#i did end up going back in and fixing some of the skipped frames btw listen it was ANNOYING

[bonetrousledbones]

updaaaate i figured out how to get the loader to work :3

[imherongraystairstrash]

Hello there you beautfiul blog user and writer! If you are open to accept prompts or to get ideas to future fics may I suggest a fic of lil Christopher Lightwood and when their parents found out he needed some glasses? I love how well you write him

Hello beautiful Anon!! Thank you so much for the request! It's called August for literally no reason whatsoever, btw. Anyway here’s little Kit getting his first pair of distance glasses (as a user of said glasses, I’m drawing from personal experiences).

August

Characters: Christopher Lightwood, Gabriel Lightwood & Cecily Lightwood/Herondale

...

“Good, Kit,” Gabriel said from where he was kneeling beside the small boy. 

His son smiled up at him with wide, blue eyes—that looked lilac purple in the sunlight—and put down his bow. “Did I get it in the centre?”

“Almo—” Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows, “What do you mean? Can’t you see the target?” 

Kit squinted his eyes. “A tiny bit. But I can’t see the arrow.”

Gabriel’s confusion grew. “Son,” he said, standing and walking a couple of metres away from where he was standing. “How many fingers am I holding up?” 

“Three.”

Gabriel was indeed holding up three fingers. “Hm.” He said. “I guess you couldn’t possibly need new glasses.” 

Christopher shrugged. 

“Perhaps your current glasses are interfering. Here, take them off.”

Kit obliged. He looked at the arrow and fumbled with the string, trying to see where the arrow’s tail was. 

“Papa, I’m getting dizzy.” He said.

“Oh, then never mind, put them back on.” Gabriel said, quickly, not wanting Christopher to get a headache. 

Once Kit adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, both of them stood there, thinking about what they should do.

“Can we just continue training?” Kit asked.

“Yes,” Gabriel said, a relieved smile on his face.

…

“Are you teaching our five-year-old son how to shoot a bow and arrow?” Cecily asked from the doorway, a while later.

Gabriel glanced at her momentarily and nodded. 

Cecily leaned her hip against the doorframe and crossed her arms. “Is he good?”

“His form is exceptional, but he can’t seem to shoot it to the center.”

“Well,” Cecily said, walking inside and kneeling down beside her son. He did, in fact, have perfect form, something he somehow must have inherited from his father. “He doesn’t have to excel at it.” 

“Of course not.” Gabriel said. “I’m just confused.”

Kit shot the arrow and skipped over to the target. “It’s closer!” He said turning to his parents excitedly.

“Wonderfully done, Kit bach,” Cecily said, smiling widely. 

Gabriel sighed at how naturally Cecily could speak to their children and encourage them. Whenever he tried it, he felt awkward. Will sometimes teased him at times over how he couldn’t train children. Cecily told him to just treat them as though he were training adolescents or adults, that his children won’t think anything of him being less enthusiastic.

“Why is he walking up to the target?” Cecily asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“He says he can’t see it well.”

Cecily craned her head to look at him. “He probably needs glasses.”

“He already has glasses.” Gabriel pointed out.

“Other types of glasses, you nitwit. Ones for long distances. Didn’t that cross your mind?”

“It did! I even checked to see if he needed them.”

“How?”

“I held up some fingers and he could see them just fine.” Gabriel said, defensively.

Cecily gave him the you’re-a-fool face. “Of course he can bloody see your fingers! That’s not a proper test as to whether he can see or not!” she said, exasperated. 

“Then how do we test it?” Gabriel asked.

Cecily set Kit’s bow and took hold of his hand, pulling him along. “We leave it to the experts.”

…

He has Myopia as well as Hyperopia. I’d even say he is more nearsighted than farsighted.  

“What does that mean?” Gabriel whispered to Cecily.

“I don’t know,” Cecily mouthed.

Brother Jeremiah looked into Christopher’s eyes, and Gabriel had the urge to go to his son and spare him the sight. Christopher shifted from where he was sitting, trying to look at his parents. Jeremiah put a hand on his chin to keep his gaze on him, so that he could see his eyes better. Cecily took Gabriel’s hand as if to say, calm down; he’ll be alright.

Gabriel squeezed it back and watched as Jeremiah closed the lids of Kit’s eyes and hovered his fingers over them. 

He must have told Kit to open his eyes, because suddenly they flew open.

Gabriel didn’t understand the procedure The Brothers used for checking eyesight. All he knew was that after a while, Brother Jeremiah took Kit’s glasses and turned to Gabriel and Cecily, waiting for one of them to follow him.

Cecily used Gabriel’s knee to get up and went with Brother Jeremiah to get the glasses fixed while Gabriel stayed with Christopher. 

Gabriel walked over to his son and sat down next to him.

“Well, son, I’ll admit that I have no idea what’s wrong with your glasses.” He said with a half smile.

“I can’t see far away.” Kit said. “Myopia means my eyes are curved differently, so they can’t focus the light normally. So, I can’t see from far away as well as up close.”  

Gabriel turned to him, surprised. “How did you know that?”

“Uncle Henry explained it to me.” He said, shrugging. “I wanted to know why I needed glasses in the first place.”

Gabriel ruffled his hair. “You always know the right questions to ask, don’t you, ducks?”

He didn’t know how he ended up with a son like Christopher, who had such a sharp mind at so young. The reason as to why some people needed glasses had never crossed his mind, but Kit’s mind seemed to always be working, questioning why things and people were the way they were. Some people thought that Christopher was absent-minded, but Gabriel knew that it was because his brain was constantly working, not engaging in the current conversation, because it paled in comparison to what he was thinking about, or because there were too many things going on at once. 

He looked at his son, who was looking up at him with wide eyes and his head tilted to the side. He looked like his beautiful mother in that small gesture. 

“Can you even see me?” Gabriel asked, with a smile.

“Not really. You’re a little blurry.”

“Blurry.”

“A Papa-looking blur.”

Gabriel laughed out loud as Cecily came inside.

“We’re in luck,” She announced. “The Brother’s have temporary glasses with Christopher’s exact prescription that he can use while his are being fixed.” She came over with said glasses and carefully put them on Kit.

They immediately slipped down his nose. 

“I think they’re a bit too big.” Gabriel said.

“Well, it’s that or he doesn’t see.” Cecily said, laughing.

