Category Archives: Children’s Books

Week 1 Summary: 2023 Is Off! ๐Ÿ’ฅ

Hello, everyone, and Happy 2023! As of writing this post, the first week of the year has come to an end. I hope your first week was great! Mine was very satisfying as far as accomplishments go, but also tinged with sadness.

๐Ÿ’” CW: pet loss discussion ahead. ๐Ÿ’”

You might remember Shampoo. Most recently “my mom’s cat”, Shampoo was in fact our shared cat for many years, along with Sweeney. We got her when we’d only been in the US a couple of years, and she was around 10 when I got married and moved in with Christopher. Here’s an old GIF I’d made of Shampoo and I many years ago:

As you can see, while in recent posts outside of this blog I put the focus on my mom’s grief, I loved Shampoo very, very much. I’d picked her out of the litter myself, and until I bonded with Rosie years later after I moved out, I had never had a cat I felt as close to as I did with Shampoo. She was on a different level, and so cheeky and playful.

This changed a lot in her last five or so years. She’d started to have painful blockages because of her long fur, which necessitated shaving it monthly. This seemed, to me, as though it changed her personality too. But perhaps it was that around this time she was already quite old.

Shampoo had MANY (very expensive) close calls in the last few years, and made it to an impressive almost 19 years old. But on Monday, it was all too much. She was severely anemic and in serious kidney failure. She was made comfortable for the next 24 hours, which allowed her to rest, eat normally, and just feel alright, until the next afternoon, when it was time to say goodbye.

Shampoo’s passing at home was as ideal as possible. Her body had not yet resumed failing and giving her pain. She’d eaten multiple times, napped peacefully, and enjoyed many pets from my mom. When the vet came (it was done at home) she did not even move from my mom’s lap, on the favorite chair they shared. She fell asleep there, happy and peaceful. We could not have asked for a better send-off.

I process grief a little different from most people. I think, I grieve my pets when they are alive. I remember when Shampoo was around nine years old. I was holding her and thinking how much I loved her, how unique a cat she was, and how I’d never have another cat like her. Shampoo was not sick: she was at her prime, and just being extra cute that day. I remember I started crying, then sobbing, as I held her. She was not amused.

It would not be the only time this happened, nor the only pet it happened with. Certainly I’ve cried with every pet that passed. But, I think I am recovering a little faster, in spite of my sadness, because of this –and because I wasn’t living with Shampoo for the last few years so she wasn’t as much of a constant in my life.

For my mom, it is very different. She tells me she is okay, but she’s also in deep, racking grief, wondering if she did enough (something I think no one would dispute). She told me how how she feels a constant anxiety right at her throat, and how she keeps looking for Shampoo in her usual sleeping-spots. I can’t really help my mom other than to listen, and knowing that she is in pain and will be for a long time is hard for me to accept.

That’s all I have to say about that, but as it was a major element in the week, I wanted to give it its own space. Now I’ll move on to the rest.

I’ve decided to go back to weekly summaries for posts (other than my daily resolution summary) because, now that I’m giving more priority to other things in my life, my blogging time has been reduced. And that is fine! I am very happy. I just want to make sure I can maintain a consistent posting schedule, and I believe this will be the best way to accomplish that.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿง‰ New Year’s Eve ๐Ÿง‰๐ŸŒˆโœจ

I’m allowing the New Year weekend to slip into this post, though in reality the post is about the first week of the year. On New Year’s Eve morning, I had mate and did some reading. My mom came in the early evening.

We had a pretty quiet New Year’s Eve. Our partner went to a party for a while, and we played board games –both by ourselves and with Christopher. Partner was back in time to ring in the New Year with us, and we did the customary eating of grapes at the stroke of midnight. You have to make a wish on each grape. I have one thing I want most of all in this life, so I made the same wish on every grape, with all my heart. It was my wish the last two New Year’s, too. Then we went to bed.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿงธ Sunday ๐Ÿงธ๐ŸŒˆโœจ

On Sunday, I finalized prepping everything to start the first week with a bang. Part of this involved sorting all paperwork and for the first time in our lives, clearing out the filing cabinet of too-old, unnecessary stuff, a lot of which was kept while my immigration paperwork was in process (we waited until my citizenship was done, and even then, another full year.) This took a few hours.

One of the things included in this process was sorting through the prior day’s mail, which included a couple of late holiday cards. One was from an old friend of my teddy bear Franklin, a kindly gentleman named Stephen.

Franklin has been receiving letters from Mr. Stephen for all of his life. Many people used to write to Franklin back when he was a small celebearty, but most eventually stopped. Not Mr. Stephen. Even though Franklin never replied, he’s been writing consistently over the last 10+ years, on all of Franklin’s birthdays and at Christmas.

The last card was very long and had an odd feeling to it. It made Franklin feel that Mr. Stephen may not write anymore. Franklin had wanted to reply in recent years, but the envelopes with the return address kept getting discarded. So we are trying to see if it’s possible to get in touch with Mr. Stephen via Facebook, so Franklin can show him how many friends he has now, and how he’s enjoyed all the cards over the years and in fact, kept them all.

I also went around the house, just doing accumulated chores, to make sure nothing went over to the next day. I was tired by the time the day was over, but it was a really successful day.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿง‰ Monday ๐Ÿง‰๐ŸŒˆโœจ

I drank mate for breakfast every day this week and enjoyed many of the leftover holiday snacks. I went back to written to-do lists, as well, and continued to enjoy reading multiple times a day. My coffee intake is decreasing thanks to the mate, and because I’m putting priority in things that matter to me, I am becoming happier and happier.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Tuesday ๐Ÿ–๏ธ๐ŸŒˆโœจ

Tuesday was Project Night! It’s an idea I had recently, a companion to our Date Nights. Every Tuesday evening, for at least two hours, we all work on personal projects. This past Tuesday, Christopher and our partner worked on turning a V-Tech Talking Whiz-Kid Notebook into a “real” computer by using a Raspberry Pi. Now it has a mouse, a battery pack, it’s really cool:

You can even view my blog! Although, it’s too big for the screen… ๐Ÿ˜…

I did something less cool, but it was important to me. Since one of my 2023 goals is to finish more coloring pages, I spent time with my coloring pages and crayons. I had a little snack, listened to music and had one of my dolls, Kalamata, for company (I’ll tell you a little more about her later).

