#it was a great idea we got towels from dollar store and napped on the beach for a few hours

[micamicster]

There was like a 6 hour intermission between the wedding ceremony and the dinner reception yesterday so nebill and i went to the beach (beach) and now I’m sunburned head to toe lol

[justthehiddleswrites]

Accidently Married | Tom Hiddleston x OFC | Chapter 2 | Be Careful with Clive, I Have Grown Attached to Him

A/N:  Tom makes certain comments about an ex (who is unnamed).  It is a fictional girlfriend, take from it what you will.  Keep your hate to yourself.  

SERIES MASTERLIST HERE

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x OFC (Molly Bishop)

Summary: Tom is stuck in a news cycle from hell; Molly is stuck in the dead end job of bartending with a pile of student and credit debt.  Tom has an idea to solve all their problems.  Get married, get the paparazzi off his back, divorce after a year and Tom pays off Molly’s debts.  Tom has everything figured out, that is until he sees Molly as more than a just a friend and so does someone else.  In this vying for affections who will win, the handsome Brit or the boy from Boston?

This Chapter: Tom and Molly are now married.  Surprise! These two talk about the logistics of Tom’s half-baked plan.  And Molly moves to London to face the firing squad, aka the paparazzi.  

Warnings: fake marriage, smut (vaginal sex), mentions of:  child abuse/neglect, foster care, substance abuse, cheating.

TAGLIST IS OPEN! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED!  THANK YOU FOR READING!

–

After they signed the license along with the apostille, there had been dancing. That much Molly remembered. And drinking. Specifically drinking champagne. Tom danced with abandon, pulling Molly into the whirlwind of activity he created around him.

But now it was morning, and Molly woke up in a bed that wasn’t her own. She groaned as her head pounded, having forgotten that champagne and her have a love-hate relationship. Molly saw the faint outline of Tom asleep on the couch, his long body stretched out, still wearing his suit from last night. After glancing at the alarm clock, Molly fell back asleep.

Several hours, Molly woke up again and headed to the bathroom, not noticing the now opened curtains.

“Hey good lookin, Whatcha got cookin,” Tom’s voice twanged as he stepped out of the shower. His head pounded a bit, but not the worst hangover he had.

“AHHH!!!” Molly screamed as she stepped into the bathroom.

They both froze, which was more embarrassing for Tom, as at least Molly was still wearing her dress from last night.

“You’re naked.” Molly blinked, her head darting around the room until she focused on an interesting corner of the room.

Tom chuckled, grabbing a towel and wrapping it loosely around his waist. “I don’t normally shower in my clothes. You can look back now.”

She slowly turned back around. “Sorry.” She shuffled her feet. “I should have knocked.”

“It’s quite alright.” He moved towards the door. “Shower is yours and we should talk things over.”

Molly nodded. “We should.”

While Molly showered, Tom dressed in the other room. After finding a clean t-shirt for Molly to wear over her dress until she could change, he called the airlines and changed his single ticket for that morning to a later flight for two, fishing Molly’s ID out of her wallet.

“Thanks for the shirt.” she stepped out.

“It looks good on you.” Tom gestured to the sofa. “Sit. Would you like some breakfast?” Her stomach growled. They both laughed. “That would be a yes.” Tom shoved the room service menu. “Order what you like.”

She selected an egg white frittata while Tom got the pancakes. Tom put in the order and returned his attention to Molly.

“So let’s talk about how this will work.” Tom shifted in his seat.

“An excellent idea. You mentioned living together in London. When do we leave?”

“This afternoon.”

Molly coughed. “That quick?”

“I’m afraid so.” Tom’s hands fidgeted in his lap. She noticed he was still wearing the spider ring. “I have work obligations back home and in order for it to be believable you would need to live with me.”

“Naturally.” Molly slapped her thighs. “So after breakfast, I can head back to my apartment, pack up what little I have, say goodbye to my roommate, and change into appropriate clothing. And you need to get us some proper rings.” She waved her hot pink ring in the air. “Unless of course you intend for your bride to wear a ring from the top of a cupcake.”

