#we took out all the trash and sweeped and vacuumed and did the dishes

[bagels-withcreamcheese]

white girl wasted

[shadowqueen402]

A story about the maestros feeling a little under the weather because the theater is dirty. So the inhabitants help clean it up.

Aww, okay!

"You guys haven't seen Balan or Lance around, have you?" Attilio asked the others. "Because I didn't see them anywhere."

"Not at all, darling," Lucy replied, shaking her head. "Are they not busy or something?"

"If they were busy, they would let us know that they were going to be preoccupied with something," Cal pointed out. "But they didn't tell us anything today. So something must be up."

"Why don't we look for them?" Fiona asked. "Or better yet, we can ask the Tims if they'd seen Balan and Lance anywhere."

"Let's ask the Tims," Cal suggested. "They know more about this place then we do."

Everyone nodded and went to where the Tims were. The fuzzy creatures were playing with each other. They stopped when they saw the twelve Inhabitants approaching them.

"Hey, little guys," Yuri said. "We would like to know if you had seen Balan and Lance. Do you know where they are?"

The Tims chirped, as if to answer Yuri's question. Then, they started to hop into a certain direction. "We need to follow those Tims," Sana said to them.

Everyone followed the Tims down the hallway. However, some of the Inhabitants took notice of the many cobwebs, the debris, and the dusty shelves. "When was the last time this place was cleaned?" Bruce asked.

"Doesn't it effect them if the theater gets dirty?" Iben asked as well.

"That also may be why we didn't see Balan and Lance earlier," Eis replied. "The messes in the theater is making them sick. But let's check up on them just to be sure." The group followed the Tims until they reached Balan's bedroom. Then, they went inside.

"Balan?" Haoyu asked as he went into the room. There, the maestro lay on the bed, feeling worn out despite having a good night sleep. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm afraid not," Balan replied. "This ill feeling, it seems I've got."

"What about Lance?" Jose asked him. "Is he feeling alright?"

"I have not gotten to his room in order to see," Balan said. "Think you can check on him for me?"

"We sure will, Mr. Balan," Cass agreed with a smile. "I hope you get better soon."

"Guess we'll have to be going to his room, then," Haoyu said.

Everyone nodded and followed the Tims.

Soon, they found themselves outside of a dark room that was Lance's. "Uh, Mr. Lance?" Cass asked. "Are you alright in there? Mr. Balan isn't feeling well and he wanted us to check up on you."

Lance groaned as he stirred in his bed. "I'm afraid that I'm not feeling well, too," He said. "Did the theater look messy to you?"

"It actually did," Eis said. "Is the filth making you and Balan sick?"

"I'm afraid so," Lance replied. "I wanted to get up and clean, though…"

"We can help clean this theater up," Bruce said. "You and Balan must rest. We'll have it looking as good as new."

Lance nodded as everyone turned around and left.

"Let's get the cleaning supplies out and work on cleaning the place up," Sana said. She pulled a broom out of the closet.

"Great idea," Iben said. She took out a duster.

"I'll help," Fiona said.

Everyone grabbed a cleaning supply and got to work. Yuri took care of the cockroaches and spiders. Bruce picked up any trash that was on the floor. Sana would sweep up any debris and pour it into the trash can.

Iben dusted off cobwebs and dust that were on the shelves, walls, and other surfaces. Fiona and Haoyu disinfected the mirrors and surfaces. Lucy vacuumed up the carpets while Cal vacuumed up stains off the couches.

Attilio began to mop the floor. Eis washed the dishes in the kitchen while Cass put the dry dishes away. Jose watered all of the plants and then sprayed the room with air freshener.

Once she was done dusting, Iben began to wash any of the dirty clothes that lay around. She took care to make sure that they were either on the right setting on the washing machine or handwashed. Once the clothes were washed and dryed, she folded them and put them in baskets for Balan and Lance.

Soon, the entire theater was nice and cleaned. And the air smelled good too. "Wow, look at this place," Yuri said. "Mr. Balan and Mr. Lance are going to love it."

"I bet they will," Jose said. "This place is now fresh and clean. Now, there's room for them to function and for the Tims to play."

"Now all that's left is to wait for Balan and Lance to get better," Lucy said. "They'll be thrilled when they see what we've done."

[rpmemes-galore]

a few people wanted to know the story, so enjoy.  fair warning, its a long, rough read, with a buncha triggers possible throughout.   but hey, hey, enjoy, i guess?  will probs end up deleting this later today and gonna work on memes.  hope y’all are doing okay, take care. 

My relationship with my older brother has always been really... rocky. Without going into too much potentially triggering detail, he hurt me a lot when I was younger, so there's a lot of fear surrounding him. Saying that now as the reason for why I could never stand up to him for this.

A few years ago, my family decided that someone should move into our late grandparents home to look after the place, and I immediately volunteered. I loved that home, that farm. There were a ton of good memories there, and I was so excited when my family agreed. But, then my health took a downward turn and it was decided I couldn't live alone due to safety reasons. Enter, my older brother. He was in his late twenties at the time, and parents wanted him to finally move out, so they said he was going to come live with me there to keep an eye on me in case something happened. I wasn't happy about it, but he was the only one who could, and the only way I'd get to live at my late grandparent's place, so I agreed to it.

Right from the start, things were not great. He didn't help unbox anything except for his own belongings... No kitchen stuff, no bathroom stuff, just his clothes and computer. As it was just me doing it, and with my fragile health at the time, it was taking me a long while to get it all done. And that's when my aunt thought it was a great idea to start doing weekly visits, i.e. inspections of the place. She got pissed when she saw things still boxed up after a week of being there, but told me she was willing to look past it if it got put away soon.

I busted my butt getting everything put away, then. But I was contending with other issues at that point. He'd started messing up the house. I would wake up to find garbage and crumbs across the kitchen counters and table, dirty dishes dropped wherever he was closest to, and his dirty laundry dropped on the living room floor. His room started getting bad, as well. From about a month of being there, it started to stink. I went in a few times and there would be dishes with rotting food on his dresser. The floor was covered in a layer of food wrappers and other garbage. Dirty laundry was thrown everywhere. His game discs, which we'll come back to later, would be laying unprotected on the floor.

It just got worse from there. At the start, he'd tidy up a little bit after himself. If I asked politely enough, he'd throw garbage away or bring his dishes out of the room... only if I asked him. Three months in. That changed. He started getting snippy at me, slamming and locking his door if I asked him to do anything around the house. His messes were getting worse, and it was just me trying to play catch-up everyday. It got to the point my morning routine was wake up, head out to the kitchen while picking up any dirty laundry / garbage on the way, gather up dirty dishes from around the room and put them on the counter to wash, wash a few of them just to get a headstart, wipe crumbs off all counters and table, wash the rest of the dishes (I still don't understand how he could use so many in a single night), sweep floors if the crumb situation was bad enough. All this before I'd allow myself to have anything to eat or drink, due to sheer panic of my aunt stopping by unannounced again and seeing the place in this state.

My brother was working a very part time job at the time and, as soon as he left for his shift, I would pounce on his room. I'd haul out armfuls (plural) of dirty dishes which I'd then hurry to wash, I'd carry out at least one full, heavy duty garbage bag of trash. I would try to make his bed after brushing off the crumbs. All this in the few hours I had before he'd get back home. And he would always get incredibly pissed at me for it, which I understand. I know it was an invasion of privacy and, if not for the aunt, I wouldn't have done it... But the state of his room was going to get us both evicted, so I felt justified doing it.

It went on this way for a year and half. During that time, he made me bring his game discs in to get them fixed, had me pay for them, and never paid me back. I wound up in the emergency room on three separate occasions, all due to working myself to the point of over-exhaustion and aggravating already pre-existing health problems. Once, when I was away for a few days, he'd turned my room into a storage room. Ie, he threw all his laundry and belongings on my bedroom floor because he didn't want to deal with them. I wound up having to sort through it and pick it all up. He moved the landline phone into his room, essentially cutting off my contact to the outside world behind a locked door as my cellphone barely had any service there. He took food money from me, against my will, to buy his own... Would eat part of it and let the rest rot in the fridge until I cleaned it out. (important note, I have a lot of dietary restrictions. So it's not like I could just snack on it or share it with him. I just had to deal with him basically stealing my food money, then wasting it on food I couldn't even eat.) He would lock himself in his room anytime the aunt came by, making me have to face her wrath on my own, because I had no lock on my door, and I wasn't allowed to put one on. He would barge into my room uninvited, but get pissed if I went into his. He would expect me to play video games with him and throw a fit if I said no, even after I explained that I had too much cleaning to do and, if he really wanted me to play with him, he would have to lend a hand so it would be done quicker and I might have energy to play. He never did. He wouldn't empty out our cat's wet food and would just let it go moldy if I wasn't there for a few days... and would 'forget' to refill her water.

The only jobs he was expected to do around the house were emptying the cat litter for our one cat and vacuuming, both things I physically couldn't do because of severe asthma. And once a week, he was supposed to bring laundry over to our parents place to wash, as we didn't have a washer or dryer. I remember him vacuuming once the whole time we were there. He rarely emptied the cat litter, which meant I would wind up having to do it once in a while and just suffer through a serious asthma attack afterwards. He also rarely brought the laundry over. I wasn't able to drive, so I would wind up having to ask my mom to bring it over with her when she visited. Three jobs. He hardly ever did any of them, but still expected the house to be clean when our aunt stopped by and would be upset if it wasn't. He just didn't want to have a hand in getting it that way.

