#dog subscription box

[poochperks]

Choose Best Unique Gifts For Dog

https://poochperks.com - Whether you’re looking for something fun and unique to give for Christmas, any other special occasion or just because, you’ll find our dog gift box really delivers month after month. Visit https://poochperks.com for more details.

[dogendorsed]

10 PAWfect Dog Dad Gifts Ideas

Choosing a great gift often means paying close attention to the things a person really likes. When buying for an animal lover, it’s usually a safe bet that animal-related gifts will be a big hit. As a special culinary treat, various dog food companies offer fresh dog food choices. As it sounds, fresh dog food is usually meat, vegetables, and grains which haven’t been processed or rendered into a dry or canned food. The food will often come refrigerated or frozen.There are even fresh food subscription clubs, which deliver fresh supplies on a regular basis. These or other subscription boxes can be excellent gifts for dads and their dogs, which will continue to show up throughout the year.

See More: https://dogendorsed.com/10-pawfect-dog-dad-gifts-ideas/

[omochi-freedom]

"Let's play again when spring comes"

I created illustrations for Doggy Box, a dog subscription box🐶📦

These illustrations are used in the leaflet included in the products delivered in November, on the website, and on Instagram.

”Doggy Box” is a service that delivers monthly themed boxes containing dog toys, treats, and care products.

The November box theme is "Forest Friends Sleep."

This illustration depicts a heartwarming scene of a dachshund sharing an acorn with hedgehogs as they prepare for hibernation on a cozy autumn day🪵🦔🐕🍂

[differenteagletragedy]

Our Life headcannons

-- Cove has at least one child who is autistic and nonverbal. He becomes a master at communicating with this baby, and whenever they are able to use their words he absolutely loses his mind. The first time he hears an "I love you"? Crying, screaming, flat on the ground, bawling his eyes out. Let someone in public try to make any kind of remark if the kid has a meltdown. They will not survive.

-- Derek asked you to prom "as friends." He asked you what you were wearing so his tux could match you, and he got you a corsage too, "as friends." Did it seem kind of like a date? Of course it did, he'd had a crush on you for years. But he was very insistent on the "as friends" part and even if you had a crush on him too, it kind of made you think he couldn't ever see you that way at all.

-- Going to watch a movie with Baxter? Lol, no you're not. Boy runs his mouth trying to be cute and you can never follow the plot because he's sitting beside you with that little smirk, trying to make you laugh and look all adorable. If you really want to see something, leave him home or at least learn how to tune him out -- even if you do he'll keep going.

-- Cove doesn't like to drink but when he does he will not. Shut. Up. He's not like Movie Baxter, he just keeps saying whatever comes to mind, no filter. No real memory on how to properly structure sentences either. He just really needs you to know literally every single thought that pops into his head so please just listen to him, hey, are you listening?

-- Do you want a dog? You better if you end up with Derek, because y'all are getting a dog. It doesn't matter what kind it is, he'll be taking that dog on runs with him, he'll be doing research to get it the best kind of food and to figure out what kind of environment it thrives in. Did he just get another subscription box for the dog even though he already gets one? Yup. That's his dog.

-- Do you like makeup? Cool, Baxter likes you to put makeup on him too, thanks. Not to go out, that's not really his thing, but it's a nice relaxing activity to do at home. He gets you all close to him (once you get back together he's not gonna let you go lol), and he gets to feel pretty. Don't skimp on the mascara, he likes his lashes, and be sure to play up his best features. Maybe try a dark lipstick this time, he'd like to see how that looks. And when you're done having fun, you better get to thoroughly removing everything and then following up with his skincare routine.

-- Sorry, let's double up on Baxter while we're here -- do you have a skin routine too? Because that's a shared interest and he's gonna want to talk about it. What's your favorite cleanser? Do you want to do face masks together? There's this new moisturizer he's interested in that's stupid expensive but he still wants to try it, want to split it? You share a Sephora rewards account so you can get more points. Oops, you accidentally put on too much of your lip mask and your lips are all goofy -- just give him a kiss, he hasn't put his on yet. It's weird how much I could go on about this.

-- You can also put makeup on Cove, but maybe stick to powders so he can rinse it all off easy after. And you can do whatever to Derek, he doesn't care, he's just happy to be there.

-- Everybody makes a big deal about Baxter's dancing, but this is actually another case of Derek Erasure, because he can do stuff too. His dad taught him and his brothers how to properly dance with a partner, and he was too shy to do it if you took him to the Summer Soiree, but if you end up with him? He can hold his own for sure.

-- If Cove doesn't end up with you, he ends up with Xavier. That's it. That's how it goes.

-- Not one of the main boys, but if you and Cove have babies then Cliff absolutely thrives on his GILF status. He tells everyone that he's a grandfather, literally every single person, and he's def proud of Cove and loves his grandbaby to bits, but also, like, look at him. Crazy hot grandpa, right?

[lipstickandfrenchfries]

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹ hiiiiii ⊹ ˚ *. ₊ 𝜗𝜚 ⋆

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀my tags listed below are the main ones used along with my #me tag which are all actually me

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀 i am named after a flower(you’ll never guess which one), i am in my early 30s, i am a 4’11 princess & i am here for myself not for you. i am overall uninterested unless you’re the high lord of the night court or a fictional hockey player or one of the four horsemen or you’re a vampire/werewolf shifter/orc/monster/etc. i am a dog mom to my precious pug turkey. i am a libra sun, pisces moon and capricorn rising. i am a slytherpuff but mostly hufflepuff with slytherin undertones born to make malfoy insane because he would be so obsessed with me and hate himself for it due to my useless house (#enemiestolovers). INFP. 6w5.

