☆paging doctor gorgeous☆

Happy Holidays!

It's been a mile a minute around here.

The Christmas Market was great. The rotary lights were wonderful. We had dinner at a pub called The Crow and got ice cream. They had real reindeer at the park! But it was SO COLD that we eventually had to give up and head home earlier than planned.

There has been lots of baking and cookie decorating. Many Christmas movies.

Last night for Christmas Eve, we attended the family Christmas potluck party that Blair's Dad's side of the family always throws. Tons of food, some games, and karaoke in a rented hall. Blair and I opened a couple of gifts when we got home.

Today, Christmas, was a lovely day start to finish. We got up, did stockings, opened gifts. Made a big, hearty breakfast. Watched The Greatest Showman and then headed to Blair's mom's house for Christmas day festivities. We just watched things, opened gifts, sat and talked, and had an amazing steak and crab dinner with cheesy potatoes and lots of desserts. It was a really nice time!

Came home, got cozy, and fit one more Christmas movie in: Klaus. I watch it every year but Blair has never seen it. We both, predictably, cried.

Blair's sleeping now and I'm trying to milk whatever I can out of the rest of the night, even though it's after midnight and no longer Christmas.

I had such creative plans. I had almost no time to execute them. I will try again tomorrow, as I have the day off, but I think we're planning to go to the mall to return a few things that Blair received and doesn't want (some of her relatives aren't aware she's transitioning and won't be wearing hyper feminine clothes anymore).

I look forward to sleeping in if possible, though. I'm exhausted.

Hope everyone's doing well. <3

Today I finally, finally have a day where I do not have to do a single thing. I woke up, finished the dishes in the sink and am now sitting with my laptop. I don't have any errands. I don't have any housework. I don't have work, or any social obligations.

Just me, my laptop, and my FTH fic that is due on the 31st.

Well, and Blair and Velma, of course, keeping me company on the sofa while we engage in some parallel play.

Velma is much better, as if her little injury never happened. We didn't even need to finish off all her meds; within a couple of days she was running, jumping, frolicking, and generally being a huge nuisance.

I can't believe Christmas is already upon us. I'm feeling glad that I prepped everything so early, because the next few weeks are coming at me fast. Thursday we're cutting and dyeing our hair. Friday we're going to the Sparta Christmas market. Saturday night we're going to go look at the rotary lights. Sunday we have baking with Blair's mom and sister followed by game night at our DM's house. That's just this week.

I'm feeling... good.

I really don't know what happened, and why I go so long without posting. It's been a week! Over a week? IDK.

Thanksgiving came and went. Hopefully all of you had a nice one, or if you don't celebrate, hopefully you had a restful Thursday. I spent mine with Blair's family, and wow, there were like 40 people there and five different tables laden with food. The event had to be held in their garage, where there was enough space to lay out that many tables.

I made maple bacon pecan blondies and a big bowl of elote to contribute to the feast, and both were generally well-liked, which made me happy.

Blair and I went Black Friday shopping, and actually had a great time. It was bustling enough at the mall to feel like a festive event, but not so crazy that it was stressful. We finished our Christmas shopping, and I got a few clothing items that were on super sale. We had dinner at a nearby hole in the wall called The Hungry Peddler, and then rounded out the night by getting our Christmas tree and a bunch of ornaments and lights, then coming home and setting it all up.

Saturday, we got a winter storm. It snowed all day long, from early morning to late night, without stopping. Waking up on Sunday was almost a little surreal for me, seeing absolutely everything covered in pristine unbroken white. We didn't go anywhere on Sunday, preferring to stay in and be cozy, and avoid what was sure to be hazardous driving.

All in all, it was a pretty great Thanksgiving weekend. It's getting a lot colder though, and my Southern Californian body is finding it hard to withstand, even indoors (we haven't run the heat at all, because honestly, we haven't really needed to in this apartment building). I'm just glad I had the foresight to buy myself a proper winter coat last week before The Big Chill set in.

