lunabee34 | Entries tagged with my birthday

1. I had a good birthday. I got flowers (which are still going strong!) and a Star Trek card game from

sweettartheart and cards from

lyr,

decynthus, and

princessofgeeks. Thank y'all! I also got lots of stationery stuff (a friend gave me a Yamamoto paper tasting set, Josh gave me a leather notebook cover, and I got various notecards and notebooks). The kids gave me amazing cards. The one they drew together said on the front, "You're Old," and inside it said, ( spoiler for Star Trek Prodigy ) This goes in the save forever pile.

2. I know one of my requests for Yuletide already. Mom and Dad watch westerns on True Grit pretty much 24-7, and this visit featured The Posse from Hell--the gayest cowboy movie that doesn't realize how gay it is of all time. I mean, y'all, the seasoned gunslinger tends lovingly to the greenhorn's butt wounds at one point, and they frequently stare into each other's eyes and kinda pant into each other's mouths, and THEY ARE SO IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER.

3. I also want to request Star Trek Prodigy. We just finished the two-season series when we got back from my folks. I can't say enough good things about this show--from the callbacks to every Trek franchise and the little Easter eggs to all the voice actor/character cameos, this show is just a delight. I love that it is joyful and hopeful and kind; it's firmly a kids' show, but who cares? It's just an excellent watch. I highly recommend it.

4. Mom and Dad's was fine. They didn't turn on that horrific American Family Radio even one time, and there was zero craziness (which proves to me that when they're scared of losing contact with their grandchildren they do possess the ability to keep their mouths shut for a couple of days). They are clearly on the back foot and concerned that we're going to cut them out of their lives. Not gonna lie; it made for a much more pleasant trip.

I know I missed some posts while I was gone, so let me know if you posted anything I need to know about over the last week.

I got another Etsy gift card, so I was able to get some silver and gold hair clips, a silver and turquoise bracelet to replace the one I lost about a year ago (yes, there is a theme to my Etsy gift card use), and writing gloves by Storiarts with text and graphics from A Christmas Carol. I also got a gift card to the Laurel Mercantile from

spikedluv and got Ouida's Garden hand soap (how could I resist with that name!) and some Garden Mint wax melts; thank you! Mom and Dad gave me various and sundries, including some moolah. Altogether a wonderful birthday haul!

( lately read )

Quotes and Ideas of Interest from Shumway:

"By 'ideological,' I mean more or less what Althusser meant when he used the term to name that part of experience which we take so completely for granted that it becomes 'nature.' Ideology so defined is a '"lived" relation to the real' that has a powerful hold on the subject because it is largely unconscious. Thus, to quote James Kavanaugh, 'at stake in [ideological conflicts] are not different opinions, but different realities" (32).

"But both groups accepted the traditional Christian view of human evil and thus rejected the assumption common to both liberals and Marxists that human nature could be improved given the right social conditions" (230). This argument explains a lot about my personal experience of conservatism vs liberalism, that the evangelical Christian worldview denies the ability for improvement and progress in favor of focusing on universal and unremitting human evil.

1. Fiona placed fifth in the nation for extemporaneous poetry composition at the National Beta Club Convention Elementary Division. We are so proud of her!!!

2. I have already started to get glorious birthday presents. My SIL got me some elegant stationery from a shop in her hometown,

amejisuto got me a gorgeous purple quill with ink stand and a journal to record the books I've read, and

misbegotten sent me an Etsy gift card which I have used to buy some earrings. Our honeymoon was a cruise that left out of New Orleans, and Josh bought me a gorgeous garnet bead necklace and earrings set at the Riverwalk while we were waiting to board. But somewhere along the way, I lost one of the earrings, so I got some beaded hoops that are a perfect match! Thanks to everyone!

3. I've been rereading some books I've kept since childhood that Fiona has outgrown so that I can say goodbye to them.

( children's books )

The New Poetic by C.K. Stead

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know very little about W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot and very little about modernism, so this was very informative for me. I also like the author's writing style; for a book of literary criticism written in the 60s, it's very readable with clearly cited sources.

