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end-of-reset · 4 years

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Written Special 2: First Day of School

TWs: Misgendering (Though it is both confusing/both ways (both he and she, to be blunt,) and before Frisk is out) and Infantilization (Though Frisk IS only 5)

Click. Click, click, click.

Frisk's chest swelled.

The new pin was like a little finger magnet. It had a little metal piece that could move in a 180 direction and click whenever it landed, each and every time. Whoever made these things didn’t seem to think about making them silent or subtle, even though the design made it clear the pin was meant for a child.

Frisk flicked it again, watching the pin bounce to the other side and cover the two letters on that end. Back and forth...

"Try not to mess with that, okay, baby?" Lightly tanned hands eased Frisk's fingers from the shiny pin, giving their hand a tiny, warm squeeze. Frisk blinked, curling their fingers around Maman's hand. She'd been touchier than usual today, holding hands and insisting on watching Precious do their hair. It wasn't like Frisk minded her clinginess, but she acted like this whenever she was anxious, so that meant Frisk should pay close attention to whatever it was that was igniting her anxiety.

Which was....?

The little room they were in was bright and cheerful, warm and welcoming, yet Frisk's other mother stood in front of the desk with her legs tense and her expression forced.

Smile doesn't touch eyes. Curves = happy?

"Hopefully there won't be any problems with that?" Mama was saying. "I don't want this big day to go wrong..."

Repeating words: big day. Big = emotional.

Hopefully not as emotional as their fifth birthday. Everyone climbed in a car (Frisk got to hide in a cozy little back nook) and drove to see Maman's family. Too many tears and French people. There was so much happening, Frisk could barely grasp why everyone was so teary-eyed.

Something to do with getting so big and being so cute. Meaningless, really! All words people applied to what shaped Frisk's being. The adults should've turned their tears into hugs. Frisk liked hugs, and being carried, and climbing on the taller family members. Frisk knew people cried to get their emotions out, and sometimes Frisk felt things very Much and water built up in their eyes, but if a day is supposed to be celebrating Frisk, they should all try to do things Frisk liked. Perhaps going to the lake or beach. Or just the park. Somewhere big with things to do.

But none of that happened. Like today, the emotions shown likely had little to do with Frisk themself. That was okay, though, because Frisk knew their mothers still loved them. The two of them couldn't realize Frisk was eager, so they focused on what they knew. People were like that, sometimes. Well, at least some people. Frisk hadn't actually interacted with too many people before..

But today presented something new. Possibilities. People to see that Frisk didn't know. Voices to hear that weren't on TV.

Smiles to see, hands to squeeze.

New people. New faces.

Frisk's fingers twitched, tempted to fiddle again already. They reached for Mama's hand with their free one, but she didn't seem to notice. She was focused on her conversation about Frisk’s “situation.”

Instead of Mama, Maman leaned in and flicked the moveable part of their pin to the left, covering the word on that side. "There we go. It's important everybody see this each day!"

Important = necessary. Pin =... Necessary?

Just word. One word each side. Two.

The receptionist- Frisk hadn’t yet looked at them long enough to discern a solid image of them- smiled. "Ah, I see, so we should rely on whatever Frisk has set it to? That's simple enough!"

Frisk set it?

It... The pin.

Hm.

Frisk’s gaze traveled to the tall, tall faces of each one. Maman: uneasy, her dark eyes flicking to and from Frisk. Mama: focused, smiling at the receptionist. Frisk studied her face.

Worst lipstick color. Too pink.

Clothes blue. Lipstick needs: dark.

She just smiled. Terrible lipstick and all.

They had tried to tell her that it looked bad. Apparently shoving a GOOD lipstick tube in her face and pointing at her lips wasn't explanation enough. She assumed they were playing.

Frisk's gaze traveled up and up until they could see their mother's eyes. "That's right! We don't want to upset Frisk."

Her gaze was on the receptionist. The receptionist was looking right back. They prodded their computer screen with a computer pen.

"So, I'll just go ahead and put Frisk on the card, I'll leave a note on the back that it's a nickname, though." Frisk focused more on the receptionist the longer they spoke. They had light brown skin and green hair. Piercings lined their ears; shiny little spikes that seemed to stab through the shell of their ear and emerge. How did they sleep with those things in? Frisk wanted to stare for longer, but there was more to observe. The little name card pinned to the receptionist's shirt made little sense to Frisk, save for the little Venus symbol from those entwined earrings Mama would wear sometimes. And didn't Maman have a tattoo of those somewhere?

Venus pin. Earrings. Tattoo. Shared traits.

"That sounds good." Mama said.

"So this is what the card looks like," the receptionist swiveled the screen around to face Frisk's parents. They stood on their toes, looking up. "We like to leave a spot for stickers right here. Some kids like putting little SOUL stickers on their tags."

Frisk felt the hand holding theirs tense.

"It's not required, is it?" Maman asked. "Frisk wouldn't like that..."

Frisk just stared at her, brows creased. They actually liked stickers, but they also knew that whenever the SOUL subject arose, it was best to stay quiet (which wasn't hard.) Unlike most things, Frisk's moms didn't like to discuss that subject directly in front of Frisk. They got to learn what ovarian cysts were because "Frisk isn't listening" but SOULs were inappropriate subject matter.

Moms were weird. Hm...

Frisk blinked, and the people around them had moved, conversation skipping ahead.

"- it'll be printed any minute!" The receptionist- she?- said, hitting a button on her computer. A soft hum started up in the corner of the room, somewhere Frisk couldn't see. “I'll message the teachers for Frisk's class now," she moved to type on her computer. "And let them know. “

Frisk pursed their lips.

Eighth time today.

"So there's a few teachers?"

She nodded, tapping her nails against the glossy plastic of her computer mouse. Been a while since Frisk had seen any of those. "Yeah, we've got a few. Something like this isn't a problem at all, though! They're all very enthusiastic about our students. Frisk might like-" she stopped, leaning back in her seat and gazing at something out of Frisk's sight. After a moment, she smiled and leaned over the counter. "Oh, Frisk! Frisk, sweetie!"

They looked up at her. Her gaze flickered over their face, confirming they were paying attention. "Your card is done printing! Let's give you that first."

It was strange....Someone was looking directly at them and speaking directly to them. She didn't even try to mention the card thing to Mama and Maman. So that meant...

It belongs to [Frisk] alone?

Only?

Frisk stood on their toes and peered up at the receptionist while she bustled about. Their gaze shifted to the small white square in the employee's hand. As they watched, laser-focused, she attached a small metal clip to it. They preemptively reached a hand out, because that had to be the Thing that was for Them. It was probably just a card, but it was for Frisk and Frisk alone, and there were very few of those kinds of things. Mama also reached for it, but the receptionist's aim had been low (because it was for Frisk) so Frisk's hand reached it first (good, because it was for them.) They gripped it tight, feeling heat radiate off of the plastic. Few things were given to them so directly by people outside of family. Though, then again, most strange grown-ups they met were important business people who had grown-up things to talk about with Frisk's moms. So maybe it was just that those people were rude.

That made sense. If everyone here was so polite, then this would be fun.

The card was so fresh the fumes from the printer still lingered in the air surrounding it. Frisk squeezed it between two fingers, rubbing their fingertips all over the soft plastic.

Warm...

They could feel Mama's bewildered gaze. When they looked at her, she was focused on the receptionist, her hand carefully settled on the edge of the desk instead of staying in the air where it had been snubbed. The receptionist didn't seem to notice anything amiss, but Maman was fiddling with her bracelet.

Giveaway. Anxious.

The receptionist looked down at Frisk. "Are you fine with the clip or would you like a lanyard, Frisk?"

Frisk blinked. She said their name a lot, and looked directly at them a lot. It was kind of strange. Frisk's parents' eyes turned towards them, and suddenly, three pairs of eyes bore into them.

Time seemed to skip forward a few seconds. The next moment, Mama was bent down to their height, touching their face. The card felt a little too tight in their hands, digging into their skin. They unclenched, wondering when they had stiffened.

“Not again....” Mama whispered.

"Everything okay?" The receptionist asked.

Ninth.

Frisk looked up, about to nod, but Mama interrupted. "Oh, baby, are you okay? Do you feel all right? Is everything fine?”

"Ma'am, I think Frisk's fine," the receptionist blinked. "Absence epilepsy is relatively harmless. And you're trying a new medication, right?”

Mama pulled Frisk into her arms.

Smells: peach conditioner. Feels: Soft blouse. Warm...

Mama huffed, "Yes, but it's obviously not working!"

"Love, it's only been a week, don't worry too much," Maman leaned in, touching her wife's shoulder.

"I suppose..." she leaned back, rubbing her eyes. More dramatics, though these ones were from a good place. Everyone always had to act as though Frisk was in pain, even when they weren't.

It meant they cared. But still.

Frisk made a small grunt, forcing the noise out with some slight effort. All eyes returned to them. Frisk clipped it on their shirt for everyone to see: they could do it on their own!

The receptionist's eyes drifted, flicking back to the two women besides Frisk "See? Frisk is ready to start the day!"

"Ah...." Mama sighed. "I suppose..."

"Don't worry! There's nothing we can't accommodate, including gender identity and names." She smiled at the two of them. "Honestly, good on you for giving your child so much freedom!"

Same phrase. Over and over. Smile. Laugh. Humility.

Mama spoke first, bringing a hand to her face and chuckling. Now they were all just talking praise, mindless words that didn't really have anything to do with Frisk and instead had everything to do with their mothers.

While the adults went at it, Frisk unclipped and examined the ID tag. They knew that was their face looking back. The letters were their name. A gleaming little symbol stood beside Frisk's name: an outline of an open mouth with a tiny speech balloon extending from it. A large red X crossed out the image.

Indicating 'no" or "bad" or "do not."

"Do not talk."

Interesting.

There were tiny bumps underneath Frisk's name.

They ran their fingers over the odd little bumps under the letters. Their oldest sister read books using this. She sometimes told Frisk about the books. She called them Braille.

Braille. Name above = name below.

Braille, probably of their name. Frisk ran their fingers over the bumps again, counting each dot.

The rest of the card was just letters and numbers. Flat ones, so Frisk couldn't even feel them. Boring things that didn't have anything to do with Frisk. They tuned back in, still rubbing their fingertips on the pleasant little bumps.

"We"re just trying to do our best as parents. Frisk deserves that!"

Frisk gave the tag a flick. When the sensation proved satisfying, they did it again. Tap, tap, tap...

They smiled, wiggling their fingers on their left hand happily. Tap, tap-

"Aw!" Mama covered her smile with her hand.

Aw? Discomfort replaced the joyful motion. Frisk hated when she stared. They stopped and dropped their hands, letting their limbs swing by their side instead.

The receptionist continued. “And today, we should use “he?”

"Yes!” Mama smiled. She wanted today to be one of those days. She usually preferred the “she” days. Maman usually preferred the “he” days. But it depended on the day and whatever mood struck their mothers’ minds. Yesterday, Maman had said, "I want to say my youngest daughter is starting school tomorrow! Let’s go take pictures with her right now!" And then they did pictures. Frisk got to eat candy after the pictures were taken. Hmm....

Table? Table workers. Bowls on tables. Candy bowl? Where?

Frisk peered past the receptionist. A bowl of hard candy sat on the corner of her desk, multicolored squares and circles flourished with a bright piece of paper.

Scribbles. Blurry.

Frisk looked closer. Letters. Words.

Ugh...

