#just gotta sew over it and maybe add a piece of fabric for support and good as new!!!!

[lepetitfruit]

Every time I remember that lots of people don't mend their clothes I'm just like ????? What??? What do they do when their fav pants get a hole???? Or a seam lets go??? Just. Stop wearing them? It would break my heart

[only-here-for-jatp]

Build-a-Band pt 1&2

Inspired from a tumblr post that I have lost track of. (If you see it lmk)

The boys go to Build-a-Bear. 

Each chapter is told from the POV of a different person. Reggie is first up!

I tried to reference actual build a bears, but the accessories are whatever I wish into existence so there.

Can read on Ao3 here

And also below! ~1900 words

Everything had been normal since the Orpheum. Well as normal as life can be when you live with three teenage boy ghosts from the 90s and you’re in a rock band that played one of the most well-known clubs in LA. The boys still got into their crazy antics that Julie inevitably had to fix and there was still something going on between her and Luke, whatever that was. She didn’t have time to worry about it so much these days.

Ever since the Orpheum they could touch and every now and again they could become visible to Flynn or Carlos. It still hadn’t happened in front of Ray yet, much to Reggie’s disappointment but he kept trying. Ray had taken news that the boys were ghosts surprisingly well with the addition of a few extra rules. He eyed the empty space where one ghost in particular was supposed to be when he told them although if the object of Ray’s focus noticed he sure didn’t show it.

Time was passing by rather quickly these days, and soon it was the start of summer. Julie’s dad had been nudging her to get a summer job and she couldn’t help but think it might be a good idea. The band was playing regular gigs now, but they weren’t making much money. If they were going to keep going, they needed another source of income. The boys of course couldn’t be of much help with this since you know, dead, so it was mostly up to Julie.

The boys, especially Luke, were a little grumbly about her taking time away from their music. Once she explained that this was to make money for the band, they’d felt a little better about it. They still weren’t over the moon, but the pouting had definitely decreased.

This is how Julie found herself with a job that she knew really wasn’t that awful but was exhausting none-the-less.

Build-a-Bear.

-----------------------------

The boys were really enjoying the fact that summer meant more time with Julie, even if she did have her new job at the mall. Reggie in particular loved having the extra people around. There was always something going on with Carlos and he’d made numerous trips to baseball practice, or to the park, or whatever was going on.

Today though, after much begging and pleading with Julie, she’d finally relented to let him tag along to her job. For the most part she’d forbidden them from visiting, saying that her job was chaotic enough without throwing three teenage ghost boys into the mix, but Reggie had just been so intrigued.

Build a Bear was apparently a place for kids where they came and made stuffed animals and you could add hearts and costumes and name them. To him that sounded like possibly the best place in the world.

When he was younger, he’d had a small chocolate brown teddy bear that he carried around with him anywhere. It came with him for the first day of kindergarten, and most days after until he found Luke. Then Sir Reginald, as the teddy bear was known as, would stay in his backpack, just in case. It’d been his support during all of the fighting, and he’d hold tight every time he hid in his closet trying to drown out the noise.

In truth, he’d never really grown out of his teddy bear but it was early middle school when Luke discovered there was a way to climb in through Reggie’s window and soon it was Luke sitting with him in the closet or pulling him out of the house to the studio to play music and wander the beach.

How exactly did one make a stuffed animal he thought? It seemed like it would take a long time sewing all of the pieces together and stuffing it? That’s a lot of work, do kids really enjoy it?? So he was very curious about this Build a Bear, especially when Julie exclaimed that they sold more than just bears! He could Build a Dog or a Turtle or maybe A DRAGON. He had no idea what he was going to find, but he was so excited to find out.

Reggie poofed into the store sometime that afternoon and immediately felt his eyes widen. This. Was. The. Best. Stuffed animals lined the walls of all shapes and kinds and colors. He stood in a sea of kids all running and screaming in sheer joy and he got it. If Julie hadn’t already spotted him, he would absolutely be doing laps right now. But he promised and he really wanted to try and keep the promise that he would be on his best behavior.

