Zee reads! For real! And RA Challenges and Guy Day!

In which I prattle about a lot of things and post a lot of pictures because I’ve not really posted in 3 weeks or so

 

I’m settling into my summer routine – that being I’m up until 4 AM and get up around noon!

I’m seeing the last of my clothing orders beginning to trickle in. The music tunic should arrive in the next day or two, actually, it arrived while I was writing this! It’s fleeced so it will be a winter tunic.

Me, being silly for my son. Damn I need to vacuum.

I’m waiting on shorts

they won’t be shipped until the 2nd week of August and the burgundy and white crinkle maxi dress,

which will ship the last week of July. As it’s the same style and length as my other maxi dress – it will go DOWN to my feet! I didn’t get the burgundy crochet shrug because it was pricey and I have a white shrug already that goes with everything.

I’ve sent my black jeggings and a pair of shoes back for exchange – the jeggings are TOO big and the shoes are too tight, even though I bought wide. My right ankle stays swollen and I can’t get the strap around them. THIS came in yesterday…. I dunno… ya think it’s bright?

Without jacket

With shrug. That shrug is going to get a LOT of mileage!

For the record, I’m wearing the highest heels I have that I’m comfortable enough to work in (2 inches) and I think I should consider going up another half inch to inch OR taking them to mom to hem when we go home the next time.

At this point of time, all I need is a layered vest to go with my nice, dressy tee – dunno if I want the paint or the peacock colored or the purple one

 

– and a bra. And I’m DONE! Until i lose about 2 more dress sizes or winter. I’m going to wait for 2 more dress sizes. I hope. I think I have enough clothes even through the winter – really! This (clothing) has become a serious obsessive weakness for me.

Actually, it has become a way for me to deal with certain problems. Or to forget about them. A coping mechanism, if you will.

For those who haven’t guessed, professionally, this has been a horrible year. I was assaulted by a student in the fall and he was still here at the end of the year.  The two times I ended up in Urgent Care, was due to either a student causing me injury or the stress of walking on concrete floors. IT got so bad that the last month I taught, I requested (and was granted) that our best structured and teacher with the highest disciplinary scores follow me for a day. Having problems with A class is typical in my area. Having problems with almost ALL of them, typically is a sign of a deficiency with the teacher.

What she told me, made me cry.

It’s not you. It’s them. You have them once a week for 45 minutes and are expected to work miracles. The one person on this campus they are scared of the most, walks out the door when you walk in. You’re a sitting duck. Your basic problem is you lose time trying to correct behavior. When they won’t behave for the regular classroom teacher, why would anyone think they will behave for you? They’re bad. Don’t correct it. Either ignore them and continue for those wanting to learn or just sit down in front of them. Read a book. Wait them out.

I had a child who did his damnedest to get me fired this spring. It went on for a month and I wondered openly when their parents would realize the child was lying from the start! how many versions of this concocted story were they going to believe and if what the child accused me of (grabbing them by the face) was true, why didn’t they mention it to begin with? Why was it allowed to continue and spread and spread and spread? Not once was the actual issue that the child made the room an unsafe place ever addressed. For the first time ever, I’m joining the teachers union in my state, if for no other purpose but to have the ability to hire a lawyer when necessary. Everyone backed me up, but it was a month of living hell. When does it end? I wasn’t joking if Former Suitor hadn’t been a pill, I would be in Florida right now.

So I did something fun with my kids. It was a lot of work, but I think it came out really well!

It was really neat the last week of school to watch them hunt for their note they made.

We now come to the part of the post where I state what my favorite fanfictions starring any character of RA. I forget the number, I just knew it was next. Somewhere I need to find Guylty’s post where she posted links to some awesome fics I’ve never read. I’ll be honest – I’ve read very little fic. I got into RA’s fandom, read several things and then Manna bit and I didn’t want someone else’s vision of Guy to color my vision of Guy, so I stopped. I need to start reading again. So without further ado…

RA Challenge number something something I dunno something. Your favorite RA fanfic.

I have a few.

ANYTHING by WhatCatyDidNext…  I love her 2 Mr. Jasper stories (character who could be played by Mr. A. But my favorite is The Ghost.