…

“Do you like Kit’s temporary glasses, Cecy?” Gabriel asked, knowing perfectly well that she adored them.

“He is the most adorable little thing that’s walked the planet.” Cecily said, glancing at Christopher, who was lagging a bit behind them, staring at the witchlight stones as they passed by them, walking out of the Basilias. 

“Enjoy it while you can,” Gabriel said, opening the doors for the others to go out, “next week he gets his actual glasses back.”

“Don’t remind me,” Cecily said mournfully.

Gabriel held out his hand for Christopher to take, and was surprised when he didn’t take it.

Gabriel looked down and realized that he wasn’t even there. “Kit?” he asked. 

Cecily and Gabriel both stopped and turned around. Christopher stood frozen a couple of steps behind them, his jaw hanging open as he stared up at the trees. 

“What’s the matter, Kit?” Cecily asked.

“I can see each individual leaf.” He mumbled. “If I wanted to, I could count them all!” He looked up at his mother with a huge grin on his face. 

Cecily had always had a soft spot for her son, but with the oversized frames on his small head, the bridge slipping down his nose occasionally, Cecily felt her heart melting. 

“You could,” she said, holding out a hand for him to take. “But then you’d miss all of the other beautiful things you can now see.”

Christopher took her hand, casting a long look at the tree before following her. 

There was a slight skip to his step as he looked around, taking in the world, his gaze always returning to the trees, which seemed to be the most fascinating revelation. 

“Are you going to go back home and practice archery with your father?” Cecily asked.

Kit nodded happily. 

Cecily didn’t think Gabriel really understood that Kit only really liked archery because it was time he could spend with his father. He was always nervous in anything that had to do with fatherhood, terrified that he’d end up like Benedict. 

Cecily had told him time and time again that his children will love him unconditionally, unless he gave them reason not to, but she also knew that it was hard for Gabriel. His relationship with his father was a mixture of love and abuse, the line between the two becoming so unnoticeable, that Gabriel had a hard time telling the difference. 

Cecily had faith in him, however. Especially as she looked at Gabriel and Kit in front of her, the latter sitting on the former’s shoulders, taking his glasses on and off, comparing the way he could see without glasses and the way he could see with them on. 

Christopher turned around. “Mama, I can see the entire world!” He held his arms out wide, a wide grin on his face, as though he were presenting its beauty.

Cecily laughed and put a hand on his back, “Yes, bach, the world is a beautiful place, isn’t it?” She looked at Gabriel. He took her hand, kissing the back of it and let their interlaced hands swing between them as they walked back home.

...

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[mr-and-mr-diaz]

I Don’t Understand Buck Begins.

PSA this is a bit of rant. Not a hate-rant or anything like that, but I do express frustration and if you’re not here for that right now, please skip this. It is complicated and ended upa bit long. But if you’re up for it, I’d LOVE to know your thoughts.

I actually want to talk about this with people. I’m not here to drop a statement like a microphone and walk away. The first time I watched Buck Begins, I loved it. I still do. But as I think back on it and rewatch, there are some major issues I’m spotting:

1. Buck in his whole life has been endangering himself in order to get the attention (dare I say LOVE) of those around him. I feel like the Firefam’s (very OOC) responses to him recklessly endangering himself again only enforced these destructive habits?

2. Firefam’s OOC reaction: In literally every other episode, when Buck recklessly endangers himself the firefam immediately put the brakes on, tell Buck to treasure himself, not to be reckless, to think things through, to realize that the victim got out because of sheer good luck (as well as hair-brained thinking on Buck’s part, but some of Buck’s decision making also really endangered him, more on that later.) The fact that Bobby let Buck work that fire at all in the state of mind he was in is odd. The fact that Hen told him he was for whatever reason correct in choosing to split from the party and go on his own in his current state of mind was beyond odd. Looking back, it doesn’t feel like real moments, but rather contrivances dressed in nice words like “I don’t this often but you’re right” (NO HE’S F**KING NOT!!) so that we wouldn’t question them immediately. Was Buck correct that the other team needed anotehr man? Yeah. Was he right that it should be him? NOPE. Anyone could see that, we could see that, the Firefam could see that. but they let him go anyway. This is OOC, they’re smarter than that, and they’ve known Buck for long enough to know when he’s triggered and more likely to make poor decisions. During it, when Buck disobeys orders and Bobby is calmly just like “Yeah he does that sometimes.” I’m sorry, did someone put Xanax in Bobby’s coffee? Why on earth would he be so calm?? In a normal situation he would never be calm about that--add to it the fact that he KNEW Buck wasn’t at his most stable at the moment? He should have been shouting into his radio and hauling ass, not shrgging and smiling with pride like “Yup! It’s cool with me” like what?? Then afterward, nothing but kind words and praise. Good job risking your life like an idiot, good job risking the other guy because you were so determined to get him out asap you didn’t stop to think. That’s what you do, Buck. 

Like did they really just say that!?

The only nuance that I thought was right here, the only thing that was given emphasis that felt RIGHT, was not that Buck stays behind, not that he makes reckless decisions sometimes, not that he jumped into a fire while unstable, THE ONLY THING that should have been emphasized here, that the episode should have been based on? Is that BUCK DOESN’T GIVE UP. There’s a quality in him that we’ve seen before. one that Buck doesn’t seem to realize about himself. Athena’s moment was the only moment that looking back gives me any kind of cathartsis, because it is the only healthy reaction from the firefam that I saw (aside from them all running in after him--still love that moment.) they should’ve been gentle baout it, but nonetheless should’ve told Buck to treasure himself more, not be like “And here’s our most rekless memeber, pat on the back, kid, we love that you throw yourself into danger without thinking, in fact that’s what we love most about you!” Thinking back, I could SCREAM that that’s the message they left Buck with.

3. The victim: Let’s face it, the only reason the victim didn’t die is because the writers didn’t want him to. They made sure the tank landed somewhere non-fatal so that Buck could still get a win, even though many of his decisions thus far had been hare-brained and ill-advised, driven by a mad need to prove himself, and to never leave people behind, even if stopping and waiting and thinking might be more advisable at some points. In fact, when the victim first falls, and buck wakes up and he looks at him and I thought the victim was dead, first of all I was really sad for the victim, but I also felt like that was the right way to go. Buck’s decision making wasn’t sound, he wasn’t thinking straight, he went in anyway, by all rights the only reason the victim stayed alive after everything he went through was because the writers wanted him to stay alive which they followed with a big and in my opinion inappropriate Pat on the back Moment. The victim dying would’ve been tragic, but it would’ve driven home a lesson for buck, that hurting himself, endangering himself isn’t the answer, won’t always save the day. It would’ve taught Buck (harshly yes, but) that he needs to get his head  on straight in this job. And if he had lost teh victim and the firefam had been there for him anyway, it would’ve been a whole different scenario.

