#but the teeny tiny background girls are really cute so worth it

[makenna-made-this]

BAWKtober Day 7 - Leaf Piles

Well it IS called fall

Bonus background leaf pilers close up:

[newtonsheffield]

Hiii i absolutely loved the epilogue, sooo cute and funny and the ending 🥺 but now i have this teeny tiny question if you don't mind how do you imagine the night of the Formal if Katie had actually gone with someone else? like I just know jealous baby Anthony will be so funny, sorry i know that would be like an au of an au of an au (lol) but i just loooove fics with dances because i don't get any of those where i am from

I'm so glad you enjoyed the epilogue of A Letter That You Never Read! I really had no idea when I posted that story that people would like it quite so much but... I guess you guys did?

Anyway I would be more than happy to share with you a tiny taste of Jealous teenage Anthony, quietly brooding away in the corner. @missfairygodmother was also interested in seeing Baby Anthony get a little green eyed over Kate

In this AU of an AU of an AU

Anthony had been nervous all afternoon, well, for weeks, months actually, as he'd tried to pluck up the courage to ask Katie Sheffield if she would go to the formal with him. But every time he'd been around her, he just couldn't choke out the words. She always seemed so far above them all, distancing herself from the mundanity of teenage life, sitting in the corner of the cafeteria quietly reading a book while idiots hit each other with the dinner trays around her, her eyes rolling slightly as she walked past them. So he hadn't done it.

But he'd found himself considering what she would like, when he picked out his suit. Her backpack was green, was that her favourite colour? Would she like it if he wore a tie that colour? What flowers would she like to see on his buttonhole? Roses? or tulips or peonies or something else completely?

"Why don't you ask Katie to go with you?" His mother had said gently as they'd stood in the store and the woman taking his measurements had asked what his partner was wearing. "She doesn't want to go with me, Mum." He'd mumbled, more than a little embarrassed, deeply regretting the incidents that had caused her to become aware of his futile crush. "Did you ask her?" He shook his head "She barely says anything to me, Mum. She doesn't like me back." And his cheeks had burned with shame His mother had sighed, "I don't suppose it's occurred to you that she might also be too nervous to say anything?" And while Anthony had scoffed, he'd desperately hoped that she was right, even though he knew the very last word that would ever be used to describe Katie Sheffield was nervous.

Be'd told himself, as he got ready, that when he got there, and he saw her, he'd ask her to dance. He would, he would find the courage somehow. And he would tell her that his heart wanted to beat out of his chest whenever he saw her, that he thought she was beautiful and smart, and funny and he wanted to know her. He'd arrived and loitered nervously in the corner of the school gymnasium and then he saw her, and his heart felt like it had been ripped out of his chest.

Kate had walked in, heartbreakingly beautiful, her hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, just like always, her glasses abandoned for the night, which made Anthony frown a little, but that wasn't why his heart broke. No, she was arm in arm with someone else. She paused at the doorway, listening to something her annoyingly handsome and square jawed partner said, her face breaking into a wide smile as he finished. Anthony felt something white hot rip through his chest seething at the back of the other boy's head as they walked further into the room.

Whoever he was, Anthony had never seen him before, but he looked older, a little more mature, and Anthony hated him. Petulantly despised him, almost as much as he despised himself for not asking her. She already has a boyfriend you idiot, of course she does, because you're a fuckwit and she's incredible.

He stood stock still in the corner jealousy tearing through him for god knows how long, wincing as he saw her boyfriend smile down at her, his fingers lightly brushing the flowers at her wrist. Roses Anthony noted, despising the pink tulips currently on his buttonhole. "You could have just asked her yourself you know. She's here with him because he actually asked her." Simon's voice said gently, as he followed Anthony's line of vision as Katie's boyfriend laughed. "Fuck Off Si." Anthony spat out, hating the truth of it, unable to stand in the room another minute he swept outside ignoring her completely as he past, leaning against the side of the building his chest aching.

"Anthony? Are you okay?" Of course she was here. Standing just a few feet away from him, the green of her dress shining in the soft lighting, an Amy Shark song, Adore playing in the background he realised a little belatedly because of course it was. "Yeah, fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He said, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Are you having a good time? Your boyfriend seems nice." Her brow furrowed just a little, her lower lip caught between her teeth. "You just looked kind of upset." Her voice was so soft, her eyes so concerned that right here, in this moment, it was so easy for him to pretend that she felt the same way he did. But she didn't. "Freddie's nice, we always have a good time together." Katie and Freddie. They even had matching names, his stomach churned while his chest burned with jealousy, and he instantly felt sick because he was making this so much about himself, when he should have been glad to see her happy.

Anthony nodded. "You look really nice tonight, Katie." He couldn't help himself. Her eyes widened for a second before she smiled. "Thanks, it's amazing what happens when a girl takes off her glasses right?" "It doesn't have anything to do with that." Anthony said sharply, his eyes catching hers. Surely she knew how beautiful she was. Silence echoed between them for several moments before "Katie?" A male voice called out softly, Freddie appearing seconds later. Katie smiled at him when he arrived, and Anthony's stomach churned again. He wondered for one wild moment, what it would have been like if she never came, if he never came, then he could have gone on pretending he had a chance forever.

