dolorosa_12: (emily hanna)
[personal profile] dolorosa_12
It's been a challengingly busy week (if I owe you comments, I will get to them at some point this weekend, sorry), and my brain is a bit rubbish at coming up with a prompt this time around, so I'm going with the following:

What is the most memorable icebreaker question you've been asked, in any context?

Dessert Recipes

Mar. 27th, 2026 12:10 am
pattrose: (REsident ALien)
[personal profile] pattrose
Recipes

Peanut Butter Crunch Lasagna (No-Bake Dessert)
🕒 Time
Prep: 20 minutes
Chill: 4 hours
Servings: 9 squares
Type: No-bake · Vegetarian
🧾 Ingredients
1️⃣ Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or digestive biscuits)
½ cup melted unsalted butter
2️⃣ Peanut Butter Cheesecake Layer
225 g (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whipped topping (Cool Whip or homemade)
3️⃣ Caramel Layer
1 to 1½ cups thick caramel sauce
4️⃣ Crunch Layer
1½ cups chopped peanut butter cups or toffee bits
½ cup chopped peanuts (salted or unsalted)
5️⃣ Topping
Extra chopped peanuts
Extra peanut butter cups or toffee bits
Optional: drizzle of caramel sauce
👩‍🍳 Instructions
Step 1: Make the Crust
Mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter.
Press firmly into the bottom of a 9×9 inch glass casserole dish.
Refrigerate for 15–20 minutes to set.
Step 2: Peanut Butter Cheesecake Layer
Beat cream cheese until smooth.
Add peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla; mix well.
Gently fold in whipped topping.
Spread evenly over the chilled crust.
Step 3: Caramel Layer
Pour caramel sauce evenly over the peanut butter layer.
Use a spatula to smooth gently.
Step 4: Crunch Layer
Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups and peanuts evenly over the caramel.
Step 5: Chill
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (overnight is best).

Crunchy Questions

Mar. 27th, 2026 12:07 am
pattrose: (Good Omens1)
[personal profile] pattrose
Crunchy questions.

What is your most awkward vacation story?

I actually have had mostly good luck. Except for last September. We went to Greece with our second daughter. It was a cruise and it was so beautiful there. It was very warm and humid, which made it hard for me to breathe. I had to miss out on the excursions because they were too much on my lungs. I have Pulmonary Hypertension and I'm on oxygen 24 hours a day. So I forced hubby and our daughter on the excursions and they had a blast. I checked the ship out each day and also went swimming every day for a short while. I loved the ship and made some new friends. I was a little awkward at first but we all enjoyed it for the most part. It's a little depressing to realize you can't do things like you used to.

March not quite 365 days questions

Mar. 27th, 2026 12:05 am
pattrose: (Horse3)
[personal profile] pattrose
March not quite 365 days questions


27. Have you ever been to a circus?

When I was growing up in Iowa, one of the great things was when the circus came to town free tickets were given at the grocery store if you spent 50.00. So Mom could take all eight of us kids. We always loved it. I don't like them now, but at the time it was cool.

90 discussion questions

Mar. 27th, 2026 12:03 am
pattrose: (Found)
[personal profile] pattrose
90 discussion questions.

1. How would you want someone to describe you to others?

She was kind. 😂😂. 🌹🥀🌻🌷

Jokes

Mar. 27th, 2026 12:01 am
pattrose: (JimblairCool)
[personal profile] pattrose
Jokes

* What do runners eat before a race? Nothing. They fast.
* How do you stop an astronaut’s toddler from crying? You rocket.
* What do you call an unpredictable camera? A loose Canon.
* Why shouldn't you use a broken pencil? Because it's point-less.
burnhername: Faith pic with the word editor (SH editor Faith)
[personal profile] burnhername posting in [community profile] su_herald
GILES: Buffy! (approaches them) Buffy... Might I have a word?
BUFFY: Have a sentence, even.

~~Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered~~

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Jokes

Mar. 26th, 2026 12:59 am
pattrose: (Dexter2)
[personal profile] pattrose
Jokes

* Where do horses live? In neighhhhhbourhoods.
* What do you call a goat who paints pictures? Vincent Van Goat!
* Why are mice afraid of swimming? Catfish!
*
* What do you call a singer with a laptop on her head? A-Dell.
* When is a door not a door? When it's ajar.
*
* What do toilets do when they're embarrassed? They get a bit flush.
* How do you organize a space-themed party? You planet.