On the subject of other family, I tried reaching out. My parents would visit on occasion. They both knew how bad it got, they'd seen it at the worst. I'd even called my mom in a full crying panic more than once, when the aunt called in the morning to say she she'd be there in an hour... And the house wasn't clean. Mom had to come over and help me speed clean it, with me working through a full-blown panic attack, scared I wouldn't have it "clean enough" by the time the aunt got there. Mom is also the one who drove me into the ER. She knew how bad it was, but he was her golden child. The "can do no wrong" child, and I was always the problem. She would tell me I was making it out worse than it was, that it wasn't that bad, that it wasn't his fault he was messy, that I should just deal with it and clean up after him. Dad would at least seem sorry for me. He'd tell me he wished my brother would clean up after himself, but that there was nothing he could do. Aunt just didn't want to hear my excuses. She would yell at me for the state of the place, after I'd worked myself half to death cleaning already. She blamed me for it, threatened to kick us out over every tiny thing wrong. Made passive aggressive comments. Took pictures and said she would show them to the rest of our relatives so they'd know how we were destroying the house, ect.

A year and a half of this. I lost a dangerous amount of weight. I hardly slept, hardly ate, anxiety spiked so badly I was having panic attacks at least once a week, especially toward the weekend when I knew the aunt was coming. All of my days were devoted to cleaning up after him. I dropped hobbies just to wash dishes or pick up his garbage. I even pulled an all-nighter just trying to make the house look presentable... After I'd been in the hospital and spent a few days at my parents place recuperating, so you can imagine the state of the house.

Toward the year and a half mark, I met my now husband. When we decided he should come spend the weekend, I was both happy and terrified. I worked myself to the point of passing out to make the place look decent. I asked my brother to help, told him we would be having company, and was met with a slamming door in my face while he went back to his video games. Now husband came up, we had a great time and chose to make it a weekly thing.

It was about a month into that when I went away for the weekend with my then bf. At this point, he kind of knew how bad it could get and just wanted to get me out of there for a few days. He'd even given my brother a piece of his mind for not emptying the cat litter and making me do it, because of my asthma. So brother hated him. Told me to break up with bf for being "rude" to him. Even called my mom to complain about it and it I got chewed out by my mom for "letting" my bf at the time talk to my brother that way. I was beyond sick of brothers bullcrap. I was exhausted. Had been in the ER just recently because of him, again, and needed to get away. Bf took me up to a cabin and we spent the weekend there, had an amazing time. And brought me home. From the second I stepped back into the farmhouse, I wanted to cry. It was an absolute disaster, like the brother had gone out of his way to destroy the place. So much garbage, laundry, dishes, ect. I said goodbye to the bf, who was horrified and reluctant to leave... And I started trying to make a dent in the horror show that was the house. It didn't take long for me to breakdown. When I called the bf that night to make sure he'd gotten home safe, I told him how bad it was. And he invited me to move in with him. I jumped at that chance for more reasons than one.

Brother took immediate issue with this. He threw a fit when I told him. Straight up told me I was being selfish, that I didn't appreciate all he did for me, that how dare I leave, how could I DARE to move in with someone who talked to him that way!! I just packed up a few of my things and went with the bf. Just like that. I was out.

It was three months before I went back to grab a few more of my things. In that time, brother had gotten an eviction notice from our aunt and was having to move back in with the parents. And I don't blame her one bit. Let me paint a picture for you of what I saw when I walked in the house: he'd run out of room for garbage on the counter and table, it was stacked too high, so.. he'd opened the oven, pulled the racks out and was piling garbage up on them, instead. Guess what the only place that didn't have garbage was... The pristine garbage can. The living room floor was covered in his dirty laundry. He had run out of clean dishes and resorted to using Tupperware lids as plates, with the dirty dishes covering the entire counter by the sink or stacked in his room. Speaking of, I caught a glance inside his room. The smell was worst in there. I could tell there was food in there from the time I left... Didn't try to take a step inside, obviously, not that there was a place to step. Keep in mind, this is AFTER the aunt had visited and demanded he cleaned up. She'd seen it this way, blew her top, and he still didn't give a crap. I, on the other hand, panicked. Call it ingrained at this point, but I started frantically cleaning. It was only my bf who stopped me. Had to actually grab my hands and hug me to get me to stop, with me hyperventilating and close to a panic attack. We got my things and got the hell out of there. But not before I noticed my brother seemed upset that I hadn't cleaned up while I was there.

Brother's living back with our parents and has trashed his room there. He's still pissy at me for calling him out on the way he treated me, and thinks I'm still required to be nice to him because mom says I should... and that he did absolutely nothing wrong with the way he behaved. He's also still holding a grudge against my hubby for him having the utter gall to tell him to be an adult and clean up after himself. Mom still denies it was bad (even though she's dealing with it now) or that I have anything residual from that time, despite the fact I told her that I get panicky and shaky when the place I'm living, now, gets even slightly untidy.

For me, I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm essentially no contact with my brother and limited contact with my mom. Just got married. Living with someone who loves me and actually helps with housework, even without being asked! Still dealing with the trauma of living in a place that felt THAT stressful and unsafe, but working on it. Not holding out much hope of brother realizing how entitled he was / is, but eh. He's not worth the time thinking about him.

[pbandjesse]

It's my birthday Eve! We keep saying this. I had a great cozy day. I'm going to have a bowl of cereal. I feel happy. It was a good day and it continues to be a good day.

I slept in. I slept good and had lots of dreams. I woke up at 9 and lazed about in bed. I had big plans. And for the most part I succeeded. As long as I don't stop moving to to long I do great. Once I stopped moving that was the end of that. But I did accomplish a lot.

I would work on cleaning. I was going to vacuum and stuff. But I just did the surfaces and put the dishes away. The big project would be the studio.

First thing I did was move all the flea market/ donation stuff to the living room. Then started going through all of our extra bedding. We have to much. And I have decided it is time to retire the ravioli. I don't use it much anymore. And it was time.

I pulled everything into the living room. I sorted the pillows from the blankets. The pillows would mostly be trash and not something that can be donated. I may take the stuffing to refill our pillows. But the blankets were the big project.

I ended up getting rid of a good amount. Now the one trunk we have all our extra duvet covers and the throw size blankets. The comforter sizes are under the bed in one of the drawers. I may take those back out and put them in vaccine bags. But that's alright for now.

I would fold everything and make the get rid of pile as neat as I could. I did some sweeping once I put things right in the studio. I have so much floor space now! Which gave me the idea to set up the hammock.

I would not do that right away. I clean the dish tank and the kitty litter. I went and got the mail I was productive

I made some soup. And played Pokemon for a bit. I chilled with Sweetp. I did my knitting. And that took me to mod afternoon. Where I decided to set up the hammock and watch videos and rest. I was so cuddly with my blankets and it was great. I missed my hammock a lot. So this was just wonderful.

James would come home and made naan. We would have indian food for dinner. But in the mean time we would just hang out. And after dinner I did the last piece of my embroidery project.

Because tomorrow is my birthday!! I am hoping to have another sweet and comfy day to kick off another year around the sun.

Goodnight everyone. Sleep well!!

[theamberwriter]

I saw the prompt list and i was thinking maybe 8 with aizawa! Like he comes home to his gf being silly and cute. You decide the rest uwu

[I'm flattered you sent in a request! ✨ I love writing for Aizawa, and there needs to be more for him in the world! I had fun with this one!]

Pairing: Shouta Aizawa x Reader

Word Count: 1451

Prompt: 8 - “You’re under arrest for being too cute. Put your hands where I can hold them.”

You were so glad that it was Friday. You’d taken the day off, that meant you had a long weekend. And goodness knows you needed it. You ran a large hero supply store. It was quite a demanding job. Being the big boss, you didn’t get days off a lot. But the department of health and labor had cracked down, forcing you to take weekends and vacation days. It didn’t matter if you ran the company, you needed to take care of yourself too.

You paced around your apartment. Your husband, Shouta Aizawa, was at his teaching job. So you were alone. Honestly, it was nice having you time.You loved your husband dearly, and wished you two were able to spend more time together. But you needed your own time, too. Or else you’d go nuts!

You spent the morning cleaning, it was surprisingly nice. After taking care of a large store, doing housework was a cinch. And being able to take your time brought you much needed peace. You put on a CD, humming along to the lyrics. Your bobbed your head to the beat. Slowly you began to dance along as you cleaned the bathroom. It started with shoulder swaying, then moving your cleaning brush in time with the music.

You used the broom as a dance partner as you swept the kitchen. Dramatically posing as you hit intense points in the song. Your mind imagining a whole audience sprawled in front of you. You spun around and shook your hips, sweeping the dirt into a pile. Calming down just long enough to get the grime into the dust pan and toss it in the trash.

You used the mop as a microphone. Trying not to slosh water around too much. The last thing you wanted was for Shouta to come home to a bigger mess. With both of you being so busy, it could be hard to clean as thoroughly as you wanted. But since you were being forced to take days off, you finally had the opportunity to do some proper housekeeping. As well as surprise your husband. It wasn't an opportunity you got often, so you wanted to take advantage of it.