I’m still working on a Christmas coloring page. I haven’t finished it yet, but I had a lot of fun. I’ll finish it on the next Project Night. I’ll use these nights for my coloring page goals, puzzles, scrapbooking pages, and more –such as pyrography.

Kalamata is a Zapf Creation doll, made in Germany. I was very excited when I bought her. But when she came to me, she smelled like cigarettes and her skin was sticky (some vinyl degradation). One of her sleepy eyes was (still is) slightly sunken. Worst of all, her legs were fabric! Even her feet are fabric. I wanted a doll with vinyl arms and legs. I was so upset that I immediately decided to donate her. She even made it into the donation box. But something about her expression just kept tugging at me. It is impish and very unique. Her skin color is also quite unusual.

I decided to give her some TLC. Since she had the old fashioned, tied-on style of head, I removed it, and washed her body. I bought some extra filling, and made her floppy arms a bit firmer. I washed, conditioned and combed her hair (her wig is beautiful; it feels almost like human hair, and after some research on these dolls, I think it may be the case, which is kinda nuts!) The wash and dry removed her vinyl stickiness, which thankfully has yet to return. The bad smells were also gone. She looks happy and mischievous!

I’m looking into a solution for her wonky eye, but even if I can’t fix it, I’ve grown very fond of her. I think she’s a very special doll full of personality, so, I will be keeping her.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ‘ง Wednesday ๐Ÿ‘ง๐ŸŒˆโœจ

Speaking of dolls –on Wednesday I finally opened some dolls that had arrived. One is the JC Toys/Berenguer Boutique “Chloe”, whom I’ve named Polenta. Her box was really beautiful:

She looks just like in the photos. Her vinyl is very soft. I generally prefer hard vinyl, but she’s a gorgeous little doll. She can turn at the waist, which is unusual. I’m sure I’ll enjoy taking her places.

Then there is Paola Reina’s Lidia, whom I’ve named Camila. She is the most luxurious doll I’ve ever owned, with a myriad points of articulation. Her ankles, wrists, elbows and knees are all articulated, as is her head.

She can be put into lovely poses, such as kneeling! And she is very big.

She also smells strongly of vanilla pudding –in particular, a vanilla pudding I had as a little girl. I am filled with nostalgia when I walk into the studio now, and smell it!

Our partner and I have been walking every day. On the way back during our walk on this day, we passed by the burned house. I’d been there when it was still burning, months ago. Back then, the damage didn’t seem so bad. We thought it was just the garage. But I guess the house was damaged very badly. The family appear to have left, and the house sits quiet and eerie.

The burned area reminds me of how, in The Neverending Story, things and even creatures would have chunks taken out by “The Nothing” (or, “La Nada” in Spanish). This house used to always have really nice vintage cars outside. I hope the family is doing okay.

Also on this day, I managed to ship a bunch of packages. A Little People train my friend Snow had me purchase for him, some books I’d been holding onto, a badge, and an exchange for one of my mom’s Christmas presents. Normally I really procrastinate on this sort of thing. It requires printing, packing, measuring, taping, filling out forms (for international packages) dropping things off… mailing packages is always a hassle but mailing international ones even more so for my ADD-addled brain. So I was really, really proud that I pushed through and did it all! ๐Ÿ˜Š

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿงƒ๐ŸฅŸ Thursday ๐ŸฅŸ๐Ÿงƒ๐ŸŒˆโœจ

Tomoyo has been struggling a lot with her asthma during these colder, drier days. We’ve bought her a humidifier, and I plan to invest in an air purifier soon. Anyway, here’s a photo of her relaxing:

I need to weigh her again soon, to see if her very expensive weight-loss diet is doing anything (which would also help her asthma).

On Thursday I continued to read Kaya’s Story Collection, and also enjoyed a little lunch.

Afterwards, I worked some more on commissions and watched dinosaur documentaries downstairs. It was a welcome respite from sitting at my computer alone, and from YouTube.

Then Christopher got home, and it was time for Date Night to begin!

We went to the food trucks, only to be absolutely sticker-shocked by a dramatic increase in prices. Some food trucks had prices higher than many of our usual restaurants. But we had ice cream, anyway. I made a mess of myself eating it, but it was such a treat!

We got chicken sandwiches for dinner and watched a bit more Chucky while eating. Then we started playing with LEGO! Here’s some photos of that:

Kotoko stayed near us. Our partner put her in a box and she stayed in it.

Afterwards, Christopher joined us on a walk. It’s the third time he does this week and I am so proud and happy. It is very hard for him to walk, and he hates it. But, it is good for him.

Here’s a photo I took on the way back:

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿงƒ๐ŸฅŸ Friday ๐ŸฅŸ๐Ÿงƒ๐ŸŒˆโœจ

Today, one of my last two dolls arrived. This was Antonio Juan’s Bella, whom I’ve named Penny. Her box was absolutely luxurious, and huge:

The dolly herself is about the size of an American Girl doll. Her vinyl is soft. Her clothes are very pretty and understated.

She has that immediately recognizable Antonio Juan trademark to her expression. Pouty rosebud lips, and serious, deep eyes with long eyelashes:

Here’s all three of my girls together, Penny, Marzi and Molly. I think Marzi would be happy to know she is still my favorite:

Kalinka, Camila and Polenta sit on the bunk bed instead, while Kamalata sits on my empty studio chair, and tends to be my constant companion, at least for this week.

Reading has been progressing very well! I finished both Jurassic Park/Jurassic World and Kaya’s Story Collection. Kaya’s Story Collection is now a firm favorite, equal to Samantha’s Story Collection. I badly want Kaya (the doll) but, having promised myself not to buy anymore unless I got them for special occasions, I am stuck. I did want her before reading her story, but so much more now that I have!