"Sorry, Mate, I don't think we've been introduced, Freddie." He said turning towards Anthony, his hand outstretched. Anthony stared down at it for a second and then gritted his teeth. "Freddie this is Anthony." Katie said lightly and Freddie did the oddest thing, his eyes widened, a smirk on his face as he looked between them. "Anthony, I'm so glad to meet you!" He said, suddenly overflowing with happiness. Anthony felt his brow furrow as Katie ducked her head embarrassed. "Mate, I wonder if you could do me a favour, I hurt my leg at Rugby this week." Of course he's a rugby player, Anthony thought savagely. "And I think someone ought to dance with Katie." Anthony's heart stopped. Katie looked nothing short of aghast. "Freddie!" She hissed angrily, nudging him "Anthony, you don't have to,- I'm not- Freddie I'm telling my Mum on you!" Anthony's brow furrowed again, he was missing something here, something he couldn't quite place but he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. He cut across Freddie's "Please, Auntie's not going to do-" "I want to dance with you!" Katie's head nearly shot off her shoulders as it swivelled towards him. Anthony felt his hand ruffle his hair nervously, cursing himself. "If you want to... dance with me that is." He couldn't breathe as her eyes flicked over his face, more than a little guarded until she said.

"Okay. I'd like that." Anthony felt his face break into a bright smile, his heart pounding in his chest as he tugged her back though the doors, leading her to the dance floor, his heart pounding as she wrapped her arms a little awkwardly around him, standing so lose he could count the tiny line of freckles on her nose. Content silence between them as the music swelled in the background. And then everything came slipping from his chest. She was so close he just couldn't help it.

"I really wanted to ask you to come tonight. And I'm sorry, I know it's not fair because you're with Freddie, but I've liked you for a really long time and I can't let you go away to University thinking don't care about you." He was breathing a little heavily by the end of his speech, the warring emotions that had been playing on him all night finally getting the better of him as Katie stared at him, dumbstruck. Anthony let his hands drop. "And now i've made you uncomfortable, I'm really sorry. Sorry." God he had to get out of here, tears were pushing at the back of his throat, clouding his vision, and then her hand caught his. "Freddie is my cousin!" She said, all in a rush, "Well, my step mum's second cousin's son. But I had to bring him because I didn't have anyone else and I was too nervous to come by myself but I really wanted to see you one last time and-" Anthony couldn't help himself, his heart was beating out of his chest as he leaned towards her, cutting off whatever she'd been about to say with his lips on hers.

Her lips were soft against his, unmoving for a moment, before her hands tugged him more tightly against her, her fingers playing with the hair at the back of his neck. There was a small smilie on her lips when Anthony pulled back, a broad grin on his own. " I've wanted to do that for a really long time." "Was it worth the wait do you think?" "Abso-fucking-lutely." Their lips met again with a small giggle, and even though Anthony had just said the most embarrassing thing he possibly could have said after kissing a girl, he really couldn't bring himself to care.

[la-appel-du-vide]

07•12•19 - Day THREE

It was a rather short night of sleep, since we had to get up pretty early for our first activity of the day – an underground tour of Seattle! We got up and got ready, and headed to the tour. We were running a little late, especially with the stress of finding on-street parking and then finding the tour building, but we made it just in time. Here’s what you need to know: Seattle as you see it today is actually like 20 feet higher than it was when it started. When it was originally founded, it was built on mud, sewage, and saw dust, and the city was slowly sinking more and more all the time. The business district was built on this lower portion, then there were cliffs where residences were. One day, a fire started that burned the entire city down. This was kind of a good thing because it was honestly nasty. We learned way too many gross details for my taste. But this fire gave them the chance to rebuild into what they are today! To prevent the city from sinking into the sewage and mud, they had to build up so that sewer pipes could use gravity to properly drain. They decided to take dirt from the cliffs and fill in the lower portion of the city to make everything level. So what was originally the ground floor of all of the buildings is actually 20 feet below ground now. They have hollow sidewalks, supported by steel beams, and massive walls of stone under their roads to hold them up. Look into it if you’re interested, because it is kind of a fascinating history of the city. This tour took us underneath the sidewalks to see the original entrances of some of the oldest buildings in Seattle and gave us a lot of great information. We saw a lot of history, but my favorite part was seeing the skylights in the sidewalk above us, because it gave us a ton of natural light underground and we could see people walking above us, and they had no idea we were 20 feet below! It was a cool and unique experience – shout out to Beach for coming up with the idea.

After the tour, we headed to my favorite place in Seattle – Pike Place Market! It was Beach’s first time in Seattle, so we had to hit all the tourist things. We went down to the gum wall, and even ended up buying some bubble gum so we could add to the wall ourselves (my first time doing that!). We tried taking cute pictures blowing bubbles in front of the wall, and chewed so much gum that my jaw got sore haha. We wandered the market and saw the flying fish of Pike Place (Beach was wildly unimpressed hahaha). My FAVORITE thing about Pike Place is the MILLIONS of beautiful fresh flowers arranged for purchase for so cheap! Flowers that would cost between 70-85 dollars at home are literally $15 a bundle here. I was in floral heaven. I love flowers, something I get from my grandma. But especially peonies. I LOVE peonies. I knew I’d have to buy some this go-around. It was a NEED. But first, we figured we’d finish out the rest of our Pike Place list so we weren’t stuck carrying them around all day.

We were starting to get hungry, so we went down to Ivar’s Fish Bar (on recommendation from NIKA girl I LOVE you), so Beach could get some fish n’ chips which she loves! I had some chicken cause #antiseafood and it was also freaking good. Then we wandered into the Curio Shop and found some wild things, including carved GRAINS OF RICE (whattttt), a four-legged chicken, and spinning balls of glass that I for the life of me cannot figure out HOW they spin. It was super interesting.