Those letters all made sense individually. A was an A. But together, they were nonsense. Even worse, they were supposed to correspond to sounds. A was the same as an "ah" sound. Ridiculous! Sounds weren't pictures! The two things were completely different! .

And yet, everyone else took the weird little shapes and connected them to sounds. They could turn pictures into noise. And why? Shapes didn't equal sound. Everyone was so weird, acting like Frisk was odd. And maybe they were, but so what? Frisk would stick to pictures and everyone could use their picture sounds if they wanted to.

Or, so they wished. They couldn't figure out how to comfort their mothers and tell them than Frisk would be fine, that's why the two decided to bring Frisk here. As much as Frisk smiled and played and looked happy, the two couldn’t believe Frisk was going to be happy or “okay” unless they mastered this ability.

Happy now. + This = happy future....?

Maman said this place would "help." That Frisk could learn to do this weird thing that everyone wanted them to do. Even though it made their eye go funny. Too much work when Frisk could just as easily be told what the words meant.

The talk was still going on. Frisk kept an ear tuned in.

"You know, there's three other children sort of like that in Frisk's new class! Of course, that's not quite the same, but maybe Frisk will be able to make friends with those children?"

Like that.

Like that could mean several things.

Alternating dates. Both at once. Parents chose words.

"That's interesting...!" Mama smiled.

Smile touching eyes? No. Awkward.

Why?

Her problem.

Will ignore.

Frisk had better things to do than listen to Mama get all stiff. Frisk stood on their toes and eyed the candy bowl. Nobody had noticed them yet. They could see the small hard jawbreaker brand of candies that Mama said were made of chalk in there.

Tall enough? Yes, yes-

Frisk reached up and grabbed a candy.

Then another one.

Maman tutted gently. "You need to ask first!"

She picked up the slip of paper and held it down to eye-level.

"See?"

Frisk looked at the paper. Their vision started to wobble, warp, and gargle the letters into incomprehension. It didn't help that these letters were handwritten- the little pen marks were far whirlier and confusing than the printed letters Frisk was used to.

"Oh, it's fine," the receptionist said. "Those are here for the kids, anyways! And not all of our kids can speak first. Typically, if a child can read the note and ask, we give them extra candy, but anyone can have some."

Mama smiled. "That's nice of you!"

Maman sighed just slightly and replaced the card. Frisk pulled the wrapper off the candy and stuffed it in their mouth. They glanced at their other mother, watching her movements closely.

Mama facing. Smiling. Looking at.

"It’s a good thing, since Frisk can’t read OR speak....” she sighed.

Frisk rolled the candy around, getting it into a good position in their mouth. Somewhere it wouldn't move too much and clack against their teeth.

Hard. No teeth. Waiting. Slow flavor.

The receptionist smiled. "You'll be surprised how quickly kids pick up on stuff!"

"I hope this will all be okay... It's such a big change for Frisk,” Maman sighed.

Smells like tears. Salt. That meant-

They stiffened, enveloped in a hug, and smiled, hugging back.

------------------------------------

Frisk didn't want their moms to worry. They were fine, and would show it. They always worried, worried, worried! Worried about what was best! Parents.

This, class, though...

Faces. Colors. Movement.

Movement.

Where should they sit? So many choices... Not that it mattered in the end.

Chairs. Colors. Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange...

There were also words on the digital board. Frisk turned.

Same colors. Code? Rules?

Rules, huh....

Frisk blinked, and all the moving shapes and faces had moved. They shook their head and focused on the screen.

Words and a video of someone making gestures with their ends. The video was on repeat, the gestures playing over and over. Frisk stood still and watched for a moment.

Video with words. Video = words. Movements = words?

But Frisk didn't know those words. So they'd have to read. Or try to. So long as they tried, they did a great job! That's what Maman used to say, until....she realized Frisk trying didn't mean much. They tried and tried and failed and failed. Repetition didn't change a thing when the letters simply refused to do what they did for everyone else. It had felt nice to be praised for simply attempting, though... So this, too, was worth an attempt. Even though nobody would praise them.

Frisk stepped back. They squinted. They knew these letters. They knew them all. But the words wouldn't connect. Maybe if they tried something else. Frisk covered their squinty eye until the letters came into focus. The words floated there, just looking like a bunch of lines wiggling in space. People were supposed to take the letters and hear the sound each one made inside their head, but Frisk couldn't hear anything. Lines were meant to form pictures, drawings, cartoons- not angular little shapes that connected to specific noises!

Hate. Annoying. Letter, letters, noise. Instead of pictures?

Why?

A voice rang out, interrupting their concentration. "Hey, you!" Frisk turned, seeing a tall child with pale white skin and a big smile eyeing them. A big blurry smile against a big round face. Perched on the child's nose was a thick pair of complicated glasses, not like the glasses Frisk had seen at home. The arms of the spectacles gleamed just slightly and adjusted the lens as Frisk watched.

Quiet hum. Adjustable lens. Glowing arms. Helper glasses. Bionic. Computer?

Pale eyes. Pale smile.

"Your eye's funny, right? Cause you covering it?" The child said, pointing a blurred hand at Frisk. Frisk pulled their hand away. Their eye adjusted its position, focusing on the child before them.

"Oh, there it goes. Gone!" The other child giggled. Frisk puffed their cheeks out and looked around some more. "Freddy's eye goes out also. You guys... Got mirror eyes! Left against right!"

Freddy? Who? The child spoke like this information was clear to Frisk.

The other kid pointed to a child just now sitting down to the right...

Glasses. Brown skin, bright brown eyes. Nervous.

Frisk gave him a small smile. Sometimes that helped nervous people.

"Um, you could sit with us. But sometimes we got ages that make us sit other places..." he said. "I'm six." "I'm seven!" his friend said. Frisk held up their free hand, holding out five fingers.

"Oh, five? You're basically little!"

Frisk stared and puffed out their cheeks in frustration. They weren't LITTLE. They were small! There was a difference.

Little = young. Small = size.

"That's not nice!" Freddy said, his voice jumping in pitch.

"It’s the truth. Being five is like being four. Being four is little. My sister is three and she's even little-er," his friend nodded their head. "So that's little."

"Little ages can still be here..." he mumbled back. He looked at Frisk. "You can still sit with us. She's mean, though."

"Am NOT. I'm seven!" The other child- she?- glared. "Hey, hey, listen, okay? I saw something! Ages go in order..."

5, 6, 7...

Frisk pulled the chair out and sat down. The ages did go in order. So she could count, that was good. Frisk could count, too, three, four-

"You don’t say much, huh?" she observed, tilting her head and squinting pale blue eyes at them.

Say. Speak. Voice.

No.

Frisk shrugged, because she was right; they didn't. Yesterday they sort of said "Mama," but their mouth hated it. School was supposed to "help" with the talking, but would it really?

Help = fix?

Help =make easier?

Words =/= noise.

Easier?

Help = ..?

Freddy pointed at Frisk's card. "Yeah, that's why you got the talky mark. Kids who don't talk much got that. Like Tuesday."

She scoffed. "That's a day."

"So? It's also a name. Anything can be a name..."

"Wait. I have a name, and so do you." She said, intently. Suddenly, she whipped around to Frisk. "You!! You know my name, right?!"

Frisk stared at her little pointing finger and shook their head. That always meant "no." But if the question was a big one, Frisk couldn't shake their head. Annoying.

She kept going without waiting for their response. "I'm Ceecee, and, ummmm..."

Frisk blinked. Things had changed.

Ten?

Oh. Freddy was speaking now. Whatever Ceecee said, they’d missed it.

"The name." Freddy said, pointing at Frisk's tag. "Name." He looked at Frisk. "Right? Your name's on it."

Name?

Frisk looked down, then back up, confused. What did they want?

Ceecee turned and stared at Frisk's card for a long moment. Her glasses shifted a fraction, adjusting.

Frisk watched closely. Some people on their tablet computer used those same glasses, especially on Frisk’s shows. The exact sounds used to explain what the heck they did were gone from Frisk's memory, but Frisk was positive they had to do with eye issues. Though her eyes didn’t seem to have any issues. Unless being blue was an issue....Maybe it was. Their eldest sister had blue eyes and she had her fair share of eye issues.

After four seconds of focusing, she finally announced: "I knew that! I mean the other things!" Her hands flew to her hips.

Freddy sighed. "Auntie said use me. I'm he....and you're-"

"Sheeeee. Yes!" Ceecee said. She looked at Frisk for an answer.

Sometimes people asked for those words. Especially since the one incident on video. Some people did it before, but it really kicked into gear after the video incident with the new mayor. Frisk knew a mayor was the person who lead the town, but they didn’t really think too hard about what all that meant. Maman said the person "conducting the interview" did a "faux paus."

Mama had laughed and said, "Sure, but can you blame him for that kinda mistake?"

Frisk still didn't know what "that" is, but they did notice how everyone suddenly started asking for those WORDS... Like now. Which was weird. They had the pin since forever.

Actually, Frisk had never used any words but the same two.

Weird... Was there other options? Huh. Frisk just shrugged and pointed at their pin. "Oh, I don't read." She smiled. "Buuut... I like the pin even if the words are bad. Is it yellow? I like yellow. You should match me," she pulled on the straps of her bright yellow top until they stretched an inch away from her pale skin. Her gaze stayed on the tag. "Ooh! Wait... WAIT, I know this."

Frisk blinked.

"I know THAT," Ceecee leaned in until her finger touched the pin, "Is what people call a H!"

"That's an E next to it," Freddy said. "So H-E."

"Oh, so HE. Like you!" She smiled.

Freddy shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't gotta pin..."

"Yeah! That's weird. I wanna pin. Why's Frisk gotta pin?"

So pins were unusual. Frisk was "different.” They knew this, already, since they heard the word whispered between their mothers more than a few times. Also “special” and “sweet little angel.” Hm.

Frisk wanted to tell the two that the pin would probably say "she" tomorrow, but they couldn't think of how to communicate this. Would Ceecee be happy if they matched in that way? They liked her so far. She seemed friendly, and talkative, and reminded them of their sister.

Freddy glanced at Frisk, then shrugged. ”Um, I dunno, I guess to remind people?”

Frisk nodded a little.

Remind others.

Ceecee looked past them, then raised a hand, pointing. "He gotta button like them..."

Frisk looked around, not sure who she was talking about. Freddy pointed more clearly at a red-haired child a few seats down. "Ceecee means Gray." The child named “Gray” was cheerfully talking to the children around them, seeming for all the world like any other child.

"Noooo, I mean they," she insisted, frowning.

Freddy looked at her. "That still wrong. They isn't the name. It's-”

"I don’t talk, either. Talking is for...for....BABIES." Ceecee insisted, blinking watery blue eyes behind her glasses. She was talking now, but Frisk suspected she was just being blustery rather than legitimate about her words.

Tinted. Darker glasses. Talked about an eyes group.

Ceecee eyes bad.

"Grownups gotta talk, too." Freddy said.

He would've continued, but one of the aides moved over, almost as if summoned, and everyone’s attention quickly shifted to them. They were a friendly-looking short-haired blonde with a crooked smile and long lashes. Frisk took note of the pink in the persons outfit and nodded slightly in respect. Perfect shades.

The aide smiled at the squad. "Hi, Ceecee, hi, Freddy! How are you two?”

“Goooood.” Ceecee said.

The aide turned towards Frisk. “Hey, there! You’re Frisk, right? I’m Andy. You're gonna sit here, honey?"

Frisk nodded.

