Aah, I'm just a basic Nord stealth archer! I have recently become a vampire though, but I've got mad regrets about it. I kinda hate the vampire form, and drinking blood is super inconvenient. I also maybe broke my game by updating to the latest version ._. Oh, I used to love Poets of the Fall! Definitely checking this game out rn.

Happy sunday all!

I prefer being a werewolf (plus LOOOVE Hircine) but went vampire for the achievement. Vampires do have a learning curve to find them useful. I liked drinking blood as it made my vampirism more central to gameplay. Unlike earlier versions of the game, NPCs won't attack you if you don't drink blood often. But I liked to stay full of blood anyways.

Were you using mods? I updated to Anniversary Edition and didn't find problems. I'm also not using mods until I get all the achievements. Only two to go now. Really want to use the mod of the Bard's College.

Poets of the Fall formed when making the ending credits song for Max Payne 2 (another Remedy game) so it's great that Sam Lake brought them back in a big role.

Hope you enjoy the series =D

All the RCU games have at least one big Old Gods of Asgard song.

Bunny!

My birthday was nice. Saw Moana 2 with my sister mom and youngest niece. They spent the night and I had donuts for breakfast as my birthday cake.
Thank you everyone on here for the birthday gifts and wishes.
Got my cookie achievements!

We are having an inversion here where a warm air system is trapped under a cold air system and the air is stagnate with a bunch of ick and fog. I hate it. It hates me. Blah. It also is making my nose bleed.

Hey all, guess what? I am on a laptop!!!

Now I have no idea how to run it really. I've never had a Mac but I do have an iPhone as well as an iPad so hopefully I can get the swing of things soon!

I am so excited I could scream or cry!!

pokes head up out of the void Hi all! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season.

We just got a tree today (our old one was destroyed in the storms) so we'll hopefully get that up tomorrow to bring some holiday warmth into the house. Our plans for the holiday (we celebrate Christmas) are a little up in the air but one way or another we'll be seeing family (and my best friend who is essentially family lol).

ATM I'm struggling with my own wellness, but doing okay. December is hard for me. On December 16th of 2021 I lost my beloved Juneau - my soul mate and my home. I miss her every day. December though, it seems carries a weight. Every year since I've been drowned by a certain feeling, and it makes things very hard. I have a few days off and it's helping me recenter slightly and get my feet back under me after those feelings knocked them out. I have work for the next two weeks, but not too much, which is nice. And I'll be seeing a few friends.

Please catch me up if there's anything group specific I need to do! I did sign up for the secret santa and am waiting excitedly to find out who I am to gift!

Hello dear, glad you're able to take time for yourself to recenter. We don't know eachother well yet but please feel free to reach out, I am a really good listener. :)

Just finished this toy for my nephew for Christmas. I over did it today now my fingers hurt. Oops.

glad you got you laptop running.

sorry. I got a light therapy lamp for winter. It seems to help. Take the time you need. I also go silent even though I am here.

Saw those bunnies and immediately thought of you. :) That weather sounds awful. Ugh. Hope it clears soon. The bunny toy is adorable. :)

Yay for laptop! :) My computer is so important to me that I can well understand!

I'm so sorry for your loss. But I'm also glad you have the holiday and family and friend to look forward to. Decorating for Christmas can really help lift the spirits. It did for me. <3

I'm in the process of moving into the family home with my son. I plan to be completely out of my house by Feb 1st and there is a mountain of things to do. Moving itself is awful and complicated and hard work. But its also fun to talk about plans and how to arrange things. Cory is taking my father's bedroom as his and keeping his own bedroom as his office. I am taking my mother's bedroom as mine and my father's office as my office. It has been both difficult and exciting as we pack up and keep some of their things, donate some, and throw away what needs to be.

I thought it would be gut wrenching and sometimes it is, but I also feel welcome as if my parents approve. Cory feels the same. That helps a lot. And some things have been so amazing to discover, like a very old Bible that was passed down through generations on my father's side. It's massive and needs desperately to be restored. I'm not sure we could even afford that but we decided to wait until after I get moved in and just check into it. You never know. :) My son and I also decorated for Christmas during all this and it just really lifted our spirits. Every time I walk in I feel good.

Thank you so much! That's so kind, and I appreciate the generous spirit. Also I really like the quote in your signature, it's a clever reminder! And YAY for getting your laptop up and running. Gosh I depend on mine so much, I totally get how excited you must be!