“Only if I get to keep my ring. I’ve grown quite attached to Clive.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You named the spider?”

“Yes.” There was a knock on the door. “That will be the food. Allow me.” He disappeared and returned shortly with a rolling table, ladened with food. Tom poured a cup of coffee and offered one to Molly.

“I don’t drink coffee.”

“I can have them bring up a teapot.”

“I’m pretty sure there are some complimentary ones in the room. Now,” She cut into her food and took a bite. “how will everything else work? Living with you, your life, the paparazzi? That is the whole point of this charade.”

“You do get down to business. So yes, I would expect you to live in my home. In a separate bedroom, I can set up another room as an office for you. We would need to attend events together and generally appear as a loving couple on the outside.”

“And my debts? That is part of the deal, right?”

“Right,” Tom gazed over at her while eating his pancakes. “I would assume the payments while we are together, and after the divorce is final, I would pay off any balance. I would also take care of your daily expenses while we are married. You are welcome to work if you want, but I will give you spending money.”

“So I would be a trophy wife?” Her brown eyes glinted.

Tom waved his hands in front of him. “Not that is not what I meant… I…”

“I am kidding, Tom. If you prefer, I can not work. I don’t mind. Give me some time to figure things out.” A thought came to her. “What about…” Molly searched for the words. “… other needs? Or if you wish to engage in a romantic relationship?” Her cheeks blushed as the words fell out of her mouth.

Tom blushed as well. “I have great self-control and I think if either of us get to that point, we can discuss it. I don’t want you to feel trapped.”

“And I don’t want you to be trapped either. I guess that is as good of an answer I could expect. Anything you want to ask me?”

Tom stared at Molly. The air hung heavy. “Do you regret saying yes?”

“No. Do you regret asking?”

“No.”

Molly downed the rest of her juice. “Well then, it is all settled. I am going to take off to pack. And you have some shopping to do. My ring size is a 7.”

Tom finished up the last bite of pancakes. “Right. We need to leave here by 3 to make it to the airport.”

“I shouldn’t be more than a few hours. Do you have a key to the room I could borrow?”

Tom fished one out of his discarded jacket’s pocket. “Here I will have the front desk make me another one.”

She tapped the key against her nails. “Thanks, Tom. For the help and for being a decent guy.”

“I should be thanking you.”

“You already have.” She grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

-

Tom headed downstairs, asked the front desk for a new key to the room, and also inquired where the nearest jewelry store might be. The front clerk handed him a key and directed him to a small collection of luxury stores in the hotel. He found Tiffanys and purchased a classic platinum solitaire engagement ring and plain platinum band for Molly and a yellow gold band for himself.

Molly wasn’t back when he returned, so he set about packing up for the flight. His phone buzzed. Luke.

It appears you had a good time in Vegas. The papers say you are drowning your sorrows. Looks like the story is here to stay. Call me when you wake up from your nap at home.

Tom typed back.

I did have a good time. I have a feeling the papers will soon find another story soon. Still in Vegas, taking a later flight. Talk to you soon.

His phone rang. He clicked it off, seeing it was Luke. Rather to get all the yelling done in person. The door opened and Molly came in, dragging a suitcase behind.

“Sorry! My roommate had questions.”

“So does my publicist.”

Tom took in Molly for the first time, really. Outside of the light of a casino floor. And not in a wedding dress purchased for fifty dollars on the way to the chapel. She wore faded jeans, a pair of beat up black Converse and a boxy white tee tucked in. A large black cardigan tucked under her arm. Dark hair in a bun. Quite lovely, if Tom told the truth.

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” Her brows knitted together.

“Not yet.” Tom tucked his phone into his jean pocket. “Here.” He pulled out the little blue bag.

Molly gasped. “I thought you would go buy some costume jewelry. This is too much.”

“Nonsense. This marriage may be fake, but the jewelry will be real.” Tom opened up the boxes. “May I do the honors?”

Molly held out her hand, and Tom slipped off the plastic ring before replacing it with the wedding set. “Much better. And yours?”