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀 i am an avid reader of all books, but mostly it’s heavily romance (smuttiest filth plzplzplz) & thrillers & mystery & classics & history. i create social media content for myself, authors, publishers & subscription boxes. i also do makeup for weddings, prom/homecoming, photo shoots, etc. my main 9-5 is in aviation though (but not a flight attendant).

a little flashcardesque snippet of what books i like

✨gwynriel/elucien/feysand/nessian enthusiast✨

🥀the darkest romance reading princess🥀

🐺fated/rejected mates obsessed🐺

🏒hockey smut devourer🏒

🎶i make playlists for all my reads🎶

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀 things i like: reading, crafting, painting, diy projects, makeup, skin care, hair care, big big big art nerd (i have an art history minor), museums, astrology, the moon & stars, cooking, baking, almost all genres of music, true crime, nail polish, architecture, all mythology, the sopranos, the oc, gossip girl, succession, the office, arrested development, documentaries, LOTR, Pokémon, podcasts, content creation, gardening, florals, playing piano, pure barre and pole/floorwork classes, disney, making playlists, making moodboards, crystals, & so much more. my kinks and naughtier likes you can probably decipher and a special few we can talk about them together.

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀i do not have snapchat & i don’t share access to myself outside of tumblr for the 99.99%. i also am not great at messaging so do not be rude if i don’t respond back to you. i can have a very demanding life irl and i become exhausted from interactions and i’m here for the pretty & naughty pictures and to enjoy my free time by scrolling/reblogging/liking and finding material and inspiration for my content creation. what i post does not mean i am giving you the green light to interact with me in those ways. there are so many girlies on here who would probably love to chat with you. also if you know me in real life…move along and no you do not plz 🥺

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀all girls feel free to interact. yay girls. i love you girls. (this is ALL girls)

⋆ 𝜗𝜚₊ .* ˚⊹🥀 while this is not a completely nsfw blog there are posts that i reblog or share that are. please DNI if you are a minor. be 18+ & have your age stated somewhere clearly seen.

[modestbirdwizard]

How to Steal Youtube like your Dad Stole Cable: A non-comprehensive guide.

Piracy is cool and you should do it.

I mean it, I fully condone the theft of copyrighted material online for the masses. You should consider the relative prices of a sturdy VPN to the cost of all your monthly streaming subscriptions and see what I mean: The mere fact that so many of these services trade the same movies back and forth on a bi-monthly basis only proves one thing, They don't respect you or your hard earned money. The prices go up, the services offered get more narrow and ill-defined, and worse to boot, but the torrent sites still exist and they still have everything I could ever want.

There are other guides on how to get any movie or album you want online, and maybe I'll write another, but today I want to talk you through something different. Piracy for the modern age, stealing something that would make the eyes of any tin-foil antenna wielding cable pirate misty with pride.

Let's get around youtube's bullshit under the jump:

We're going for the big dog. We're going… for youtube premium. I'm writing this guide with Firefox and Android in mind, but as far as I'm aware this will work more or less on chromium based browsers as well.

The two web extensions you'll need for your desktop:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/

If you're like me and find yourself in a youtube death spiral more often than you wish, you might want this one too:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-youtube-shorts/

Now, we address the app on your phone. Real heads have known about this trick for years, but it recently came to my attention.

ReVanced is a revival of the original Vanced app modding tool, and what it lets us do is very simple: bypass restrictions in many of our favorite apps like youtube, duolingo and others, so that we can get back essential features that have been paywalled. Specifically for youtube, we can now access off-screen playback, windowed playback, ad-free viewing, and we even GAIN a feature for our trouble, sponsor block, which uses crowdsourced data to find and skip embedded sponsor spots in videos. Think Squarespace and raid:shadow legends.

When you're installing revanced, you need to be careful not to install a pre-made hacked .apk, you really need to apply them yourself because nefarious users are everywhere and WILL send you malware. The ReVanced Manager app makes it very easy anyway, so you shouldn't need to rely on pre-hacked apks anyway.

You can get revanced from their page. Make sure it's the real deal, because there ARE fakes around.

You can find a current or slightly out-of-date youtube app around online very easily if you search. A slightly out of date apk is preferable here, as it means more of the hacks will work out of the box. If you've already downloaded the ReVanced app, then it will suggest a version for you to download.

"What about my TV?!" I haven't done this one personally, though I do intend to soon. My understanding is that you can use the command line on your fireTV stick to download a hacked app there as well! It's not an Enter The Matrix-tier operation, you just have to type a couple lines into a console. Super simple!

"Why aren't there more links in this post?" The companies have the internet too, and you probably know how to use it a bit more than they do. Posting links is like handing info to the enemy.

[sunshinedottv]

I did do this picture of my dog though. She passed away recently 💔

Mixed media plus cardboard from a subscription box

[larsnicklas]

hockey writing appreciation club part iii (part i here, part ii here) hi everyone!! you know what time it is! i've collected another handful (and then some) articles i've really enjoyed over the past few weeks! support good writing, support good sports journalism — with clicks and with subscriptions if that's in your ability/inclination! hope you enjoy some of these; my particular favorites in this batch are the pius suter piece and the coyotes story. as always, i welcome recommendations if you have them!!

remember that a "🔒" implies a paywalled article, but this is often easily worked around by entering your browser's "reader mode"!

NHL graybeards still find ways to make major impact In most any other field, Pavelski, at 39, would be viewed as someone who has much of his career ahead of him. If he were named CEO of a company, he'd be on a "40 under 40" list or might be talked about as the next great innovator. But when it comes to hockey and other pro sports? There's a belief that being 30 -- let alone 35 or 40 -- and still productive is something just short of a miracle. And for the record, Pavelski said he has not found a gray hair.

The Cyclist: Pius Suter’s clinching goal and the secret behind Canucks’ success 🔒 Although Suter still drives to games, he goes about town mostly on his bicycle. Most days, he cycles into practice on a racing bike with narrow tires; he did so even during massive February snow storms, to the amusement of his teammates, support staff and management. “It’s Canada,” Suter said, “you’d think they’d clear the roads! At least, I did. “Honestly, it feels like home. I played in Zurich, biked always to practice and games and I love not having to use the car.”

Marie-Philip Poulin and the PWHL have yet another landmark moment: ‘It’s a movement’ 🔒 But the building was still mostly empty, and still, for Marie-Philip Poulin, a living legend, this was a lot to take in. She skated over to the bench for an interview with the arena hostess that would go live in the building, and the first question was about how she felt in this moment, in this environment, on this stage, about to play a professional hockey game in her native Quebec in front of this many people. In front of this many of her people.