When I got home from work this evening, we curled up on the couch; Blair with her presentation preparation, me with a stack of holiday cards. I've got them all done and filled out! By December 1st. Fancy that. If you'd like a holiday card from me and you haven't spoken up yet, do please let me know. Either comment here and I'll message you, or you can feel free to message me.

Alright, guys, you know the drill.

If you would like a holiday card from me, you can either leave your mailing address here on this post (comments are screened, of course!) or DM it to me. It is not necessary to send me one back, but of course it would be welcomed and cherished if you did.

Got me a box of new cards and am looking forward to sitting and writing them all out!

Oof. On the heels of a very successful Halloween comes a house full of sick. Blair got ill yesterday and now I'm feeling quite under the weather. It sucks, but at least things are pretty calm this week, schedule-wise. I work tomorrow but then I have two days off to rest. She's not so lucky.

I put away all of our Halloween decorations (which pained me), and swapped our Halloween wreath on our front door with an autumn leaves one that I rather like.

I was able to finish a couple of things for ficortreat but I didn't get them all done. I'm going to try to work on them now. Blair's gone to bed early so I've got some quiet time to kill.

I've been reading a book called The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn. It's about lady spies during WWI (among other things), and I'm enjoying it honestly more than I anticipated.

I'm more convinced than ever that the third floor of this building is haunted.

Not just because the mysterious nighttime footsteps continue up and down the hall, but because now I'm experiencing things in our own apartment. This comes on the heels of me consistently joking that the people next door might be dead: there was construction in the parking lot like a month ago and we all got fliers on our doors. The one on the next door neighbors' just stayed there. And stayed there. And stayed there. It's still there, over a month later. It smells weird in the hall. That is also the apartment where that weird woman came out of once, off her face with a needle in her arm. I always tell Blair "I think they're dead in there."

Anyway, our apartment.

A few mornings ago, I woke up to the familiar sound of walking across the carpet. Around to Blair's side of the bed. I felt the bed dip. I felt it vibrate a little, the way it does when she itches or something. I turned over to say good morning and no one was there. I looked at the clock; she had gone to work over an hour ago.

I told her about it later, and she was spooked. She told me that a couple of days before, she was positive that she had heard somebody come into the apartment while she was in the shower. She put a towel on and went to investigate, but no one was there and the door was still locked.

This morning, it happened again, though slightly in reverse. I felt the bed sway gently. Heard footsteps across the carpet. Cracked my eyes open to see Blair, or what I thought was Blair, walking slowly toward the bathroom. This is morning routine. I waited for the bathroom light to turn on, but it didn't. I waited to hear the sounds of her getting dressed, but I didn't. I turned over in bed, and saw that she was still laying beside me, fast asleep. Not sure who the fuck I saw, then!

The veil grows thinner, I suppose.

I've got a small pile of drabbles I must do, both for ficortreat and seasonsofdrabbles. (Done!) I'm confident I can do them all before Halloween is out. Tonight I'm going to take Blair to dinner to celebrate her finishing and presenting a huge project that has been stressing her out badly lately, and tomorrow, my plan is to surprise her at work with Halloween treats, then in the evening we will make our favorite pumpkin soup and watch Halloween movies with a tray of candy and pastries. May or may not drag out the kigurumi for the occasion.

Otherwise, though, I have some time to myself to write and to watch stuff.

We've got to carve our pumpkin at some point. It's sort of moot since we live in an apartment building and don't have a balcony or patio or anything, so it'll just sit on our table, but I still wanted to get one from the pumpkin patch because damn it I love this holiday and it only comes around once a year and I want all the trimmings.

Is topped by Dairy Queen today because it is one of my personal Halloween traditions to get a pumpkin pie Blizzard on Halloween, but they didn't have them anymore and had already moved onto Christmas flavors??? Excuse the hell out of me? Pumpkin pie goes well into November for Thanksgiving! And you don't even keep it around through Halloween? Bad form, DQ. Bad form.

Wow, I haven't updated in weeks.

I've done some fun things. Trip to Rochester. Trip to Spirit Halloween. Lots of lunches and dinners. Last night Blair and I went to her boss's house for dinner, as invited; a delicious tomato basil soup and a very impressive charcuterie board. Then we sat outside around a fire and talked for a bit (again with the fire, what is it, Midwesterners?).

