liveonthesun | Reading

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What are your crafting goals for 2026?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

starryeyedknight posting in

little_details

Hello! I’ve got a rather niche one particularly for Arabic speakers/historians - my writing is set in the medieval crusading period, where European/Catholic individuals would often use expressions of annoyance/surprise/exasperation that are largely religious-based, such as ‘oh sweet Christ’, 'dear God', ‘Christ’s bones’, ‘Saint Jude’s eyes’ etc etc. (One can then make as crude as you like while focusing a lot around divine/saintly body parts!).

I also have a few Levantine Arab Christian characters with mixed Arab/European heritage and I'm wondering if the above sort of religious-based swearing might have been used also in the Levant (particularly if they've taken some verbal influence from their European father), or if would come across as jarring to use these more western-associated idioms in a Middle Eastern setting?

Also: I've done some research around Arabic idioms already, but it would also be great to hear of any Arabic phrases (either in Arabic or transliterated) of annoyance or surprise similar to 'oh Christ' or 'for God's sake' that might be used? (I know ‘ya Allah’ is one such phrase but I’m trying to diversify) Similarly, any other recommendations of non-religious exclamations (of the ‘damn, bugger, blast’ varieties) would be very helpful!

Current Mood: chipper

susandennis

The pool is still cold and getting colder. The fixers are due to fix but no joy yet. So no swimming. No volleyball. I should go down to the gym and use one of their machines go get my muscles going but I've discussed this with my muscles and they are not giving me a compelling reason to go. The old saw of we won't work one day just isn't cutting it. So I'm declaring it vacation week.

At the risk of jinxing it, the cats both seem back to normal. They have eaten their breakfast and Biggie's had his treats and they are both just hangin' out here in the living room instead of hiding in the closet like they have been. No red in anyone's pee and nice little Tootsie roll poops. Biggie goes back to the vet a week from Thursday.

I scored big at Value Village yesterday. I spent $25 and got all manner of soon to be creature hair. All different colors and different textures. I got one unraveled yesterday and will do some more today.

I discovered while I was out yesterday that someone tanked the temperature around here. It was really cold out. I was going to fill up the gas tank but that soon evolved in NFW. I have enough to pick up my brother at the airport next week. I'll get him to fill it :) Filling my car with gas is a chore, like emptying the dishwasher, that I just hate. For more than a handful of years at the condo, I didn't even use the dishwasher because I hated emptying it. Not filling the gas tank is a little trickier.

My 'vacation' will be interrupted today by the house cleaner. I'm perfectly ok with that.

I got a notice from Social Security about my 'salary' for this year that starts on Friday. Because they fucked me over last year, I'm getting a $500 increase this year. I'm still pissed about last year but I'm perfectly Ok with the extra scheckels. My Timber Ridge rent is going up so coverage. Next up income tax. But, I'm pretty sure I've over paid the estimated so no big bill. I will be glad to get it sorted and done, though. Next year, and the years that follow, will be easy breezy tax wise.

I think I'll go pop in a load of laundry and then get dressed.

annofowlshire

"[Surrealism is] the belief that nothing is ordinary; that everything in life is extraordinary. And being old is no more, no less, extraordinary than being young." - Leonora Carrington (Surreal Spaces)

Current Mood: thoughtful

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander/David Hollander
Rating: Teen
Length: 1443
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: toomuchplor on AO3
Themes: canon LGBTQ+ characters, Family, Established relationship, Missing scene

Summary:
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. ~ Thoreau
Or;
What happened when Yuna and Shane were talking.

Reccer's Notes:
I wanted this scene when I watched episode 6, and toomuchplor wrote it! This is what happens between Ilya and David when Shane is outside talking with Yuna. It's also about David observing how in love Shane and Ilya are, and about David and Yuna gradually getting to grips with all the revelations. It's wonderfully written, and just exactly what I'd hoped someone would write. Also, toomuchplor is in the vortex!! *excited noises* (this is plor's 3rd HR fic).