Oh my gosh, I love it! That's so adorable, you're so talented and I'm sure your nephew will love it! Thank you so much, your gentleness reminds me to be gentle with myself and sharing your experiences makes me remember I'm not alone (although in ways I wish I was, because I wish others didn't also have to struggle with this kind of thing at times). I'll look at the lamps. We do have a lot of sunlight here still and thankfully I've been outside a lot more these days. I used to be able to rely on my job to keep me outside (and as exercise, socialization with friends / strangers, etc) but now I have to make time for all those things on my own which is a skill I'm still working on.

Today we're planning on getting the tree up and going through the bins to see what was ruined and what wasn't. It will be nice to get things out and go through them. Most of the important things will be fine I'm sure, even if they got icky with the flood they can be cleaned. Maybe I'll even take a little cash (one of my clients gifted me a holiday "bonus") and replace a few things! Moving is so taxing, but also refreshing and exciting. It's so beautiful to hear that you feel right and welcomed, like your parents are joyous and taking part in this next chapter with you. That bible sounds so special, I hope you can get it restored! If not, perhaps you could still put it in a shadow box or create a respectful piece of art with it.

That looks adorable!

I have the most handsome guest at my house this week: the man in question.

He's actually my friend's pup who's been having some issues with arousal and anxiety. He and the other dog in the house got into a pretty bad altercation, and then my friend had family coming into town (which is super taxing for them because of the history there) so I offered to watch the pup until the family left. He's such a good boy. He's a working line shepherd and unfortunately as with many, many working line dogs at this point the breeding has created an unhealthy nervous system. But he has started some medication to help him and he's been doing great! I'm going to miss him a lot when he goes home.

I've been having pretty bad demand avoidance and executive function issues the past week or so. Today I feel a bit better and hopefully will be able to get some priority things done!

My bonus mom (MIL) is still in the hospital. Things are improving for her steadily, but it's not likely she and my bonus dad (FIL) will be able to come home by Christmas. I wish they could, but I would much rather they play it safe than push to get here and end up with her backsliding. We'll probably go home for the holiday still and stay in their house like we normally do, that way we can visit my immediate family, my best friend, and Johnny's extended family. And then we'll have to figure out flying up to Ohio one at a time to see my in-laws.

I've had a weird thing going on with my eye this week - it's been "pulsating" or twitching but not visibly. I can feel it constantly though and it's been making my vision a bit blurry. I also have "floaters" or something on my eye. I'll have to make an appointment to see the eye doctor and get bloodwork done, and I need to get into a dentist for a referral to a specialist for my jaw. It makes me laugh because in general I tend to go into the day thinking "I'm fine overall, I'm not sick or anything" but then when I start to list out the things for planning appointments - jaw issues, eye issues, constant muscle cramps, waking up with pain in my abdomen daily, broken brain, tired a lot - I'm like "ohhhhh". LOL. May 2025 be the year we all get our needs met and feel our best!!!

I also wanted to share this forum board for everyone to post in. Who knows, someone may have your dream items!

Thank you! It's my first laptop ever, if you remember I was attempting to play/ chat via Ipad.

Good luck with your move, I know it's so hard and I always lose things every time I move I hope this is NOT the case for you. It's nice to be extra close to the family though.

Of course, it's just my nature! I know it's kind of a thinker LOL.

What a handsome boy, my hubby loves german sheperds. I cannot read them nor huskies so we won't be getting one anytime soon.

How funny my hubby's name is Johnny as well!

I'm not sure I am familiar with what you're referring to but I have hard days. Yesterday was awful work wise for me. Thankfully today proves so much better.

The eye twitch may be stress related...my husband also has developed a floater as well. He says it looks like a little black hair in his right eye. Never had it before but it's annoying him a lot.

Hey everyone! Been feeling pretty sick and stressed for the majority of the month. My boss sold the restaurant I work at and we're on our last week with him now before we switch over to the new guy. I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic but the pit in my gut is getting bigger with each day that passes.

