It's certainly interesting - like official fan fiction! And as I say I like the expanded lore on here, so can appreciate that expanding the backgrounds of the characters and their worlds must be fun.

fishes Dandybunny out of donation corner

Send to Minion Zoo (You have 238 there already) cackles

yep, 73 / 1,000 release fairies... still long way to go.

Put some in trades for you, just offer a junk item. Good luck.

We'll have to hope there's another snow event - maybe we can invent an Abominable Subetan Snow Beast we have to defeat through the medium of splatting it with more snowballs, to turn it into one giant ball and push it down a hill!

It would be so much easier if we had a snowball on/off option, like we have the 'no biting' for Survival. Then you could be sure that anyone you hit would be happy with that!

The scifi authors they use are amazing. It is great to see how they all kinda work together. All the books sorta fit together and have to be consistent no matter who writes them. Like one author can't kill off a character (Lucas had a no kill list) and then another author bring them back or anything. All the stories had to work together to keep the universe moving forward in the same direction. The authors work off each others writings :D it is like reading a book series but in slightly different styles since every writer has their own unique flair!

- glad that you know what you're working for, maybe that will help you remember to visit.

It's good that they have the guidance of an over-riding story arc - like the no-kill list - and I guess that every author has a vision for the characters that they want to get out there. Maybe some of them even started off doing fan fiction!

Oh, don't worry at all - I had already had a look in the achievements section and I'm just having a grump about it now!
To be fair, I am still super happy for the recent csc gift on site, so it's not all bad. xD

Aw, that's ok. I'm sure I can find plenty of recipes online to pick from. I found at least 4 German butterball recipe to pick from that. I have a wooden box of my great-grandmother's recipes, but I don't know if they belong to my great-grandmother that always made butterballs (she passed away 5 months before I was born, so I never got to meet her).

Verenika is delicious. It's dough filled with a cream cheese, egg and pepper mixture that's then baked or fried and served with German sausage and ham gravy. But I never know how to describe it, so I googled it and basically its a cheese filled dumpling. I have a recipe that I found online that I can share with you, but it is pretty time intensive (I always set aside a few hours). I used to be pretty uncomfortable about trying new foods, but I'm getting better.

Maybe. If I work cattle in the winter, I usually have about 3 or 4 layers on to keep warm and typically I'm pretty padded to prevent feeling a kick. I'm hoping that next year I won't get injured as much while working cattle.

I never would give any human medicine to a pet without asking a vet first. I've also read people recommending giving baby aspirin to pets because its safe for them, I still wouldn't do it. I hate seeing people on Facebook asking for advice for a sick pet. Had one friend who had a puppy that was vomiting and had diarrhea, couldn't keep food down. My first though was parvo which needs a vet because its a death sentence, but this friend didn't have to money to take the puppy to a vet and just wanted cheap, at home fixes. Pepper (grandmother's dog) doesn't get steak or roast all the time, only when there are leftovers. She eats both dry and canned dog food in the morning (dry food lasts her throughout the day) and then she gets her CHF pills in jerky or leftovers in the evening. When she started the CHF pills, she needed to stay at a constant weight, but then she started losing weight because she stopped eating the dry food, so she needs to gain some weight.

She loves it outside, however we've had her back in the garage for the last few nights because we've had over 40 mph winds coming from either the west. Her pen is in the back yard and there's nothing to block the wind coming from the west. We need to redo the roof of her dog house because wood is a little rotted in spots. Once the roof is redone, the dog house should be pretty airtight and warm (except for the door).

I've got a lot of wishlists. I have one that's labeled holidays, but I've started dividing it down to specific holidays. I have one wishlist I've named 'Reminders for Myself' and mainly has the stockings and seasonal floating items. I've added 'Don't Buy From' to the name to hopefully prevent people from buying things from it for Lumi. I've got some wishlists labeled 'Most Wanted' and moved to the front of all the rest, in the hopes that I can start to slim them down.

'll admit I wasn't that active during holidays on here this year. I think it was mostly due to preparing for moves. I've tried to buy most of the wearable animals from Vesnali. I need to go through the items from this year and see what there is that I want.

That would be nice. I was worried that I wouldn't get another tier done for Fantine, but I managed it after snagging a lot of pumpkins. I've thrown a few snowballs, but I don't think I even have the first tier for that achievement. It is nice that staff added two more snowballs to the list. I always ended up with snowballs that I could use.