Fanwork Links: Keep Pace

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 15,551
Creator Links:

flowerdeluce
Theme: Amnesty, (Five) Things, Essential Starter Recs, Friends to Lovers, Heists & Capers, Just Plain Fun, Magic, Research, Slow Burn, Uncommon Settings, Working Together, Worldbuilding

Summary: After discovering how lucrative ‘publicity stunts’ are for the museum, McPhee organises a series of art exhibitions in the museum’s gallery. The installations are refreshed weekly, leaving Jed and Octavius only brief windows of time to explore each one.

Reccer's Notes: An absolutely gorgeous fic which integrates real-world museum exhibits; they all sounded so unique and fascinating it made me want to visit my own local museum, too!! The slow build up of the boys' relationship is also just delightful as they explore these new worlds and the many other ways the museum's magic animates each unique exhibit.

Fanwork Links: On Every Horizon

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: M
Length: 33,372
Creator Links:

ratjamtime1EndRacismintheOTW1
Theme: Amnesty, (Not Really) Unrequited Love, Casefic, Character Development, Clones & Doppelgangers, Favorite Fanworks, Fix-it, Identity Porn, Loyalty Kink, Secret Identity Reveal, Spells & Curses, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: Luo Binghe is setting the beginning foundations of his attempt to prove himself the righteous cultivator Shen Qingqiu could welcome back to his side (and possibly love but let's not get ahead of ourselves here) when he hears his master's life is in peril. He leaps at the chance to prove his goodness and worth to his master.

Luo Binghe learns his master is not the man he thought he was.

AKA

Shen 'Airplane wrote this for an orgy wife plot/love confession but I'll be damned before I do anything like THAT' Qingqiu vs Luo 'If it were not for Shizun, I'd kill everyone on this mountain and then myself' Binghe, FIGHT

Reccer's Notes: Out of all the 'Binghe fights the System and finds out Shen Qingqiu's true identity' fics out there (and there will never be enough to satiate my cravings), this one is my favourite. Please don't be turned off by the grammar: this is such a perfect dissection of the many different parts of Shen Qingqiu slash Shen Yuan, following Binghe through a series of important memories as he pieces together the truth and reaches the core of the rift between he and his Shizun. It just feels so perfectly... conclusive: when it ended all I could do is sit back and bask in the satisfaction because it felt like such a perfect ending for them both!!

Fanwork Links: Peel You Open (Like A Flower, Or An Onion)

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: The West Wing
Pairings/Characters: Sam Seaborn/Josh Lyman-focus; also includes Sam/OMC, Josh/Amy and Josh/Donna
Rating: E
Length: 347,597 overall
Creator Links:

jaegecko
Theme: Amnesty, Ambiguous Relationships, Backstory, Character Development, Epic Works, Fandom Classics, Getting Back Together, Missing Scenes, Mutual Pining, Politics, Research, Series

Summary: The Turningverse is a series of stories that interweave with both canon "West Wing" episodes and each other. Each one is self-contained, so feel free to begin anywhere you feel moved to do so.

Reccer's Notes: THE big Sam/Josh fic, and it earns all of its accolades! The author is incredibly knowledgeable about the day-to-day realities of political campaigners and White House staffers, flawlessly interspersing their own original scenes with canon. And the central relationship is so perfectly, tragically flawed: two men who are intrinsically drawn to one another, struggling to overcome the lack of privacy inherent to their position, burgeoning resentment, and some of the most heart-breakingly realistic internalised homophobia I've read in a long time. And that's not to mention the fic's version of Lisa, Sam's initial fiance, who becomes a very important character just as flawed and with just as complicated a relationship with Sam and Josh as they have with another. I devoured these fics and never wanted to stop!

However, be aware that the final fic of the series (the intended second-last part) was never fully completed. As a result, the series never reached the point where the couple gets back together for good. I recommend ending with 'Interlude for two voices' if you can't bear that; I sure stayed there for a while until I could bring myself to go on! :')

Fanwork Links: The Turning universe

goodbyebird

+ I thiiiink I'm up to date on my comment replies? My inbox turned into a right mess with all the holiday emails thrown in, sorry if I've skipped over you.

+ Tis the time for End of Year Lists, and I enjoyed Every Sapphic Book I Read This Year by

Lesbiature.

+ I actually spotted the Beehive Books illuminated version of Carmilla in a local bookshop! I didn't know their fancy editions were becoming that widespread. I backed their very first kickstarter back in the day, happy to see they've expanded. Their editions are works of art. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a sale so I can snap it up.