90 discussion questions

Mar. 26th, 2026 12:57 am
pattrose: (Iron man 3)
[personal profile] pattrose
90 discussion questions

1. Write a quote that is meaningful to you. Explain why it impacts you.

To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world,

One of my friends put this quote up and it reminded me of something very special. When my grandson was almost 8, his parents decided they wanted to do drugs and stop adulting. We took Vincent into our home and raised him. But one day I went his school to volunteer, and his teacher gave this quote that reminded her of Vincent and me. It made me cry. He was a darling child. 17 years later his parents had a baby girl. Needless to say, they weren’t able to take care of her. So we once again took charge and raised her from 7 to 21. I always wanted 5 children. We only had three but counting us adopting them we do have 5.

March not quite 365 days questions

Mar. 26th, 2026 12:55 am
pattrose: SallyMN (Bright flower)
[personal profile] pattrose
March not quite 365 days questions.

26. In 1484 Aesops Fables were first printed in English by William Caxton.  Do you recall any of the fables, such as The Tortoise and the Hare?

I have a list and I’ll put a heart next to any I love. ❤️

* The Tortoise and the Hare: ❤️Slow and steady wins the race.
* The Boy Who Cried Wolf:❤️Truthfulness is vital; liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.
* The Fox and the Grapes: ❤️It is easy to despise what you cannot have (sour grapes).
* The Ant and the Grasshopper: ❤️Work hard today to prepare for tomorrow.
* The Lion and the Mouse: ❤️❤️Small friends can prove to be great friends; kindness is never wasted.
* The Goose with the Golden Eggs:❤️Greed destroys what it seeks to profit from.
* The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: ❤️Poverty with security is better than plenty in fear.
* The Wind and the Sun: ❤️Persuasion is better than force.
* The Fox and the Stork: ❤️Treat others as you would like to be treated.
* The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing:❤️Appearances can be deceiving. 
I think there are more. I loved these stories.

Crunchy questions

Mar. 26th, 2026 12:54 am
pattrose: SallyMN (Sunflower)
[personal profile] pattrose
Crunchy questions

Do you read Tarot? (Or use them in other ways?) Do you have a favourite deck? What's your approach?

I know nothing about Tarot cards. I’ve always wanted to have mine read, but never have. Someday I’ll get a book and a deck. Then I’ll have learned something new.

Recipes

Mar. 26th, 2026 12:53 am
pattrose: (Default)
[personal profile] pattrose
Recipes

Blueberry cheesecake breakfast bake

Ingredients
* 2 cups (16 oz / 450 g) cottage cheese (full-fat for creamier texture)
* 8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, softened
* 2 large eggs
* 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar (or 1/4 cup honey/maple syrup)
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional but recommended)
* 1 tbsp cornstarch (or 1 tbsp flour)
* 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (reserve some for topping)
* Pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking dish or line it with parchment paper for easy removal.
In a blender or food processor, combine the cottage cheese, softened cream cheese, eggs, sugar (or honey/maple syrup), vanilla extract, lemon juice, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt. Blend until completely smooth and creamy. This step is key to achieving that classic cheesecake texture without lumps.
Gently fold in about 1 cup of the blueberriesusing a spatula. Be careful not to overmix, as you want the berries to stay whole and juicy.
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries over the top for a beautiful finish.
Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until the center is set and the top turns lightly golden. The middle should have a slight jiggle but not appear wet.

Allow the bake to cool at room temperature for 20–30 minutes. Then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing. Chilling helps it firm up and makes clean, neat slices.

For a caramelized finish, sprinkle a little brown sugar on top before baking.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4–5 days. This bake is perfect for meal prep — simply slice into portions and enjoy chilled or slightly warmed. It can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
ragnarok_08: (SH ★ starshine)
[personal profile] ragnarok_08

 - The Fairy Stone Tree
 

Wedding Pictures.... )

 = The lovely bouquet of flowers


 - The sun starting to set...

