Heather

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown and then Stewart’s later on. I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a walk with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I fried up liver for Pip's supper.

I had a bit of a brain snafu and forgot that Sister S was taking mom to her appointment today. I had written it down in my calendar, but did not keep the info in my brain. So I had an unexpected free day.

I took a nap which was nice. I’ve also been drinking hot cocoa on cool days, which is also nice. I watched Tracker and a partial Hallmark Christmas movie (I’m going to finish it, just didn’t have time tonight).

Temps started out at 35.4(F) and reached 37. Once it hit 37, about mid-morning, the temps started going down. It was quite a cool day. And we did end up getting a teensy bit of snow late afternoon, just enough to remind us that it is winter, and that more is on the way.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )

I did three loads of laundry, vacuumed the bedroom rug (so much dog hair!), hand-washed dishes, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, placed an online order for Pip, and changed kitty litter. I grilled chicken legs for Pip’s supper (in the rain, bleh).

I typed in ~600 words of fic that I wrote yesterday and scrolled through the transcript (and took more notes). I also watched a Hallmark Christmas movie and an HGTV program. I also took a brief nap. (I did not visit mom today, as I had originally planned. I felt very energetic in the morning, but lost steam in the afternoon and just wanted to nap. The nap didn’t last as long as I’d hoped, but it helped.)

Temps started out at 37.8(F) and reached 43.3. We had rain in the afternoon, which I did not appreciate.


Mom Update:

I talked to mom on the phone today. She sounded good. My brother visited her this morning. Other than that she watched some Hallmark Christmas movies and got her meals.

Another day I did not go downtown at all. I had scheduled brunch with a friend of mine (the previous librarian) because this is another day I don’t have to take mom to her treatment, and I decided that I didn’t need to rush downtown and back, since we’re going in a different direction for brunch. Grocery shopping can wait until tomorrow.

We went to a restaurant I had never been to before (didn’t even know it existed!); she got a fancy breakfast panini and I got a lunch panini (as they were apparently serving both at this time?), the chicken caprese. It was delicious. And we had a lovely visit. I used to stay and visit with her when I’d drop by the library, but since she retired I rarely see her. (Though we are two of a very few left-leaning folk in this area, so we like and share each other’s facebook posts often. *g*)

Additionally, I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, hard boiled eggs and made egg salad, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I also emptied some old containers of food out of the upstairs refrigerator freezer (including a package of taco meat dated 2018 o_O) and found some leftover pork tenderloin (that is not THAT old *g*) that I served Pip for supper.

I finished typing in my Top Gun notes and finally started typing in my fic! I got the entirety of what I had handwritten typed in! ~4,920 words!!! I now just have one more ‘scene’ (it’s really more than one scene, but it’s a section from one person’s pov) to write. I’m pretty excited about being so close to the end. (I didn’t even take a nap today because I wanted to get as much as possible typed in!)

Temps started out at 33.8(F) and reached 54.5. There was very little sun and a good breeze, but if there had been more sun and less breeze it would’ve been really nice out. Then of course it got overcast and rained a bit in the late afternoon.


Mom Update:

I talked to mom and she sounded good. She said everything went well with her appointment and she didn’t have any issues with her food. Since she isn’t able to do much, that was about it.

I had a chiropractic appointment and a pedicure this morning. (I went with a deep red polish.) I made this a no-shopping day.

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. Some days I plan for ‘no leftover’ meals because Pip doesn’t need extra leftovers to take to work; this was one such day so, due to the weather, I just did soup and grilled cheese.

I typed in ~1,500 words of fic! Though not the fic I was planning to type in. This is the fic I started writing for smallfandombang. I wanted to participate in Saturday Snippets, and since this fic had been handwritten, I needed to start typing it in to do that. Also, it might get me motivated to work on it some more.

I had hoped to write more on my Top Gun fic, but I spent what little time I had available for that going down a Google search for specific terminology to use in the fic. I eventually remembered that transcripts do exist and found what I needed from that source. And then spent some time scrolling through it and found some neat information via missing scenes (like the fact that Maverick requested Hondo to come help him out with the training).