Then we went over to look at the Great Wheel. Decided not to ride it, but maybe next time? It was honestly a beautiful day. The sun was out, it was hot, and I was HAPPY. We walked back down to Pike Place, and got some treats – drinks from the cutie OG Starbucks, and pastries from Piroshky Piroshky. It was nice to sit and rest our feet for awhile haha. Walking this much everyday starts to get to you! (Worth it. Totally worth it.)

Then we went and picked out our flowers. (‘: There were so many breathtaking choices, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to go with the peonies. Beach picked out a super colorful and full arrangement with a huge sunflower (her fave) right in the center. I’m never going to get over what a KILLER deal they were. We took some pictures with our flowers that ended up being my very favorite pictures of the day. Have I mentioned that I love flowers? I’m also determined to get these flowers home, even though we have like 25 hours of driving to go. Wish me luck.

After Pike Place, it was time to hit the Space Needle! We went to get the car out of the parking garage, and Brady accidentally backed into the car behind her. I was standing in the parking garage holding the flower bouquets, and I couldn’t see the point of impact, but I definitely heard it. OOF. Talk about a major crunch, that sent a wince from my face down my whole body. We were both scared to look. But apparently, we had a guardian angel with us, because the damage was MINIMAL. No dents (how???? With that crunch? I…. what), and only a teeny tiny scratch on both vehicles. Literally amazing. We were pretty relieved. But Beach did the responsible thing and left them her number in case they wanted to fix the scratch. So far, they haven’t called. Which is also awesome. It was a super tiny scratch though, they probably wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out to them.

After that little emotional roller coaster, we went over to the Space Needle! Parked and bought tickets for the next available time, which wasn’t for about an hour and a half. To kill the time, we went to the park nearby and played cards with the beautiful view of the Space Needle in the background. It was really quite lovely and relaxing. Gosh I love this place!

When the time came, we went up to the top of the Space Needle. Learned a lot on the way up too, including the fact that the workers worked on the building with no harnesses and no safety nets?! That’s freaking terrifying. Yet not even one person died. Unbelievable. They built it in only 6 months. Which is remarkable also!

It was a gorgeous view as always, and this time I wasn’t even getting blown off by 100 mph winds! When we got back to the bottom of the tower, we got to do a fun little virtual reality bungee jump from the top haha. Quick, but kinda cool.

For dinner, we picked a spot based on its proximity to the dessert place we wanted after. We ended up at a place called 5 Spot. Random pick, but so freaking good! Had some of the best mac n’ cheese of my life. And then afterward we went to Molly Moons (another recommendation from Nika) and loved it. So yum. Also, they pay their employees $18 an hour starting so that’s cool. What the HECK Sub Z.

We ended our night with a quick little car clean-up, and buying vases for our flowers at Target. Then it was off to bed again, knowing we had a half-day of Seattle fun left, but then a LONG LONG drive to Canada…

[lolbtsaus]

Youtuber!Namjoon as a Father

And now it is time for the last member of the hyung line, an amazing leader who has such a nice voice like have you ever heard him say “baby” I found a compilation of it and it is so nice what a nice thought what a nice man that’s a good man right there, Kim Namjoon aka Rap Monster aka joon

For the original youtuber!joon post, click here, for his proposal, click here and for father!joon, all of the father related posts are here

For everyone that hasn’t read the original father!joon post, he has two kids, a daughter and a younger son

Just a quick summary of youtuber!joon, his channel isn’t just one thing, it’s vlogs mixed with tags mixed with sit down and just talk videos, it’s all just about him and his life, that’s the main point is capturing his journey so he can look back in twenty years and watch all the videos and be reminded of memories he may have forgotten

So when he finds out he’s gonna be a father, it doesn’t take long at all for him to be talking about it in a video

He sits down and he has this huge smile on his face and he talks about how excited he is for her to be born and how much he wants to hold her and it’s so blatantly obvious he’s wrapped around her lil finger already

With the second pregnancy, he does a similar announcement but this time, he has bby girl in his arms, taking a lil nap on his shoulder bc he’s her favorite pillow, he’s soft and warm and he gives her head lil kisses so she’s more than content

He does a l o t of bby related videos bc he really really wants this part of his life to be documented, he never ever wants to forget how excited he was over being able to buy tiny outfits for his munchkins and how long it took to set up the nurseries and how much work everything was but most importantly, he wants to always be able to look back and remember how worth it it was

It was worth getting woken up several times every night by a crying bby, it was worth diaper duty, it was all worth it when he gets to see that precious smile on their faces

He also wants to share it with his viewers bc they’ve been with him through so much and he thinks it’s only fitting that they take this journey with him

He films the two of you setting the nurseries up, he films random lil moments like picking out toys or clothes or bickering over baby names, he films a lot of the moments leading up to the births

It becomes weird to not see his bbys in his videos or at least have them mentioned

They’re forever in the background, whether they just walk through or they’re sitting down and playing or watching something or even just their lil voices

They’re in his lap or walking next to him, they’re just always near him in some way and no one minds whatsoever bc seeing him interact with them is a do r able

He does a couple advice videos, he shares what he did as a new parent, how he handled certain things like teething and getting them to sleep as quickly as possible, he answers questions the viewers send in

But he also asks them for their advice, he’s got no problem admitting he isn’t perfect and he doesn’t know everything about parenting so he’ll sometimes ask them for their opinions like if they have any tips or the best brands for toys or clothes or whatever he needs next

F or e v e r calling them cute, pretty much any time they do anything, you’re gonna hear him giggle and mumble a lil “cute” under his breath

Like there’s this one time where bby girl is eating an apple and he’s cracking up or this one time bby boy tries to walk around in joon’s shoes and he can’t believe someone so cute and precious exists

You could so easily make a compilation of all the times he calls them cute and have it be over ten minutes

But in his defense, they are really really really precious, they have cute smiles that resemble his and the big puppy dog eyes and the same clumsy nature

Their outfits are also really cute, they always have outfits that go together (at least when they’re young and you and joon are picking their outfits out) like if bby boy is wearing a shirt with pink in it, she’ll have some pink somewhere on her outfit and if she has some black on her dress, he’ll have black somewhere on his outfit, etc.