And then the author loses me in the last two chapters where he explains in-depth Eliot's theory of writing poetry and whether or not he thinks Eliot accomplishes it in specific poems. Some of it is just that I don't like Eliot, and some of it is that his ideas about the poetry writing process are incredibly opaque and bizarre to me.

View all my reviews

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is so good. Atwood captures the cruelties of adolescence in disturbing and moving ways.

I think that what I enjoy the most about this novel (besides Atwood's always beautiful prose) is that the narrator always feels herself separate from other girls and then women; she feels more comfortable with boys and then men and feels contemptuous of many women. Throughout the course of the novel, though, she comes to realize that many, if not most, of her assumptions about about the other women she's known in her life have been flawed.

View all my reviews

My birthday was Monday. I turned 38. It was a pretty fantastic birthday.

My friends gave me a gift certificate to a local automotive shop which was awesome. We love to support local businesses. Another set of friends gave me a gift certificate to Ulta which I used to buy All the Bath Products. :)

Emma made me a card, and Josh got me a wireless speaker thing that hooks up to Spotify and plays music. Since the wane of CDs and the death of our last CD player, we don't listen to music in the house often, so I'm really glad to have this. I've been thinking lately about how important music used to be to me and how little I listen to it now. This gift is the kick in the pants I needed to change a habit I've been thinking about and lamenting for several months but not doing anything about.

I got cards and well wishes from

lyr,

timespirit,

kaleecat, and

decynthus (who also sent me some replacement photos for my fridge magnets: Alfred and bb!Bruce, Lucifer, and bb!Groot), and

sallymn.

executrix sent me an amazing package full of all my favorites: books, notebooks, perfume, and some killer new clothes.

Looking forward to seeing what 38 brings.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/520723.html

1. I think I have neglected to mention here that Fiona is now fully potty trained. She's been pee-pee potty trained for more than a year now (been well over a year since she peed in her pants overnight, always pees in the potty during the day). She is going on three weeks pooping in the potty every day! It's done, my friends!!!!!!! She's been wearing panties at all times for a week now, and she is so proud of herself. No more pullups! No more pooping in them! I feel like she's graduated high school or something. This is huge and momentous. Whooooooo!

2. A friend gave me an Amazon gift card, and all my goodies have arrived, including Wayne Hoffman's novella An Older Man (the sequel to Hard) and some new ink cartridges for my Smiggle.

3.

executrix sent me a book about perfume which has spurred me to go through and organize my stash and update my masterlist to reflect new acquisitions. I went through a period where I wasn't testing perfume or even wearing it much, but now I feel inspired again, so expect to see more perfume posts soon.

4. I am super stoked to have found a bunch of gluten free frozen meals. I went online and searched the websites of different frozen meal companies for gf offerings and took the list with me because it's just too hard to stand with the door open in the freezer section and pick up each individual box and search the label. When I tried that last shopping trip, I only found one gf frozen meal that wasn't in the tiny little gf section. This time, I went with a list of at least thirty meals and came home with about ten that look really good. Yay!

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/477932.html

Well, it was a mixed bag my friends.

On the plus side, travel was great: no delays, minimal construction, and Fi travels like a champ now. We did narrowly miss being involved in an accident. Several car lengths ahead of us two cars had a terrible collision, and in trying to stop in time, the eighteen wheeler next to us burned the rubber all off its back tires in a plume of smoke; I thought it was going to lose a tire and turn over or jackknife, so I ended up braking into the median, but all was well.

Also good: I reconnected with my childhood BFF (first grade through first year of college) and we had a blast catching up. I think we are going to be a part of each other's lives again, and I am so happy about that. Plus she has all the best gossip about everybody we went to school with since she still lives in the area we grew up in. In addition, I got to see Josh's BFF from high school who became my BFF in college along with his wife and kiddos.

Bestest: I got a card in the mail and an e-card from

kaleecat! I got well wishes from

trobadora,

decynthus, and

timespirit. I got some pretty rad birthday gifts from various and sundry.