The Ghost

Carly Q has been pulling stuff and publishing it and I don’t blame her. As Guylty stated her Silence of Solitude again has RA’s acting chops written all over it. There is ONE fix up at Dreamerfiction that I adored. It is a Guy fic and her Guy takes DomGuy to all new heights… or lows. She makes my Guy look rather tame.  I believe she has this on Amazon. It’s yummy! And so verrrrrrrrrrrry tasty!!!! Oasis.

If you don’t have a membership at Dreamerfiction, go get one. You know me. You probably know Guylty. Tell them we sent you. There is a TON of stuff there that isn’t anywhere else. I… uhm… tend to post there 24 hours before I post anywhere else. Just saying.

Quite possibly one of my favorite fanfics was – yet again – a Guy fanfic and I want to say I read this before I finished watching the series. Actually, I believe I read this early on in my fandom wanderings. Takes place during season 3 just before Robin and Guy discover they share a brother – and he runs into Annie, of all people…

A Different Side

Somewhere there is a lovely one shot of Guy and Marian attending a wedding – although their marriage didn’t happen, the bride’s family gave them a rather expensive wedding gift and rather than return it, Vaisey snatched it so they attend, pretending to be married. Can’t remember the name or the author, but it’s at Archive of Our Own, I’m quite sure. I’ve downloaded it or so I thought. It was on my decrepit old kindle and I’ve removed stuff and put it somewhere… oh well. I’ll have to hunt it again.

Oh look! I found it!

A Mistaken Invitation

Honestly, I’m not a fan of Guy/Marian, but there isn’t much of Guy with an original character.

Of course, I felt the same of Snape and Granger and that was pretty much all I read. meh.

So there ya go. I’m back on the wagon.

I did do SOME reading this past month. Not much, but some.

Okay, admittedly, my guilty pleasure is a good regency. This wasn’t. Now don’t get me wrong, it was well written and the sexual tension – and eventual *ahem* climax was very nicely done, and the plot had so much potential! however it’s the 3rd book in the series and to be honest, I found both lead characters to be.. twits. His ‘devastating’ secret isn’t really all that horrid and I found the background characters – specifically her parents, her father’s houseguest and his brother, the vicar,  to be more interesting. Her younger sisters need spanked and not in a sexual way.

On occasion, I like to delve into the near future – dystopian or apocalyptic. This one took me aback and made my stomach curl in some places – especially early on. Imagine a giant solar flare that literally set fire to the earth. The only lucky ones who survived were those who just happened to be under ground at the time. Spelunkers, miners, explorers. The society built by this small group is one I think I would climb to the surface and spread my arms to the inferno heat! Very few females of reproducible age – so few they are treated like brood mare goddesses. Children are raised by their fathers because the very few women are busy… well… being brood mares. Every man gets his turn until…. well… he hits the baby bonanza jackpot. Death is treated as a celebration because.. well they’re underground and what they call food isn’t and nothing below is wasted, doyougetwhatI’msaying? Death is a good day because you get meat.

Either way 3 teenagers, on the cusp of adulthood (2 male and 1 female diligently waiting for her first menstrual cycle) decide there has to be more to their world than this group of deep deep caves and caverns. So they go exploring and find more than they thought they would.

And last…

Earlier in the week, someone on my twitter feed, put up a link to the 2nd story in this series. When I pulled it up and downloaded it (because it was FREE@) I realized that I had THIS one and I had never finished it. The biggest problem of my PC Kindle is a) it’s unstable and crashes and when that happens b) I loose the stuff I was reading. That happened with this – I was 2/3rds of the way done and when you DON”T remember the name or author, well… I have about 20 books on that kindle in this spot. Hmmm mmm

So I finished it. Again, well-written, but the main female character needed time in a bed and breakfast with nurses rather than moving to a little cottage out in the middle of nowhere where the Catholic Church secretary runs the town. I would tell someone really fast that I am a) Baptist, so please tell me where the Baptist Church is and b) I’m moving in and I do NOT have time for your whatever it is you just roped me into. I’m a Christian but my life does NOT evolve around the church. Period. And certainly not every single moment of the day and night, 7 days a week! Honestly, I would be giving my landlord my immediate notice and getting back in the moving van and moving on!

So all that is left is some Sir Guy, hmmm???

He was too nice to her at this point. Really.

And there you have it – a long, long, long-assed windy post from me. It’s just been collecting for ages, is all.