#They gave me an extra hash brown

[universalvibes]

They keep telling me grief comes in waves.

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Sweet on You, Chapter 2

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Story Summary: HERE

Warnings/Tags: Sugar Daddy!Matt Murdock, Idiots to Lovers, No Age Gap, Alternating PoV, No Use of Y/N

Word Count: ~2800

A/N: Thank you to everyone who liked and reblogged the first chapter! If you'd like to be tagged in this, please let me know.

Divider by @theradioactivespidergwen!

Tag List (struck-through blogs could not be tagged): @danzer8705 @capylore @shouldbestudying41 @atemydadforbreakfast @peachy-flxwr @sleepysleepymom @fishinsuits @milkbummm

You looked at your phone once again as you headed down the busy sidewalk towards The Brew Towers.

Matthew had messaged you the previous evening confirming your meeting and sending you a description of himself so you'd know who you were looking for in case the café was crowded. I have dark brown hair and will be wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt with a black leather jacket, he had sent.

Okay, you had replied. See you tomorrow.

You had agonized over your own outfit, finally deciding to wear jeans and a sweater since it was the middle of November.

The closer you got to the café the more nervous you became. What if Matthew took one look at you and changed his mind? What if he wanted more than what you were comfortable with giving? What if--

You shook your head. The last thing you needed to do was to give yourself a panic attack, especially over ‘what if s’. 

You continued on to the café, taking a deep breath before entering.

You looked around for someone who fit Matthew’s description of himself, finally spotting a dark-haired man sitting alone at a table in the corner. 

He was handsome, with a strong, straight nose, plush lips, and eyes that were hidden behind red-tinted sunglasses. That must be him.

You headed over, pausing as you got to his table. “Excuse me, Matthew?”

He looked up at you with a smile and nodded before saying your name questioningly.

You nodded in return. “Yes, hi.”

Matthew stood and stuck his hand out for you to shake. “Hi, it's nice to meet you. And please, call me Matt.”

You took it and gave it a brief shake. “Nice to meet you too, and okay. Matt it is.”

Matt gestured towards the empty chair opposite him. “Here, have a seat.”

“Thank you.” You unwound your scarf and took your coat off before draping both across the back of your chair and sitting. 

“How about I go order our coffee?” Matt asked as he remained standing. “What would you like? Anything to eat?”

You eyed the display case of baked goods. In your nervousness you had skipped breakfast, so… ���Um, sure.”

You gave Matt your order and he nodded. “Got it. Be right back.”

He took a long white cane out of his jacket pocket and unfolded it, then headed towards the counter to place your orders.

Okay, so that explains the sunglasses indoors, you thought. And probably why he wanted to meet in person to discuss terms rather than hashing it out over DMs.

You waited as Matt placed your orders then returned with a small numbered placard.

“So, um, how are you today?” Matt asked as he sat.

“I'm well,” you replied. “And you?”

“Good, good, yeah…” Matt paused. “Um, thanks for agreeing to meet with me. I've never done this sort of thing before.”

You shrugged. “It’s not a problem.”

“If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been a sugar baby? I'm just curious since you don't seem to fit the typical profile.”

Your hackles raised slightly. “You mean because I'm not a barely-legal teenager with daddy issues?”

Matt chuckled warmly. “Quite frankly, yes, but I promise it's not a bad thing -- In fact, it's one of the main reasons I chose you. I apologize if I came off as judgemental, that wasn't my intention.”

You relaxed at Matt's apology. “I actually prefer the term ‘companion’, if you don't mind.”

Matt shook his head. “Not at all. How long have you been a companion, then?”

“I've been on Sugar and Spice for about four months -- I ran into some financial trouble and found that it was the fastest and easiest way to make some extra money… at least legally, that is.”

Matt suddenly looked concerned. “What kind of financial trouble? That is, if you don't mind me asking. Maybe I can help if it's something you could use some legal advice on.”

You shook your head. “Thank you, but I have it handled. It's actually not even technically my debt – I'm helping my mother out with some medical bills after she got seriously ill and wound up in the hospital. She had lost her job – and subsequently her health insurance – right before she got sick, so now she has to pay all of her hospital bills out of pocket. She can't afford the monthly payments, so I offered to help. It's the least I can do after all the sacrifices she made for me when I was growing up.”

You were fortunate that the hospital had agreed to put your mother on a long-term payment plan without much fuss, so there was no need to get a lawyer involved even if you could afford Matt's services. 

You paused as a café employee brought your and Matt's coffee and pastries to you, thanking them before they left. “I don't intend on being a companion forever, just until I get things settled with that.”

Matt took a sip of his coffee. “In that case, shall we discuss business then?”

You nodded. “Why don't you start by telling me a bit about yourself and what your expectations are for this arrangement, especially since you said that this is your first time doing this sort of thing.”

Matt nodded. “Well, as you already know, I'm an attorney with Nelson, Murdock and Page. I'm currently single, but, uh, I guess you probably already figured that out considering the circumstances.”

You shook your head with a wry smile. “I've learned never to assume anything about Sugar and Spice 's clientele. You'd be surprised at how many people frequent the site who aren't actually single.”

Matt chuckled. “Fair enough. My busy lifestyle doesn't really allow for a committed relationship, so I'm looking for someone to fill that role in my life that isn't actually expecting commitment.”

You pursed your lips, unable to help but silently judge Matt. “So you basically just want a friend with benefits.”

Matt shook his head. “No -- well, yes, but -- not exactly?”

He sighed. “I'm honestly just looking for someone to spend time with, someone to accompany me to dinner or a concert or to take a walk and go for coffee with, someone to bring as my plus-one to the occasional work event when necessary. I'm not expecting anything sexual in return -- in fact, I think it's actually best if we'd keep things strictly platonic between us.”

You nodded, relaxing once again. You found it odd that Matt wasn't expecting any sort of ‘sugar’ in return, but then again, to each their own. “Okay, so you actually are just looking for a companion then.”

Matt nodded. “I'd give you a guaranteed monthly stipend in addition to paying for all of our outings, and in the case of a work event I'd arrange a shopping trip for you if necessary.”

“How much of a stipend are we talking about?” You figured it'd be about three or four hundred dollars a month, which was okay with you since that would at least cover the minimum monthly payments on your mother's medical bills.

Matt shrugged. “Let's say… a thousand a month?”

Your jaw nearly dropped to the floor. A thousand dollars a month just to accompany a handsome, rich lawyer to dinner a couple of times a week and the occasional party full of other rich lawyers? At that rate you'd have your mother's medical debt paid off a lot sooner than you originally thought.

Matt must've taken your silence as a rejection, because he added, “unless that's too low? Like I said, I've never done this before so I don't exactly know what the going rate is for something like this.”

You quickly shook your head. “Uh, no, no, I think I can agree to a thousand dollars a month.”

Matt smiled, looking relieved. “Great! I'd like to have something in writing, so would you mind swinging by my office on Monday?”

You nodded. “Sure.”

Matt took his wallet out and extracted a business card. “Here's the address.”

You took the card and looked at it.

You nodded. Matt's office wasn't too far from your own. “Okay, yeah. It'll have to be late afternoon, though. Is a little after 5 o’clock okay with you?”

Matt nodded in return. “Yeah, that's fine.”

“Okay, good.” You pocketed Matt’s card.

Matt broke off a piece of the croissant he had ordered and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “So are you from New York?” he asked after he had swallowed and took a sip of his own coffee.

You nodded. “Yeah, born and raised here in Hell's Kitchen. You?”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Where'd you go to school?” You didn't recall there being any blind students at your school when you were growing up, but then again you had been so focused on your studies in order to try to make your mom proud that you didn't really notice much else.

Matt shook his head. “I was mostly homeschooled.”

“Oh, okay. Nevermind then. I thought maybe we had gone to school with each other since we're both from here.”

Matt bit his lip as if he was contemplating his next sentence. Finally, he said, “My mom left not long after I was born, so my dad raised me. He, uh, he always said that it was important that I get a good education so I wouldn't have to struggle to make ends meet like he did, so after I graduated high school I went to Columbia and got my law degree.”

You took a bite of your own pastry. “He must be really proud of you for becoming a lawyer then.”

Matt shook his head. “He died when I was 9.”

Your eyes widened. “Oh my God, I'm so sorry.”

Matt shrugged. “It's ok, you didn't know.  What about you though, do your parents still live around here?”

You nodded. “It's always been just me and my mom, but yeah, she doesn't live far from here.”

You paused as your phone began to ring, Mom flashing across the screen. “Oh and actually that's her. I'm sorry, I’ll just be one second.”

Matt nodded. “No problem.”

You quickly swiped to answer. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi honey,” your mom replied. “Are you busy?”

“Uh…” You glanced over at Matt. “I'm out having coffee with a friend, but what's up?”

“Oh, well I was wondering if you wanted to come by for lunch tomorrow. I found this new recipe I wanted to try and it's been a while since we've cooked together.”

“Yeah, that sounds great. What time do you want me over?”

“Would 11:30 work for you?”

“That'll be fine. Need me to bring anything?”

“No, I think I have everything I need for it. I'll let you get back to your friend, see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow, Mom. Bye.”

“Bye, honey.”

You hung up. “Sorry about that.”

Matt shook his head. “It's no problem. So, you and your mom are pretty close, huh?”

You nodded. “Yeah, we are. And actually that reminds me, how are we handling this? Because I’m gonna have to tell her eventually that I’m seeing someone.”

Matt hummed. “I don't suppose she knows about your job as a ‘companion’ then.”

You shook your head. “She thinks I got a raise at my day job, and I'd really rather her not find out the truth or else she'll refuse to let me keep helping her out.”

Matt chewed on his lip as he thought. “Honestly I think it's best if we keep our arrangement under wraps, so we could just tell people we're dating since you'll be accompanying me to work events and things like that.”

“Okay.” You took another bite of your pastry. “So then how'd we meet since we can't really tell people we met on Sugar and Spice ?”

Matt shook his head with a smile and waved a hand around the café. “Well, since the most believable lies at least have a kernel of truth to them, how about a coffee shop?”

He took another sip of his coffee. “We struck up a conversation in line and decided to sit together since it was busy, and by the time we left I had asked you out for dinner.”

You thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, okay. That way the timeline will still fit.”

“How about dinner on Monday, then? We can meet at my office, sign the contract, then go somewhere nearby?”

“Okay.” Unless Matt chose a fancy steakhouse or something for your regular work attire would suffice.

“Great. How does Asian fusion sound?”

“Yeah, that's fine.” 

You and Matt continued to talk for another hour as you got to know each other, finally exchanging phone numbers as you were both leaving. “It's easier for me to communicate this way,” Matt explained as the two of you walked outside. “Unless you'd prefer to use the website?”

You shook your head. “No, that's fine. I can't exactly check my S&S messages while I'm at work anyway.”

Matt handed you his phone so you can input your number. “Okay great. Thanks.”

You input your contact information then quickly sent yourself a text so you'd have Matt's number before handing his phone back to him. “So I'll see you Monday afternoon, then?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, Monday.”

“Okay.” You weren't sure if you were supposed to shake Matt's hand or give him a hug or what, so you settled for an awkward wave then mentally cringed at yourself for waving at a blind man. “Well, thanks for breakfast.”

Matt shook his head. “No problem.”

“Okay, bye.” You turned and headed back to your apartment, silently hoping that you'd actually made the right decision.

Matt pocketed his phone as you walked down the street, waiting until you had turned the corner before unfolding his cane and heading in the opposite direction back to his apartment. You had seemed nice enough – over the past couple of hours he had learned that you had graduated from NYU and were currently working as an administrative assistant at an architectural firm not far from Nelson, Murdock, and Page, but that your dream actually lay in historical preservation. 

“There's just something comforting about stepping into an old building that's been restored to its natural splendor,” you had said. “Being transported back to a simpler time, where we didn't have to worry about alien invasions or crime-fighting vigilantes wearing red Spandex.”

Matt had chuckled. His Daredevil suit was actually made from a material akin to Kevlar, so it wasn't exactly stretchy or comfortable, but it wasn't like you knew that. “So I take it you don't approve of Daredevil then?”

You had taken a sip of your coffee before answering. “ Actually, quite the opposite. I feel like the streets have been a lot safer since he's shown up, especially at night. Daredevil’s doing a better job of protecting this city than the police department is.”

Matt had nodded. Patrolling Hell's Kitchen as Daredevil was about more than dismantling Fisk’s empire and getting the cartels off the streets, it was about protecting people from low-level criminals as well. “Yeah, I get that.”

Once Matt reached his apartment he sat down on his couch then picked up his laptop. Might as well start drafting the contract while the terms are fresh in my mind.

He paused when he reached the part regarding his payments to you, then after a moment he pulled up your Sugar and Spice profile before sending you the note, I had a great time this morning along with $200.

When you had balked at his offer of $1,000 a month he immediately thought that he had lowballed you and was fully prepared to double it, especially since out of all of the profiles he had gone through on Sugar and Spice, you had been his only choice of ‘companion’. 

He didn't know what he had expected your reasoning behind joining the site to have been, but it certainly hadn't been because you were helping your mother with hospital bills. I wonder how much she owes.

He figured it must've been a fairly substantial amount since not only did your mother have to foot the bill herself due to losing her health insurance just before going into the hospital, but also because of the lengths you were willing to go to help her pay it.

Matt finished drafting out the contract before reading it over using his text-to-speech app and nodding in satisfaction.

He saved it then sent it to his work email, certain that he had made the right decision.

[mothxmoons]

One enthralling night

“Well, it would be weird for me to return home now, this late at night.” You said, and you could see Wesker grin as you thought about it. Would it be weird to say yes to this? I mean, you hardly know the guy and you don’t even know what he could be capable of-

“I have a spare room so you don’t need to worry about falling asleep on the couch or anything.” He said quickly, seemingly worried about you thinking less of him.

“Oh. Thank you.” You replied softly, rubbing his hand with your thumb as you two walked back to his car. He smiled at you and opened the car door for you. You two talked quietly the whole ride to his home, smiling softly, a nice relaxing drive.

His house was nice, definitely what you wanted similar to when you got around to buying a home. Wesker was nothing more than a gentleman with you, showing you around his home, showing you your room for the night and then the two of you spent some more time talking to one another. Or enjoying the company you two gave each other.

“I have some clothes you can borrow for the night so don’t worry about that either.” He said, holding you close to him.

“You’ve been so kind to me.” You replied, leaning into his neck, practically breathing him in.

“Of course, I want to make this a common arrangement. If that’s alright with you.”

“I’d love nothing more.”

He smiled again and rested his head on your shoulder. You two wouldn’t need the extra room or the extra clothes it seemed, as you two fell asleep right next to each other. Curled up in his arms, his head on your’s, arms wrapped tightly around you. Waking up was an experience, you were nestled in his neck, laying down on your side, chest to chest. One of your arms draped over him, his hands on your waist. It seemed like a dream, and you’d much rather indulge in this comfort while you can.

He seemed to hold you tighter as you snuggled in deeper, he might be awake but you didn’t want to look. You were too comfortable.

It was about an hour later when you’d wake up again. The smell of food made it easier to wake up.

“Good morning, my dear. We…sort of fell asleep on the couch.” Wesker said, watching you enter the kitchen, his shirt was open as he made a simple breakfast of eggs and hash browns. You made your way over to him and rested your head on his arm, still sleepy. It felt so strangely domestic, but it felt right.

He chuckled and let you lean on him. It was a nice breakfast, the two of you having a nice conversation before he drove you back to your apartment. Chris was passed out on the couch when you came home. He was wearing last night’s clothes as well, you guess Jill drove him back home.

Days passed, days turned into weeks. You and Wesker were still going on dates every time he had the time. With your schedule it seemed easy to do, although you often found yourself in his home staying the night. Talking until you both fell asleep and it was too late to go home. Chris assumed you found a boyfriend and didn’t push anything but did tease you a lot. You never said anything but your boyfriend or your relationship with his captain, he never asked but you don’t think he thought to ask.

These months with Wesker really showed you that you really liked him. You always found a reason to go to a public function of Chris’ just to see him. You’re pretty sure Jill knows. She gives you a look every time you turn up. It did come as a shock to Chris when Wesker agreed to come to a party in the apartment, but all for the same reason. To see you. To see your room, your space.

However, one evening was different. Chris was out on a mission and wouldn’t return for god knows how long, so when Chris came home looking tired, bloody and dirty, you were shocked to learn that Wesker was planning on killing him and his team, and almost succeeded. Him and only four other survivors. It took a while for you to come to grips with that information. Someone you loved wanted to kill your friend and his coworkers. To kill his own teammates. But where did that leave you? What would have happened if he had succeeded? Kill you? Would he have done that?

Chris was going out of the apartment again. He only said he was going to find out more about Umbrella and left. To say you were lonely was an understatement. Sure you had Jill to talk to as she had always suspected that you and Wesker were involved with each other, but it still felt lonely. And you never wanted to burden her more. She was already dealing with PTSD from the betrayal, and she was moving away, with STARS disbanded there was no reason for her to stay here. Damned Irons, greedy bastard.

The home phone rang one day, you paused whatever you were doing and turned to it.

Who the hell would be calling?

[all-le-smut]

Aeneas seems such a good character to put in the imagination. Just imagine the power.

Reinvention

Summary: Roman and Remus both separately like to fuck Virgil, but one day, when they're both in the mood and fighting over him, they accidentally fuse into a single creativity one again

TW's: Fusion, NSFW, slight pain play, praise, degradation

"It's my turn!"

"Ooo, someone's jealous of the bigger dick~"

"Guys, this is not something worth fighting over."

Virgil immediately regretted saying that when Roman and Remus both whipped their heads around angrily. The heat from their fight was coming at Virgil now, and at the same time, they yelled:

"Of course you're worth fighting over!"

Virgil facepalmed and just sat down, deciding to let the two of them hash it out.

Roman turned back to Remus. "You've had his ass for the past three days, and I've been very patient with you."

Remus laughed. "I think you're just upset that he prefers me," he teased.

"He does not prefer you!" Roman shouted. "The whole reason we have this arrangement is because he couldn't choose between us."

"Well, yea, because he loves you, but loves my dick," Remus chuckled.

"Oh my god, just share him, that's that only solution we have besides become one fucking person!" Roman yelled, waving his arms in the air.

For a moment, everything went still. Remus and Roman stared into each other's eyes, as if a lightbulb had sparked between them. Virgil looked back and forth between the two of them anxiously.

"Guys?" Virgil whispered. "What's going on?"

"Is it even possible?" Roman asked, ignoring Virgil.

Remus let out a hearty laugh. "Let's find out."

Without warning, Remus tackled Roman and they went crashing to the ground together. Virgil stood up from the couch to help them, but he had to turn away when a blinding light exploded from the two. Virgil fell to his knees from the blast and had to cover his face for a few moments. Once the light died down, Virgil cautiously turned around. There, on the floor where there used to be two bodies, there was now one.

The man stood up, muscles visible since his spiky green shirt had no sleeves. A swirling red sash wrapped around his torso and waist and doubled as a belt for his black, ripped jeans. His ass was hugged tightly in a way that made Virgil gulp. He had high heal boots that gave him a few extra inches of height, and his hair was brown with a streak of white. As the man turned to face Virgil, he revealed his well-groomed mustache paired with a goatee. His face was determined and his fists were in balls.

Virgil struggled to catch his breath. "R-Remu-- Roma-- who are you?" He stuttered out.

For a moment, there was silence. The man looked down at his hands as if he wasn't sure himself. Then, he smiled and laughed. His icy stare terrified Virgil and turned him on at the same time.

"My name is Aeneas, and I am Creativity," he announced. "Since you liked your two boyfriends so much, we--... I thought you'd just love all of those qualities in one body."

Without warning, Aeneas began marching towards Virgil. The anxious side couldn't move, and he didn't know if it was because of fear or arousal.

As if he were lighter than air, Aeneas picked Virgil up from the ground and threw him onto the couch. The creative side fell forward, catching himself before he crashed onto Virgil, and spread his boyfriend's legs.

"You can always say no, my darling, this is all about your boundaries," a piece of Roman seemed to shine through for a moment before Remus's sickening smile took over. "But I know you're too much of a slut to do that."

Virgil let out a whimper as Aeneas slowly leaned in to start sucking on his partner's neck. His other hand stroked down Virgil's torso and landed on his clothed erection and began to rub. Virgil was already breathing heavily and trying to stay quiet.

Aeneas chuckled deeply. "What a good little whore you're being for me. Come on, make some noise for me, sweetheart. I want to hear you squeal."

Virgil let out a squeak as Aeneas unbuttoned his pants and slid them off with his underpants in one strong swipe. Aeneas gripped Virgil's hard dick like he was choking the life out of someone, and it made Virgil whine louder than he meant to.

"There it is!" Aeneas smiled. "Good boy," he praised as he started to jerk Virgil off. "You know, I think this is rather nice. Praising you for the dirty fucking twink you are, and you just love it. Do you like it when I call you names and compliment you at the same time? Do you like it when your two lovers are working together like this? Answer me!" Aeneas demanded.

Virgil nodded fervently and let out a pathetic "Mhm," as he got closer to cumming.

"What a good slut you are," Aeneas praised... degraded...? Virgil didn't know, nor did he care. He felt amazing. "I bet you're just a few seconds away from cumming, aren't you? Well, you decide when you cum, but I decide when we're done, got that?"

Virgil's only reply was a high-pitched moan as he let go of all the built-up tension in his cock. He tried to hold back, but this was just too fucking hot. However, just like Aeneas had warned, that wasn't the end. Virgil's stomach was filled with dread and blissful arousal as he realized that was the first of many climaxes that night.

[pbandjesse]

I just got out of the shower and washed my hair really good and I feel a lot better. Honestly I felt pretty fine all day except a sort of low level of being uncomfortable and slightly nauseous. I was mostly just fine, also just tired.

It didn't help that our smoke detector started chirping at 130 this morning. I woke James up to get it down but they were confused and went to check the hallway one when I knew it was the bedroom so they were sleepily walking around with the ladder. But they figured it out and got it down and we were able to go back to sleep.

But when I woke up I was just not about it. I gave James a hug and told then I was going back to sleep. And they left for work.

I would get up at 8. And felt a little better. I got dressed and made the bed. I warmed up the hash brown James made for me. They shredded way to much cheese so I gave the extra to Sweetp.

I gathered my stuff and headed out around 830. I arrived at 9 and still beat everyone else.

My plan was to start the embroidery for the bear in the teddy bear hospital. And while in the end I had to undo the whole thing it was very good practice for satin stitches. But I didn't know it was wrong at this point. So I spent like 45 minutes seeing the eyes and was pretty happy with it but it did look. Strange. I couldn't figure it out but the reference picture was at a weird angle where I couldn't see the eyes so I wasn't sure what they were supposed to look like. I would wait until later to text the owner to check in.

As I was finishing that Sarah and Elizabeth were getting in. And so I would actually do work work and not other stuff.

There wasn't a ton of large projects for me to do but thankfully there were more small ones. I started with walking up to the art building to cut more circle looms. I still need like 20. But I made great progress.

I was watching a really excellent 2.5 hour long video about a new arg about a time line switch. I love a very long video. It helps me get other stuff done because I'm not constantly looking for another video.

When I got back to the office I made it known I needed tasks. Heather read out a few from our meeting but I had already half heartedly started them. So I actually worked on those today. I collected ideas for games at programs. And organized my specialty ideas. Sent those off to Heather. And I worked harder on my slang PowerPoint.

This ended up being really fun. I had to check in about a few things with the group. And once I got to a place where I couldn't think of anything else I sent it out for review. Elizabeth said I wrote everyone's titles wrong but I just copied them off the website!!! Which means the website is wrong. She also thought I was very funny because of some of my commentary on what things mean. I just kept telling her that it was based off what people say!! That's the point of this!

But we did come to some agreements about some wording and specifics. One of the big arguments though was which spigot has the best water. I wrote tipi field and art building because that's what everyone tells me all summer. But Elizabeth says it's art and top bar. Alexi said that it didn't work for a long time so that's probably why no one says that one. We decided that we needed to make a flight of cups for each spigot and test then. I refered to this as a spigot sommelier which got absolutely huge laughs and I added it to the PowerPoint.

I had a little lunch. The pasta salad I brought was way to vinegary and I ate it but I did not enjoy it. The peach I had cut up for myself and the yogurt were much better.

I finished my long video. Went up to art to work on some small stuff. I keep getting very dizzy walking up that hill but I am trying to not let it bother me. And when I got back to the art building Heather had me searching for shoes for our horses.

The vet has traced their little hooves and so I measured those and researched these special orthopedic shoes for horses. Which were $100 each! Not even a pair!! And we need 4 of them. So then I spent some time googling and researching and was able to find someone selling overstock, in the correct size, in box, for $55 each. I hope they follow up on that listing because it was a great deal.

I had a few other small things I worked on. I tried to do some research on an enclosure for our terrain. Who needs a much larger space. And in doing that I also found some good prices for tortoise food so I grabbed that too.

I stuck it out until 3. I let Alexi know I may not be in on Monday or Tuesday but I will be there Wednesday and Thursday for sure. She said that was just fine and to have a nice weekend.

I left camp and went right home. While I was driving I was thinking about the bear and thought maybe the eyes weren't actually. Eyes? But eyelashes. So I texted the owner and she agreed it seemed wrong.

When I got home I was texting her more. She sent me another reference but it was still a weird angle. So I tried Google lens. And not only did I find a better picture, a couple different ones, I also found a listing to buy the bear!! I sent it to her and was like. I'm the best googler. And she was so excited. She still wants me to fix the bear but now she'll have two. And she'll gift them to her twin brother. I am so excited that this is all coming together.

I tried cutting the embroidery I did to see if it could look like lashes but he just looked like Tammy Fey Baker. So I would pick those out and see in the lower eyelashes and it looked so much better. I'm very happy with the progress. I will try and repair the nose tomorrow. And possibly go to the store to look for a larger nose. But I'm not to concerned about getting that tomorrow.

When I got home before I went inside to work on the bear I had a nice chat with my neighbor about having babies. And she is always so nice so I always stop to talk to her. It's good community building. And when I got inside I would pull Crabcake from his tank to go outside in the chia plants. Which he crushed and was probably very good enrichment for him.

Sweetp also enjoyed being outside. It was a little to hot in the sun though so I went inside. Made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And laid on the couch and waited for James to come home.

They got a flat tire so it took an extra couple minutes. But they got home and got to work fixing the book shelf. Replaced the smoke detector battery. And got to work making pizza dough for dinner.

They would come lay with me on the couch. Held my belly. It doesn't have like a full round shape but it's doing something for sure. I do wish it would round out. But also I sneezed and it hurt so bad in my lower belly. Rude.

I came upstairs and laid in bed. Eventually James brought us really excellent pizza. We are together and when we were done they went to go play a game with their friends. And eventually I went to take that shower. And I am real tired but I'm also feeling happy.

Tomorrow I have the day off. I may hang out with Celia. I may work on art. Mostly I want to just chill. I have a weird schedule the next couple days. Day off. BMI event. Day off. BMI event. Day off. Back to camp for a two day retreat. And the. Going to the beach with Jess for the weekend. Busy busy week.

Let's hope it's a good one. I hope you all have fun tomorrow. Good night!!

[knifebucket]

I DONT believe in romantic relationships but I do believe in what if somebody bought waffle house and just gave me waffle and covereed hash browns and I was laying in my bed... what if there was toast also and the waffles had extra butter and syrup...

[bisexualspongebob]

guy at the kosher bakery gave me a free taste of their delicious shepherd’s pie and and server at the hawaiian joint gave me an extra hash brown sometimes the universe loves me

[soniabigcheese]

Best and Worst

I'm not doing these to drag out any traumatic events, but to give you folks an insight into my life.

So to speak.

If anyone wishes to share, feel free.

I reiterate that you don't have to do this, if it triggers you, please kindly move on. Please do not drag out any traumatic experiences if you did share

Best Holiday

Italy, hands down. The guided tour gave us some great places to put on our bucket list. Fell deeply in love with Florence. Not too impressed with Rome. Pompeii was boiling hot, but had an aura of sadness to it. Gelato was to die for

Worst Holiday

Can't decide between the 'booze cruise' to Sweden. Or my very first holiday abroad as an adult. To Cologne, Germany. No offense to the locals but I didn't feel comfortable at either place.

Best Birthday

Milan. Hands down. For my 50th birthday! The hotel was amazing, staff were exceptional and they even made me a chocolate birthday cake. Pity I don't eat chocolate cake and it was wasted. But still, the thought that went into it. That was also the time that I managed to achieve a lifelong, childhood (thank Blue Peter for this one) dream. To go see the Last Supper. You've got to book in advance, can't just walk in. They let groups of twenty people in for 15 minutes, then ushered out because of the fragility of the painted mural. But soooo worth going to see.

Worst Birthday

Four years ago when I'd had enough of hubby being an arse and wanted to have at least one good day to myself. So I booked two night stay at Whitby. One night bookings wasn't available, unforts. And with hindsight, maybe I should have opted for the day trip instead. Anyways, the weather was glorious. That was short-lived because a big storm struck the next day. The place I booked at was one hell of a hike to the town centre and on top of a cliff. I had to haul my case and painting stuff up four flights of stairs. Only to have the pokiest little room possible. Admittedly, there was a great view. But that was it. I paid for breakfast and stated that I didn't want baked beans. So the plate arrived half empty, with no substitutions (maybe I should have stated extra mushrooms/hash brown/whatever) it was a great first day. A bit blustery but great. Had amazing fish and chips and watched as a poor family were getting glared at by some seagulls. But hell was unleashed the next day. I couldn't take train journeys because the lines were closed. For maintenance. Everything was shuttered down so I had nowhere to go. I had to eat humble pie and phone hubby because I wasn't sure if the buses were running. He arrived and made me walk around the arcades in a coat that was absolute soaked right through.

Best Christmas

When I received my first made to order doll house. I was told to sit on a small three legged stool and close my eyes. I heard them talking about a food processor and wondered why it took two people to carry it. I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful doll house ever. I only admired the one belonging to hubby's aunt, on our last visit but never dreamed that I would own one very similar. The man who made them, died not long after and my house was one of the last ones he made. And I had to 'purchase' it with a single peppercorn. What a sweet little ritual! Decorating and furnishing is still a WIP because it is a VERY expensive hobby. Might try to put my own crafting skills to work, making things 1/12th of the size

Worst Christmas

My foster mum/aunt had died so I was on my own and had many offers to spend Christmas dinner with folks. But I just didn't want to deal with that right now. Eventually, my family (birth parents and siblings) wore me down. They live right across the other side of town, so it was one hell of a hike. Taxis cost a fortune, something I couldn't afford, but they had a car. I scraped a few pennies together to get silly inexpensive things as presents and waited. And waited. In the end, I just had scrambled egg on toast because I hadn't bothered with making my own dinner. I was asked later in why I didn't turn up. And that was the slippery slope of letting them into my life. We're estranged now and have been for almost 30 years. Not because of that, that would be petty of me. But other events thay have scarred me for life.

And that's it.

[snarkymeetingnotes]

I hate school lunch debt.

I hate the school lunch costs anything at all.

I hate that school districts can contract school lunch out to for-profit dining companies.

I'm a lunch lady at a high school in the United States and here's something that happened today: lunch was French toast sticks, hash browns, and a sausage patty. One kid asked for an extra sausage patty. We had plenty: it was the last lunch period and we had way more than we needed, several kids in that and other lunches declined the sausage. So I gave him one.

My boss, the kitchen manager, comes over a few minutes later and tells me, "Stop giving the kids extra food. The one you just gave extra sausage to doesn't have any money on his account."

We can't deny them a lunch (which is only the elements that make up a "complete lunch", no extras) but anything extra, be it an extra helping or if the cashier thinks they took more than a serving even of fruit or veggies, if they take an ice cream or a beverage other than milk or juice, has to be paid for in cash or the balance of a kid's electronic lunch account.

I wouldn't want my manager's job, and if I had it I probably wouldn't keep it long because I would be looking but other way when kids steal food, I'd be telling cashiers to neglect to charge if the kid has an extra helping of something. Maybe in the before times they did, but right about the time of Obamacare legislating that employers couldn't just offer completely bullshit health benefits, the district decided to save money on employee benefits by contracting out. I know this is the reason because when they did a study about whether they should close some of our under-enrolled elementary schools, the report stated flat-out that that was the reason. Oh and as a kicker, we've been deeper in the hole with the lunch program than we ever were when it was all done in-district, surprise surprise.

So because we're beholden to a profit-seeking corporation, when a kid asks for an extra half-scoop of pasta or another sausage patty because we're still feeding them the serving sizes they got in middle school, instead of saying sure, kiddo, here you go, I'm supposed to warn them that they'll get charged extra and I can only give them this less than a dollar worth of food cost item (that we might have to throw out otherwise, if we don't sell the leftovers another day) if they have money on their account.

What I'm actually doing to do is tell them they better keep it quiet and don't go through my boss's line.

It should all be free. Even the extras. The cookies, the chips, the sugar free fruity fizzy drinks. If you don't want those to be free, don't have them available. But this is the fucking future of the country and we're supposed to be in the top ten richest countries in the world and CHILDREN have fucking DEBT because they need to EAT.

So vote tomorrow, and vote blue or I'll probably get replaced by a vending machine or they'll bring McDonald's into the schools and charge your kids $15 for what we now charge them $3.50 for. And remember: if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

[bluepoodle7]

#IHOP #IHOPTieInMovieMenuFoods #IFTheMovie #MagnIFicentFrenchToastSandwich #BreakfastForDinnerReview

I tried the IHOP IF the Movie MagnIFicent French Toast Sandwich with hashbrowns and this was pretty good.

This had butter pecan syrup with it.

My MagnIFicent French Toast Sandwich weighed 711 grams.

The hashbrowns weighed 110 grams.

The butter pecan syrup weighed 22 grams.

The omelet weighed 295 grams.

This meal was pretty good.

The MagnIFicent French Toast Sandwich was microwaved.

The MagnIFicent French Toast Sandwich was firm and soft in texture while also having a maple syrup like taste to it.

This sandwich was pretty heavy to pick up this sandwich to eat.

The eggs made into a omelet were light and air also lightly seasoned.

The sausage patties were firm and soft in texture while also well seasoned.

The American cheese was melty while the hash brown had a light potato taste and soft in texture.

The chipotle mayo was lightly spicy while also creamy in texture.

This sandwich is like Ihop's version of the Grandslamich but with sausage only.

The hashbrowns was okay.

The hashbrowns were microwaved.

And were crunchy and soft while having a light potato taste.

The sausage and American cheese omelet was firm and soft while lightly seasoned egg taste.

The sausage link bites were well seasoned and firm while chewy in texture.

The American cheese was melty and lightly salty.

The butter pecan syrup was pretty good.

The butter pecan syrup had a light butterscotch with a pecan nut flavor aftertaste at the end which is nice and unique tasting that went well with my breakfast.

This butter pecan syrup was liquidy in texture while also lightly sweet that went well with the lightly salty breakfast meal I had.

The breakfast meal was lightly sweet and salty.

I would eat this meal again.

This got quickly discontinued after two days and I did ask the people who worked there if they had the leftover ingredients to make this.

The chef and crew nicely made this for me for the same price with tax added.

Also they gave me a extra omelet with hashbrowns.

The calories if you want them.

Calories in IHOP Butter Pecan Syrup and Nutrition Facts (fatsecret.com)

[traipseartist]

May 14th & 15th - South Bend and Beyond

The final two days of the trip are condensed into one blur because visiting my family in South Bend, Indiana was in the middle. The McMillen clan likes late nights, cards, wine, and Oingo Boingo, so it's hard to say where Tuesday stopped and Wednesday began.

Lewis and I packed out of Pike Lake early, deciding not to swim at the Milwaukee metropolitan area's finest open-to-the-public swimming lake in the 55°F morning temps, alas. Since we'd been dragging our feet on early mornings this whole trip, we decided to set out before 10am and plodded around Chicago in slow but probably still record time.

We decided to detour out of Milwaukee before heading down to Illinois as a sort-of salute to my original plan and so that I could relive the glory of this city as my 15 year-old self remembers it. I was also on the hunt for some New Glarus Spotted Cow, one of my favorite easy-drinking beers that you cannot nab beyond Wisconsin state lines. We search for beer and liquor stores (uncannily all open at 9am or earlier) and come up short for the kind of craft selection we know must be lurking here somewhere. After browsing past Bacardi Whipped Cream Vodkas and Colt 45s I give up and resort to Reddit which points us to... a local grocery store? named Woodman's. Lewis remarks upon my uneasy disposition that Woodmen gave us good luck in Omaha and perhaps they'd have more than your domestic spread.

Oh. So, did they have more than Corona and Bud? This was no grocery store. Woodman's is a beer SUPERSTORE that happens to sell bread and laundry detergent out the back. We lollygag in the aisles of just Wisconsin local craft beer for about half an hour, overwhelmed with the selection and exasperated that we cannot buy it all (Bad Farm Pilsner? Ma'am this is a Wendy's Summer Sour? Billy Rae Citrus IPA? Get! in! my! cart!). We buy my New Glarus, a Hazy called THE NEEDLER (depicting a pine tree with a Snake-esque head scarf tied around it's erm... tip? running recklessly and dual wielding those weird alien guns from Halo 2), and a dark beer as requested for Elaina who would touch base with Lewis at his final destination in DC.

We got settled in Stacey once more, but after 9 full nights together, we were beginning to feel the fatigue of travel, shared space, and the unwavering rhythm of Stacey over rough pavement. It seemed that all of what was left of Wisconsin and Illinois smelled like sulfur, we surmised, because of swamp gas or the like. The dense cloud cover and less-than-warm conditions began to invite a sort of listlessness amongst us.

We changed and got cleaned up at a gas station before finding breakfast--today we were aiming for Culver, my military(ish?) boarding high school in the middle of rural Indiana, then finally my Uncle Joe and Aunt Wendy in South Bend about an hour's north for dinner and some familiar (to me) faces.

We stopped at Pancake Point in Gurnee, Illinois for brunch and an attempt at clearer heads only to be immediately endeared to a character of a waitress who swore Lewis was her son's friend--but not. When we told her of our journey, she chittered anxiously about a road trip she'd just made to Colorado to visit her son and how all of the McDonald's looked the same(!) after a while. Lewis and I had to restrain ourselves from asking if this tiny, maraca of a woman was available for adoption and instead ate GIANT bowls of hash browns piled high with eggs, peppers, beans, chorizo, and the tastiest homemade pico. I nibbled at a pancake while we tried to shake our funk and hype ourselves up for the next four hours of driving into the cornfields of my past.

Fortunately, it was Alumni Week at Culver when we rolled in, so two strangers wandering the campus did not make us extra-out-of-place to the teenagers plodding about the quadrangle in their regulation recreation attire. I took Lewis to my favorite pockets of my adolescent years and gawped unattractively at all of the buildings they've since demolished and all of the buildings they've since built as is my job as a graduate.

I felt sheepish as I continued to run into faculty that remembered my face (especially those responsible for... disciplinary action) and fought my impulse to revert to my younger self (it's 4pm on a Tuesday... I should be at Speech practice right now!) but a small part of me was overjoyed to find the place still felt like home some 13 years later. Also wow... what a fucking ingrate I was for not truly appreciating the endless resources available to me as a bratty little teen (Horses! A photography lab?! A library and academic buildings peppered with ancient art??? A FULL SIZE THEATER FOR PERFORMANCE AND TECH!?) Lewis asks if this ruined it for me--college and the great beyond. I mused on the question. I never thought that any place should be like Culver... it is its own animal, its blessings almost inseparably tied to its curses. But no doubt, it changed everything in me as much as I want to temporally separate myself from this tiny cornfield bubble with time and distance.

After doing a small circle (the campus is enormous, acres and acres, it's hard to relay without a map and a meter stick) around the heart of the main quad, we boarded Stacey once more and rode the hour north to South Bend to meet with Joe, Wendy, and their children Jacob and Rachel at their home in Granger, IN.

By the time we were back on the main highway going north, the sulfuric smell was absolutely overwhelming in Stacey's cabin and I began to suspect that it was not the Midwest that was the stinky culprit. An hour later, after parked in a beautiful suburban neighborhood, thankful and light headed upon arrival, we pop the hood in front of Joe and Wendy's beautiful darkly wooded, 1970's style single family home to be greeted by a weak fountain of acid seeping down the side of Stacey's main battery. Oops.

While Lewis phoned AAA, I greeted the family. The kids were bumming it for the week at home because Rachel was graduating this weekend and was prepping by being hung-over by day, and partying by night (and some day, too) with her classmates on campus. Jacob was lassoed into redoing the front deck for her ensuing graduation party the coming weekend. Jean, Wendy's mother, was also there to set us straight with her sharp strategy in a few rounds of 3-13 we'd have later into the night.

Lewis and I were happy to be surrounded by some other humans for a bit, to eat veggie pizza (and share with the winded AAA guy swapping out Stacey's innards) and pet a dog or two. We slept hard and fast in a spare bedroom, anxiously awaiting tomorrow to race home and meet my Mom and Grandfather at Pittsburgh International before flopping down in a place familiar to us both.

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

I anticipated we would scuttle home in a boring and direct fashion along the Ohio turnpike because time was of the essence and Lewis and I had not been historically early risers for this trip. Mom & Pop were to touch down at 5pm and it's a tight 6 hours back home from the outskirts of South Bend.

Unfortunately for them, and maybe fortunately for our timetable, their Southwest flight was delayed a full five hours due to weather surging up through the Columbus, Ohio region that was dramatically disrupting air traffic.

Amazingly, after replacing Stacey's battery, she no longer needed the precious white glove service of hand-jumping and we took it as a sign of renewal in its own way, waving good-bye to relatives I'd see again in 48 hours time for a graduation ceremony, we hit the road for the final lap.

It didn't take but two hours before Lewis and I decided to deviate from the sling-shot trajectory we had up until this point mostly avoided taking as a matter of principle. We slid up to the coast of Lake Erie to visit the Port Clinton lighthouse and eat a few french fries while looking directly at a giant body of water for a bit. Port Clinton appeared to be preparing for the Walleye Festival (???) that would arrive the coming weekend and so the town felt a lot less sleepy than was surely normal, despite being adorned in adorable maritime statues and public parklets that betrayed the slow plod of this place otherwise.

We poked around the promised light house, the chilly shore of Erie, a store for the supernatural (I bought a new pair of sunglasses to replace a pair I had gifted to a nail salon back in Minneapolis). We ate french fries while listening to the bartendress relay her morning struggle of finding someone to cover her shift while she took her son to the doctor for a surprise broken arm. We stared hard into the distance, still processing all that had gone and all that was yet to come, and rolled into Stacey for the last time. Pittsburgh bound, at last.

I read an experimental piece Lewis is working on from his bestickered laptop from the passenger's seat. We listen to the end of a playlist all about lyrics, and when we start to recognize bridges and tunnels, we breathe a sigh of relief. I play 31 by Ceann and sing the words at the tippy top of my lungs when we pull into my driveway at the tippy top of Stanton Heights:

"Soon we'll be home In the places I know Where the boys say "Yinz" And the girls say "Ope" 31 miles east of Ohio(oooo) Where Iron still flows In watering holes We'll go where the Monongahela goes To the city that was built from underground For Pittsburgh I am bound!"

[keefwho]

December 25 - 2023 Monday

12:08am

I made tuna spaghetti while I waited for my parents to wake up to open presents. I went over there after cooking and gave my dad his gifts. I unboxed my new shoes and grabbed a bunch of dog treats for Sporticus. The other dogs were all over me which was annoying and I had to keep shoeing them away. Very rude. Mom got a new laptop which I helped set up and I checked out, it seems fine for a cheap laptop. I came back to eat my breakfast and shower. Then I struggled between chilling since it was Christmas or doing requests like I said. I cranked out 2 requests. Coincidentally Daisy, 570, and Golden Star won. All people I would consider myself close with compared to others. Also this asshole who had messaged me for something unrelated. I also watched some more Bojack and made lunch. Lunch was the dinner I didn't get to cook for thanksgiving. A turkey spam baked in the oven with a side of hash browns and stuffing I used mixed veggies in. It was good. After that I joined David's server for a little to try and socialize while I played KSP. I also worked on my friend's world for half an hour. After David left I didn't wanna talk with the other guys so I left to play Steel Division. Daisy called in the middle of that and I beat the scenario I was playing. We watched a couple Craigs while she did her nails and then she was showing me lolita dresses and american girl dolls. Afterwards we hopped on VR for a tiny bit of world hopping and she showed me a couple music videos before her audio gave out so we got off. In bed I played Neopets for her and we talked a little. I stayed up extra late not only to have some more time with her but to do my best to make her feel better.

[pbandjesse]

I'm glad to be at camp but also camp's been very obnoxious to me. I just hate when things cannot be on schedule. I hate when the food is bad. I hate when people can't respect my space and my things. It just makes me really frustrated. And like I can get rose colored glasses for here very easily but this year has been a challenge and I just hope that it improves.

I slept okay last night. I would feel a little bit better and would sleep okay. James gave me Oreos before bed and that helped a lot. And I remember saying goodbye to James before they left. But only a little bit. I wish that they had gotten a slightly later trained so that I could have actually been awake but instead I slept till 7:30 and I think I needed that.

I did feel pretty good though. All of my aches and sickness feeling from the booster seems to have gone away. I still have soreness in my arm and I feel tired but more emotionally than anything else.

I did forget a bunch of stuff at home that I'm annoyed about. I forgot to bring more washcloths. I do have one but it's not ideal. And I forgot my Teva's. And it's a couple other little stupid things that are just obnoxious but it's fine. in the long run it's not going to matter it's just those small conveniences. The sandals were the worst thing but thankfully I have emergency sandals that have backs in the trunk of the car. So I was not completely without.

I stopped for breakfast and decided to have hash browns breakfast and save the sandwich for lunch. Which was a great idea because they only gave salad and cut up fruit for lunch today. What I don't understand what's happening in the kitchen because it has been nothing but a nightmare and it doesn't make any sense.

So I just tried to carry my good mood because when I got ready to leave I saw that James had left a gift for me in my backpack. A little velvet pouch with a tiny gold heart carabiner. It is so cute and has such a nice weight and it's a working carabiner. It actually untwists! So I think I could keep my rings on it if I really wanted to. But I love it so much. What a thoughtful gift. James says that I have their heart on lock.

I got to work and got stuck in the day camp line. It didn't actually matter I just wanted that first hour to set up. And I had thought getting married 820 would save me from the line but it did not. So I had to sit in the line for 15 minutes but it was okay.

I was not thrilled when I got up to the art building now and found that all of my tables had been moved in the back and all of the paint from color wars was all over everything and all of the paint brushes that have been used have been left and not washed. So they were essentially garbage. I was able to rinse most of it out so I think I can still save them but I was so mad. Just so furious. I don't know how many times I can ask people to clean up after themselves. I did find out who the group leaders were later and they told me that they were never able to come back up because of the schedule of the day. But I'm going to have to talk to Kieran or Charlotte about that because They can't use my materials if they're going to just ruin them. It's not cool or fair or something that should be expected for me to clean up after that. I wasn't even here! So I did not start my day in the best mood.

After I cleaned up all their mess I went down to the office and I found out that there is no top bar 3. So I was like cool I'm going to have a whole extra hour to do prep and that thing's ready and everything was going to be great. So I come back up here and then Heather calls me and says I'm going to have a YLP come and help me this week. Excellent. And Tatiana is lovely. A little quiet but super helpful. I had to remind her to come outside but when she did come outside she was super helpful and engaged and she worked on her own project which I always love when people do. So I think it was a pretty successful person to have here and I hope she continues to be with me because she's really nice. The only real issue I have is that she doesn't go away during the break times so I don't have the little bit of a loan time that I want. I'm hoping tomorrow I can get her to just leave the inside space so I can be in the dark for a few minutes.

But I don't want to be rude and I don't want her to feel unwelcome. It's not that I don't want her in the art area I just need to be alone for a few minutes. Just to reset.

But it turns out that the schedule I had was not the schedule that the groups were following. For some reason our week 2 and the week 2 schedule that was sent out to the counselors was different. So silver City showed up and I was like why are you guys here an hour early? And they're like no our schedule says now. And it absolutely did. So I sent one of the counselors to the office to try to figure out what the heck was going on and it turns out they messed everything up so they were like well everyone can just stay where they are now so I ended up having silver City for 2 hours. Which is fine except I really wanted to read my book on the little break I was going to get. But the girls were super engaged and it took them a minute to really understand the weaving but once they did they really did a good job. And Tatiana really excelled at it too. I hope she continues on with weaving because she's really good at it. I hope that we can find her a bigger room. Maybe I can bring in that lap room I have that I don't really use for anything. We'll see if I remember that. Or if she's even interested.

Me and Tatiana both decided not to go to lunch. And apparently that was the right call because it was a nightmare. I laid in my hammock and read my book and enjoyed my sandwich and things felt fine. At 12:30 I went down to the nurse's office to use the bathroom and was very annoyed when I came back and the group was 10 minutes early. And I said absolutely not go do something else. I get my break you're not coming in here yet. And the counselor was like sorry we're early! And I'm like the sorry is you going to do something else. So they went and played Gaga for 10 minutes. Thank you so much guys.

They weren't the only ones because every group I had today came 10 minutes early. Why. And it was always right after I had a break or when I had another group there still. So I was not thrilled. I will not let them come in early though. I have other things going on there is a schedule. You have been told to stick to the schedule. You have been told not to be early. So I just would tell them to go do something else or wait because I am not ready for you.

Eventually though we kind of got a good clip going. My afternoon groups were all lovely and they did a great job. The older girls were not into the weaving which is fine. I'm going to have the metal casting ready for them next week hopefully. So we'll see what happens with that but overall everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and Tatiana was great help and that made my life a lot easier.

I also got a lot of sewing done today. I'm taking a break from my loom knitting and working on some bears. I got three and a half bears done today. I still need to figure out how I'm going to do their new faces because I want to try some embroidered ones but not entirely sure how to do that so I'm going to have to do some research. But I am having a great time making my little bears and doing the new color limbs is very fun but it does take a lot of time. So I'm not as fast and I'm hand sewing them instead of using a machine so it's a little bit different. But I'm having fun. And it's fun to show the kids what I'm working on. I always think that it's better to be working than hovering over them and then they know where I am and they can come and get help for me as needed.

I also just had some nice chats and one of the YLPs fell asleep in one of my hammocks and I had to very gently wake them up. Which was very cute. And it was just kind of a nice day. There was a lot of stress on the outside but thankfully most of the stress stays away from my building. I can let go of a lot of things.

At 4:15 I packed my little tote bag and I walked with the kids towards the pool. I decided I did not want to swim but I did want to take a shower. And it was a very nice shower. The water actually got hot and the pressure wasn't sad. I felt so much better afterwards.

And then I came back to the art building and I was already sweaty. So I laid in my hammock and put on my fan as high as it would go. And I read my book. And I did that until dinner.

I was determined to finish this book today. And I did. And it was really good and so sad. I really appreciate that the Dear America books have so many highs and lows and real things but always kind of end with a happiness. I think I've only read one where the girl didn't go on to have a beautiful and amazing life. And that one absolutely devastated me. So I mean it makes sense But I really appreciated the story and that one ended in 1860 and the second one that I started today starts in 1860 so I'm curious on the storyline for that one too. I don't have any more dear America books after that though and I'm going to start one that's apparently a classic next. I also have a comic book that James gave me. And a book on cults. We'll see where the mood strikes.

I did go to dinner. Celia came and sat with me in the art building at the end of the day. Her schedule was even more bizarre than mine because no one knew what was going on. But she did catch a bunch of frogs that had tails which looked very cool. And then we walked down to dinner to see what the vegetarian option was.

They were having sloppy joes and I appreciate it how hard the cook worked to make the vegetarian option taste like a sloppy joe but I think sloppy joes are disgusting So I did not love either of the things that they made. One being a mushroom-based fake meat thing that was supposed to be like the sloppy Joe meat and the other being some kind of quinoa salad that tasted like nothing. I did like that I had edamame in it but I just ate that. And ended up giving the rest to CJ who went and found salt and apparently that made it a lot better. I enjoyed the cornbread. But I did not really eat anything else. So I think once I'm done this post I will have a snack.

I came back up here to finish my book. And as I did some girls came over to get some help with the project that they had asked me about last week. Putting jewelry ends onto friendship bracelets. So I was able to help them with that and as we were finishing that it started to storm really bad. So they hunker down in the building with me while I started working on figuring out the metal casting.

And it was so stupid easy. I love this little crucible. I'm definitely going to have to get more metal but it melted down so fast and it cast so easy. It is hard to pour so I still think I'm going to get a little metal spoon or something but I'm still pleased. Does turn out you cannot touch the pot with metal directly. You will get zapped. So I got zapped a few times before I figured that out and scared the shit out of myself. But once I was grounded with a pair of needle nose pliers with rubber handles I was fine. And I never even burned myself. I carved out my cuttlefish a few times just to see what things would look like but I'm going to have to start a new one if I want an actual example. I think a ring is going to be really difficult because it's really hard to control the pour. But super thrilled and I think as far as small objects go we're going to be great. I think we're going to try to make a little tiny bear tomorrow and see how that goes.

Ty came and sat with me for a while. After the storm come down you had been walking around. I had been standing outside with my dress tied up trying to use a broom to sweep the flooding water away. I'm going to have to talk to the office about figuring out a way a diaper some of it cuz it's coming into the building and rotting away the one wall. The building's going to need to be torn down and restarted I swear. But there has to be something we could do to mitigate because it's going to be a problem. But it was nice sitting and talking to Ty. He's struggling with all of the disorganization of camp which is absolutely understandable. But it's still somewhere I love even if it's ridiculous.

I also help Tony make shorts today. The fancy brought me last week would not work but the sweatpants he brought me today did and I was able to cut and hem them and I'm very happy with how that project worked out. I think he was surprising how fast it went but it was easy because sweatpant material so easy to sew. And it was nice chatting with him. It seems like all of senior staff feels a little lost this year but so does everyone else so I'm not shocked.

Now though I am ready to have a snack and get ready to go to sleep. I'm a very long day. And it's storming again. Alexi just said over the walkie to make sure no one's outside because there's lightning really close by. I haven't heard that any trees or anything I've gone down and tonight's storm but seriously its just never ending it seems like now. The rain is insane. But I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day. I hope you all have a great day and sleep well and our cozy and comfortable. My James is in Philadelphia with friends and I hope that they are having a great night.

I love you all. I hope you are safe out there. Good night.

[ladycamdens]

whoever at mcdonalds gave me an extra hash brown wanna kiss about it

[sawruhh]

I was so exhausted yesterday. I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 2, and then from 2-4 am I started making a list of everything Joe and I could do this week he extended his trip. Today I woke up and made another gorgeous brunch for the girls - the regular eggs, hash browns, bacon, and the main thing was these lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes that turned out so fluffy and perfect. They loved it and said it put them in a food coma which was so sweet to hear. We had a really nice time. Then Joe picked me up and we took a walk to the preserve where I always take my hot girl walks, saw a bunch of animals I never see on my own, and we ran into erica and her friend againnnnn which was so funny and they had the picnic blanket, so they gave it right back to us. It was so so sweet. So we walked and then found a nice place on the grass to lay out our blanket and we just talked and made plans for like two hours. Then I showed him the three buildings I have classes in, and we went to the top floor of one of em where there’s a stunning view of the city. He really liked that and we took a picture together which turned out really cute 🥹 Lots of exciting things planned for this week including his birthday on Wednesday!!!! We’re going to this mocktail bar (since we both don’t drink!!) and this famous park nearby, then we have dinner reservations at my favorite place, and I’m so excited. He mentioned he didn’t think anyone else would plan a birthday for someone they just met but yknow 🥰 I am trying to not be shy about how much I’m into him. I’m so happy today. And so happy to be spending this extra week with him. Goodness. Going to dinner with stef and Jackie and Erica soon and also really looking forward to that 💛 I’m so grateful for this life and these people

[productsreviewings]