On the negative side: on the way there, we accidentally stopped some place where I couldn't eat anything, and I ended up having to eat some lunch meat and cheese roll ups in the car while everybody else had delicious food. The route we take home goes through the ass end of Alabama where there is genuinely nothing for freaking ever, not even gas stations for miles and miles and miles, and since we change time zones, that often affects where we can eat too. I anticipated a problem and packed the lunch meat and cheese for that very reason, but it was still pretty disheartening. On the way back, Josh told me he found a place that had gluten free options, but when we got there, it was clear the servers didn't really understand what gluten was and the kitchen confirmed that their chicken wasn't gluten free, so I had to eat a salad (arugula, mozzarella, avocado, tomato) with lemon squeezed on top instead of dressing. It was a really good salad and I was okay with it, but Josh was all embarrassed and upset because he didn't realize that unless places have a dedicated gluten free menu, having gluten free options generally means a salad with no protein or dressing. I think this is the moment that he realized that we're basically confined to eating at places like Applebees or O'Charleys unless we do a lot of research and are prepared to go out of our way.

Also negative: the night before my birthday, my dad was a total asshole, hollering at me and being a jerk, and it came out of nowhere. It really upset me and hurt my feelings, and I'm re-evaluating my interactions with my parents as I do from time to time. *sigh* My dad has anger issues which are bolstered in very negative ways by his evangelical faith; after all, he is the avatar of god in the household. No one ever calls him on his shit, ever, and I have zero memories of him every apologizing to me about anything although my memories of him hollering at me unjustifiably are legion. In fact, Saturday night when he lost his shit, he was reading his Bible. This is not the good kind of irony, my friends.

Anyway, Josh is heading out of town on Wednesday for five days in Michigan for a conference, so tomorrow is incredibly busy: dentist appt for Ems, chiropractor appt for Josh, cross country for Ems, washing clothes, and packing for Josh. Whew. I don't know when I'll catch up on Game of Thrones and the Penny Dreadful finale.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/474909.html

Thank you for all your birthday wishes! I had an excellent 36th birthday even if it was spent in a whirlwind of travel.

*hugs*

I am so grateful for all of you and the joy you've brought into my life over the last decade.

I finished the Abhorsen trilogy while I was visiting my parents this weekend. Y'all, I know I had some issues with the first book, Sabriel, that

the_rck sums up pretty well: I think that it's pretty hard to get emotionally involved in most of Nix's stories (at least those that I've read). I think part of it is that he doesn't dig very far into his character's emotions, not in ways that engage readers, at least. So you kind of know, for example, that a character is probably frightened because what's going on is clearly described as terrifying, but the character doesn't react with any depth to show how that particular person responds to fear and to make the reader feel empathetic fear. source

That is exactly how I felt while reading Sabriel. I knew she was sad because what was happening would make anyone sad, but her sadness wasn't made palpable for me. I wonder if that's a deliberate choice for Sabriel's character, though--for her to be so stoic and practical and down to business--because two seconds into Lirael, the second book, I've got all the emotional depth I could ever want.

( spoilers for Lirael and Abhorsen )

Next, I think I shall read Mira Grant's Parasite.

I have posts to make about Game of Thrones and Penny Dreadful in the next few days, which I know you all await with bated breath dangling on your tenterhooks.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/435588.html

1. I've seen a meme. I want to meme! I haven't talked to y'all in forever. :) Meme goes something like--pick a pair of characters from one of my fandoms, and I'll tell you why I do or do not ship it. Since I pretty much ship everything, my answers will probably be more along the lines of, "This is how I see this pairing working." This is not a call for me to defend the most reedonkulus pairings ever ~~or is it?~~ .

2. We have decided to call Fiona's pacifier "Gibbs." LOL Every morning I tell her, "Let's see what Gibbs is doing," and then we are so sad when Jethro is not on the TV. So now, Feefers (yes, I know; *hangs head*; we do nicknames wrong around here) always has her Gibbs.