I've been told I had asthma when I was younger, but I was never sure because I only had issues when I did too much running or was exposed to cold air for too long. Cold weather has returned here. I wore three layers this morning and didn't freeze as much as I did yesterday morning. I've got a few warms scarves, I just need to dig them out. I've got a very warm infinity scarf that I crocheted a couple years ago.

It is. Chris always tells me he doesn't care what I get him or that he doesn't need any gifts from me. We both give my parents a wishlist and I'm always under the assumption that my parents with pick and chose what to get off the list. However, I think this year, they're getting more of what I've put on the list o.O Chris and I were going to ask for items for the house we will build because we thought we'd be able to start on it soon. But with Chris deploying next year, the items would have to be in storage for who knows how long. I always feel bad asking for things that I could easily buy for myself, but I did put lotion on my list year and a candle (because they smell really good).

Thanks. That flask sounds neat! I have fleece for a blanket that I've been meaning to make for Chris for at least a year (never had the room to set up my sewing machine). I could work on that and give him that. I've also got to finish the other half of his Christmas gift that I gave him last year. I don't mind buying gifts for Chris, but he doesn't make it easy. I might end up having him make a list of things that I could afford to buy him. I love browsing shops, especially if Chris is browsing with me because then I can find things that he's interested in, but doesn't want to buy at the moment, which reminds me that there is a book I can buy for one of Chris' gifts. I went shopping yesterday and my mom tagged along, so I couldn't buy the gift for my mom and dad. Still need to get a gift card for my brother and sister-in-law and another little gift for my nephew. Then to start wrapping gifts. Not really, but I think I have enough ingredients for everything I plan to make. Saturday I'm making mini oreo cheesecake bits for Sunday. Chris and I will spend Christmas Eve with his parents and then we'll spend Christmas Day with my parents, so we probably won't do our own Christmas dinner.

We've let Ruger run around in the yard unsupervised for a few hours, but I'm always worried she'll wander too far. My in-laws don't have a fenced in yard, so we always have to watch her. JoAnns always has remnants and they are always 50% off, so it can get pretty cheap. Children's clothes work for dolls too, depending on how big the dolls are. I have an older doll (probably from the later 1800's to early 1900's) who is about as big as a two or three year old.

I plan on making fudge, Krumkake, and pinwheel cookies. I'm not sure what else I'll make, I'll need to look through my Christmas cookbooks and recipes I inherited from my grandmother.

Chris said if the family Christmas with his grandpa was hosted in Texas next year, I would always have the option of riding along with his parents, but that would mean also being in a van for 7+ hours with his little brother (who can get quite annoying). I'd have to take Ruger along and find a pet friendly hotel. When the Christmas is hosted local, it ends up being an hour and a half to a two hour drive, which isn't too bad.

I think I bought enough tinsel yesterday for the tree. I've though about putting up our tree from last year, but I don't know where to set it up. The tree from last year was getting a little sad though. Maybe next year, when we don't have boxes everywhere upstairs.

Sunday was such a long day. the farrier showed up at 3 to get the check, since my landlord hadn't shown up yet. He explained that he had picked up three new horses to trim and hadn't found out about them until he got the farms for each. My landlord showed up at 4:30 pm, which was when I was going to leave to feed my horse. That's when I found out that it was the shelves in the craft room closets that he was taking, because he doesn't want to buy new wood for shelves. Just means that Chris and I have to buy new wood to put the shelves back up, because the craft room will be a mess without shelves. It's already a mess, since I had to take everything off of the shelves and clear out space on the floor to maneuver the planks. The spare bedroom upstairs, now isn't fit for guests because I had to move craft stuff into there to get it out of the way. It just would have been nice if from the get-go, we would have been told that the shelves in that closet would eventually be taken.

She has a new coat that she will end up outgrowing soon, but she can't take this one off by herself as it zips up the back. Her other coat only had two velcro straps that held it on and she could take it off by herself.

When I lived in the city, I'd go to Goodwill about once a week, sometimes twice, because they always had decent crafting supplies. Then they changed the layout and switched to carrying more clothes and less shelf space for other donations. Now that I'm in the countryside, I only go about once or twice every two weeks, I've been interested in LuLaRoe clothing for awhile, but there was no way I was going to spend $30 to $40 for a shirt. $4 was a lot better. Yesterday, I found 3 pairs of jeans and a pair of capris for $4 each. The jeans were Wranglers (never cheap) and the capris were Ariats (always expensive).