The aide nodded. "So you’ve met Freddy and Ceecee?”

They nodded again. They had the feeling they would be doing a lot of nodding.

Yes, yes, yes. No, no, no.

“That’s great!” The aide nodded. They looked closer at Frisk, eyeing Frisk’s button for a moment. But they didn’t comment. “So, you two, did you know....Frisk is extra special, because the words he uses for himself change sometimes,” they pointed at Frisk’s button.

The two children looked at each other, then back at the caretaker, their brows curved.

Twisted brows inwards.

Meant: Confusion.

Ceecee said, “S’that why he got the button? Cause there’s two words on their?”

“Exactly! Frisk, is it okay if I touch your pin?” The aide looked at Frisk.

Frisk looked up at them and smiled a little, nodding.

“So, yes! Okay!”

They gently flicked the pin to point in the other side, to the other word. “You see, this says “she.” Some days Frisk will go by she instead of he.”

Hmm. Frisk’s expression didn’t move, but they did feel something twitch in their gut. They heard these words all tjhe time from their mothers, but it was now being brought into a bigger world. They didn’t envision this situation ever happening, and now that it was, they couldn’t understand why something felt wrong.

“So, like me!” Ceecee said.

“Yes, and like me!” The aide smiled, tapping their-no, HER- employee card clip. Now that Frisk was looking, they could see the same organization of letters that made up the other half of their pin sitting on a sticker on her card. “But right now, Frisk is still using he. So be sure to ask what kind of day it is for Frisk, okay?”

"Huh? How're we supposed to know that? I don't READ," Ceecee said again. “And Frisk don’t talk! SO asking does NOTHING!” She put her hands on her hips, looking pleased with this announcement.

"Well..." Andy looked at Frisk. "Frisk, you could tell your friends in sign. If it's a he day, use the fingerspelling for H. It looks like this," the aide held up her hand in an odd shape. Frisk copied her.

Hand... Letter.

H = this shape.

Frisk blinked and did the movement again.

“Great!”

They did it again, and again. They'd never used their hands like this. It felt as fun as flapping did, but also contained a PURPOSE... A way to communicate behind yes or no.

More. More letters? Need more.

"Wow, great job!" She showed another symbol. “This is the one for S, which is what you'll use for she days, okay?" Frisk nodded, copying her precisely. They couldn't get these movements out of their head.

The images stuck there and burned. H and S, carried in Frisk's hands...

Except...wait! She and he had more letters, probably. More than one each, Frisk knew that.

"Okay, n-” the aide started.

Frisk waved and made an urgent noise from the back of their throat.

She blinked. "Hm? Is something wrong, sweetie?"

Frisk held up S and H, one in each hand. They frowned intently. Um, um...

Letters, two and three. H = 1 of 2. S= 1 of 3.

They held up S and two fingers.

"You want to see It again? Okay, but I think you can make an S just fine!"

Frisk shook their head. Their mind spun.

The shakes that made up SHE. They had an S. The next letter was also an H, right? The same as in he. Frisk tried to hold up their good hand, making the S, then the H, then waving their hands in confusion.

The aide looked even more confused..

"SH isn't a word!" Ceecee blurted. "You're missing other letters!"

Frisk pointed at her and nodded, hoping desperately that the aide would understand.

The aide blinked. "Oh, would you like to learn the rest of the letters in the and he? Don't worry, you'll get to learn those eventually!"

Not now?

Frisk deflated, staring at their hands and flexing the signs.

Andy turned away, focus quickly shifting to the other two children.

"Okay, Ceecee, Freddy." She looked at the other two. "Since Frisk is new here, you guys gotta be super helpful. Frisk doesn't talk, so I’m hoping you two could try and help the best you can. If you think you gotta yell so one of us hears, then be sure to do so."

Just them? Job? Nothing else? Frisk...Helpless, or ....

This is routine?

"Okaaaay, but you can just teach the hands talk today, can't you?" Ceecee shrugged. “Then we don’t gotta do this.

"Hopefully! That depends on if everyone knows the alphabet!"

Frisk was tested for that a few months ago. All sorts of strange tests, including an alphabet test. Frisk knew the alphabet. The letter A correlated to an “ah” sound when someone spoke. Letters were all symbols in place of a noise. The symbols themselves were easy enough, they were just pictures.

The tester had said, "We'll put Frisk in the B class for now. All the children there know their basic alphabet, but they may not be able to read as easily. Even still...Frisk is a little young to start kindergarten, are you sure she'll-” It was a she day-”-Be okay?"

And Mama had said, "Of course! We know exactly what's best for our child! She needs higher education!"

Of course, it was all because there was nothing else to learn at home.

To learn OR to be taught? Maman was a teacher. She taught French to people of all ages. But her teaching abilities weren't enough to save her from frustration. Things had grown gradually more and more tense the more the failures piled up. So many frowns, so many flashcards.

So Frisk was ready for public school. Because Maman wasn't ready to teach.

Everyone was tested. Results = what classroom they went into.

Learning something good. Useful. Future...

This was it.

Frisk unclenched their fist and stared at their hand.

This is useful. “Helpful.” “Good.”

This has to be what they came to school to learn. If these are just letters, then what about words? Could Frisk finally tell Mama she has bad lipstick? Could they say they wanted to wear purple instead of yellow?

Or maybe that they didn't really like the arrow pin...?

S, H, and....?

#writing #eor #not story

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hueningkai · 3 years

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So not sure if I can still send in an ask about toys BUT IF YES CAN I SHARE!?

So my big thing as a kid, it depended haha. Based on my memory, doll wise I was more into bratz dolls? Like legit the fact they had bobble sized heads and they didn't have feet when taking off their "shoes" was so hilarious to me as a kid that made me love them but also the fashion? Amazing, still holds up to this day. Gosh I had so many bratz dolls lol. I had a bratz rock angelz one (it was Sasha, she was my fav) that I lowkey got salty because my friend stole her from me and denied it she ever did :') i had the bratz snow lodge house along with those skating dolls (best doll house ever btw) then I had two sleepover ones. One was cloe and she had the cutest piggy slippers and comfy pj's (it was plaid sweats and a simple white top with a fluffy bathrobe and a matching sleep mask) and another was Sasha again and she was my fancy sleepover one. She came with these fantastic silk floral robes and pj's, she even had the "normal feet" switch so you could have these rose heels or her actual feet. The best part was this cushion that acted as the sparkly powder for you to use and this (overly musky scented) mini perfume like I loved them. I think I may still have them(?) The rest of my collection i sadly sold because I was "too old for dolls" and I kinda regret that because oof. I also had barbie dolls, those ranged from all kinds like I had one that had a washing machine (which fun fact i put actual soap thinking it would make the experience more real. Not a smart idea but lil me was happy lol) and I remember those fashion design line? I wish I could remember the name but it had like a more fancier option of clothes that you could buy to your barbie doll as a whole so it was a clothing line for your dolls. I have to double check this online lol. I also had a few my scene dolls! Also anyone remember soda pop girls? Yeah my shiz. Polly pocket as well! I had so many and even had those tiny ones that were of magnet? (Random side not but anyone else liked chewing on the polly pocket outfits or pretending you had a lip ring using a dolls bracelet or was that just me?)

Outside of dolls, I had quite the my little pony collection. Heck I even had a few playsets! One was a giant castle that was fantastic and another was I belive a bakery? I remember there was this oven that if you out the metal part of the pony a cake would pop up lol. Also sold those. My proudest collection? My littles pet shop lol. I STILL have my original toys (not the playsets sadly) and even own some of the limited figures where you and to send in stickers to get it? One was a ladybug and a Kola if I remember! Other toys included some pokemon ones and I had a very interesting phase of collecting hot wheel cars? Man I had a good collection as well lol.

OF COURSEEEE!! I just hope you see this anon bc I absolutely love the detail here and appreciate you sending it <3333

agreeeeeed. to this day bratz are iconic and had some of the best fashion in the doll market. the detail & accessories... mga know how to accessorise. you had some amazing ones! the rock angelz line is insanely good, I also really loved the pretty in punk line! omg the sleepover ones were adorable. yasmin was my fav btw! the smells yes! gosh they really did so well with bratz. that is sad :( I actually owned a few recently in my collection but sold them for extra money but I am always tempted to collect again. the collector dolls were gorgeous. side note did you ever watch the live action movie?? bc I love it lmao it may not be the best movie ever but it is a guilty pleasure for me for sure

hmmmmm I'm not sure! there's been so many fashion lines and such that I can't think rn what this is !! I might be able to figure it out if you can give me more detail <3 YES SODA POP GIRLS!! very obscure but sooo good, what a fun line !! I used to chew polly pocket clothes but omg wait I think I did that with the bracelets too, they fit perfectly as a ring hahahahaa!!

oooooo sounds like you had either gen 2 or 3? gen 2 and 3 were based around magnetic play a lot of the time !! I have lady cupcake from gen 2 who has a metal magnetic nose which sticks to a cake and makes it pop up. as a child I had the gen 3 bakery and it had the oven with a magnetic piece that popped open to reveal the cake (I have the oven now!) these are my fav gens (gen 2 being my favourite) and I looooved the magnetic play features. I always wanted to own the castle so I am jealous !!

anon I would love to see anything you have esp your littlest pet shops omg! the fact you had the mail in limited ones too ... so cool! wow you've had so many good collections <3

here's a few of my fav g3s that I own in mib packaging. I had star catcher as a child and she was my favourite so I was glad when I got hold of her new in the box hehe!

( tell me about your childhood toys )

#mail #sorry this is so long and might have typos / mistakes!!#ty for sending #anon tag #ryu's toy asks #long post

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threadsketchier · 5 years

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The Glam is strong with this one

Hokay. Yeah, this project is out of left field but this is what happens at the nexus of my nerdiness, a dim fantasy about what shenanigans I’d get up to if I was an influencer, and a Coastal Scents Hot Pot mega-sale.

(So Coastal Scents is an affordable cosmetics site primarily known for their eyeshadow, but even at $3 a pop for singles, that adds up quick. Ah, but when their singles go on sale for $0.99 each, now we’re talking.)

For a long time I’d thought to myself, if I could theme an eyeshadow palette around Star Wars, how would I do it? (Especially because, shockingly, this...hasn’t really been a thing before? I’m surprised that it hasn’t?) And then the sale appeared and I was like, why not do a palette per movie for the OT? Because I’m Extra™ AF.

The empty magnetic palettes themselves aren’t anything remarkable to look at, but I will say, they’re great quality for how cheap they are - weighty, sturdy plastic with a secure closure, full-sized mirror, and nice padding around the empty wells. 10/10 would totally recommend, not just for CS shadows but any standard-sized eyeshadow pot.

However, this part of the project is still a WIP, because I wanted logos for each of the movies on the top lid, not just to help me tell them apart when they’re closed but for the Aesthetic™ too, obviously. My original plan was to track down good-quality stickers or vinyl decals, but it’s turned out to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Decals are way too big, since they’re generally intended for car windows - these little dudes are only about 5x4″ roughly. The only other film logo stickers I could find that would work in a pinch came from a vintage 1997 set, but they’re pricey for what they are and I’d feel wasteful not using the rest of the stickers. In the future, as time allows, I might try to mock up the logos on their starry backgrounds as images on a USB drive or something to take to my local FedEX to print out custom stickers.

Anyhoops, on to the shadows!