What really happens during NHL intermissions? The naked truth 🔒 When the clock strikes zero at the end of each period, we watch the teams filter off the ice, down a tunnel and into their respective locker rooms. But what’s really going on back there while we hit the restroom, maybe grab a $14 beer and $7.50 hot dog?

Inside the Coyotes' stunning move from Arizona to Utah In April, Smith posted to X asking fans for team name suggestions should the NHL ever come to Utah. That was a huge tell to the hockey world: This was happening. But back in Arizona, players and coaches were still in the dark. For all they knew, there was a plan in motion that would keep them in Phoenix. What they didn't know was how little faith the NHL had in it being executed by this ownership group, and how badly it wanted the Coyotes out of Mullett Arena.

What makes Macklin Celebrini the next big thing in hockey On a Saturday night in January 2023, the Golden State Warriors had an off night in Chicago. Draymond Green didn't want to go to dinner or out on the town. He had another idea: going to the suburbs to watch junior hockey. "​​How often do you get an opportunity to see Sidney Crosby at 17?" Green reasoned. The next big thing in hockey is Macklin Celebrini, the unanimous No. 1 prospect of the 2024 NHL draft class. Celebrini is also the son of Rick Celebrini, the Warriors vice president of player health and performance.

Pursuit of perfection drives Kucherov's intense summer training If you walk through the sliding glass doors and into the lobby of TGH Ice Plex on a weekday morning, it's quiet. You may find a staff member answering a call at the front desk or spot an employee from the pro shop carrying cardboard boxes filled with equipment. That's about it. But if you walk to the right and peek out to the south rink, you'll probably find Nikita Kucherov.

How use of analytics is part of Colorado Avalanche’s secret sauce: “Numbers are unemotional” One of the key aspects of how Bednar and his staff help the players connect with and absorb the data is not the numbers themselves. Most players aren��t going to care if tonight’s opponent is creating X shots in the slot area on the power play per game, or Y shots from the right faceoff circle. But tell them a team is fourth in the league in one category or 30th in another — and then supplement it with video clips — and the information hits home.

What are NHL series supervisors? How unseen officials help teams, league coordinate during playoffs 🔒 The supervisors travel as the series shifts cities. They are there whenever the clubs need to meet. The other important part of their job is meeting with referees and linesmen, who rotate from series to series. Supervisors fill them in on what’s been happening in the series — what the temperature of it is, the issues each club has raised in meetings, etc. That gives the refs a sense going in of what to look for that night in the game.

Connor Bedard's first season has lived up to expectations When the 18-year-old's jaw broke, everything he had been building for was cruelly interrupted. "It's not fun not to play," Bedard said. "I was dying to get back." One week after surgery to repair his fractured jaw, Bedard convinced trainers to allow him to skate. Solid foods were out, so he drank as many soups, smoothies and supplements as his body would allow, desperate not to lose weight.

[reikurusu]

So this may be a bit weird, but I would like to get some people's opinions on a personal matter.

I'm going to put it under a read more so people who aren't interested don't have to scroll through it, and because I think this might get a bit lenghty... (Edit after writing: it did)

So in no way are you obligated to read this, obviously, but if you do, feel free to give me your opinion because I could use some different insights.

Thanks!

Okay, so...

Like, 15 years ago, I met a couple of people online because we were all hardcore into a tv show. We had a group chat and I'm pretty sure everyone had individual chats as well.

In this group, there was this guy who I started talking to a lot and over the course of a few years, he pretty much became my best friend. He lived in a neighbouring country, was a year older than me and we really became very close. We talked every single day, all throughout the day, during evenings, constantly.

We could talk about everything, literally everything. We were both nerdy and into similar tv shows that we would watch together on screenshare could theorise for hours. He'd introduce me to video games that we would play with other friends and all.

We would send each other gifts for birthdays. He would read the stupid fanfics I wrote based on tv shows we both loved. I made him an entire, like, "subscription box" with a lot of things from all the fandoms he was into during lockdown because I just wanted to be busy and I really enjoy these kinds of things. I helped him financially when he got screwed over by a friend, he paid it back when he could. When his childhood dog died, I sent him a painted rock with his dog's name on it to put on the grave, something my family does for our pets when they die.

Just, actual best friend. Always there for each other.

Of course we had our ups and downs. We had arguments from time to time. I'm not the best communicator because I always think things are obvious and get annoyed when people don't understand things, which led to miscommuncation. And we're both stubborn so whenever we had an argument, we never wanted to be the one to take the first step to apologize until one of us finally caved.

In general, we always made up.

But... of course, boy-girl friendship, so many people would insinuate things. Friends of his, friends of mine, his mum, friends of my mum,... Which made things confusing because we were really close but were we more than friends? Or did one of us feel more than the other? Did both of us? We sometimes talked about it but were both like, "I don't think so?"

We never met in real life. We also never talked on the phone or in video call or voice chatted while gaming or something similar. We just never did. It just grew that way that we just chatted. We'd sent some photos a few years into the friendship (when we were like 15-16), maybe a few during the years after that, but never really sent pictures. We were both not into that because we're both quite insecure about ourselves. I mean, I know I am, but when I told him that, he said he felt that way as well. So yeah, never an issue tbh.

But the issues did start...

Skip to very late 2022, very early 2023 when he suddenly, after like 13 years, told me that he'd lied about his age. He turned out to be a year younger than me (so 2 years younger than he'd claimed to be). He told me he did it everywhere because way back when we met, he told people he was a bit older to be taken more seriously.

And I got mad.

Not because of the age difference, what do I care. But about the fact that he lied about it for so many years??

He'd told all his online friends, so it wasn't like he had lied just to me, but I felt betrayed because I thought I was a step ahead of his other friends and that he would've told me the truth before them.

Besides that, I also kind of have trust issues. So when someone you consider to be your best friend for over 10 years suddenly tells you they'd been lying to you all this time... Not fun.