Missed a couple of days on Melody unfortunately but Mysterious Melody making a return and needing to make up for all the SP I'm spending on gifting has me pretty invested right now haha

I'm a pretty equal opportunity animal lover, though as far as breeds go I do have a soft spot for shepherds, northern breeds, and mutts. I love a good collie or pittie mix too, especially rough-coated collies and those pitties with the big heads lol. Interestingly most of those can be tougher to read until you're used to their mannerisms - the intensity of their focus can easily read as aggression. My favorite thing with animals, and dogs in particular, is shaping communication. It's such a lovely feeling when you can just "talk" to each other almost like another person. Obviously not the same "levels" of communication but there's so much a dog can say when we know how to listen! You can't go wrong with any kind of cat either, but I do have a soft spot for the long haired kitties and the big boys.

I'm sorry yesterday was awful work-wise. I hope you have only good days for at least a while!

My "floaters" are like little dots. I can see them when I close my eyes and sometimes they mess with my vision because I start to see them. Hoping they can be reduced! I was thinking initially the twitch was caffeine, but I cut back and it's not gone away. My Johnny (lol) said maybe a muscle spasm in the muscles that move the eye left and right. We'll "see" (haha). Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Hello! I'm sorry you've had a sick, stressed season. Feeling like garbage day after day is exhausting and just seems to compound. I hope things look up for you soon and you can find calm, healing, and a feeling of refreshed energy! Also hoping the new boss is an excellent leader and great to work for. I would be anxious too, it's hard to undergo change when it will impact you significantly and you have very little control over it.

What Melody days did you miss?

Presents are wiping me out too! I was hoping to save up and buy another 1k CSC before the Pawn Shop sale since most of the items on my WLs (and the WLs of friends) are older and unavailable in the actual shops, but I keep spending everything I make on presents. It's hard to not want to give everyone something! There's so much generosity around the site, it's really inspiring. Plus, I spent the first 16 years on the site being not-very-social and some years Lumi just felt really sad and lonely. I try to visit the "empty trees" thread and the new user forum to make sure others don't feel that way come the 25th.

Thank you for the well wishes! I'm hanging in there, hoping for the best with everything too!

I'm not positive which days I missed honestly and I'm not too fussed about the items, I just try to lowkey achievement hunt haha

I'm a sucker for just defaulting to the gift the user above threads in my downtime. The only thing I miss a lot with this version of Mysterious Melody is that we don't get the instant gratification of exchanging back and forth!

For animals as a whole I've been told I have a "bleding heart" for animals. I'll most likely die petting something I shouldn't otherwise I don't prejudice dog breeds, I just can't seem to read those two breeds.

Oh yeah that sounds pretty cool, anything you'd recommend reading to help me learn that?

I am most partial to aussies, boarder collies, and frenchies. I'm not super fond of little dogs, working in the vet taught me to watch out on their personality, but for the most part they haven't proved me wrong. "Larger dogs behave as dogs should, we are the owner and shouldn't be lashed out at unless we deserve it.

I agree! I think this version of MM is ultimately better and I love the way they involved Melody and had her pull from user shops with a focus on the WLs of the members of the group! That's super smart and I'm interested in how they'll use that later on.

lol I relate! At my bridal shower one of the games we played was one where everyone wrote anonymous answers to questions and then I had to read the answers and guess who was who. One of the questions was how long did they think I would survive in a zombie apocalypse and more than one answer said I'd end up dying trying to save my dogs xD

The first thing I teach people to do is understand how dogs learn and understand body language (especially stress signals). This helps us to actually "hear" what our dogs are saying, and to begin to understand how we influence behavior (intentionally and unintentionally). ">This is a good body language resource. This is a pretty good intro to learning and behavior.

Hi everyone! Been a few gloomy days here with no sun, cold weather and east winds... but no rain (yay) or snow :( Getting dark earlier and earlier... no fun. I go away from home in the dark and i get home in the dark.. feeling a bit like a vampire.

is ok, just busy with work and afterwards she is feeling so tired so turn into a couch potato....

A little over a week ago my left hand swelled up like a balloon. only thing the doc could say was that it was the gout and to ice it and take advil for the pain. It's taken this whole week for the sweeling to go down enough for me to be able to type (more like hunt and peck.) My wrist and a couple of fingers are still swollen and this typing may aggravate it more and I'll end up poofing again. This is not how I planned on spending Luminaire. I'm hoping this gets sorted enough before Luminaire that I can stuff Luminaire trees. :D Emory, it was my hubby who left the note for you. :)

- Thanks for the riftborn and Storm cookies! ❤

Well, I hope to be back tomorrow unless the swelling gets worse again. :D ❤