I know what you’re thinking - WTF is up with that color selection, those don’t look practical at all, etc. etc. I’m well aware of that. XD These weren’t made with logical use in mind; first and foremost they’re meant to retell the story in color. Each shadow represents either a character or an event in the films, placed in chronological order. And this is entirely subjective - I’m just one person with questionable tastes, this could have gone in so many other directions. But this is what I felt like crafting.

(Apologies for my shitty lighting, I’d have preferred to shoot these in full sunlight but I can’t really do that here at home, so I tried my best with a mix of window daylight and interior light plus some help from a handheld LED lamp.)

First up, A New Hope:

Shadow names in order from left to right, top row to bottom row [format - my label in “ ” followed by the actual shadow name in italics]:

“Dark Lord” - Incognito, a matte black representing Darth Vader’s first appearance

“Princess” - Cloud White, a matte white for Leia’s white senatorial gown

“Mindless Philosopher” - 18 Karat Gold, a rich golden shimmer for C-3PO (which didn’t come across accurately in these photos, it’s not quite as dark and dull as it looks)

“Astromech” - Electric Blue, a matte blue for R2-D2

“Farthest” - Pumpkin Pie, a matte light tan brown for Tatooine

“Skywalker” - Iceberg, a pale blue shimmer for Luke Skywalker, evoking both the color of the sky and his eyes

“Old Wizard” - Deep Roast, a matte brown representing Jedi robes and Obi-Wan Kenobi

“Legacy” - Azure Frost, a more vivid aqua blue shimmer for the blade of the Skywalker lightsaber

“Fast Ship” - Aluminum Taupe, a light taupe grey/brown shimmer - do I even need to say why I picked this shadow, it’s not just a stand-in for the Falcon, all I can think about is Robot Chicken’s “WHAT THE HELL IS AN ALUMINUM FALCON???!!?!” XD

“Superlaser” - Limelight, a bright acid-green satin for the Death Star’s primary weapon

“That’s No Moon,” - Thunderous, a deep gray satin for the Death Star itself

“Flyboy” - Orange Crush, a matte bright orange for the Rebels’ starfighter flightsuits

Next, The Empire Strikes Back:

“Ice Planet” - White Silver, an icy white shimmer for Hoth, natch

“Executor” - Ash Grey, a matte medium gray for Vader’s flagship and the Imperial Navy in general

“Slimy Mudhole,” Olive, a matte drab olive green for Yoda and the swamps of Dagobah

“Asteroids!” - Boca Mocha, a milk chocolate shimmer for Hoth’s asteroid belt

“Among the Clouds” - Peachy Copper, a...well, peachy copper shimmer, lol, for the luminous sunrise and sunsets of Bespin

“Baron” - Golden Avocado, a slightly olive-toned deep gold shimmer evoking the lining of Lando’s sweet, sweet cape

“Absolutely Beautiful” - Raisin Berry, a deep wine-burgundy shimmer for Leia’s Cloud City dress

“Bounty Hunter” - *Team Captain, a deep, grungy matte green for Boba Fett (*This is a Colourpop shadow single that I felt worked better than the original shadow from Coastal Scents, Olivewood - it wound up being too close to Olive above.)

“Carbonite” - Stone Cold, a deep, slightly brown-tinged gray satin for Han’s carbonite block

“Fatigues” - Ashen, a light warm gray satin for Luke’s military fatigues

“The Responsible One” - *Lost and Found, a matte cornflower blue for Lando’s blue shirt, meant to symbolize the shedding of his façade (notice how he somehow loses his cape after he begins helping Leia & Co. escape) and the revelation of his ethics as he tries to help keep both our heroes and his own people free from the Empire (*This is another Colourpop shadow; it’s nearly identical to the CS version but the CS pot came with a minor blemish, so I swapped this in.)

“Core Shaft” - Steel Grey, a medium cool gray soft shimmer for the location of Luke and Vader’s duel and that paternal bombshell

Last but not least, Return of the Jedi:

“Return” - Nectar, a pale tan shimmer representing the sun-baked sands of the Dune Sea as Luke comes back to Tatooine to rescue Han and face down Jabba

“Someone Who Loves You” - Kodiak, a deep bronze-brown soft shimmer for Leia’s Boushh attire

“Pit of Carkoon” - Chocolate Berry, a dark plum-brown satin for the depths of the sarlaac’s mouth

“Old and Weak” - Sage Sensation, a subdued yellow-green satin for Luke’s melancholy return to Dagobah for Yoda’s death and the revelation of his mentors’ deception

“Forest Moon” - Pinehurst, a rich matte cool green for the forests of Endor’s moon

“Bright Tree Village” - Harvest Brown, a matte red-toned brown for the redwood trees and Ewok village

“Father” - *Vale, a black pressed glitter symbolizing Anakin Skywalker’s gradual redemption, by showing the darkness of his anguished soul shot through with glimmers of light (*This glitter is from Dear Katie Brown, and while per their FAQs this is likely not an eye-safe glitter I couldn’t resist including it here, it was too perfect for what I was trying to get across.)

“ISYHCANL” - Spring Fever, a bright lime-green satin for Luke’s lightsaber blade, and a tongue-firmly-in-cheek nod at the crazy acronym this prop has been given in the replica prop community for the 5-second shot of it being turned over in Vader’s hands as he says, “I see you have constructed a new lightsaber.” Fun fact: that version of Luke’s lightsaber - also called the “Hero” version due to being mass-produced in toys, artwork, etc. as his official saber - is not the one he carries around for 90% of the movie. The prop most featured onscreen is known as the V2, a much more beat-up looking hilt.

“Conflict” - *One Night Stand, a rich metallic red shimmer for Vader’s blade and the turmoil within him as he attempts to turn his son to the Dark Side (*This shadow comes from Looxi Beauty.)

“So Be It” - *Dreamboat, a pale lavender-blue shimmer for the Emperor’s Force lightning (*Another Looxi Beauty shadow)

“Pyre” - Bahama Mama, a light orange shimmer for the flames of Anakin Skywalker’s funeral pyre

“Victory Celebration” - Fairy Gold, a yellow-gold satin that’s not exactly meant to represent the Rebellion’s party at the end of the film, but the actual yellow coloring of the Star Wars logo itself, showcasing how the OT saga has come to a satisfying conclusion

Am I tempted to create looks with these? Of course. But to be completely honest, I assembled these mostly for the fun of it when I saw I had an opportunity without breaking the bank. I already have more than enough eyeshadow to play around with (especially since I don’t have time to wear them on a daily basis), and I actually wish I could gift these to someone else who could get some creative enjoyment out of them, but I don’t know who would want them, lol. For now they’ll hang out in my collection, and hopefully I can get those decals done for them.

#sorry this is such a long-ass post #but i didn't want to hide it behind a read more cut #hi i'm threadsketch & i'm kind of a makeupholic #my projects #star wars #eyeshadow palettes #this was a small labor of love

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mirika · 5 years

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The usual Comic Con post incoming, this one being the one in Ahoy Rotterdam. I went as Ladybug as that is my easier go-to outfit.

After an extremely stressful way there (no miracle I have a headache), I arrived at Comic Con safely and for the first time ever I spent money within the first ten minutes I think? I bought quite a few items, good thing I had birthday money lying around from last December.

So these are all the goodies I bought:

The first thing I found was PlayStation playing cards. They are inside a metallic cover and well... when I was paying I was just realizing I have a PlayStation wallet. I guess it’s clear what is my preferred console, haha.

Other than that two dice sets. The right one is colourful and magical, which will be perfect for my child wizard in the future. The left set with pink and black are for my halfling rogue. The darkness for how she stays within the shadows, and the pink for the softness she carries. The pink is stronger in real life than on the photo.

I actually bought the bard card set before I got the dice, because the dice were a purchase I made after I decided I had leftover budget. I was not kidding when I say I want to go bard in a future campaign. Now I am absolutely prepared. Also, the spell card deck is much cheaper than online as far as I recall. I only know this cause I recently had been looking for a druid deck for a friend.

The Digimon image is actually a magnet! I am not over fond of square designs, but finding Digimon is rare and it’s a cute picture (Taichi is munching something while seated on Greymon’s head). I also saw another artist with flabbergasting amazing art, like holy shit, it was amazing, but they only sold prints and I prefer stuff that can be stuck on something (magnets, stickers, keychains, buttons).

Which is why it is probably odd I bought Overwatch prints, but they were 50 cents each, I couldn’t resist. He even sold Lucio, come on. I appreciate anyone who actually makes content for Lucio!

The last two things are the Lucky Charm sticker and the button of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but the latter was actually a gift! The vendor saw me walk by, asked if I was Ladybug indeed and then handed it to me. I was actually quite surprised (and like any Dutch person I accept free things).

Literally all the shop keepers at Comic Con were so nice in general. It was a very small con, which is why I have no cosplay selfies (plus the fact it’s harder when you are alone), meaning they had more time to make conversation.

I also did one commission even if I was tempted to do more. Budgeting and all... so I commissioned my hobbit from Lord of the Rings Online. Because she’s not a D&D character she’s often overlooked when commissioning, so I went for it.

She looks so pretty, but also young, so I imagine this is what she would’ve looked like in her earlier years perhaps. Since the artist forgot her scar, definitely before her adventuring days. I really like it, and I find it so interesting how she colours. It was made by @nathaliejang and although I was forced to leave later for the train because of the commission, it was worth it.

While I waited for the commission I was actually able to play D&D though! I got to test out my dice (used my rogue dice) and they seem to roll me good numbers.

I joined the 13:30 campaign and I think we ran until 15:45. They had five characters. Two fighters, one rogue, one cleric and one wizard. Cleric being a favourite class of mine, I called ‘dibs’ before I even got to look at its sheet (mostly because I did not want to play melee and get anxious over wizards). I ended up being a dwarf... alright, fine. I was a little racist towards our elf wizard, but to be fair, he was high on himself so he deserved it. Our human fighter (who was played by a lad in actual armour, very awesome) was also not over fond of the elf, and we had a halfling rogue join us mid-game. This was the knight:

It was quite fun, though it is hard for me to play a pre-made character with pre-defined goals and flaws, and a race I’d never see myself play. The DM was rather chill (and reminded him that people roll death saves at 0 HP, our wizard fell), so that was nice.

Did I expect to play D&D at a Comic Con? Absolutely not. Will I do it again? Possibly, dependent of the edition. Comic Con in Rotterdam and Amsterdam are so small that there is time to spare, but in Utrecht? No way, too big of a venue with too many events.

The way back was hellish again due to really loud boys (they don’t deserve to be called men with their behaviour) and I have a headache that’s killing me, but at least it was fun.

Oh, and I didn’t even mention I bought fudge... mint flavour, coffee flavour and baileys flavour...

--- RCC 2020 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) WDCC 2019 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) / Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2019 - no report, little happened

DCC 2019 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) / Mimi (Digimon) DCC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) ACC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) DCC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) RCC 2018 - Mimi (Digimon) WDCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) DCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) RCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2016 - Hook (Once Upon A Time) DCC 2016 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) DCC 2015 - Sunday - Hobbit (Lord of the Rings) DCC 2015 - Saturday - Ellie (The Last of Us)

I have been to Elfia in 2015, but I cannot find this post. I was Donna Noble and I actually had a really bad day, which is why I have never returned to Elfia.

#mirika #mirikalj

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cutiecrates · 5 years

Text

Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box April 19

I probably would have done this yesterday, but I ended up going to the county fair; it was horribly hot (despite how cloudy it was) and it actually made me feel sick being out there. By the time we got home I was very sore and worn out.

