miss_grimwood

Happy May! A slightly more productive month

Fics
(a seven part series of Belladolphus fluff ficlets for the Baby Shower Bingo)
Diagon Alley
Something to show
comfort
spoiled
Your Baby
will you help me up?
Ophelia Saiph

command me (Belladolphus, rated E, for ABCs of Kinks and Paraphilias)

Read
Sanditon (Jane Austen)
The Watsons (Jane Austen)

Crafting
Wove 30 squares - as of right now I only have 8 left to weave before I join them all together

Other
I secured a job interview! It looks quite promising, so fingers crossed that I'll get it. The interview is next Thursday, for a tutoring position
I went to the Animal Crossing event at the sea life centre and had the best time. I went with my parents and it was the first time we all spent the day out together like that in forever. Love seeing the fishies
I'm still chugging along with the blog

Ok so it may have been a few months since I was last online at the right time to answer the friday five and it feels like fate because the theme is pretty relevant to me right now

1. How far back can you trace your family tree?
I'm currently working on my family tree again, and the furthest I've got as of right now is my 5th great-grandparents according to ancestry. Early 19th century

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?
My paternal great-great grandmother was arrested 12 times and imprisoned twice for drunkenness, which was not particularly surprising given the current generations, but we were surprised that it was from my nana's side and not my grandad's

3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?
In theory I like it and I think its very sweet. Especially middle names honouring grandparents. That being said, it's a NIGHTMARE when it comes to finding people on ancestry

4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?
I do think traditional can be a bit of a loaded word in some cases. But in a way, yes. generally through the lines and going on to now, it's always been nuclear families, closeness to cousins, things like that. But half of my generation of cousins (on both sides) are queer now, so I imagine families will be at least a little different going forward. But then looking back into the family tree, there are a lot of step families and half siblings, back when that wasn't very common
5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?
I don't particularly plan on having children of my own, but if I were to it would definitely be the big-ish family get togethers. My maternal side all gets together on the last sunday before christmas eve, and even though we're all adults now we still insist on it. In fact I think it even started specifically because the music charts used to come out on a sunday so we'd all stay at my granny's house to find out the christmas number one, but now that happens on a friday instead.

I started the month with every intention of getting my shit together. I ended the month having another ocd relapse (milder than the last one, though). I think I'm more prone to them now I'm out of uni and not yet in work because I don't have things to properly occupy my time and thoughts. 
I still haven't had any luck on the job front, but I'm hoping to hear back from a company I really like. Its only part time but it would be a start.

I didn’t get any fics written, or much in terms of fandom (I am so disappointed in myself for not doing the snowflake challenge, but I did launch a blog with my partner in crime. We talk about literature and language and pop culture stuff twice a week, and you can check it out HERE if you’re interested.

Read:
Frankenstein retold by Isobel Lundie and Nick Pierce

Watched:
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Hello all! I hope the holidays are going as well as they can for everyone. My maternal grandparents were away this christmas so we had my paternal grandparents and their little dog for dinner this year. I'm not sure how we got on the topic but I ended up going on our ancestry family tree to confirm a family member's birth year and ended up being able to show my nana a picture of her grandad who she'd never seen on a photo (or in real life) before. He was born in 1871! a hundred years before her eldest son was born. It was such a nice moment and it made me thankful I got into ancestry over lockdown. I'd forgotten all the little things I'd managed to find. I also had her maternal grandmother's birth certificate from around the same time. 
I'm going to go around to their house in the new year and go through some old photos and things to see if we can add more people to the tree or put some faces to the names. My nana is getting older now and she can get confused, so it will be nice to go through the memories together and try and preserve as much as we can.
The nerdy little historian in me really loves the ancestry hobby, especially because my grandmothers have all sorts stored away that I get to look at - on my mum's side my granny has a lot of paperwork, official documents on hundred year old paper, and on my dad's side we have a lot of bibles that were given as gifts that all ended up passed down to my nana, and books with handwritten dedications to children.

An interesting month to say the least. I don't talk about it often on here, but I have OCD which typically flares up around this time of year, and BOY DID IT. Spent a couple of days in bed and a couple of weeks trying to get myself back to normal - still not amazing, but I managed to get stuff done regardless

Fics
Funsize Candy - Ocean's 8 (gen), 200 words, rated G
Project Runway - Ocean's 8 (Debbie/Lou), 200 words, rated G
(plus two currently anonymous fics for Crucio and Cocktails exchange)

Fests
I only had the energy for a week of Spooky Saffics, so I did a week of Bellalily moodboards
I started out with good intentions for NaCraMaMo, but all I managed to complete was one Halloween costume for a Sylvanian Families baby

Reading
The Last of the Haussmans - Stephen Beresford
Jolly Foul Play - Robin Stevens

