I had to go to Chillicothe to get my oil changed and on the way back, in the dark and in a construction zone an 18 wheeler realized he was going off the wrong ramp (it's an easy mistake to make in this area, if you're in the right lane you're on your way to Portsmouth like it or not) and he rolls right down the embankment back onto 35 right in front of me without slowing down. I can't move because there's a wall of construction traffic to my left. Thankfully my brakes are fine but Jesus dude... (of course you can't exactly stop an 18 wheeler on a dime.

Speaking of which on the way up there was a massive accident as well on the other side, took out much of the guard rail, was probably down in the creek. I couldn't see it through the lines of traffic and half dozen cop cars but it was no doubt a bad one.

Got another fandomtrees story done at the garage waiting on the oil change and then went to my coffee shop to work on another one but...my coffee shop is gone WTF? I don't go to Chillicothe for 2 months and this happens? It's a new store with a big menu (lots to look at. Sweetie, I want fucking coffee not overpriced sandwiches) They only had two lattes. I went with the candy lane...and it was tasteless. If you can't make chocolate peppermint right, I won't trust you again (I'm looking at you too Tim Horton's. Yours tasted like burnt coffee and cleaning chemicals). Sigh. Now the new place wants you to do conferences there and murder mystery dinners....You can't make coffee. I'm not trusting you with food.

TJ Maxx was so packed there weren't even carts 0_0 (did find some Pistachio cream)

The shoe store about damn near made me cry. I can't find shoes. why is everything WIDE? And then I put on a pair of new balances that should have worked but were wide and they were...NOT wide. How the fuck cheap are we making them these days? I usually take a narrow and this so called wide wasn't too wide (the arch was wrong for me though)

I finally got to sit down to write cards. If you want a holiday card from me and you haven't asked for one yet head here.

And since I forgot the books yesterday here we go
What I Just Finished Reading:

Wytches - a graphic novel horror I got from the library


Ripped Tide - short mystery I got at the WV book festival. It is...bad.

What I am Currently Reading:


Death at the Door - a meh paranormal mystery

To Die Once - a Maisie Dobbs mystery which I haven't read one of these in a while and this is...slow



What I Plan to Read Next: Poorly Made and Other Things


I forgot my tea advent again

Day 9 - Blueberry limeade green tea - Green tea, organic lemon peel, butterfly pea flowers, and natural blueberry limeade flavor. It was good

Day 10 Winter Wonderland Rooibos Herbal Tisane - Organic green rooibos, organic cacao nibs, organic cinnamon pieces, winter wonderland flavoring, and blue cornflower petals. not as good as the peppermint one...what is wonderland flavoring anyhow

Day 11 Organic Turmeric Ginger Citrus Herbal Tisane - Organic turmeric, organic ginger, organic hibiscus, organic lemon peel, organic orange peel and organic lemon myrtle. this balance the dirt flavor of turmeric well so not bad but why the hell are so many of these freaking herbals?!?

I had no tests today but I did wander down to the university for the dean's holiday party i.e. free cookies and candy I don't need but I want (and being nice to your dean is a good idea) I did laundry in the morning so I got there late and was given extra cookies to get rid of them.

From there I went to Jackson to putz about in the coffee shop while waiting to mee TH for dinner and the Merry Scary Christmas talk with James Willis at the library. Now I expected it to be paranormal hauntings since he is a paranormal investigator. More on that in a minute.

We went to the newer Mexican place. It was the worst meal I've ever gotten there. (usually it's good) They gave me an envelope. I've seen this at another place in Portsmouth, come back in January and get whatever gift is inside. I didn't do that one because that's 40 miles away but I will do this (and hope it's a one off that it was bad. If not, I like the other Mexican place better anyhow)

The talk was fun. It wasn't paranormal. It was more about the spooky ghost stories, folklore and songs with pagan leanings. Most of it I knew but some I didn't like the Woman in White story from Cornwall or all the names of the various Yule Lads. It was fun like I said but I usually enjoy James' talk. I asked a few questions and offered up another folklore tidbit for him: Befana.

