kaellite's Journal

11:12am: Harry/Neville....Never Too Old For Santa
Pairing: Neville/Harry
Warnings; implied misuse and abuse of Santa and an elfs costume
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 303

Disclaimer:  The characters herein are not my property nor are they my creation.  That honor belongs to the talented if inconsitant JKR.  I am just playing with them and no copyright infringement is intended.

Summary:  Neville and Harry find fringe benefits to playing Santa...

 

( He wasn't a perver, not matter what that mother thought. )

1:15pm: A Holiday Yummy for my f-list
Courtesy of Empire Magazine...

Johnny Depp as Dilinger in the forthcoming Public Enemies...




Thanksgiving Dinner went well.  Nobody complained about not having Turkey.   Instead we had Beef Tenderloin marinated in wine, garlic and rosemary then grilled.  Polenta with Teleme cheese....Sauteed spouts with pancetta, wilted spinach salad, saffron carrots, wild rice pilaf with dried cranberries, roasted potatoes, pumpkin tiamisu, and chocolate panna cotta.

No drama...everyone was very well behaved and friendly, parents didn't even attempt to make any digs (hidden or otherwise) at nephew.  Nor did they ask when we were going to make them Grandparents (again).

P and I both slept well and late (for a change) last night, and are being lazy today.  Tomorrow we will go see Australia...

Oh and some of my ideal HP RPG cast (if AU and Remus lived), listed below...

Guy Pearce-Remus
Henry Cavill-Oliver
James Marsden-Adrian Pucey

8:40am: Christmas Wish List.
Step One
- Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your IJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

- If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your IJ, so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
- Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use—or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not — it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.



*

3:03pm: The Tudors...Love at Second Sight...

And, for Henry Cavill...it's love at first sight...



Can you blame me?  If I ever play Oliver Wood in an RPG, he would be my PB....Yum!!!!

So, this weekend I watched The Tudors Season One on DVD.   And, the first time around I was outraged.   The inaccuracies of this in regard to historical fact are amazing.   Then I wrote down everything they got wrong and got it out of my system (mostly), so that I could take it for what it was meant to be...which is guilty pleasure entertainment (and the occasional soft porn bit) in the guise of a costume drama.

I will watch Season 2 when it comes out on DVD in January....

In the meantime, I have to say...I am in love with Henry Cavill.   I wish the James Bond producers had cast him instead of Daniel Craig.  As much as I melt over the current 007, I have to say Casino Royale would have made more sense (in terms of Bond just getting his liscense to kill and such) if he had been younger.   

But there are still 2 bits of The Tudor's which bug me...

1.  The casting of Henry VIII....Henry was fair complexioned with reddish blond hair (according to the desciptions by his contemporaries) and tall....as in (judging by his armour) about 6'2.  Also by the time he took up with Anne B, he was in his late 30's and had been married to Catherine of Aragon for close to 20 years.   The casting doesn't match, especially since Season One includes his infatuation with Anne etc..
2.  The casting of Catherine....she was also fair and short...TINY.... AND she was only 6 years older than Henry..  The way the producers cast (or photograph) the actress who plays her, Catherine comes off as being old enough to be Henry's mother.   And she's taller than him and dark.

The other historical inaccuracies that I can get over/live with?

2:21pm: NOT CANCER (and flailing about book)
According to the DR.

So big sigh of releif.   He wants to change my medications, put me on iron supplments, and such.

Go back to see  him for fu on 12/08/08.

Am going to take laptop in on Saturday.  Also going to hunt for refurbished laptops as well.


I hope you all are doing okay.

Love

Kael..



Also.....

I am 202 pages into Wally Lamb's latest novel, The Hour I First Believed, and OMG..

You have to read this book....can't go into detail cause I only have friend's laptop for a limited time today (and I am hunting for good smex, and friend and internet willing I will be able to get on next Monday and see Neville smut hopefully) but...Check it out at his website or get a synopsis on Amazon etc...

Just the passage on bullies was enough to make me SQUEE...

2:00pm: Laptop died....

8:06pm: Say a prayer.....keep a good thought...please...
Doctor's office called today at 3:00 today and said....


