OK, I need the to tap into the collective wisdom that abounds here in the forest while it's still FFA.

I have three grown children from my first marriage. My husband and I also have a 10 year old at home.  The youngest of my older children, who is almost 21, moved back in with us right after Christmas.  This is not a development I am happy about.

Background in the comments.  Does anyone here have experience with a boomerang child?  Have you been a boomerang child?  Also, my husband and I want him to sign a contract which outlines what his/our responsibilities are so he can't use the "I didn't know, you didn't tell me" excuse when things get rough.  Any advice is most welcome!! 

Here's my rec.  It's been around a while but is sadly under-appreciated.  It contains probably my all-time favorite "Bella's change" scenario ever.  Set right after the wedding, the Volturi show up and demand that Edward change Bella immediately.   Canon.

A Change of Heart by Bratanimus
Alternative to Breaking Dawn. E/B. "Our wedding night wasn't supposed to be like this. They'd decided that Bella was too great a risk, and they were prepared to kill all of us if we fought them. Destroy the few to preserve the many." COMPLETE.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Drama/Romance - Chapters: 9 - Words: 58,406 - Reviews: 215 - Updated: 1-18-11 - Published: 6-24-08 - Edward & Bella - Complete

She lives a hypocritical life. He's done something he can never take back. They're all pushing too far. Actions have consequences, but no one saw this coming. If you had a gun pointed to your head, would you choose to die with love?

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7690451/1/Holy_Roller_Novocaine

This was my entry for the Season of our Discontent contest

I've been living under a rock (without Savage's Caveward, alas), since it took me 1 year and 1/2 in this community to discover Derdriu's stories.

I did it this week -- I've devoured read "A Matter of Life and Death" (collaboration with WhatsMyNomDePlume) and "With Thee Fade Away" -- and I believe that fellow readers should be warned.

If you begin to read any of these stories:

1. You won't sleep anymore. Yesterday (or should I say "today"?) I've been up until 4 a. m., glued to "With Thee Fade Away"'s last chapters.

2. You'll risk dehydration. This is what I did reading "A Matter of Life and Death"'s 7th chapter:

3. Watch your heart. I believe that making readers laugh is much more difficult than making them cry. Derdriu will make you laugh (not just smile, laugh), cry, gape, and feel a new set of feelings you would have never imagined that could even exist. Is she a magician? Is her talent legal?
 

4. You'll never look at canon Edward with the same eyes. After reading "With Thee Fade Away," I'm afraid that canon Edward, with the other canon vampires, are ruined for me. Derdriu's Edward's shades and conflicts are so, so complex and involving...

5. You'll scream out of pleasure. I pay a lot of attention to writing style. Derdriu's style is so good, elegant, brilliant, original that she could leave you speechless just rewriting the telephone guide. It's like tasting a singer's blood (not that I've tried) and then going back to deer. You won't be able to.

You've been warned.

I'm going to reread "A Matter of Life and Death" and then..."Clockwork" Wish me good luck.

Have a good 2012!

- Raum from Italy

ps: it seems it's my birthday today. I'd share with you the delicious chocolate cake I've made to celebrate. But since it's not possible, I've posted a new chapter of "An Italian Winter." Enjoy.

Wow, my first CF. I hope this is okay while it's still FFA - Rangers, please delete if not.

I want to talk about fics that we love that don't seem to be getting a lot of reviews or readers. I have a few stories I follow that are really well written, have an interesting plot but don't seem to get a lot of reviews. 

What are your fav fics that are underappreciated? 

Here are mine:

The Black Swan http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7561264/1/The_Black_Swan Bella meets the Cullens through another avenue…her brother Just trust me on this . AU obviously ; canon couples because anything else skeeves me out .

Highway to Hell - Twilight/Supernatural x-over http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7058898/1/ Lesson one: Family is everything. Lesson two: Never leave your gun in the car. Lesson three: Sometimes lesson two is the more important one to remember.

So come inside and share your favorite underappreciated fics. Can be complete, WIPs or one-shot. 

And Happy New Year to all! 

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!!!  How is everyone?  Hope all is well.  Ready for the new year?  

Homework:  What are your new goals for 2012?  Long Term Goal (what you want to achieve) and Short Term Goals (How are you going to get there and what's changing?)

24/7 Support - ADF Fit Club LJ Community

Also its never too late to join in. ; )

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December 30 of 2011, the year is coming to an end and everybody is making retrospection and thinking what would be left behind when the clock turns 12:00 Tomorrow night.

This is a time of looking back and thinking what was good and what was bad and it got me thinking. Which were THE BEST fanfics I read this year? So that is what this CF is about. I want you to go to your FF account (or wherever you keep your jewels) and see which fictions you “favorited” and/or followed this year and give us a top 10…It doesn’t matter if they are WIP or completed, if they were wrote this year or several years ago. Just pick those that made you left everything behind. Are you ready for the challenge?. I’ll give you mine.