They don’t match exactly but it’s just enough matching to make you go “awww”

Bby girls likes to try and do bby boy’s hair so in the background of some of his videos, you see her trying to get his fringe into a ponytail or trying to give him pigtails 

Always gets them to do his outro with him and he always ends it by kissing their lil cheeks

They’re in his vlogs all the time of course, that’s where they’re mainly featured bc his vlogs are just about his life and his family is his life

Just picture this for a moment

Namjoon, tall as ever, holding hands with his two small teeny tiny babies while they walk down to the ice cream shop together

Also joon getting all :D seeing them so excited, eating their ice cream, enjoying their day, just being joyful in general bc happy bbys = happy joon

His favorite videos he films with them are pretty much all of the “first” videos, their first steps, first words, first time trying a lemon (he still tears up from laughing at their reactions)

His favorite to watch when he needs to be cheered up is definitely the video of them going to Disneyland and meeting all of the characters bc the smiles on their faces combined with their hats that have Mickey Mouse ears on them combined with their overall happiness never fails to make him happy 

They’d gotten so many pictures with the characters and they’d rode all the kid friendly rides and he’d filmed a l o t of it so he could always see his kids’ faces light up as they rode “It’s a Small World” and he could watch the clip of them ever so happily munching on some snacks and talking about their favorite Disney movies so seriously

“Lion King was the best”

“But Ariel has mermaids”

“Lion King has lions”

“M e r m a i d s” 

[thedaywebuiltthefort-blog]

No 109 - List Lightening Round

WARNING: The below post and accompanying videos may* contain swearing

*It does

Bold = Kyli.    Unbold(?) = Holly

In which the Listers make a nostalgic breakfast, do a ridiculous dance, Holly comes face to face with a foe more frightful than cows, they play a song, hi-jack a shopping trolley and Kyli points at a bus station and they masticate some poultry.

This one has been in the pipeline for a few weeks now. The world seems to have been hell-bent on throwing so many curveballs into the path that neither of us has been able to walk in a straight line for awhile. Time has been creeping past, every day life has just taken over. The idea came about after it had been a while since I had looked at doing anything on the list. Holly had done a couple of them in the run up to her birthday, even going off piste and coming up with a whole new challenge for herself  (have a look at her post about Sweatember) and I was feeling a bit left in the dust.

So I picked up the folder in which we stored all our original postits and flicked through to find something I could do that would be worth while and get me back in the game. Whilst looking through them it occurred to me that quite a few of them, whilst all important parts of the list, are actually quite small, easily done and wouldn't take up an awful lot of time or energy. This made me wonder how interesting a post we could really write about them if we were to do them individually. So I decided that we should find away to make it more challenging and more entertaining.

Ironically, my motivation has been running on empty recently and not being able to fall back on the list has been a challenge in itself. You see, that’s the dirty little secret about this whole thing, it’s more than just a silly blog where we do crazy nonsensical things. It actually takes a lot of hard work and energy to be this positive and upbeat all the damned time. There are a lot of days where lying face down on the floor eating biscuits seems like a much better option! But anyway, Kyli and I discussed the idea of completing a ‘lightening round’ of list challenges.

We agreed to give ourselves ONE day in which we try to tick off as many of the smaller things on the list as we can and collaboratively post about it!!

A few days ago we finally got the chance to get together and speed through some of the items that were easy to do with very little organizing. The nominations were;

No 17 - Ride in a shopping trolley

No 27 - Play ‘Fight Song’

No 58 - Do the ‘Poison’ dance

No 64 - Make drop scones

No 70 - Eat chicken on a bench

No 88 - Hold a snake

On Wednesday 13th October 2018 we successfully checked all of the above things off the list!! Woooooooo yeahhhhhhhh!!

We started the day by making drop scones (well Holly made them, I just ate them!). When we were kids our Nan used to make these as a quite regular treat so they were a big part of our childhood. I’m not sure anyone really knows what drop scones are actually meant to be. Apparently they’re supposed to be Scotch pancakes but having eaten those too, I can confirm they taste nothing alike. Unless we’re making them wrong, which is very possible.

Chances are high Nan was making them wrong too, she had a unique talent for burning things and drop scones were rarely an exception! Somehow though they were still so good!

Fuelled up and ready to go, we then completed the Poison dance in the kitchen, mentally and emotionally scarring my dog in the process. Just to clarify, the poison dance is a choreographed routine to Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’ that we made up. I think a lot of people can relate to that experience of being a kid, making up dances in the house. I was about twenty when we made up this routine. I’d love to say it’s a step up from the dance we made up to the Spice Girls whilst dressed in bin bag dresses a few years prior, but I’d be lying! Say what you like about our lack of talent, rhythm or style - there is nothing not cool about making up dance routines. Unless you do them wearing bin bag dresses.

