About a week ago Chris and I went to AT&T to get Chris a new phone. There was one he wanted that was $1 with a two-year agreement, which was fine because we're planning on staying with AT&T indefinitely anyway. But they had a promotion going where you could trade in your smart phone for a $100 credit towards a new phone. Which meant I could upgrade to a $200 phone essentially for free, and if I got the Samsung Galaxy S4, I could get the Samsung Galaxy tablet for $200, and it's usually $500 or so. I took the deal, but the phone is okay-not-great and the tablet isn't particularly useful (the tablet I actually want is a Nook HD, which among other things supports stuff in EPUB format which the Galaxy tablet doesn't, and it's heavy and larger than I'd wanted for a tablet). But I've gone and gotten like $100 in accessories for the phone and the tablet (plastic screen covers, a hard cover for the phone and a soft cover for the tablet) but I just don't want either device. I'd rather go back and get an iPhone 4 or 5 but that'll mean $100+ in wasted accessories.

Also with my old phone (an iPhone 3GS which I wasn't even planning on trading in that day, it's old but there was nothing wrong with it), when I was reading on it, I could press on a word and have the option for a dictionary definition for most English words and phrases, including a lot of British slang which is useful since I'm mostly in Sherlock fandom these days. With the new phone I get "select all," "copy," "share," "find," "translate," and "web search." Everying but the dictionary option. There doesn't seem to even be a dictionary option on the phone. I could download an app but the point is that I want the convenience I had with the old phone. If I wanted to do a web search of a phrase from a fic I can damned well copy it and paste it into the search bar of a new window.

Very, very tempted to go and trade the stuff back in with no penalties (there's still time, I think). I'd have to buy a new plastic cover for the new iPhone, but I have those $6 cross-stitch iPhone covers I haven't even decorated yet for a cover...thoughts? Is it worth taking a loss on the accessories I've already bought for the current new stuff?

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Black Caron One Pound.

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Two strands, one of hot pink Red Heart Super Saver and one of sparkle!white Red Heart Sparkle.

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Two strands of white Sensations brushed yarn.

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Ships this Post: John/Sherlock, Greg/Mycroft

[John to Greg] 'So come on, be straight with me... well, be gay with me, do you fancy him?'

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[Mycroft] 'I am annoyed.'

[John] 'About...?'

'About you believing that I have romantic feelings for one of Sherlock's acquaintances.'

'Friend, he's a friend.'

'Is Sherlock calling him that?'

'Sherlock has trouble admitting that you're his brother.'

'Yes, well...'

'And that I'm his boyfriend. He just kind of rambles on when people ask before finishing with, 'He's the most important person in my life'. Kind of sweet, really.'

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Two strands, one of hot pink Red Heart Super Saver and one of sparkle!white Red Heart Sparkle.

I was surprised in '12 to learn that child size scarves weren't as easy to find as I'd thought, so I made several and sold most. One lady asked me to make a baby scarf and I said no, for obvious reasons.

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I'm a bit crispy now. There was an "org day," a "fundatory" event hosted by Chris's battalion, and unlike last year, Chris didn't have to cook. (And it wasn't in Middle-of-Nowhere, Old Post either!) There were paintball and a rock-climbing wall and a bounce house and a dunk tank but we just wandered around, watching other people do those things and talking to people when we recognized them (we had several mutual friends in Alaska, the closest to one here is JL), and I made pieces of Travis's wedding present, which means that I have, apart from the sunburns on my face and around my neck, sunburns on the backs of both my hands and lower arms. It looks weird, but I was able to get a fair amount done and I've gotten even more done since we got home.

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Two strands, one of blues-and-white Sensations brushed yarn and one of white Sensations boucle yarn. This is one of my favorite yarn combinations to work with.