You decided to use your quirk to help with dusting. It was sort of like telekinesis. But not as flashy. You gave things wings, and could control where they went. It wasn't extremely helpful for much. But you found it useful for getting stuff off and onto shelves. You just glad you could control multiple items at once.

You gave a few spray cans of furniture polish wings. Along with rags to follow behind them. You took a can and a rag yourself. You had the objects moving around you to the beat. Like the dishes in the Sword in the Stone movie. You decided to push it, and get the vacuum going too. The more you had control over, the harder it was to concentrate. But you really wanted to get the house clean and tidy before Shouta got home.

Once that all was done, you went around and touched all the objects that weren't where they were supposed to be. A few dozen objects flew into the air. Again, you danced as they swirled around you. Singing loudly and badly to the music. You picked up a few more objects as you spun. Trying to place everything where it was supposed to go.

Your heart leapt as you spun straight into a pair of arms. Shrieking, everything lost its wings and fell out of the air. You stared straight up into the beautiful, amused eyes of your husband. He was giving you a mischievous smile. Your face filled with heat. You just knew he'd caught you goofing off.

"Looks like I have one more criminal to catch today. - You’re under arrest for being too cute," he teased, taking your hands in his. "Put your hands where I can hold them.”

You laughed nervously. "Welcome home, Shouta, I didn't hear you come in."

He kissed you chastely, then went to the stereo. "I would suppose not. You got this so loud. The neighbors are going to hate us."

You rolled your eyes, but smiled. You started to go back around and touching the things that slipped your quirk. "Now you're just being dramatic. How was your day?"

"Nothing special. Had to separate Bakugo and Midoriya, again," he groaned, sitting on the couch. He watched your every move, you could feel his eyes on your back. "We caught a petty thief when I was on patrol. So it was rather uneventful. You look like you've been busy. - I thought you were told to take it easy."

You shrugged, not looking at him. "I'm fine. Just tired. With All Might's retirement, I've had to take extra security measures. It's just going to take getting used to. I promise, I didn't over do it."

"You're pushing the limits of your quirk. Hire a security team. You don't have to take it upon yourself to control all fifty security cameras." Shouta's eyes bore into your back.

You knew he was upset with you. You'd had to personally give wings to all the store security cameras, and check every single nook and cranny yourself. Crime was getting worse. It got taxing. Along with never having taken any day but holidays (when you shut the store completely) off, you were forced to for your health.

When you looked over your shoulder, Shouta's mouth fell into a flat, disapproving line. "How much have you used your quirk today? Your nose is bleeding."

You put a hand to your nose, pulling away to find blood. You gasped, you hadn't even noticed. "I didn't even -"

Shouta took your other hand gently. "Let's go clean you up."

You sat on the lid of the toilet while Shouta hunted through the medicine cabinet. You felt like a child who'd been caught drawing on the walls. Finally, he turned to you. He had a cotton ball in one hand. In the other was a rag.

Silently, your husband wet the cloth. He crouched to your level, but avoided your eyes as he wiped away the blood. Then he shoved the cotton up the side of your nose that was bleeding. Shouta stared at you, still crouching.

"I yell at you because I love you, you know," he said finally. "I can't have you go and do stupid things."

You sighed, eyes dropping to your lap. "I know. I'm sorry. I just really wanted to surprise you."

"The dancing was enough." You caught the smile, and teasing in his tone. "I just want to know you're still going to be in one piece when I get home."

Shouta kissed your forehead, then stood and offered you his hand. You took it, and followed him back to the living room. He sat on the couch, pulling your against him tightly.

"So what did you have in mind for movie night?" His voice rumbled under your ear. "We're both finally home early on a Friday after all."

You smiled to yourself. Butterflies paraded through your stomach. You were so glad that he'd remembered. This was a tradition you'd had while dating. You couldn't remember the last time you two were able to have movie night while you were married. Even your honeymoon was cut short on account of a villain attack.

But you had something a little different in mind. You trapped his face in your hands and kissed him, roughly. Deeply. Slowly. You smirked, "I was thinking, if I was under arrest - Why don't you do something abo -"

He smacked the back of your head. You groaned, to which Shouta grunted in response. "Behave. You strained too much for that today. Now pick a movie."

"Alright," you groaned, curling back into his side.

"Maybe tomorrow," Shouta said quickly, you almost didn't catch it. Your face grew hot. But you could help as you smiled to yourself, and began throwing out suggestions. Most of which were immediately shot down. Finally, you ended up with the movie you'd seen on your first date.

This lead to you and your beloved reminiscing about old memories. The beginning of your relationship. The beginning of your marriage. He remembered things you didn't think he had. This flooded you with more warmth and happiness than you felt you could contain. You couldn't wipe the dopey grin off your face.

You both fell asleep on the couch. Contentedly. Happily. Lovingly. You woke up briefly, and gave Shouta a kiss on the cheek. Immediately settling back into the warmth with one thought on your mind; it was going to be nice having days off.

[vitaminxiu]

My Forever Love

Member: Chanyeol (I can’t help it if the boy makes me soft)

Genre: So much fluff

Word Count: 1,000+

Rating: So safe your grandma could read it

Summary: Honestly, I don’t know. I just had a lot of fun writing it and becoming a puddle on the floor from how cute Chanyeol is. Basically, it’s just a typical day set sorta in the mid-late 60′s. Songs mentioned are “My Girl” by the Temptations, “Twistin the Night Away” by Sam Cooke, and “Nothing Can Change This Love” also by Sam Cooke.

There was a calm, blissful feeling in the air that afternoon. All morning had been spent tidying up the house, and now that everything was finished, Yeol and I were free to relax. Spring cleaning had only recently become a ritual of ours. Every third week we would drop all of our plans and spend the day making sure each surface in the house had been wiped down with a cloth and was sparkling like new. Chanyeol’s job was to empty the trash, sweep and mop the floors, and vacuum to pick up anything that had been left behind. My priority was to tackle the pile of laundry that had slowly accumulated and handle the dishes as well. Anything else was fair game for the both of us. 

I had only been living with Chanyeol for about three months or so before we decided that our habits had to change. It’s not that we were dirty by any means, but we needed the motivation of seeing the other clean to make sure one of us didn’t abandon our post and move on to something more interesting. 

By the time we finished cleaning everything, it was around 3pm. We had stopped to make lunch at noon, and Chanyeol, being the gentleman that he was, decided to help. His “help” consisted of him smearing sauce down the side of my face, and then toppling over the flower when he tried to escape my retaliation. I wanted to be annoyed at him for undoing all of the cleaning that we had spent the morning doing, but the shocked look on his face only made me laugh. 

Fast forward 3 hours of cleaning and re-cleaning, and here we are now, both of us lounging on our carpeted floor, backs resting against the couch. There was a warm breeze drifting in through the windows that Chanyeol had opened during our cleaning spree, making the sheer curtains flutter lightly. The orange glow brought in by the afternoon sun enveloped us, adding to the relaxed atmosphere. I turned my head to look at Chanyeol, and he was already looking at me. A look that could make any girls heart flutter, but especially mine. 

“What is it?” I ask.

“I was just thinking of how beautiful you look, today and every day,” his words making my heart beat even more erratically. “How did I end up so lucky?” 

The truth is that I’m the lucky one. I’ve never met a man like Chanyeol before. Someone who holds me, and loves me, and respects me. And tells me that I’m beautiful even when my hair is a mess, and my face is shiny with oil and sweat, and there’s still a slight trace of our lunch shenanigans left behind. He tells me I’m smart, and laughs at my jokes. He even sings along with me to the radio when we take drives on Sundays. He doesn’t talk during movies, but he answers all of my questions when I interrupt. He’s kind and patient and so, so silly. 

“Do you wanna dance?” 

“What?” I stare at him confused. 

“Do you want to dance?”

 “But Yeol, we don’t have any music on.” 

“That can be arranged,” he smiles as he gets up from the floor and walks over to the record player. “What should we play today,” he mumbles to himself. “Hmm, this is a good one.” He pulls out the record and puts it on the turntable. “This should be about the spot.” As he places the needle down into the grooved record, an upbeat melody begins to play. Chanyeol quickly turns around and starts to sing along with the music. 

“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May,” he reaches his hand out to me as he sings. “I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way?” I grab on to his outstretched hand and he spins me around “My girl, my girl, my girl. Talkin’ bout my girl. My girl.” 

“Chanyeol,” I giggle as he continues alternating between twirling me and swaying to the beat. With Chanyeol, there is never a dull moment; he never fails to make me laugh. He is the literal embodiment of sunshine. It’s in moments like these that I’m reminded how boyish he can be. 

He was 8 and I was 6 when we first met. It was one of those long summer days where the only way you could escape from the excruciating heat was to go to the pool. My mother and father belonged to a country club that had just installed a resort style pool, complete with vinyl strap patio chairs that reclined, so on the hottest day of the year, my mother, sister, and I loaded up our bright blue Studebaker sedan and headed into town to check it out. As expected, the entire place was covered up. Anyone who wasn’t already in the water was lounging either in a chair, or on the concrete, and my mother was not the type to be someone in the latter category. As soon as a chair opened up, she made a beeline for it, tugging my sister by the hand. The issue was that there was only one chair, and since I was the youngest, my sister got to share the chair with mom. Just as I had started to pout, I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder. When I turned around, there he was in all his 8-year-old glory. “You can share my chair with me if you want,” and from that moment forward, we were inseparable. 

