As soon as you go on the dating apps.

(Or so I understand from my tag groups, my marriage is older than most dating apps.)

The cat got both front paws bandaged at the v.e.t. yesterday and then came home and walked around the house like he was warming up to fight Mike Tyson.

In true British style, my story for the Autumn 2024 Writing Battle unexpectedly made it to the quarter finals/last eight before being taken out by the eventual winner, which just goes to show how much of the competition is down to the luck of the draw.

This weekend I rolled up the sleeves on my new red fleece-lined coat for some grubby garden work and didn't realise until my dog walk quite how ✨festive✨ I was looking 🧑‍🎄 #AccidentalCosplay

Congrats!

When a phone game ad tries to get you to play the game but you know if you actually touch the screen you'll immediately be transferred to the app store ... is the modern day equivalent of fae trying to get you to eat enchanted food.

Honestly I love being middle-aged so much. So much excitement from a stationery store or a new pan ❤️

Idk what you're doing with your one wild and precious life, but my husband and I are re-organising two closets and having the time of our lives.

The Wild Robot is a great film for anyone who's never cried at migrating geese before and wants to know what that feels like.

Thanks! I only got 7 so just squeaked in. I think the standard was incredibly high this time - I didn't judge a single bad story - and a couple of times there was a hair between them and I had to find something ridiculously pernickety just so I could make a decision.

The image shows three stylised tarot cards which are labeled Genre: Cozy Fantasy, Setting: Antique Store and Character: Musician. Underneath them, black text on a grey background reads: The Bargain. Congratulations! Your story is headed to the Final Showdown! Writing Battle

Excited to have scraped through the first five rounds of the Autumn 2024 Writing Battle, although I imagine I'll be slain pretty quickly in the Final Showdown.

If anyone's looking for a writing competition, this is one of my favourites!

#WritingBattle #WritingCompetition

Black Friday in your 40s is when you stock up on supplements and collagen 🙃

My eye roll muscles get more exercise than any other muscle in my body 👀

Tampons are super hot, this is why women are famously always completely thrilled to get their period 🥴

Finished! It wasn’t hard to do, just hard to find time. Close up of the fine details. (Hehe) #embroidery #ThisIsFine

Mine kept sending me happy little messages because my heart rate was high and it thought I was working out, but actually I was just excited to be in Ikea.

that winter, and every winter since. So now, whenever it snows, my husband and I like to remind each other it never snows in Skåne.

Anyway, here's a photo of it currently not snowing in Skåne (I assume you're legally obliged to tell everyone it's snowing on BSky, just like you do on Facebook?)

(That's Twig in the photo. She's half golden retriever, a third border collie, and the rest is a mystery, although I'm pretty sure there's feral squirrel somewhere in her family tree.)

Before we moved to Sweden in late December 2020 (yes, super fun time to move countries, thanks for asking), I promised my children a winter wonderland. When we arrived to find zero snow, every Swede I met told me "It never snows in Skåne". They continued to repeat this as it started to snow ...

There IS a left-wing agenda, and it’s to prioritize compassion over greed. Kindness isn't a limited resource.

And finally of course, you can just donate to your local food bank. As ever, the best thing to give them is cold hard cash. Happy yule, y’all.

Sedulo Christmas Toy Appeal Through no fault of their own, half a million UK children live in poverty. Each year our Toy Appeal teams up with charities and carers to help.

For non-Northerners, my condolences, and you could look at the Sedulo Christmas Appeal, which provides presents for 4 million UK children in poverty christmas.sedulo.co.uk

For those local to Chester, UK, consider keeping an eye on the Ellesmere Port Christmas Dinner page, which provides a festive meal and presents to young adults leaving care and their children. It doesn’t look as though their 2024 appeal is live yet so I’m not sure if it’s running this year.

Some UK-centric alternatives, alternative alternatives are available. If you particularly want to do a shoebox, might I suggest the Manchester Christmas Shoebox Appeal - you can choose whether to fill a shoebox for someone elderly, homeless, a young adult, children or dogs. (That's Manchester, UK.)

This is my annual Facebook please-don't-support-Operation-Christmas-Child post,now also available on Bluesky. Quick reminder that they are rightwing evangelical Christians who use their shoeboxes to aggressively promote Christianity in places where it doesn’t exist.

Amazing, congrats!

Do not support the platform that wants to destroy you. If you must post for a bit longer, post cropped images telling people where to find the uncropped ones until all your friends make the move."

It takes time to rebuild, and that is fine, but the best time to do it is right now. Use your last few tweets to tell everyone to move. Twitter is a Nazi/AI/bot/crypto cesspit and it will only get worse.

Likes on reposts don’t trigger notifications. If you only repost stuff, it might look super quiet even if people are liking what you repost. Mix in more regular posts or quotes!

(I know, "Subscribe" is an odd thing to name it, but that's how block lists work here).

Use alt text to make images accessible. Helps for translations, readability, fundability, and users with slow internet. Turn on Settings > Accessibility > Require Alt Text Before Posting.