I hope she won’t be retired… it’s a sort of luck I seem to have, and a pattern with Mattel/AG these years. I’ve kinda hinted to my guys that I’d love her as a jointed Valentine’s present, but I know I probably shouldn’t hold my breath, nor should I use every special occasion as an excuse to get something new. ๐Ÿ˜” She is so special though, and so different from any other AG doll…

I almost got her instead of Molly when I saw her at the store. I want to go to the store again so badly, too, and choose Kaya right there. Her character is wonderful. I was so sorry that the book was over so abruptly… I wished it’d been twice as long. I wanted to see Kaya find her wyakin, and take Swan Circling’s name. I wish I could even have seen grow into a young lady and perhaps court and be courted by Two Hawks someday. It just wasn’t enough!

Anyway, I had another nice little lunch, and began reading Raggedy Andy Stories.

The illustrations are very beautiful. It is always poignant to see Marcella mentioned.

It’s pretty saccharine writing, but I enjoyed it very much. I’ll would eventually finish reading it on Saturday evening, to then start on Stephen King’s “It”.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐ŸŒณ Saturday ๐ŸŒณ๐ŸŒˆโœจ

Here is the line on Saturday morning to stare at the bird feeders:

After breakfast we went to IKEA to get nightstands for our partner’s room. We had Swedish meatballs and Christopher even treated me to a slice of cake! It is always fun to walk around IKEA, and I brought Giorgio to carry around.

After we put together the nightstands, I grabbed some coffee, a snack, and my Switch. I played Pokรฉmon for hours before falling asleep (I’ll recap my playthrough in a separate, detailed post). It was so relaxing and blissful. I woke up when Christopher came downstairs from his own nap, then resumed my housework.

โœจ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ“š Sunday ๐Ÿ“š๐ŸŒˆโœจ

On this day I began intermittent fasting, which gave my mom amazing results over the last two years. In addition to my extra exercise, we’ll see what it does.

I went grocery shopping, did a bit more housework, worked on art, began reading Stephen King’s “It”, and played video games. Elliot kept me company:

I now have all my Gym Badges, so the League is next! But maybe I’ll battle a few more Titans, first.

I also found an area to display my Jurassic Park Advent Calendar, and some other minis I had:

This has been a week of many accomplished important resolutions so far –but none as important as that of writing. I wrote 500 words a day almost every day, sometimes more, making up for the days I did not reach that number, to not only get to my total of 3,500 words, but completely surpass it, at 3,701 words. This was over two whole chapters!

When progress happens on my books, I feel, more than at any other time, as though my life has purpose. Considering this, you’d think I would try harder to make time for it. I’ve avoided it for so long, that my brain is still a little broken when it comes to working on my fiction, hence the small daily goal. But it’s getting better –as it is for reading, gaming, and simply letting my thoughts wander.

All of this time I’ve tried to keep up with news, with social media, with “the latest”. Making sure I am seen, not drowned out in the noise everyone else makes online, as they, too, try to be seen. I am accepting more and more than just having local friends, and a couple of online friends, is okay. That it’s okay if I lose touch with a ton of acquaintances, and it’s okay if I’m forgotten by people, it’s okay if I don’t keep up with every bit of news.

My own life and needs, the needs of those closest to me, and long put-off dreams and desires (often for the urge to make money to buy another toy) are slowly coming back into focus, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s only week one, but I’ll do my best to keep it up all year. For now, I’ll say…

…until next week!

Christmas โ€™22 ๐ŸŽ„โœจย ย [Advent Day 24 + Christmas Weekend]

Hello, my dear friends, and Merry Christmas! Though it is the 26th now, this post will encompass the last three days, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Below you can see Buddy, Sarah and Seรฑor Elf as I found them the morning of Christmas Eve –all together and getting along!

I hope with all my heart that Seรฑor Elf belongs to our household now. Guess we won’t know that until next Christmas. If he goes back to Christopher’s job, I’ll worry about him all month long. ๐Ÿ˜ž

The final surprise in the Jurassic World Advent Calendar was this MASSIVELY cool Jurassic Park gate:

Here are some pictures of the gate attached to the final setup:

Of course, the last reward of the LEGO City Advent Calendar was the man of the hour himself: Santa!

He came with a carrot to feed his pony:

Here is a final look at everything, elves and all:

The Advent Calendars were a great joy all through the month. It was so much fun! I hope I can have one again next year.

๐ŸŽ„ Christmas Eve Morning ๐ŸŽ„

In the morning, I worked on Christmas cards and had mate while Celeste kept me company:

I wrapped my White Elephant present to take to the family Christmas the next day, and placed a couple of surprises on our partner’s side of the bed for him to find at the end of the day:

The rest of the day was a busy flurry of chores, of packing for the trip, of making sure everything around the house was just right. Having stayed up cooking on Friday night with our partner until around 2:00am, at least I didn’t have to worry about that on this day.

๐ŸŽ„ Christmas Eve ๐ŸŽ„

Not long after my mom arrived, we got dinner on the table, and then we started with presents (around 8:00pm). We couldn’t wait til very late, because we were leaving early the next morning.

Before my mom got there, I had spent about an hour moving all the presents into the movie room, were we had the projector going with a merry scene and Christmas music, and sorted everything into piles for each family member, as well as hid a few very special presents for last.

One was a special record I managed to find for our partner. Another was a stuffed bunny from my mom to Christopher that he utterly loved, it was one of the highlights of his night:

Her name is Ribbon. We will be getting her a nice, soft black ribbon for her neck.

Yet another was the LEGO DeLorean that he wanted most of all (from his mom) and finally, the crowning glory of his evening, his famed LEGO “White Whale”, the LEGO 10194 Creator Emerald Night.

Naturally I couldn’t discuss this anywhere, but I got it around August, kept it hidden and have been paying it off since then (it’s a retired set of astronomically inflated price that will not go down, ever). All my excitement that you saw me have this year in regards to Christmas was tied to giving this present to him, which had its intended effect upon my beloved recipient. ๐Ÿ˜Š Very worth it, though definitely the sort of thing I can only manage once a great many years.