We continue like this until the song finishes, Chanyeol never missing the beat or singing the wrong lyric. When the song ends, I decide that it’s my turn to choose a song and walk over to the record stand. It only takes me a few seconds to locate the record I’m looking for, and I pop the disk out of its casing and onto the player. “Get ready for your sides to hurt, because I’m expecting full participation. You can’t quit on me early,” and with that, the record starts turning. 

Let me tell you ‘bout a place, somewhere up a New York way, where the people are so gay, twistin’ the night away. 

Chanyeol and I might not be the best dancers, but we love a good competition. He took my earlier statement as a challenge, not only to see who could last longer, but who could do the most original twists. We both started off with your standard twist, nothing fancy about it, but soon arms and legs were being thrown around in an effort to make each twist funnier than the last. By the time the song ended, both of us were completely winded and laughing uncontrollably. Chanyeol was laughing so hard that he had collapsed to the floor in order to gain control of his breathing. As the song faded out, a slow melody played on a piano took its place. 

If I go a million miles away, I’d write a letter each and every day ‘cause honey, nothin’, nothin' can ever change this love I have for you.

“Mmh, I love this song,” I hummed as I turned to look out the open window. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon. Chanyeol mumbled in agreement as he came to stand by the window with me. He wrapped his arms around my figure from behind and slowly we began to sway to the music, my hands coming to rest on top of his. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back on his shoulder etching this moment into my memory. For a moment we stay just like that, the only thing filling the silence, the voice of Sam Cooke. 

Oh, you're the apple of my eye, you’re cherry pie. And oh, you're, you're cake and ice cream. Oh, you're sugar and spice, and everything nice. You're the girl of my, my, my, my dreams.

“You know, he’s right,” Chanyeol starts, “I really do think I’ll love you forever, even after I’m gone. Even after we’re both gone, I’ll still carry that love with me.” I open my eyes and turn my head to look at his face. “I know it’s cheesy to say, but I’ve never felt like this with anyone.”

I turn around in his arms to get a better look at him, but he’s not looking at me. In the orange glow, I can tell that the tips of his ears have a slight red tint to them. “I feel it too Yeol,” when I say this, his eyes meet mine. “I have so much love for you that I can hardly put it into words. Please never let me go.”

“Never.”

I know that nothin’, nothin’, nothin’, can ever change the love I have for you.

[escapedchickens]

The Soapiest Moment

A prompt I wrote for @gavimp and I thought it would be fun to add here since it relates to the light side of the AU. The above picture is from me, while the other is from her. This is also the last DBH related post of this blog, as future ones will be on the side blog @yorkshire-androids-au

The Soapiest Moment Ever

By Canuck

Today is Sunday, and it is Babs’ turn to wash the bathroom. Willard tidied up the washroom out of habit, but drops it when he sees Melisha walking by the Hallways with an AX 0017 model. He looks back at the washroom before fetching Babs from the living room. The android waits patiently at the living, eyeing her little knitting projects. Humming a positive tune and looking around in a flighty look before seeing Willard approaching her. “Morning Willard, did you and the Missus have a good breakfast?”

“That I did, Babs. Are you ready for today’s chores?”

“Oh, I am more than ready, Willard,” She says happily as she stuffs the knitting project in her apron and picks up a basket of cleaning supplies. “What area am I cleaning first?”

“You will do the East wing today; it comprises one of our Bathrooms, the guest room, the den and reading area. If you can start with the bathroom, that will be ideal. You think you can be alright cleaning it?”

“Of course, that is what I am programmed to do: sweep here, wipe there, just making sure the house is a home.”

Willard nods as he guides her to the washroom. The washroom is not too messy, as he tidied up a bit earlier today, but he cannot help but feel guilty for leaving it in a state. “Some places could have been better but a little help would do. Perhaps you would like some help as well?”

Babs bobs her head to the side and enters. “Oh no thank you, I am sure I can get it done soon. What is life without a little challenge? I will let you know if I need something.”

“Of course, I’ll let you to it.” Willard nods and continues on the rest of the East wing of the mansion. Out of habit, he picks up any bit of papers lying around and place them in a bag for recycling. Next, he goes to the broom closet and neatly set the vacuum at the corner of the den, and a broom and dustbin at the reading area. It should be enough to make cleaning a little easier. He more or less feel accomplished at his part of the task, as he feels more involved in his androids tasks than just doing nothing. He hears a high-pitched yelp from the bathroom and runs to the room. Here, he sees Babs’ frilly dress sticking out from the edge of the tub while her feet are kicking up in the air.

Willard leans over to grab Babs by the hand and pulls her to her feet. He feels a slight slip under the floor and grabs onto the counter. Babs looks down and up at Willard, already with an apologetic look.

“Oh, I am sorry, Willard,” says the android. “I thought I was done with the bathroom until I noticed the grimy ring around it. It would be wrong to leave it. I really tried to scrub, but the thing is just so stubborn. I may have used more soap and chemicals than intended.”

Willard shakes his head and pats her hand “No worries, love, you were simply doing your job. The bathtub can be hard to keep nice and polished. But don’t fret, I could barely see it, you did quite well in the bathroom.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, Babs,” Willard place some paper towels on the floor and guides the AX 0017 model to the hallway. He picks them up and place them in the trash. “There you go, all clean. Now, how about we go to the next room?”

“I like that.” Babs goes to the corner of the den starts the vacuum. Willard watches the bot cleans with ease, taking up all the little bits of specks to her vacuum in one setting and turns off to empty the filter into the trash bag. She places the filter back to the vacuum and sweeps off the remaining dust with a small brush. From the shelves, to the floor. She notices Willard chuckling and gets up with a smile, laughing along with him. “What is it, Willard?”

“It’s just, seeing the soapy floor all over reminded me of something I did with Jack and myself.”

“Oh, what thing?” She picks up the trash and recycling bin to the next room. “Did he get clumsy with cleaning too?”

Willard laughs and picks up one bin. “Not really, but a lot of cleaning was involved, I’ll tell you while you clean the next room.”

“Sure thing!” Babs replies in a chipper tone. She enters the reading area and sweeps the floor. Willard smiles and grabs a cloth the wipe the shelves. “Soap on the floor reminds me of a time Jack and I attempt to do this silly thing with bath bombs.”

“Bath bombs? Oh, those little ball thingies that dissolves and makes the bathtub all colourful?”

“Yes, yes, those things. When Jack was around, he and I were getting into those things and enjoy watching them dissolve whenever we have some bath time. It feels like watching art in the bathtub. We were so into them, that we had the bright idea to see what happens if we release them all at once.” “All at once?” Babs pauses and looks at Willard in confusion, tilting her head to her right. “Won’t it make the bathtub messier than a faint ring?”

“Yes, I know, I know, but we let fun got in the way of common sense. That is not the craziest part though….”

The date was, June 28, 2027

We have a big box of bath bombs around the bathroom, and being silly young lads, we thought it would be interesting to see what happens if we have them dissolve all at once?

We had the water running to fill in the tub while Jack strips off his shirt and playfully shows off himself into black trunks before getting into the tub. He sinks in, taking into the warm water of the bathtub, when he looks up to me and asks: “Are you getting in, Willard? The water is nice.”

“No thanks, Jack. Someone has to be the dry party.” I laughed, watching him relax at the tub. I was wearing some grey trunks and an old t-shirt to keep me warm as we cranked the AC up. Next to Jack was a box full of colourful bath bombs, letting off a strong scent that combines flowers and citrus fruit. The scent was overwhelming but a simple wipe of my nose should help with that. Jack was just smiling widely, waiting for the time to spill in the bathtub. He was way too happy for this experiment. I turned on the camera and pressed record.

“Afternoon world, and family. I am Jack Tweedy and this is my brother, Willard Tweedy holding the camera. Say hello, Willard.”

I turned the camera to the mirror so I can see myself waving hello to it. I turn back to see Jack sitting up and holding the box already.

“We are going to do a small test on what happens if we place hundreds upon hundreds of bath bombs all at once. Before that, I should let you know that we have taken precautions and prepared our tub. Why don’t you show everyone what we did?”

“We place lots of towels and bath mats around the tub, we made sure no wires were around and no holes.  The caulk is very secure so no worries about leaks and mold. And more towels in case it got out of hand.”

“That’s right, Willard, safety is first.” Jack sits up and rattles the first box over his head. “Are you ready, Willard?”

“More than ready!”

“Last call to get in with me.”

I pondered for a bit, wondering if I should. I want to get a good shot of our first experience with this. It sounds silly to overthink this, but we are less likely to do this again. I have the camera sitting on the counter where I know it won’t fall on to the possibly wet floor and gently get inside the tub. The water became lukewarm, but it was a good temperature for me to get in. Having him in the tub certainly helps. We both counted down to the three and watch him pour all the bath bombs in the water.