Dancing completed, it was time to move on to more serious things. We decided pretty early on that this was the day I was going to hold a snake. Let me be very clear, I have never once in my life touched a snake. They are one of two animals that I have an irrational phobia of, the other being cows.

I have a list of very real phobias as long as my arm – things that bite, things that move too fast, being in small spaces, flying, and on it goes. I have never had a bad experience with a snake, having never gotten close enough to one to get the chance. My fear is based purely on my certainty that all snakes are basically death tubes designed to kill you. I don’t even care if they’re non-venomous. They might be lying.

About five minutes from the local exotic zoo, my palms start sweating. Honestly, even I was a little surprised by my reaction. I genuinely thought that as with so many situations that I am uncomfortable with, I could just bullshit my way through it. I am the biggest coward on the planet. Bravado is my armour and I generally do a great job of joking my way through situations. It’s all about deflection.

The closer we get, the more I start to become convinced that something is going to go horribly wrong and this is all a terrible idea. I make a joke that perhaps all the snakes are out for the day. Secretly I’m hoping that might be true. Sadly, they were very much there. After falling victim to the judgmental stare of a teeny tiny owl I met a corn snake called Pumpkin.

Beware judgemental owls

I will point out now that giving something a cute name does NOT make it any less terrifying. You can call a shark ‘toothy jeff’ but it’s still going to rip your arm off.  Anyway, much to the amusement of the young man holding Pumpkin for the visitors, I have to do a few laps of the room before I can even look at her. We let him know straight away the reason we’re there and try to reassure him that I’m not just a crazy person. I am relieved to hear I am not the first person to go there for the very same reason. There is a very real chance I am going to projectile vomit all over this nice guy and Pumpkin. Every time she moves I am convinced she can smell my fear and is ready to launch herself like a haunted hose pipe towards my face.

After a few minutes, I actually manage to look at her and give her a slight prod with one finger. Pumpkin feels like the inner tube of a bicycle. It’s all just part of her plan to get me to let my guard down. Jokes on you Pumpkin, you can’t fool me. Again, it takes a few laps of the room before I’m able to touch her again. I hold her with help from the guy from the zoo who repeatedly reassures me that I’m not about to die in a snake-related accident.

The whole time my heart is pumping in my mouth. Eventually, I know that I need to hold her by myself or I can’t count this as a completed task. I hold her for about three seconds on my own, she moves slightly and I give her back. I do not enjoy any of it and am a little disappointed I don’t feel a great sense of accomplishment. Still, I did it and I can take something from that. I still hate snakes, Pumpkin included.  

However, nothing bad happened. Not every victory comes with a parade and a euphoric sense of self-satisfaction. Sometimes you just have to get through something you don’t really want to be involved with and come out the other side.  

After recovering from my snake holding, we head over to the local Asda to get a chicken to eat on a bench, possibly one of the stranger things on the list and one Kyli is better equipped to explain. I’ll go back to that one in a moment. Lastly, we went down to a local field where I had noted an abandoned shopping trolley a few days ago, in the hope that it would still be there. I’ve ridden in a shopping trolley before, but I still wanted to add it to the list. Now I’m not saying it’s big or clever to be in your early to mid-thirties (or late twenties… just getting that in there while I still can) and want to ride around in a shopping trolley, but nothing about the list is big or clever. The shopping trolley represents something to me. It’s not just a trolley. It’s a trolley full of missed opportunity.

For me, it’s all those times I walked past something stupid and silly because I was too afraid of what people might think. The fear that I might, shock horror, fall out and knock out all of my teeth and have to live the rest of my life as a toothless hermit eating soup. I tend to over think everything. As it turns out, I did fall out. I blame Kylie entirely. Muahahahahaha!

It did hurt. My teeth, fortunately, are all still where they are meant to be. It was pretty funny and not at all dignified. Anyway, as this is turning into quite a long post I feel like it would be appropriate to end it by going back to the whole chicken on a bench thing. As mentioned, Kyli is the best person to explain why eating chicken on a bench made the list.

No, it’s not an innuendo or a weird euphemism for something else, it is exactly what it says on the tin. Eat a chicken whilst sitting on a bench. The inaugural eating of a chicken whilst in a benched state happened when I was 16. I’m not about to go into the details of the background sob story but, suffice to say, I was going through a really rough time and I had gone to my happy place, my Nanna’s house in Chapel St Leonards, to straighten my head out. After having poured my heart out to my Nan she did what I believe to be one of the best things anyone could ever do for a person. She took me by the hand… walked arm in arm with me to the local supermarket… and bought a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. We went and sat on a bench, by the bus stop and she just made me feel like I would be OK. She was never the sort to make the world out to be cupcakes and rainbows, she never gave me delusions of grandure. She had a way of just making you feel like you would be alright. No judgment. No attempts to steer me in the right direction. She just… was. With me. On a bench. Eating chicken.

There was nothing special about the bench. There was nothing special about the chicken. But there was something very special in that little picnic with just the right person. That is one of my most vivid and cherished memories of one of the most cherished people in my life and what she did for me. It was nothing really, but it was everything.

I haven’t eaten a chicken on a bench (until the other day) since that day in Chapel with my Nanna. But it is my go to memory when I feel low and need reminding that I’m just fine.