However, before the talk began, he had music playing and it included a parody of Santa Baby, Krampus Baby. I went looking for it but didn't find it. What I did find was equally fun but NOT safe for work.

Takes about 50 seconds before getting into the song

No fannish 50 today. It's somehow late and I have put no thought into anything.

1. Why are you asking me for extra credit when you didn't do the REAL credit?
2. Why are you emailing me after the final and asking me what you can do to save your grade?
3. No, you can't have extra extra credit (okay I DO say this one all the time but no one listens)
4. How do you NOT KNOW what chapters are on the test?
5. Why do you think THOSE chapters are on the test? When the hell did we ever touch that chapter?
6. Why do you think you can ask for a pity D (that's 60% btw) when you have a 30% in class
7. Why do you think I'll give you extra anything when you haven't even shown up for exams
8. No I don't care that you're a senior and you won't graduate if you fail. The time to worry about that was weeks ago when I COULD have helped you.
9. How the fuck do you think leg muscles are LUNGS?


At any rate two are done and one to go. Some people are not going to have happy holidays.

At least I busted out a replacement fandomtrees story that I really like as well.


I have forgotten that I got an advent calendar from Simpson and Vail tea and haven't done my yearly tea tasting so buckle up, here comes 8 days at once
1. glacier national park - Black teas, organic juniper berries, birch bark, huckleberry flavor, uva ursi leaf (bearberry), and white cornflowers petals. One of my favorites (I get this one all the time)

2. Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie - Organic Chinese black tea, organic cacao nibs, organic cinnamon pieces and natural chocolate flavoring. - Not as a cinnamon as I would have liked

3. Snowberry Frost - Black teas, organic cacao nibs, cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), cranberry cream flavoring, and white cornflower petals. = I'm not a fan of cranberries but this one is good

4. Herbal Chai Masala- Organic cinnamon pieces, cardamom seeds, organic black peppercorns, organic whole cloves, orange peel, organic ginger pieces, organic anise seed and Indian sarsaparilla. - THANK YOU for no rooibos in this or chamomile

5. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Black Tea Blend - Black teas, lapsang souchong tea, hibiscus flowers, wild cherry flavor, orange blossoms, and bourbon whiskey flavor. - This is one of my go tos and I love it

6. Candy Cane Organic Rooibos Herbal Tisane - Organic green Rooibos, natural candy cane flavor and organic stevia. - As much as I don't like red rooibos I do like green and the peppermint is really nice in this and the stevia doesn't give me a headache like it often does nor tastes bitter

7. Victorian Earl Grey Tea - Rose Congou black tea, lavender petals, rose petals, rosemary and natural bergamot oil. - Another of my favorites from them. I'm not sure what really makes it Victorian, probably the flowers. Rosemary is a strong flavor but here it works

8. Rooibos Pear Herbal Tisane - Rooibos, pear flavor, alfalfa leaf and marigold petals.- Literally the worst of the bunch. Of course I don't like red rooibos and that's all you can taste. Some one should know pear is too delicate to stand up to rooibos


And for Music Monday the prompt today is A Song by someone Who has Passed away. I have two

The sound of my college days

And since I'll be heading back to his hometown soon

That part of what the academic coaches did was sit these students down and really look at them and ask are you SURE about your career pathway? I try hard not to judge because I don't know everyone's hardships but it's HARD not to when you tell me leg muscles are the carotid artery or lungs. I know they're going down the word bank and just picking out words but surely by the time you hit college you have to know your lungs and your carotids are NOT in your fucking legs. You just want to say healthcare is not for you or maybe, if possible, come back when the hardship isn't in your way (or talk to someone about whatever it is) because if they fail twice, the third time is nearly impossible to pass and I'm not sure what hospital is going to hire someone who fails anatomy multiple times (and the last time I interviewed in a hospital they wanted grades all the way back to middle school which was nuts.