Tom slapped the box into her hand. “Be careful with Clive.” Molly pursed her lips as she pulled off the spider ring and replaced it with the gold band, putting the plastic ring in the Tiffanys box. “Here you go. Clive’s new home.”

Tom tucked the box into his luggage. “Ready to go?”

Molly rocked back on her heels. “Yep.”

Tom held out his arm. “Let’s go home, Mrs. Hiddleston.”

-

The flight back was uneventful, Molly and Tom dozed off, leaning against each other for support. Molly woke up first. She stared down at her rings. This was not how she expected this weekend going. Molly thought she would scrap together enough tips to make an extra payment on her credit card. Not flying to London with a Tiffany diamond ring on her finger and a famous actor as her husband.

“Life does throw you curveballs from time to time.”

“What was that, darling?” Tom muttered, stretching in his seat.

“Just commenting on the craziness of all of this to myself.” She held out her hand again. Tom laced his fingers with hers.

“I have done the same thing myself. Now when we land, there will probably be paparazzi around. Are you up for getting this whole thing off and running?”

Molly perked up. “What do I need to do?”

-

Tom tightly gripped Molly’s hand throughout the concourse and baggage claim. They eyed the doors.

“Ready?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

“I promise to be gentle.” Tom squeezed back, smiling.

As they stepped through the doors, Tom flashed a killer smile and Molly did as well, giggling as his arm wrapped around her waist. He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. Molly melted against him, making sure her rings were visible as she cupped his cheek. She was right, Tom was an excellent kisser. After making sure any photographers had plenty of time to snap a pic, they parted.

“Think they got my good side?” Molly giggled.

“Do you have a bad side?” Tom asked.

“Just wait and see. Now take me home, darling!” She threw her arm over her eyes dramatically.

“Drama queen.” Tom pinched her side.

-

Tom’s home was cozy and clean. Definitely a bachelor’s home, as evidenced by the empty fridge except for a few bottles of beer and some questionable brown sauce.

“I can go shopping later.” Tom dragged a toe along the kitchen floor.

“I can go shopping later.” She reached up and smacked his face playfully. “What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t feed my husband?”

“Fair point. I will call the bank tomorrow and get a card in your name. Just run any big purchases past me first. And we will need to get your name changed, passport, etc. I can have someone help you.” Tom prattled on.

“Why don’t you show me the rest of the place first?”

Tom held out his arm. “This way.”

Tom’s book collection was impressive along with his collection of movies.

“I clear some space if you need it.”

“I only packed clothes. My roommate is selling the rest, including my car and wiring me the money.”

“Oh.” Tom’s face fell. “Let me show you the bedrooms.”

He showed you a small guest room. “This could be an office for you and next door is a bigger bedroom for you.” Tom hustled along the hallway to open the next door. “Here.”

It was a bigger room with a queen bed and a wardrobe. Spare and clearly used for company.

“It will do just fine. And the bathroom is across the hall which is nice. Where’s your room?”

Tom made his way to the end of the hall and opened the door to his room, decorated in tones of grey and navy. A large king sized bed taking up most of the room along with a dresser. A bathroom en suite and a small closet completed the space.

“Very nice. Do you mind if I steal the color palette to decorate my room?”

“Please do. I never got around to decorate it. My sisters and mother are the only ones who stay in there.”

Molly paled a bit. She hadn’t thought about Tom’s family. “I supposed I will meet them soon.”

“I supposed so. It would be odd for my wife not to meet them. I hadn’t thought about it.”

Molly rocked back and forth. “Now why don’t I go shopping and you unpack and relax?”

“I would feel better if I came with you. You are in a different country, a strange city. And what if you have problems with the card?”

“Then let’s go and you can point out some of your favorite foods.”

“It’s a deal.”

-

“When I said pick out your favorite foods, I didn’t expect it to be only sweets. Did I marry a seven-year-old?”

“I’m 35, thank you. and I enjoy those sweets.”

“You eat like a college frat boy.”

“Guilty.”

“That is definitely changing now that I am around. You can’t continue to eat like that. There are things called vegetables.”

Tom snapped his fingers. “I’ve heard of those.”