So here I am today, refreshed and ready!

Word of the month: Usagi - Rabbit

Amuse Chinmari Munchkin Plushie

Our first item is an adorable plushie neko from Amuse. It is palm-sized and includes a ball chain so that you can bring it around with you wherever you go. It’s squishy and slightly stretchy, and there are 10 unique, colorful, adorable kitties in all~

On Blippo, these are $6.90. But keep in mind only a handful of them are an option, not the entire series.

(btw, am I the only one who thinks the one I got could also be a mouse? I know its a cat but from the front I keep thinking mouse. Still adorable either way.)

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s very cute and soft! It’s like a fluffy squishy, but without the rise action. I feel like I’m squishing on a marshmallow while holding it, and it’s kind of soothing in a way... Although, it’s not nearly as stretchy as my other similar plush I’ve gotten. It has a very sweet little face~

Also, there’s no problems quality wise.

Kawaii Ribbon Hair Clips

Next up we have these sweet little Blippo exclusive clips, each featuring a dot pattern and a cute bow charm. They come in a set of 2 in a variety of colors.

On Blippo, these cost $1.90.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

The quality of the clip is great, it has a tight snap due to being a whole metal piece with a “coat” over it, and nothing is flimsy or loose. It’s a really cute concept too, but... I actually really hate this color combination. It’s not that bad but... I just don’t like it <3< the bow coloring could have been better, but what mainly bugs me is those vibrant orange-red spots against the yellow background. I would have rather gotten any other of the clips, but that’s just me. On Blippo, this is one of the sold out sets so it must have been well-liked by everyone else...

Also, I noticed the quality of the clip, and I’m kind of worried this is the metal prone to rusting due to how it feels. I could be wrong, but...

Neko Bookmarks & Disney Notebook

Next we have two, really cute stationery items; first is this set of kitty bookmarks, each featuring a big paper clip with a soft rubber kitty on the top half. On Blippo these are $3.50, and you can get them in a few different colored sets.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I think these are pretty cute and fun, I’m not sure how I feel about the kind of oddly colorful color scheme of the set I got, but in a way I kind of like it too. They’re as fun to play with as they are to use, but because of the soft rubber and the fact it is a paper clip, you can’t man-handle these.

--------

To go with our usual stationery hall, we also get an adorable Disney themed notebook. There is a big variety of cutesy, pastel designs and characters (from tsum tsum to mickey and friends to Winnie the Pooh to Disney Princesses!), and each notebook costs $6.90.

The notebooks are simple, featuring a magnetic clip to keep it shut and 2 types of pages per-book.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

While on one hand, I think I would have liked to get one of the other ones more, I’ve always had a soft spot for Chip and Dale so I’m not disappointed. They’re so cute aren’t they?

Meanwhile in terms of the notebook I think it has some nice quality. I like the magnetic clip feature, its very decorative and sweet looking, and it’s just plain fun to use. It’s small size makes it very handy for carrying in a variety of places.

Ice Cream Cup Charm

These sweet Harajuku-inspired charms are as cute as they are delicious looking~ Each features several cutesy deco bits, like fake fruits and sweets, pearls or gems, and a gem star. They have a small cellphone charm-like strap so that you can connect it and take it with you on the go too!

Everything is plastic, with the exception of the deco cream, which feels a bit squishy-soft. There are a few different variants, and each one costs $3.50.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

As cute as it is, I wanted to mention that the Blippo website describes these as being scented- I smell a weird plastic rubber scent, nothing delicious or appealing (and I did keep it sealed in its package this entire time). Also, as you can see on mine there is a chance there is a small amount of smearing of the cream.

However, it is handmade and I like the little differences in a way to make it more unique. I’ll probably end up using this as a cute display item.

Nail Decoration Set

These DIY kits and items always seem to be Dollar Store quality don’t they? I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but as long as they work out it’s not that bad right?

This a korean nail decoration kit, and you get all sorts of cute and fun deco bits for your nails, all you need to do is supply the clear polish, or whatever color you’re using, but you should have a clear coat to go on top once you finish to help seal everything in. As you can see we get some shiny dot pieces, glittery, star and heart flakes, and various fruits, smiley faces, and kitty head pieces made from clay cane.

Each one costs $4.50 on blippo, and there are 4 sets available. But the only things besides the packaging difference is the glitter and dot piece colors.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As I’m not really an experienced nail person, I decided to just do my thumbs. I wanted something summery, so I just added a watermelon slice and two of the shiny hot pink flakes to match. But as a pro-tip I do know a few things; such as using a pair of tweezers when adding the pieces, it makes like way easier. As I said before you want clear polish to seal them onto the nail, I did probably 4-5 coats per-nail.

Anyway, for someone inexperienced (or just someone who likes doing deco nails or making slime) I think kits like this are pretty nice. Like it obviously works, and I think everything is really cute, you can really get creative or go for something simple if you wanted.

Morinaga Disney Chocolate Cookies

For this month we get a box of chocolate cookies/biscuits from Morinaga, featuring Mickey Mouse on the packaging. As for the cookies, it’s probably the usual variety, because as you can see I got a handful of Winnie the Pooh in the pic. Not that I mind or anything, they all taste the same. You can get a wide variety of 300 different Disney characters in total! Lucky people will also find a heart-shaped biscuit~♥

Each box features one of Mickey’s well-known depictions; for example mine is based on Steamboat Willie. Each box is also 234 calories and costs $2.73.

I’m not going to bother rating these because I had them before. They always taste good and you get a nice blend of cookie/biscuit and chocolate. And no, I didn’t get any heart-shaped ones, and ironically enough I didn’t get any Mickey either. I did get Minnie though, which was kind of nice since she is my favorite.

Bunny Ears Icecream Pen & Lipstick Wax Pen

Back to stationery now, we get two very cute and fun looking writing utensils. First is this icecream pen with a pair of bunny ears for that extra hint of sweetness~

The cream on top and bunny ears are slightly soft and squishy, and there are 2 available; one with yellow inner-ear like i got, or one with pink. Isn’t that ironic...? Each one costs $4.90.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Despite my not being a fan of yellow, the difference is so tiny that it doesn’t bother me very much. The pen is easy and comfortable to grip, it writes very smoothly and I haven’t noticed any issues with the ink besides the typical smear with fine tips, but if you give it a few minutes to dry you should be good to go.

Overall it’s a very fun, Easter perfect pen; although you can’t put the cap on it while using it, which always bugs me a little...

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Next is an adorable wax pen inspired by a lipstick ♥ These come in a variety of colors in both the warm and cold color-scheme, and each costs $2.50. Essentially they are wax highlighters and underlining pieces, and they can be twisted to extend, just like a real lipstick!

I think it might even be scented. I smell something from mine that could pass as being Green Apple, but nothing mentions there being any sort of scent. It’s pleasant and light though.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

So besides just looking really cute, I think it would be a really nice alternate for things like pens or highlighting markers. The wax is soft to apply and is visible, while not having an obnoxious scent or drying period.

I’m not sure I’ll have too much use for this, but I am very tempted to buy a couple, or even all of them to do a review and see how they all look, check for scent, etc. I find them aesthetically pleasing and would love just having them for a display item- and in times of need they could be used as a crayon :D

Jewelry Seal Stickers

This is our last item, an adorable set of Jewelry heart and flower seals/stickers. These are available for $2.50 on Blippo and come in a few various colors. As you can see, besides the various hearts and flowers, we also get some spherical pieces and some diamond, leaf-like pieces. They are plastic pieces, giving them a sort of 3Dish look.

I wanted to use them on something. Since I already have gem hearts and Sanrio on my phone, I decided to put them on something else I rely on- perhaps more than my phone:

This is my hand mirror... which is actually several times bigger than most hand mirrors. That’s because this is a vibrant, lighting up mirror that folds back on itself when sitting. It also zooms in, making it useful for hair removal and makeup application.

I’m not any kind of expert or someone with a need to have everything in perfect measurement, so I just went for it. What do you think?

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I really like these! But I did notice a little issue while using them. Some of their sticky pieces wanted to stay on the packaging, or it rolled up while trying to get them off. They were still usable of course, but it did make the process a little tiny bit less fun. It only happened on a couple though, the rest were fine.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ I have no complaints, I really like everything. It’s all practical and very kawaii~

Price - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Everything comes to $39.83- which greatly shocked me; I think that might be the most money spent on these boxes yet or us, and remmeber we only pay about 20 dollars. On one hand, if you were to buy everything you would get free shipping and a free gift on Blippo, but I felt like a couple of the items could be cheaper, too...

Theme - ♥ I’m sorry but they completely failed this time. We got ONE Easter item- and what makes it worse is that they did WAY better last year with an Easter box, and I know they could have done better this time too. I was kind of disappointed.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties. So once again the theme was a huge bust and I feel like they wasted a good opportunity- especially since nobody else really did anything Easter related in comparison to last year. However, despite getting a lot of the typical, same old same old stuff, I really found myself drawn to the ones specifically in this box. The quality is there, they’re ultra-cute and fun to use, so I thought this box did way better than last months, but in saying that, I’m not sure which box I would go to first if I could only choose one, I found items I loved in both of them a lot.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Wax Lipstick Pen - I admit, this specific color might not have been my first choice- but I think not only is it really pretty and cute to look at, but it’s just plain fun to use :D It’s like a really soft, possibly scented crayon.

2. Nail Decoration Set - Very fun, just like the stickers. I’m excited to try to come up with some other ideas using it and the previous nail set I got from this box. I like the wide variety of pieces we get too!

3. Bunny Icecream Pen - It’s simple but really cute, you get the idea right away looking at it. I just wish I had a place to put the cap... I did consider resting it on the bunny ear, but I don’t want it to get dirty. It’s actually a lot more comfortable to hold than it looks.

4. Jewelry Seal Stickers - Super pretty, it was a lot of fun decoing with them. But like I said, you need to be careful using them since some of their sticky pieces like to cause problems...

5. Neko Plushie - I love its sweet little face~ It’s so soft x3

6. Icecream Cup Charm - It’s almost delicious looking enough to eat~ I am a little bothered by the issue I saw on mine, bu I could probably fix it with some paint or something.

7. Morinaga Chocolate Cookies/Biscuis - very tasty with a mild-sweetness. I love how creative and fun they are when looking at the characters, but I will fault it on the fact that I never tossed this around or anything and I had a bit of a mess and a handful of broken cookies/biscuits waiting for me when I opened it.

8. Disney Chip and Dale Notebook - I think it’s really cute, and I love how decorative it is. But in terms of color-scheme, I’ve never been a big brown fan. That has nothing to do with its use though, the quality is great and if I needed to get more notebooks I’d probably order a few others in the set.

9. Cat Clips - The cartoony design and colors is really fun to look at, but I am worried they will be kind of fragile...

10. Ribbon Hair Clips - I really, really wanted to like these! I love ribbons and bows, and dot patterns, and hair clips. But I cannot stand the color combinations in this specific set and unless I had something to match or compliment them, I probably won’t be using them.

#kawaiibox #disney snacks #disney notebooks #morinaga chocolate #amuse plush

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iambutteryum · 3 years

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Sous Vide Chuck Roast Steak

If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, you know I promised to share this amazing steak recipe this month and today is the day! But first, a little background - a couple of times a year, we like to butcher a whole ribeye roast into steaks that we then vacuum seal and stash away in the freezer for special occasions and family get-togethers. This year, however, the rather substantial increase in beef prices left me with a serious case of sticker shock. Then I thought about a technique that would reportedly turn a fairly tough and inexpensive cut of beef (chuck) into a tender and flavorful steak that could rival a ribeye. The cost of a whole chuck roast was 1/3 the cost of the ribeye roast so that sealed the deal for me, and the results were nothing short of spectacular. I urge you to give this easy technique a try - you will not be disappointed!