For me it was one of the more poignant moments of the day. We were chatting about the list and Kyli said something along the lines of how eating a chicken on a bench wouldn’t mean much to anyone else but how people should find their own chicken on a bench. That’s the thing, for people that still don’t understand what this is, why it is that we are doing this – it’s very simple. This is therapy. It can be disguised as stupidity, dressed up as silliness and passed off as fun, but ultimately and most importantly, this is healing. This is facing fear and finding hope, growing and learning. There are millions of people trying to wade their way through life, with millions of ways of coping with all the worries, the disappointments, the failures, and the pitfalls. Some people medicate, some people meditate, some people have their sister push them around a field in a shopping trolley. Shit things happen in life. You get hurt, you get challenged and you don’t always get what you want. It can sometimes seem like you don’t have the time or the ability to stop for a second and work out what it is you really need to get you through. It turns out I needed a chicken on a bench, just as much as Kyli did, and probably a lot more than I (or I) realised.

We appreciate that you may look at some of these things and think to yourself, "How did that even get on the list? That's not a challenge!" and you'd be right. Not everything on the list is a challenge. Quite a few of the things we'll be doing are purely there for shits and giggles, the idea was never for everything to be uber difficult.

We created the list after realising how easy it is to get stuck in a monotonous rut in life, when daily routines become dull and dreary, and something happened to make us realise that life is too short for dreary monotony. Breaking habits, any habits, is hard and takes time and effort. The list includes lots of seemingly easy, unchallenging things to do, but try to remember that the list, in it's ever evolving entirety, is one massive challenge and the point is to make changes, big ones and small ones, to make life better and more exciting. What makes life better and more exciting than just being a bit silly sometimes? That, my friends, is how those things made it onto the list and these are the sorts of things you should absolutely make sure you include in your own lists!! (You should totally make your own lists!)

You may have read Holly's post about being patient and her dismay when she realised that after creating the list there are actually a lot of days where nothing really happens at all. We can't all be running marathons, climbing mountains and bungee jumping every day to keep the excitement going. Unfortunately, not only would that get very expensive and probably very tiring, it'd quite likely take some of the excitement away from it. I'd be tempted to say that the little things are more important than the big, difficult things because the little things are the ones that get you through those inbetweeny days that don't feel quite so accomplished.

If I had one hope for this blog, it isn’t for lots of readers or to gain anything from it in terms of recognition – it is that people will share this journey with us. I hope that by reading it you can laugh with us (and often at us) and maybe make your own list. I hope that you can celebrate the small, seemingly mundane things that get you through. I hope that you can do things you never thought you could do. Most of all, I sincerely and fervently hope that you too find your chicken on a bench.

Holly

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

Ask D'Mine: On Overtreating Lows, Control-Freak Loved Ones

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Ask D'Mine: On Overtreating Lows, Control-Freak Loved Ones

Do you sometimes freak out when your blood sugar plummets? Have a loved one who freaks out with worry over these situations?

You will not want to miss this week's edition of our diabetes advice column, Ask D'Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois. Read on...

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Email us at AskDMine@diabetesmine.com

Lou from Florida, type 1, writes: Lows are so scary. There's that moment when you feel totally out of control and are stuffing things in your mouth to avoid passing out. But then later, your doctor scolds you for "over-treating" lows. In that scary moment, I can't help myself. Do you have any tips on how to avoid over-treating?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Lows are an unavoidable side effect of diabetes treatment with insulin, and with some diabetes pills as well. But opening the background dossier on type 1 hypos, I see that not all low blood sugars are created equal. Insulin hypos tend to be more aggressive, faster, and deeper than pill-triggered hypos. Also, hypos from fast-acting insulins tend to be more wicked than those from basal insulin. Both type 1s and 2s can get hypos, but as the body's built-in protections against lows are broken in T1s, our lows tend to be more dangerous.

I think that about covers everything, background wise. Oh, wait a minute. I forgot one little, itsy, teeny, tiny fact. Your brain runs on sugar and it doesn't run very well in the absence of sugar. As your blood sugar drops, so too, does your IQ.

And I'm not just being cute when I say lows are dangerous. They can actually kill you dead. So there's plenty of reason to be scared when you feel the insulin hit the fan. Plus, as I said, your IQ is dropping.

Fear + stupidity = the classic caveman low where you lose all control to your primal survival urges and feed your face until you barf. At least metaphorically. What usually happens is that after 20 to 30 minutes of feasting, your blood sugar rises enough that your brain fires back up and the guilt nodes turn on. There you are in your kitchen, surrounded by empty cereal boxes, candy bar wrappers, and half-empty tubs of Häagen-Dazs, with assorted crumbs scattered down your front and across the floor. You blink once. Twice. Who am I? Where am I? What the hell just happened? And then, of course, it all comes back to you and you feel guilt, anger, and shame all at the same time.

Now on the medical side, your doc has two legitimate concerns (neither one of which justifies a "scolding"). First and foremost, over-correcting triggers what's called a rebound excursion. No, it's not a tropical cruise after a breakup. This isn't an excursion you want to take. What happens is, you yo-yo from dangerously low blood sugar to dangerously high blood sugar. The level of the high can be perilous and the speed which it happens can be damaging. Secondarily, if you have weight issues, you just added an extra meal's worth of calories to your day. No shit, frequent lows can make you fat.

Of course, any non-diabetic medical professional will tell you that to treat a low, all you need to do is ingest 15 fast-acting carbs, calmly wait fifteen minutes and then retest. If your number is lower or flat, ingest another 15 carbs. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Once you have a rise started, even if you're still very low, you're to stop eating. Like the economy, once stimulated, it will recover. Eventually.