“Get out of here!” Molly swatted at him. “I am certain you have things to attend to, and I need to familiarize myself with the kitchen.”

“Are you kicking me out of my kitchen?”

“Our kitchen. And yes.” Molly smirked.

“I yield! I yield. I’ll be in my study if you need me.” Tom walked out of the kitchen and towards his study.

He spied his phone sitting on the desk, still off from the flight. By now, any pictures should have been posted somewhere. Tom collapsed into his desk chair and clicked the phone on. While he waited for it to start up, he could overhear Molly puttering about in the kitchen, muttering to herself as she put away the groceries.

Buzz. Ten messages and eleven missed calls. He didn’t bother to listen to them and instead dialed Luke.

“Luke, I’m back in town. Thought I wou—” Tom started in as soon as Luke picked up.

“I WASN’T FUCKING SERIOUS WHEN I SAID TO GET MARRIED??! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?!”

Tom pulled the phone away from his ear. “No, I haven’t. But I am married. To a wonderful girl. Her name is Molly. Molly Bishop. You should meet her, Luke.”

“YOU ARE FUCKING RIGHT I’LL MEET HER. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! SHE CAN HELP IDENTIFY YOUR BODY, THOMAS!” Luke continued to scream on the phone.

“Can you dial back the volume, Luke? I would like to preserve my hearing. Is there something wrong with marrying the woman I love?”

Luke cleared his throat. Tom understood Luke was doing his best to collect himself. “Apologies. There is nothing wrong with marrying the woman you love, Tom. Nothing at all. Except I don’t think you love this woman, since until a few weeks ago you were in love with—”

“Don’t say her name, it will ruin my marital bliss. I’m a hopeless romantic, Luke.”

“Hopeless, yes. Romantic, the jury is still out. And your fans don’t count, they are blinded by you. But I see the truth.”

“Which is?”

“You are not as smart as you think you are.”

“Did any of the articles mention her?” Tom inquired, spinning his wedding band on his finger.

“No.”

“Then I am exactly as smart as I think I am.”

There was a clatter from the kitchen.

“Tom!” Molly called out. “I need your help.”

“Got to go, Luke. My wife needs my help.” Tom emphasized the word “wife.”

“This isn’t over, Tom.”

“It never is. Bye.”

More clattering and another cry. “Tom!”

Tom rushed into the kitchen to find Molly perched on top of the kitchen counter, reaching high into a cabinet.

“Why is everything so high in here?”

Tom chuckled and reached around her, pressing his torso against her back. Molly jumped for a moment at the touch.

“I’m not used to sharing my space. I’m six two, I put things where I can reach them. What are you grabbing?”

“The roasting pan.”

Tom pulled it down and placed it on the counter. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it.

“Thank you. Well, I am five six, so unless you want me climbing counters for the next year, we need to rearrange some things.”

“But you’re so cute climbing around like a little monkey.”

Molly frowned. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? If so, then try again.”

Tom opened his mouth and closed it. “I’ll pull things down after dinner.”

“Thank you.” She rubbed his arm. “Now to try my hand at a roast dinner. Did you get stuff done?”

His phone buzzed again.

“I called my publicist. The pictures posted.” Tom pulled out his phone to shut it off.

“Oh good. So I take it, I had the desired effect.” Molly crunched on a carrot and offered one to Tom, who wrinkled his nose.

The two of you. My office 8 a.m. tomorrow. No excuses. I want to meet the blushing bride.

Tom frowned at the screen.

“It would appear so. I suggest you go to bed early because you are meeting Luke, my publicist tomorrow.”

Molly’s mouth fell open. “Should I be worried?”

Tom smiled at her. “No, I should be.”

[heathergoffrier]

19 Indispensable Toddler Bedtime Products For An Easier Night

Does toddler bedtime entail whining, getting out of bed and not falling asleep? If so, don't miss this list of helpful tools for nighttime toddler issues.

We hope you enjoy the products we recommend!  This post may contain affiliate links. That means we get a portion of the commission if you click through and make a purchase, but you don't pay a cent more. Thank you for supporting our small business as we strive to help you rock mom life! It happened again. Our toddler took forever to go to sleep. She whined, she was hungry, she came out of her room to go potty. "I'm not tired," she moped. Meanwhile, I pulled my hair out after pausing the Mandalorian for the 73rd time. "Why do we even TRY to watch shows?" The next morning of course, they're a grouch because they didn't get enough sleep, to which I think, "well if you'd just GO TO BED you wouldn't have that problem." But I don't say it outloud, to her anyway. Maybe just to Hubby. RELATED: 15 TODDLER ENTERTAINMENT IDEAS THAT WILL HELP ON THE CHANGING TABLE

Let's face it, toddlers have sleep issues.

If it's not difficulty falling asleep, it's getting up in the middle of the night, or her rising so early in the morning I feel like I didn't sleep at all. Now with our third daughter into toddlerhood, we've developed a system for our toddler bedtime routine and found some amazing products that help make it routine so much easier. Though we do have an off day here and there, the nights of struggle happen much less often. However, said daughter number three is close to moving from crib to toddler bed, so we'll have to freshen up on all our tricks again soon. Below you'll find my favorite tools that have helped our toddlers get the best night sleep possible. Some of these have become treasured parts of our routine. I'd love to hear which ones you use, or what you do differently! Plus, you can get my free tips on helping toddlers to be more polite, called "8 Keys To Teaching Kids To Say Please And Thank You," which you can find here: SEND ME THE 8 KEYS

I don't recommend character toothbrushes, but the dentist keeps undermining me and giving them to my kids! LOL.

19 Indispensable Toddler Bedtime Products For An Easier Night

Toddler Bedtime Necessities 1- Favorite Blanket: Our middle daughter's obsession with Moana peaked around the time she needed a blanket for her bed, so we got this one. Prior to that we mostly used sleep sacks and she had a hand-me-down tiny Minion blanket. Older sis has a fuzzy fleece Frozen blanket so we got the Moana lover a character blanket too, which she loves snuggling up into at night. (The blanket we got is a bit large for a toddler and the edges fell apart, so I would recommend a smaller one like this instead) 2- Lovey or Favorite Stuffed Animal: our oldest was obsessed with her Bunnies By The Bay Bye Bye Bunny (that's a lot of B's). The other two have a bear and a sheep, and aren't very attached to them. Our oldest's bunny love may be due to our strategy to give it to her around age 1 when we moved from Washington state to Virginia. We used it to ensure she had something familiar to sleep with throughout the transition. 3- Cozy Pajamas- Have you reached the point when your toddler can unzip their footie pajamas and ends up half naked in the morning? Or worse, has taken off their diaper and you're stuck with the clean up? They've probably graduated to pajama sets, which are less enticing and easier for diaper changes. 4- Lotion- Our littles have dealt with eczema, though it appears to be getting a bit better with age. Our pediatrician recently recommended this Aveeno Baby Eczema Therapy Nighttime Balm, and we are liking the results at toddler bedtime!

5- Mattress Pad- This will save you a headache during night potty training, and your mattress isn't ruined by a nighttime accident. RELATED: HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO DROP TODDLER NAPS: 6 SIGNS 6- Character Themed Sheets- Who's your little one's favorite character? Odds are, Amazon has a sheet set with that character on it. We have these Moana sheets for our twin-size trundle bed. 7- Pool Noodle- You can help prevent your toddler from falling out of bed by sticking a pool noodle up under the sheet at the edge of the bed. The Dollar store is the cheapest I've seen them, or you might even have some laying around from last summer. 8- Pillow- Our kids each graduated from plain mattress to pillow when they were around age one and had a cold. I chose ones that were fairly flat and soft, since their heads were still little and they didn't need much lift. The pillows helped them sleep, and we've never looked back. 9- Door Monkey- Sometimes toddlers (like ours) sneak out of their rooms at night and come looking for Mommy. We've used two strategies to prevent this: Turning the door handle around so the lock is on the outside, and The Door Monkey, which is a plastic tool to keep the door closed almost all the way. The Door Monkey leaves the door open a crack, and it's still easy to open for older kids and adults. So handy when the kids just won't stay in their rooms! RELATED: WE'RE TRYING QUIET TIME AGAIN AFTER QUITTING...

Toddler Bathroom & Bath Time Tips

We don't do baths every night, but it seems like when we do bath night, the kids fall alseep more quickly and easily. It relaxes them and gets them in the bed-time mentality. Hmm, maybe we should do baths every night after all... 10- Non- Character Toothbrushes- Though I do love character-themed sheets and blankets, we learned the hard way not to do Princess or Tinkerbell toothbrushes. When someone gets sick and we have to toss a toothbrush, it's much less crushing to throw out a purple one than to through out Tink herself. Sometimes the dentist foils us with more princess ones, but we try to avoid them. 11- Bath Toys- you can get cute Nemo squirty toys, or you can use plastic cups you got from burger king. Kids can make their own fun in the tub with the simplest of items.

12- Toddler-sized Bath Towel- If you want to see the most adorable unicodrn bath towel of all time, check this one out. And it's not only cute, it's SO soft. Our youngest outgrew her baby-sized hooded towel long before we got around to getting her a new one. When we finally did I was super pleased with our choice. The other sisters wish they had this one too! If you're looking for a way to help your toddler be more polite, don't miss my free download "8 Keys To Teaching Kids To Say Please And Thank You." You can get it here: SEND ME THE 8 KEYS

Books

Like many families, we do story time before bed. A fun story helps kids relax, enter the world of creativity, and hopefully forget the worries of the day. Here are some of our favorites: 13- Anything by Sandra Boynton such as Blue Hat, Green Hat.14- Karen Katz lift the flap books 15- My Heart Is Like A Zoo by Michael Hall 16- Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

Accessories

17- White Noise Machine- In our last house, the older girls' room was right off the living room. We had never used a white noise machine before, but we needed one desperately. Once we got one, the kids slept much more soundly. It really drowned out the noises from the rest of the house, so I'm a huge fan of them now. We try to take one on trips, or use a phone app. An app isn't practical at home so we have a plug-in one for their rooms. They're great for naptime too! RELATED: HOW TO UNDO 7 COMMON NAPPING MISTAKES 18- Night Light- Our kids fall asleep more easily if they have a bit of light in the room. We've used ones from Walmart, special character ones, and the diffuser acts as a night light as well. 19- Diffuser and Essential Oils- I love essential oils so we have diffusers for the kids. I usually use Lavender because it is so relaxing. I don't put it in every night, but they use it for a night light even if there's no oil inside. My kids love the changing color setting.

Putting Sleep-Deprivation To Bed

Eventually we'll recover from the sleep-deprivation of raising kids (so I'm told) but in the mean time, we try our best to make toddler bedtime fun, relaxing and easy! Which of these items do you use? What did I miss that you can't live without?

SEND ME THE 8 KEYS Read the full article

[stimtoybox]

Do you know of any stim toys with rough surfaces? Or some objects that could be used as sim toys

Anon, I am so sorry for making this one wait. I do try to answer things in order, but advisory posts and posts with safety concerns do tend to be answered out of order (also things I can do quickly if I have a few minutes between other things). Sadly, this means that my longer asks do tend to be pushed to the back a little, which isn’t fair or right, but it is what it is. I really appreciate your patience with me!

I think this is a cool question, personally, as someone who likes textured toys. (I like the asks that make me have to think and examine my own toys and what I like about them and why I like that.) It’s interesting because a lot of toys have texture, but they’re not really designed to be rough, so a little out-of-box thinking is required. With this one, too, I’m thinking about safe or safer items: wood chips/chip bark from the playground might be too splintery, as might wood offcuts (this one really depends on the type of wood), for stimmy-type handling.

I don’t have a lot of traditional stim toys for you. Many have texture, but most aren’t rough; I don’t think prickle balls and hedge creatures quite fit your brief, anon.

I’ve got a few ideas, though!

Last light, I was looking at a duck loofah/exfoliating sponge @ambiguouspieces​ gave me: plush sponge on the front, fabric loofah on the back. It’s slightly scratchy and rough to touch. Real loofah will be even rougher, so if you want something just for tactile stimming (touching and stroking) this should be ideal. I think they’re in every department store; these (sans duck) two sponges from K-Mart are pretty similar to mine (one, two, both $6 AUD).

This made me think about other rough sponges…

Bamboo Glass Dish Sponge: $3 AUD. I’ve handled this in store: it looks like it should be soft, but it’s rough and a little scratchy.

Scourer Sponge: $2 AUD for six. These are the sponges with a thick sponge base and a thin scourer side on top. Often yellow and green, here! I’m thinking of these as a rough-sided alternative to the make-up blending sponge: you can cut them into smaller pieces and easily keep one in a pocket, handbag, satchel, stim kit. Squishable and rough and easy to find!

(You can also buy these as just the scourer pad if you don’t want the squishable sponge part. Available on Woolworths for $0.70 AUD for six.)

Mesh Scourers: $1.99 AUD for five. Thinner sponges covered with a mesh bag. They’re not as scratchy as the scourer pads, but they have a good roughness. If you don’t quite like the scourer pad texture, I’d try this one for a good combination of sponginess and roughness.

This, of course, lead onto the next natural extension: steel scourers. They’re rough and can compress/be squished. You don’t want the steel wool scourers, as they’re harsher and contain dish soap; just the loose metal chain-like ones. Available on Woolworths for $0.89 AUD for three.

(All of these things will be available at your local dollar shop or department store, often for inexpensive prices. You don’t need brand-name items. Get whatever is cheapest.)

My next thought was tennis balls. You know how the ball nap (the soft-rough felty outer covering) is both soft but kind of rough all at once? Especially on the cheaper sort of tennis balls, like pet tennis balls? If you want a ball you can roll in your hands, something that doesn’t need a lot of explaining, this should work. K-Mart has several sorts from $2.50 AUD and up.

This, anon, was when I got to the random “running around my room touching things” stage. This one really isn’t portable, but wicker. As in baskets, chairs, sewing boxes. My laundry basket is made from cheap wicker and it is rough to touch in a really nice way. If you want to set up a safe stimmy-space corner, perhaps a wicker chair?

Next: towels. The cheap, low-thread-count kind. You want the cheapest towel you can find, the kind you ordinarily wouldn’t buy, so you might have to shop for this one offline. If you’re crafty and can sew a little, you can turn your rough, scratchy towel into pillows, a drawstring bag, even a weighted plush with the addition of a few button eyes. Or just cut it into portable-sized squares.

On the same theme, felt. Not the good felt you buy off the bolt at a fabric store; the nasty, cheap acrylic felt you buy in pre-cut pieces. Dollar store felt - stiff, rough to touch. It can be put to the same uses as your towel and it doesn’t fray. If you want a rough fabric, it’s hard to go past this for inexpensive.

If you like chewables and you want a rough pendant cord, ARK Therapeutic and Chewigem’s pendants both come with rough cord that our Mod Rainbow likened to a saw blade. You’ll want the Rugged cord ($3 AUD each), not the Soft cord, but I can confirm the Chewigem rugged cord is extremely rough to touch. You could even put a bead ring pendant on that same cord, if you’re not into chewing, and give yourself a take-everywhere rough-textured stim toy.

I was then buckling my splint back on and my fingers touched something rough: the Velcro straps. Why have we not discussed Velcro as a stim toy? Not only do you have two different textures (the rough hook and the soft loop side) but they make a great noise as you peel the two pieces apart. It’s epic stuff. I bet you already have something with velcro, anon, but if you don’t, I’ve seen Velcro (also sold as “hook and loop fastening”) in every craft and the sewing section of every dollar shop. There’s loads on eBay! You can fasten it to a toy (anything made from the rough towel or felt above) or just old each side of the strip and stick and peel it together over and over. Easy.

I hope this helps a little, even if the toys here aren’t quite conventional! If our lovely followers have any other awesome suggestions, please comment away. I’m sure there’s something obvious I have forgotten.

- Mod K.A.