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Working on my brother's wedding present. Much as I'd like to show off my progress, I'm going to take pictures once a day and make a big post after the wedding. :)

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Ships this Post: Greg/Mycroft, Sherlock/Greg, Greg/John, Sherlock/Victor

“Welcome,” he says, takes the beer that Lestrade has brought, gives him a look for spending a bit too much time re-wiping his shoes on the mat in the hall, the it’s a floor, honestly look. And that may be true, but it’s a nice floor, all of it warm, bright wood. It’s not new, but it’s beautifully cared for. In a moment’s glance, that’s the impression that Lestrade has of all of it: neat, precise attention to a lived-in space. Nothing could be farther from Sherlock’s negligent chaos, and Lestrade has a flash of suspicion that Sherlock’s disorder is actually a learned behavior, a marker of difference.

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One strand each of red, white, and blue Caron SimplySoft.

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Ships this post: Greg/Mycroft, John/Sherlock

“Greg, are you okay? No sordid tryst with Morris on the credenza?”

“No, his credenza stayed in his pants where it belonged.”

“Gregory, a credenza is a type of sideboard, a long narrow—“

“The fucking veneer is fine.” Was this pouting?

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Unfortunately, there weren’t many self help books for middle aged gay assassins and the men who love them.

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Loops & Threads Charisma.

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Loops & Threads Charisma.

Last night I finally found something I'd been trying to buy in person (rather than paying shipping charges online) for over a year, cross-stitchable iPhone covers! They were at Wal-Mart, of all places, and only $6 each! I got two of them, and now to decide what to decorate them with...

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Two strands of sky blue Caron One Pound, single crochet.

And with that, I'm off to bed. Good nightmorning, all. :)

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Ships this post: Greg/Mycroft, John/Sherlock, pre-Greg/Mycroft

Mycroft twisted in his seat to see if there was anyone in the booths next to the bar, but Anthea chose that moment to throw a coaster at him.

'Can I help you, my dear?' Mycroft asked, too used to her behaviour to be bothered. He'd met her his first day at university. He'd sat alone outside near the fountain closest to his dormitory to enjoy his lunch, people-watching as usual, when Anthea suddenly plopped down beside him, declared him interesting, and promptly started a conversation. By the end of the hour Anthea was his self-declared best friend and Mycroft had never managed to get rid of her.

Not that he wanted to now, of course. He lived with her and had for the past year. In the beginning she'd been interesting but rather annoying. She was still annoying, but Mycroft loved her anyway. She had an eidetic memory, slapped people who insulted him, and could force Sherlock to stop throwing tantrums with a simple eyebrow raise. If Mycroft went for women he would have married her by now.

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This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Individual Fics
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Electric Pink Hand Grenade. http://archiveofourown.org/works/442317?view_adult=true&view_full_work=true John/Sherlock. "If Sherlock's brain is a hard drive, then these attacks are an electro-magnetic pulse." Sherlock Holmes does not do anything by half, not even a migraine. It falls to John to witness one of the greatest minds he has ever known tear itself apart, and he must do his best to help Sherlock pick up the pieces.

Holmes-Breaking. http://archiveofourown.org/works/139320 Johnlock. John has finally had enough, and decides to find out if you can teach a theoretically-post-adolescent feline new tricks.

Wild Nights, Wild Nights. http://archiveofourown.org/works/764345/chapters/1431491 Johnlock. If Sherlock had never met John, would he still be on the side of the angels? On his return from Afghanistan, John takes a job working the night shift at a high secure psychiatric hospital, but when the infamous criminal mastermind Sherlock Holmes is admitted as a patient, John begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

On Any Rainy Day. http://archiveofourown.org/works/779309 Cafe AU. Gen.

the argument from roses. http://archiveofourown.org/works/783635 Universal pleasures do not exist: some people don't like the smell of roses, some people don't like sex. Ace!Sherlock/John.

In Spite of All The Danger. http://archiveofourown.org/series/11841 Ace!Sherlock/John. 49k.

Working it Out. http://archiveofourown.org/works/242048 John/Sherlock. John discovers it's Sherlock's birthday whilst Sherlock makes a series of disturbing discoveries of his own, leading them to embark upon a relationship that was never going to be easy. 112k.