In the episode, while it was super sweet and had some incredible moments, Buck learns nothing, his relationship with the Firefam doesn’t actually change at all, and his relationship with his family doesn’t appear to have actually progressed. He’s still prioritizing them over himself (bringing the parents into therapy since well, they’re trying which is apparently enough now), he’s now been encouraged to continue the reckless streak of self-sacrificing decision making that he’s been on in the past in order to gain teh love and recognition of the poeple around him.

I wish the writers had placed focus, not on Buck being accepting, not on Buck being restless, but on Buck not giving up. We saw bits of that yeah, but it wasn’t as highlighted as Buck ebing reckless and feeling overall like he’s not enough. I wish the episode had been centered there, and they had created an entirely different scenario start-to-finish that (like in Eddie begins, where there were no contrivances, the only reckless thing he does--cutting the line--is something that there isn’t a quetsion in a single brain he WOULD do and should do) where Buck is level-headed, where he’s in some kind of scenario where only he could uniquely succeed in because he never gives up. This episode had bits of it here and there, but ultimately what was running teh day was buck vulnerabilities, not his strengths. Insead of pointing out where Buck shines (like the other Begins episodes), they really only further highlighted what his weaknesses are and then proceeded to have the people around him encourage those weaknesses. Like, what?!

I also think this was the moment to solidify the firefam as his family. Instead, we see Buck retreating back toward a very unhealthy family situation and the firefam remains where they always are. What they did for buck in this episode was something incredible, but it’s also something they would do for any member of the firefam. What I wanted was for the firefam to show up for Buck in a way that he uniquely needs. How, I don’t know--perhaps taking a jab at his loneliness, surprising him with a dinner party at the loft, whatever. Something that told Buck “we see your pain, we see how tough your parents are, how you and Maddie need family who will show up and treasure you no matter what (WHICH BTW INCLUDES YELING AT YOU WHEN YOU’VE BEEN AN IDIOT AND TELLING YOU TO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CRAP DON’T ENDANGER YOURSELF LIKE THAT AGAIN, PLEASE VALUE YOURSELF), that’s what Buck needed. An episode that would help him learn to treasure himself, believe in himself more, love the fact that he never gives up about himself, learn that dangerous stunts and running into things without thinking because he bleives that’s what gets him love is incorrect and unecessary. We didn’t get any of that. The episode was also trying to kill two birds with one stone, which brings me to my last point:

4. Framing Buck Begins around the sibling’s relationship, while GORGEOUS (seriously LOVED these moments they did and the casting was amazing, and both JLH and OS played their younger selves to perfection) I wish had been placed in a completely different episode. They didn’t belong here in an episode of Buck learning about himself. And because of the amount of airtime they took up, we ended up with an episode where Buck doesn’t really learn about himself in the end. Everything remains largely external instead of internal.

All in all, I feel like we need another Buck Begins episode to right the wrongs of this one. Nothing has been solved or fixed. Buck’s relationships remain pretty much the same going in as they do leaving. He has found no peace, no resolution (except in confirmation that Maddie loves him, which is nice, but largely external) he is still fuled by the belief that reckless behavior is what wins him teh love and attention of those around him.

This frustrates me to no end. If you feel like Buck Begins did scratch every itch for you, I’d love to talk and see your perspective as well, because I hate this itchy feeling of dissatisfaction and I dearly hope I’ve missed something here.

Anyway sorry this got so long. Didn’t realize I had QUITE so many thoughts until I started writing and then shit happened. If you made it to the end, thank youa nd I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree.

[thepom-eranian]

My Madagascar “Timeline”

Until “Madagascar 4″ and “Madagascar: A Little Wild” comes out, this is my take on the events that take place. I included every Madagascar movie, the holiday shorts, All Hail King Julien, TPOM Movie and TPOM series.

I tried my best to keep it as canon as possible, but tbh there’s no way to do that when there are so many time skips in the movies where the characters grew up. 

This is a VERY long post btw

Baby Penguins save Private and are on the iceberg, ready to take on the world. On their way, they get captured and taken to Central Park Zoo, unintentionally sending Dave on his way to becoming a villain.

Baby Alex gets captured by poachers from Africa, but his crate falls off the truck and into the ocean. He eventually gets rescued and taken to the zoo.

Everyone grows up. Everything that happens during this time frame is pure speculation and headcanons/theories. Manfredi and Johnson are transferred to the Penguins' habitat. They quickly become friends with the Penguins. Manfredi and Johnson are older than them, but by just a few years.

Manfredi and Johnson heavily influence the younger Penguins' by supporting their "commando" ways and introducing the famous Buck Rotgut (who trained them). Skipper INSISTS on being the leader until Johnson finally convinces him that since they (M&J) were the ones who knew more about it, they should be in charge. But just until Skipper learns everything from them, because after all, he doesn't want to make a mistake and accidentally cause harm to his brothers, right?

During their training, Manfredi and Johnson tell the boys tales of their past adventures. Most of these are exaggerated to make them seem cool and to entertain the young boys. Some aren't even real events, just told as a bedtime story or as a warning. (These stories are mostly where Skipper gets his paranoia from. See the explanations below) Also during this time, they have some of their own adventures together.

At some point, when they're all slightly older (perhaps in their "teens"?), Private gets separated from the rest. I'm presuming that he gets transferred to Texas (or somewhere in the South) where he learns he's amazing at minigolf and takes on the persona as "Mr. Tux." However, after the ice cream incident, Private hangs up his putter. How he gets back to NYC, he could have been transferred back (either by his doing or the humans' doing), he could have ran away and back to NYC, or his brothers finally rescued him.

---"AHKJ" events begin to happen around here and continue until the movie "Madagascar" is mentioned----

Eventually, after much begging and not so subtle hinting from Skipper, Manfredi and Johnson allow him to go on a mission by himself. (When Manfredi expresses concern, Skipper says, "Trust me, Manfredi, what could go wrong?" a line Skipper said in "The Return Of The Revenge of Dr, Blowhole) They send him to Denmark where he is to partner up with Hans the puffin to conduct some research on the Danes. They thought having a partner would be safer for Skipper, but Hans turned on him and made him Denmark's public enemy #1.