Chris and I still don't have an antenna to catch the local channels, so I've had to turn to Youtube to watch my favorite Christmas cartoons.

My migraines vary. Sometimes I can handle them without meds, other times there's nothing I can do to get rid of the pain because it makes sleep impossible (whole head exploding type pain). When my migraines first started, I would always feel like I was going to throw up, and those were the ones that sent me home from school early. Luckily I was in high school, so I could check myself out without having to wait on permission from a parent. There were a few times where they were so bad, I had to be picked up from school and that only happened two or three times. The last time my mom took me to the doctor and I got a shot with morphine, then went back later for blood-work. Now, I sometimes get migraines that last for days and I always get them when the weather changes.

Thanks! I've got my materials downstairs on the couch. I hope to work on it today in-between playing some video games. Hopefully I'll be able to get sometime done by Saturday! I'll try and remember to take pictures as I go along (I like to have work-in-progress pictures).

- hope you find a good recipe. As I said they are delicious when made right, but can be heavy or doughy otherwise.

Nice for you to have that box full of recipes to use.

I love to try new foods of all sorts and verinika sounds delicious. I've eaten cheese filled dumplings before (think ravioli for one) but not these exact ones. Verinika sounds like similar ingredients to Noodle Kugle (which I have love and have had many different versions of).

I'm glad you're getting better about trying new foods. You can always just take a very small taste (and have a drink or a piece of bread on hand in case you don't like it) but if you don't taste things you will never know what you might be missing - it could be your very most favorite food ever. I try hard to taste anything I get the chance to, even if I think it will be awful. Every so often I am really pleasantly surprised.

I hope you don't get injured at all next year. Working cattle, or otherwise. It seems to me you've already had more than your share for a while.

I'm sure you'll get her pen and dog house all straightened out soon. And glad to hear she's happy and well taken care of.

- wasn't worried exactly - but dislike reminding people of things that upset them if it can be avoided. And yes, there was that recent gift to be thankful for.

Well there are 2 HA items that people who don't want snowballs can use to deflect them. That should be good enough. But I hope they don't have a December event because it's hard enough trying to keep up with daily Melody, snowballs, fairies, etc. I haven't even started putting anything under people's trees yet. But I mostly put small stocking stuffer type stuff under trees and send WL items as wrapped presents, since the tree doesn't open until Dec 25 and someone could have bought/been given a WL item before then. I will work on that the last week before Xmas to make sure everyone's WLs are up to date.

Hopefully fingers crossed

yeah it is great! Even though they did kill off a couple of people I never expected to get bumped off. (no spoilers given :P)

By the way, if you want a snowball to show on your HA just toss it at someone who has a reflecting device like the shield. Such as Amber. :D I like the Icy Snowball so threw it at her and now it's on my HA. ;) I just wish the snowball stayed on the HA longer than a minute or 2. Any Sharks wearing the shield so I can get snowballs reflected back to me?

I am using the shield. I had forgotten to put it back on my HA so thanks for the reminder lol.

Thank you! How have you been?

Hiya! The items have been really nice. The background and blanket are definitely my favs so far! Are you enjoying the holiday season?

Hello! How are you? :)

- I'm rooting for you to get there every single day.

Oh, it's fine really, being English having a good grumble about stuff is very much part of the culture! I can be philisophical about it, and I think I'll have enough to top up my GA when that comes around. I am also grumping about the Melody essence, though at least those are buyable at a cost. (Future pet plans, I have a lot!)

But I have plenty of time for saving up, and still not sure what pet to get with my (later in this month) Loyalty box!
xD

It's always a juggling act between real life and online time - planning for a big move is a very valid reason! Yeah, a good wishlisting of everything will be handy so you can tell what you still need to pick up.

I'm trying not to buy any wishlist stuff for myself until after the Lumi gifting period to avoid duplicates, then I'll have a look to see if anything is going cheap. Less likely for Vesnali items, but you never know.

Holding back a bit on the big-big achievements would certain ly benefit a lot of users. I have been throwing some snow at but it's maybe 20 or so max on a really good day with everything else I am doing on and off line. I think we have to prep for years of work on that one!