This was the entirety of Christopher’s LEGO haul. Everyone got him LEGO this year, he’s a lucky boy:

It was very cold, so we got unusually cozy. I was wearing my deer kigu.

More photos taken throughout the evening…

๐ŸŽ„ My Haul ๐ŸŽ„

Note --I took multiple photos since I couldn't fit my presents into just one, and spread them randomly through this section. They aren't necessarily placed to match any accompanying text (for the most part) and rather to generally illustrate this section.

Both in magical experiences throughout the entire season and in material gifts, this has been by far the most excessive Christmas of our lives. To such a degree, that I hesitated to share any of my presents. But, I AM so happy and I do want to express that happiness and gratitude on my personal space, at least. Ultimately, I figure that few people look at my blog, and it isn’t likely to upset anyone of the few people who do read it, so I will only talk about it here. I do want to acknowledge the people who showered me with wonderful things, somewhere.

In years past, when I got really nice things for Christmas I kinda told myself “think of how little you had as a kid” and then I felt less bad about having many nice things as an adult. But year after year, and especially this year, I feel like I’ve gotten spoiled to incomprehensible levels, to the point where all of these wonderful things fill me with guilt. Not just during Christmas, I mean in general. Whatever “balance” I was trying to adjust of feeling like I missed out as a child, has been firmly unbalanced in the opposite direction, and I think I need to Calm The Heck Downโ„ข.

At some point I need to start enjoying what I have in front of me. And right now I have a lot… I have years worth of incredible stuff to enjoy, books to read, games to play. Like, I was overwhelmed taking the photos. If I never received another Christmas present ever again, it would STILL be a lot.

From our partner I got the Medieval Blacksmith LEGO set and the beautiful Spanish doll I wanted so much –I’ve named her Kalinka:

I also got the Sesame Street figure set from him, and a Bluey smartwatch.

From Christopher, Santa, Buddy and Sarah I got my LEGO Holy Grail, the Lions Knight’s Castle, which brought me to tears even though I was pretty sure it was coming. And also from Christopher, I got two Rowdy Roars (Beta and Dilophosaurus) Mandalorian curtains for my studio, two Snap Squad dinos (velociraptor and triceratops) a Hammond Collection Parasaurolophus, a Camp Cretaceous Allosaurus, a Grogu puzzle, a Velociraptor click tracker, a Scribble Scrubbie Crayola dinosaur set, a Jurassic World Create-A-Scene book, a Highlights Hidden Pictures magazine (dinosaur themed) and two Crayola Art Edge coloring page packs –Jurassic World Dominion and Mandalorian.

From my mom I got a beautiful red mate gourd (a happy coincidence, as I am working towards replacing my coffee intake with mate) the Amnesia: Memories fan disc (Amnesia: Later x Crowd) as well as Paradigm Paradox for the Switch, a box of alfajores, chocolate eggs and chocolate strawberries, a luxurious dinosaur coloring book with thick pages and the most beautiful, intricate pen-and-ink artwork, and an E.T. Tervis cup.

Regarding the coloring book, I actually don’t want to color it. I wanted it as an art book, just to look at. It is just so beautiful.

From my sis-in-law I got one of the most coveted items on my list and one of those that made me cry from happiness, the Monchhichi girl I wanted so very badly. I’ve decided to call her Ponzu.

From my mom-in-law I got an amazing 3-in-one LEGO Castle. Together with the Lion Knight’s Castle and the Medieval Blacksmith, it will all make an incredible setup. I also got two smaller LEGO City sets from her, and Amnesia: Memories for the Switch. One of the most charming things I got was a little snail ceramic figure that my mom in law herself painted for me. It’s so adorable and silly!

I also ended up with two White Elephant presents. This bird feeder that my sis in law didn’t want (and I’ll definitely enjoy):

It’s prettier than I expected, and even lights up. I’m looking forward to hanging it.

And this little waterproof speaker, which I’ll bring along when we go kayaking:

I also got these very cute dinosaur lollies from my mom in law’s roommate:

I also got gift cards from my mom in law, Grandma, and my mom in law’s roommate. One Starbucks card, and few Amazon ones. So I now have a bunch of dolls and books coming, too. These were all high on my list, to the point that I only have like two dolls left I ever really want —someday. Someday in the FAR FUTURE.

The dollies I ordered are all high quality, made-in-Spain dolls. They will take a long time to arrive, but I hope to have lots of fun taking photos of my new friends. They are of different sizes, and a couple I should be able to take places with me as I do my bears. Below you can see their stock photos, along with the names I have picked for them (their original names were Bella, Lidia, Martina and Chloe):

Once I receive them, I’ll make posts about them. I am especially thrilled to have been able to get Martina/Natasha, since she was discontinued and already terribly hard to find. So now I’ll have dolls by Gotz, American Girl, Asรญ, Llorens, Antonio Juan, Paola Reina and JC Toys. It’s a pretty well-rounded collection.

If THAT wasn’t enough, I also have these books on the way. I haven’t been able to read Corazรณn since I was in elementary school.

There was one more BIG present I got, but I’ll talk about that one in a bit.

๐ŸŽ„ Christmas Day ๐ŸŽ„

Christmas morning we got the car loaded and headed to Grandma’s. I was a bit grouchy. During a lot of the holiday I’d had mild headaches and the cold was making my skin shrivel like a raisin. But I got a peppermint mocha and my crayons and coloring pages, my wearable blankie, and Raggedy Andy for company. I spent the car ride relaxing and feeling small and cozy.

Christmas with family was okay. We were all very eager to head to my mom in law’s to play games, relax and have some actual fun, because the Christmas meal with extended family is always stressful. But here came the big low of the holiday: my poor mom-in-law got COVID. So it was a rush of tests, of quarantining, heading back home before we could even unpack, sis in law changing her flight, basically a hard stop to all celebrations.