Now banned from Denmark, Skipper comes back to discover that Rico has gone crazy without him. (so crazy that Rico even bit and ate a chunk of Manfredi's leg) Manfredi and Johnson, afraid that Rico will act like that again, decide to limit Skipper's solo missions. (This is something Skipper continues to keep doing, even after being named the leader.)

After having to endure Rico's insane rampage, Manfredi and Johnson decide to have a vacation. They leave Skipper in charge and head off to a spa. Once their vacation time was up, they didn't want to go back yet, so they decided to say they were dead. They sent word to the Penguins, informing them of their "death", but Johnson made sure to add that their demise was not terrible and in fact very relaxing so the Penguins wouldn't be so upset. (Which somehow worked, because the Penguins don't seem to get too sad when talking about them)

Without Manfredi and Johnson, Skipper became the new leader. He made Kowalski his second in command, and Rico the demolitions expert. Private was still training since he had missed so much during his "Mr. Tux" time, and as such not given a role. They begin to plan their escape to Antarctica.

Around here is when "The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper" takes place.

It's in November when Alex, Gloria, Marty, and Melman (who will be referred to as the "Hippies" from now on) are shipped out and thanks to the Penguins, wind up on Madagascar.

At the end of "AHKH", the final episode has the lemurs are celebrating Cover and Sage's wedding, Alex washes up on shore. This is where "Madagascar" events start.

Meanwhile, back in NYC. Manfredi and Johnson hear about the zoo animals escaping and being shipped to Africa, only to have the boat go off radar and unable to be contacted. Manfredi and Johnson assume this was the work of the Penguins and decide to investigate. They discover the Penguins' plans to dig to Antarctica and head there. Of course, they don't find them and wind up being captured and sent BACK to NYC, but this time, they're sent to Seaville instead of the zoo.

Now stuck on Madagascar, the Penguins try to rebuild the plane (with Timo's help), Kowalski meets Doris the dolphin. He falls in love with her and confesses, but she's not interested. Eventually, his constant confessions of love and numerous gifts begin to annoy her and she decides to leave. A depressed and distraught Kowalski gets a tattoo of her from Pancho.

Not long after that, "Merry Madagascar" takes place.

Not sure how long it took, but the plane is finally fixed (sort of) and "Madagascar 2" happens. BUT at some point before Skipper and Lola's wedding, (which means BEFORE the ending of "Madagascar 2), "Madly Madagascar" happens.

After Skipper's wedding, "Madagascar 3" happens.  

Sometime after "Madagascar 3", the circus stops in Guatemala where Rico meets a girl. He falls head over heels for her, and tries to show her how much he likes her. But she doesn't understand his gibberish and is freaked out by him.

And after "Madagascar 3" is "The Penguins of Madagascar Movie".

After TPOM Movie, everything seems fine. That is, until Dr. Blowhole shows up. The Penguins once again leave the circus and defeat Blowhole. Realizing that the dolphin is never going to give up trying to defeat the Penguins and make the human race suffer, Skipper and his team decide to stay at the zoo to keep an eye on things. Julien decides to stay as well, because he and Sonya broke up and things between them did not end well. Maurice and Mort go with him.

The PoM series is last. The Hippies are still doing their circus acts, just without the Penguins and lemurs. The Penguins are keeping Central Park Zoo safe and getting annoyed by Julien sometimes. 

[nerdy-nonbinary]

Reunion Ch. 2: The Evening Prior

Mako arrived at the party much earlier than she had planned. Sure, she’d wanted to get there early to help set up and bring all the food. But then she thought the train’s might run late, and the weather had said there was a chance for rain, and she knew she would have to walk slow with all the food she was carrying. So she decided to leave a bit earlier just in case.

Now she was standing outside their grand apartment over an hour before she was supposed to be there. She considered texting Masami and asking her, but she decided it would be easier if she waited outside, in case Masami and Suehiro were busy with something. She found a bus stop nearby and, arms loaded with goodies, sat down to pass the time.

Mako had known Masami and Suehiro would be moving before she sent out the email, but she still didn’t believe it was true. But now that she was attending what was essentially their going away party, she was hit with the full weight of what it meant. Since middle school, Masami had been her closest friend. Even in their childhood, cut off from resources and outside support, they had had each other. And now, that was going to disappear. Sure, the two of them had found support groups as they were older, made themselves a community outside of their small, splintered friend circle. But nothing would replace that genuine connection they’d had, two young trans girls with no direction, no idea who they were, who had nothing but each other. It still hadn’t really sunk in yet.

She stared into the distance, the setting sun glowing just below the cloudline. The life she lived had always been uncertain. Transitioning, even at a relatively young age, had been terrifying. Even after nearly five years on hormones, she still got nervous glances in public, and she’d had slurs hurled at her more times than than she could bear to remember. She still had a small amount of money saved specifically for repairs to graffitti and attacks at the bakery. She hadn’t needed to use it yet, but she felt safer knowing she’d be able to fix whatever damage people like that could bring and keep on doing what she loves.

But now was no time to worry. This was meant to be a joyous occasion. Shamefully, Mako hadn’t talked to anyone besides Nitori, so she really was excited to see how everyone was doing. Even Chiba, whose relationship with all of them had been strained at the best of times. She needed to head back to help set up. If Nitori was going to leave, why was she sitting around and fretting, rather than enjoying what time they had left?

Mako hopped up and sprinted back to Nitori’s house.

“Ms. Sasa, where do you go when school is done?”

Kanako turned to face Rina, her last straggler before she shut down her classroom for the day. She bent down to the girl’s level. “Well, where do you think I go?”

The girl put a serious look on her face as she thought, before replying “I don’t know. Maybe you have a bed in the school?”

Kanako couldn’t help but laugh. “No, Rina, Ms. Sasa doesn’t live in school. Usually, I go home and make myself dinner, and then get ready for tomorrow’s activity. But tonight, I’m actually doing something special.”

The girl bounced on the balls of her feet, impatient at her teacher’s vague answer. “What? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to see some friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.”

“How long?”

“Well, let’s see. How old are you, Rina?”