+ Finally installed Vegas Pro 22 I got from Humble Bundle, and there were separate ticky boxes for Vegas Pro and Deep Learning Model. I'm assuming that's their AI bullshit? If so, GOOD. Maybe I'll venture into discord again, most vidders have abandoned ship here and I'll very likely be in need of moral support. These gay vampires won't leave me alone and I may just have to do something about it. (this is 98% likely to never result in a finished vid, my track record is very conclusive)

+ Big shoutout to

lgbtrainbow for letting me do one icon at a time. Such a fun but also easy way to go about iconning. Though I now have three colors laying in wait for when they come back around lol. I am ready to pounce. Please join us and icon All The Gays.
(I may actually have an icon post before the year ends whee)

In the meantime I've written up not one but two tutorials based on earlier PSDs, because once again I'm having to re-learn how to make icons 🫠

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
Rec-cember Day 29
Stranger Things
love is a battle i can win by

palmviolet (24,653 words). Christmas 1994. Nancy faces her fears. The sense of found family and friendship in this <3 (also another Christmas fic yay)
She taps the end of her ballpoint on her lip and looks idly around the terminal. The bank of seats she’s sitting on is empty. But as she watches, actually, someone comes down to sit a few seats away from her. It’s a woman, short-haired, in men’s trousers and a collared shirt. She’s got sharp eyes and freckles dusted over her cheeks; the shirt, open at the throat, shows off the hint of warm brown collarbones.

She doesn’t sit for long. Soon enough she spots someone entering the terminal and she jumps to her feet, the sort of raw delight emanating off her that’s hard to look at. She rushes forward and embraces the person. Another woman. And it’s 1994, and the world’s come a long way, but not long enough for them to kiss here in public, but Nancy can tell that they want to. She can just tell. And she doesn’t know where this sense came from, where she learned it or when. How does she know? How does she know that’s what they want to do?

Not because she’s felt that way herself. She remembers the few times she and Jonathan were apart for any length of time, the way she’d feel itchy and unsettled the whole duration and yet still strangely reluctant to see him return. She wouldn’t kiss him in the airport, though she’d kiss back if he kissed her. It was a problem of knowing neither how to live with him nor how to live without him; it was a problem they all experienced with each other, moving away from New Hawkins in dribs and drabs as they did. Joyce calling Jonathan four times a day and forgetting the time difference, waking them just as they went to bed. Nancy doing the same to Mike and Holly, just in the mornings.

She checks her watch. It’s eleven twenty-eight; she puts her notebook away and gets her things together, passing the two women on her way out, and she has to avert her eyes. She can’t look at them. Her cheeks are furiously hot.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

susandennis

My brother arrives a week from tomorrow!! He's here for 6 days and I was a little worried that we might not have enough to do. I don't have any sports channels and he's no longer eating. But, then I organized my list of todo's.

I think we'll be busy enough. Plus I still have a week to add to the list. Plus he can watch me eat. That should make up for no sports channels. hahahaha

And, yep, my latest thing is writing on my fridge with erasable markers.

susandennis

When I lived near Pittsburgh, I got to go to the opening of the new Three Rivers Stadium (baseball). It was a big huge fucking deal to get to go and I was thrilled. I heard this summer that they are talking about replacing the stadium that replaced Three Rivers. Ha!

This weekend I learned that they are retiring NYC Metro cards. I am a subway token girl. The tokens were a little smaller than dimes and clung to the bottom of your purse, especially when you were in a hurry. I was long gone from NYC by the time they retired tokens and now they are retiring the token replacements.

If ya live long enough...

It is still pretty dark and also foggy. Perfect for swimming but not in ice cold water. I wonder if we will be able to volleyball tomorrow. I'll go down to the pool/gym later today to find out. And probably do some time on those horrible machines. Oh! I just got a note from Erica (the fitness director) saying this morning the pool is 79 degrees which is, technically, within (bottom) the range for lap swimming but not for my lap swimming.

I do think I'm going over to the second hand shop this morning and see if I can score a purple or green sweater to unravel for hair. I know the goods will be better and more varietal at Goodwill BUT also there is a whole lot more stuff to tempt me at Goodwill so best to stick to Value Village.