It may be a milder case of asthma, on a good day I am perfectly OK, and can jog upstairs and walk at a mid-pace, etc with no wheezing. (autocorrect suggested 'no weeing' think I'll skip that one... xD ) But as long as it's not stopping you from doing stuff, you are probably OK.

Brrr. Layering up is a very sensible option.
Last weather forecast I saw for here said there would be 'some snow' around midnight - about 4 hrs from now. We shall see! It'll make an interesting food shopping day tomorrow.

Oh boy, well no listing system is perfect... xD Gifting isn't just about stuff you wouldn't get for yourself, but also stuff you like. I would certainly rather buy someone a pot of their favourite moisturiser rather than have to take a guess and get something they wouldn't really use.

Oh, the blanket idea sounds good. And best of luck with the finishing off - I remember you said about that last year. The patience present!
Yeah, it's handy to have a sneaky idea of what folks would like. Covert shop-watch commence!

We have 3 December family birthdays, but we got the gifts for those done earlier - I don't like the 'combined xmas/birthday gift' vibe, so always have separate things.

Good lukc with the rw=est of the gift shopping. Eeek, reminds me I didn't get and wrapping paper yet! To the shopping list note pad!

I think my other half would like that cheesecake, he's an oreo fan. He especially likes the oreo milkshakes.

Yeah, in an unfenced area you'll have to be careful. Especially if it's all new and exciting and needs exploring!

Most of the doll collection we have here is about Barbie sized - some larger, some smaller. So, it's very handy for the smaller fabric offcuts and things. There's a 'clothing for £1' rail at one of the local charity/thrift shops, and I have been known to buy an XL clothing item from that to cut down and make doll bits & bobs.

Ooh, yummy treats! I really want to try homemade truffles, but I don't know when I'd get time this year.

A couple of hours is much better than more than 7! Yeah, I think you will just have to be practical and honest, and then you can join in more when it's nearer to you and/or you have some help!

With the whole move, you will just have to do what decorating you can. It will probably be like decoratig a new house again next year when everything is properly placed!

Well, that's not ideal about the shelves, but at least you know where you stand now. And I guess there'll be plenty of boxes left from the move if you need to keep stuff stored for now

Oh, no, there could be lost coats if she can climb out! Thank goodness for zips.

We don't get a lot of crafting items going cheap, but clothes and books and household items can all be good things to check for. Well done with the jeans & stuff, some positive bargains there!

The power of youtube will get you through! Do you know when you will get the regular TV plugged in?

Ugh, those are some serious headaches. I think I am lucky, if I was having weather change ones, that would be daily over here! xD Did the doctors work out any triggers apart from the weather?

awaits stitching in progress pics Very excited to see how it goes. :)

Tomorrow's food shoping will be the start of Xmas things as some items I am looking at should have a long enough 'use by' date on them now!

I always forget about those items as I am happy for the Snow! Maybe a January plot for when things are a little bit quieter? Though technically winter is right through until March, so we could have a mini snowball event tucked in there somewhere.

For my friends list, I have not done my gifting yet either - I have a couple of quieter days around the 18th Dec, so I will go through those properly then.

I guess they have to have the unexpected factor for added drama and tension in the stories! Aw, the santa/reindeer backdrop on your HA is adorable!

Doing well, thank you. I am prepping for some offline (holiday) time next week, so likely will miss some Melody days (boo!) but is looking after the Empty Tree board listing (Hooray!) and that's the more important bit.

Then when I'm back I have 2 festive parties in one week! I'll need a sleep...

Hope your Seasonal stuff is going well too.

pops off to update Empty Tree list

- feel free to grumble away then. Just make sure that you're enjoying it. :-)

Absolutely, when it stops being fun, it's time to try something else!

Going well tonight:

Oracle: Reward 15 Point Wizard Token AND Your pet QuothTheRaven gains 6 Defense! AND 3,528sP!

You've earned the Librarian achievement!

You've earned the Fairy Catcher! achievement!

cheers

- oooh - very nice. Yay!

Doing good. Just really tired tonight! How about you?

Thanks Hun :)

Thank you! It is one of my faves. I thought about saving it for just the 24th and 25th but I wanted to use it more than that lol. Congrats on the new achs!!