3. I have awesome friends! Thanks to

lyrstzha and

kaleecat for the birthday cards. Y'all are so sweet. I can't remember if I thanked

executrix or not for the wonderful package she sent with the most amazing lip balm and the cutest little outfit for Fiona; if so, many thanks again, and if not, thanks for the first time. I also got a package from

henrycat with some books on loan, the cutest little sweater for Fiona, and some candy from Japan. Emma has already dubbed the candy a success. :)

4. Have some NCIS recs!

When I started getting into this show,

ariadne83 warned me that the fandom was full of woobie!Tony who's the victim of all sorts of rapery and abuse. Naturally, I immediately went looking for such fic. LOL

Damage by

xanthe
Tony/Gibbs; NC-17 PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS!
A current case leads the team to discover a tragedy hidden in Tony's past. This is well-written with everyone in character. Warms the cockles of my angst-loving heart.

Vacationing in Tel-Aviv by

laytoncolt
Ziva and Tony-centric gen
Wow. This is just. Wow. I love this look at what makes Ziva tick and the lengths she is willing to go to.

Agent Afloat Atlantis by

Mhalachai
Ziva-centric (I would call this gen, but there is a sexual encounter between Tony and Ziva as well as mentions of past Ziva/Jenny; it's certainly not shippy)
XOVER with SGA
Oh, man. This is fantastic. I love this look at Ziva as Agent Afloat on Atlantis in the aftermath of Jenny Sheppard's death. I would read story after story set in this 'verse.

I think this is finally it, y'all. I will *not* be pregnant for the next sixty years. LOL We are headed out to the hospital with our fingers crossed. Wish me luck!

Also,

executrix, I got your birthday package, and it was perfect! Emma fought me for the lip gloss, Josh cooed over the owl hat, and I can't wait to put Fiona in that outfit. *massive, massive hugs* As always, you brought a little more joy to my life.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/378339.html

I had a fabulous birthday. I got cards from Lisa, Mom, Shannon,

kaleecat, and my sister-in-law as well as many online well wishes from you guys!

sweet_exile just sent me a chocolate userhead, in fact. :)

As far as gifts from family go, Josh got me a Kindle with a green cover. It is so beautiful and tiny and mine! LOL So far I've bought Gwenna Sebastian's Lost and Found, a novel about the romance that ensues between two former servicemen when they start working together as civilians (I think Gwenna calls this novel a "boxer ripper" LOL) and the latest George R.R. Martin novel. We pre-ordered it, and when I woke up yesterday morning, there was my shiny A Dance with Dragons.

Mom got me a new pair of tennis shoes, a jar of locally produced honey, six jars of tomatoes they'd canned (yay!), a whole flat of ripe tomatoes, and a set of pjs. My brother and sister-in-law gave me two beautiful shot glasses and a bottle of tequila they bought on the cruise they just took. Aunt Gail gave me a sushi making kit that included some beautiful dishes, and Aunt Linda gave me some moolah. MeeMaw D., of course, continued her tradition of donating two Gideon Bibles in my name, which. *sigh* I personally believe it is hugely, hugely tacky to give charitable donations as gifts unless the charity you are giving to is one that the gift recipient supports. I mean, she'd have a coronary if I presented her with a donation to a charity working to prevent HIV in gay kids or some other charity she would find objectionable but that I wholeheartedly support. Finally on the family front, Joey gave Emma book on bird watching and me The Space Opera Renaissance.

Friend gifts included The Hunger Games from Ryan and Jen; a gorgeous beaded scarf, a beautiful pin, and a necklace from

executrix; and from Daniel and Jacquie--a merkin.

What is a merkin, you ask? How do you make one? Check out Daniel's LOLarious How to Make a Merkin for Your Friend's Wife's Birthday.

All in all, 32 was a pretty sweet haul!

Thanks, everybody. <3

[1]
When you are married to a music snob, this is the sort of thing you are liable to hear from your husband at two o'clock in the morning while trading off Youtube videos (his of music that sounds like whales mating with synthesizers and yours of Picard and Q's epic love):

You have perfect tone. Everything you do rebounds off every surface, and it's pitch perfect. It's a hard sound--strong--but perfect. Also sometimes you're an irritation that bubbles over into melody.

[2]
Tonight we watched Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals. Not only did I cry approximately seventeen times, I also spent an inordinate amount of time hoping that fandom has glommed onto this beautiful friendship. Yes, y'all. That's my default setting. People who love each other on TV need fic archives devoted to them.

