Jaws is amazing. The whole thing looks like it’s been run through a Huji filter, and the clothes are on point too. Avi gets up to cook, leaving me and Rita on the couch as she critiques every scene aloud, which is making me laugh.

Rita: “This is bad direction, no?”

7:47 p.m.

The light is dwindling outside. The house is filling with the smell of garlic. Tomorrow is Monday. I wish tomorrow was Sunday instead.

8:38 p.m.

I decide I would watch any movie with Rita commentary turned on.

8:45 p.m.

Jaws ends right as Avi brings us plates of food: sesame wings over rice with pickled carrots (a recipe he’s been perfecting this month that he found on Smitten Kitchen). He puts on cooking videos while we eat. He’s a good TV host — always picking random entertaining things to put on during downtime. The three of us watch a video of a person making cheesecake, and then cookies, and then a home-made iced latte. During the third one, as the guy goes to great lengths to roast his own coffee beans, Rita expresses her disapproval:

Rita: “No way.” Avi: “What ma?” Rita: “Why would you do all this? You can just buy one.” Avi: “He’s not doing it because he wants a coffee, he’s doing it because he wants to do it.” Me: “He’s stopping and smelling the roses!” Rita: “I think he needs to go to a third world country and see what’s really important.”

Fair enough.

9:17 p.m.

I wash Avi’s dishes as a thank you for cooking for us and then pack up to head home. My eyes are stinging, I think from the sunscreen I put on earlier that morning; it’s making me feel exhausted. Or maybe I’m just genuinely exhausted.

9:27 p.m.

Avi walks me to the train and waits on the platform with me until it comes. We chat and reflect on the day until the very last second, at which point I kiss him and run onto the train car. He watches me go. It’s all very old-timey.

9:41 p.m.

Hello home! Hello Bug.

10 p.m.

I put on PJs, brush my teeth and do my skincare routine right away because I know if I sit down on the couch now I’ll never get up. On my skin, I use Paula’s Choice cleansing oil to start, then Glossier face wash followed by Peach & Lilly toner, and then finish by mixing Caudalie face cream with a couple drops of Drunk Elephant face oil (I’ve been dry lately).

10:11 p.m.

I sit down on the couch and solve the Rubick’s cube on my coffee table in under three minutes, my latest party trick. Someone sent a Rubick’s cube to the Man Repeller office this summer and I took it home because I’ve always wanted to learn how to solve one. About a month ago, Avi and I decided to dedicate an entire night to learning. Hunched over a Youtube tutorial we figured it out together, and we’ve spent the last few weeks trying to beat each other’s times.

10:35 p.m.

I’m in bed now. I set my alarm for therapy tomorrow morning. I normally go on Friday mornings but I was sick last week so my therapist kindly rescheduled. I grab Eileen to read myself to sleep.

10:37 p.m.

Wait! I forgot to meditate. I open Headspace and do a five-minute session laying down, which I think is cheating. It’s a miracle I didn’t fall asleep.

10:42 p.m.

Okay, now it’s actually bedtime. Night!

23 PHOTOS click for more

[eurohotties-blog]

How I Increase My Productivity by Using Short, Specific To-Do's

As someone who has ALWAYS valued “QUANTITY over QUALITY”, I am a huge advocate for making manageable to-do lists that I faithfully follow each and every day.

However, I know so many people get turned off by to-do lists because they feel overwhelmed or constricted.

Obviously, different personality types handle stress and process their daily lives differently… BUT, I do think there is hope for most people when it comes to making (and following through) with daily to-do lists!

If you've ever felt overwhelmed, frustrated, or constricted by to-do lists, my hope is that making a couple small adjustments in HOW you create your lists might just be the trick you need to jump back on the daily list-making bandwagon!

If not, I hope the tips in today's post will at least help you think through everything you want to do each day and set more realistic expectations for yourself.

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To start off, I want to share one of MY actual to-do lists from one day last week:

Defrost steak and cookie dough

(*)Schedule emails and social media posts for VA client

(*) Finish online business survey

Make grocery list and clip online coupons

Cook sausage links for breakfast

Visit Farmers Market (8am – 1pm)

Library book drop-off

Cut down lower branches on hydrangeas

(*) Fill yard waste container, empty all trash, and put containers by the curb

Take the kids to the thrift store and pick up pizza for lunch

Clean basement construction mess (we had just finished putting our laundry area downstairs and had tons of construction debris to clean up!)