He took in the plastered on smile that edged just a little bit toward frantic, her tense posture, and the kids that were lightly tugging on her arms and knew he really couldn’t- “OH MY GOD JULIE IS THAT A STAR WARS BEAR.” He shrieked upon seeing what was clearly a teddy bear but it LOOOKED LIKE DARTH VADER and before he knew it he was poofing over to Julie, tugging on her arm much like the children while speaking so fast it sounded like a blur even to him “JulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJuliePrettyPleaseJulieCanIHaveTheBearJulieIt’sStarWarsITSSTARWARSJULIE.”

All of a sudden Julie was laughing and he stepped back to give her a curious look. Had he broken her? He hadn’t meant to break her. OH NO what was Luke going to say if he broke Julie? And Alex? Oh god please let her not be broken.

But soon he saw the soft smile playing on her lips, a genuine one this time. He smiled back at her and he watched her give him a small nod in a different direction. His eyes followed where she was indicating, and he felt his mouth drop open. There was a soft tan bear with kind of curly fur and its feet had this soft pink material on it. And he couldn’t say what about the bear it was, but it felt like he was looking at Alex.

Reggie quickly glanced at the name, “Timeless Bear” and he smiled. That was all of them exactly. Julie had come to stand next to him, and whispered softly “we can make that one, deal?” Reggie nodded, joy spreading through him quickly and he couldn’t stop his excitement from making him bounce.

Julie had a horde of kids following behind her and Reggie joined them, fitting right in if he wasn’t taller than them. And a ghost. Julie had picked up what looked like a deflated version of the bear and understanding was slowly started to dawn on how this whole process worked. But he still couldn’t figure out how they were going to all stuff and sew it.

Julie led them to this small open space and he watched all the children sit down, so Reggie followed along. In front of them was this huge machine and Reggie stared at it in awe. Was that? Was it filled with stuffing??? This was so cool! He was almost too distracted to miss Julie’s speech. Something about waiting your turn and choosing the softness levels and adding the heart.

Wait. The heart? Reggie tuned back in.

“Alright everyone, you will all need to pick a heart for your new friend.” Reggie’s eye grew wide. The shuffling of kids drew him to the little boxes filled with soft satin hearts. They were all in shades of red and pink and checkered. Julie was there talking with the kids to help him decide when he spotted a heart that was the exact same shade as Alex’s favorite sweatshirt. He pointed with a small voice and said that one. Julie picked it up as they all headed back to the big machine.

“Of course we can’t just put a heart inside our new friend. We’ve got to get it going with some magic first.” Reggie’s eyes widened, watching as Julie charmed the kids into believing with her. “First, we’ve got to rub the heart between our hands to make it warm.” All of the kids followed suit, and even though he knew Julie had the heart for his new friend between her hands he still followed suit. “Next, let’s add a little excitement! We can jump up and down for this one. Gotta have a spring in our step after all.”

“Now, give it a big hug so your new friend knows you’ll always be there for him.” Julie was making eye contact with him now and he could feel himself tearing up a little.

“Finally, make a wish and whisper it into your heart.” Reggie whispered into his hands “I wish I could stay with my brothers forever.” He didn’t know what Julie whispered to his heart, but he trusted her.

The kids bounced around in excitement, not feeling the gravity that was shifting around them. Julie stared for one long moment at Reggie before turning back to them with a smile and beginning the process of stuffing the bears. Reggie gasped so loud he made Julie whip her head around at him. THAT was how they did it. The machine did the stuffing and then it was just a quick close up! He watched the kids get their new stuffie one by one and then take them over to the “grooming” stations where you could brush them and “bathe” them before finding outfits. Reggie wandered over to the clothing section and admired all the selections. There were fancy dresses and Halloween costumes and pajamas and sports outfits and fanny packs.