Someone moved in above us and it's been awful. They're stomping around all the time, bumping, banging, crashing. Someone is running up there, back and forth, back and forth. They sound like they're wearing platform boots. It's so loud. It's putting us on edge and fraying our nerves. Last night, Blair got so frustrated she grabbed a stick and banged on the ceiling. I don't want to be those people, but then again, we deserve for our home to be peaceful and safe, damn it. These people made noise clear past midnight the first night, and got going again at 5:30am. It's like they never sleep, and they never sit down. She is determined to handle it somehow. I hope she doesn't have to.

Blair's parents are having a Halloween party on the day after Halloween, a Saturday night. I wasn't going to go because a) there will be lots of drinking and I am made very uncomfortable around drunk people, and b) it's chiefly a karaoke party and I do not want to sing karaoke, despite everyone always trying to press me into doing it. But then when we were at Spirit Halloween, a silly idea came together that then became a serious idea, and now I am going because we came up with costumes and I cannot resist a couples' costume to save my life.

Tonight, Blair showed me something she found that I thought I would share with you all.

Today was another No Kings protest, and while there, they discovered a group called Swan Court that has a channel/playlist on Youtube full of parody songs making fun of the Trump administration. It is called The Resistance and it's really good for firing up, well. The resistance! It's great fun! I will share with you two of the best.

This one, It's Not Illegal To Burn A Trump Flag, is in the style of an Irish drinking song.

And this one, Promises Made, Promises Betrayed, is a country music parody that goes hard.

I recommend listening to both and having a giggle, and maybe checking the rest of their stuff out.

ficortreat

Cass's Door

DW username: southernmedicine

Light is on for: Anybody!

What's in the Bowl? Drabbles (could be a double or triple depending on inspo but won't exceed 300 words), recipes, or, why not, dog or cat pics (will likely be my own pets or pets I know personally).

Let Me Know: A) Which sort of treat you would like, B) A prompt/theme/ect for drabbles, C) What sort of recipes you would be into.

Other info: I will write for Star Wars, Star Trek (AOS/Kelvin timeline), Marvel, Luck in the Shadows, Temeraire, The Boys (excluding Gen V, sorry!). I'll also write OCs within these worlds, or completely original ideas if you've got 'em! I'll write all ratings, just let me know what flavor you're into.

It's possible not all of these will get done in a timely fashion, but I promise to try my best.

Wowie wow. My four-day weekend went by SUPER fast!

Thursday I ran some errands, cleaned the apartment, and made a big spaghetti dinner.

Friday, after Blair got done with work, we went to her parents' place and had dinner and sat around a bonfire for hours and hours (I am not a bonfire person so I was very bored with this after awhile, but the rest of it was nice).

Saturday, we slept in late, cuddled and talked and napped in bed until lunch time, when we walked around the corner to try a little hole in the wall place called Kramer's (it was just okay). Then we headed out of town to Rochester, which is like an hour and twenty minutes away, because it's where the nearest Trader Joe's is. First we hit downtown, poked around in some shops, got gelato, walked through a little street festival they were having, and then found Trader Joe's and accumulated quite the haul. We got Greek food on the way home for dinner, and then came home and unpacked all our loot and put it all away. Watched a few episodes of Clone Wars before bed.

Today, we slept in again. While Blair studied a bit for a test she's got tomorrow, I went out to the store to get some DnD snacks. Everyone came over for an in-person session, we had pizza and garlic knots, and it was as always a lovely time. When the rest of our group left, Blair and I got into a wrestling match that lasted almost an hour, and at one point I flipped her so hard we both fell off the bed and nearly knocked everything off her book shelf.