My mom in law’s face as we were leaving her house barely an hour after getting there was heartbreaking, her eyes were filled with tears. She almost never gets to see my sis in law these days, so it was a terrible turn of events for her who does so much and sacrifices everything for others; all she ever wants is to spend time with her children.

Honestly I would have rather risked COVID than leaving her alone. I felt so awful. I know Christopher and our partner would have stayed, too (Christopher is on vacation at home anyway, I work from home and our partner doesn’t interact with people at his job, plus we are all vaccinated and boosted, and we have all had COVID already). It would have been risky and stupid anyway, I’m well aware, but leaving her behind felt worse than that risk.

But even if we don’t care if we get sick, my sis in law has an upcoming surgery, works with immunocompromised people and has a big event coming up, all situations where COVID is taken very seriously so she simply cannot get sick. And we had to take her back with us so she could catch a plane back. So that is how Christmas Day ended.

๐ŸŽ„ Monday ๐ŸŽ„

We made the best of things and enjoyed one last day with sis in law. She masked, and stayed some distance from us. We had hot dogs for dinner and just enjoyed each other’s company and watched silly YouTube videos.

Oh, I said I would mention: the last big gift was something my old boss sent me, the double doll bunk bed I had on my wishlist. I was really shocked that anyone bought it for me, it’s so big and silly, but I love it. Christopher was nice enough to put it together for me when we were relaxing early in the afternoon:

It is really beautiful, even more than I’d expected. I think my dolls are going to fight as to who gets to sleep on it…

In the evening our partner made Mexican hot chocolate for everyone. But, it had cayenne pepper in it or something. It was very delicious but also painful to drink. Lol. Christopher could barely touch his, and I had most of mine, but couldn’t finish it.

In spite of the ups and downs all of this has been… well, a LOT. The amazing trips, the once-in-a-lifetime MOUNTAIN of incredible presents, it’s been a lot of happiness but it also feels a bit as if I just ate three giant cakes in a row. I feel bloated and guilty, both physically and emotionally.

I feel like I want to go on a diet of EVERYTHING: toys, outings, food. I want to quietly and calmly work for a few months, heck, a few years, and just enjoy what I have without buying or asking/trading for any more things.

I have so many toys to love, games to play, books to read, and things to do. I really need a break from all this excess, and to do just that. But above all, I am craving the rest and respite that I can only get from hard work.

So, I’m going to put the mountain of toys away, put the house back to normal, and hunker down to do art. I hope everyone’s Christmas was happy. I’m as excited to return to normal as I was about the holidays!

Christmas โ€™22 ๐ŸŽ„โœจ [Advent Day 3 + Holiday House Party]

Today was our holiday house party! To our delight/horror, Buddy decided to contribute:

You don’t have to look THAT thrilled at the show, Sarah…

Unfortunately none of our guests wanted to sample Buddy’s special lemonade. ๐Ÿ˜ž

Today’s Jurassic World Advent Calendar friend was Dimetrodon! I kept telling everyone I showed this to earlier that it was Spinosaurus, I got confused. ๐Ÿ™ˆ

Today’s LEGO City Advent Calendar prize was a mailbox! I built it with my friend Shelly and it was really fun:

Now this kiddo has someplace to drop his letter to Santa!

The party was SO much fun. Shelly and I watched a movie before everyone got there: Samantha, An American Girl Holiday.

I’d seen this movie long ago and it was just as lovely as I remembered. It’s also a little bittersweet for me. When I watched it, I’d really, desperately wanted a Samantha doll. I’d eventually get one, on what was a deeply special occasion. She was precious to me. Even at the point I owned the most dolls, it was only three. But, when I did one of my toy purges, I worried that dolls were something I couldn’t really collect because so many people find them creepy. It seemed like one of the things I had to let go of, at the time.

People who visit may think I have a LOT of teddy bears but they still find them cute. Dolls really go off the creepy charts when you pass a certain number. I felt I couldn’t take them our or enjoy them as I enjoyed teddies, and while I now have my friend Shelly, back then I had no one who loved dolls as I did. So all my dollies were donated. It is one of the rare cases where I regret every one of those cases. I never regretted donating my horses for example, but I really miss my dolls.

Shelly loves her Samantha as much as I loved mine. I get to see her Samantha doll whenever she visits, and that makes me really happy! Besides, I have my Marzi, and when our partner asked what I wanted for Christmas, I asked for a new doll from Spain. So I’m going to have a new doll again. This time, I’ll try to just enjoy and not worry about what others think.

The doll is made by a brand called “Asรญ”. It’s a very beautiful child doll with vinyl head and limbs and a soft, cuddly body. She’s big, almost 23″ tall!

Because it’s coming all the way from Spain, it’s not 100% sure that it will arrive in time for Christmas, but I’m hoping with all my heart! I think I’ll name her Kalinka.

Anyway, ramble over –here’s the only picture I took for the night, of two of our friends being very cute together:

My favorite part was giving everyone their presents. I was so happy. And Shelly had a surprise for me too! She knows me so well now, and everything she picked showed it. There was a Grogu blanket, neck pillow and eye cover set that I LOVE:

Dinosaur-egg shaped Belgian chocolates:

And a little Boo!

It’s so nice to get a bunch of little surprises that show the friend who picked them for you really thought about and remembered everything you like. That was the best part.

Shelly even made this lovely little hairbow for me. I wanted to wear it right away so we could be matching, but in wearing my Santa hat, I forgot. So for now I am displaying it by the LEGO Advent Calendar because it’s so pretty:

As an aside, I took these photos of Rosie during the party. I think she’s feeling better.

Before bed I also snapped this photo of the lights in my studio, which I’ve changed to Christmas colors. I really love them.

I went to bed before everyone else and read a little bit more of Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story. I’ve been really enjoying this book:

Stories from the POV of toys are among my favorites, and it reminds me that creating stories with my toys as the characters is something I really want to do. But I don’t want to start new projects, so whenever I get this urge, I work on my book some more. So I’ve been doing that a bit this last week.

