Double dose of loss, and random things
Four days ago, my mum emailed me to let me know that my cat, Merlin, that lived with her had died. He was a beautiful British Shorthair cross boy that I adopted at the age of six months from a shelter. When I left home, he stayed with mum because I had nowhere to keep him, and he was bonded with a feral kitten Mum took home from her school.
Then last night, she emailed to let me know one of my uncles on my dad's side had died of cancer. I'm okay; I really hadn't seen him much in years. No idea yet what's happening re: memorial service, but I'm assuming we'll go if we can. Uncle Kevin was a good man, a warm, good-humoured, friendly man who treated my Auntie right. He and my Auntie Marion sent us a Christmas card addressed to both of us every year, even though they were Baptists. I'm sure my cousins are a mess. I want to go to the funeral, just so I can give them and my Auntie my condolences.
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I finished my Reverse Bang fic for c-im-bigbang, and I'm pretty darn happy with it. I'll be looking for a beta for it, since it's for a fest. It's about 8K, gen, Tony & Steve friendship, with hints of former Tony/Pepper. If anyone's interested in looking it over for me, that'd be awesome.
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Knitting the Hemlock Ring Blanket for lefaym in Bendigo Woollen Mills Cotton 8 ply, in Kiwi. It's coming together nicely, the colour is lovely, and the handle and drape on the fabric is gorgeous.
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I've been chewing my nails too much lately, hurting myself, so I ordered a couple of Tangle toys off ebay - a Tangle Therapy and a Tangle Jr Fuzzy. They should turn up some time in the next month, and I'm hoping they'll be a good stim toy that's portable and able to be something to play with when I can't knit to occupy my hands.
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Ordered a Bluray too - Season 1 of CSI. I already own the DVD version they released originally - I paid about $7 for it - but in 2009 they released a fancy widescreen remastered version of season one with a directors cut of the pilot and soem other special features. And Amazon, which I never use unless there's no other option, had it for very, very cheap, like, $23 including postage, where the cheapest I could find it for on ebay was over $60. So that's a treat for me that'll turn up in the next month.
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Bendigo Woollen Mills announced without warning that they were stopping making their Rustic yarn, which is the beautiful heathered 100% wool yarn I've been using for years to make gifts, commissions and products for sale from. Because there wasn't any warning, there was a rush on what was left, so I made the decision to buy enough of the Damson colourway to make myself a jumper. I imagine everything's gone now. It was a popular line, I can't imagine why they got rid of it. Now I have to find something else as nice with the same beautiful depth in my price range to use instead.
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Lucky Pennies has been crazy popular, and is now my second most kudosed fic, ever. I imagine it's going to bump One Hundred and Five Percent from the top spot by the end of the week. It's equal parts baffling and awesome. I mean, I liked it a lot, but I had no idea that it would hit so many people's buttons as something they liked, too. I mean, it's a little story about building friendship and respect, rather than a big romance, or a fast-paced action drama. It's completely gen, too, which I've always thought in the past that fewer people were interested in. I've never had anywhere near the amount of comments over on AO3, either, from simple thank yous right up to detailed commentary. It's been wonderful. I just hope I can keep on writing stuff people like. :)
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