I'm showered and on the sofa trying to get a few things done before bed. I do not want to return to work tomorrow, especially since a) My boss texted me twice over the weekend asking me to cover, and while I answered "no, sorry" the first time, I straight up ignored the second one, b) I got a parking ticket back on Wednesday, even though I confirmed with him that my parking pass is now active and that I am allowed to park in the permit-only structure, but apparently despite his confident "yes it's fine," it was not fine, and now I have to present the ticket to him tomorrow, and c) after both snubbing his text and presenting him with my parking ticket, I must also give him a note detailing the days I will need off in late December/early January so that I can visit my parents for New Years. I know it's only September, but I've checked the schedule and I'm already getting booked as far out as mid-December. When I got hired, the Employee Handbook said that due to how crowded we are around the holidays, requests for time off around Christmas and New Years are usually not granted, but the day I got hired I brought that up, and he said if I already have plans it'll be fine. So I hope it is fine.

I hope it is fine.

A spooky thing, for the upcoming season:

Ever since we moved in, I have heard noises at night. I told Blair about it the first time, and many times after, but she never hears it. They are the unmistakable sounds of someone running back and forth down the hall of our floor, and every so often I will hear banging too, like someone is pounding on a door somewhere. Whenever I hear it, I'll hurry over to the front door and look through the peephole. Then when I can't see anyone through that, I'll crack the door and look out into the hall. There's never anyone there.

Pause.

Yesterday, lots of things happened in our building.

When I opened the door to take the dog out, there was a tall woman standing there in the hall, looking completely off her face. She wore a tiny tank top and short short boxer briefs. They were inside-out. I muttered the thing I always mutter when I encounter someone unexpectedly: "Oh, sorry." She stared at me. Grunted. Turned and staggered toward the door to the stairwell.

Once we were outside and I was trying to let the dog pee, I noticed a man come out one of the doors. A very sketchy man, carrying a beat up plastic yellow bag. He walked across the street to a half-built garage, did something over there. Then he crossed back diagonally toward the dumpsters in our parking lot, and did something over there, too. I steered the dog back over toward the grass. I heard footsteps, and thought he was following me, but he disappeared back into the building. All the people I have told are pretty certain his sketchy behavior was drug-related. La Crosse is famous for alcoholism being a religion, and its impressive number of meth users. Drug use is so bad in this area that there is Narcan on the wall in businesses next to the fire extinguisher and the AED.

Anyway. Later, when Blair and I took the dog out again, as we were coming in, we encounter a woman screaming in the lobby. She's getting in the elevator, and one of our neighbors is trying to talk to her. "I do NOT need your help!" she's screaming. "You didn't want to help me before! Your help is worthless to me!" The floor? Covered in blood. I didn't immediately know where she was bleeding from, but apparently she had a massive gash on her foot/lower leg. Like the elevator looked like someone was murdered in it. There were trails of blood all over the floor, tracked across the lobby.

We, and several other neighbors we have gotten to know, all gathered for a huddle there in the lobby. One of the ladies knew who that woman was. We had the story from the neighbor she had screamed at. We wondered what we should do: we couldn't just leave blood everywhere like that. What an incredible biohazard! It was decided that one of us would call the non-emergency police number, so one of the guys did, while someone else tried to get ahold of the building manager and the maintenance guy, and the rest of us talked about it and also stood guard by the garage to warn everyone who came in that there was blood everywhere and to be careful.

A police officer showed up. He spoke to me, to Blair. He spoke to the guy who called, and to the woman who knew the woman we called out. The trail of blood led straight to her unit, but the woman would not open her door for the police officer. I was up there on our floor (of course this spazz of a woman lives on our floor) because I was bringing the dog back up.

Back downstairs, we were discussing what we knew about the woman. Apparently she has been spotted around the building high as shit, and had just gotten out of prison recently. Conversation turned toward the building itself. It's brand new. It opened in May of this year, just a few months before we moved in. Like, it's brand new. But apparently, someone has already died here. That wasn't enough to bother me, really, but the rest of the story really had me intrigued.

Resume.

This person died on our floor, of an overdose. Before he died, he was heard for some time running back and forth down the hall, looking for help. He would pound on random doors, except no one would open up for him.

A very eerie coincidence, I'm sure.

Still, every night I listen for the running and the knocking noises, and every night I hurry to the door and try to catch whoever it is, but I never spot anybody.