And guess who now has a copy of the Top Gun soundtrack on CD in their hot little hands? If you guessed me, you’d be correct. I did used to own it on cassette (does everyone reading this remember cassettes? *g*), but I don’t have those anymore, and watching the movies (multiple times) has given me the urge to listen to it.

I watched a couple of HGTV programs I had recorded and then set Lottery Dream House in the background. I also fit in a short nap. I’m blaming the weather and the time change.

I didn't have any pain today from the sciatica! Let's hope that continues.

Temps started out at 39.0(F) and reached 53.8. It was overcast all day, so not warm at all.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I talked to her on the phone. She didn’t have much to say other than her appointment went well and she remembered to call her dr office to A) request a prescription (the prescription she got when she left the hospital for her blood thinner is out of refills and she prefers to get her meds in the mail, in any case) and B) request a note to get a handicap placard (which I’ve mentioned to her several times o_O). She’s not sure the doctor took note of the second request, but I had planned to ask her doctor today at her weekly status check, because I figured they could give us the necessary doctor’s note right there, whereas we’d have to pick it up from her regular doctor’s office. Having the handicap placard will make things so much easier!

I wrote two fic for fandomgiftbasket this round. I hope you enjoy them!


Title: Pretzels and Pizza
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Hawkeye (tv) | Hawkeye (Fraction comics) | Thunderbolts (2025)
Rating: PG13/Femslash
Pairing/Characters: Kate/Yelena, Clint, Bucky
Length: 1,605 words
Spoilers: Takes place post-everything, but just bits and pieces from each canon.
Summary: When Bucky dragged Yelena out for an afternoon of ‘fun', she didn't know they were going to Clint Barton's apartment, or that Kate Bishop would be there.
Author's Notes: Written for impala_chick for fandomgiftbasket 2025. One of their prompts was the rest of the team finding out about them. I hope you enjoy this variation on that!
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: October 8, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72130546

---

Title: Open Arms
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Rating: PG13/Pre-Slash/Slash
Pairing/Characters: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (Cameo by Erica and pack; OFC)
Length: 2,500 words
Spoilers: Spoilers through season two, though the story takes place later.
Summary: Stiles and Derek are kidnapped. Again.
Author's Notes: Stiles is not underage in this story. Written for logans_girl2001 for fandomgiftbasket 2025. They asked for Teen Wolf, Derek/Stiles and one of their ‘likes' was Soulmate AUs of all kinds. I hope you enjoy this! Title from a Journey song that popped into my head.
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: October 11, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72290586

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. He did another exam before the adjustment to determine whether we can go back to regular once-a-week appointments, instead of continuing with three-times-a-week. I’m currently labeling my healing level at 95%. There’s still just that little bit of pain left when I sit too long. I need to remember to ice and do stretches more regularly.

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown, drove mom to her treatment, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, baked chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved. I made French toast and bacon for supper.

I didn’t write today, which was a bummer, but I watched Tracker and an HGTV program. Then I turned on NatGeoWild in the background; tonight was Dr. Pol again. I also took a short nap.

Temps started out at 42.4(F) and reached 65.0. There was morning sun, which was nice, but dark clouds moved in after noon and brought some rain with it.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing well. ( more back here )

Guess who forgot to set the clocks back before they went to bed? I went right back to bed when I realized the mistake, but Pip had already been up long enough to be too awake to go back to sleep.

Somehow I hurt my eye while I was sleeping. I wear a sleep mask, so I’m not exactly sure how I poked myself in the eye. The sciatica only bothered me for a couple of hours in the evening. Mildly. It was weird how it just appeared and then disappeared.

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, changed kitty litter, placed an online order, and showered. I grilled Italian sausage for Pip’s supper.

I watched an HGTV program and later had Secrets of the Zoo on in the background. I didn’t get any new words written, but I did read over what I had already written.

Temps started out at 27.9(F) and reached 52.0. It was sunny and there was no wind, but it was still cool.


Mom Update:

Mom looked really good today. ( more back here )

I hit Price Chopper and the Bakery while I was downtown. I did three loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. Pip was happy with leftovers for supper, which in turn made me happy. *g*

I watched Matlock and two more eps of Mistletoe Murders, and wrote ~400 more words on my fic. It felt like more than that. However I did spend some time re-watching scenes to make sure I had remember them correctly, and taking more notes, of course. Sciatica is still sitting at about 85%. It doesn't bother for a lot of the day, but when I sit on it for long periods *coff* writing and watching tv *coff* I start to feel it.