And things escalated from there.

I got mad for being lied to all this time (for the act of being lied to. Like I said, the age difference really doesn't matter, but the fact that he lied about it for so long. Like, I'd wish him a happy xth birthday every year, so every year he made the conscious decision to not tell the truth. That's what bothered me).

I got mad about when I told him I told a mutual friend (one from the original group that I still talked to but he didn't), he got mad because he wanted to tell that group himself, which made me feel like I couldn't talk about it with anyone.

I got mad that he sent me reactions from other friends (people I didn't know) of how they reacted to him telling the truth about his age, which made me feel like I wasn't allowed to be annoyed by it because "look, no one else is making a problem out of this".

I told him all of this and eventually we got into a huge argument. And it got really ugly.

I told him that he couldn't see my side of things in the whole thing and that he made me feel like crap because I felt like I was the only one making a problem out of it. And because he was mad I told someone he "knew" (but didn't talk to anymore) about the lie, I told him I felt like I had to bottle up how I felt about it.

He eventually snapped at me that I was a very selfish person. That it always had to be the things I enjoyed, never the things he liked. Something he had never brought up before. Something I didn't understand because I truly felt like we did a lot of things he enjoyed as well, like certain tv shows, games... (not saying I'm not at fault here, because in hindsight he was kind of right about it, I just never realised it because he never brought it up).

He sent all this in a long message, in which he told me he didn't want to be friends anymore. He asked me if there was anything I wanted back (of the gifts I'd sent him over the years) and told me that there was nothing that he'd sent that he wanted back.

I didn't reply to the message anymore.

I blocked and deleted him everywhere. Discord, his phone number, e-mail. Blocked and deleted him on Steam. Really any place or platform I could think of, I blocked him.

I was done.

He didn't want to be friends anymore. He told me I was a selfish person after everything I'd done for him when his other friends wouldn't. I was so pissed. So I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. And for me it's easier to completely block and delete a person; that way I can't contact them myself anymore. Just, cold turkey.

Which of course wasn't easy. You can't just throw away all those years and just move on from it. But having deleted him did make it easier because I had no way of reaching out.

I talked about it with the one friend I told about the age difference and she would often compare him to a narcissistic ex of hers. How she always had a bad feeling about him. Which is helpful when you're mad at someone. It sort of helped me villainise him.

So I tried to move on. Some days it was easier than others. Other days were really annoying because he has a name that you see fcking everywhere. So everytime I saw his name somewhere, I got reminded to all of it and so on and so forth.

But yeah, I didn't reach out. Neither did he (because he literally couldn't reach me). And I slowly accepted the fact that we weren't friends anymore and each went our own way.

Skip to end of August 2023, like 9 months later.

I opened Whatsapp to message a friend and saw that I had a message from an unknown number. I immediately saw that it was a number from the neighbouring country and just knew that it was him.

He asked if we could talk. I took a while to reply because I didn't know what to say. Because part of me was done with it all and had started to be used to not having him in my life, but part of me was also curious what he had to say. So after a few hours I replied telling him, sure, let's talk.

So he sent a long message apologizing for what he'd said and that he should've handled things differently and that he understands if I didn't want to talk to him anymore, but that he just wanted me to know all of it because he didn't want me to believe the things he'd said (kind of too late for that because now every time I talk about my stuff to friends, I have this voice in my head that goes "see, it has to be about you again, just like he said").

I told him this and we sent a couple of long messages explaining our points of views and how we felt about what happened and how we both could've handled things differently (I know that he's not the only one to blame. I have trust issues, am a chronic overthinker and am bad at communicating, hence why we often had miscommunication and arguments).

Either way, we eventually started talking again. Talked about what had happened in the time we didn't talk. I talked about my new job, he told me about a bunch of things he'd been up to (which included starting to go out to clubs, drinking, use several dr*gs to calm his stressed mind, which I kind of understand but am really not a fan of... but sure). After we started talking, he also suffered a brain injury from a fall for which he had to stay in the hospital for a while and which obviously influenced his life in several ways.

We fell back into old habits. Talking, watching shows together, gaming and it was nice. We did have little arguments from time to time, but I feel like we both tried a lot harder to not have it escalate like before.

But then I'd started having a hard time at work and other things and just having a bit of a mental slump, which I wanted to talk/rant about. He wanted to hear me out, but he took a while to reply because of stuff at work. And because of what he said before, about it always being about me, which got stuck in my head, I didn't want to immediately talk about my stuff, but his stuff instead. He did ask multiple times about what had happened, but I didn't want to reply to it before he'd explained what was going on with his work because I was scared of being selfish again.

Eventually, I didn't end up telling him about my stuff, not because I didn't want to, but because of what I said before about being scared that I'd come across as selfish again. Like I said, he did ask about it on multiple occasions, so it's really on me here. But by the time he had explained what had happened at work and all, I wasn't in my slump anymore. And when he asked why I didn't want to talk about it anymore, we got into another argument.

I explained him how what he'd said in the past, about the selfish thing, really messed with me, which made me hold back from talking about my stuff. He told me he asked many times to tell him what had happened, which is completely true, this one is really on me and I can't blame him for anything here. But things escalated again...

I called him out about how, when we first started talking again and were sending long messages, I'd sent him a long message with a bunch of stuff that I honestly not remember anymore. But it was a very open and personal message about insecurities and owning up to mistakes I'd made towards him in the past and such. He had told me, after reading the message, that he'd need to reread it to reply to it properly. That was in October.

To this day, I still haven't received a reply to that message (and I know I never will).

So I called him out on that. I told him that he was the one who reached out initially, that I was doing relatively well without him and that it sucks that he came back only for him to not respond to my heartfelt messages (I'd been bottling the annoyance about the message up for a while). He told me that he had the intention to reply, but kept forgetting, even though I had reminded him a few times. I told him that if you care about someone, if you call them one of the most important people in your life, you don't just forget those kinds of things. Because those things should be important to you, and you don't forget important things.