WAIT. He shrieked with joy and immediately started clapping and jumping around. There in the accessories was a little black fanny pack. He started searching more thoroughly now. There wasn’t a pink sweatshirt but oooh! Was that a pink shirt! And and a baseball cap. YES.

He turned around to find Julie only to discover she was on the last kid. He walked over to her and stood patiently by as she heaved a sigh of relief. Waving them off. “Ready Reggie?” He nodded and shook in excitement. “Here!” She handed him the little pink heart and for a second he could only stare at it. But then he held it tightly in his hands and whispered in his mind.

You will be Alexander. You are the greatest drummer and one of the greatest friends a guy could have. You will be there for every heartache, panic attack, and moment of joy. You are sarcastic, but there for us anyway. Just wait until you meet the real Alex.

Julie nudged him, ready for the heart and watched as the limp piece of fabric became almost real. He didn’t give Julie much time after she finished before dragging her to his clothing selections. She giggled the whole time though, he knew that although she might act exasperated she was having as much as him. She approved of all the clothing choices, and offered one additional thing.

A small rainbow flag that had a band so it looked like the bear was holding it.

Reggie watched it all come together. He took one look at the dressed up bear and exclaimed- “It’s ALEX!!! I have to go show him!!! Thanks Julie” He gave her a quick hug and poofed away before anybody could wonder why that bear was floating.

[parsleybabe]

Home Made Simple S01E03 - Chicken Party

We’re starting off with the exact same team as on episode 2: Host Lady, Chef Guy, Deco Guy and Wood guy. The episode centers around Caprisha, who just bought a house and is turning forty and wants to invite her friends to the party at her new place. Her bff is also there to help. Basically, they’re going to focus on the woman’s garden and turn it into a party location. I’m really bad with names, but I’ll keep referring to Caprisha by her name, because they say that name soooooo often in this episode and make songs and puns about it that I actually managed to remember.

My personal highlights:

We’re starting out with Deco Guy introducing a yellow color theme and Chef Guy deciding to make the party lemon themed, as there is a lemon tree in the backyard. I’m genuinely worried that Host Lady is going to lose her shit over the yellowness again, based on what we’ve seen from her previously, but she remains surprisingly calm.

Wood Guy suggests they could build a pergola and explains to the audience what that is with pictures and descriptions. I don’t know, maybe they just aren’t as common in the US? But for a brief moment I’m worried they might start explaining other basic building structures like garages or front doors or whatnot as well. Fortunately they don’t. But they do explain the pergola twice in the episode, because Caprisha and her bff also don’t know what it is, and the renovators have to fill them in as well. Anyway. Everybody is totally into the idea of building such a thing, except for Host Lady. Because, “A pergola is an enormous project.” No, no no no. No! “That’s too much!” So they say they’re scratching the idea, although it looks super fake.

I don’t really get what the big deal is, in the first place, because pergolas are very easy to build and it won’t take up a lot of time either, you just need to screw some wood pieces together and anchor them in the ground, for example by using iron bars. Definitely not more of a hassle than the storage benches from episode 2, but what do I know?

Chef Guy is extraordinarily camp in this episode, which, don’t get me wrong, is totally fine. It just takes me by surprise because I had to actually check if he’s the same Chef Guy as in the previous episodes, that’s how differently his personality comes across. Maybe it’s just the girl party theme of the episode that he’s feeling, though.

Anyway, they’re emptying lemons to use them as party food containers for granita later. Ooooh, I spot a Dawn Power Clean cameo while Caprisha is rinsing out the lemons. It’s like spotting the Stan Lee of home renovation. It’s a bit funny tbh, because Caprisha’s at the sink but her hands and the lemons are out of frame, instead you get the soap dead center and placed strategically right under her arm, so you can read the brand name without obstructions. I don’t even care anymore, I’m just glad they didn’t use the soap to rinse out the lemons.