It went as well as it imagined. All the bath bombs diffused, and it became a colourful bomb in the water. It was pretty to see all the colours spread out like a mosaic, hear that satisfying hiss of the balls getting smaller and smaller. It was fun to watch… for a while. Before then, we noticed that the bathtub was starting to flood the bathroom. Watching the foamy colours spill over the tub went from beautiful to surreal real quick. We anticipated the washroom floor getting wet, so we have some towels on the floor to soak up the water. But we did not intend for the water to over soak the towels to the point where it looks like the whole area is soaked. Next thing we knew, we watched the carpets getting soaked with water and rainbow foam. We grabbed all the dish rags, towels, and paper rolls available to stop it from getting all over the halls. But alas, it was moot, and we found ourselves in a soapy situation. The whole carpet was just soaked, it was squishing underneath us. But that is not the crazy part.

We go downstairs and see tiny drips going to the living room. They may be tiny but we will not risk having those little holes get any bigger so we have to grab any available container and get cleaning. We wiped them out as fast as possible while the bath drains. It took only two hours, but it felt like it took all day. Nonetheless, we had a good workout getting the place dry and a laugh about it. As for the holes, I did not want to risk getting mold in between the cracks, so we called a professional to help us out. As long as we don’t overflow the bath again, it should be fine. After a two weeks of just showers, we can finally enjoy the tub as we did as lads: relaxing side by side and drinking ciders.

“Aah, so, you can take baths again after you got your floor and ceiling all fixed?” ask Babs, mindlessly knitting away at this whole story.

Willard giggles and feels the soft wool project from his maid. “I do, just not as much. Baths became more like Melisha’s thing. I do enjoy it, it is just not just the same without Jack. We just chill, talk, have cold ones. With Melisha, it is different. Even with wine at our hands, we just sit there and talk about our day like business partners, not a couple. But hey, we worked together to get you this nice farm, right?”

Babs pause her knitting and looks over. Her LED circles yellow and taps her needles against her shins before resuming her work and the LED going back to blue. “Yes, yes, it is. Some things improved but I can’t help shake it off that things can be… different. I like my role and this farm, it's just something about it I can’t think off.”

Willard eyes the android, suspecting of her deviating. He cannot really tell since Babs’ chipper attitude and work ethic is part of her program, but the little things about something not right with them seems off. Perhaps she did deviate but it is not as abrasive as how Ginger or Bunty did. Just how many of his androids deviated? Five, twenty, forty? Maybe more than that. He rubs the bridge of his brow as he hears his wife’s berating him at the idea of them scheming.

“They’re only tools that look like people. They don’t scheme, they don’t organize or form unions. They can’t do anything! All they did is work day in and day out with little to no complaint. Get it to your head, Willard!”

Willard shakes it off and pats Babs’ shoulder, “We’ll see what we can do. If anything, just feel free to let me know. I promise that will take it to consideration and see what we can do. How about you finish the last room and go downstairs, yes?”

“Yes, Willard,” Babs have the farmer lift her hand as she stands up and picks up her cleaning tools to the last room. “You know, those little moments makes the silver lining a little brighter. Like, how the light seems shinier behind a cloud, making it easier to see than if it is just one big sun? Because you can’t look at the sun. It will damage both a human and an android’s eyes. Funny how we keep finding little things that we have in common.”

“I think it’s funny in a cute sort of way. Nothing to brash, right?” Willard hears a text from his phone and looks at it. He sighs and puts it away after a quick text. “Will you be okay doing today’s work by yourself?”

“Yes, Willard.”

“Good, I have to meet with Melisha for a side project. You take care now, okay?”

“You bet, see you later, Willard.” Babs says, waving goodbye, watching Willard going downstairs and out the door. She continues of the last room with her cleaning supplies handy and watches the water turn into a colourful soapy texture, as it reminds her of the story.

[bananonbinary]

i ended up venting a lot in the tags of that last post but thats not fair so im gonna vent here instead

my dad made me and my sister do ALL the housework from when we were about 7 years old. my mom wasnt ALLOWED to help us. there was even a period of time where he demanded we do it all before school and if we didnt finish in time we would just be late for school and have to deal with it.

and by all the housework i mean ALL of it. daily. even shit that you generally dont do daily. the chores split between us and switching off every week were: one kid does the dishes, cleans the kitchen (counters, sweeping, mopping if necessary, takes out the trash, wipes down the table) and the bathroom (again, counters, sweeping, mirror, trash, toilet wasnt necessary each day but was still a responsibility). the other kid vacuumed the entire downstairs and dusted everything, moving shit like the dining room table by ourself to clean behind/under it. on weekends (by which i mean only saturday because we were Good Christians Who Dont Work On The Sabbath) we were ALSO responsible for cleaning our rooms, again vacuuming and moving shit like the bed to get everything under it, AND thoroughly cleaning out and vacuuming one of the two cars (my dad liked to live like we had more money than we did, thats another story. we had two cars and my shoes always had holes in them).

we didnt get an allowance for it either. the only reward was not having dad yell at us and go all scary. when he started cleaning anything himself, you knew it was time to go hide in your room and lock the door.

granted, as we got older, we stopped actually DOING these chores everyday because you cant actually fucking do that while balancing private school homework and extracurricular activities. my dad stopped the “do it or just dont go to school” shit when even he realized school was more important, but that didnt stop him from GRADING us each week. by middle school we still didnt have allowance, but he gave us what he called “commission” based on how well we did that week. a promised $10 usually went down to like $1.50 because of how “badly” we did and wasnt worth the weekly shaming ritual, so we both stopped asking for our earned money too.

a side-note: saturdays were also the one day of the week set aside to spend quality time with him, in what he called “daddy-daughter days.” a really nice idea in principle, each week he would take one of us out to like go exploring or see a movie or visit a museum or go to the zoo, whatever we wanted. EXCEPT. since we had so many extra chores on saturday it basically ended up being another “reward” for getting everything done in time, and if we took too long we didnt get to go. because spending time with ur kid should totally be predicated on how much they do for you. (im complaining but these outings were actually the best thing he ever did for us and are something every dad should do with their child imo. it just sucks that his affection was implicitly connected to our performance.)

god. sometimes i think “man im probably overreacting, my childhood wasn’t all that different from most peoples” and then i accidentally write 6 goddamn paragraphs of this shit and wow my childhood was really fucked up huh

[astainedteamug]

Getting Rid of that Holiday Stress Ahead of Time

If you are finding yourself worried about the holidays, then you and I are in the same boat. And so is everybody else. Legitimately, everybody. Even the lady at work who always has a perfect party and she never has a hair out of place, she’s worried if her quiche will burn or if she will have enough decorations. Everybody has some kind of stress going on right now.

Some people are triple checking their travel plans to make sure everybody has a ticket and if they have a big enough budget. Some people are checking their list of people to give a gift to and realizing that they STILL don’t know what to get their mom for Christmas.

But whatever it is you are going through right now, you should take a minute off of your feet to read through this and see if one of these could help you.

1. The Clutter

It is amazingly easy to hold on to things in the modern world. And you don’t even know why. Especially after Halloween, there are candy wrappers, fairy wings, tiny toys, and just all around mess. The birthdays of the year have left you with gifts that you never wanted and you couldn’t return, so they wound up shoved in a corner to never be used or seen again.

But for some reason, you find yourself stressed out about it. That thing Jim gave you at your office party that was so ugly you didn’t even want it in your car. It’s bothering you that it’s still here, yet it has to take the back burner. And pretty soon, you start to feel like your house looks something like this:

Yeah, I know!

But between work and school and getting everything ready, you just don’t feel like you have the time to go through all of it.

Behold, my friends, the beauty of November. This is a beautiful grace period that most people will skip over to start putting up decorations for Christmas, thinking it will help them not be stressed about the decorations. But they are wasting perfectly good cleaning time. It’s time for a detox, and your house is begging you to do it, just this once.

Now wait just a minute, this isn’t an excuse to throw out your wife’s figurines that you hate but she loves, in fact I don’t recommend throwing much away at all. Go through your things first and donate what you can.

Old clothing, shoes, toys, books, purses or bags, and even movies. This is a great time of year to donate those things and let somebody else enjoy them. Old dishes can be sold or donated, dog and cat toys can get washed and de-stinkified. Candles that have been sitting around for years can get burned and help get any unpleasant smells out of your house while freeing up cabinet space for candles to come. Old mail and documents can get shredded and recycled, or even stocked up as fire starters for your fireplace. And those decorations that “complete the room” can be stowed away until they are needed again. Don’t let them jumble you up and stand in the way.

And this is an excellent way to see what you need around the house. Maybe you didn’t know the drill was broken, but now you know what to get your husband for Christmas. Or maybe the kids need new pjs. And that new coat would look great in place of your old one.

And once you’re done with the clutter aspect of all of this, then it’s time to move into phase two.

2. The Mess

It is entirely possible that the corner of your living room behind your television hasn’t been dusted in months, correct? It’s an easy thing to forget. It’s an easy thing to push aside, or to say to yourself “would anybody really notice?” Aunt Barbara might when she visits on thanksgiving with her specialty cranberry stuffing. And you would never hear the end of it. Okay, now punch your anxiety in the face and pick up a duster.

It really isn’t that big of a deal which corner is dusted and which one isn’t, but November is a wonderful time of peace before the holiday guests arrive, so why not make sure the house is nice so you aren’t worried about it. They’ll make a mess when they get there anyways, you may as well conquer what you can now. Get those expired bath products and cleaning concoctions out of your house before area 51 gets involved. Soap is NOT good forever!