Anyway that’s all I’ve got to share for this post. Tomorrow is my chore day so I’ll be busy! But next weekend we go to LEGOLand. I’m so excited!

Wally World Finds! ๐Ÿฌ๐ŸŒˆ

Here’s some spoooky Berenstain Bears booksโ€ฆ with stickers!

I had so much fun with my Halloween sticker face book that I got another, non-seasonal one!

Recently at Walmart I found this!

I missed it when it was at Target and was sure it was not something Iโ€™d be able to find at retail price. But I did, so Iโ€™m really happy!

Back To Normal ๐ŸŒž

Happy Sunday, everyone! Time for yet another week’s recap. All of this week I felt very overwhelmed. There is so much to do… I don’t know how I can ever catch up… but I guess eventually I’ll manage it. Anyway, let’s get to what happened this week!

๐ŸŒˆ Monday ๐ŸŒˆ

Monday was Mwako’s last day with us. We went out to breakfast and shopping one final time, and then he was off to the airport.

At Publix he sneakily got this Jurassic World Dominion shopping bag that he surprised me with before leaving… I love it!

We did one final Target stop, where I finally caved and got the Ankylosaurus that I’d picked up and put back on the shelf three times prior. At home, he quickly made friends with Bumpy!

Also at Target, I found this awesome coloring book of Turning Red. It has wonderful illustrations and activities –stickers, too!

I also got another Highlights Hidden Pictures book. I love these so much. The old-timey pen and ink illustrations give me life!

The last lovely find was this little gliding Bowser Jr.! Isn’t he adorable?

For dinner we had salmon. And that was that for Monday. I don’t have anything to share until Thursday because I was just so busy.

๐ŸŒˆ Thursday ๐ŸŒˆ

For Thursday I have a few odds-and-ends. Firstly, I installed the bird feeder that my mom in law gave to me, and added a cob of corn for good measure:

Also –this is older, but I only photographed it today. It’s a very gently used The Lost World: Jurassic Park baby triceratops figure by Kenner:

Brand new, this can go well over a hundred dollars. She came out of the box and with no egg, but she was only $25… so I am happy.

Also, I hung my little Bowser Jr. from the studio ceiling so he looks like he’s gliding!

Today our partner and I released some ladybugs to fight the aphids in our brand new almond bush. The ladybugs were exposed to the heat for too long on the way to us, but most of them revived and immediately went to work:

Later in the afternoon, at the insistence of friends, I took a break to play some Pokรฉmon Sword and have a snack:

I drank another of my Good2Grow Podz, this one is a baby T. rex, so cute!

๐ŸŒˆ Saturday ๐ŸŒˆ

Saturday was stressful. Kotoko has been vomiting, sometimes a little pink (meaning there was blood, at least once). We’ve been in constant contact with our vet, and finally at her advice we brought her in. Kotoko was a very good girl, as always.

Multiple tests were done and we will see what the results say, for now we have special foods and nausea meds. Hopefully it is nothing serious.

In the evening, the three of us went out to dinner. We ate at El Balcรณn De Las Americas. It was a good place, we will go there again. Since we were a bilingual table, our very nice waiter gave us a bilingual dessert:

Later that night I decided to dress Grover up in pajamas, since all he ever does is sleep with me anyway:

๐ŸŒˆ Sunday ๐ŸŒˆ

On Sunday I went on a little date with our partner while Christopher rested and enjoyed some solitude. He couldn’t get us out the door fast enough, but I think he would have enjoyed this place were it not for the heat. We went to the Yellow Green Farmers Market. The best thing was the smells –like fair food stalls on steroids! We had carne a la vara, with arepas. It was awesome.

The people at this stall could use some help spelling, but it was pretty hilarious:

A lot of people bring their dogs here. This pupper was at a stall that sold… either carved wood items of some sort, or candles, or both. I forget.

He or she was in fact a good guard dog, but only as far as other puppers were concerned. I could get this close without any sort of reaction! If any dogs got anywhere in sight though (even far off!) this pupper would perk up and bark fiercely… without ever leaving his or her little perch. ๐Ÿ˜

Anyway, that was a lovely time. I’m really treasuring the memories made. ๐Ÿ’•

An On-And-Off Rainy Week โ˜”

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s time for a recap. I was sick for a bunch of this cold, rainy week, but in moderately high spirits regardless. So I’ll begin with some musings before the actual recap. You may already have heard me go on about the following a bit on Twitter, but I wanted to expand here.

I drew a LOT this week, felt very creative, getting back in touch with a part of my artist self that I’ve kinda abandoned over the last ten years. I’d say the last couple of years have brought me the most joy art-wise. I feel more fulfilled when I draw than ever before. And yet… I’ve felt these past six months as though clients in the art community I’m in may be kinda moving on from me and some other artists.

I see a lot of established artists like myself struggle to fill slots, including artists that were once in high demand. Maybe it’s the economy, maybe it’s algorithms, all I know is I am not the only one (which is some comfort).

Basically, I’m trying to branch out, at least before I give up on commission art altogether. I’m trying to go back to my cute little characters from 10+ years ago, the non-commission art that predates my days in the fandom, which has more mass appeal.

I’m also going to be doing the odd fan art. I just feel like there is less demand for some parts of my work these days. So, rediscovering myself as an artist this week has been refreshing, even though the uncertainty regarding funds does have me very worried.

๐Ÿคง Monday ๐Ÿคง

Nothing much to say for Monday. Had a quiet but busy day at home. All I have to share from this day is a picture of Rosie.

โ˜” Tuesday โ˜”

I’d been getting pretty stir crazy, so, on this day, I got permission from Christopher for a Starbucks treat, and went out. It was rainy. I spent some time at Starbucks, and once I was done with my food, I walked to the bookstore.

At Barnes & Noble I got a plushie and a book. I also read this picture book which promptly made me tear up in the store. I would have bought it, but it was like twenty bucks. I ended up buying it on Amazon as soon as I got home.

