Waterscape

AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Thank you everyone!

October 1: The Guardian challenge day 1 (all clear)
October 2: Guardian day 2 (50 goblins!)
October 3: Guardian day 3 (all clear)
October 6: Guardian day 4 (all clear)
October 8: Guardian day 5 (200 goblins!)
October 9: Guardian day 6 (200 goblins!)

I have three 'personal' recipe books - simple journals that I record the recipes I find online, in magazines, etc. that I make and like and want to make again. My mom started the first one for me when I went to college. I filled it, filled another, and now I'm on vol. 3. I really love it, because I can personalize the recipes as I go, and all my favorites are easy to find. There's several Darebee recipes in there! :noming:

Some of the recipes are a little wonky - tasty, but they just lack something - especially the older ones (not every magazine and church cookbook edits their recipes to make sure they are written well). As I've gotten better at cooking I've been able to add notes and revise them a bit, so sometimes I go back and make those older recipes to see if I can make them 'work' a little better and make them more to my taste. I made a cranberry orange bread this weekend, and....well, I don't know if I wrote the recipe down wrong (back in 2005) or what, but I ended up having to add an extra 4 oz (!) of orange juice. It turned out nicely though! Much softer and a better balance of flavors. Now that I've got that figured out, I can start adding extras and playing around with different flavors - oatmeal cranberry bread? chocolate chip cranberry bread? strawberry orange bread? :drool:

This is why AquaMarie loves cooking. :chickenz:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
October 10: Guardian day 7 (200 goblins)
October 11: Guardian day 8 (200 goblins)
October 14: Guardian day 9 (all clear)

October 16: Guardian day 10 (all clear)
October 17: Guardian day 11 (100 goblins)
October 20: Guardian day 12 (all clear)
October 21: Guardian day 13 (200 goblins)

This week's workout track: K.K. Jongara (Aircheck) from Animal Crossing.

I set up one of the rooms in my Animal Crossing house as a gym and set this track as the music. I've been parking my character on the butterfly machine while I do my real world workouts so I could work to this song for the past week :happy: .
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
October 22: Guardian day 14 (all clear)
October 23: Guardian day 15 (200 goblins)
October 25: Guardian day 16 (all clear)
October 28: Guardian day 17 (100 goblins)

Back in September I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep working on a crochet project I was halfway through or start a new one to decorate for fall. Well...
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
@Fremen @aku-chan @Mamatigerj @NancyTree Thank you, everyone!

October 29: Guardian day 18 (all clear)
October 30: Guardian day 19 (50 goblins)
October 31: Guardian day 20 (50 goblins)
November 3: Guardian day 21 (all clear)

Annie is the first cat I've ever had that liked to watch TV. Her favorite movie is Winne-the-Pooh (I think because it was the first one I played after I got her; she's super attached to the first toy I gave her, too). She loves watching (and sometimes chasing) the bees in the honey tree, but she usually curls up and goes to sleep soon after that :zzz:.

On Halloween I watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! and Garfield's Halloween Adventure. Charlie Brown scared her, poor baby :shiver:. The intro with all the spooky noises and the owl flying at the screen sent her running under the couch. It took ten minutes and a handful of crunchy treats for me to get her to come out and curl up in my lap. :noming: She liked Garfield, though. Odie was her favorite, she had to get up close and sniff the TV every time he barked :cute:.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween, too!
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
November 5: Guardian day 22 (all clear)
November 7: Guardian day 23 (all clear)
November 8: Guardian day 24 (50 goblins)
November 9: Guardian day 25 (all clear)

This weekend was anime con weekend! I got to see a couple of different panels about sewing and craftwork for cosplay, so of course now I'm super motivated to do some sewing! And there was tons of good resources mentioned at the panels - I'm definitely going to use wawak for supplies now, and dig into Seamwork's tutorials.

Time to dig out the sewing machine! :LOL:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
November 12: Guardian day 26 (100 goblins)
November 13: Guardian day 27 (200 goblins)
November 14: Guardian day 28 (all clear)
November 17: Guardian day 29 (all clear)
November 19: Guardian day 30 (100 goblins)

:completed: Woohoo! One more challenge to meet my year's goal! That challenge is...the Miner!

The reward for completing Guardian: a Christmas toy pack for the cat. Jingle balls and catnip toys and a 'feather' wand, oh my! I'm planning on giving her one every three days or so in December until Christmas. I swear she gets bored with toys so fast, even though I swap them out and rotate them a couple times a week.

Cat toys are, ironically enough, a great reward for me, too. They are cheap, easy to find, and it makes me really happy to pick one out and watch her play with them and/or play with her!
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
@Mamatigerj @Fremen @BetaCorvi @Saffity @NancyTree Thank you!

November 20: Miner day 1 (squats in 30 seconds: 17/16/17) + 15 incline push-ups (2 piles of dirt and a topaz!)
November 22: Miner day 2 + 15 push-ups (2 piles of dirt and a worm-yuck!)
November 25: Miner day 3 (18/19/20) + 15 push-ups (1 pile of dirt, an amethyst, and a diamond!)