Move around your furniture to sweep under it, dig out all of those coins and wrappers in the couch, dust off your movie and CD collection so you can pick out the holiday films for when everyone is over. You may as well put one on while you vacuum your floors, those corners and your ceiling fans and vents. Heck, you can even wash your carpets if your feeling REALLY festive!

There really isn’t any point to making the holidays harder on yourself than they already can be, so why not get a head start on all of that mess and just get rid of it? It can be a good excuse to have your kids wash the windows or clean their bathrooms, or even go through their clothes and toys and put everything they don’t use into one bag to donate. And with your mess all taken care of, you can take a breath and relax before you begin part three of this holiday mission.

3. The Food

This is the biggest time of year for food sales for home baking. Which also means the fire department is busy too. Please be careful whenever you are in the kitchen with loved ones and keep the heat down, your sockets dust free, and make sure all handles are out of reach of little ones. And remember, a falling knife has no handle.

All of those vegetables that are going into your casseroles and soups, or getting turned into a side, you know you can use your freezer, right? Chopping them up now and freezing them in the measurements that you need is an excellent time and mess saver for your holiday baking. Those fruits that you bought too early, go ahead and chop those up too and freeze them until the day you need them for your pies and fruit salads. And honestly, why did you buy SO MANY cranberries? Nobody eats them! Stop doing this to your wallet and to yourself.

Over spending on food and wasting it is another stupidly easy thing to do. Half of it rots away before it even sees the cutting board. You can stop yourself from doing this with a few easy tools, like shopping lists, dates, and coordination with the other cooks in your family.

Everybody should bring a dish to thanksgiving. Whether it’s a pie, some creamed corn, or even something to drink. You won’t be the only cook during the week leading up to thanksgiving. So coordinating with your relatives about who is bringing what will save everybody from making the same thing and will make sure nobody is confused about what they’re doing and keeps you from making too much of one thing if not everybody is able to come. Especially if Kenny is the only person who is vegan and gluten intolerant, then his special dish doesn’t need to be fussed over this year. And everyone can bring something, even if uncle Dave just brings the disposable cups so grandma doesn’t have to do a million dishes with the grandkids later. And yes, everybody needs to do their share of work after dinner. A good rule of thumb is to clean up dishes before dessert.

But before the baking even begins, you need to figure out what ingredients you will need to buy to make that food. And some ingredients can be nearly impossible to get your hands on. You would not believe how difficult it was for me to find rhubarb for my pie this year. I had to google where I could get it, and it took me a few hours to get ahold of it. So making that shopping list can save you lots of time and hassle when it gets down to the wire. And having the dates of parties and holidays next to you makes it easy to know when you’ll need to shop for that food and save space in your fridge.

Ah yes, the fridge. Your old pal, full of old take out containers, a few odds and ends when it comes to ingredients, expired dairy products, and an endless assortment of condiments. Why do we do this? The fridge looks full, yet there’s nothing to eat.

Clean it! That smell can be taken care of with a box of baking soda. Just leave it open in he back corner and it will absorb it for you. Take your trash can and have it ready for the avalanche of forgotten meals it will need to hold. The old products and empty cartons need to get thrown out now so you can have space for leftovers during the holidays, but you’re much less likely to forget about those. Once you’ve emptied out all of the rotten veggies and old yogurts, now is the time to wash the shelves and clean it up in there to get a head start on the dishes.

Bravo. You have earned another break. But you are so far from being done.

4. The Yard

This is an ongoing task, and I’m afraid not much can be done that will stay done. Especially if you live somewhere the leaves turn red and then fall every time the wind blows. Honestly, it can’t really all be done at once. But after it snows, it has to stay there. That stick could trip you if your boot snags it and you forgot it was there. Those leaves will kill your lawn if they stand as a frozen barrier between the grass and the snow. And the weeds will only populate while they can.

Head to a hardware store and grab some tools if you need them. And get some gloves too, those thorns can be vicious. Taking care of lawn maintenance before you decorate should be high on your list of to-do’s, yet many people skip it all together. Clean out your gutters and send your hubby on the roof with a broom before you send him up with lights and a fake santa. It’s safer and it can actually save your roof from too much damage all at once.

Mow the grass while you can, trim your bushes before they get lined with lights, and rake those leaves up before they have to stay put for the next four months.

And if you have a dog, this is your last chance to double check nothing was left behind when your kids last took them outside.

5. The Car

If you’re traveling with your family, you have to clean out your car now! The tissues, old receipts that need to be organized, wrappers, straws, socks, and crumbs all need to go.

Suitcases and crock pots will soon take their place as well as bored kiddos and grumpy adults just trying to drive through the traffic. Pack those CDs into the car, download some podcasts, or get some audio books to help pass the time. But make sure the smell is gone too. Get a new air freshener and some febreeze. It’s amazing how much smell can come from one toddlers sock.

6. Finances and Documents

That giant pile of papers in your room, on your desk, or in your coffee table? Yeah, it won’t take care of itself. And during the holidays. The last thing you want to worry about is knocking it over so it isn’t 'organized’ anymore. Go through it now.

This will give you the chance to get your finances in order before you spend three hundred dollars on lights for the tree when really you can only spend thirty. I found a paper I wrote in fifth grade the other day, and tossed it right out. Honestly, why do we cling to these things? It has been in my life for ten years, and it has served its purpose. Now it’s time to go. This frees up space not only in your desk, but in your mind as well. It was one of those little things that you had been worried about for far too long. And now it’s finally gone.

7. The Decorations

Now is the time, folks, to get your final affairs in order. We are now approaching the holidays so please prepare for landing.

Decorations are the easiest thing in the world to freak out over when you get down to the wire. You count the lights, you measure for garland, you buy the plates and the napkins and even special straws that are made of paper. Candy canes are beautiful on a tree, but the tree isn’t up yet. Not to worry though. Your shopping list is that much smaller because you already took care of it.

Buying what you can ahead of time is something I’ve been doing since April. Buying candles, drinks, and even some gifts before they’re at their holiday prices is something I do to avoid the crowds and the chaos. Yes, I’m on a budget and I know how to work the system to my favor. Buying discount wrapping paper and tinsel the year before is nothing to hide, and props to you if you make your own decorations.

That’s what I did. Wreaths can be up to $70 when they come pre decorated. I bought one for ten and put my own decorations and lights on it for less than forty dollars. And I’ll use it over and over again. Making decorations can also help tame that beast inside of you that is screaming at you to put up the lights now! It’s not even thanksgiving, calm down you little elf.

Once you’ve ticked all of these things off of your list, you’ll find it much easier to breathe while you wrap gifts or wade through the sea of people at the mall. Having your lists organized, your budget in mind, and the peace of mind that your house is organized and ready, you’ll be unstoppable this holiday season!

Happy holidays everybody!

[progressalways]

Day 6&7

Hello hello,

well, here we are.  I completely fell off the wagon yesterday and I’m trying to get on again. In a way, it’s good that it happened yesterday.  It happened, and now I can get over the fear of it happening. I fell off the wagon and today I feel like I can get back on it.   I’m not just throwing the towel in and calling it a failure again, like I did so often.

Here’s a short little recap of yesterday’s chaos: - I got up at 3:30am, had breakfast, picked up my bathroom, worried about what kind of mess I was going to find at work, got ready and went to work (15min early, yay!) - Started work at 5:45am. The mess was worse than expected and one maid called out sick. As a result, I was at work until 5pm, managed to squeeze in 10min of break-time for a cup of tea (didn’t have water all day... yikes) and a granola bar and rushed back and forth between doing laundry, cleaning rooms, cleaning the event rooms and checking rooms.  As you can imagine, I was completely beaten down when I got home. My whole body was hurting from all the rushed bending and pulling and lifting and I was so hungry I was severely tempted to just drive by McDonalds for something to eat.  Instead of McDonalds, I ate the remains of my tuna-casserole and had a hot chocolate as dessert.  Then, I just stayed on the couch for a while, ready to nod off.  Trying to pick myself back up, I decided to do 15min in my guest-bedroom. That went well... 1 minute in, I was about ready to cry.  I had no clue what to do. There was nowhere for me to put stuff and I just felt completely overwhelmed. But, I’ll still count this as a success.  I understood why I can’t seem to get that room in order. First, I need to figure out where I want to put things, then I can do exactly that.  For now, I’ll re-organise my wardrobe, to see if I need any of the storage boxes I piled up in my guest-bedroom in there. Then, I’ll know if I can get rid of some of them.  After that little meltdown, I took a bath, prepared everything for today, did my skincare and fell asleep.  That left me with no dishes done, no sweeping or dusting done, sheets and towels to be changed and trash to take out. Still, I did enough to allow me to get up to a mostly clean kitchen, my outfit laid out, breakfast prepared and my skin taken care of.  That’s how we get to today.  Today, I got up late. I woke up at 6:30am, which left me with an hour until I had to head out to work. It wasn’t fun or relaxed, but I still had a nice breakfast, did a hair mask and washed my hair.   Work was, yet again, stressful. A lot of left-over laundry from yesterday, event spaces to clean and too many rooms waiting. I managed to drink some water throughout the day and squeezed in 15min of break to eat. All I could get at the time was a piece of cake, but at that point, I was ready to take anything to get my blood-sugar levels back up.  I got home shortly after 5pm and, since then, had dinner and sat on my couch for little.  I fixed myself a “buddha-bowl” of my mixed salad, the quinoa and lentils I cooked, a bit of salmon and my dressing.  Honestly, I feel great. And I’m very proud of myself for cooking all this stuff in advance, so I can eat good, healthy food without much of a hassle. I’ll probably have a hot chocolate a bit later, but now I’m ready to tackle my list: ❍ do my dishes  ❍ dust everything, vacuum all floors ❍ spray down my bathroom and wipe it down ❍ re-organize my wardrobe for 15min ❍ roll out my muscles, stretch and dance for 30min ❍ do my skincare and shower ❍ prepare everything for tomorrow ❍ sort laundry for tomorrow and put the trash next to the door so I can easily take it out in the morning