Wash upstairs windows (4 total)

Roast veggies for dinner and season steaks

Make cookies (with cookie dough I defrosted that morning)

(*) Write the sponsored blog post for June 21

(*) Edit 2 posts for VA client

Update Recipe page on my website

Figure out potential ad issues (my blog was not loading well for readers and I think it was because of the ads)

NOTE: the (*) indicates the item is a “must-do” and would be part of my Top 5 List for the day. 

This list IS basically in order as to how I would ideally like to finish my tasks throughout the day - starting with some online tasks in the morning (I wake up fairly early these days), followed by making sausage for breakfast (to go with muffins and quiche I already had), and running a few errands with the kids (the Farmers market is just down the road from the library).

I did about 45 minutes of yard work while the kids played outside in the morning, and then took them to the local thrift store (a VERY fun outing for them) with the promise of ordering pizza for lunch on the way home (yay for a freebie pizza coupon).

After lunch, we read books, played a few games, and then I put Clara down for a nap. While she was napping, I did the majority of my house work (cleaning the basement, washing windows, cooking, baking, etc.) while Dave played with the kids.

We ate dinner early (around 4:30pm) and then all went back outside together for a bit before we started the bedtime routine.

After the kids were in bed, I tackled the rest of my blog and VA work, as well as the general stuff I always do to get organized for the next day (clean out the dishwasher, make my to-do list, pack any lunches, etc.)

Here's a post I wrote about how I use my current planner.

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If you'll notice, almost everything on my list is a shorter, do-able task.

I did not just say “do yard work”… but instead, “cut down lower branches on hydrangeas” and then “fill yard waste container”

I did not just say “work on blogging”… but instead, “write sponsored post for June 21” and “update recipe page”

I did not just say “clean house”… but instead, “wash the 4 upstairs windows” and “clean basement construction mess”

These shorter, do-able tasks are SOOOOOOOO much easier for my brain to comprehend, because I can put a time-frame to them.

I don't have all day to do yard work, but I know that cutting the branches on the hydrangea and filling the yard waste will only take 30-45 minutes. I also know my kids can easily play outside without my constant supervision for 30-45 minutes while I work on the hydrangeas.

I don't have all day to work on my website, but I do have 2 hours after the kids are sleeping to devote towards writing a blog post and updating my Recipe page.

I don't have all day to clean the house, but I do have time to wash 4 windows and clean up the construction mess in the basement while Dave plays with the kids.

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Even though I often have fairly ambitious to-do lists (especially when we're in the middle of house and yard projects) I almost always finish everything on my list - and I certainly always tackle my Top 5 items.

This is not because I'm extra amazing or because I work myself ragged, but simply because I consciously think through my to-dos every day, break down bigger projects into smaller pieces, estimate roughly how much time those shorter tasks will take, and only put as much on my list as I realistically think I can accomplish (with a few extras just in case I have extra time!)

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I know this process won't work for everyone, and I know it won't necessarily be an easy switch if you're not used to breaking down your tasks into short, specific to-do's…

BUT I can speak from lots of experience that this method really does work for so many people (myself included!)

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The Summer months are not often the months we think about boosting our productivity and making manageable to-do lists. However, in order for me to enjoy several “lazy summer days”, I need to be very intentional about how I utilize the rest of my time.

If I wake up on time and get a bunch done before the kids wake up, I'm free to go on fun outing with them during the day.

If I plan my day so I have a few shorter yard projects to tackle while the kids play outside (and Clara takes her morning nap), I'm still available to push James on the swing, watch Simon's cool trampoline tricks, and do sidewalk chalk with Nora while crossing a couple things off my to-do lists.

If I keep house work tasks short and do-able, I can squeeze them in while the kids are eating lunch, while they watch a TV show and have their afternoon snack, while they play with neighbor kids outside, or while Dave takes them in the pool or upstairs to play games.

It is by no-means a perfect system that works 100% of the time, but for the majority of my days, using short, specific to-do's allows me to accomplish what I NEED to do each day, make time for what I WANT to do each day, and still have plenty of time leftover for unexpected events or extra playing time outside!

What are your to-do list tips and tricks?

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The post How I Increase My Productivity by Using Short, Specific To-Do's appeared first on Andrea Dekker.