Well, I've got 14 more books to go to hit my year goal of 275, and four of those non-fiction. I'll probably have to stick to young adult non-fic or microhistories in order to get those four in - they tend to be faster reads for me than typical non-fiction.

Right now I'm reading a microhistory called Butter: A Rich History, by Elaine Khosrova. I keep remembering when I was, gosh, 4? or 5? My grandmother (who ran a dairy farm, and was my primary babysitter) would sit me down in front of Sesame Street with a mason jar of cream, plop in a few marbles, and tell me to shake until my show was over. Once or twice I actually got butter! I was so proud of myself. :yas:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
November 26: Miner day 4 + 15 push-ups (2 pile o'dirt and an emerald!)
November 27: Miner day 5 (21/20/21) + 15 push-ups (nothin' but dirt :vsad:)
November 28: Miner day 6 + 15 push-ups (a ruby, an emerald, and an amethyst! :worried:)
December 1: Miner day 7 (2 piles of dirt and a worm :p)

Update to last post: Hah, my grandma wasn't the only one to use grandkid-power to make butter. One of the author's friends also got to shake a jar of milk, and Khosrova included directions for how to use that method to make butter at home.

Honestly, though? I wouldn't bother (unless you're looking for an arm/grip workout, I guess). Store-bought butter tastes just as good as homemade. Bake the bread, buy the butter is the rule at my house.
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
I hope everyone had a fun New Year's Eve!

Looking back at 2023, I managed to complete two, well, two-and-a-half of my five goals: I finished over 275 books (50 of them non-fiction), had at least two no-spend days a week, and I finished three Darebee programs...but only three challenges, thus the half goal met.

For this year's goals:
1) Read 280 books, 50 of them non-fiction. I've hit 275 for a few years in a row now, so it's time to increase the goal. :LOL:
2) Complete three Darebee programs and three challenges. I'll start with 30 Days of LIIT program, since my back is giving me problems at the moment.
3) Have at least 3 no-spending days a week to save money for a house of my own.
4) Spend 20 minutes a day, four days a week, crafting. Crochet, cross-stitch, sewing, anything, as long as it uses up the supplies I have.
5) Visit the farmer's market once a month, and see if I can get involved in some of their community projects.

Now to get a shiny new journal to keep track of them all... :plot:

Happy New Year, Bees!
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
@Mamatigerj Thank you!

Jan. 1: 30 Days of LIIT day 1 (all at level 1 unless otherwise noted):strong: Let's go!
Jan. 3: 30 Days of LIIT day 2
Jan. 4: 30 Days of LIIT day 3
Jan. 5: 30 Days of LIIT day 4

Workout track of the week: Venice Rooftops from the Assassin's Creed II soundtrack! Guess what I've been replaying. :LOL: I gotta say, of the Ezio Chronicles, I like the music from ACII the best, but I like playing Revelations the most.
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Jan. 7: 30 Days of LIIT day 5
Jan. 9: 30 Days of LIIT day 6
Jan. 12: 30 Days of LIIT day 7
Jan. 13: 30 Days of LIIT day 8

Lunch today is a clean-out-the-leftovers bowl: rice (leftover from making gyudon), corn (leftover from making cowboy beans), pan-fried tofu (leftover from supper yesterday), topped with teriyaki sauce (that I make with a dash of ginger and keep a stash of). I hope it tastes good all together!
With an apple and a few vanilla cookies, I'm hoping it will hold me until supper tonight: pork chops! :plot::noming:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Jan. 14: 30 Days of LIIT day 9
Jan. 16: 30 Days of LIIT day 10
Jan. 17: 30 Days of LIIT day 11
Jan. 20: 30 Days of LIIT day 12

Since I have lots and lots and LOTS of leftover yarn in my stash basket (what yarn crafter doesn't?), and since Annie has started monopolizing the couch and it's blankets, I decided to make my cat her own couch. I suspect the crafter that made the demo for this pattern was also using stash yarn because, oof, those colors. But then, that's just me :imp:

I'm not very far along yet, but I'll post pictures once I've made some progress!
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Jan. 21: 30 Days of LIIT day 13
Jan. 23: 30 Days of LIIT day 14
Jan. 25: 30 Days of LIIT day 15
Jan. 27: 30 Days of LIIT day 16

I can never go to the library without getting at least one book...and usually more like four or five. So even though I had a stack of SIXTEEN books at home that need to be finished in two weeks, I checked out Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins-From Spices to Vices by Noah Whiteman yesterday. :shake:

I do love me a food science book, so hopefully it will be a quick read. :LOL:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Jan. 29: 30 Days of LIIT day 17
Jan. 30: 30 Days of LIIT day 18
Jan. 31: 30 Days of LIIT day 19
Feb. 2: 30 Days of LIIT day 20

Feb. 4: 30 Days of LIIT day 21
Feb. 5: 30 Days of LIIT day 22
Feb. 7: 30 Days of LIIT day 23
Feb. 8: 30 Days of LIIT day 24

I took a whole week off of work last week, and it was GLORIOUS :vibes:. I honestly did not realize how tense and tired I was. I enjoy my job! But apparently it's reeeeally stressful, too, because my mood score shot up nearly half a point last week (on a 4 point scale, for reference).

