Kayla Shay - Fanart, Fanfiction & More

I went back to work today after a brief hiatus that took me to Florida... Yay for vacations!

First, I got sick with a cold that tried to turn into something else. (white spots were on the throat!!) So I carted myself to the doctor and demanded medicine before my trip as I wanted to enjoy Florida. It worked.

Then the roomie and I left last week on Thursday afternoon and drove to Atlanta. On Friday, we spent the morning at the Georgia Aquarium where I was mesmerized by various aquatic critters. Then we had to detour into the Coca Cola Store where I limited the roomie to about 15 minutes. Otherwise he would have spent his entire life savings in there. We also wandered through Olympic Centennial Park and rode the new ferris wheel (SkyView Atlanta).

Then we hopped back in the car and drove to Orlando. This year, we did Universal Studios. I will say that Disney is much more welcoming of its guests and easier to navigate when it comes to parking your car. Let's just say that the first stop after finally getting in our room with luggage was the hotel bar.

We spent the next few days roaming the parks, lounging at the pool and wandering around CityWalk. We also learned that motion rides + 3D does not agree with either us anymore. There was a bit of motion sickness on night two... The Harry Potter castle and Hogsmeade looked awesome. And we enjoyed a butterbeer and food at The Three Broomsticks. And while on the Spiderman ride, we almost had to be rescued due to a ride malfunction. But they got it going again, so we didn't get a fun story to tell. And I kicked the roomie's ass at mini golf (two rounds!).

After leaving Orlando, we went to Ormond Beach for a night. I have a great-aunt that lives there. She's been sick with the worst form of shingles, but we were able to visit for a bit over lunch. Then we did some ocean swimming (it was warmer than the pool) and beach walking.

We drove back without an overnight stop on Tuesday. There was an accidental detour in Atlanta that actually saved us an hour of driving time. We put 1,712.4 miles on my car which is probably why I had a low tire pressure light come on yesterday. All in all, the trip was great!

Next up is NYC in a few weeks (16 days actually)!!

( TV, Writing & Other Ramblings )

In closing, please allow yourself to be as mesmerized by the manta ray as I was:

:(

One day before the 3rd anniversary of my parents house fire, we've lost Callie, the only of four cats to survive the fire. She would have been 20 years old this fall.

She's been declining in health for the past year after suffering some sort of stroke or something that caused issues with her back and hind legs. Today, she had another worse episode that left her unable to really move.

I got to see her this weekend while I was visiting with my parents. She even managed to make the jump from the floor to my lap twice to curl up and sleep. She will be missed.

I leave you with a picture of her with her brother Abu (my cat) who was lost 3 years ago in the fire.

So, I haven't been around much lately. Mostly, I'm just wore out by the time work is over that I just relax on the couch and binge read SGA John/Rodney fics of the past at AO3.

Work threw a curve ball that started showing a month and half ago or so that's just now getting cleared up. Won't say much about it on a open post, but it's amazing what people do in the workplace on workplace things. (and that came out much dirtier than it was supposed to)

Needless to say, I picked up a few more hats for a bit at work. But now we have someone on taking those hats back, so it's evening out again.

I'm going to make August my goal to play catch up on my prompts that I haven't filled so that come September I can do a new prompt post. I also need to go comment on some prompts that were filled for me (especially by sinfulslasher). I always hate that "I'm behind" feeling.

I'm looking forward to my Florida trip at the end of September / beginning of August. We pay off the Disney portion of the trip on the 16th. Then we just need to rack up the money for gas and food. We did make over $500 at our yard sale in June and plan to have another the weekend after Labor Day... So that should help.

So how is everyone else out there?

Thanks for all the input on The Bathroom Window Debate.

On a whim I tweet the options to the Property Brothers from HGTV and one of them responded back with:

@_DrewScott: I think just the sill black looks sharp

The roomie was excited that I got a tweet back since HGTV is pretty much all that is on our TV outside of a few select shows we watch.

The roomie and I have been leaning toward that one the most. Although all black in still in the running. He was going to chat with the painter next time she is there to paint and see what her thoughts are.

EDITED TO ADD

And now Michael Weatherly has weighed in:

@M_Weatherly: Current window.

Oh the dilemma!

So, our bathroom is still a work in progress (since January!!) but is down to mainly painting, new shower curtain and a few little things here and there.

The roomie and I watch a lot of HGTV and saw a house on Property Virgins with a black/white bathroom with similar tile work that had an all black window. This led to many scenarios being generated after a post or two on Facebook. So I thought I would carry the debate on over here too.

I have the original image, plus the 3 scenarios that incorporate black.

[Poll #1839002]

Step One

Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two

Surf around your friendslist (or friends of friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

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Note: If you want to send me something that requires more info from me, either comment or PM me and I'll let you know. If you want to keep it anonymous to me, contact azraelz_angel via PM and she'll let you know how to do it.