Place bagged steak(s) into cooking vessel and clip to side to prevent the bag(s) from moving during the cooking process (which can interfere with water circulation). If you cook more than one steak, place each in its own bag. Be sure to remove as much air from the bag as possible so the steak(s) stay submerged under the water. If needed, you can weigh down the bag with a dull stainless steel butter knife or spoon. The stainless flatware will not interfere with the flavor of the steak.

Anchor the immersion circulator to the cooking vessel and set the cooking temperature and time (full recipe at the bottom of the page). Be sure the water level is high enough to completely cover the steaks, but not exceed the maximum water level indicated on the immersion circulator. If your cooking vessel has a lid, use it to prevent evaporation (otherwise, monitor the water level during the cooking process and add water as needed). The steaks should stay submerged at all times during the cooking process.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the steak(s) from the bag and pat dry. Sear on all sides in a very hot cast iron skillet that contains 1 tablespoon of oil. Searing should only take a minute or two per side. Don’t forget to sear the edges too!

Alternatively, you can sear the steak(s) on a hot grill or using a sous vide torch (affiliate link).

Sous vide steaks do not need to rest before serving so you can enjoy them immediately. Happy cooking!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

sous vide immersion circulator https://amzn.to/3hDiP9W

sous vide torch https://amzn.to/3fyeTHF

cambro container https://amzn.to/3jNY1iW

vacuum sealer https://amzn.to/3qRmoxJ

vacuum bags https://amzn.to/3j61IOV

freezer zip-top bags https://amzn.to/3j3vBzy

Sous Vide Chuck Roast Steak

makes 4-6 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

3-pound chuck steak (about 1 1/2-inches thick)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

optional butter and flaked salt for serving

Directions

Sprinkle chuck roast steak on all sides with salt and place in a gallon-size freezer bag; remove as much air as possible before sealing (alternatively, vacuum seal in appropriate vacuum bag (like a foodsaver bag).

Clip bag to side of water-filled vessel, being sure steak is submerged under the water.

Place the immersion circulator in vessel and be sure it is well anchored (an official sous vide vessel or a large stockpot); set the temperature for 135F and set the cook time for 24 hours. If your sous vide vessel includes a lid, you probably won’t have to worry about evaporation, but if your vessel is uncovered, monitor the water level during the entire cooking process and add water as needed (mine does not have a cover and I had to add 1-2 cups of water every 8 hours).

Remove steak(s) from bag and pat dry. Sear in a very hot cast iron skillet that contains a tablespoon of oil; sear both sides for a minute or two, then sear the edges. Alternatively, you can sear the steak(s) on a grill or use a sous vide torch.

If desired, finish with a pat of butter and a sprinkling of flaked sea salt.

Notes

When using zip-top bags, choose freezer bags over storage bags. Storage bags aren’t as sturdy and may leak during the sous vide process.

Be sure to remove as much air from the bag as possible so the contents stay under the water level. If needed, you can add a dull, stainless steel butter knife or spoon to the bag. The stainless steel will not affect the steak, but will keep the bag from floating to the top of the water.

The steak(s) should stay submerged the entire cooking process. If you have a sous vide vessel that includes a lid, use it. Otherwise, monitor the water level for evaporation during cooking and add more water as needed.

The sous vide vessel you use should be large enough to allow the steaks to be submerged without exceeding the “MAX” water level indicated on the immersion circulator.

Vacuum seal bags are a great option, but not necessary. I usually use gallon-size zip-top freezer bags.

Cambro containers are a clear polycarbonate that withstand temperatures up to 160F, making them a great vessel to cook using the sous vide method.

Some immersions circulators are magnetic, making a clamp unnecessary as long as you use a magnetic vessel such as a stainless steel stockpot.

Non-magnetic immersion circulators usually include a clamp to anchor to a vessel.

Some immersion circulators are waterproof, but not all are. Don’t be tempted to use an immersion circulator that isn’t anchored to a vessel - it can be severely damaged if the electronic components fall into the water.

#beef recipes #dinner recipes #steak recipes #sous vide recipes

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mirrerover · 7 years

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i'been thinkin abuot domestic taeekook a lot lately. like everyone is always about domestic hyung line but i think domestic taekook could be super cute. just wondering what u thought. sry for bothering you omg just ignore me.

It’s only six when Jeongguk stumbles through the front door but it feels like eight, maybe even nine in the evening. The time dilation effects of winter: snowy commutes, shorter days, grating conversations with college advisors as his exam results trickle in. It’s throbbing at the back of Jeongguk’s head, the greyness of the season trying to sink under his skin.

It makes him slow and stupid, shoes adding more scuff marks to the wall as he kicks them off without grace. Doesn’t matter. Taehyung doesn’t care about clean walls either.

They’re similar that way, Jeongguk and Taehyung. A little thoughtless and a lot of messy. Like Taehyung’s crap strewn all over their tiny kitchentable, piles of papers and stickers and multi-coloured pens. Taehyung isn’t a child of winter either.

“How’re the tests going?” Jeongguk asks, shuffling his way to the couch. An ugly old thing with stains and burn marks and permanent indentations in the shape of their asses.

“Going.” Debatable, Jeongguk thinks, since Taehyung’s in the corner of their ugly couch and his stuff is on their cramped kitchen table. He’s in sweats and a hoody, sock-clad feet on the crate doubling as a coffee table, and eyes on the TV hooked up to their game console. A first-person-shooter but the way he’s killing people is lacklustre at best. “Still can’t believe they’re making me grade four-year-olds, man. ‘S just wild.”

“Hmm,” Jeongguk murmurs, dropping down onto the couch beside him. “‘S crazy.”

“Half of them are gonna cry again. Still in the single digits and already heading for a burnout.”

“That’s messed up.” Jeongguk shifts minutely, ass settling into its personal dent, until Taehyung’s body is a comfortable warm line against his side. “The little humans got it rough. I feel their plight.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says. He turns without looking, placing a kiss on the side of Jeongguk’s head that lands more on his eyebrow than his temple. “Super rough.” He has set his character up on a rooftop somewhere, picking off enemy soldiers as they wander by, not advancing the game. Mindless and stupid. Jeongguk’s tempted to join him.

“Order in?” Taehyung asks after Jeongguk watched the fifth body drop, head slumped to the side on Taehyung’s shoulder.

“What about that stuff your mum sent over?”

“Nah. Ate it for lunch.”

“Oh,” Jeongguk says, digging his nose into Taehyung’s hoody. He smells like laundry detergent and strawberry shampoo. “The Thai food?”

Taehyung grimaces. “Threw it out. Looked alive or something. We should, like, clean out our fridge sometimes.”

“Probably,” Jeongguk concedes. He turns his head to glance over the back of the couch. There a lot of gaudy magnets on the fridge, most of them Taehyung’s and some of them holding up pictures. The centre image is of them in a chapel with Elvis. Jeongguk can’t really remember what happened. He was beyond drunk so that’s his excuse, but alcohol isn’t Taehyung’s drug of choice and they try not to indulge in that abroad. Maybe it was just Elvis and Taehyung’s desire for a good laugh.

They didn’t get it annulled. Because of love and all that other mushy shit, Jeongguk supposes.

Next to the fridge is a sink full of dirty dishes. Jeongguk cooks in the weekends when they got the time. Mainly breakfast. It’s Thursday now.

“Jesus,” Jeongguk sighs, spotting five socks on the floor and an unpacked box in the corner from three months ago. “We’re such losers.”

Taehyung huffs. “Fuck off. Got a job and everything.”

Jeongguk sighs again. Taehyung’s in his first year of teaching while he’s still collecting half-finished art majors like it’s a hobby. Excelling at all the artistry and incapable of memorizing any of the theory. Tests fuck him over every time.

“We had to ask Namjoon to do our taxes last year,” Jeongguk says. He rearranges himself so that his head is on Taehyung’s lap and his legs are dangling off the other side of the couch. “Couldn’t even ask our parents.”

Taehyung bites his lip and tilts his head in contemplation, letting the bullshit simmer till it’s at optimal consistency. “Just didn’t wanna rub their face into the obvious faults and shortcomings of their parenting. Seemed rude, 's all.”

Jeongguk snorts. “Right.”

“The dude gets off on numbers. And who knows how to do taxes anyway?” Taehyung’s completely given up on the game now, flicking through his weapon inventory and decking out his character in various armours. Jeongguk doesn’t think purple makes for great camouflage. “Bet Jimin doesn’t do his own taxes.”

“Jimin sucks Joon’s dick on the regular. If he ain’t doing his taxes that’s grounds for divorce.”

“They're not married.”

“Whatever. Y’know what I mean. Probably manages to turn half of the clothes Jimin buys into a deductible.”

“That’s hot.”

“Way hot,” Jeongguk agrees, scrolling through his phone, trying to decide on dinner. Nothing too spicy and no seafood. Taehyung’s palate is as developed as those of the kids he’s teaching.

“Are you getting food from that place?” Taehyung asks. “’Cause then I want that non-fishy fish stuff. The fish fingers without fish.” Jeongguk hums but maybe not loud enough. “Y’know,” Taehyung continues, “those orange—”

“Yeah, dude. I know,” Jeongguk says, patting Taehyung’s stomach with his free hand to shut him up. “Chill. I’m getting you your deep-fried non-fish meat sticks with questionable protein heritage.”

Taehyung relaxes back into the couch. “Cool.”

“Cool,” Jeongguk echoes, finishing up the order.

He turns to his side, facing away from the TV. It’s not all bad, Jeongguk thinks, being married. He’s had a shitty day, Taehyung’s had a shitty day, and now they’re sitting here in their somewhat shitty apartment with Taehyung playing a shitty game. But Taehyung’s ratty hoody is soft and warm. Grey but not winter grey.

“We gotta watch some Netflix,” Taehyung says, ditching the console and switching to a remote. “There’s five-hundred things in our queue.” He brushes the long fingers of one hand through Jeongguk’s hair. His pierced ears are usually next. “What ya wanna watch? ‘Blood and gore’ or ‘sex, blood and gore’?” Jeongguk watches the light of the TV screen flicker across Taehyung’s features as he jumps through their queue, his eyebrows pinched. “Anime?”

“Love you.”

Taehyung’s face goes soft, eyes losing their dull shine and the corners of his lips twitching. “That’s a bit gay, Guk.”

“Fuck off.”

“Hmm,” Taehyung hums and he’s grinning. A sharp little thing full of amusement. “Was gonna go with Narcos but since you’re being such a soft bitch maybe we should watch Totoro instead.”

“Jesus,” Jeongguk groans, rolling over to his other side with flushed cheeks. “You’re such an ass. Just tell me you love me.”

Taehyung chuckles, thumb brushing along the ridge of Jeongguk’s ear like predicted. “Love you tons.”

#bts fanfic #taekook #mirre writes #i love domestic taekook #they'd probably drown in their own mess and die within the first year #did you see bon voyage?#they don't know how to adult #dumb and dumber #it's a true thing of beauty #anonymous

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bottled-thoughtss · 7 years

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Kids car activities for long trip (all possible activities)

Nothing derails a household trip quicker than bored children. A well-stocked action tote can liquefy the extend of "are we there yet?" In the rear seat and assist you log some serious lumps in serenity. How complicated your action bag needs to be depends upon the period of your journey and the number of kids you are entertaining in addition to their ages and attention spans.