I also told him that it annoyed me that when I had asked him to tell me more about some things he'd mentioned he'd done while we weren't talking (traveled to the US, met up with a group of online friends,...) he never did. This bothered me because he had accused me of always making it about me, but then when I constantly made an effort to ask about his stuff, and was genuinely interested in it, he didn't reply to it.

To this he replied that those kinds of things (the travel and all) weren't big things to him. That we talked about deeper things (true) so to him, these "normal" things meant less than our deeper conversations.

Which is very nice of him to say, but it also bothered me because you can't tell me I'm not interested in your stuff, but then when I am and am asking questions about it, not reply to it.

(I feel like I'm getting angry again, sorry)

Long story short, we didn't talk again for a few weeks.

After a while, I messaged him again. We again exchanged some long messages. And again, after I sent him a long text explaining how I felt about certain things, he told me he'd reread my message so he could reply properly. He told me a few times that he was working on his reply, to which I joked that it didn't have to be an essay.

This was a few months ago. To this day, again, I haven't received a message to my text.

So I was annoyed with that because it sucks to sent a very open and personal message and not receive a reply to it, multiple times.

I'd also told him, when I first messaged him again after that last argument, that I'd understand if he wanted to call it quits but that in that case I'd have a question for him. In his defence, he did ask about what question it was.

So I asked him what was actually going on between us. For so many years, multiple people had shipped us, we'd both make innuendo jokes and just the fact that we were so close, I told him it was confusing and wanted to hear his thoughts on it.

Instead of replying to it, he asked me how I felt about it, so I told him that it was just confusing because it was as if others saw things that we maybe didn't because we'd been so close for so long. To this he just replied, yeah, I agree, it's confusing, without really adding his take on it. But I didn't pry any further (maybe because I got tired of constantly getting half replies or no replies at all).

We still chatted a bit after that, but our last conversation had a very strange vibe. We were talking about the person who'd accidentally caused his brain injury (a friend of his) and I was kinda pissed at that person and told him I hoped they'd at least offered to help pay for medical bills and such, since they did cause the accident, but he didn't want to hear anything about that because it was an accident and his friend didn't mean to (fair, sure, but it still irks me a bit).

So it was a very loaded conversation, as if we were both trying to not cause an argument.

Eventually, I just told him ok in regards to the situation, to which he sent me a gif.

And that was three months ago.

We haven't talked since. And because of the weird vibe and in some sort of self-preservation, I blocked his number again. We could still message using other ways, but none of us did.

I think the reason I didn't is because of all the replies I didn't get. I don't know why he hasn't messaged me, but I assume he has his reasons.

Now, if you made it all the way here, holy shit?? Thanks for reading all of this and I hope you enjoyed the drama of it lol

But if you made it all the way here, I would really like your opinion on this. His birthday is coming up in a few days and... Do I reach out? Do I reach out before his birthday or on his birthday? Or are you shouting at me right now to not reach out again?

I genuinely don't know.

Part of me feels like it'd be best to just let it all go and move on, but another part of me doesn't want to give up on my best friend of 15 years.

So... Any advice? I'm open for anything...

Thanks again for reading all of this if you made it here! You're the best! <3

- Charlotte

[echodrops]

The Promises I’m Making (2024)

Sheesh, this year it was even harder than last year to make promises. In particular, I really wanted to focus on promises that wouldn't cost as much money as in prior years, so I tried to steer clear of too many promises that would cost above the basic spending amounts... But it turns out it is really hard to make resolutions if you're broke. 😂

So here's what I'm going with:

2024 Promises

1) Step down from my administrative position and return to being a full-time faculty member. I literally cannot take the clown show that is admin at my work anymore. It is actually killing me.

2) Related to this, redecorate my new office as soon as they decide where they are going to move me.

3) Apply for new jobs!! APPLY FOR NEW JOBS!!!

4) Train my replacement in the chair position well so they are super prepared to take over in fall.

5) Put a new sink/vanity in the downstairs bathroom of the Utah house.

6) Get both bedroom floors sanded in the Utah house upstairs.

7) Finally get rid of the dirt pile in front of the Utah house.

8) Take down the remains of the wooden fence posts at the Utah house.

9) Fully clean out and prepare the Utah house to be rented out to new renters. Hopefully the next people won’t sneak in a parrot that poops all over the floor… RIP…

10) Clean off my back patio/car port area so I can park my car there again.

11) Call the plumber and replace the faucets. Even if I end up having to do it myself.

12) Get the dead tree removed from the Texas house yard and call the internet company to see about the cable around the tree root.

13) Plant roses where the old ones died in front of the Texas house. 

14) Replace my CPU fan; the bearings are going out and it’s making an annoying noise.

15) Organize my documents (especially student papers)—my desktop and documents folders give me nightmares just looking at them. 

16) Related to that, lose at least 20 pounds. 2020-2023 was not kind to me and the stress eating was real.

17) Do at least one artwork to actually use that paint program I bought. 

18) Pay my credit debt down by at least $2000. I’m still paying off the hell year, but I hope I can make progress on this.

19) Buy all the Noragami volumes I am missing and do a complete re-read of Noragami now that the series is finishing up.

20) This is super nerdy, but my bro got me the FFXIV cookbook and made me promise to actually use it, so I guess I’d better at least try to make something from it.

21) Finish at least five books this year.

22) Update HaaH at least once. Please, Echo???

23) Reach the new level cap with all jobs in FFXIV!

24) Go to the graduation ceremony for my family friend.

25) Catch up with hanging up all the charms/pins I’ve gotten recently on my corkboards; these are just sitting in boxes/bags around the house. D;

26) Fully deep clean and vacuum/detail my own car at home. No more of the “It doesn’t make sense to clean it out now; the dog is just going to go back in it.” The dog is always going to go back in it. Clean it, Echo.

27) Help my parents tear out the carpet in my old childhood bedroom.

28) See at least three new species of birds. Doesn’t matter where, just three new ones!

29) Reach 3500 followers. Can I do it? You should follow me if you’re not already; I’m pretty cool. Just sayin’!