She stuck out one hand, her chubby thumb tucked in. “Four!”

“Wow!” She feigned surprise, and Rina let out a little giggle. “You’re so old! But the last time I saw my friends was so long ago, you weren’t even born yet!”

“What! Ms. Sasa, you gotta be like a million years old!”

Kanako pouted at the comment. “Hey, I’m not that old! Maybe just a thousand years old.”

Her ears caught the sound of heels on linoleum, and she stood up to see a disheveled businesswoman sprint into the doorway, holding the frame as she caught her breath. “Ms. Sasa, thank you so much,” She said, panting. “My meeting was late and my phone died, and-”

“Mrs. Okano, it’s no problem. Just doing my job.” She bent back down to Rina. “Bye, Rina! See you next week!”

The girl looked over her shoulder as she left, her mom’s hand holding hers. “Bye Ms. Sasa! Have fun with your friends!” Her voice drifted down the hallway, and soon the classroom was silent.

It was odd. Until then, recounting her plans to a toddler, the weight of the night hadn’t truly hit her. Now it collapsed upon her shoulders, weights dragging her deep into the earth. Most of her students weren’t even alive the last time she saw them. Sure, there was social media. She’d been a little startled when Ariga had come out immediately after graduation. It made sense, looking back, but she hadn’t been as vocal about it as Nitori had. Takatsuki identified as x-gender now, but there was a period from after graduation until just over a year ago where she’d heard nothing from them. Then they’d popped back up on social media, with a guy’s haircut and FtX on every bio page. They were a student teacher now, working towards a degree, but she couldn’t help but wonder what had made them fall off the map for so many years.

Sarashina was the opposite end of the spectrum, showering in the spotlight (or, as much spotlight as there was) of women’s basketball. The star player, Sarashina was becoming more famous than even some of the male players, despite almost nonexistent media coverage of women’s sports. Of course, there was a little twist.

Sarashina wasn’t a girl.

They’d come out as genderfluid about three years ago, a post on every piece of social media they had. A quick selfie with that signature smile of his, with the caption “btw I’m genderfluid. he/she/they.” Not even an explanation. Kanako knew enough to find accurate sites and definitions, but others would be lost. It seemed hasty and poorly planned, from her point of view.

But maybe that’s what Sarashina had been going for. Spontaneity, confusion, casual mention of their identity. That was the Chi-chan way.

Then, of course, there was Chiba. Chiba, who had been a part of their friend group all the way back in fifth grade. Chiba, who always had had a crush on Nitori, even in denial of her gender. Chiba, who became… Kanako hated to say it, but it was the truth: Chiba became an asshole.

Kanako hadn’t seen her much since high school, and Chiba wasn’t one for social media. After the text she’d sent her, she was willing to her the benefit of the doubt, but Kanako was still wary. Out of the whole group, she’d definitely been the most transphobic (excluding Shirai, who had only been a part of the group by being glued to Sarashina’s shoulder at all times). Everything she had said to Takatsuki, denying their identity when they thought they were a guy. Even Nitori, the object of her constant affections, was a target, as she was almost painfully straight, and wanted her to hold on her male identity, even when dressing her up in skirts and blouses. Sure, Kanako had been airheaded as a kid, and none of them knew much about any of this at the time, but even she could tell something had been up.

Still, Nitori was inviting her, and that had to count for something. Who knows? She may have changed, and Kanako was willing to give her a chance.

But past all the memories and afterthought, a childish sense of glee bloomed in her chest. Everyone, together again, a way they hadn’t been since the end of middle school. It was thrilling, in an odd way. A private high school reunion, without the distant acquaintances to weave through and drunk dancing. Well, drunk strangers dancing, anyway.

Kanako finished tidying up the classroom, and silently skipped her way out the door. She couldn’t wait to see her friends again.

Saori was a bad person.

This wasn’t some huge revelation, any action or scenario that triggered the thought. Hell, she was sitting in the middle of a café, typing away at an essay when she realized it.

Saori was a bad person.

It was ironic, really, considering her area of study. How could she be a therapist if she couldn’t even help herself? But the position suited her. She’d always dealt with her problems by focusing on something else, some new project or plan separate from her mind. Writing a play, dressing up friends, going to church. Now she was going to do it for a living.

Saori was a bad person.

“Ok.”

The room went silent, eye contact unbroken between the pair before she pulled her eyes away, staring at the floor. Dr. Yamada continued. “Ok. You’re a bad person. What are you going to do about it?”

“Huh?”

Dr. Yamada sighed, shifting her notebook in her lap. “Do you want to be a person?”

Saori paused. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Ok. So let’s work on changing that.”

“But it’s not that simp-“

“It’s not. I know. But saying you’re a bad person doesn’t make you any less of one. It just makes you self aware. Nothing is going to change unless you put in a little effort.”

Saori let the clock echo through the silent room for the rest of the session. Her weekly therapy appointments often left her emotionally drained, but she’d asked to have a lighter session this week, as she was meeting old friends afterwards.

So much that did.

But it got her thinking. Why did she think she was a bad person?

Well, for one thing, she was attending a party hosted by a girl she bullied mercilessly for years under the guise of love. How many times had she given Nitori clothes to match her true self, only to deny her identity in the same breath? As Sasa had bluntly put it the last they had seen each other, her “distinctly oppressive heterosexuality” had not only blinded her from truly seeing Nitori for who she was, but also irreparably hurt their relationship. She still couldn’t believe she’d been invited, though the email had gone out months ago.

For another thing, she’d narrowly avoided again seeing someone who she had truly, deeply injured, even more than Nitori. She recalled the sigh of relief she’d breathed when Takatsuki had reluctantly declined the evite, and she still felt that stab of guilt. For all that she was right in saying Takatsuki wasn’t really a boy, she had actively dissuaded them from presenting the way they wanted to at the time, and she’s couldn’t help but wonder if their declining mental health during the last years of high school had been partly her fault, for denying their identity.

As she exited the office building, she questioned her decision to attend the party for the millionth time. None of them had genuinely enjoyed her presence by the end of school, really. Did she have any good reason to go, besides bringing up bad memories?

But Dr. Yamada said it took work to fix oneself. Maybe she needed to go. Maybe she needed to bring up the past in order to make herself a better future.

Saori was a bad person.

But tonight, she will take the first step to become a better one.