Usually I share a little bit of the inside of a book. But I feel like a lot of the punch of this book is lost if you show any pages. It’s a bit like a little comforting, hopeful song, and a book I intend to keep near my desk to read when I need to remind myself that all bad times are temporary. I really, really recommend it, even if you are an adult, it’s a nice thing to have.

The other book I got was Growing Grouchy. A very cute little story of Oscar’s birth and early years. And a little chick that I named Gumdrop.

Here’s a couple of close-ups from that book. I love the cameo of little grumpy Bert:

And a photo of Gumdrop with the hat I picked. I’ll make him a bandana and name necklace soon:

๐Ÿค Wednesday ๐Ÿค

Wednesday was another day of arting. In the morning I had a Zoom call with my mom. Then I went on a walk (it was rainy again, but nice and cool out):

…and had an acai bowl for lunch:

Not much else to say about this day. I’ve just been working so much every day this week, I didn’t leave much time for leisure. ๐Ÿ˜…

๐Ÿฎ Thursday ๐Ÿฎ

Ok as far as Thursday, first let me get my lunch out of the way. I made my own Mexican-style corn thing and it was very yummy, I had queso for a dip:

The best part of Thursday was date night. I’d long been excited about it because we planned to watch Turning Red. I was very turned off by this movie when I saw the first trailers and images, but as I heard more about it after its release, I got a little more interested.

Well, I’ve got to say, it is my favorite Pixar movie in years! The expressions and body language of the characters absolutely make the movie. As some have stated, it is cringy, but in a delightful, purposeful, “that’s the joke” sort of way: your early teens ARE probably the cringiest part of your life, after all.

It is also a love letter to the late 90s/early 2000s, a pivotal point in my own life. I was a bit of a late bloomer, since I was Mei’s age in 1997, but it was around the time the movie takes place (a few years after that, meaning I was older) was when I was emotionally in the same place Mei is in the film. I still found it deeply relatable, even more so because it was just my mother and me during a large part of my late childhood and all of my teens/early adulthood.

Conflict was inevitable, especially as I got older, but I was much less “my own person” than Mei is (too afraid to do so) and had no friends to fall back on, other than one girl for a couple of years. So, it would take me until I left the house at 30 (!!) to slowly begin to feel like voicing serious disagreement, let alone anger, to my mom was allowed.

These days, it is much less of an issue for me. Like with Mei, having other people giving you perspective really helps you to be your own person, standing on your own two feet –and eventually you don’t need that either.

Anyway, between watching an animated movie (something I haven’t done in forever) and getting a Happy Meal, WITH a toy I actually cared for, this was a very “Little” night! I was over the moon when I saw that Mario Kart was the theme!

To make things even better, I got Bowser, and my burgers where some of the best I had in a while, with very juicy pickles. I even used my Bluey placemat for the first time!

After the movie we just hung out and had quality time together. It was a lovely evening and the highlight of my week all around.

Friday

This was a very busy day. I worked on art all day, and we went shopping to like four different stores for groceries. That was actually very pleasant, and I got treated to my favorite sandwiches from the Argentinean bakery. But it is always so hard to step away from my work.

We had a lovely dinner at home in the evening. Here is a photo of Kotoko and Elliot that I took in the early afternoon to wrap up the post:

Tomorrow we have an outing, and Sunday a dinner with friends, so I’ll do the weekend on a separate post in case I end up with a lot of photos.

Mid-March Weekly Summary ๐ŸŽˆ๐Ÿ›

Hello, everyone! I hope youโ€™ve had a happy week! Itโ€™s been very busy for us, as all weeks have been lately. So, as has become the norm for my blog, I just have one long post to catch you all up on the weekโ€™s happenings.

For starters, I am sick again. It seems I had one week of relief in between head colds. Itโ€™s very mild (milder than the prior one). Just really annoying. Anyway! Letโ€™s begin.

๐Ÿ› Curry Dinner! ๐Ÿ›

On Tuesday night, I made Japanese style curry. Iโ€™ve had many previous attempts that didnโ€™t turn out so great. Finally I figured it out, trying a new recipe which I doctored a bit. My guys loved it, as did I, and Iโ€™m looking forward to having it again with different meats.

๐ŸŽ‚ Christopher’s 38th Birthday Dinner ๐ŸŽ‚

Wednesday was Christopherโ€™s birthday! He got his remaining presents in the morning, and in the evening, we went to The Capital Grille in Downtown Miami. It was an extremely fancy restaurant, a real treat, so I dressed up a little.

Christopher was… excited.

All the food was wonderful, but I didn’t have my phone (forgot it in the car) so I didn’t take many pictures. Here is one of the appetizer, though, Tuna Tartare:

It was spicy. We also got a picture of Christopher with his birthday dessert:

๐Ÿงธ Toklo ๐Ÿงธ

Toklo now has a new ribbon and shirt. He still needs his name necklace, I’ll work on that next week.

The shirt is pretty funny, it was a Build-A-Bear online exclusive.

๐Ÿš‚ Date Night ๐Ÿš‚

For date night, we had one more round of playing with our trains before putting them away. We’ll probably play again in a month or two; I’m sure I’ll want to, as my new Thomas things begin to arrive later this month.

A little video…

Toklo got to play with us too:

The cats always love to observe and walk among the track. They don’t destroy anything, they just get excited by it all.

Afterwards we had tea. They gamed for a bit while I kept fiddling with Instagram, setting up my new art account. It was a nice, chill end to a lovely evening together.

๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ Rosie ๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ

Have some cute photos I took of Rosie. I woke her up from her morning nap and played with her a little. She is such a soft, sweet little thing!

๐Ÿฅž Pancake Breakfast ๐Ÿฅž

This weekend, Christopher’s mom and grandma came to visit and celebrate Christopher’s birthday. We went to Nami Sushi for Friday night dinner and to a Thai place on Saturday evening. On Saturday morning, we had pancakes. Christopher made me a mouse-shaped one, so I decorated it:

It was very yummy!

Unfortunately I spent a lot of the weekend in a very crabby mood due to being sick. I am not very sick, but it is annoying. It makes it harder to do anything, and I am constantly sleepy. It also got a lot colder on Saturday night, and the cold makes me lazier. Hopefully I get my energy back again real soon.