(no subject)

Mar. 25th, 2026 09:12 pm
kitewithfish: (daisy face)
[personal profile] kitewithfish
What I’ve Read

The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova – This Dracula novel has a fantastic trick which is telling an epistolary story that nails the fun of reading a story thru someone else’s voice and then returning to the main character’s narrative to go “Oh, my god, they had no idea of the danger they were in!” And that trick is a trick I enjoy a great deal! I don’t know that I enjoy 700 pages of it! Overall, while the narrative is the journey we take with the characters, this journey felt extended beyond the needs of the story or my personal pleasure, and ended in a kind of disappointing splat. I can see why it made a splash – It’s not badly written, and the layered epistolary vibe is pretty great for the first half of the book! But that’s not how you kill Dracula, Frank.

My Real Children by Jo Walton – Ok, I just read this in a fever dream on a plane but I really liked it. The story is a well-told life of a woman named Patricia- specifically, two different lives that branch off from each other in 1949, when she makes a single important personal choice. But, as an elderly woman with dementia, in a nursing home, she remembers both lives and both worlds and both sets of children that she has, different as they are from each other. In one, she lives a life of joy and love in a private oasis from a world gradually falling into violence and instability. In the other, she’s snatching tiny moments of personal peace inside a miserable life, but the world is gradually getting brighter, kinder, and more peaceful. It’s a carefully composed book and I enjoyed both stories really well! I will probably have to re-read it to talk about cogently for book club. Jo Walton has always done a great of seeding her world building naturally throughout the stories she writes, so I think this story will reward re-reading.

The Scales and the Sword
by foolish_mortal (Restricted link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/773326) – The Hitcher (1986) fic – So, getting into Talamasca fic led to me finding this extremely homoerotic and murdery film, and then the fic about it has been very interesting. The movie is basically “nice heterosexual boy with a car is stalked by hot murderous stranger with a fixation on him.” It’s great, if you like murderous strangers with a fascination that leads them to toy with their food. The film shows the nice boys slow slide into feral violence, which seems to the murderous stranger’s aim – making this nice boy more like himself. The movie would be much more dull if it were more straight. This story is an AU where our nice boy is… less heterosexual, and the murderous stranger is introduced to him under different circumstances. They dance around each other for a loooong time in a flirtation that gradually becomes more explicitly sexual as the story goes on. Think Hannibal.

What I’m Reading
Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher – Kingfisher loves an older lady with an area of expertise, and in Anja’s case, that’s poison! It’s Kingfisher, I know it will be good.

What I’ll Read Next
The Fabric of Civilization – audiobook, the library will pull it back soon.

wednesday reads and things

Mar. 25th, 2026 06:27 pm
isis: (Default)
[personal profile] isis
What I've recently finished reading:

Cinder House by Freya Marske, which is a gothicy Cinderella retelling except that Cinderella is a ghost. For some reason I had osmosed it was f/f, which it is not, though it's not strictly het. The various analogs to the fairy tale were mostly quite charming, and the various rules of ghostness and magic as well - I enjoyed it a great deal. More of a novella than a novel.

What I've recently finished watching:

It looks like I didn't say anything after I finished Pluribus; it was...okay, interesting, some weird plot-gaps (not exactly holes, but) that had me thinking, "yes, but..." a lot.

We watched A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms which was enjoyable enough, though I could have done without certain graphic disgustingness.

Bridgerton S4 was fun as usual. Sophie was delightful (another Cinderella story, hee, complete with evil stepmama!) and the resolution there surprised me a little but I liked it. I was expecting a different outcome of Francesca's story due to osmosis about the books, but I guess that will happen next season. I was completely gobsmacked to see Cressida again but as usual her terrible sartorial choices made for excellent comic relief.

Okay, this was definitely a shorter media review than usual, but I need to finish packing - we're heading out on a camper van roadtrip vacation tomorrow morning. See you all sometime in April!
yourlibrarian: MMMC Icon Reverse Colors (OTH-MMMC Icon Reverse-yourlibrarian)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] marchmetamatterschallenge
March Meta Matters Challenge banner by thenewbuzzwuzz


Hello everyone! It's time for our last writing prompt:

How do you define genres? Is it still a useful tool to find entertainment you like, or have offerings become so niche and melded that it's hard to use categories anymore? Was it ever something useful for you, personally?