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 15 -- A Problem of Memory -- Review/Discussion

I’m back again with another Shadowhunters review. I feel really bad about being so late on these. I’m not getting a whole lot of inspiration with these episodes lately. But oh well. This time we have Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 15 – A Problem of Memory. I found myself very satisfied with this episode. By no means would I say that I liked it. But I was satisfied with it.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. If you’re the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that’s on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that’s the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I’m not telling you how to think and feel. So please, let’s discuss with dignity and respect. If I’m critical about the show, it’s only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters; I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It’s great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn’t mean you should acknowledge the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do love the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my love of the books. I don’t really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as it’s good and it makes sense. My problems with this show are problems that I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world-building and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the books and movies.

Alright, so ultimately, I was pretty satisfied with this episode. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked it but it was moderately entertaining. There were stretches within the episode where I was legitimately bored, though. I watched this episode on Tuesday after it aired, which was my birthday, and I was far more interested in the game of Scrabble I was playing with my friends. I play a mean Scrabble, btw. Obviously, I didn’t feel too strongly about this episode considering how late I am in writing this. I feel like this has been happening a lot with 2B. The episodes have been leaving me with a general feeling of apathy. The episodes are satisfying but they’re also not dragging me into the story which is a very disconcerting feeling for me. Supernatural/fantasy type shows are my catnip. I typically love these kinds of shows and I want them to last for a good amount of time. I am sad that The Vampire Diaries has finished. I am sad that we’re almost done with Teen Wolf. The Originals is always one foot away from the chopping block (although I am hoping it sticks around for a little while longer so that Klaroline has a chance to grace my screen again). Pretty soon, I’m not going to have that many more fantasy type shows for me to cling on to. I guess we’ll always have Supernatural, though that is one fantasy show I wish would end. It has gone on for far too long in my opinion.

More Love Triangle BS

So we got the love triangle stuff with Jace/Clary/Simon still going on. This was kind of where my boredom was starting to surface within this episode. I don’t think there’s a word in the English vocabulary that epitomizes how much I don’t care about this love triangle. I barely tolerated it in the books and in the show, it’s completely insufferable. The only saving grace this plot point has is that it’s finally going to push Simon into some plot arcs that don’t center around Clary for once. At least I hope so. Simon, throughout his character arc, has always been following Clary’s plots around like a lost puppy and I’m interested in seeing where the story is going to take him now. Speaking of which, I got a little excited in this episode when Simon finally blows up at Clary. That was great. I think I enjoy it a little too much whenever people do yell at Clary. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I get super happy. It’s like a drug for me. And I’m sorry to you Show Clary fans who adore her but I cannot stand her. Any scene that she’s in, I want to skip past. I just do not care about her at all. Which really shouldn’t be happening with a main character but what can you do? And I actually recently had an epiphany on why I don’t really like Clary. And it’s not for any of the shallow reasons that some people dislike about her i.e. her always needing to be saved. It’s nothing like that. I’m actually in the process of writing a post about my dislike of her character in the show. So if you follow me, you’ll have that to look forward to. But anyways, I’m not a fan on how the show is doing this love triangle. I think it was a mistake to portray Climon as this great epic love. By the show doing this, they wrote themselves into a corner because now there’s really no way to finish out this love triangle story without it turning into a cliché teenage melodrama. I was a fan of Simon in this episode. He treated Clary exactly how I wanted him to. Clary is being her typical selfish self by blaming everyone but herself. I have no sympathy for her. I did see this one post where the blogger had talked about Simon being overly dramatic and that he doesn’t really have a right to be angry with Clary. Clary didn’t ask for Simon to be in love with her and all that jazz. Now, that kind of talk I would find acceptable with Book Clary and Simon. Book Clary was fairly obvious about her feelings being different from the feelings Simon had. However, this argument doesn’t work as well in the show. Because Clary had given no indication whatsoever that she wasn’t all in for Simon. In fact, she was telling Simon the exact opposite. Jace revealed they weren’t really siblings and she straight up didn’t care. She even reassured Simon that she wanted to be with him (Simon). That is straight up leading him on even if it may have been slightly unintentional. But anyways, Clary was trying her hardest to get Simon to take her back and forget what all had happened but Simon’s not having it. I don’t know why she thought that would work. Clary is trying so hard to preserve this relationship but she’s not stopping to think and ask, “What does Simon want? What does Simon deserve?” He deserves to be with someone who loves him as much as he once loved Clary. I really like what Simon says to Clary when Clary tells him she loves him. “Stop! Don’t say that because you don’t mean it like I mean it.” I’m glad that Simon is showing Clary that she needs to hold herself accountable for her actions (something she never does in the show) and that not everything can be so easily forgiven. I’m glad the show is finally starting to do this with Clary’s character. One of my biggest gripes with the show is how willing the show is to forgive Clary for everything and no one ever holds her accountable for anything. I hope the show tries to do more with that.

Simon had his own plot arc going on in this episode which I kind of enjoyed. I did have a couple of issues with it, though. First issue was that it’s such a predictable plot. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve seen where I’ve seen this plot point used. Never for a second did I actually believe Simon killed that girl. Why was I so sure? Because despite Freeform’s best efforts in making this show “edgy and racy,” they can’t help but to play it safe. Freeform is too afraid to go into something really dark like actually having Simon accidentally kill someone while he was under this blood-induced euphoric state. I think that would’ve been a really interesting direction to take his character. It would’ve been interesting to see how he dealt with that issue. I really wanted them to do it but ultimately, they fell back on bad habits. I know, Simon killed that vampire who framed him but that’s hardly the same thing. The emotional response we could’ve gotten from Simon would’ve been so much stronger if he had accidentally killed an innocent girl who put her trust in his ability to control himself as opposed to killing someone out of self defense. Disappointing but what can you do? I could write a book on all of the missed potential this show had with its plot arcs. I am a little upset that the show seems to be kind of writing off Izzy’s addiction too. They’re just saying she’s going to meetings to help with her addiction issues but we haven’t seen anything that shows she’s really struggling or anything that shows where she’s currently at in the recovery process. Which brings me to my second issue. When the vampire brings Simon to that club to feed on willing humans, I had a hard time believing that Simon would actually want to do this. Particularly since he knows about Izzy. It probably would have worked better if Simon hadn't known about Izzy’s problem and was just finding out that it’s possible for people to become addicted to vampire venom. But the fact that he knew about Izzy’s struggles and yet he was so willing to give this a try didn’t really sit well with me. I guess he was already intoxicated from that plasma shot he had maybe. I don’t know. It also confused me on why he didn’t realize that these kinds of dens may exist after Izzy confessed to him that she’s addicted to vampire venom. Did he never question where she was getting her fix? Obviously, she never went to one of these dens but Simon doesn’t know about her relationship with Raphael. And on the other side of things in 2A, why did Izzy risk being killed by Blondie Vamp when she could’ve easily gone to one of these dens? Ugh, so many plot holes once you start actually thinking.