Electronic amusement

Pills, notebooks, and mobiles: Download lots of educational and just-for-fun games, films, episodes of favourite shows, and audio prior to leaving home. (Get our hints for the best programs to amuse children) An old-fashioned mobile DVD is going to do in a pinch too. If your vehicle isn't equipped with a video player, you can purchase a fundamental one for approximately $50. Check the regional library for free downloads or DVDs. Should you relax limitations on display time, ensure that your child knows what to expect as you are on the street. It is tempting to hand a tablet computer or telephone to a young passenger, however, attempt to avoid giving your kid a device for a means to handle boredom or fussiness -- your child will quickly find out that acting up pays off. Audiobooks: Beginning at about age, most children can adhere to a more intricate story line, and audiobooks turned into a wonderful way to pass the time on the street. You can listen together to household favorites such as Harry Potter, Charlotte's Web, or My Father's Dragon. It is also possible to download audiobooks to individual apparatus so that the children can listen to headphones, letting the adults at the car to stone or listen to something much more complicated. Check the regional library to get free rentals. Nice to have A clip-on reading light is fantastic for older children since they can play, play card games, and perform other tasks at nighttime with no distracting the driver.

Creative Pursuits

Whiteboard and dry erase pens: Children can draw, play tic-tac-toe and hangman, or write notes to one another, then wipe it all away and start over. Magnetized letters, numbers, and shapes: Pack a cookie sheet along with an range of magnets for older children, or purchase a pair which accompanies a magnetized playing surface and a good deal of pleasure magnets. (Magnets are a choking hazard, so don't let children under age 4 drama them) Sticker and action books: These are ideal for toddlers since they let children be creative without even using pens onto the upholstery. Crayons or markers: Washable markers are acceptable for children 3 and up, and they're best for children younger than 3. If you are concerned about your kid drawing on the chairs, attempt Color Magic markers -- they just leave marks on paper. Immediate movie cameras: Yes, these still exist! Versions from Polaroid and Fujifilm spit out little instant photos and so are a lot of fun. Children can take ridiculous pictures of these or capture pictures for their excursion laptop. Silly Putty: It is trendy to elongate and stretch, and it is not as likely to wind up stuck indefinitely between the chairs since it is so elastic. Colored pipe cleaners or Wikki Stix: Your son or daughter can use these to create creatures, individuals, jewelry, or simply mad shapes. Nice to have: A trip laptop is fantastic way to capture memories of your family's road trip. Your child can draw, location decals en route, and insert instant photos. You can help by adding a couple notes about the excursion at the close of the day.

Materials to perform

Busy boxes: Fill a couple of shoe boxes with flash cards, card games, card games, Matchbox cars, Legos, small figurines and dolls, and other things. Your little one may use the box lid for a playing surface, and decorate the box with stickers and crayons or markers. Crafty toys: Drawing in an Etch A Sketch, Magna Doodle, or Aquadoodle will keep children occupied for miles. Toys that allow them draw employing a magnetic "magic wand" (such as Wooly Willy) will also be engaging. All of these are simple for children to hold within their lap and may be used over and over. Restaurant fun box: Maintain crayons, pens, and coloring books or newspaper in addition to some tiny toys (such as vinyl animals, toy cars, or cubes) in a container which you are able to consider restaurants together with you to create wait time go quicker. Nice to have: Some surprise gift-wrapped gifts. Stock up on small things in the dollar store or your favourite big-box retailer. You can even recycle older toys a few months before a trip, find some tiny toys your child likes but has not played in some time and pack them off. Then wrap them and give them to a child on the street. (Should you wrap presents in many layers, then they take more time to open.) Publications as gifts are just another choice also, unless studying in the automobile makes your kid carsick. Interesting street trip suggestions from BabyCenter parents "Last year I created an entire bag of items for our road trip. The largest hit with my 3- and 5-year-old was a few pictures of our faces I had dismissed and laminated. I purchased some dry-erase markers and also we left absurd drawings on one another's faces. On top of that, since they're laminated, I cleaned them nicely and place them away for next year!" -- Kidmom "I've got three boys: 13, 10, and two months old. My boys really like to do Mad Libs once we take excursions. This is a superb activity which lets them utilize their creativity, increases their language and familiarity with all the elements of language, and involves the whole family. Whenever we get into the car for a visit, my boys always expect me to have a prepared!" -- jen09 "We moved to a 12-hour driveway with our 2-year-old. She is a huge fan of mixing items, so I determined creating trail mix in the car will be fun. I packed a huge plastic jar with a lid, a plastic spoon for mixing, and approximately 10 distinct components, such as M&Mtherefore, nuts, little pretzels, goldfish crackers. She had a terrific time making it and she then dished up trail mix for us to bite in the vehicle. It consumed a great deal of time and has been enjoyable" -- LauraT "Snack or candy bracelets. Just take a little strands of yarn (long enough to make a necklace) or licorice strings. Let your children place anything edible which has a hole at the centre (cereal, candy, etc.) on the series. Once done, they are fun to eat, and it helps the time fly!" -- A BabyCenter manhood "Write or publish a listing of the 50 countries and also have your child check off state license plates because they see them" -- LaLa7 "Go on the internet and publish photographs of things like cows, trees, blue cars, red cars, etc. On the travel, ask your child to search for the products. It is unreal how silent a youngster can be when focusing on locating them" -- A BabyCenter manhood "I left a soundtrack of all of the hand-motion tunes (If You Are Happy and You Know It, Pat-a-Cake, This Old Man, etc). My daughter moves along to the tunes. This generally keeps her active for the amount of this soundtrack." -- Deadly Mother "We left a mobile felt plank to get our 3 1/2-year old. We have an unused, medium-size pizza box and then glued a piece of felt over the inside of the lid. Then all of her sensed characters and items could be saved at the box, and it matches nicely on her lap in the vehicle. We allow her to decorate the box indoors and out -- with decals" -- A BabyCenter manhood "A little, plastic magnifying glass retains my children occupied more than anything else! We got ours from a local dollar store." -- wolfe93 "My boys (ages 5 and 3) love Play-Doh. I toss a few tiny cans and a number of their utensils in a purse and they are busy for quite some time!" -- 40mom "Bring puppets. When I am sitting at the front passenger seat and my 3-year-old is supporting me, I use a puppet to 'speak' to him within the headrest or away to the side. It lets me socialize with him. Should you sing songs or play peekaboo, it may elicit a lot of giggles. Offer your kid a puppet also, also have a complete conversation!" -- CarrieW

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anneedmonds · 6 years

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Christmas Gift Guide 2018: For Kids

Christmas Gift Guide for kids – a hell of a lot more enjoyable than compiling the men’s gift guide, I can tell you! Although sifting through the tonnes of plastic crap to find nice stuff is a bit of a mission – plastic pots of goo, plastic bags filled with plastic bricks, plastic balls inside plastic ball pits, I started to go a little bit plastic-phobic by the end of my research session…

So I’ve tried to avoid the worst of the plastic (though there were a couple of items that were necessarily plasticky, such as the camera) and I’ve also tried to include ideas for all budgets. As with the men’s guide, many of the things I’ve included are intended to be more of a springboard to other ideas – an introduction to a new brand, perhaps, or a suggestion for a certain type of toy or book.

You can never please everyone – if it’s handmade then sometimes it’s too expensive, if it’s cheap then sometimes it’s not eco-friendly, there are things with free delivery and things that are a pain to get delivered. Items you can buy instore and therefore touch and feel, items that are only online that are more of a punt…

But let’s get started shall we? As with the previous gift guides, please leave your own ideas and suggestions in the comments box below. There have been some great ones!

(links marked * are affiliate links, for more info see disclaimer below post)

These very sweet baby leggings are from lovely baby and kids’ store Jojo Mamam Bebe – £10 here*. I have a 15% discount code for Jojo (you will rarely find a code for them, so use it while you can!) – AMR82. It’s valid until the end of 2nd December. jojomamanbebe.co.uk*

I love this magnetic dress-up play set – £11.99 at Amazon here* and have to say that I have something of a soft spot for Scamp & Dude’s beautiful sweatshirt designs, stocked at Liberty here*.

Angelica and Ted have this plastic-free (just about!) Doctor’s set – at £35.60 it’s a lot pricier than many of the sets out there but the pieces are just lovely and they come back to them again and again. I absolutely think that wooden play sets – food, tools, etc – are worth the investment. Find this one from Le Toy Van here*.

More from Le Toy Van; this little tool bench with loads of tools to make noise with and scrape along your kitchen woodwork is £72 here*. And for the retro lovers amongst you, the Sonny Angel special edition Christmas series is out – figures are £7.95 at Retro Kids here.

I’ll be getting this Build a Beetle game for Ted and Angelica, even though Dexter the dog eats just about every single piece of every game we buy. It’s just £4.99 at Amazon here*. And the little wooden car is just gorgeous – I’ve considered buying it for the past couple of years so this is probably the moment! It’s a Budkins toy, £24.95 here*.

In fact, the reason I don’t have the car is that I bought this magnetic rocket instead – Angelica loved snapping the pieces together when she was smaller and, if I could find the bloody propeller, Ted would love doing the same now. It comes in different sizes, starting with the small which is £14 here*.

The cool dinosaur wall decoration is £10 from Sainsburys and the gorgeous rocket wall stickers, which cover quite an expanse of wall, are £45 here*.

Liberty’s pre-packed Christmas stockings are absolutely brilliant. They do a few different options, but each contains items worth far more than the sale price. This one is £75 here*. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is fast becoming a cult book buy – it’s £12.80 here* – and this amazing alligator scarf (I’m tempted to buy for myself) is £32 from Spotty Herberts here.

More space adventures with the wonderful Spaceman soft toy from Storklings – £15.99 here – and the PonyCycle, which is a ride-on toy pony that actually moves (sort of) like a pony is £189 at Amazon here* or £179 at Smyths. If you’ve never seen one in action before you have to go and watch the videos, it’s so brilliant!

Each Peach Pear Plum is a bedtime favourite in our house – the hardback is £5.40 here* and the cute wooden book cart is from excellent toy-makers GLTC, here.

These wooden circus skittles are quite dinky but perfect for tiny hands; £16.95 here*, and the Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different is another cult favourite, £17.99 here*.

The sleeping bag is a fabulous buy if you worry about the winter months and keeping your tiny ones warm; it’s a whopping 3.5 tog and has arms, so if you live in a freezing cold, old house then you know what to do… It’s £35 at Jojo Maman Bebe here* – remember you get 15% off with the code AMR82 until end of 2nd December.

More wood! We have this play food and it gets used every day, time after time – we also had some very cheap plastic stuff and that gets ignored, so I know which one was the sensible buy. This lot is by Melissa and Doug, £15 here*. The sweet little knitted socks are from Frugi, £6 here and the wall-hung advent calendar is a great idea. It can be used year after year and costs £14.99 at H&M here*.

Sorry, a bit of an indulgence; the wooden scooter from Janod is pricey but excellent. It’s actually a balance bike, not just a toddler ride-on, but surely must be the coolest balance bike around? It’s £102 here*.