Writing new meta this month is optional. If you do write something though, share a link to it in a future check-in post!

Me-and-media update

Mar. 26th, 2026 11:09 am
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the Smoke alarms poll, 80% of respondent have smoke alarms on ceilings/walls, and 16% have some in piles around the place. Ten percent have inadequate coverage. Forty percent of respondents assume it's a battery issue when they go off.

In ticky-boxes, hugs came first with 80%, followed by iridescent bubbles with 62%, and pizza with 48%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I've put The Pursuit of... by Courtney Milan aside for now, in favour of Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts by Matt Bell. I'm hoping it will help me finish my Yuletide stories, but I'm still in the drafting section, and that's not so much my problem. Still, it has some useful thoughts. Written with pantsers/discovery writers in mind.

In audio, I started The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley, read by Sid Sagar. It's set in ancient Thebes, and Pulley's tendency to exoticise/other her non-white characters is transposed onto othering a god, which, okay, fair enough. I'm enjoying the voice.

Kdramas
Same as last week: Undercover Miss Hong, One Spring Night, and Love Scout (ahhhh!). A delicious three-course meal. (I may have oversold One Spring Night last week when I compared it to Austen. What I meant was it's observational. It doesn't have the kinds of flashbacks you usually get in a Kdrama, showing the POV characters' thought processes and emotional reactions. Instead, it seems equally interested in everyone, in a way. The editing is so slow that it feels like a play: the actors' reactions linger on the screen, rather than the camera flicking away.)

Other TV
Finished Ponies, the spy story set in 1980s Moscow, which was great, sometimes brutal, sometimes funny. Ended on a cliffhanger. Emilia Clarke is awesome!

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed -- a documentary made up of interviews with mixed-race kids in the Bay Area. Lovely, thought-provoking, reminded me of the movie Uproar in which Minnie Driver plays the solo mum of Māori kids.

More of The Pitt. (The latest episode was super upsetting, and it really stuck with me. It's so good.)

Rooster, a new comedy set on an Ivy League campus, starring Steve Carell and feat. unexpected Jamie Tartt. Quirky and charming (and that's despite my side-eyeing Carell because of his role in The Morning Show and my difficulty with compartmentalising). We've watched the three available episodes.

Started a rewatch of Paper Girls, which contains one of my all-time favourite narrative devices (people meeting their child selves; see also Disney's The Kid and one of Richard Bach's books). It's such a great show. I'm still so sad it was cancelled on a cliffhanger.

The first episode of the Scrubs reboot. (I never watched the original, but this is fun enough.) And some more Cheers.

Regularly scheduled Fringe and Bluey with my sister.

Audio entertainment
The usual suspects, but not much. I'm having a rest week.

Onling life
520 Day sign-ups (part 1) are open for two more days. \o/

Offline life
I stood on a wasp, and wow, that hurt. | We went up the coast to see my parents (lovely sunny day, nice drive, good to get out of town). | Been biking a lot. | Indulging in too many hot cross buns. | My day's to-do list is super daunting; I may have to give myself a 24-hour extension.

Writing/making things
My first rewrite of WIP #1 didn't work out, so I've spent a lot of this week revising again, and I think I've finally cracked it. It's back at beta. Cross your fingers for me!

I have about 9 days to finish WIP #2, but they're busy days (by my standards). Ahhh!

Link dump
America built the greatest cultural machine in history. Then quit. Here's what filled the vacuum. (Rodrigo Brancatelli substack chronicling the rise and fall of US soft power, and what South Korea learned from the US's example).

Good things
Nada Bakery hot cross buns. To-do lists. Awesome betas and co-mods. Figuring out writing stuff. Guardian! Dreamwidth! You all!

Poll #34413 Favourites
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41


Do you have a favourite colour?

View Answers

yes
25 (64.1%)

sort of
8 (20.5%)

no
4 (10.3%)

other
2 (5.1%)

Ticky-boxes

View Answers

Ticky-box full of rainbows
29 (70.7%)

Ticky-box full of strong opinions about your blorbos' underwear
5 (12.2%)

Ticky-box full of raccoon chefs folding trays of dumplings
18 (43.9%)

Ticky-box full of being signed up for at least one exchange/fandom event
10 (24.4%)

Ticky-box full of huge hugs
36 (87.8%)

capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
[personal profile] capri0mni posting in [community profile] findingfriends
Is there an interesting story behind your username?