30) Cancel all the subscriptions I don’t need. There’s literally no reason to sit around letting companies passively profit off me when I don’t even really use the services/the services keep getting worse while the costs keep going up.

31) Go out on at least a day trip to take pictures with my friend. We haven’t done this in quite some time. I need to touch grass.

32) Repair the lovely one-of-kind ceramic plate that my dog broke with kintsugi. I want to try it at least once!

33) Really look hard for my passport in my house. It’s been missing for like a year and a half now, and I don’t want to have to pay for a new one.

34) Put all the small prints, postcards, and stickers I have collected in my new mini-print books. I can even use up washi tape to decorate too. (Finally, a purpose for the washi tape…)

35) Shred the million pieces of old mail I have lying around the house. I finally got the shredder so it just makes sense to use it.

36) Have more follow-through with chores. It’s not enough to wash the clothes or do the dishes if I then procrastinate on folding the clean laundry and putting the dried dishes back in the cabinets…

37) Put reminders for birthdays and major events in my phone as well as set a monthly reminder to check these promises. Maybe I’ll be able to keep more promises if I look at the list more often throughout the year!

38) Since I can’t afford to go to the salon, spa, etc. too much this year, I should at least do some self-care days at home. Will this be the year I finally manage to use all the fancy scrubs and face masks and bath salts I keep getting from people?

39) Use up one whole notebook. It doesn’t matter what goes in the notebook, but I gotta use the whole thing from cover to cover. I have so many pretty notebooks that never get used just because they’re pretty.

40) Change the burned-out lightbulbs in the recessed lighting in the Texas house ceiling. It’s like twelve feet high and the lightbulb charger stick I bought didn’t work, so I’m going to have to find someone with a ladder. Save me, handyman. Save me.

41) Build the pretty koi paper lantern my brother got me, or the Korean temple model my coworker gave me after his trip to Korea.

42) Actually use the yoga mat I bought forever ago. At least a few times, please???

43) Finish watching the Fruits Basket remake with Kacchan. I think we stopped in the second season, RIP.

44) Spend more time with coworkers—go out to lunch more often.

45) See about removing the PMI from at least one of my house loans to try to save money. I’ve been paying on these loans long enough I shouldn’t need PMI anymore.

46) Practice my German skills (or I guess other language skills?) by translating something at least once a month.

47) Get a new bookshelf. The current ones in both my office and foyer are already overflowing. @_@

48) Make more time to call people and talk on the phone. Texting is not the same. D;

49) Get the new COVID vaccine to stay healthy.

50) I will keep my promises! 

Good luck, 2024’s me!

[fieldsobrietypractice]

Love a care package of:

-prescriptions for my daily meds and a new inhaler

-weed and edibles

-granola bars

-hair dyeing supplies

-spices

-silly slutty boxers

In a box from a dog toy subscription

[siriusleee]

I spend $40 damn dollars on the dog subscription boxes and 2 of the toys are done in 2 days.

[gremlindoesthings]

part 2 - cw: pet play, toys, confusion, humilation

The One With The Gift

Sam had gotten home from work earlier than Liv one day and had cleaned up the house some, making sure it felt comfortable for them both. When Liv walked in, he kissed her cheek and she wrapped her arms around him tight.

"Hey, baby. How was your day today?" His arms engulfed her and he felt her sink into him.

"Not bad, just a long day. Glad to be home for sure." She finally pulled away and set her bag down on the table, now noticing the cleared off table and the gift box sitting in the middle. Her eyes lit up and her hands went to her cheeks in shock. "Is it for me?"

Sam shook his head and laughed, slowly reaching for the box. "You always ask that as if a gift that is quite clearly presented and displayed, *wouldnt* be for you. Of course its for you. Though this time, its going to be much different." He tossed the box up in the air justa bit and grinned as he nodded his head at the living room. "Come on, lets get comfortable."

Liv tilted her head in confusion but followed him the living room. He sat down on the couch and had her sit on the floor in front of him with her legs crossed as she normally would.

Liv gave him another curious look and he held the box in front of him, between his spread out legs, with both hands firmly placed on each side.

"Have you ever seen those pet subscription boxes?" He questioned but this only confused Liv more.

"Of course. But we had said-"

"Have you ever seen how curious dogs get on the first one? How they sniff it and get so curious that they toss it around or whatever else?" Sam interrupted her.

"Yes? George's dog would get really excited for them but his first box, George sent us the video of Max just jumping on it." She had no idea where he was going with this. Did he decide he wanted to go ahead? It had only been a few weeks since they talked about getting a puppy but admittedly, she still wasnt ready. "Sam, I-"

"So you know how they normally react! Perfect. Show me."

"What?" Livs head pulled back some, trying to make sense of what he said. "What do you mean? Do you want the video of Max specifically or-"

Sam gave her an evil grin and chuckled, laughing as she spoke before he leaned forward, his forearms on his knees and his body more tense than before. He cut her off again. "Guess who got a special treat today? Yeah, look- its just for you, girl. Come see whats inside."

Livs body had stiffened and her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. She had hoped that night he would take her home and they would try new ideas but he hadnt mentioned it since that day. Hearing him jump right in to it....she didnt know *why* but despite being incredibly confused and embarassed, she was also incredibly intrigued and a bit turned on. Sam sat the box in front of him and pointde at it. Liv stared at the box but didnt move, her thoughts reeling again.

Slowly she reached for the box but Sam put his foot on the top of it. "No, thats not how its done. Try again."

Liv attempted again and Sam stopped her once more. "Why was it that you told me all of these kinks for pet play and yet when I offer the chance, you cant even remember what a puppy acts like. I thought we could start at the basics but maybe we should try a good bit slower."

Liv shook her head and her brows furrowed a bit. She knew slower would be torture. An absolute hell. She looked at him and whimpered. "But I dont know-"

"How? Yes, you do. You just think Im going to hate it. But in all honesty, all i want is you on all fours, opening that box with just your paws and mouth, whining when you cant get it open all the way."