I also got my diss feedback - 72, which means I graduate with a distinction (!!!) and I've had a couple of job interviews, but nothing further than that

1. What's a song you'd enjoy screaming along to as you drove down the highway?
I have a whole playlist for this! But anything by Whitney Houston or Pink will always get me screaming
2. What is your favorite place/type of environment to relax?
My favourite specifically is my bedroom. It’s my safe space, it’s pink and soft and cosy. But outside of that I really feel peaceful at the beach, I like to hear the waves and feel the sand and collect shells and rocks
3. What are the best kind of dreams?
Nice ones! I take medication that can cause nightmares and vivid dreams, so anything that isn’t either of those is very nice for me.
4. What do you look for in a mate?
This reminded me of Doctor Who ‘you just want to mate?’. If we mean mate as in pal I like someone with similar interests to me, who doesn’t mind the fact I am shocking with my phone. The same goes for a partner I suppose. Patience.
5. If you were a crayon color, what color would you be and why?
Baby pink! Because it’s my favourite

1. Most everyone will recommend a book or two to read, but are there any you would tell people to avoid?
I tell anyone with a dog to avoid The Last Family in England by Matt Haig. I love the book, but its not the kind of thing I think you should read when you have a dog, for spoilery reasons. My mum wanted to take it on holiday when she was rooting through my collection and I had to say absolutely do not

2. If you take a book on vacation, are you more likely to take something you haven't read yet or an old favorite?
Always a new one! Its the best time to get reading done

3. Do you read any genres by the season? Like horror around Halloween? Cozy Mysteries in the Winter? Romance in the Summer?
I avoid by the season, if that counts. I don't read horror or mystery or murder vibes in autumn/winter - I can only read them when we have late sunsets because I get frightened by them particularly in the dark, so as long as I'm reading in the daytime and I'm safe in bed by dark I can read them (particularly annoying because I do enjoy murder mysteries)

4. If you read a lot of Fiction do you prefer an author that has a series with the same character(s), or do you prefer stand-alone stories?
At the minute I'm leaning towards stand-alone stories, but I will cycle through as much as I can by the same author until I need a break

5. Is there a book that you wish you could read again, but experience it like it was the first time?
I wish I could reread Lady Chatterley's Lover again. I read it for the first time when I was quite young, I wish I could go into it from an adult perspective

1) Who are you appreciating in your life right now?
My friend Ella, who is also writing her dissertation right now, and who has the same supervisor as me, is keeping me sane when it comes to his terrible email response time and general lack of supervision (he told us the wrong word count)

2) What's something you've done this year that other people appreciated?
I met Ella at uni and it turned out we live only 5 minutes away from each other, so when we had classes together I'd drive her home. I know she appreciated that

3) What's a good way to show gratitude?
I think a bunch of flowers goes a long way. I love giving them to people so they know I appreciate them

4) Do you write thank you notes?
I do! In fact, I wrote and posted one up to Scotland this afternoon

5) What can you use help with these days?
I'm on a fitness ~journey~, and I was never any good at sports as a child so I gave up on PE and learning how to exercise, so I really appreciate the people who have given me tips and answered my clueless questions (and I welcome any more tips/ fun and somewhat easy workout videos from anyone who also started a journey from relatively sedentary)

1. Are you good at fixing things?
It depends on the type of fixing! I can repair clothes, and I have revived my decades old kindle from the brink of death a few times, but when it comes to the car I'm useless

2. What kinds of things can you fix?
See above! I love repairing holes in my clothes and blankets

3. Is there anyone in your family who is good at fixing things?
My grandad can do all of the fixing stuff that I can't do, like cars and belts and hoovers and all of that, and my grandad on my dad's side has fixed our plumbing so many times

4. Has anyone ever taught you how to fix things?
The lovely people of youtube have saved me on many occasions

5. What was the last thing that broke in your home?
our shower pressure fucked up last week but it righted itself, and our kitchen tap is currently leaking but I think that's been stuck for a while

Slightly late, because I've been away

1) What's an area where you're not perfect, but trying your best?
uni I think. I don't think I've ever tried as hard in school as I have this year

2) Who are you proud of?
My wee cousin (I say wee, she's 17), she's very disciplined when it comes to schoolwork, she's very confident in herself, and it's just so nice to see the person she's becoming. I was 7 when she was born so I've properly watched her grow up

3) What makes you feel appreciated?
I like something written, I always get very sentimental on the times that my mum has sent me 'I'm proud of you' texts and things like that

4) What would you like to make more time for?
reading! I used to read every day before bed, in lockdown I read constantly, and now aside from uni stuff I rarely get to read for pleasure

5) What can you re-arrange?
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take this literally or figuratively but I'd like to rearrange my bookshelves. I have too many books and a couple of second-hand ones coming in soon, but I don't quite have the space for a second bookcase