๐Ÿ“ฆ Goodies From This Week ๐Ÿ“ฆ

I have a few new things to share. One is this new top I got on Etsy. It appears very wrinkled in this photo, but it’s really very cute:

I also got a Super Mario coloring/sticker book and a Camp Cretaceous activity play-pack:

Finally, we went on a Goodwill stroll yesterday, and I had two happy finds. One is this lovely old storybook:

And the other is this awesome, massive Sesame Street blanket that I covered my futon with. I love it! It is like new, and only six bucks.

That is all for this week’s post. I am tired, and busy… I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, and I look forward to sharing another week of art with you as I get back to my drawing board on Monday.

A Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello everyone! I hope you had a Thanksgiving weekend as wonderful as mine was. I wore my new white boots for the first time on Thanksgiving Day. I was so happy with my entire outfit:

Grover was my travel companion. It turns out if I bring down the cup holder, it makes a perfect little seat for Grover to be strapped in, seatbelt and all.

Thanksgiving was a bit less hectic, more peaceful than other years. A baby was born in the family on Thanksgiving Day so several family members were missing. Plus, some were not there due to just, family drama… ๐Ÿ˜ž it was a really nice meal together though. This was our spread, behind the table where we actually ate:

The weather was absolutely lovely, cool and overcast. After the dishes were done, we left Grandma’s house in Port St Lucie for my mom in law’s house. We did a quick stop at Big Lots first since it was the only open store. Christopher let me take a little Yoshi but in the end my mom in law was the one who bought it for me:

Once at the house, we got comfortable and our friend started mixing drinks. It was really cute to see his reaction to my mom in law’s roommate’s pomeranian; I’d completely forgotten that it would be there, and Christopher didn’t say anything on purpose, since our friend has a little pom of his own that he adores. The resident pom, Panda, was very happy with all the extra attention:

My mom in law made all the cats say hello to him too so they would stop being scared of his voice (because he doesn’t usually visit so they weren’t used to him). It didn’t really work, but Momo sat on him for a polite 30 seconds:

This evening was the most fun I had. We played Mario Party and Pictionary (it was my first time playing that) and I had two Mojitos which kind of destroyed me. This picture was taken earlier in the night. I was so happy to see Christopher smiling and having fun.

Naturally, he won at Mario Party, he usually does.

Christopher took this photo of me a bit later; I think I was well into my second drink by then and every time it was my turn to draw I basically dragged myself across the floor to the board. I half-slept between turns (pictured) and by the time I had to get up the next morning (at 4am!) for Black Friday, I was still kinda drunk.

It was the first time I went to sleep drunk and woke up drunk, but I didn’t have a bad hangover and I didn’t throw up. So… all in all, not too bad. ๐Ÿ˜…

Black Friday

As mentioned above, we were all up at around 4:00am. Black Friday in Sebastian is very chill… no lines, no stress, pretty relaxed employees too. Sometimes they even give out free hot chocolate and things like that. We went to Walmart, to Best Buy, to Petsmart, where I got a few presents for the cats…

…then to breakfast (McDonald’s) and to Home Depot. We then went to a few furniture stores, and by this point, while I’d fully sobered up from the night prior, everyone was starting to feel sleepy, myself included. Christopher passed out in one of the stores:

Ultimately a couch was purchased, and we went back to the house for a pizza lunch and nap. Later that day, a TV was purchased too, and a new Switch. Then we went to Makoto’s for dinner, a long-awaited highlight of this trip.

Once everything was set up, we played Pictionary and Mario Kart (well… I played Pictionary… by the time Mario Kart was underway I was passed out on the floor. I didn’t even make it fully through my second Mojito this time), but it’s okay, Grover can finish it for me…

Saturday

Saturday was a little more relaxed. Christopher and I cuddled for a while before I got up, and then I went to get bread so my mom in law could make French toast. We had a nice relaxing breakfast. At some point we went out one more time, and my mom in law got me the new walking shoes I so desperately needed. Also, Grandma and I went to Michaels, and I got Mandalorian advent calendars for me and my sis in law. Here’s mine on the wall:

We left around four in the afternoon, and got home a little past six. After that, the three of us still hung out a few hours, had dinner, and watched Cowboy Bebop. Then we dropped our friend off and Thanksgiving weekend was truly over, since I’ll be spending all of tomorrow unpacking and catching up on chores.

On the drive back, I completed Saint Germain’s story in Wintertide Miracles.

Below are some spoilers for Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~ soโ€ฆ donโ€™t read any more if you plan to play it!!

I don’t know why, but I didn’t like it so much. He was all whiny and full of feelings the entire route. I don’t mind that with other LIs, and he’s certainly that way at times in the original game too, but I always enjoyed how he could be a little scary, even playfully during Future Blessings, and you never really knew what he was thinking. I don’t know, I found him a bit “much”. Regardless, here’s a couple of screenshots of parts I liked:

Finis is always fun, though. I think he will end up being the best part of the fandisc for me.

Something I forgot to share in my “before leaving” post is this Sesame Street Christmas Treasury I got. I meant to read it during the trip, just as I meant to play more of Wintertide Miracles, but in the end I was just too entertained enjoying my time with family.

This book is lovely, with illustrations from multiple eras. The vintage ones are my favorites.

I guess I’ll wrap it up here, tomorrow and Monday are going to be really busy for me. Plus, I’ll be releasing a new YCH, so please look forward to that. Talk to you all later!

In Pain But Okay! ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Hi everyone! Today was a blah day. I had cramps a lot so I had to take my chores slowly but I still did pretty much all of themโ€ฆ I just couldnโ€™t get to the Christmas decorating. But I did go through my wardrobe finally, and trimmed it a bit. I also went to get groceries for dinner (where I got my walk in) and made myself a new Christmas icon for the season.

For dinner, I made turkey meatballs and pasta. It wasnโ€™t a bad day, but I hope to have more energy tomorrow.