[3]
When we're rained out of the pool, thank the Prophets I have a daughter who is consoled with the promise of a DS9 marathon. :)

[4]
Upcoming, birthday haul post (pre-emptive thanks to

executrix for the awesome package!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everybody. *hugs and smishes*

I am headed off for two weeks--week one in New Orleans with the yayness and week two in Mississippi with the craziness LOL. I will have internet access, but I probably won't be spending too much time checking it.

I'll miss you guys.

See you on the flipside.

So it's almost that time of year again in which I celebrate my natal anniversary. Happy Almost Birthday to me!!!

And I feel mildly skeevy and needy even making this list, yet I push on ahead. Ahem.

Things what would make Lorraine happy on her B-Day:

Icon Wishlist

My icon aesthetic tends to run to black and white with some splashes of color, most notably red. I usually prefer textless icons, and I really like icons of people's faces and bodies in which they aren't centered or part of them is out of frame. A quick look at my userpics will give you some idea of what I mean.

I'd love icons of Colonel Caldwell, Ron Weasley, Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Bella from SPN, some kind of a food icon (something picturing food and eating or eating utensils), Gaila, Uhura, and Jared and Jensen (as opposed to Sam and Dean).

I have had a hankering for some icons with text, though: a Lady Gaga "Alejandro" icon of the Night Porter-esque scene that says (or flashes) Once more with pegging, bless hir heart (artist's choice for picture), something about a tinhat, and something about Fail!

Video Wishlist

I would adore SPN vids to Journey's "Highway Run" and James Marsters's Don't Worry Son.

I've also made posts about my vid bunnies that you might wanna check out. [I will pretty much do anything and everything, no holds barred, for anyone who wants to make me an SPN vid to "Magnolia Mountain."]

Here's what I got for turning 28!

1. Cards from Anna, Great-Aunt Ruby,

trekgirl55, and Cousins Robert and Nancy.
2. Melanie took me out to lunch
3. Janette took me out for drinks
4. MeeMaw C hooked me up with some cash
5. MeeMaw D gave me three necklaces and a rotisserie
6. Sarah gave me three months of Netflix!
7. Aunt Gail gave me some gorgeous silver earrings and some bath wash
8. Aunt Linda gave me a whole bunch of lipgloss and some nail polish
9. Mama and Daddy gave me a silver and turquoise bracelet and necklace set and Mom bought me three dresses
10. My brother Russell and his fiance got me a George R. R. Martin book that looks really promising
11. Josh's parents gave me some money and then Margaret went through her cabinets and gave me four boxes full of antique dishes and linens, some of which belonged to Josh's grandmother--(pictured below)
12. Andy took me to lunch and to see Waitress in Memphis; he also gave me a Lorne doll and a drawing he made (pictured below)
13.

executrix gave me a purse and some shiny shoes
14.

sweet_exile gave me some paid lj time!

All in all, not too shabby. :)

( pictures of Andy's drawing and some of the dishes and linens that Margaret gave me )

1. I got a birthday package from

executrix with sequiny shoes and a purse that would make any crow die of jealousy. And there was a book for Josh and curry paste! I love my friends. Love love love. *happy sigh*

2.

fanthropology has the coolest challenge going on right now: What would your OTP be if each member of the pairing had to come from a different fandom? Really cool idea and some really cool answers. Get inspired and write some of these, purleeeeeeeeease! This link takes you to the second page of the post and you can navigate to the first page through the box on the side where it says previous page; I mention this as I hunted for that button forfreakingever.

3. I'm bored. Meme with me! In HP, BtVS, Ats, FF, or SPN (or anything else you think I might know the characters)--respond with a pairing and I'll tell you how their *last* kiss goes.