But any non-diabetic medical professional has never had a caveman trapped inside, fighting to get out. Sometimes I can keep my head when I'm low and do it "right." Other times my life and the lives of my loved-ones-without-me flash before my eyes and I lose it, grab my spear, and go kill me a mammoth.

So what to do? Do I have a tip? Of course I have a tip—but it's more like a parachute than a tip for avoiding the plane crash in the first place. Once the caveman is loose, there's no stopping him. But you can do something about the excursion. As soon as your wits return, you need to survey the damage. What did you eat? Be honest, 15 carbs doesn't generate that much wreckage in the kitchen! I don't think anyone has studied it yet, but I'd wager the typical response to a bad hypo is 100 carbs. Hell, a decent sized hypo-serving is Fruity Pebbles alone is 50 carbs, and that doesn't count the milk or the fact that no caveman stops at one bowl!

80-100-125 carbs. Whatever it was, be honest. Now, bolus for it.

You heard me.

Yes. I know your blood sugar is still only 70. But you just ate a wooly mammoth. You just stepped on the excursion elevator. Taking insulin when you're still low is a hard thing to do, but it's the right thing to do. As your blood sugar rises you'll evolve from caveman to modern man.

Look, today's "fast-acting" insulin arrives on the job in about 20 minutes, but it won't peak for two hours, so it's actually safe to take fast-acting insulin when you're very low if you just ate a ton of crap. The carbs will out-pace the action time on the insulin. In this situation, taking insulin when you are low won't make you go lower.

So take your medicine and call the doctor in the morning. Or maybe you won't need to call him. If you can cover the caveman carbs right away, you might stop the glucose excursion in its tracks. When your doc sees the low and the modest rebound on your meter download, he'll assume you did the whole 15 carb thing and give you an atta-boy.

He doesn't need to know about that whole Thanksgiving dinner you scarfed down at 2 am. And we won't tell him either.

Hailey from Kansas, type 1, writes: My boyfriend constantly thinks I've died if I don't respond to his calls/texts within 10 minutes. It's getting really frustrating because I reassure him that I set alarms and check really often, but he still freaks out. Any advice?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Now... let me see... you are frustrated and he is freaked out. This is classic F&F, which can lead to an F'd up relationship. Well, at least it's clear he loves you. And at least he cares enough about you to learn the fact that your diabetes, in theory, could kill you. So I'm liking him already.

Still, some balance is in order and you'll need to set some new ground rules. But before I get there, let's cover some basic insurance for avoiding the whole dying thing.

Number one: do you wear a medic alert ID? If you do, you can reassure him that, worst-case scenario, if you pass out somewhere, you have this extra level of insurance. If you don't wear one, when was the last time this boy bought you something pretty?

Number two: well, hell, I can't think of a second thing.

Clearly, some more education for your boyfriend is in order. Help him to understand when your high-risk times for lows are. Lows are more likely 3-4 hours after a meal, in general. Or at the gym. Your mileage will vary, but you probably know when you are more likely to go low and when you are very unlikely to go low. I think helping him understand that might at least let him focus on when to worry, and when not to.

Of course, I don't know what your work situation is like, but I think it's fair for a loved one to worry a little more when they know you're alone, rather than when you're surrounded by other people.

Now, you told me you set alarms and test often. How would you feel about texting the numbers or a "I tested and I'm OK" message to your BF regularly? Is that too invasive for you? It might be reassuring for him. Maybe you could offer that in exchange for an agreement that you'll respond to calls and texts when you can, but that he shouldn't expect instant responses.

Oh dear.

I just heard the sound of 100 matches being lit by your diabetic sisters, preparing to flame me for even suggesting that you keep him in the loop with your testing. I can hear the arguments already. She's not a little girl! He isn't her father! Her blood sugar is none of his businesses!

Calm down and let me share a secret with you: Her blood sugars are his business. You think having diabetes is hard? Just try loving one of us! Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. All the same worries we have, but none of the control. Wow. Now, that's a tough job.

So what I'm advocating for is a third "F" to go between the Frustration and the Freaking out. I'm thinking some Facts will help the relationship Function better.

Then you can both have more Fun.

Thanks for writing!

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

[lolbtsaus]

Father!Yoongi Head Canons

Okay so normally I do series in order of age but I figured since today is Yoongi’s birthday in some time zones and I’m in a father mood, why not combine the two together so this is an example post for the rest of the series, if you guys wanna see the other boys’ posts, let me know!! (also I didn’t realize yesterday was international woman’s day bc I’m really shitty with days, I couldn’t even tell you what day Thanksgiving is, but happy late international woman’s day!!!)

So this is just gonna be a list of my biggest head canons for father!Yoongi, there’s no theme to it, these aren’t all of them, I could probably make a part two but these are just some of my favorites compiled into one post

All of the father related posts are here (for everyone that hasn’t read the original father!Yoongi post, he has one daughter and there’s also another version where he has a younger son)

So my biggest head canon of pretty much all time for father!Yoongi is that he’s a total sucker for his kids

Any chance of him acting serious or not smiling is out the window the second they come into a room, which brings me to the next head canon

They are his happy viruses, he can have the shittiest day, he can be stressed out, he can be pissed off but the moment he sees them or hears their voices, everything starts getting better

He sometimes just hugs them to his chest and closes his eyes and he starts to calm down slowly but surely

He takes them into the studio with him a l o t bc just having them around helps him stay happy, they’re just chilling out on the couch with his phone or iPad watching some kids’ show