Thanks

Admittedly, though, this puts laptop woes in perspective....

8:48am: POSSIBLE RL BREACH
Laptop died this a.m.

10 minutes later it came back to life.  Same thing...screen goes black, no sound but all idications that power is on etc....

As we are one computer/laptop family and all our money is going towards house, if it dies, I may be gone for a while...till we can get repaired or replaced (which could take till after the New Year).

Hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, you know what happened.

8:55pm: Thanksgiving Menu (and question...is my laptop dying?)

• Pear Sparklers Pear juice and club soda)
• Pomegranate Cosmos
• Baked Brie with Chutney to nosh on
• Grilled Beef Tenderloin (marinated in red wine, rosemary and garlic)
• Braised Beef Short Ribs
• Creamy Polenta
• Grilled Root Vegetables
• Roasted Mustard potatoes
• Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, Dried Cranberries and pecans
• Swiss Chard and Chicory salad
• Homemade bread
• Apple and Cranberry Pot Pies
• Pumpkin Tiarmisu

So that's the menu...tried the recipes out on friends and my favourite 7 and 10 year olds and it got thumbs up...Kids even ate the sprouts... 

No turkey or gravy or dressing but I managed to get the rest of the traditional items out there in non traditional form (cranberry, pecans, potatoes).

My laptop is doing funny things.  One thing actually.  The screen will flicker after it has been on a few hours and then will either come back (like 1 second) or go black..   When I reboot, no problems comes up right away....

Does this mean it's dying?.  It will be 2 years old as of this Christmas.... Or possibly a virus?

12:03pm:

TehRock and I have not made any further progress on the house in the last month for a few reasons

1.  Dad is contracter (he is superising 'real' contractor and using his 'builder status' to get us discounts and stuff.
 and the wedding you know kinda took him away
2.  Indecision...
3.  Things we ordered so that Dad and company could start to didn't get here (in a couple of cases, like for the kitchen island sink, they got lost.  How do you lose a sink?

Anyway...one major bone of contention has been the Master Bath which is not a huge space by any means (or at least by comparison to a lot of the houses down here).   We knew we wanted a Japanese soaking tub, and only one vanity/sink.... and a shower with multiple sprays....beyond that?

Then this a.m, while making chicken pot pie, I started searching sites and hit this (pic below) and showed it to TehRock and he agreed also...

Behold my dream bath..



With 4 minor adjustments....We want pergo flooring in bamboo, we called Dad and he is going to start searching for the tub in a coppery finish, we want a skylight and this vanity (we have something almost identical on order at Lowe's)


This is the fawcett fixture we have ordered for the guest bath



And the island sink they lost and are having to reorder and reship



I have Tina Turner on the stereo and Chicken Pot Pie in oven, then will make a Chocolate Pudding cake if I can find the recipe

Recipes below cut (NOTE: The pot pie recipe is from a Martha Stewart magazine, and she is a woman I despise, but I guess she (or her organization can come up with something good now and then, and this no where near as fat laden as normal pot pie recipes is one such thing).

7:59pm: I let Neville top...

And we both liked it.

That was a first for me, writing Top Neville.    But you know what?  I want more...it's addictive.    I have an idea for a follow up to that fic, wherein...Ron and Ginny pleasure Neville.....  Then Colin and Dennis...

But I had to rush to work and couldn't get it typed out this a.m so now muse is pouting....   We shall see how long it takes her to get over it.   If she'd just get inspired at times where I don't have to rush out the door (like on a Saturday maybe) this wouldn't be an issue, but of course it's all my fault, not hers.....

Wonders if muse is a republican....

In the meantime, I am going to search for Top/Dom Neville fics (preferably with Harry or another Hogwarts boy...NOT with Bill, Charlie or Ron though).

8:57am: COMING AS NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM: Halloween PWP ficlet
Word count: 220
Warnings: PWP, slash
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: ?

Disclaimer: Not mine.  They belong to the very rich and very inconsistant British lady.  I am just playing with them and allowing them to have the fun she never would.

Summary: Neville discovers the cost of losing a Halloween bet involving disguises/costumes

9:00pm: Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

I don’t particulary care for banana’s, nor muffins (I much prefer Southern Biscuits)….but these are sooooo good.