Yes. I ramble about it here )

Location and language(s): Eastern U.S.; English

Age range (e.g 20s, 30s, etc.): 60s

Hot button/deal breaker issues that will likely lead to unfriending:

Religious Proselytizing (particularly Christian), Normatively Abled People talking about Disabled family members or friends (discussions of curing disability), queer-phobic bigotry, racism, complaints about so-called "Political Correctness," or "being Woke," content created with generative A.I.

Do you have an "About Me" post new friends can read to get a sense of who you are, the people you talk about regularly, etc.?

Yes. It's the Sticky public post at the top of my journal. I update it maybe a few times a year.

Is your profile up-to-date or at all useful?

It's about ten years old. But everything there is still 90-ish% accurate. The communities I'm listed as a member of are mostly ghost towns.

List a few things you think it's important new friends know about you right away:

I'm physically disabled and fairly active in Disability Rights circles on Tumblr, and a big proponent of Self-Advocacy. I'm agnostic in theory, and atheist in practice (either way, my "religion" has a pantheon count of zero). I am prone to puns. I am a drabble purist. I am anti-generative A.I., though I acknowledge that analytical A.I. is different, and may have value in limited situations.

You mostly write about:

From my sticky!post: )


You never or very rarely write about:

Contemporary TV and Movies (though I enjoy critiques / reviews of the same)

Is your journal mostly public, locked, or a mix of public and locked? A mix.

Do you use filters for certain types of posts (e.g. fandom-related posts, or posts about sex, or mental health issues, etc.)?

Yes. My access filters could do with a refresh. When I refresh them, I generally make a post explaining what they are, so people can opt in.

Your posting frequency (e.g. daily, every few days, weekly, etc.):

Back in the LiveJournal days, I posted several times a week, sometimes, more than once a day, if a thought occurred to me. Recently, it's been a few times a year. I want to get back into my old time habits.

Does your journal frequently include any of the following: memes, linkspams, gifs, photos, videos, etc? No. I'll occasionally post a music video if it's a song that I really like.

What do you enjoy most about journaling?

Getting my thoughts down a) before they evaporate, and b) where they can cross-pollinate with other people's thoughts.

How often do you read your friends list (e.g. daily, every other day, once a week, etc.)?

I check my Reading Page at least once a day. More often if I've got a conversation going in comment/reply threads.

You really enjoy reading about:

People's various creative pursuits, their pets, things they enjoy, the weather out the window, what they're reading, watching, listening to.

You have very little interest in reading about: Diet culture, fashion trends, weight loss, gym exploits

Your thoughts on journals that regularly include any of the following: memes, linkspams, gifs, photos, videos, etc?

I don't mind them too much, but having to scroll past many looping GIFs is uncomfortable. If you post photos and videos, please include descriptions.

When it comes to comments on your posts, what matters more -- quality or quantity?

I love a comment thread that goes down a tangent trail. I love when one comment leads to another. Sometimes, too, a string of emojis can be a witty reply, if done well.

Do you unfriend people who don't comment much, even if you know they are reading you regularly? No.

What is your approach when it comes to commenting on other journals?

See my reply to the kind of comments I like to receive.

When you friend someone, but things don't really click, do you unfriend them without warning, or do you send them a note first? How do you prefer to be unfriended in similar circumstances?

I generally don't unsubscribe to people, unless they start posting or behaving in the "Hot Button Issue" ways I mentioned at the start. I'd prefer not to know if someone unsubscribes to me.

AND LASTLY

Friending memes often ask people to list their favourite TV shows, movies, books, etc., but more often than not, those aren't things people actually write about in their journal. Do you have any favourite TV shows, movies, books, etc., that you DO often write about -- not necessarily in a fandom sort of way, just in general?

I suppose fairy tales and folk tales count as "fannish"?

Any final thoughts you'd like to share with potential new friends? Nope.
jo: (Default)
[personal profile] jo posting in [community profile] tv_talk
Starfleet Academy got renewed for a 2nd season before the first season had even aired, but it's future beyond that was up in the air. However, it was announced this week that season 2 will be the last season.

Story from Reactor Magazine

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