It's okay, I've done it before.

I can barely express my thanks for all of the wonderful gifts I've been given. I only need to look at my LJ to be reminded of how much sharing this fandom means to me, but I want to say thank you for even more holiday bounty.

This icon (along with the fic I recc'd previously) were fantastically-inspired gifts from leo_draconis, who's orchestrated so much wonderfulness this holiday *blows kisses*.

I also received wonderful nursey and Dan icons from the lovely bleedforyou1, a new LJ friend *hugs*.

I've (or rather, my lucky children) have had more RL cards from alovelycupoftea and softly_sweetly, who's gift of ST movies I'm still delighting in getting through. (I know, I have no taste:)

Virtually, I've also received a lovely card from dirty_darella (H & D looking so cute in their pyjamas!), and a family of Christmas bears and other great v-gifts from yumekutteikt, cassie_black12, moonlitdark, leo_draconis, arineat, cinnetart, being_here, frayach, thepretender501, and demicus. I can only echo dysonrules when I say how ridiculously happy getting these makes me.

cassie_black12, my soul-sister, gifted me with lovely smelly things for my bath, lovely gifts for the kids, and a huge amount of time and money to visit me whilst I was feeling poorly. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for your friendship.

I also got a nice phone call from Mr Nursedarry last night (who had to work, but still got a Christmas dinner). He'll be home now in less than a month. *throws confetti*

nicevenn organised hd_seasons stocking stuffers (click on the link below) which consisted of the Most. Wonderful. Gifts. Thank you so much to everyone who created the fic, art, and media. *am still amazed at the sheer quantity and quality of them* They have brought me so much joy today, it's almost criminal. Ginormous armfuls of love and chocolate go to sabinefrappe, uniquepov, nicevenn, quimvaa, dirty_darella, kjp_013, khasael, ficreader76, and kitty_fic. I'll be reccing these again when they're reposted on individual LJs after the 1st.



Note: there are three - yes, three - pages. Click on Next for the other pages, as they're not linked.


If I've left anything off, please do call me on it. We've had a lot of trouble with the post due to weather, so if you've sent something via snail-mail and I've not yet mentioned it, chances are it's not yet arrived *sob*

To: groolover
Gift: Drabble
Rating: G (what?!)
Word Count: 503
Summary: Telling his parents he’s in love should be easy, right?
Author's notes: To one of the brightest, most hard-working women in fandom. Thank you for all you’ve done for me both virtually and in RL. Huge ♥ and Happy Christmas!

( No Easy Thing )

thilia has killed me dead. Again.

My guilty pleasure is James/Al (what, really? Yes, shuddup).

I never imagine them past the living-in-the-moment stage because, let's face it, it ain't never gonna work. But that's what makes James/Al SO DAMN WONDERFUL-HAWT!!!

Just look what she's given me as a Christmas present

Definitely NWS. I mean it!

Thank you SO much to lilyginny27, brissygirl, and franalan for the gorgeous cards!

S, I love the menorah! and my kids will adore those animal stickers! I expect to find the cat covered in them in no time!

I'm sorry not to be sending cards this year - instead, my gifts are betas/Brit-picks, ficlets, and a few donations of ££ and time. Next year, I'm going to try and get to the card thing without fail... you can almost sense the optimism oozing from my pores, can't you? Seriously, I love giving them as much as I like getting them!

Thank you all, again!

Hello new friends and thank you to fancypantsdylan, phoenixacid, sra_danvers, nenne, kitty_fic, nicevenn, and cassie_black12 for the lovely v-gifts.

I'm coming down with the cold that half my co-workers and both my children have had, so I'm going to have an earlier-than-normal night (although I may still get onto the Strictly Come Dancing spoiler site should I wake up:). I've got the divine cassie_black12 coming down next weekend, and I can't be sick for that - NO WAY!

In addition, I wanted to pop in and say a big thank you to my lovely treacle_tartlet for the beautiful Christmas card. I ♥ you so much, sweetie; you've kept me smiling and saying guh in equal measures all year!