·         1 ½ cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 4 bananas).

·         ½ cup sugar

·         ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

·         ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted

·         ¼ cup whole milk

·         1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon instant espresso

·         1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter and milk, and egg.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingrediants. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined  (the batter is supposed to be lumpy).  Fold in the chocolate chips

Fill each muffin cup about ¾ full.  Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack and let sit for about 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely.

8:33pm: ROOT BEER BUNDT CAKE...recipe here..
This cake is seriously good and not at all hard to make, but I do have a few tips…

1.         You will be folding the Chocolate/Root Beer mixture into the flour mixture so  make sure that you use a large enough bowl when mixing the dry ingredients to accomdate all of the batter.  And...Do not use diet root beer,if you do I promise you will be disappointed.

2.        You want a lumpy batter, if you over beat it till It’s smooth, dump it out and start over again. Seriously, all you want to do when you fold the flour into the chocolate is make sure there are no white specks and everything is moistened.  It should be quite lumpy.

3.        Use a Bundt pan, no substitues.

4.        The better the cocoa powder and root beer (I use IBC), the better the cake

5.        This cake is great to make ahead, in fact it tastes better the day after you bake it, but if you can’t wait, it still tastes pretty darn good the same day.

6.        Lastly, you can ice it, but I tend to think that is gilding the Lily.  If you want to top it with something, get a scoop of vanilla ice-cream

Okay, so how to make the thing?

 

Root Beer, 2 cups

1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup (I stick) unsalted butter cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

 

Preheat the oven to 325f,.  Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan with non stick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.   With the pan still on the heat, add the sugars and whisk until dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool. 

While that is cooling,using a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs together until just beaten.  Then whisk the eggs into the cooled cocoa/root beer mixture.

Gently fold the cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients.  Do not over mix.  You want a lumpy batter (see note above).

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees halfway through the baking time.  The cake is done when a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack until completely cooled.  Then remove from pan

8:07pm: Pomegranate cosmopolitans
2 cups good quality vodka

 

1 cup Conitreau liquer

1 cup cranberry juice cocktail

1 cup Pom Wonderful bottled pomegranate juice

½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes).

 

Pour all of the ingredients into a large pitcher.  Fill a cocktail shaker half full with ice and pour  the cocktail mixture into the shaker.  Shake for 30 seconds.  Pour into glasses and serve.

9:04am: Chocolate Root Beer Cake...
Watch this space.... Internet, IJ , and RL allowing, recipes for Chocolate Root Beer Cake and Chocolate Polenta Pudding Cake will be forthcoming tonight.  Also how to make a Pomagranite Martini....

If I can find where I put the card file box (never a sure thing), I will post my Aunt's recipe for Cardoman Sour Cream Pound Cake this weekend

7:56pm: Hot Chocolate with Chili...and questions for f-list

8:39am: We have an addition to the family...

7:48pm: 2 Christmas presents bought

• 2 Christmas presents bought
• Halloween candy purchased
• Dry cleaning dropped off
• Fireplace and floo professionaly cleaned out
• Heater checked out

I actually got a few things accomplished today.  Will wonders never cease.

7:42pm: The Grackles Know Your Name....
Points for you if you can say what book that line is from....

So, i am officially a Sadie, in other words a married lady.  And we are home.  We got in today about 2 p.m.   Teh Rock then went to work mowing the yard, washing the car and such.   I did laundry, made vegetable soup and garlic bread and such.   Also called family and got caught up.

About the nephew...

He seems to be doing well and adjusting to his new school.  He says no ones given him a hard time.  Granted he's not going around saying "Hi! My name is 'x' and I'm gay", but still    The Grandparents (my parents) have laid off too.  I think (reading between the lines from talking to them) the are trying a bit of reverse psychology and such (as in if we don't make a big deal about it he'll go back to being normal).   So we shall see how long that little cease fire lasts.  

About Christ, and racism...

Does it baffle anyone else how all these neo-nazi's and racists and such who hate blacks but call themselves "Christian" never stop to think about Christ's skin color.   Look at where he lived.  The Middle East.  Not a whole lot of indiginous fair skinned blue eyed people there.   And, according to the Bible, he walked among them as one of them.  Uh, you think a blue-eyed blond would be able to do that?