10.  Starry Eyed inside by Rochelle Allison

9.     We come to life beneath the stars by Lillybellis

8.     Elemental by TallulahBelle

7.     A Rouhg Star by ItzMegan73

6.     Breaking news by WriteOnTime

5.     The diva diaries  by KiyaRaven

4.     Branching Inward by LifeInTheSnow

3.     How to Paint a House by Maggie's Gutter

2.     The Fallout by OCDindeed

1.     Fall to Ruin One Day by sleepyvalentina 

With all this ffa, we haven't had a good old music post in some time.

today's subject:

what songs make you dance like no one is watching?

i'm guilty of this one:

I'm reading a book right now that has gotten me thinking about how we classify books.  I've got longer comments inside, but in short, why is this book considered a literary novel:

While this one is considered chick lit?

I'd love to know the opinions of those who know more about literature than I do, because whilie I read a lot, I don't have any academic background on literature past English 101 in college.  What makes a book worthy of critical acclaim?  What separates the Grishams from the Lahiris?  Enquiring minds want to know.

Here's my rec (about a literary author, in keeping with my theme):  

Ethan Church » reviews
When Bella accepts an offer to write the biography of a severely reclusive author, the old, dying man she's presented with and the young, too perfect man she meets while there convince her she's missing some very important parts of the story. E/B, AU.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Mystery/Romance - Chapters: 13 - Words: 37,395 - Reviews: 2475 - Updated: 5-7-10 - Published: 5-26-09 - Bella & Edward - Complete

I can't believe that this oneshot doesn't have any reviews yet. It was beautifully written, and by far my favorite entry in the Season of Our Discontent Angst Contest. If you like angst, or want to read a well-written, poetic, heart-felt piece than please go and check this one out and leave it some well-deserved love. I promise it will be worth it. We can talk about it here too if you want.

 And Tenement Halls by Nayarit
"And no one dare, disturb the sound of silence." Green. Metal. Breaks of silver. A closed door. An endless wall. A silent hall. Agony. Pain. Breaks in breathing. Breaks for time. An endless life. And the silence of living it alone.AH/SeasonDiscontentENTRY
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Angst/Tragedy - Chapters: 1 - Words: 16,761 - Published: 12-29-11 - Bella & Edward - Complete

So tonight’s FSU/ND is the first game I’m actually excited to watch. Unfortunately, because there are 78 freaking bowl games, this one started super early and I missed an hour of it (not everyone gets off at 5pm ESPN!) So, since it half-time now, and I’m relegated to watching tv in the computer room (hubs got Skyrim for Christmas, I may never get to use my living room tv again), let’s talk about bowl games.

What do you think of the bowl matchups this year? What do you think of the National Championship game? What do you think of your teams matchup? Isn’t it time to start the new season to start? Why don’t we have playoffs?
Nod to my college boys:

I’ll save a nod at my pro boys for the Super Bowl rematch!
 

In addition to knowing what the best and worst movies of 2011:

 What were the Best/Worst books you read in 2011?

What do you plan on reading next year?

Did you complete your challenge?

Will you be doing one next year?

Do you have a goodreads account? I love getting the email updates on what people are reading.

fic prompt meme

this will be the first time we do this here on ADF. i'm pretty stoked; don't let me down, my darlings!

you do one of two things: make a comment or respond to one.

your comment will be a prompt for a fanfiction. a challenge, of sorts. you tell us what you want to read. we respond by writing it. let me be clear- this is to be something you write now, not something that has already been posted or is being posted!

can be any situation, any rating, any pairing, any fandom. AU, canon, pre-canon, smut, slash, femslash, OTP, OTT, brOTP, whatever you wanna read or write. you can be as specific or as vague as you want in your prompt. be prepared for some craziness, gents! and comment your approval on people's offerings! that's the best part about this. reading what other people come up with.

i ask that if you want a specific fandom that you say so. otherwise... people specifically me might write nothing but regency-era pride & prejudice in response to your prompt, and while i know every single one of you is dying to read that, well. you get my meaning.

so, get to prompting! and writers- don't be shy! i love it when people who don't usually write the fanfiction participate in these. fic prompts have propelled some people into actually posting their first fics, so this should be fun. i made a really good internet friend doing a bonesfic meme a few years ago. she answered my disgustingly graphic challenge about agent booth naked in an apron or something and i, in turn, answered her back. we kept writing it back and forth, back and forth, coming to a ~ahem~ satisfying conclusion.

oh, and if your fic exceeds 500 words, please consider splitting it up into several cascading comments so that it collapses and doesn't eat up bandwidth on the website (thusly killing your loading time). thanks!

good luck, and let the creative juices flow~

 Happy New Years and Happy FFA!