Liv couldnt help it; her jaw dropped. "But-!"

"And I think youve been watching too many cartoons because puppies *definitely* dont talk."

Liv wanted to hide. To bolt into their room, crawl under the covers, and never come back out. But she also was so incredibly turned on by the humiliation, that she couldnt leave the room even if she tried. She was too curious, too excited, too humiliated, and too wet to just leave. She glanced down at the box and shifted to her knees and then all fours. She crawled over to the box and gave a weak little push at the box with her hand.

Sam inhaled deeply and glared down at her. "Sniff it. Go on. You know *exactly* how its done."

Liv blushed but found herself letting out a small whimper of embarrassment. Sam grinned and ran his hand over her cheek.

"Aw, puppy, its okay! Its just for you. And I promise you can play with it all week if youd like."

She felt the cool of his hand on her flushed cheek and just barely kept herself from melting into his hand. She swallowed hard and looked back down at the box before finally leaning down and sniffing at the box.

"Louder. When puppies sniff around, theyre quite loud. I want everything about you to scream how good of a puppy you really are."

Liv wouldve hid under the pillow had they been in their room. Instead, she was ass up with her nose planted on a box. And now she was sniffing the box loudly. Liv kept herself from squeezing her thighs together.

"See, there you go. Good girl. Do you want to know whats inside?" Sam said as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Livs eyes darted away but she nodded in reply. She couldnt possibly care about his silly little rule when she was in such pain. Good pain. But pain, nonetheless. But Sam didnt seem to mind. He continued softly running his finger through her hair and smiled softly down at her.

"Then go ahead, girl. Its all yours!"

Liv wasnt sure she could blush any harder but if she could, her face wouldve been red as a stop sign. Liv pawed at the box and it fell to the side. She pawed at it again, rolling it a few times. She turned a bit and checked the bottom. There was no opening of paper, no lid, nothing. It was a fully wrapped box. Liv stared at it for a second and then looked up at Sam with pleading eyes. Sam only smiled and leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him.

Liv stared back down at the box with big eyes. He had meant for her to dedicate herself to this. He had made sure of it. Of course, she knew her safeties but he was making it to where she didnt have to question it. She just needed to do it. There was no other way. It was do it or dont.

Liv leaned down again and held the box with her hands- paws- as she tore at the paper softly with her teeth. After the first few tears, it didnt feel as overwhelming and she decided to go for it. She tore at the paper, ripping it off, tossing it to the side. On the last long piece, she had dropped it to the side but a small piece had stuck to her cheek. Sam smiled and chuckled a bit, leaning forward to brush at her cheek, just above the paper, with his thumb.

"Aw, puppy, you have some on your face!" He pulled back hand and gave another evil grin. "Get it off, girl. Youve got it! Use your paw, just like you know how to."

Liv stared at the floor and she couldnt help herself- her thighs squeezed together and she let out a small whimper. Her hand-paw- raised to her cheek and she softly pawed at it. She watched as the paper fell to the floor. Her eyes stayed glued to the paper until he tapped the top of the box. Her eyes darted to the box and he tipped it back and forth with just his index finger. She wanted to roll her eyes. She got what he wanted. But she didnt- Liv whimpered again and tried to push away the thoughts. She leaned forward, her feet now crossed, and made the box roll a few times. She noticed there was nothing special about the box except a handle on one end. Otherwise, it was just a box. No curves, no words, nothing. Just a white box with a handle. She finally gave up pawing and tossing the box around and settled on the answer. Take the box to him. He had even told her. She whined again and leaned down to put up the handle with her mouth. She failed at first but on the third try, she finally was able to get a good grip and crawl over to him. It had been a bit heavy but nothing big- which was as expected given the size. She placed it in his la and then leaned back, resting her butt on her legs.

"What is it girl? It's just a box. Im not sure what youre needing." Sam grinned and held the box directly on top of his groin. Liv whimpered and nuzzled the box in his lap.

"Its just the same as before; you still dont know whats in here. And puppies are so curious not to mention you tore off the paper and had no satisfying results."

Livs face pleaded with him but she felt herself shift as he spoke, her leg now wet with her excitement. Liv leaned forward, her face in his lap, hovering over the present as she loudly sniffed at it. She pawed at it a few times and then whimpered again. He seemed to have no response other than smiling and laughing at her. Finally, she huffed and gave him a pouty look.

"Aw, whats the matter- would you like to be my baby again and not my puppy? Is being my good little puppy too hard for you?"

He always teased with that. He knew it would help her embrace it a bit more and never had harm. She glared at him and then- she barked at him. At first, her expression stayed the same. But then his face lit up and she felt herself fill with excitement. She wiggled her butt some and he laughed again. Wiggling her butt wasnt new. But it was always random and always in response to something good. A moment passed and she felt the rush of embarassment flood through her again.

Sam brushed his fingers through her hair again. "Good girlll! You are *such* a good girl. Lets see whats in this box okay?"

Liv nodded and gave a small whimper as he opened the box and set it in front of her. It was a pink silicone dildo- big enough to sit comfortably in at least two of her holes. She blushed again as she read the note that rested on top.

**CHEW TOY**

Liv stared at the toy and then back up at Sam.

"Its your very first chew toy, girl! Go on, pick it up!" Sam watched as her eyes stayed glued to the toy. "Do you want to play now or would you like to take a break for now?"

Her eyes stayed glued to the toy but she reached forward with her hand- paw- and tipped the box to its side. The toy rolled out and almost perfectly rolled to the tip of Sam's shoe. She stared at the toy as if it had betrayed her. She had only meant to indicate she wanted to keep going by letting the toy fall out but instead, she apparently gave a full green light, courtesy of the pink dildo that was currently humiliating her to death.

Sam leaned down and picked up the toy, the set it to his side. He returned his gaze to her and studied her closely. "You've done such a good job today, baby. Im so proud of you. We can go slower, dont worry- I am so happy with how much you did. You are amazing."

Her heart fluttered as his hands cupped either side of her face and she kept herself from wiggling again. She wanted to scream that she was still okay but at the same time- puppies didnt talk. She finally opened her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them or that she was biting her lower lip as her plan came into place.