Also, I have so much love for the wonderful artses (LIKE MY AWESOME ART!GIFT on hd_holidays) and fics going up these days - I've been trying to keep up (I do on Wednesdays, at least), but there's so damn much now, I'm falling desperately behind.

Thank you also to everyone who's asked me to beta - I love getting sneak-previews! Huge thanks to groolover for letting me foist a few onto you for a much-better second opinion.

And, finally, to the recipient of my Seekrit Ho pressie at the University - you might not see this post, but if you do, you are in for ONE HELL OF A SURPRISE! Prepare to be amazed. Now, where has all the rum gone? And why is Cic's horse eating mince pies out of my Beemer?

Goodnight everyone! No doubt I'll bother you from my phone later.

Hi all,

I've got to get up at stupid o'clock to catch my flight and I've got eleventy-billion things to do between now and then, so I'm posting this now.

Firstly -



I hope you have a wonderful day with softly_sweetly next Saturday, and you'll get the rest of your presents after I get back, since for some strange reason, the post office isn't open on bank holidays... You are a wonderful friend and I'm so sorry I won't be here for your big day. (That's a lie - I wish you could be with us in FL for it!)


Secondly - I'll see you at JFK tomorrow, lotus_lizzy! *jumps up and down in anticipation*


Thirdly - YAY for Opening Day! Am going to try to catch the Marlins live next Sunday!!!


Now, for an improtant public service warning message to my flist - cassie_black12 is playing around with my layout, so if you see any posts from this account between now and the 16th, it's unlikely to be ME! (I'll no doubt come back to a load of Hugo/James and gay!Neville icons...)

Cheerio everyone and Happy Easter and Passover!!! *waves*

Hello Flist! *waves* I have many reasons to wear my Cylon Happy Face these days:

* Mr Nursedarry returned from Afghanistan safe and sound during the week and there has been much celebration (and many mornings where I've said "You get the kids ready for school, I'm going for a bath"). Ah, the sheer joy. Course he's back again later in the year, but until then, I'm getting as much free time out of him as I can!

* I have now finished two-thirds of this horrid Infection Prevention and Control course. (I swore up and down after finishing my M.P.H. that I'd rather not go back to school, and so far I've sworn in vain - every stupid nursing speciality demands more and more classes.) Oh well, at least the Strategic Health Authority are footing the bill. If only they'd fund the School Health Nurse course I've been accepted on. (You're not allowed to fund it yourself, grrrr.) At any rate, all I have left now is are two 3.5K word essays and a week-long intensive class at the end of April.

* In just over a week, we're off to visit my cousin in Miami! There may be a few side trips (Orlando, Keys, Everglades), time and finances allowing, but part of me wants to just sit by my cousin's pool all day and do nothing. We're hoping to - maybe - catch up with the fabulous lotus_lizzy on the transfer between JFK and Newark airports, but she's got this pesky thing called work to contend with, despite it being Easter Monday. EDT: YAY! We're meeting up!!!

* Speaking of holidays - ask and ye shall receive. Once again I asked LJ to get out the matzah VGs and they have! They never listen to any suggestion I give (like rearranging the toolbar so I don't keep logging out when I try to get to Friends Page on my iPhone. Despite telling me they've already had that suggestion, they still do nothing). At least I can revel in the wonderfulness that is virtual matzah.

* The twins have started swimming lessons, and that has to be one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Of course the pool won't let us take photos, so you can't see them. I'll get some pics in my cousin's pool.

* I've submitted hp_rarities and have made a start on hd_smoochfest, although it's just a bunch of random scenes in search of a plot at the moment. Don't hold your breath...

* Speaking of fic, I have some more! It's just off at the betas and I'll hopefully post before getting on that big bird next Monday.

* I am making a sad face about losing an hour of sleep last night, but after a long walk whilst Mr Nursedarry looks after the kids, I might feel a bit better.

* hp_uk_meetup is looking good! We've got drabbles and drawbles planned for everyone and have had some amazing offers of fantastic raffle prizes! Now we just need to plan some er *cough* things to do...

* Oh, and I get a raise next month.

EDT: Well done, Jenson! *pinches his cheeks*

Right, I'm making roast chicken, roast potatoes and broccoli for Sunday lunch. Who wants some?