Temps started out at 40.9(F) and reached 43.4. Yeah, it did not get very warm. There was some rain, but it was mostly overcast. There was a lot of wind, though.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing well today. ( more back here )

I had a massage today!! Sister S drove mom to her treatment, so I was able to schedule this for myself. And it was wonderful! A complete 180 from the last massage I got. Unfortunately, I still had a chiropractic appointment so I had to hit downtown first, which meant I couldn’t go to Panera for breakfast. :(

McD’s was still cold, but not frigid. Which means they fixed something (and according to one of the employees, they did do something), but not enough. I was still wearing my sweatshirt, winter scarf, jacket and finger-less gloves and had no thoughts of taking them off because it had suddenly gotten warm. I just wasn’t freezing To Death.

My plan after the massage was to hit Bath & Body and Trader Joe’s, get lunch, then hit Hannaford on the way home. (There are certain GF things I can only find at Hannaford, and also they have good cranberry orange muffins, when they’re in stock. Which they were not today, sadly.) Everything went according to plan, except for it had started raining hard before I got to Hannaford, which sucked. Lunch was at Olive Garden. I checked the menu, but went with my usual of soup, salad and breadsticks.

I also hand-washed dishes, went for a walk with Pip and the dogs (in the rain!), cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I ate lunch later than usual so I wasn’t hungry for supper (especially since I brought dessert home with me and had that just before suppertime), but I made soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for Pip. (See: weather.)

I wrote something! ~1,000 words on a new fic that has been eating my brain. Dividing my morning in half (aka going to McD’s then driving out to Panera before my appointment (they’re in the same plaza)) meant that I did my computer stuff at McD’s and managed to get 45 min or so of handwritten story done at Panera!! And then I managed to get some more words written in the evening! I’m super excited about getting any words down, but especially these words. New bunnies are especially rabid. *g*

Temps started out at 42.8(F) and reached 48.2. (Ha!, I just noticed the number inversion from low to high temp!) It had started raining before we got up and rained all day as forecasted. Bleh! (Later I noticed that the temp went up a bit in the evening, oddly. I saw 51.2.)


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I called her. ( more back here )

The alarm woke me up from the strangest dream. It was a snow-pocalypse. Snow-mageddon? I was standing out in the snow – so much snow – and in the distance I could see a high drift of snow, not like a mountain of snow, more like a really tall but thin drift of snow (like, several stories high) that looked like it could collapse at any moment. And then it did collapse and it was scary. All that snow falling. If it had been a wave, there would’ve been a tsunami. I can only think that my subconscious is telling me how much I’m going to hate the upcoming winter and any snow we get.

I didn’t do any shopping this morning, but I did freeze my ass off at McD’s. I don’t know what’s going on with this owner; the person who took my order said that she has complained to upper management before, but no one does anything. Someone (a former employee who still has connections with other employees) told me that he’s refusing to turn on the heat until it reaches 30 degrees outside. Well, I would like to inform him that it ~has reached 30 degrees outside, thank you very much.

(I looked it up once before, and there is no law/regulation as to how warm a business has to keep their premises, unfortunately.) But I did send a complaint via their website. I also plan to look them up on Yelp or something to leave a bad review. I figured that might get their attention. What’s the best place for that? Update: I left the same review on Yelp and Google Reviews.

I drove mom to her treatment, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I stopped at Sunnycrest on the way home from mom’s to get more beef sticks for Pip. Given the option, Pip chose leftovers for supper again instead of having me cook something new to add to the leftovers in the fridge.

I watched some HGTV programs and did a skim re-watch of Top Gun to take some notes. I’m also excited because I was going through the guide and found a station that I love, but that Spectrum was not carrying when we switched. Nat Geo Wild! I get to see my vet and zoo shows again!! Sciatica pain was very low level again today. Hopefully this means it's really on the way out this time.

Temps started out at 25.9(F) and reached 53.2. There was some sun, but it was still cold.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )