#and I have lots of surprises in store! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

honeyjars-sims · 2 days ago

Text

Part 2 1.01 A Big Splash

It's a typical Saturday morning, and as usual, I slept in. As hard as it is to drag myself out of bed, I know I have things to do today, so into the shower I go.

While I'm getting ready, I can't help but reflect on my recent birthday. It's hard to believe how much has happened over my lifetime, or even just in the past 10 years. In a lot of ways, I still feel like that same kid who thought he knew everything but had so much to learn. If I could go back and tell him what was about to happen in his life, I don't think he'd believe me. Sometimes, I still don’t believe it.

As I head downstairs, I hear the familiar sound of Paul stirring something in a bowl and briefly wonder what he's making before chuckling to myself. I already know it's pancakes. It's always pancakes, but I can't complain about the predictability when I know they're going to be delicious.

I make it downstairs and the girls are so busy helping that they don't even notice I've come down.

Well, Rachel is helping, at least. She has her own bowl and is standing on the footstool at the island stirring away. Chelsea, however, can't be trusted with anything that we plan to eat unless I'm there to supervise. Otherwise we run the risk of having a secret ingredient–toddler slobber or animal hair or whatever else has ended up on her grubby little hands.

I sneak up behind her and give her a little tickle. She turns around. “Dada!” she squeals, as I scoop her up and give her a squeeze.

“Good morning, my loves,” I say.

“Dada, we’re making pancakes!” Rachel tells me, as though I should be surprised by this revelation.

“I see that. I can’t wait to try them.”

“What are you in the mood for this morning?” Paul asks me. “We’re out of bananas, but we have plenty of blueberries and strawberries.”

I come up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I'm in the mood for some of this,” I say, and he turns his head to meet my lips.

“Lucky for you, there’s always plenty of that.”

Rachel and Paul finish the pancakes and we all scarf them down. It’s times like this when I wish we had more space. There’s not enough room for a dining table in our townhouse.

Chelsea insists she doesn’t need a high chair but can’t reach the barstools, so she ends up having most of her meals on the couch. Which is why the pillows smell like maple syrup and feel sticky.

Once we’ve finished breakfast, Rachel has a request. “Can we go to the splash pad? Please?

“Yeah, Dada, pwease?” Chelsea echoes. How can I say no to that?

The splash pad isn’t far but we have to drive, which means packing up everything we need and getting the kids secured in their seats. And of course, they want our dog Tucker to come with us.

Once we arrive, though, it’s worth all the effort. The girls love splashing around in the water...and yeah, so do Paul and I.

“This was a good idea,” I tell Paul once we take a little break from the water.

“Yeah, it’s a beautiful day. We should do this more often, especially now that Chelsea’s getting older.”

“True, it’s a lot easier going out now that she’s not a baby anymore. Although…”

Paul sighs. “John,” he warns. He knows exactly what I’m hinting at.

“I’m just saying, she’s getting so big. I miss having a baby around.”

“So do I, but it would be much harder to have days like this with a newborn. Besides, we barely have space in the house for the four of us.”

“Exactly. We’re already outgrowing the house, so we might as well upgrade to something bigger and fill it with more babies.”

I gesture over to a lot across from the splash pad. “Look how close the Hopewell Commons expansion is. They have bigger units there. If we lived there we could just walk to the splash pad. Imagine how much the kids would love that.”

“Well, there has to be a unit available first,” Paul points out. “But I suppose we can let Gail and Ellie know we’re interested so they can let us know when something opens up.”

“Cool. So baby time?”

“I’m not saying no, but can we think about it a little more?”

“Yeah sure,” I agree. Sometimes Paul’s need to consider every possible angle before making a decision can be a bit frustrating, but I have to admit it’s helpful to have someone to reel me in sometimes. It’s a nice balance–a little chaotic, a little structured, and a lot of fun.

Once again my thoughts turn to the past. Paul and I have been together for almost 10 years now. When I turned 20, I had no idea that my roommate would end up being my husband. That was certainly a year of discovery for me. And with a new home and a new baby possibly on the horizon, year 30 is shaping up to be quite an adventure as well.

Previous | Beginning of story | Beginning of chapter | Next

Bonus pics below!

30 notes · View notes

the-dog-watch · 2 years ago

Text

We’re always laughing about the time Jack got Stephen’s sloth irresponsibly drunk in HMS Surprise (Debauchgate) but we don’t talk enough about the time Stephen accidentally got the entirety of the ship’s rat population coked up in The Nutmeg of Consolation.

#stephen maturin #aubreyad #jack aubrey #the nutmeg of consolation #hms surprise #he drops a leaf while going into his massive stash and the rats become Obsessed and chew a hole thru the chest where he stores it #and we know its a massive stash bc in a previous novel he goes to an apothecary and pulls a ron swanson while theyre in sweden #‘good day. i require all the coca leaves you have.’#‘wait. i fear what you just heard was ‘give me a lot of coca leaves.’ what i said was ‘give me all the coca leaves you have.’ is that clear #everyone in stockholm was straight edge for a whole month bc of dr. stephen maturin #god bless him #he does good everywhere he goes

126 notes · View notes

aro-culture-is · 2 years ago

Note

Aro culture is going to spencers and seeing only ace pride merch and no aro pride merch

.

#piperrose #aro culture is #aro #aromantic #actually aro #actually aromantic #ask #mod phoenix #i mean.#to be entirely fair: 1) spencer's known to steal art designs from fan artists and such online via predatory sites #2) online art tends to forget us :/#3) to be totally honest a lot of places go like 'oh these are demographically the Major Identities so let's have 5 options total'#or smth like that #and that's like. middle manager capitalists with zero care about real ppl types placing those limits #i'm honestly surprised they even got around to including ace folks tbh #usually those sorts of high-predatory mall-goth types of stores (hot topic / spencers / lunchbox) are uh. very very very focused on like.#maximizing profits at the expense of absolutely zero fucks given about real ppl along the way #knowing that the edgy teen demographics most interested in them *tend* to not have a lot of money + want to be ~counter culture~#they find the cheapest way to make a buck on marginalized folks in a very rainbow capitalism way #also for the lucky 10k: those stores have all been implicated in the last 2 decades of repeatedly and constantly stealing art from poor #online artists via various sites like deviantArt #via little secret TOS conditions around those sites being able to sell your work by proxy without exception #unsure if that's still common knowledge but a decade ago it was like. every tenth post on my dashboard once a year when someone a little #bit bigger than average on social media had their art stolen yet again by these corps

71 notes · View notes

lilnasxvevo · 8 months ago

Text

A new bookstore opened yesterday not too far from where I work so I went down there to check it out and really didn’t see anything I liked (the bookstore is not fully set up yet so I’m gonna come back again in a few weeks or months when they have more. you know. Books) but finally I went up to the register and I was like “Hey when I walked past this place on Wednesday there was a book on pirate history in the window but it’s not there anymore? Do you know if you still have a copy or…?” and the lady at the register LIT UP and said “Be right back! I don’t think we sold it, no!” and the other person nearby told me “She was the right person to ask!” and then she came back and sold me the pirate book. So the new bookstore gets my vote because not a lot of small indie bookstores that I’ve seen have books on the history of piracy. Yay!!!!

#it’s almost surprising that they had this because other than that the bookstore sold like. mainly all the same books as #other indie bookstores?#which is to say I go to a lot of indie bookstores and with a ton of the titles this store had I kept going.#sigh I’ve already seen this book at other stores and if I wanted it then I would have bought it then #and almost all the nonfiction that I hadn’t seen before was shit on stuff I don’t care about like ‘clean eating’#so when she went to the back room to get this book I was like hang on are you keeping all the actually interesting books back there?????#anyway. I’m glad I have this book now. thank u local bookstore

8 notes · View notes

tuxedo-rabbit · 2 months ago

Note

Separate bonus question bc I completely forgot to add it to the main question this week:

Everyone else brought some kind of grocery food items with them to the Lighthouse kitchen. What did Dulce bring, if anything at all?

She probably brought her coffee fixings-- a bunch of sugar, and then whatever extras she can afford that week (probably tends to be cinnamon, unless vanilla and cocoa prices in Antiva are reasonable...not sure if we know what the spice market is like in Thedas).

She also has a jar of hard candies. She keeps some in her pockets for the road. At one point Taash borrows one of her jackets and is baffled by the amount of candy hidden in all the pockets. Future Dulce will definitely be the type of granny that has purse candy.

#dulce de riva #i say this as someone who also stuffs their coat pockets with candy #and then i forget about it and am pleasantly surprised to find them later #I am imagining an isabela-esque romance scene #where taash is stripping dulce #but ridiculous amounts of candy keep falling out of her pockets and they have to take a break to laugh about it #i mean she's a crow so she has a lot of hidden pockets #great for storing candy (but don't get it mixed up with the poisons also in there!!)#undead-potatoes

3 notes · View notes

skeilig · 8 months ago

Text

I am back in st mary and it is snowwwingggg I'm so happy to be back 😁😁😁

#as a total surprise my favorite lesbian polycule was at the grocery store when i pulled up and they started jumping up and down and waving #i hugged them before i hugged my boyfriend sorry i have priorities #i also found out they still think isaiah is gay so i got to break the news to them that he's just a fruity straight guy #jen said 'i'm gagged' and sophie said 'you know we do get a lot of those types here'#anywayyy already love being back here it's so nice i wish i was working here again :(

8 notes · View notes

dimiclaudeblaigan · 2 years ago

Text

For anyone annoyed by the Tumblr changes, if you're on desktop I would recommend using XKit Rewritten (and New XKit for any other odd changes you'd like to try out, including even older aspects of Tumblr). It's the older version of Rewritten but most of the extensions on it are still supported/do work). I can't guarantee they'll definitely make a fix for it/a direct fix for this particular UI change, but it's possible that they might since they usually make extensions that allow you to essentially revert changes made to the UI. Other various UI extensions (such as old ones from Tumblr's past UIs that the extensions basically just revert you to) may also help fix up your UI.

As you might expect these extensions need to be on to work/revert the appearance of the UI (so if you turn them off you'll revert to the current state of Tumblr), but while they are on you can curate your UI to look how you want it. This goes for both New XKit and XKit Rewritten. I use both and I couldn't live without them lol. You can get some big oldies of Tumblr's, like classic search on Rewritten or the Tweaks extension (full of various UI tweaks) on New XKit (including the old shade of blue Tumblr used a long time ago that I never stopped using!).

Unfortunately I don't know of any solution for mobile if it affects mobile at any point (or if it already has), but whenever you're on desktop, I would definitely recommend both these versions of XKit. I have so many extensions from them that I often don't even realize when there are UI changes (remember how Tumblr added themes for your dashboard? I didn't even notice for the longest time because I've had New XKit on the whole time) because Tumblr's default coding is overwritten by the extensions I have on.

#DCB Comments #literally like when was the last time I was bothered/affected by a big UI change #idk bc I always have XKit on lol fhjaghjfg like half the time I don't even notice there was a change #atm I can't tell if I just haven't been hit by the change yet or if all the extensions I'm using are preventing it #bc I use a LOT of old interface extensions so in a sense I'm using an older version/look to Tumblr #I also heard a techbro runs Tumblr now so don't be surprised that this site is going to #end up looking like a Twitter clone. techbros want all social media to look exactly identical #while still claiming to want to one up each other and act like they have the bigger/better company #like nah bruh y'all're the same and y'all're shit #as much as I still hope Tumblr doesn't fall into that I feel like it will unless someone else runs Tumblr soon :'(#like buddy I don't use Twitter much at all anymore for a reason. well a lot of reasons #anyway get New XKit for lots of OLDER older Tumblr stuff and Rewritten for newer stuff/updated New XKit stuff #New XKit still works fine it's just that they made a newer/more improved version of New #if you've never used XKit make sure to use NEW and REWRITTEN tho #the original XKit is probably no longer functional and I don't even know if it's still on the app stores #last I knew of it most of its extensions were so outdated that they broke a long time ago #but you can use both of the newer ones together actively and it works amazingly

34 notes · View notes

lonelyasawhisper · 6 days ago

Text

ok. these past few days i’ve sort of… took a trip down memory lane and fallen down the queen rabbit hole again..?? there have been a lot of changes in my life but somehow i ended up watching the entire montreal recording again two days ago and i put on live at the odeon in the background today. and then i realized oh wow i forgot how much i love queen. and damn i love the guitar. two-years-ago-me had incredible taste.

#i can’t believe it’s been more than two years help #i’ve also read a bunch of stuff i posted two years ago and wow… i for sure was severely mentally not okay💀💀💀#i haven’t used tumblr in so long #i have a goldfish’s memory lmao 90% of my queen knowledge had been somehow stored in this back corner of my mind so i’ve had a lot of blasts #from the past these past few days😭#i forgot iilwmc was a song until a few days ago lmao😭#i’m surprised to see a lot of the people i follow are still active omg????#but i am like a newborn navigating queen again so please don’t hold ANY expectations from this blog lmao #i’m gonna take it slow and try to digest what happened these past two years💀 also i’m occupied w a lot of other stuff in my life rn so i’m #not gonna spend a lot of time here (probs)#but wow… i love queen.#i think there are just gonna be 5 people max who actually see this post anyways

5 notes · View notes

gay-for-the-snz · 28 days ago

Text

Christmas was great! c:

#hoping to wind down w some writing #also thinking about the rest of the week for work 😭🫠 I am not leadership material #hoping that we are still in a good spot so that when I hand the team back over to our new manager in two weeks he's in a good position #and doesn't have to rush or spend awhile chasing my mistakes. luckily we don't have a ton of projects bc Christmas time #we're just down a lot of people 😵‍💫 two full timers and a part timer. PLUS people in and out intermittently for vacations and whatnot #so our team of usually like a dozen is currently a team of like 6 or 7 depending on who's out when which is...not many #but!! idk. I was so stressed that my sister stopped by work yesterday to surprise me with lunch so I didn't spend it crying in my car #(which was really funny bc our brother ALSO came to have lunch with me LOL. we all ended up eating together)#idk!!! hopefully the rest of this week and all of next week goes smoother than this has bc I'm like really stressed abt leading us #probably more than is warranted. most of this stress is self imposed of “I HAVE to do a good job or everyone will be disappointed in me”#but the managers for our position from other stores have been helping out and so has my former boss which is very kind of them #I have to see if anybody from one of the two nearby stores has any extra of the signage we need...to do list for the morning #anyway sorry for the 8 million year tag ramble abt my job #my sister really liked the gift I got her which is great bc I've been excited to give it to her for months

6 notes · View notes

yandereshingeki · 1 year ago

Text

also wanna say thank you to those being patient with me and my slow ass self with writing… I’m trying to write as much as I can but it’s hard to find the motivation with work weighing me down so much （；＿；）+ the holiday seasons been so busy for me… but im hoping stuff will cool down after and it’ll get better. I’m also actively looking for another job that I hope will be less physically draining so that I’ll feel better lol

#im actually gonna apply to a local pet store soon…. praying I get that job because even if im there 8 hours a day i’ll #at least feel better about being there with all the birds and bunnies and pigs #I think the difference would actually be kinda big considering birds are like. so important to me. pet animals in general lol #maybe it won’t feel like I’m getting the soul sucked outta me if I get to listen to the loud tweeting all day #you’d also be surprised how physically draining it can be to bring in carts all day and have to constantly bag for like 3 cashiers at once #having cart duty is only fun at night bc during the day once you bring in one stack of 6-8 carts they’ll all be gone by the next time you #bring in another 8 #and we have to do it all manually with straps cause our store doesn’t have the cart machines 😞#NOT TO MENTION. THE PARKING LOT IS ON AN INCLINE TOO. all of that pieced together just kinda makes it suck lol #I can do it but my body is so sore after every shift its so hard smtimes

7 notes · View notes

ashmp3 · 1 year ago

Text

this may come as a surprise but i own 0 black mini skirts. I had 5 (1 of them a leather skort) and gave them all away to my sister and friends because they were too big on me. And ever since then i haven’t bought not even one. is this a surprise to you teo nation…….

#it was a surprise to my friend when i told her maybe bc i wear lots of black dresses so she was like well duh.. well no 🫡#i’m very practicular about the fit and my proportions are not for anything in the store bc my waist too small my legs long and my ass out #so it simply doesn’t work and i think my tailor is sick of seeing me though i have another p..s fashion pants i need to get altered 😵#if you have skirt recommendations do tell but until then i hope i thift it <3 for 3€ no more no less. Manifesting btw…#i like skorts more but i don’t like it when they are shorts in the back i like the shorts to stay hidden see that’s what i mean i’m #annoying to go shopping with i find flaw with everything bc in my head i know what i want 🕵🏼‍♀️#tt

6 notes · View notes

ukulelegodparent · 1 year ago

Text

Heartbreaking: This German almost died bc they had to manually select Germany as their location on a German-language website, bc the default was Switzerland or Austria bc that's where the company is from

#jk but also I am always like. surprised by how surprised I am when this happens #like ok swing kitchen I get it you're fancy and from vienna however *I* wanted to order from your new store location #which you didn't let me do anyways bc you're a lying fucking bitch! >:c #I just wanna know how much their fucking burgers cost 🥲#I genuinely can't remember the last time I came across an instance of like. mindlessly browsing the web and reaching a moment #of like 'oh right Austria exists'#I mean it happens a lot with like seeing czech people talk about stuff related to the German language #which is so funny like earlier today I read an article by some radio in prague idk it was like an international intercultural thing #and it was an article in relation to a czech learning program they have for German speakers #and it was about like how to say where you're from etc. I was looking it up bc I needed the name of the castle that #'Rakousko' comes from. But like even having actively searched for the etymology of the czech word for Austria I had a short moment of like #'ah yeah Austria exists'. I think it might've even had it as the first option which would've been stunning!#Sometimes I feel like Austria is more relevant to the Czech Republic than it is to Germany #Jesus Christ we're terrible neighbours I understand why they hate us #Especially like watching Austrian broadcasts it's like. I get the feeling that Germany does get mentioned quite a bit more #than the other way around even on mundane topics #The dynamic is very much 'I hate you' - 'I don't think about you at all'

5 notes · View notes

sonknuxadow · 2 years ago

Text

idk what i was expecting the next sonic channel poll to be but i was not expecting it to be chaos vs pachacamac

#the character thats already set to appear in the art is tikal btw #but . thats not surprising considering who the options are #and the prompt is that theyre working at a store together #once again idk who i would vote for i think chaos would be my first choice #but theres already recent-ish art of tikal and chaos and pachacamac doesnt really have much content at all #but then again. i prefer chaos by a lot and would rather see them. idk

11 notes · View notes

todayisafridaynight · 2 years ago

Note

I hate linking videos for whatever reason but the submission box will only let me embed one so. Guess I'll Die. BUT ANYWAY. You can see what I'm talking about here and here (also hiiiii Nakai, Iura, and Terajima) but I think Jo should have Tsutsumi's nervous tics like rubbing his lip and blinking fast :) I think it would be cute :) moe even :) though he doesn't have much to be nervous about :) but I mean once in a blue moon y'know :) OK that's all bye

[first video]