8:40pm update: ❍ did the dishes  ❍ dusted, sprayed down the bathroom, stripped the bed and put the towels in the laundry (bathroom, tea towels, bathroom rug) ❍ had my hot chocolate ❍ vacuumed all my apartment, wiped down my bathroom, re-mad the bed, put new towels in the bathroom ❍ sorted the laundry for tomorrow ❍ ended up mopping the whole apartment ❍ sorted through my wardrobe and threw a bit of stuff out ❍ prepared everything for tomorrow Holy moly... so, I thought I need to buy black tights soon. And that I might need new panties. Ha. Haha.  Nope.  I do not. Turns out, I managed to get things mixed up in my (way too small) baskets and just couldn’t find half the stuff I own.  Let’s just say I could go three weeks, changing my tights daily, without running out. And over a month not washing my underwear without a problem. How did I not know this?

9:40pm update: ❍ had a nice bath, a face mask and shaved my legs ❍ did some stretching ❍ did my skincare  Now, it’s definitely bedtime for me. I’m very proud and grateful that I managed to get back on track so well.  Of course, I’m still scared of losing it again. I don’t want to go back to a messier home. I like what my apartment is starting to look like.  I look forwards to seeing my home a few weeks from now. And myself.  Ever since I lived alone, I’ve never really managed to create a home for myself.  I had an apartment, yes. I had furniture and clothes that I liked, but it never felt like MY home.  Hopefully, this makes sense, I’m kind of rambling here.  This whole thing isn’t just about chores and managing my home.. it’s about creating a life that I truly enjoy.  Hopefully, I’ll be successful.

[whocanirunn2]

June 30th

Today, I am glad it’s over. I woke up around 6am bc my BB was hungry then we went back to sleep. I heard a knock on the door around 8-9 but once i got to both doors no one was there. I saw the UPS truck but nothing was left. So I went back to sleep. We slept until 10. When I woke up I saw that DF had called twice, but I did not have my ringer up. I decided to see if the Apple store had any availability at another store and they did so I got dressed and fed my BB lunch and headed out to be there at noon. It was really nice in Clarendon, I enjoyed walking my BB in the stroller looking at stores and homes and families walking by enjoying the summer day. No great news leaving Apple. As the diagnostics were fine. Ugh. So DF calls and I was so glad to see that but that soon faded bc he was getting frustrated bc he couldn’t hear me well, my phone was losing signal, the wind, then once I got in the care my gps was loud, i got lost so he wasnt saying much. then he said he would call me later, but i was already ready to talk and have a good convo. but those things interrupted it. So I decided to to to Target and enjoy shopping with my BB. DF calls as we are headed to the checkout. UGh. So I am checking out and i have so much stuff for once, and there is a kid behind me just being rude talking to me asking tons of questions, and the mom is just ignoring him bc she’s on the phone.. and DF is just silent on the phone as the minutes dwindle away. So he said he wasn’t going to talk bc people are talking to me and he hears noise in the background. Blah. So that call ends once I get home bc at this point I have nothing to say. Then he asks what should we do when neither one of us has anything to say and i said just go talk to other people. and that made him mad and he said that was bS. So then more drama began. Then i receive and email saying how i walk over him with my words, and hes in prison, and what am i doing in this relationship, he can give raw responses, im too sensitive, the usual...and he says ps dont come to visit. so then he calls after 1-2hrs and by the end of the call i say well we both arent happy and if it wasnt for me emailing you the other day bc of BB’s er visit we probably wouldnt be talking so we kind of messed that up and just moved along. I was on the phone with apple for those 1-2hrs and was trying to fix my phone. So she called and i had to end the call with DF. We restored my phone and were giving it until tomorrow to see how it works. 

After that things started to look up. Or at least my spirit was. I knew I didnt eat all day except for breakfast bc i was out running around all day and i had to take the meds that i was given. so i had to eat. i wanted to get us mcdonalds but i didnt feel like leaivng. so i thawed some fish. fed my BB. then I ate. it was very good and I enjoyed eating my meal. then i took BB outside for a walk to the laundry machine. He was holding on so tight, I love him! I did laundry 2 loads. Then watched Sesame street with my BB. He was rubbing his eyes so I knew he was sleepy. I put him to bed then Ii got to work. I cleaned the kitchen as always,load the dish washer, wipe down counters, sweep, spray lysol, take the trash out. I emptied all the bags from today. Folded 2 loads. Vacuumed. Cleaned the bathroom. then Showered. All done. I am tired. and exhausted really. Oh, I almost forgot the best part of today! When I went to go do laundry there was a ups package on the floor. I was like omgosh, was this here all day?! It was the check from the Semper Fi Veteran group with my rent check! Yaeeeeee! And to my surprise I had 4 50.00 wal mart gift cards in there too! how Awesome ! Mom also figured out a way to help with the rent as well. Some good came out of today. 

[pipblogs-blog]

My son turned 9 years old on Saturday. He woke up, looked at himself in the mirror and said, “I think I grew! I’m taller now, and my arms are longer!”, as he stretched his arms out. He was convinced that he grew overnight because he is now 9 years old. Silly boy!

His birthday weekend started with a soccer game in the morning. My best friend, her little girl and I huddled in blankets and travel chairs cheering him on! I yelled and cheered like a pro soccer mom. I noticed that my son was being a little too easy on the other team, being the shy kid that he is. So, during the water break, I had a little pep talk, “You need to get aggressive. Be mad that the other team has the ball. In fact, pretend that it’s you and granddad playing soccer in the back yard”. He laughed, but my pep talk worked. He got in there and played awesome! In fact, his team got him the 12-2 birthday win!

Afterwards, we went to his mom mom and pop pop’s house for the paternal side of his birthday party. His cousins, Aunts and Uncles came. He got to play with his cousins, which he loves so much. It was a nice little get together, and he got some nice presents. Mostly, pajamas, outdoor toys and board games, which he will enjoy.

After that, we met back up with my best friend for an Easter egg hunt at her house. My best friend set up an egg hunt for my son and her 22 month old daughter. It was so adorable! Despite their age differences, they are totally best friends. My son is always gentle and protective of her. In the end of the hunt, she got toy rings and my son got candy out of the eggs.

After the hunt, we stayed for dinner. We lost track of time, so we started dinner pretty late. Once our meal was ready, my best friend decided to lay some blankets down, so we could have a front yard picnic. The food was great and the company was even better. The sun began setting, so the breeze blew as a soft gentle touch onto all of us. My son was the first to comment, “I love this. I feel so…(loud slow inhale and exhale)…calm”. I said, “That’s peace”. He took in another deep breath, “Yea, I feel peace…and so calm”. Afterwards, my son and I wrapped ourselves in the blankets and looked at the star gradually appearing in the sky. He was pointing to the stars showing me how they connected to make the shape of a diamond. I showed him the North star and Orion’s belt. As the stars started slowly appearing in the sky, we would point to them, “That’s a new one!”. It was such a relaxing and positive moment. My son and I were getting in touch with nature. My son and I both looked at each other, “I love you”, he said. “I love you, too”, I replied. I felt so blessed. Then, my best friend’s daughter poured water on our faces with her sippy cup. We screamed in laughter, and that made our night..

The next day, I was working hard at preparing for the birthday party at my house. This party was for my side of the family and his friends to join. I woke up preparing a mental list of all that I needed to get done. My fibromyalgia was acting up, so it was hard to get motivated and started. It’s funny how you think you have everything under control until the day of the party. I was cool and collected until the last two hours before the party. Oh my god! I have still have to take a shower, bake the cake, decorate the cake, do the dishes, vacuum, sweep, mop, straighten up the living room, take out the trash, wrap his presents, and prepare food….what the hell did I get myself into, and why the hell did I wait last minute?? At one point, my son asked me to look at him playing a game, and I kind of lost my shit. I think he saw my crazy eyes, because he slowly backed himself towards the front door, “Okay..I’m going to Granddad’s”. Poor kid, “Okay, I love you! I’m sorry!”, I responded. He understood my craziness and was of course forgiving.

Well, it wasn’t perfect, but I did it. Not all of the food was ready, I never mopped, I wasn’t wearing makeup, and I had my wet hair in a bun, but I made it! My guests were of course patient, and completely understood beings they are parents themselves. I threw on makeup and finished up the food. My son didn’t even noticed, he was just thrilled at all of the kids that came to his party. As told in, Difficult Birthday blog, we were unsure of the turn out, but the results were great! My best friend from Connecticut was coming to town anyways to visit family, so it was perfect timing that she and her little family could make it to my son’s party. At first, the kids started playing video games, but I guided them to the great outdoors. Silly kids, it was a gorgeous day, they needed to be outside. They found my son’s stash of play swords and they all went outside playing a made up game of Minecraft – perfect! Video game and outdoor combo! I engaged with my friends, which was great to catch up them and to speak adult in general.