He actually turns the spare room of your home into a mini studio, it’s nowhere near as professional and official as the actual studio but it has enough basic equipment for him to make rough drafts that he’ll work on later on

The kids are always in there with him and one of them is on his lap and he actually doesn’t mind bc they almost always just want to be held or give him a hug or a kiss

Sometimes, when he has a draft that just isn’t working out at all and he’s not gonna use it, he’ll let them play around with it

He shows them that certain buttons make certain noises and he just lets them go crazy with it and he’s smiling so hard the entire time and he’s cracking up with that silent laugh he gets when he finds something really funny bc they’re s o proud of themselves and they’re having so much fun with it 

It’s pretty clear they have a huge love for music but he never pressures them about becoming musicians, he doesn’t care if their future career has absolutely nothing to do with music or if they follow in his footsteps, he’ll be proud of them no matter what they become bc he’s their biggest fan

They come to a few concerts or shows but he doesn’t like them being around so much noise (even though they do get some earplugs if it’s too loud) and so many people but they’re always backstage cheering him on with all their might

They’re in awe watching him perform bc they’re so used to seeing goofy dad that wakes them up with soft kisses and makes weird faces at them and buys them ice cream when they go out together but now goofy dad’s turned into this amazing rapper that’s giving his all into his performance

They wear “Suga” shirts that are way too big for them and they have on his snapbacks that are also way too big but they don’t care, they’re supporting their father

He’s v e r y private about his family life in general but especially when it comes to the kids like it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the public doesn’t know he’s gonna be a father until the actual birth

You know how they tend to release logs a lil bit later than the dates they record them?? Well head canon that he films a log a month before bby girl’s due date

He’s got this really happy look in his eyes but he also explains how he’s a bit nervous about becoming a father bc what if she doesn’t like him, what if he can’t make her stop crying when she’s upset, what if he doesn’t have those “paternal instincts” everyone always guarantees him he’ll have??

He holds himself up to pretty high standards and I don’t think he’d be any different with fatherhood, he’d want to be the best father to his kids that he could be so he’s a bit worried with the first child

He’s seen some of the boys have their first children and they make it seem so effortless like they always seem to know exactly why their bby is crying and how to fix it but they also tell him that it’s hard at times, the lack of sleep combined with the new experience can be a bit confusing and stressful but that it’s so worth it the second that bby smiles

And the second his bby girl grabs onto his finger, he gets it, he gets every single word they said

He hates seeing her cry, even though in the back of his mind he knows it’s just her way of communicating since she can’t speak yet but that part of his mind isn’t easy to focus on when she’s so upset and he’s rushing around to get whatever she needs

Seeing her face light up whenever she sees him makes his day every single time, seeing that gummy smile make an appearance makes the lack of sleep disappear from his mind, seeing her grow more and more everyday, discovering new things and being so fascinated makes him stop to appreciate the small things more often

Nothing makes him laugh harder than his bbys, they could literally just make a weird face (bc we all know Yoongi can make some funny ass faces and his kids would inherit that) and he’s gone for the next ten minutes

His entire camera roll is just photos of the kids, he has a few photos of you and him or just you and a few of Holly but the majority are his bbys

There are barely any pictures of the bbys’ faces online but he does always post a few pictures of them on their birthdays and he makes sure to include just one face picture bc he does want to include the Army in his family while not over-exposing them at the same time

All of the boys make them happy birthday posts as well and they upload a few pictures as well so birthdays are always when the most photos happen of the bbys

For bby girl’s third birthday, she wants a Peppa Pig themed party bc that’s her favorite show and there are so many pictures of Yoongi letting her put lil pig ears on him and he’s walking around dressed as the father pig and bby boy is the lil brother and all of the boys dress their kids up as the characters and it’s just really cute

Bby boy has no idea what’s going on bc he’s still too young to be able to understand a birthday party but he giggles every time his big sister giggles and he still has lots of fun getting hugs from all of his uncles

His kids are almost always in the background of videos though, like when he does V live broadcast things, there’s always the giggling in the background and the chatter of the two siblings and sometimes he shows a glimpse of them playing with Holly

Okay so you know how Yoongi did those album reviews, well head canon that he’s in the middle of recording one with bby boy just climbs onto his lap and of course Yoongi can’t say no bc he just wants a hug but then bby boy gets curious about what Yoongi’s doing

The bbys always wanna do whatever Yoongi does, if he’s eating, they want to eat too, if he’s laughing, they wanna be in on the joke so bby boy wants to look at the album too

Yoongi lets him and all you see are his tiny bby hands that are still so so small compared to Yoongi’s and yoon keeps making faces at the other boys’ photos to make bby boy laugh, the camera can’t see that part but you can hear the smile in Yoongi’s voice when he moves onto the next page

Holly is their best friend in the entire world, Yoongi comes home one day to see Holly curled up with bby girl’s cheek squished on his head and bby boy hugging him to his chest and Yoongi just about cries from how cute it is

Calls them his mini mes 24/7 bc they are just two tiny versions of Yoongi, they have the same eyes the same gummy smiles the same cheeks and the same facial expressions like there’s this one time Tae dresses up as Santa for the kids and they were all on board until he does aegyo for bby girl and then she just furrows her brow and gives him this look that looks so much like Yoongi’s “what the hell” face that everyone has to laugh 

Lots of kisses and hugs go on in the Min household bc Yoongi just can’t get enough of his munchkins, they’re so sweet and cute and he loves them so much, they’re his teeny tiny muses