It never fails that at the holidays someone in my household has some ailment.  Last year, my daughter was constipated on Thanksgiving and broke her arm at Christmas doing a carthwheel in our family room.  Also, my husband stepped on an "ice cube" from the kids "Don't Break the Ice" game and required stitches.

Last night we woke up to my son puking in his bed.  Now, its coming out both ends and all the poor kid wants to do is play with his new Lightning McQueen racetrack.

I clearly remember being sick at Christmas as a kid.  My sister, to this day, never fails to remind me how I threw up on her brand new bike in my mad dash to get to the bathroom. 

Does anyone else have this holiday illness issue?  Or, is this just our luck?  I'm curious to hear other tales of holidays gone horribly wrong due to illness or injury.

Fics I am loving right now:

Dirt Roads
Trucker hats, possums, and dirt roads. Shenanigans ensue. Is there really less trouble in the country, or are the kids just better at not getting caught? ExB, AH. Story contains illegal drug use.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 21 - Words: 146,698 - Reviews: 757 - Updated: 12-27-11 - Published: 8-19-11 - Bella & Edward

The Better Angels of Our Nature
Bella is a powerful telekinetic, escaped from a government research facility. With her is Edward, her guardian angel, sent to earth to protect her. Can they find safety? Can Bella love this extraordinary creature? OOC/AU Rated M for all the good stuff.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Supernatural - Chapters: 15 - Words: 74,137 - Reviews: 815 - Updated: 12-27-11 - Published: 12-1-11 - Bella & Edward
 

Just a quick update: Hubs and daughter are now both spewing as I type.  This is like a bad horror movie called "The Plague" and I could be next!!!
 

Hello, I am learning to post clickable videos. This is fun enough. Rangers, if it is not OK you can delete it.

What were the 

BEST

and / or

WORST MOVIES

you've seen in 2011?

Make your case for an Oscar or a Razzie! 

Include Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1 or not; it's your call.

I'm still pondering, although Drive with Ryan Gosling would definitely make my Best of 2011 list and I enjoyed Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1.

...Breaking Trinity by vvdeadrosesvv?

I fell totally in love with this story and it hasn't been updated in forever. No one seems to have heard from the author? Is it a lost cause?

Has anyone seen this? It reminds me of a fanfic I can't remember the name of and it's driving me batty!!

I can't believe it.

It's one of my favorite stories ever. Last update was on July 2010. Now...

Now...

Now...

It's back!

New chapter from halojones,

Title: Last Rites

Category: Twilight

Character(s): Edward & Bella

Chapter 19 Title: Have you Ever Looked Fear In the Face?
Words: 3,079
Genre(s): Romance/Drama
Rating: Rated: M
Summary: AU E/B meet under violent circumstances. Surviving that 1st meeting,
they navigate a slow road toward friendship, then romance. But obstacles begin
to multiply around them and soon the question arises: are these obstacles
random or by design - and by whom?

URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5225668/19/
 

The story is also on ADF.

No, I am not crazy. I am posting a HELP DESK during free for all.

WHY?? Because it is A FREE FOR ALL HELP DESK!

It seems that people have a lot of questions.

Questions about where to find fics...

Questions about campfires and how they work and what is acceptable...

Questions about their dogs/cats/children/grandmothers/potholders...

Questions about ALL SORTS OF THINGS.

So this is a Free For All Help Desk.

Campers can ask or answer questions about ANYTHING AT ALL. 

Please don't be shy! 

I don't often make OT cfs, but I just had a very intense emotional experience, and need to know if others have been in similar situations. I used to employ a nanny to watch after my kids when I went to work and when they were too sick to go to preschool. She was with us for 8 consecutive years, until last March, when she decided to go work in Canada. Today she came back to visit us just for the holidays, revealing -with tears- that she had lied about being married and having a child back in Sri Lanka, that she loves and misses my children as if they're her own, and that she apparently considers being 38 and single and motherless as a total failure for a woman (which is def. a huge issue for discussion).

On the one hand I feel she betrayed us, because we always gave her extra money for her 'daughter', met her 'husband' (an apparently married man she used to live with), felt sorry for her being away from her child etc. I can't believe I didn't double check sb I would trust with my children, and it's always very difficult for me to reconstruct the image I have of someone in my mind. Then again, I have this odd sense of relief, because my children have another woman to love them very much, and we won't really have anyone else except for my mother in case sth happens to us.

So, questions:

Did you have a nanny growing up and how did you feel towards her then and now?

Did you employ a nanny? For how many years? Do you still keep in touch? Or maybe you would never employ a nanny (and why)? 

Have you worked as a nanny? How close did/do you feel to the children you helped raise?

FYT I: One of the many things she brought us from Canada