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was fine. less hectic at work, which was nice after 3 very hectic days. court did not go exactly as planned, which is the second time this week this has happened with the judge who really likes me and I’m starting to be like....I mean I know it’s because she’s new and doesn’t really know what she’s doing yet so when I make an oral motion to withdraw because the other side filed a divorce case two days earlier (thus consolidating our case with theirs), she says she needs it to be in writing, while other judges grant oral motions to withdraw very regularly....sigh. things were a little chaotic because there was no courtroom coordinator so everyone was just in the courtroom zoom and trying to call cases, but we ended up going forward without the translator there that both parties needed, which is the second time in this case that’s happened, and to be fair it is definitely a rare language to obtain a translator for (Amharic) but like, the parties need to be able to know what’s going on. so I was somewhat frustrated, but the wait at least might overall end up being a good thing for the client and give her more time to find counsel for the divorce case. I think I talked about this yesterday, but I’m just so so pissed I have to give this case up because I am so fiercely attached to it at this point and it’s just such an awful awful situation (it involves little kids, so you know I’m going to be fiercely passionate about it, and this fucking asshat keeps trying to ask for visitation, like go die in a hole please you should never be near these children again) for all of them and they’re in such a vulnerable place right now.....I’d spoken with my supervisor about our family law division taking it on and me potentially staying on for the OP part, but when I spoke with them they just gave me like a flat out no, which I then told my supervisor and she was kind of confused because they had spoken about making exceptions for particularly serious cases, so I think she’s going to try to talk to her and see if we can maybe make it happen. I just feel so bad because I know the client is scared about it and not being able to do much to help is really just killing me and it’s so frustrating. ugh. but anyway, that was done at least. I put in a small instacart order for a few things, mainly because I needed to get broccoli. I can never remember what I post about in previous posts but tomorrow night I’m going to make dinner for my downstairs neighbors as they just lost their 4th child after she was born two months premature and passed two hours after being born. I was asking the dad if there was anything the kids particularly liked or disliked, and he said they were really into broccoli for some reason (which did make me laugh) and of course anything with cheese (which is really just a required part of being a child) and one of them was trying to avoid meat on Fridays (their Catholic, I know Lent hasn’t started yet and I don’t really know enough about that stuff to know anything else about it) so I decided Broccoli Mac and Cheese was a good choice, and I’m doubling the recipe because friend is coming over so we can have dinner too and not spend more money on ordering out, lol. So I got my instacart stuff. Things weren’t too bad busy-wise today, so around noon I snuck out for a quick run to the bank to get some damn quarters, because I very badly needed my laundry done. so I legit gor $30 in quarters because they’re not limiting them anymore haha and I had soooo much laundry to do. the afternoon was chill, we had our case acceptance weekly meeting which is always a good check in. I finished everything up for the day around 5, and started the process of doing my laundry. I had to stop dragging my hamper down to the basement for laundry with me because I’m always somewhat unsteady on the steps and dragging down an overloaded hamper with me sounds like a recipe for fucking disaster, so I have a bag instead and I took them down load by load. I ended up doing 4 loads because I was soooooo overdue haha so that took a lot of trips up and down. While I was doing that I also decided to make more Amaretti cookies because I found a recipe for the crunchy ones that I wanted to make (and they’re sooo easy to make, it’s legit just almond flour, egg white, sugar and almond extract) and those came out well so I was pleased with that. I also tried to make some rice in my instant pot but the part with the pressure release valve got messed up somehow and after cooking for a few minutes it came up with a like “burned” message, and most of the rice was cooked but some of it was overly hard, so I have to figure out what to do with that. I might do a small batch of vanilla pudding recipe tomorrow so I don’t waste the egg yolk I have left over. I also watched this week’s episode of the Resident in full, then the first 3 episodes of the new season of Chicago Med so I’m caught up to the currently airing ones. And through all of this I was folding clothing, because I knew there was no way I could just wait until it’s all done and try to fold it because that would not work lol. and yeah, at some point after 10 I switched to the news which turned into Jimmy Kimmel for a bit before shutting the tv off to shower and start getting ready for bed, and now I’m here. I don’t have court or clinic tomorrow and no other pressing obligations, so I’m sleeping in which I’m definitely looking forward to, and would like to start doing that now so I’ll end this here. Goodnight my dears. Happy Friday.