I am back from the wilds of a very snowy Scotland where I had the most stupendous time with my family and friends.

The best part (aside from watching my son open the remote-controlled scorpion he's been asking for all year) has to have been meeting up with the uber-wonderful moonlitdark, who not only suggested knocking over an old lady who was wearing the hat I wanted (such heroism), but also helped me pick out earrings for treacle_tartlet's very late Christmas present, gave me some good ideas for my hp_art_tales fic, and forced me to drink two pints of Best after stuffing myself at the Elephant House. I cannot WAIT to get back for the Meet-Up!

And today I had another fabulous lunch with my fun French friend, sybillevance and my family. We had a lovely stroll around the colleges and saw some beautiful buildings. I've lived here for over a year and still never get up to the colleges, so it's great to have a tour guide and a friend point out all of the stuff around me in such an historic setting.

How do I love my flist? Let me count the ways - thank you so much to the following awesome people:

MAJOR FLAILING must go to treacle_tartlet for what has to be one of the best things I've read this year, made all the more special as it was a gift for me! I'm talking about A Funny Thing Happened On The Train To School... It was melt-you-into-the-floor hawt and pressed all of my post-HBP buttons.

And keeping with my train theme (I have such a thing for trainsmut), the lovely emzlovesharry drew me a bit of Next Gen naughtiness!

My second partner in crime, alovelycupoftea surprised me with a cute and cuddly lion toy (where did she get that idea from???), which my daughter has co-opted and I haven't seen in a week.

cleo_jay, everyone's favourite spouse, sent me a load of wonderful things including a gorgeous red and silver belly-button ring! Thank you, muchly, light-of-my-life! (She's mine, too, y'all!)

My favourite little boy's bestest godmother, and my oldest friend in any galaxy, ladyoneill, sent a box of wonderfulness for my kids - hurray for SW toys!

Finally, thank you to me for getting myself a present in the shape of this gorgeous piece of H/Sc art you all know so well. It is, of course, Tackle, by the ridiculously talented stellamoon, and seen in several of the more high-brow places around LJ. But the original is now sitting right here on my desk!!! I've kept it mostly away from the puddles of drool which collect next to it on a regular basis.

If I've left anyone out, please feel free to shout at me. Royal Mail is still jealously holding on to a couple of things, I believe, and as soon as they arrive, I'll be squeeing all over you, I promise!

Hello flist,

Thank you so much for the nice comments about my suffering with flu and a broken toe and not suggesting that I'm just a clumsy malingerer. I haven't commented on the thread, as I didn't get the comment notifications until late (as we all did), and I figured you'd all be sitting there scratching your heads and saying "WTF is she on about now?" when you got your emails. At any rate, toe is better (but not enough to get back to the gym, so it's the pool again for me tomorrow) and flu mostly gone, but ruddy asthma still making me sound worse than that train everyone should be having sex on...

Speaking of which, my DR calendar arrived in the post today and it has STICKERS! How awesome is that??? Many thanks, accioscar! Huge thanks too, to snarkyscorp for this hawt (but dark) bit of Malfoycest. It's true - no one writes them better than you. And I've also received a lovely card from the girl who shares my brain, cassie_black12.

Now, for some pimpage: presumably everyone has heard of hp_art_tales. If you haven't, get over there and grab something! You've got oodles of time to draw/write. (I've even managed to talk delphipsmith into getting all grabby-hands with one of her favourite long-haired old guys.) I'm snagging phoenixacid's Draco, willyoumarryme? cause the plot bunny has not only bitten me, it's kicked me in the head with those big hind legs! This fest is sadly lacking in slash-loving artists, so if this is you and you've not got over to investigate, please do!

I'm also all excited about the next week, because as well as Work's Christmas Lunch #2, I've got a date with sibyllevance at New College (where the "ferret scene" was filmed). We're gonna sit in her common room and watch a film or two. I might even try to climb the tree, but knowing me, I'll end up in hospital, so that may be out.

Now on with our ecumenical holiday - the one where the kids eat their Advent chocolates after lighting candles and opening Chanukah pressies.

Oh, and I'd just like to say Chris & Ola for the final of SCD!