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AO3
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Eva: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Eva/pseuds/Eva/works?fandom_id=133185

sheffiesharpe: http://archiveofourown.org/users/sheffiesharpe/pseuds/sheffiesharpe/works?fandom_id=133185

kim47: http://archiveofourown.org/users/kim47/works?fandom_id=133185

Mei: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mei_Hitokiri/pseuds/Mei/works

Elfbert: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfbert/pseuds/Elfbert/works?fandom_id=133185

IBegToDreamAndDiffer: http://archiveofourown.org/users/IBegToDreamAndDiffer/pseuds/IBegToDreamAndDiffer/works?fandom_id=133185&page=2

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LiveJournal
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Mystrade Fanworks Fest: http://mystradefanfest.livejournal.com/

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Lion Brand Kaleidoscope, wool.

Finishing up a reread of Newlywed Blues by (AO3 and LJ)Maggie_Conagher and remembering just how much of my Mycroft headcanon (and some of my Greg headcanon) comes from that story. But this time I went back and finished the stories that inspired it, Indestructible: The Sherlock Casefic Adventures by (AO3 and LJ)Ghislainem70, and I'm glad I did because when I first started reading the "Indestructible" stories I got sidetracked by other stuff before I got to the Mystrade parts, and reading those parts made "Newlywed Blues" a lot clearer (though you don't have to read "Indestructible" to understand it).

It was like the summer between freshman and sophomore year when I was really enjoying The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel and I was about a quarter of the way through it before I realized there were three books before it. I'd gotten the book for a dollar at a garage sale and then went and got the previous three at full price at Waldenbooks (because Waldenbooks still existed back then *sniffle*). And the one after, which came out right around the time I graduated from high school. (There's a sixth book too, and I bought it right away in hardcover, but I haven't read it yet because I plan to read or listen to the whole series again so I'll know what's going on.)

And since I was reading "Newlywed Blues" on my Nook last time, this time I was reading on my phone and it's a lot easier to take down quotes that way, so those'll be in a quotes post prolly sometime this month. I highly recommend both "Newlywed Blues" and the "Indestructible" series, especially if you're into epicfic.

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Three hats in off-white Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool.

There was an FRG meeting earlier today, at the USO on post. It's a nice place with lots of comfy couches in the main area, though the meeting was in a conference room. At the end there was food (someone made an excellent cheeseburger casserole with tater tots on it, and someone else made some awesome brownies) and the putting together of care packages.

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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Three hats in forest green I Love This Yarn! and one hat in light green old Bernat Softee Chunkee.

(I'm starting to get bored of making hats. But they are fun to make, and I can still pay full attention to a TV show or audiobook while making them...)

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Ships this post: pre-Greg/Mycroft, Greg/Mycroft

Sherlock ate chocolate by the pound, lay about for days immersed in a book and the weight melted off of him like warmed butter. Mycroft wondered if it was possible to schedule an appointment with the Almighty to discuss his notion of fairness…

--

“What did you do?”

“I called your defiler and attempted to persuade him to forego your instructions and make himself present immediately, but he refused. Not even the knowledge that you were waffling like a confused terrier over your outfit could force him to accede.”

Mycroft dropped heavily on the bed next to his personal demon and laid his head in his hands.

“Yes, you should be upset. He is a bounder if he will not relieve your distress over your grotesque appearance.”

“I am going to kill you. I am going to evict your soul from your body. Your flesh shall be feasted upon by the hounds of hell and I shall deliver it in silver bowls to their lair personally!”

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This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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The first full cup. The first one I made I wound up dumping out. First I tried it plain (cardboard-y, yuck). Then I added milk (weird!) (my tea was opaque) (opaque tea what the fuck) and that was better, less cardboard-y, kind of bland. (I think next time I'll try it with the Coffee-mate.) It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either so I dumped it out. The cup of PG Tips I have now has my usual three packets of Splenda in it. It's...better than with the milk, but still not as good as the organic green tea or Tazo chai. But I do think adding the coffee creamer will be worth a try. And/or regular granulated sugar.

This entry was originally posted here at my DW journal. You can comment here or there. :)

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