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My 2011 Christmas Wish List

Fan Stuff

(1) Supernatural themed Gibbs/DiNozzo fic(s)

(2) SGA/NCIS crossover(s) that are Gibbs/DiNozzo in Nature

(3) Sentinel/NCIS crossover(s)

(4) NCIS fic featuring Tony DiNozzo, Sr. (no TIVA please)

(5) Pre-Series NCIS fic(s)

Personal Stuff

(6) A Copy of CBS Watch Magazine featuring Michael Weatherly Thanks sarahj2222! :)

(7) Walmart gift card for gas/groceries

(8) Amazon Wish List: http://amzn.com/w/2U00K5IU70KUE

(9) A cool post card

(10) A donation to any charity of your choice

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( Other LJ Wish Lists... )
If you have a list posted let me know in a comment and I'll link to it. I know some have already posted, but I can't remember who...

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Over a year ago, Callie (along with my parents) survived a house fire that claimed the lives of 3 other cats in the house. Including my cat Abu who was Callie's brother.

Callie is now around 18 years old and enjoying her second kitten-hood as you can see from a few videos. :)

In regards to the mouse video, Callie has an army of toy mouse (around 8) and she transports the troops throughout the house to wherever my mom is. And she cries while doing it. My mom will always wake up surrounded by mice. At least they are of the toy variety.

So... In advance, let me apologize to anyone who's tried to get in touch with me the last few weeks and the last few months really. Leading up to now, work was a pain and a half due to some personnel issues. Those were finally resolved the first week of May, so Hooray!

Then, my aunt that lived in Washington DC retired and she paid for me to fly out and drive her car back with her so she didn't have to do it alone. So it went like this...

April Fool's Day
My one-way ticket from Nashville to DC was purchased.

Thursday, May 12, 2011
I left work at 3pm and met my parents for the drive down to Nashville. I was going to crash with my friend that lives there and her husband was going to meet us somewhere. Just after we crossed into Tennessee, we hit a monsoon. Literally. Traffic just stopped on the interstate. Usually people pull off, but this time, it just stopped. At another point, a car beside us through a wall of water over my car. It wasn't fun. Eventually we met my friend's husband and all was good. Since my flight was at 6am on Friday, I had to wake up at 3am...

Friday, May 13, 2011
I woke up with a sore throat. I figured it was from the garlic bread and dipping sauce that I ate the night before as I have food allergies to seasonings and such. So I disregarded the irritation. Upon arriving at the airport, I expected the worse. I was flying one-way to DC on Friday the 13th with no checked luggage. Somehow, I breezed right through security and the flight was uneventful.

I arrived in DC and killed 2-3 hours roaming the monuments until my aunt was ready to pick me up. We headed out of DC in the afternoon and hit rush hour, so we didn't get very far that afternoon before stopping for the night. Plus, there were some strong storms in the area and we figured better safe than sorry.

Saturday, May 14, 2011
The sore throat morphed, so from Virginia to Illinois, I was sneezing while driving my aunt's car. It was not a pleasant time. Plus, my ears did not like the mountains and hills. By the time we arrived at my parents place that evening I was wiped out.

Sunday, May 15, 2011
I was in full blown cold mode by this time. I vegged on my parents couch until I mustered enough energy to drive myself back to Kentucky. Upon getting home a completely crashed.

Monday, May 16, 2011
Woke up and couldn't talk above a whisper. Called my boss and croaked out that I wasn't coming to work, took some medicine and crawled back into bed. Was only interrupted by work phone calls once, so that was good.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Woke up and couldn't open my eyes! The dreaded pink-eye had set up shop in both of my eyes. So I crawled myself to the doctor and they took a throat culture, gave me some meds and told me to sleep.

Wednesday-Today...
I went back to work, but I wasn't worth anything until today. The meds had my head swimming and hurting. I've gone through about 6-7 boxes of kleenex and let's just say it's not pretty. Today, I'm finally feeling energy and can breath without blowing my nose. Still sound congested in my voice, but it is better.

I actually think I'll be able to stay awake when I get home from work. All I've done sine the 15th is sleep... and I'm tired of sleeping. :(

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Beyond the sick front... My thoughts are with those in Joplin, MO. My mom has a cousin who's son and wife live there. Their house was spared, but she was on her way to work and took cover in a person's house that was destroyed. She was trapped in the rubble for about 6 hours before they found her. At least she had her cell with her and got signal so she was able to call her husband.

And we're battening down the hatches here today. The weather channel put us at a 9 out of 10 on their tornado condition index chart. :(

Well... back to work I go now that lunch has ended and here's hoping I'll have internet tonight when I get home if these storms hit.

Just witnessed a very bad accident involving a motorcycle and an older lady in a car... don't think the guy on the motorcycle survived. Keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. It has me a little shaken up now. I was doing good at the scene of the accident; called 911, kept the older woman calm, talked to the cops, etc.

ETA: I'm doing better this evening... The man driving the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene. Very sad. We have had a lot of serious accidents in our area in the last few weeks with several people getting killed. It's not a good thing.

Instructions
Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile".
I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.

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( What Hawk Asked Me... )

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I called to update my address and they told me I only had $32 left to pay on all my bills. So I paid it and they are all taken care of. Yay!!