Not likely.   Odds are he was dark skinned etc...  But of course they will never accept that.

On a completely different and frivilous topic...

About sexy men...

As much as I squee about Dan (sometimes, the times I don't think he is fugly) Matt, and Alfie (and yes I probably will renege on my vow and go see HBP just to drool over the last two in their brief allotments of screen time), I don't find younger men that attractive, never have.   Even as a tween and teen I thought men (and women) didnt' become interesting (to look at or to talk to) until they hit their thirties at least.  That may be why (as he is now getting older) that I am starting to find Robert Downey Jr. sexy.   And why pics of my Jimmie (James Marsden) taken when he was a teen and in early 20's, don't do it for me... Ditto for Christian Bale. I loved him in Little Women but he didn't seem sexy to me till he got a few lines and such on his face....





Probably this weekend, I'll do a longer post with more specifics about wedding and Yellowstone, but not right now.  Right now, I need to get caught up with f-list...

Anyone write and Charlie/Neville, Oliver/Neville, Neville/Colin, Ron/Colin or Oliver/Dennis while I was gone....  And why does no one write Ron cross gen....why is Harry the only one who gets to love on Scorpious etc?

10:45am: IGNORANT BINTS AND HOT AIR....
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to vote (much less write anything).

Last night, as we were charging up cell phone, TehRock suggested we send an e-mail to our respective parental units just letting them know we were alive and well and enjoying ourselves.   After we did so, he went to take a shower and I, of course, surfed a bit. 

While looking to see if there were any new Neville fics, I stumbled across the posts of a friend of a friend.   Honestly, this woman (not my friend but another woman) is an idiot.   She obviously only gets her information from Fox News etc...

She had the audacity to complain that people would not let her post her political opinions in 'silent disagreement' they did not agree with her but instead were commenting on her LJ.

Uh, maybe it had something to do with her language.  Her posts are inflamatory in they way they are worded as they are stated in such away that she all but says bald face that if you vote for Obama you are a commie, socialist, terrorist, anti-American arse.

She repeatedly states that Obama is a terrorist or hangs out with them.  Uh, get your facts straight woman.

1.  Obama was 8 years old at the time.   Most people are able to grasp that.  If you associated with ex or neo Nazi sympathizers at that age from living in Germany or such, would we condemn you for it (not that she did, just a hypothetical).  Not likely.  I know people whose' parents or Grandparents sympathized or belonged to the KKK and they don't hold the same beliefs even though they were exposed to it as children.

2.  The party in question was never convicted, in fact the case was thrown out, and the prosecution did not attempt to try it again because of the dubious/flimsy evidence

3. No lives were taken in any of the bombings and such that were purported to be the acts of this man/group

4.  In his statement that 'he wished he could have done more' the GOP and McCain/Palin left off the rest ot the sentence which was...." to protest the Vietnam War."  NOT to kill people etc...

And, this reactionary posing as an elightened person, then went on to harass any of her f-list for wanting to vote for Obama (or against McCain/Palin) because of the issue of "Pro Choice"   She states she's heard that arguement for 20 years and it has never been a threat.  She elaborates that she had her tubes tied and no one tried to stop her.

Someone really needs to tell the bint that "Pro Choice" is about abortion, not having your tubes tied.  And maybe someone should suggest that until she knows more the Sarah Palin (which wouldn't take much, but at least Palin knows Roe Vs. Wade was about abortion not birth control), that she should keep her mouth shut or risk exposing herself as the political idiot she is.

PLEASE NOTE, if you are voting for McCain etc...I have no issue with you, that is your choice.  My issue is with people who only get or publicize part of the story and twist facts to support their own agenda.  Get your news, data from a number of sources in different viewpoints.  That way you have some knowledge of all sides, and you can think and make up your mind for yourself.  it is rather obvious that the woman in question is not doing that, or doesn't care to.

Rant over (but where is TheRock with our french toast and cocoa?). 

In happier areas...