First, we let the children play. Then, everyone got plates of food to eat. Everyone was commenting on the Sunglasses emoji cake that I designed. I love making my son’s cakes! For the past 4 years, I have been making his cakes. I have gone through such crazy lengths to design cakes. Last year, I made Steve from Minecraft – it was crazy awesome!

Then, it was time for presents! He got so many awesome gifts. Some video games, board games, outdoor stuff and so much more! Then, we lit the candles for his cake. After we sang the traditional Happy Birthday song, he made a wish and blew the candles out. My brother yelled in the background, “Don’t spit on the cake!”. His friend awaiting the cutting of the cake, “Wish for a million dollars!”. Then, I completely destroyed the cake with my horrible skills of cake cutting. Everyone got their slices of cake and cups of Italian ice. Then, the kids ran off back outside to burn off some energy and sugar.

As the sun set behind the trees, our guests started to leave us. It turned out to be an incredible birthday weekend! I am grateful for the love and support of all of our families and friends. He may have only turned 9, but it was a celebration that was well deserved. He is an amazing young man and everyone came together to prove it. Thank you everyone! You made one little boy very happy! Operation Birthday weekend was a success!…and I have the clean-up to prove it.

Birthday Love and Peace My son turned 9 years old on Saturday. He woke up, looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I think I grew!

[grownupthinking-blog]

Perspective

PERCEPTION

 AKA - seeing the man behind the curtain and still thinking he’s a wizard.

 Sometimes growing up makes you realize a lot of things you took for granted when you were younger. Your parents aren’t always right about everything, food doesn’t just magically appear in your fridge, or the Santa at the mall isn’t the real Santa (spoilers, I know). But then there are other things that you just have to learn as you go, like car insurance sucks, health insurance (I’m American) REALLY sucks, and buying property doesn’t always mean cheaper month to month bills. You have to do your dishes. You have to scrub out the tub and toilet. You are the one who has to vacuum, sweep, mop and take out the trash all the time. There isn’t anyone there to catch you if you fall. You need to make your own doctors appointments. You need a job, that you may or may not like. It’s all part of growing up and it’s all what shapes us into the people we are.

 Growing up, your parents/guardians instill in you values and beliefs that you just assume are universal truths. “Everyone eats dinner at 6pm” “Thursdays are always burger nights” “Clear your plate when you’re done eating.” (Forgive me, I’m a chef by trade, so food is my metaphor or choice). It isn’t until you get away from them and live for a bit that you see how the rest of the world lives. Not even class differences, but much smaller than that – going to a friends house and seeing what they eat for dinner, how they arrange the furniture in their living room or even which parent does which tasks. IT’s one of those eye-opening experiences that makes tou think about the way things are and how they potentially could be – it makes you ask, “Why?”

 And that’s when conflict starts. “But why do I have to make my bed every morning?” “But why do I have to do the dishes before I go to bed EVERY NIGHT? They’ll still be there in the morning.” “Why can’t we eat dinner at 8pm instead of 6 so we can go see this movie?” I remember asking my parents why we didn’t go out to eat more. We were relatively well off family, everyone was always home at a decent hour and I wasn’t asking for a Michelin dinner – just Portillo’s or something easy. I always got dirty looks from my parents and they asked, “Well, are you going to pay for it?” I was nine years old. I was more interested in collecting Pokemon cards (the original 150) than collecting dollars and coins. It became a sticking point for me, so much so that I would stay at a friends house, at least 3 nights a week, for dinner because we would go out somewhere. My friends parents had no issue getting all of us some cheeseburgers from McDonalds or Hot Dogs from the place around the corner. It saved them time, made everyone happy and was inexpensive. The nights I would come home for dinner were always spent sulking because I didn’t want to eat the Shake and Bake nonsense my Mom would make, or the gray steak Dad would make (our broiler was not very good). So I went on trying to avoid coming home for dinner. Avoid the problem and it would just go away, right?

 Fast forward 6 years. I’m 15, in high school, just got my braces off and I have my first boyfriend. Coming out in high school was not something I was ready to do. I had told a few of my close friends and that was good enough for me, but “flaunting” it was not something I was prepared to do.

 **Sidebar: I, as most young, scared gay kids, covered by fear with active homophobia. I never hurt anyone (to my knowledge) but I used to think of it as a bad thing. I’ve since grown up, but we’ll get to that.**

 I had my boyfriend and we were together outside of school whenever possible. He lived by school, so I would always say I had to stay for an extra rehearsal or something and just go to his house. Both of his parents worked late, so we would usually have the house to ourselves for a few hours. Things got pretty serious pretty fast. Six months in (remember we’re 15) we decided to tell our families. Well, he told his family, and I chickened out. I remember calling him from the laundry room in my parents basement, crying. I told him I wasn’t strong enough, or good enough for him and we needed to break it off. It wasn’t fair for him to be with someone who couldn’t bring himself to admit the relationship to his family. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t strong enough. I broke up with him. At the time, this was the best course of action I could think of. Avoiding the problem, once again.

 Jump ahead another six years. I’m 21, living “on my own” with roommates on our college campus in an apartment my Dad is paying for. So adult. I’m doing small catering gigs out of our apartment to pay my rent and casually seeing someone. I’m pulling Cs in my classes (I used to be an A student) and I’ve gained about 80 pounds since coming to college. It comes time for winter finals, and I end up sleeping through my last one. I’m already doing poorly in the class, but theres no way I can make it up. I end up failing the class and I get put on academic probation. This is very new for me. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t avoid my parents finding out – the university mailed a letter home. I took the next semester off to “figure everything out.” I went to see a therapist. He told me I have “performance anxiety.” That didn’t register with me. How could I have performance anxiety? I have been performing on stages since I was 7. His evaluation told me that the performances I was used to – being in large groups and not really singled out – didn’t affect me or my life like the ones I was currently doing. Tests in classes that I knew I needed for my degree. Coming to terms with people – one on one – in relationships that could lead to something more fulfilling, more real, than just hanging out and having sex here and there. These were the things that were giving me anxiety, that I were afraid of.

 So I dropped out of college. It was definitely a mutual decision. I went to talk to my advisor and dean, and we came to the decision that me retaking courses and pulling my grades up wouldn’t be enough, and I’d end up somewhere mediocre when I graduated. I didn’t want that, and honestly I wasn’t happy in the career I chose. I thought the material was interesting and exciting, but the day to day drudgery was eating at me soul. I wasn’t happy.

 I moved home, mustered up some courage, and enrolled myself in a culinary school…without telling my parents. They weren’t very happy with me. We had a few fights, one lasting about a month where my Dad didn’t really speak to me, and one big one at the end. The final one happened all over the house, us following each other screaming and crying, and ended up with me making the biggest admittance I’ve ever made to anyone in my life – “I just want you guys to be proud of me” was what I told my parents through tears.  It was one of those “a-ha” moments that only came about because I had nothing left in me – nowhere else to hide.

 Over the last six years, I have gone to culinary school, graduated and worked countless jobs around the city networking with chefs and people I never imagined I would ever meet, moved out on my own (for real this time, mortgage and all), bought my own car, and have had the same job for almost two years now. I’ve dropped the 80 pounds I’ve gained from college and try to eat healthy whemever I can. Ironically, it’s taking me quitting the job I’ve worked the past two yeasrs for me to have this “a-ha” moment.

 I have been a chef for the last three years at two places. The first was a grocery store and butcher and the second was a restaurant. Both have taught me more in three years than my seven collective years of college ever did. And the latter job has taught me to question everything again. I’ve been asking “why?” again – and not accepting “that’s just how it is” as a legitimate answer. I love the restaurant industry. Looking at it from afar and seeing how many people it gives jobs to, how much the industry as a whole does for every single person every single day, and seeing the individuals who come in, bust their asses for a minimum wage paycheck, and are satisfied with a pat on the back and a “good job, see you tomorrow” really make me take pause. The great things people can do when they accept each other, put aside their differences and come together is great, but also seeing the hard work, dedication and sometimes overworking it takes to just get the doors open really makes me proud to do what I do. I’ve seen life from a lot of different viewpoints over the last 27 years, and I feel like I’ve seen the man behind the curtain. I know pain for losing someone you love and I know the joy of seeing new life come to be. I know how to start a business and I’ve seen businesses I’ve run nosedive when I leave. I’ve seen people flourish in jobs we’ve given them after a tough life on the streets or even jail time. I’ve seen rich, worry-free grown men who think they’re shit doesn’t stick humbled to the point that I have to teach them how to clean lettuce properly so the customers and their restaurants don’t end up chewing on sand.

 It’s important to keep perspective and know where you’ve been. Some people say that you should never look back because it distracts you from looking forward, but I disagree with that. Looking back gives you the knowledge you need to be able to move forward and be greater than the sum of your parts.

 I am a man. I am gay. I am white. I am loving. I am generous. And I am Human.

 We can all fight about politics, race, gender, inequality, pay, or even how to fold a bedsheet. When it all boils down, we’re all human, and we need to work together to be great. As one of my best friends and mentors put it, “Everyone just needs to do their fucking job. Stop fighting and complaining, just do your job.” Our jobs are to be greater than the individual. Let’s do it.