Sam gave her a curious look as she pulled back and crawled her way to his side. She picked up the dildo in her mouth and crawled back to him, between his legs, and dropped the toy in his lap. She nudged it with her nose but he simply stared at her. She nudged the toy once more with her nose but as she did, she felt how hard he was. She kept herself from giggling with pride and instead leaned back and barked at him again. This time much louder.

Sam's eyes beamed with fire and lust. She knew he wouldnt take her. Not on the first night of a brand new scene. He never did. But *fuck* she wanted him to tear her to bits. She didnt want to wait to "warm up to the idea." She knew it was smart and she knew shed be put in her place and reminded of his safety measures if she tried to push too hard. She hated having to wait. For anything. So she barked at him again. This time when he gave an evil grin, he tossed the toy across the croom. But this time, Liv was going to entertain his whims. Besides, playing fetch was one of the kinks she had marked on the pet play list. And he sure as hell knew it. So this time, she eagerly wiggled her butt and quickly went after the toy, bringing it back to him with it sideways in her mouth, and sitting properly in front of him after dropping it in his lap.

"Fuck." It was Sam's turn to be speechless.

---

[pastelsailorr]

Wild email I got from this dog toy subscription box

[letsgethaunted]

Listener Stories #26

Welcome to Episode 175.5: Listener Stories #26! This is the episode where our Haunties (aka listeners) write in with their first-person spooky tales of cryptids, ghosts, curses, and aliens AND where Nat & Aly unbox fan mail sent by listeners just like YOU. This week, we unbox mail from: Lily, Elizabeth P., Michelle W., Hannah M., Lexi L. & Jesse S., Chrissy & Aly & Flighty, and Nicole S.! Listener stories from this week’s episode include: the mysterious reappearance of a long missing wallet at a movie theater, shared paranormal nightmares between a mother and child, cursed NC highway 64/ someone’s haunted mother takes the Reikon Test, a family’s cellar is plagued by dogs who obsessively dig in the corner, and someone tries to kill Nat and Aly by forcing them to read the longest/most boring letter we have ever read. Some of the listeners whose stories are featured in this episode include: John P., Shannon W., Tarryn G., Queen, Jordan D., Bianca, Jonna, Matt C., James D., and Abigail S.

This episode is sponsored by Factor! Head to https://www.factormeals.com/letsgethaunted50 and use code “letsgethaunted50” to get 50% off your first box and 2 free wellness shots per box while subscription is active.

[ljf613]

OwlCrate Unboxed (01/24)

I just got my first @owlcrate box, and honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect, or if this was really worth it-- I rarely spend more than $10 on a book, so the full charge of just one of these boxes (including shipping) definitely had me thinking twice. And what if, after all that, I didn't even like the book?

But one of the reasons I was willing to take a risk on this one was because the theme was clearly tailor-made for me specifically.

"Enchated to Meet You"? Regency-esque romance with magic and royalty? That soft, vintage aesthetic that I adore? Yes, please.

And I was not disappointed. While I still haven't read the book, so I can't say if I'll like it or not, what I can tell you is that before I even got particularly deep into the box, I already knew that the price I'd paid was more than worth it even without the book.

(To avoid spoilers, product images and reviews beneath the cut.)

First up, this canvas tote bag:

The design is based on a book called Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. (It's on my to-read list, I'm just waiting for my hold to come in!) It's got a sweet, elfish woodland vibe going on-- I half-expect to see a tiny winged fairy peeking out from behind one of those toadstools. This bag is also has great functionality. I am always in need of a sturdy cloth bag to carry my books, and I am positive this is one I'll be getting a lot of use out of. The material is thick and durable, and it's wide and deep enough to easily hold at least half a dozen books without any stress. An all-around cute and useful item!

Next up, a reusable cleaning cloth:

The design is based on a book called Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. (I'd never heard of this book before, but it looks intriguing, so I suppose I'll add it to the list.) It's kind of generic, but I do like the colors. And it does look like the kind of thing that would be perfect for dusting my desk and bookshelves. It's probably my least favorite item in the box, but I don't hate it.

Moving on to the metal bookmark:

The design is inspired by Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. (I just read it a few weeks ago, and the sequel is currently sitting on top of my dresser waithing for me to read it.) It's supposed to be Shadow, the dog belonging to the stories main character. However, my first thought upon seeing a large black dog in a forest, standing on a pile of skulls, was of Ruth from The Ancient Magus' Bride-- who just-so-happens to be one of my favorite characters ever. I hope no one minds if I continue to see it that way. (No hate to Shadow-- he's a good boy!) It's a very whimsical design and I like it a lot!

And now the coloring kit:

I definitely wasn't expecting this from a subscription book box, but I am absolutely not complaining. (I've been thinking I wanted to sit down with some colored pencils and coloring pages one of these days.) The quote on the left is from Pride & Prejudice (my beloved), the top-most is from Bridgerton (read the books and liked them well enough but have zero interest in watching the show), and the one on the right is from Outlander (I think that's a show based on some books, maybe I'll look into it one of these days). The quotes are lovely, I like the simple yet elegant floral designs, and I love the soft pastel color palette (and will absolutely be holding onto those pencils).

The last item (aside from the book) is the enamel pin:

The characters shown here are Sophie and Howl (+ Calcifer!) from Howl's Moving Castle (the book, not the movie, though I love them both!). I love enamel pins and happen to have a decent-sized collection, but I don't think I've ever seen a sliding design like this. This design is absolutely enchanting, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this pin collection in future boxes. I included the envelope it came in because I think it's really cute, and it gives me some serious Violet Evergarden vibes. (The design on the backer card is also pretty! It's really evident that a lot of thought and care was put into every aspect of every item in this box.)

And, of course, there's the book:

This is A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft. I'm not going to take pictures of every single customization in this one, but suffice it to say that it looks really pretty and I'm hoping the story inside lives up to everything else in here.

All in all, I'm really happy with this box, and glad that I got it.