4. I've gotten started on my fic for

ana_grrl's ficathon that I can't remember the name of. LOL My randomly generated title is "The Mystery of Proud Typewriter" and I'm going all A. S. Byatt on that mother; it's gonna be a Possession style monstrosity complete with all kinds of laborious research on my part! Whooooo! I can't finish my fricking Ph.D. but I can research H.P. Lovecraft and typewriters in the service of porn. Yeah, I pretty much feel that makes all right with the world, too. *g*

We are nearly finished filming the Firefly movie!!!!!! This project has consumed hours of my life, but it has been so fun. It's gonna run about 45 minutes, I think, when we're done with it. I intend to bring lots of copies to pass out at Writercon (and anyone who ends up with a copy is free to burn as many copies of it for as many people as s/he likes), but I want to share the love with those of you who aren't gonna make the convention. So:

1. Those of you on the flist (sorry I can't extend it further; I'm a poor gal) who aren't going to Writercon but want a copy, email me your snail mail addies, or if I've already got your addy just comment here. Be advised it'll probably be a couple more weeks before we have the film ready to mail.

2. Those of you who are going to Writercon: Do you think that people would be interested in a showing of the film? If so, do you think there'll be equipment there to show it?

ETA I got the sweetest birthday card from

crazydiamondsue. Thanks so much, sweetie. You really made me smile.

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday thanks to you guys and my RL friends and family. I thought I'd make a list of all the goodies I acquired for thankyou note purposes. :)

I got a ton of sweet birthday wishes in the comments to my I Love My Friends Meme.

ana_grrl wished me a Happy Gorram Birthday and

sweet_exile did as well, along with

ponders_life's well wishes.

emella made me a gorgeous sparkly banner and she bought me more icon time!!!!!!! Wooohooooo! I kiss you to death for that, Ems.

executrix made me tear up some with this bit of sweetness.

My material haul includes Aveda bath products, money, and silver chargers to go under my china from my parents; an entire freezerful of meat, three salt cellar spoons, some darling clothes for Emma and a gumbo spoon in the Schofield pattern Lorraine from Josh's parents; Godiva dark chocolate and mint scented shampoo and conditioner from Josh and Emma; beautiful note cards and a pen from Aunt Katy; lavender-scented bath products and a candle from

trekgirl55; and BtVS season 2 from

krayat. And for Father's Day, Josh got a speakerphone, Philip K. Dick's Through a Scanner Darkly and Jeffrey Steingarten's It Must've Been Something I Ate.

And there's promise of more to come! Melanie's taking me out to lunch tomorrow, and my birthday party won't be until this Friday. *sighs contentedly*

Thanks to all of you for making my birthday so much fun!

ETA 6/21 Melanie and Lisa took me out to lunch at La Creperie, with Mel buying lunch and Lisa buying dessert, and

crazydiamondsue sent me the sweetest eCard with kitties and icecream. :)

ETA 6/25

hermionesviolin sent me two books on Tarot and a pack of Tarot cards, which were a huge hit at my party. And Lisa gave me a gorgeous choker and matching earrings at my party. :)

ETA 7/5 Lisa also gave me a Blue Sun T-shirt, and Andy took me and her out for dinner and Superman in Memphis. Michaela took me out to lunch, and Aunt Gail gave me some antique silverware.

First off, I have been the worst lj-er to lj, recently. I've made little piles of scraps of paper with posts I wanna read, dating back to the 2nd. I've neglected you guys, my fandom buddies, and I miss talking to you. I mean, I had 25 messages in my inbox today and every blooming one was spam. LOL So......

My birthday is tomorrow, and in honor of this blessed day *g*, I wanna start a meme--the I Love My Friends Meme. It seems like a lot more wank than usual has been floating around lj and lots of people have been feeling down or ill or just not as available as usual, like me. So to celebrate my birthday, tell your flist how much they mean to you. If you've got a huge flist, split it up over a few days or even weeks, but tell your fandom friends how much they've enriched your lives.

( Shoutouts to all the people I've friended )

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June 2025

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Page Summary

June Update
We're Home!
My child is a genius
Happy birthday to me!
Gotta whole lotta squee
Home again, home again, jiggety jog
Birthday + Abhorsen Trilogy
Surfacing
Monday's child
Turning 32
Miscellany
Adios, mis amigos!
Narcissism Amnesty Day?
My birthday haul!
OMG with the squeee
Firefly unzipped: Mal/Jayne
My birthday haul
Lorraine's Birthday Meme

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