But ultimately, I could get behind this plot point because it’s finally showing Simon trying to find his own way in the Shadow World instead of clinging on to Clary. It’s about him trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs in the Shadow World. He has ties to the mundane world, the shadowhunter world, and the downworld but yet doesn’t fit in completely with any of them. I’m really excited to see where this story is going to take him. This plot definitely had its flaws but the idea of the plot is what sold it for me. But that’s Shadowhunters for you. They always have really great ideas; it’s the execution that’s the problem.

Luke’s partner was also featured pretty heavily in this plot point too and I wish they would just drop this character. I don’t know what’s going on with her and what part she’s actually going to play but she’s completely unnecessary. This show has waaaaaaaaay more characters than they know what to do with. I really hope this show gets to the point of her as a character soon because she absolutely bores me whenever she’s on screen.

Aline Is Here

Aline has also made her debut into the tv show. I’ll be honest. In the books, I never really understood the fandom’s fondness for Aline. She’s not a bad character or anything. I don’t hate her, I just don’t care about her. We don’t spend a whole lot of time with her in the books and she never left me with any sort of impression. She was there and she and Helen are kind of cute, I guess, but again the books never spent a lot of time with developing Aline and Helen. So when people were badgering the showrunners about when Aline is going to show up, I really didn’t care. She showed up in this episode and I liked her scenes but ultimately, I still didn’t really care. I’m interested to see her in future episodes. The dynamic that she appears to have with the real Sebastian Verlac was nice to see. I’m definitely interested to see how Helen is going to pop up in this show and what the show does with her and Aline. Aline and Izzy also had a really nice relationship. I was beginning to wonder if Izzy was friends with anyone besides Clary. She doesn’t seem to socialize with any of the other shadowhunters at the Institute. Seriously, did Izzy have any friends before Clary showed up? But I’m always happy to see positive female relationships. I know this fandom has a pretty big Romantic Clizzy fanbase but I hope the show doesn’t go there. And before anyone jumps down my throat, no, it’s not because I’m bigoted and I don’t want to see a lesbian couple. Obviously, I don’t feel that way since Malec is one of my ultimate OTPs. TV these days really needs more supportive female friendships and that’s what I like about Clizzy. That’s what I liked about Aline and Izzy. And I want to see the show continuing on with that. Not all chemistry is romantic, guys. Sometimes there’s chemistry that works better as friends. And not all chemistry should be romantic.

We also had Will Tudor being his usual awesome self. This time he was playing both the real Sebastian and Jonathon. The talent this guy has, he has far too much talent for this show. Every scene he’s in, he outshines everyone else. Which is what makes the reveal at the end of the episode a little saddening. Jonathon finds a way to spring Valentine from the Clave and when Valentine is brought before him, Jonathon reveals his true self a la shapeshifting rune – a burnt, walking talking corpse, apparently. I really hate that rune. When I saw that reveal at the end of the episode, though, I burst out laughing. I think the last time I laughed so hard in this show was back in 2A when Jocelyn showed Clary the vision of Jonathon as the demon child where he made a flower wilt. I laughed pretty hard in that scene and laughed a lot in this scene. It’s just such a Disney thing to do. Of course, the villain would turn out to be this burned corpse because you can’t be attractive and evil at the same time. I can’t say I’m surprised though. Freeform is owned by Disney. Again, like I said before, it’s a very safe way to go about the series. Now, before anyone tries to claw my eyes out or anything, my problems with the reveal have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the fact that this is different from the books. That’s not my issue. I just think Jonathon being this attractive character but gets so progressively evil that his soul kind of warps into that of a demon’s is a much more interesting theme to explore than having him be this burnt up corpse. There is evil in beauty. That and it means Will Tudor as Jonathan has a time limit which is sad. He’s so fantastic as an actor that I literally could watch a 40 minute episode of Shadowhunters with it just being Jonathon formulating his evil plans. I’m sure Shadowhunters has a plan on where they’re going to go with this burnt corpse idea. I just hope it’s not going to be cliché Disney villain plot point. I’m sure this plot point was also taken so they could better explain why no one is noticing that Sebastian Verlac is not the real Sebastian Verlac. The Season 1 writers really wrote themselves into a corner when they made shadowhunters compatible with technology. The current writers really had no choice but to use the rune in this instance.

Malec This Episode

So Malec was pretty great this episode. We actually got scenes that lasted for more than thirty seconds this time around. Alec can tell that something is wrong with Magnus but Magnus is refusing to open up to Alec. Magnus is having problems dealing with his mother’s death and the repercussions of this death but he’s refusing to open up to Alec about this until Alec finally convinces him to talk about it. An excellent use of throwing Magnus’ words back at him. Magnus once told Alec that when things get tough, to not push him away. And here, Alec tells him the same thing. I was glad to hear it. Magnus comes clean that when he was tortured with the “agony” rune (I still can’t say that with a straight face – it makes no sense for why such a rune would exist) he was forced to relive the memory of him finding his mother after she committed suicide and his father lashing out at Magnus about it. Magnus uses his magic to kill his stepfather and admits to Alec that he had full control of his powers back then; he wanted to kill his stepfather. Magnus tells Alec that he wanted to keep this from Alec because he didn’t want Alec so see this “ugly” side of him. In which Alec responds with understanding. “There’s nothing ugly about you.” Alec accepts him for exactly how he is. He doesn’t have any kind of romaticization about Magnus. He intends to find out about the darker parts of Magnus. He doesn’t just want to be with the light parts. It was a really great moment for Malec.