But they don't open til 10 so I guess I'll get dressed first.

masterghandalf posting in

das_sporking2

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Location: The Grey Havens
Current Music: Into the West

ysabetwordsmith posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: busy

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

3 for the Memories' 2025 session will be open for posts on January 3, 2026 and will run for 3 weeks until January 24. Event participation is as follows:

1) Three photos only per person during each annual session. Members are encouraged to discuss the reason for their choices.

2) Photos can be hosted at Dreamwidth or elsewhere, and should not be larger than 800 px width or height.

3) All three photos should be in the same post. Cut tags should be placed after the first photo.

3 for the Memories is not a competition, and entries are not being judged. Rather, participants are encouraged to share photos they took in 2025 that they find meaningful in some way or which represent how they experienced the year.

Questions? Visit the announcement post at

threeforthememories

goodbyebird

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
Rec-cember Day 28

The Dark Is Rising
Watch for the Greenwitch by

Selden (2,448 words). I never did manage to do my Dark Is Rising re-read this year, but at least there was fic. A different turn for Jane, this. (and a bonus delight to see

sharp_teeth mentioned in the notes)
In the light from the bonfire the Greenwitch rose up, tall and ragged against the sky, like something from long ago. Not the fine past of the grail, of long spears and iron, thorny, intricate poetry and patterns. Not even the past, thought Jane, of neat sharp flints laid out on red velvet under museum lights, axes and arrowheads. Something older, like rough rock, the rings of yellow lichen spreading out through the years like ripples from a stone thrown into still water.

Current Music: Siri Nilsen - Stille Vann

astra_aurora posting in

das_sporking2

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Acid Dad- Real Good Dream

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

susandennis

I love things you do every day. For several years, I took the same photo everyday at noon. Then for 3 years I snapped pictures of the stadium across the street every day and put them on a website. I used to take a photo of my knitting basket every day. I write in this journal every day and I also keep a One Sentence A Day journal in a small book - I write in it each night when I get into bed.

This week I started a tracker. It's an app on my phone. I built a template and every day I will fill it in with notes. I have no plans for this info but I do get a weird satisfaction from just keeping up with it and knowing I have it.

Yesterday the pool water was cold and the air in the pool room was 79 when it's always 81. I reported it to the front desk but The Guy Who Never Does What You Ask was on duty so I know I was wasting air. This morning, I knew the sun was going to be out and if I wanted to swim before the clouds lifted, I'd better get going. BUT I also wore my track suit and went prepared to use one of the machines in the gym instead. The pool water was colder than yesterday and the air was now 76. The same guy was on at the front desk. So no one will even know about it until tomorrow. It takes a few days to heat up that water. Volleyball on Tuesday is looking iffy. Tomorrow's swim ain't happening. BUT I did enjoy today's. After the first five or so laps, the cold isn't terrible. Not great but not terrible.

The sun is out now and the mountains are covered with snow. It's a beautiful sight. I did not move one inch from my table to take this photo right now. This is what I see.

I really can't believe that I get to live in this apartment with this view for the rest of my days. I often feel like I'm being pranked. I think it's the equivalent of impostor syndrome but for retirees.

Biggie had another bloodless pee. I am so hopeful that at least this latest issue might not kill him. Of course, if it does not, he'll think of some other way soon, I'm sure.

Today I'm thinking maybe some work on the puzzle in the elbow, maybe some TV, maybe some knitting. The usual.

a merry sunshine

Check-In Post - Dec 30th 2025

Medieval 'Cussing' in the Middle East

Vacation week

Nothing is ordinary

Heated Rivalry: Keep Pace by toomuchplor

NATM: On Every Horizon by flowerdeluce

SVSSS: Peel You Open (Like A Flower, Or An Onion) by ratjamtime1EndRacismintheOTW1

The Turning Universe by Jae Gecko

(no subject)

Check-In Post - Dec 29th 2025

Worried no more

The new Three Rivers Stadium

Fellowship of the King: Final Thoughts

January Bingo Fest

Creative Jam

Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!

and mid the shadowy throng.

Letterkenny: S11E4- Nudes

Check-In Post - Dec 28th 2025

Every day obsession

Profile

Links

reading

Style Credit