Among the best gadgets you should purchase from Dealer Joe’s is frozen hash browns. In case you’ve ever been to McDonald’s and have ordered a hashbrown patty, a Dealer Joes hash brown is almost an identical. And with a number of alternative ways to cook dinner these frozen potatoes, they’re probably the greatest and best additions to your breakfast. Serve them up alongside bacon & eggs, pancakes, avocado toast, or any of your favourite breakfast meals and also you’ll have one unimaginable breakfast. Whereas Dealer Joes presents cooking directions on the package deal, it’s very restricted, so I need to current you with my 3 favourite methods to arrange these hashbrowns (and a method I undoubtedly don't advocate).   What precisely are Dealer Joe’s frozen hashbrown patties? In case you’ve by no means skilled a hash brown patty, enable me to enlighten you. Hash browns are my favourite method to elevate any breakfast dish, and the Dealer Joe’s hashbrowns are my absolute favourite. These frozen patties are produced from shredded potatoes that are mixed with oil to create hash brown patties which are able to cook dinner. They find yourself tasting fairly completely different from shredded hash browns due to the oil and salt which are added when the patties are fashioned. The very best half (outdoors of the good style) is that they're able to cook dinner instantly from frozen with none thawing mandatory, making it an amazing choice for a fast breakfast. As you'll be able to see by the label, Dealer Joe’s recommends baking these patties in a traditional oven. Whereas that undoubtedly works properly, it’s truly not my favourite cooking technique for Dealer Joe’s hashbrowns…   What’s one of the best ways to cook dinner Dealer Joe’s hash brown patties? To search out out as soon as and for all what the very best cooking technique for these hashbrown patties is, I made a decision to attempt 4 completely different strategies. Whereas all of them look very comparable, there have been some main variations that gave me a clear-cut winner, so let’s run by them.   Cooking hashbrowns within the microwave First up, I made a decision to check how the hashbrown patties would prove utilizing simply the microwave. Whereas it’s simply the quickest technique (the hashbrown cooked in about 1 minute) it's by far the worst. For the reason that Dealer Joe’s hashbrown patties comprise oil, they require some type of frying to permit the patty to crisp up. Through the use of the microwave, all that basically occurs is that we rapidly thaw and warmth the hashbrown, so it results in a particularly mushy & greasy hashbrown patty. While you attempt to decide it up, it simply falls aside on you. Undoubtedly not what we would like in a hashbrown patty. To salvage this cooking technique, I added the mushy hashbrown patty to a sizzling pan and seared each side for about 2 minutes to permit it to crisp up a little bit bit. Whereas it did in actual fact agency up a tiny bit and develop into extra golden brown, this was nonetheless the softest of all of the patties I attempted, so I don’t essentially advocate it.   Cooking hashbrowns in a frying pan After microwaving, I gave pan frying a attempt. Since these hashbrown patties already comprise oil, it doesn’t require including any cooking oil or butter to the pan: simply add the frozen patty to a sizzling pan and also you’re able to go. While you preheat a frying pan over medium warmth, these hashbrowns take about 8 minutes to totally cook dinner. I discovered that frying for 4 minutes per aspect result in the very best outcomes, however the precise time will be adjusted primarily based on how well-done you want your hashbrowns. Wherever from 6-10 minutes in whole will work nice. Whereas pan frying does depart you with a crispy hash brown patty, I’ve discovered that it turns into too simple to burn the patty with this technique. While you examine this technique to the others, this one stands out because the hashbrown that has the darkest shade to it (the third hashbrown within the row):

I ended up pulling the hashbrown off the warmth on the proper time, however another minute would have rapidly burnt the hashbrown. Since there’s such a high-quality line, I don’t favor this cooking technique, but it surely’s undoubtedly an choice, particularly contemplating it’s comparatively fast.   Cooking hashbrowns in a traditional oven Dealer Joe’s recommends cooking these hashbrowns in a traditional oven, and it’s simple to see why: it’s simple, hands-off, and you may cook dinner the entire hashbrowns collectively. I made a decision to attempt making 4 at a time, however you'll be able to simply cook dinner your entire package deal if in case you have a big sufficient baking pan. Once more, since there's already oil inside these patties, you don't want to fret about utilizing any cooking oil or parchment paper. Merely line the hashbrown patties in a single layer and bake them at 400 levels for about quarter-hour, flipping every patty midway by. Baking these hashbrowns is a good way to attain crispy hashbrowns, and I don’t blame Dealer Joe’s for recommending this technique. Plus, you'll be able to simply add a couple of additional minutes to the cooking time to attain additional crispy hashbrowns with out working the chance of burning them simply like with the frying pan technique. However even with this being an amazing cooking technique, it’s nonetheless not my favourite. There’s one cooking technique that takes the cake for me…   Cooking hashbrowns within the air fryer Air fryer hash browns are hands-down my favourite cooking technique. The truth is, I've a whole submit devoted to only that, since they’re considered one of my favourite air fryer recipes. If you'd like an excellent crispy hashbrown that tastes prefer it simply got here out of a deep fryer, the air fryer is the way in which to go. With different cooking strategies, the skin tends to get a good crisp, however the inside stays comparatively mushy. The air fryer provides you an superior crisp all through, and in my eyes, it’s not even shut. So far as cooking time goes, the air fryer requires barely extra time than pan frying, but it surely takes much less time than a traditional oven. Preheat the air fryer for a couple of minutes, then place your frozen hashbrowns within the air fryer basket in a single layer (you don’t need to stack the hashbrowns or they won't crisp up evenly). I've a Ninja Foodi that permits me to cook dinner 4 at a time, however if in case you have a bigger air fryer basket you’ll be capable to cook dinner a bigger batch. Air fry at 400 levels for about 12 minutes, flipping the patties midway by. In case you favor additional well-done hashbrowns, you'll be able to air fry for an extra couple of minutes, however I discover 12 minutes to be the right period of time. While you seize the hashbrown patty with a pair of tongs, you’ll instantly really feel simply how gentle and crispy it's. Plus, the air fryer permits the surplus oil to cook dinner off, which means you gained’t be left with a greasy hashbrown patty. In the end, any of those cooking strategies for Dealer Joes hashbrowns works, however the air fryer at all times produces the very best outcomes for me. If I needed to rank the assorted cooking strategies, this may be it: Air Fryer Standard Oven Pan Fry Microwave & Pan Fry Microwave Solely (however don’t do it) If I needed to rank my favourite kind of frozen potato, I don’t assume I may do it, however these are definitely up there with fries and tater tots.   Tips on how to take care of extra oil Relying on the cooking technique you select, it's possible you'll discover your hashbrown patties to be greasy. Whereas some individuals could not thoughts that, I undoubtedly don't take pleasure in it. In case your hashbrown is greasy, easy dab the highest with a paper towel, or enable the hashbrowns to relaxation on paper towels to take in extra grease the identical method you do with cooked bacon. In case you cook dinner your hashbrowns within the air fryer or the air fryer, you shouldn’t run into this situation.

However in the event you pan fry or use the microwave for a fast thaw, you’ll seemingly run into some additional grease, so this straightforward trick ought to prevent.   A few of my different favourite gadgets from Dealer Joe’s To say I’m obsessive about Dealer Joe’s could be an understatement. However then once more, who isn’t? I like utilizing Dealer Joe’s merchandise in recipes and walkthroughs, so listed below are a few of my different favorites:   Elements Dealer Joe's Hashbrown Patties Directions Air Fryer Directions (the very best cooking technique)Place frozen hash brown patties within the air fryer, leaving house in between them (2-4 at a time relying on the scale of your air fryer).Air fry at 400 levels F for 12 minutes, flipping the hashbrowns midway by.In case you favor additional crispy hashbrowns, you'll be able to air fry for an extra 2 minutes.Oven DirectionsPreheat oven to 400 levels F.Place frozen hashbrowns in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for quarter-hour, flipping midway by.For well-done hashbrowns, bake for an extra 2-3 minutes.Pan Fry DirectionsWarmth a frying pan over medium warmth. There is not any want so as to add any oil or cooking spray to the pan for these hashbrowns.Place frozen hashbrown patties within the pan in a single layer (you need to be capable to match 2-4 patties relying on the scale of your pan).Cook dinner for about 4 minutes per aspect or till golden brown, however the precise time will be adjusted to your liking.Be aware: if you wish to velocity the method up, you'll be able to microwave the hashbrown patty for about 30 seconds for a fast thaw, after which cook dinner it within the pan for about 2 minutes per aspect. Notes The crispiest hashbrowns might be made within the air fryer. Whereas all of the strategies work, the air fryer undoubtedly produces the very best golden brown hashbrown.I don't advocate cooking these hashbrowns within the microwave. They arrive out very greasy and mushy when microwaved. In case you use the microwave, you need to pan-sear the hashbrowns rapidly to crisp them up.Dealer Joe's hashbrowns cook dinner very properly instantly from frozen, so you don't want to thaw them earlier than cooking. Really helpful Merchandise As an Amazon Affiliate and member of different affiliate packages, I earn from qualifying purchases. Vitamin Data Yield 4 Serving Measurement 1 Hashbrown Quantity Per Serving Energy 120Whole Fats 6gCarbohydrates 15gProtein 1g Did you make this recipe? Share your photographs and tag me on Instagram! #Cook dinner #Dealer #Joes #Hashbrowns #Methods