I did get to the coffee shop today and Krogers and to CVS and who do I see in the window but one of my former students. Do you recognize me she asks. Yes (I did but not her name) She's here doing her pharmacy post-grad internship waiting to pass her boards so at least some of my student do goo.

This day disappeared like it was a race car at the Daytona 500.

I have a fanfic I wanted to make look like hand written letters. I'm struggling with work skins on AO3 and some of the fonts are hard (and honestly I'm not sure the younger readers could even read script) so I guess I'll just use Italics (it was easier to read than some of those fonts)


Have some science saturday


Science history: Female chemist initially barred from research helps helps develop drug for remarkable-but-short-lived recovery in children with leukemia — Dec. 6, 1954


MIT invention uses ultrasound to shake drinking water out of the air, even in dry regions Oh look it's Uncle Owen's water condensers that Luke was supposed to be fixing


Volcanic eruption triggered 'butterfly effect' that led to the Black Death, researchers find

Geminids 2025: The year's best meteor shower is coming, with a second shower hot on its tail

How a bacterial toxin linked to colon cancer messes with DNA

Moss spores survived in space for 9 months

allbingo does an amnesty round in December using any open old card so what I like to do is look over my old bingos and cherry pick fun prompts I didn't get to and remix them into a new card.

Sarcasm	Listen to the Nerd if You Want to Live	"Puttin' on the Ritz"	Healing	three sheets to the wind
If you are running for your life and are being chased by a monster/psychopath/axe murderer and you happen to be female take the high-heeled shoes OFF!	As a general rule don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.	black and blue	Manipulating People	gray hair
Bisexual / biromantic	Sometimes what we don't want is actually what we need	FREE SPACE	Vampires Love Eclipses	It is not strength that overcomes darkness but light.
Book	Pansexual / panromantic	Fear Stalks the Village	white as a sheet	All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
Love letters	"(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue"	You have three choices. You can give up - give in or give it your all	Consent is sexy	Serpents in Eden

love letters - story for sarajay
consent is sexy - can't fight this feeling
serpents in eden - amoldfield's story

The oncologist has graduated me to only having to come twice a year instead of every three months so that's good news. Quite happy about that.

So I did damage to my wallet in celebration. I went to Bahnhof WVrsthaus & Biergarten for a reuben. Was going to get a cocktail with my lunch but wanted to try the giant cream puff. Both of which were the same price as the sandwich and didn't want to have a 50$ lunch.

I got the cream puff

This is enough for 3 days of desserts. It was chocolate peppermint. Next time I'll do the cocktail. Wish I could have stayed for their Krampus nacht but this is in a dodgy area near downtown/Marshall's campus.

Hit the comic book store, Michael's and lost my ever loving mind in the Italian section of HomeGoods.


So a while back I got two of the mooncat nail polishes which I mentioned. Here are my thoughts

Hell is Other People Side note: this is a color match to my living room curtains (I have a preference apparently)

It covers well with just one coat compared to say OPI, China Glaze or Morgan Taylor (which are the other pro ones I've used) That said even with Mooncat's overpriced top coat, this stuff chipped within hours. By day three I had to remove it. So, while pretty I can't see it for the price.


404: Soul Not Found Okay I totally failed with the magnet but to be fair 1) I have no idea what I'm doing 2) I have almost no nail right now so I can't put the magnet UNDER the nail as instructed.

Amazing coverage. 2 coats and you can't even see how terribly ridged my nails are from the anemia. Also I am absolutely fascinated with the color change. I've had color change polish before but not one of this quality. Some light it's emerald in other purple, and yet others teal blue to almost black. It took 48 hours to chip it (also had the over coat) Now this one I would do again and would consider other magnetics.

Also there has to be bad news in one of my days right? At 130 I got a text from the company my insurance uses for Dexcom and they can't fill my order because they always do it for a quarter and I'm losing this insurance in 3 weeks. At 230 my sensor acts up. At 5 the sensor dies 3 days early. Guess who has to call the endocrinologist tomorrow for some emergency test strips to carry me over til January because I don't even know if the shit new insurance will even cover a CGM.

alter