I guess this is the year I have to take a good look at what I'm doing, what I want from my job, and evaluate what I can and cannot change to keep from getting so burnt out again. And maybe add a little more money to ye ol' retirement fund every paycheck so I can stop working and start volunteering sooner :imp:.
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
@MadamMeow Thank you!

Feb. 11 - 30 Days of LIIT 25
Feb. 12 - 30 Days of LIIT 26
Feb. 14 - 30 Days of LIIT 27
Feb. 16 - 30 Days of LIIT 28

Anybody else celebrate Discount Chocolate Day this year? (Also known as the Feast of St. Mark Downs. :LOL:) It's a yearly tradition at my house: after work on Feb. 15th, I swing into the store and get Reece's hearts, peppermint patty hearts, and one of those giant heart-shaped boxes of truffles - and they're all fifty or seventy percent off. :yas: I'm set for chocolate candy for weeks! :noming:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
February 18: 30 Days of LIIT, day 29
February 19: 30 Days of LIIT, day 30 :completed:
February 21: Level Up! Challenge, day 1
February 23: Level Up! day 2

I've been replaying the rhythm game of the Kingdom Hearts series, Melody of Memory, recently. It's my go-to when I want to play something but don't have anything in particular in mind. The music is one of the best things about the series, and I can play for just a few minutes at a time instead of getting pulled into a long story. I'm trying to get all the trophies and collectables in the game, but since there are several HUNDRED collectables (and three of the trophies is getting all the collectables), needless to say it's taking me a while. That's okay, though: more playtime for me! :LOL:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
Thank you everyone!

Yikes, it's been a while. Let's just say:
Feb. 26 - March 15: Level Up! days 3 - 14

I get stuck on authors sometimes. As in, 'I loved this one book and now I must read EVERYTHING THEY'VE EVER WRITTEN.' Current fascination: Natalie Haynes. She's a classical Greek/Roman scholar with a fantastic sense of humor who writes fiction and non-fiction. I loved Pandora's Jar, and in the past three weeks I've read five of her books. There's three more on my to-read list, too.
I find it amusing that a lot of the places and people she talks about I recognize, not from my own reading and studies, but from playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey. :typy: Even though the man's been dead for centuries, every time Herodotus is mentioned my brain sits up and goes, "Oh, I know him!" :facepalm::chuckle:
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
March 18: Level Up! day 15
March 20: Level Up! day 16
March 21: Level Up! day 17
March 22: Level Up! day 18

March 25: Level Up! day 19
March 26: Level Up! day 20
March 28: Level Up! day 21
March 29: Level Up! day 22

My cat likes to chew on her grooming brushes. I don't really understand why - they have metal tines, and she acts like it hurts when she gets poked in the gums - but if I don't watch her she'll do it every time.
Yesterday I got a text while I was brushing her, and she snuck in for a bite while I was replying...and got a mouthful of cat hair. The look on her face::blink: Even after the indignity of being laughed at, and having me up in her face trying to get the hair before she swallowed it :panic:, she still tried to chew on the brush as soon as I set it down. :giveup:Cats.
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
@MadamMeow Very silly girl. She doesn't actually manage to bite the grooming brush very often, but she always tries :sneaky:. I give her an actual baby toothbrush to chew/rub on for a bit after every brushing session, so I'm hoping eventually she'll realize she likes the toothbrush better and give up on the grooming brush.
 
AquaMarie

AquaMarie

Well-known member
Paladin from Texas, USA
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 185
"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."
April 1 through April 12: Level Up! days 23-30 :completed:

Oh, man last week was bad. I dropped a tool at work, back behind a fish tank in a hard-to-reach corner, while I was trying to clean it.

When I leaned over the tank to try and get the tool, my phone fell in the tank. :panic:

And none of my contacts were saved. :sadness:I thought I'd backed them up to google, but I searched through my google account for two hours and couldn't find them. (I found my photos and videos, thank God). I'd had that phone for 8 years! I didn't have anyone's number memorized, and only a handful written down! I had to call my aunt (whom I hadn't talked to in, gosh, at least 5 years) to get my own mother's number! :cry:

And don't even get me started about setting up a new phone. :sharp:

{long, calming breath} Objectively speaking, the new phone is nice. It's bigger, faster, and has more memory than the old one. Once I get out of the I-hate-it-because-I'm-not-used-to-it phase, I'm sure I'll be very happy with it. And no more cracks and scratches on the screen! Reading books at lunch is going to be so much easier now :LOL:.
 
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