We have the giraffe: it’s huge. Once we had managed to persuade the kids to stop trying to ride on it (I came in to find Angelica standing on a chair in an attempt to mount its back) it looked very splendid in its corner. Every day giraffe seems to wear a new hat/neckerchief/blanket; it’s the gift that keeps giving and would jazz up any nursery! It’s £67.99 here*.

The Christmas Liberty bib is a posh little gift for a new baby – £15 here*.

Another star buy from GLTC; the Sugar Cube play kitchen is solid, realistic and one of the most attractive toy kitchens I’ve seen. It’s £88 here. This dino lamp from A Lovely Little Company (they do so many gorgeous little lights) is £13 here*.

The Crazy Faces magnetic game is by Janod, £16.95 here* and the camera is one I’m looking to buy Angelica. I’m just finishing off my research because the VTech gets good reviews too, but that one needs 4AA batteries and batteries are the bane of my life. This one by UpGrow, costs £31.99 and has a rechargeable battery. Sounds great to me… It’s here*.

The excellent Snurk duvet set is more than a little pricey, but if you’re after novelty linen then this is the brand to turn to; find it here* online.

Here’s an idea; zone off part of a bedroom (even a living room or study) to create an instant reading nook or hideaway. There’s something incredibly romantic about canopies like this – I’d like one myself! This linen one is £79.99 at H&M here*.

Peter Rabbit looks as though he’s about to be treated in unspeakable ways, here – why’s he bent over double and strapped to two poles? The mind boggles. £15.95 here*.

I love this Red Riding Hood hand puppet set, £19.99 here*, and this wonderful dolls house comes with everything except the figures. It’s £219 at Smallable here. The dino hand puppet is £7 at Sainsbury’s and Stick Man (such a good bedtime story!) is £4.61 at Amazon here*.

Lastly, we have the world’s best ever height chart (it’s a giant, solid oak ruler!), £255 here*, the baby version of the Liberty stocking (couldn’t resist featuring it twice) and the Little Mouse Finger Puppet Book, £4.99 here*.

Quite honestly I could keep on going for days, with this, but I have to do some actual Christmas shopping for myself and I think – hope – that there’s enough here to give you some good ideas. I’ll let you know what I decide with the toddler camera…

The post Christmas Gift Guide 2018: For Kids appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Christmas Gift Guide 2018: For Kids was first posted on December 1, 2018 at 9:46 pm. ©2018 "A Model Recommends". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at [email protected] Christmas Gift Guide 2018: For Kids published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

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a-clouded-melange · 7 years

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Kids car activities for long trip (all possible activities)

Electronic amusement

Creative Pursuits

Materials to perform

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frostedulcers · 7 years

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Kids car activities for long trip (all possible activities)

Electronic amusement

Creative Pursuits

Materials to perform

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cutiecrates · 5 years

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Cutie Review Special: Blippo.com Order

Initially my plans for today was to do my review on the December Doki Doki crate. But wouldn’t you know it, not only did I get the newest Gacha Gacha box, but my order from Blippo.com showed up too!

Exactly 2 weeks after shipping, the box arrived. So I figured I would do this review, Doki Doki (because I had it done and ready), then Gacha Gacha.

So in this review, I will be going over my thoughts and opinions regarding the process, the order, quality, the items, etc.

I was filled with complete anxiety and had a feeling this wouldn’t go well...

So for anyone unfamiliar to Blippo.com, it is the associated shop of Kawaii Box. They sell a variety of kawaii items ranging from stationery to snacks, Japanese magazines, toys, apparel, squishy, etc. They also have “spin-off shops“, the Squishy Kiosk and Happy Cute, a shop that’s almost exactly like Blippo but offers a free purse instead of a random item.

Blippo also offers “mystery packs“ of snacks/squishy/accessories/items for a set price, if you would rather be surprised. I did heavily consider purchasing the squishy one but ultimately decided against it since there is a chance I could get a bunch I already own from Kawaii Box (unless they read this blog and would make sure I didn’t get repeats. But what’s the chance of that?).

So opening the box this is what greeted me: a paper depicting the person who packed this specific order (who I do not blame for the condition of it, thank you very much Sam), and an ad for their snack box and Kawaii Box, both with codes I could use on the.

Oh, also, a pile of packing peanuts. It’s too bad they don’t make cute heart-shaped ones, or maybe some pink ones. That would be an adorable touch.

Okay, so let’s just get on with the items cause this is going to be something else...

Free Items

Now, each order comes with 1 free item if you spend 25 dollars or more. I got 2 because I had a free item code from Kawaii Box.

So today I got a glittery rainbow slinky toy; which I already got, actually I think I got it last summer. I’m disappointed but given the box, at least it’s in one piece right? This would have been the thing I expected to break out of everything else.

We also got this cute little notebook. It’s very thin so it’d only really be useful for little things, or if you wanted to keep it in your purse. The inside has lined pages but is otherwise plain, I also discovered this...

I noticed on my box, it said it could be searched if necessary so I’m not sure who to blame for this.

Before they used to give us a list of items we could choose for our free gift and they weren’t the best things- but I’m pretty sure they were better than this. I know “its free what do you expect“. Honestly I don’t know.

Butter and Soy Sauce Chip Star

I think this item was the worst of them all. The seal was broken open, the tube is bent, the bottom is slightly less-worse. However, because the bag holding the chips was entirely sealed I decided not to just pitch them. Each pack of these are 263 calories.

The chips are okay, I don’t really taste the soy sauce. I mainly taste butter but they aren’t too bad.

Crown and Ribbon Headband

I’ve always had a fondness for things like crowns and tiara, so I fell in love with this when I saw it. It reminded me a lot of something you’d see in Aikatsu, or Pripara, or maybe a Magical Girl series.

I only own a few headbands and rarely ever wear them, mainly because they give me headaches. It’s been disappointing, and I knew there was a risk in getting this but how could I pass it up?

These are available in pastel shades of Pink, Red, yellow, purple, and light blue. Each one consists of a big lace bow with a smaller bow, a sequin crown, and a small sphere on each tip of the crown. The spheres alter for each one, but are made of the colors of the five different headbands.

I really, really like this! It doesn’t give me a headache or anything, and after all the other damage of the box I was worried this would have suffered. I was surprised by the amazing shape it’s in. Although, one of the little spheres has a very faint stain on it, it’s not too noticeable.

I’m tempted to purchase one of each color so that I can wear them with multiple outfits.

Ice Cream Octopus Blind Bag

I’ve been eyeing this for a long time and I was so happy to finally get one of my own. These are adorable octopus made to resemble scoops of ice cream, and they’re scented and magnetic. The idea is that you can not only carry them on a chain, but you can plug them into your phone to carry around, put on anything that can hold magnets, and they can connect to the other octopus and cones!

It also turns out the package art was done by TheHollyCopter. I used to watch her on Youtube.

Ironically, I got the one that I thought I would get. I don’t mind because I love smores~ It is scented, it’s kind of like... honey and maybe a little marshmallow or chocolate? It’s kind of weird but don’t hate it. It’s an extremely soft squishy, but it is a fast riser, maybe an 8 out of 10 in terms of speed. It’s nice if you like soft squishy but don’t care about the rising speed.

It’s also recommended for anyone 14 and up, but honestly I think these would be fine for anybody at least 8-10 years old.

Unfortunately, these also cost about 13 dollars- which is why I only got one. What bugs me is that I assumed you would get a cone too, but you don’t. So I’m not sure if they only come with some of the octopus, or if you might get a cone instead of an octopus.

For that price, I’m worried about buying another one, even though I really do like it. I’d like to get more but I think I’m going to wait for the time being.

Egg Highlighters

(sorry for the blurry pic)

This is another item I’ve been looking at for a long time, so I was excited to get these :3 It’s a set of 6 small highlighters, each with its own color, expression, and scent. They come in an adorable little pouch to carry them around easier.

The scents are probably very obvious, but I made this chart:

Pink - Strawberry - Strong scent

Peach - Orange - Faint scent

Yellow - Lemon - Very Faint scent

Green - Apple - Light/Medium scent; stronger in the marker than paper

Blue - Blueberry - Very Strong scent

Purple - Grape - Strong scent

As markers for writing or coloring or scribbling, they work great. I had no problem with the ink, but as a highlighter they’re a bit too solid for that, at least blue and purple seem to be. But for circling and underlining it’s fine.

These had a handful of other problems though, like one is “too juicy” around the nub/tip, almost all of them have flaked or smudged faces. But these work really well for me. I read the reviews on Blippo though, and a lot of people had similar problems, so I would warn you to really take thought into this item before you buy it.

Choco Mint Taiyaki & Pretty Cure Gummies

Next up are the 2 other snack items I got. After everything else I wasn’t sure what to expect with them- but I was relieved to find they put them in a zip lock bag. I’ll give them a point for at least doing that.

We’ve been over this before, I’m obsessed with Pretty Cure so I HAD to get these. You get a set of 4 packs, one of each Cure, and the flavors are lemon, peach, and grape, but they each have 2 or all 3 flavors per-pack. Each gummy is rounded with a heart on top, very cute and soft.

If you read my prior review you might recall me mentioning that you would be seeing another taiyaki very soon- and this is it :D I was very enticed to order this when I saw it, because I LOVE mint-chocolate, so a mint flavored chocolate has to be good right?

This thing is AMAZING! The mint flavor is very strong, and there’s a long-lasting cooling sensation in my mouth, even though I only took two bites of it. It feels as good as it tastes~! Would recommend!

Dress-up Puffy Stickers

These are other items I really wanted to get for a long time, but back then they had a bunch- they really downsized now but they still have a bunch of really cute ones. Mostly all of them have 2 different sets includes, but due to how it’s folded I couldn’t show both of them. But don’t worry, because I was considering making a separate post for these if you want to see it up-close and personal.

I came up with a wonderfully kawaii idea; I’m going to get a pretty notebook or a binder to collect these in. I’ll dress them up and decorate the pages, it’ll be so much fun~

But of course with the box being banged up, this was too. The top portion of it is really bent, and so are a few of the items and one “doll”. But while I might not be able to get rid of the annoying lines in the items, I can at least press this a little to try to rid of the annoying bend.

I really hope when I get more of these that this isn’t a problem again...

~Closing Commentary~

Okay, so to begin with... I’ll say it now, I was highly disappointed by the shape of the box, as well as the fact it’s just an average box. I’ve ordered from the Japan Crate shop before (2 cheap items) and they provided us with a clean, branded box. I’ve also paid more money (but less than this order) for an order from Candysan and got an average box, but at least nothing was damaged and it had a cute thank you letter they send everyone.

They made me feel special for ordering with them basically, and this made me feel distraught. I don’t blame Blippo for the shape of the box, but I can blame them for not putting more effort into their own branding. Although if you buy their “specialty packs“ I mentioned earlier then you’ll get a cute exclusive Blippo bag.

Next, I paid... I think $34.00 dollars for a beaten up box with beaten up or marked up items. I did get everything, and a couple of things were fine, plus I got two free items (one of which is just sad).

I feel like I was punished for free shipping...

All and all, I wouldn’t discourage anyone from ordering from Blippo.com, but if you can afford it I would recommend not doing free shipping, and also, if an item has reviews make sure you look at them before you make a decision.

I had planned on ordering from Blippo next month and changing things up a little to see if it goes any better, but I might just check the other shops related to the other subscriptions I get and see if anything interests me. I’m not sure yet.

Until next time remember to stay cute and keep opening up (hopefully non-beaten up) boxes of cuteness!

#cutie reviews #blippo kawaii shop #kawaiibox

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