Yellowstone is gorgeous in the fall, we even made it up to Glacier National Park for a day, and now are slowly making our way home.    Ran out of film for pics for Glacier but TehRock got plenty of Yellowstone (we really need to get a digital camera...and a working scanner....maybe for Christmas?)

9:03am: POST FROM THE MARRIED LADY
Just a fly by post, while the husband is taking car to be gassed up, clean windshield, get provisions (and directions)

Yes, I can say 'the Husband' now.  FYI, P is no longer to be known as P but henceforth as "TheRock" as in "My Rock'.

Okay...

Wedding went off almost without a hitch.   Just minor stuff, mostly amusing.  Like the flower boy picked up the petals the flower girl dropped.  His Mom and Dad trained him well not to leave a mess.

One of my second cousins took it upon herself to bleach the blue tablecloths (as we wanted had planned on white).  This did not work out so well,  On the other hand, maybe it did.  They were actually rather pretty in a way with an abstract white pattern on the now light blue.

And TehRock's Grandmother used that in her toast, stating that life and marriage were like that, sometimes the things you didn't plan on happened but if you could find the beauty in them together, you were more than halfway there.

What else?  My Dad cried during the wedding, Mom cried as we were leaving.

My flowers were white tulip's my Missouri Aunt had grown and forced herself

Music was a locat string quartet

Location was a new (and therefore unused to that point) barn.  Wood floors, weathered wood on walls and roof.  Missouri Aunt and Uncle built it for enteratining purposes as when they host Thanksgiving and Christmas for all relatives it adds up to more than 40 people..  No electricity yet in it, so candles in Hurricane lanterns everywhere.  It was really pretty if spare (but I like that), just the wood, wood tables, white crockery, wine glasses, white flowers and the abstract art tablecloths.

Dinner was grilled leg of lamb, grilled chicken or grilled roast tenderloin, polenta (which my Uncles called "grits"), grilled veggies, homemade breads, and wedding pie.  I can't tell you how many eyebrows that last one raised.  But everyone enjoyed it.

I'm so glad we didn't do the formal placement or dancing thing.  It gave us a real chance to not only eat (for me the first time that day) but also to visit with family.  I had kids climbing on my lap, eating with me, laughing with "Ditto Rush's" younger brother (much more enlightened), and I can honestly say we are one of those bridal couples that had a good time at our own wedding.

I only got teary eyed once.  and that was at my Great Aunt's toast (she is 93).  Her toast was to Tehrock...."We've watched Dee grow up and come to be able to take care of herself and we're grateful for that.  But we're even more grateful that she doesn' have to, now that she's found you."

Everybody was still gabbing and such when it was time for us to leave.  We spent wedding night near one of the Lakes of the Ozarks (about an hour from Aunt's).

Then yesterday we headed north.  We will make Yellowstone today.  One more glitch..I can't find my watch.  I had it on Friday, so I am guessing I left it at Aunt's.  Oh well, such is life.

7:54pm: DRARRY FLUFF....Beta needed...

8:47am: Honeymoon's over
Not quite but it will be foreshortened.

Due to issues with family (and needing to get nephew settled and such), P and I have decided to shorten Honeymoon. 

We will still be going to Yellowstone but skipping Mr Rushmore, Badlands and other things.   Mainly because my parents (it seems according to nephew) are still pushing him to get into therapy.   While that is not a bad idea per se, it should be therapy that gets helps him deal with the issues the world forces him to face due to intolerance and not be an attempt to change him from what he naturally is.

Which is a loving, intelligent (he tests as 'gifted), sweet natured, genuinely good person who happens also to be gay.

So because P remembers what it was like when his Grandmother and her partner 'went public' he brought up the idea of skipping Mt Rushmore etc...

Once I was sure that he would not resent this in the future, we talked about it some more and agreed.   Besides, I have my own rock in him, don't need a hunk of granite.

So P and that (nephew) are taking precedence over all else, so if I post more about nephew (and vent) more than is interesting, please feel free to skip (I'm sure most do anyway).

I love my parents but I wish they'd get a grip on reality and lose the judgemental attitude that being Gay makes you a sinner.  We're all sinners, being Gay doesn't make you a worse or bigger one.

9:02am: Best Wedding Present Ever!!!!!