Now, I am a little torn on how I feel about the show changing Magnus’ past with his mother and stepfather. But after going back and forth on it, I don’t think my problem is that I liked the story in the book better  as much as that I felt the show could’ve spent a little more time on this flashback. We didn’t get to see a whole lot of Magnus’s stepfather and we certainly didn’t get to see what exactly the man was saying to Magnus. The tone wasn’t really working.  In this instance, tone is everything and I don’t think the show got the tone right. The flashback could’ve been really great but the show did the bare minimum and in doing so, messed up the tone a little. Now, I have heard people say that they think the scene in the books is a little overdramatic in the sense that Magnus’ mother hangs herself out of shame in finding out she had laid with a demon and the stepfather trying to drown Magnus. I disagree on that assessment. Magnus was born in a time where if you were different, you were seen as evil. Anything that was different was seen as the devil’s work. So it would make sense that Magnus’ mother killing herself over finding out what her son was and his stepfather trying to drown him makes sense in context. I am a little sad the show didn’t go with this story but I understand the story the show is trying to tell. It works in its own way. The story in the books wouldn’t have worked as well with the theme they were trying to implement here. Like I said, it works, I just wish we had gotten a little more in the development of this flashback.

I also saw a few posts where a blogger was talking about how rigid Alec looks in the Malec scenes. That he doesn’t really look comfortable. He very much had a military like stance when dealing with Magnus in this episode. I think this was more of an acting decision. For me, Alec is feeling insecure about their relationship. Magnus is refusing to open up and it’s making Alec a little uncomfortable. So I was fine with the rigidity he might’ve been having these past couple of episodes. It makes sense based on what Alec is feeling.

I would probably give this episode a B. I definitely felt it was better than the previous ones. As always, there are still things the show can improve on. For one, executing their ideas better. As I’ve said many times, the writers have a lot of good ideas, the execution is what makes them fall a little weird sometimes. I also can’t help but feel like the writers may be writing with their dominant hand being tied behind their back. I mentioned it earlier in this review but I’ve been starting to realize that the writing in this show has been very “safe.” The show scaled back on the incest plot because it was controversial. We’re never really sure what the show is trying to do with Malec as a couple because the show doesn’t feel comfortable with how much they can get away with in that relationship. They went for the obvious plot point of Simon being framed for a murder instead of going dark and having Simon kill someone while in his drugged state. They’re certainly scaling back on seeing us watch Izzy with her recovery probably because that’s controversial as well. In the 2A finale, they had all of the main downworlders in one spot but yet none of them were harmed by what happened in the finale. They all conveniently were able to escape from the massacre. They did kill Jocelyn but Jocelyn was also a character a majority of the fanbase didn’t care about so her death was an “eh, whatever” thing. One of these days, I would really like to see the show just go for it. They’re trying to be dark and racy but at the same time they’re still afraid to. They don’t know how much they can get away with and I look forward to the day when they throw caution to the wind and just go all out. We don’t live in a pretty world and the shadow world certainly is not a pretty world to live in. It is dangerous, these people lead dangerous lives and it would be nice to see just how cruel and unforgiving this world can get.

That’s about all I have for you guys. Again, sorry I’m late. But better late than never. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Do you agree or disagree? As always, be respectful of mine and everyone else’s opinions.

[lukerhill]

A dollar store fall wreath

How to make a fall wreath with dollar store materials 

Hellooo there! I’m finally pulling out the fall decor this week! This is SO late for me -- usually I’m itching to get it out in August! This year I wanted to make sure I was completely done going through the basement before I started lugging the (cough. numerous.) bins up. One of the projects I wanted to tackle this year was a DIY fall wreath. I was inspired by this one last year:

But because I was too cheap impatient lazy to come up with a rectangle shape, I just did a smaller, round one. It’s pretty darn cute, but also a bit wimpy. So this year, I was determined to make a large, square, fluffy fall wreath. I started with some thick foam core board from Hobby Lobby for $5 – it was half an inch thick and it was already 20 inches wide, so I cut it down to 20 inches in length as well: Btw -- you can easily use foam core from the dollar store, this is just thicker. I wanted it to be four inches thick, so I marked a square in the middle accordingly: I used my jigsaw to cut it out (it cut like butta!), but you could probably get away with cutting it with something else (especially if you use a thinner foam board – I use scissors.) Remember it does not have to be perfect – you won’t see the exact shape when you’re done! I did a really quick spray of the edges, (with red because it was the closest I found) just in case they'd show through at all: They don’t, so you can save the two minutes and skip this step. You’re welcome. :) Last week I bought four swags of leaves from Hobby Lobby to use for this project, and they were half off, at $5 each. But the $25 price tag for all the supplies was getting a little expensive for something that may not even turn out how I envisioned. I was trying to think of a cheaper way to do it, and remembered some packets of leaves I bought at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago for another project. I absolutely loved the colors, the texture, and they were large – perfect for this project! WHOO!! I started laying them out to see what I liked: Hmmm – it wasn’t random enough for me. So I tried a willy nilly way: MUCH better, but the leaves were a bit flat for my liking. I wanted some POOF. Because they’re made with wire, that was an easy fix – I crumpled up a few at a time (gently) and gave them some dimension: (I ended up snipping off the wire stems.) I fired up the hot glue gun and started placing them here and there, filling in any empty spots: There was no rhyme or reason to it – just stick ‘em on! And less than an hour later, I had just what I was looking for!: (Our door always photographs blue, but it’s a dark brown.) I love love LOVE these leaves! They look so real! They are made of a material that reminds me of crepe paper – but not nearly as delicate: You do have to be gentle with them though – they tear if you’re not careful. I didn’t mind though – it made them look more real.  ;) If you have a door that’s exposed to the wind, you’ll want to add weights to the “frame” because it is very lightweight. We don’t have that problem, but I may add some sticky tack to the back just to make sure it stays put. And I’m not sure how these leaves would hold up to the elements – so you may want to test out a leaf or two. Last year some of you suggested using a large frame as the base, and I thought that was a great idea – it would be heavy enough too! I absolutely LOVE it – lots of color, texture and it’s simple. The best part is that it only cost $11 total! (Five for foam and six packages of the leaves at a dollar each.) And that’s only because I got the thicker foam – if you got a thinner piece from the dollar store, you’d get this done for well under ten bucks!: It's gonna look FAB with the rest of the fall decor on our porch! I’ll share that with you next week! (Click here for our fall porch tour!) It’s getting just a bit cooler here…slowly but surely. It was in the 80’s today but there was so little humidity, it felt pretty fantastic! Yay…it’s coming!! :)

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