Next, they’re standing in the dog run of Caprisha’s garden and it’s surrounded by high, smooth grey walls with barbwire on top. To be honest, it looks like a mix of a prison and a chicken coop. If I were doing anything to that backyard, I’d take the barbed wire down and paint the walls a different color. Instead, they’re talking about building a lounge inside it. Alright, you could do that too, I guess.

Deco Guy and the bff are now working on party invitations. The plan is to put the invitation inside a music CD, then put that in a fancy orange gift box, wrap it as a present and hand it out as an invitation. It’s actually a neat little gimmick, but quite expensive and time consuming just for an invitation, if you ask me, depending on how many friends you have. You could say, it’d be easier to build a pergola, but maybe that’s just me.

So, Deco Guy shows a simple invitation that he printed out from the show’s homepage, and… yeah, simple indeed. It’s literally a square with the most basic party info written inside. Like, in the most basic font, Arial or something, just black print on yellow paper. You could type that up in word quicker than searching for it on their website, but okay… Then he shows her how to cut out the paper, how to put it into the CD case and that into the box and how to wrap a ribbon around the box and make “a nice little bow”. All very important steps that you don’t wanna miss, or you’re not gonna be able to do this on your own. Hmm, he states that the invitation costs “literally pennies” and I am left to wonder how they managed to get the ten to twenty gift boxes and CDs for free.

Okay, now Wood Guy and the bff stand inside the “prison” part of the garden and are gonna build the lounge seating area. Cool, cool, cool. They got a lot of same sized wooden bars and are screwing them together to form squares. They stand the squares up and place them side by side in a row to later put a large sheet of wood on top to form a bench. Easy, simple concept. I actually do like it, but I can already tell that that base is going to be too high to sit on the lounge comfortably. Your feet won’t be able to reach the floor. Should have made rectangles to keep the benches lower, but maybe that was too complicated? They’re using an electric screw driver to put in the screws and you can totally see the wood break all the way through to the end of the bar, both when the bff and Wood Guy are doing it. It’s neither addressed nor fixed though. I guess the whole thing isn’t meant to last anyway, because they also don’t put any varnish on the construction, even though it’s meant for outside, so.

Meanwhile, Chef Guy shows Caprisha how to make some mousse for the party, and it’s an alright recipe too. It just cracks me up a little how Caprisha tries some and expresses, “It’s nice and light!” And Chef Guy totally jumps on the “light” aspect, even though the mousse is made of basically sugar, cornstarch and whipped cream.

We’re back in the garden and the benches are coming together.  The seats are now at the hight of Wood Guy’s upper thigh without any cushions or padding yet. But I assume you could work around that. As I mentioned, it looks like a chicken scoop, so why not add some chicken ladders going up to the roost, right? They briefly show that they’re going to use more wood to make a backrest at an angle, and then we see the finished result, but we don’t get to see how they work around sharp edges or cracks. They also don’t mention that you should probably sand the wood so you won’t get any splinters. But I’m not an expert, so don’t listen to my layman’s opinion.

As a filling for the empty lemon cups, Chef Guy and Caprisha are preparing some the granita, which is basically frozen lemonade with sugar. I’m sensing a theme and it’s not the lemons. I wonder if there’s gonna be any non-sweet food at the party at all. Doesn’t look like it though. But it doesn’t matter, Chef Guy and Caprishado a little sexy victory dance in the kitchen, because freezing lemonade is hard and they deserve that. And then he gives her “the gift of cleaning”, which translates to filling up the dishwasher in front of a smartly placed bag of Cascade dishwater tabs, then gently taking a tab out and placing it into the slot before turning the machine on. Cameo #2. The gift that keeps on giving.

Back in the garden, Wood Guy and Deco guy are having a talk while sitting on the half-finished lounge and letting their feet dangle. I don’t wanna say that they look small on the too high bench, let’s say… youthful. But the truth is, they’re having a really deep conversation and heart to heart, because Wood Guy opens up about his love for pergolas and confesses that he can’t let go of the idea. Deco Guy is super supportive and they decide to tackle the obstacles. Have some respect for these men, for real though. Wood Guy admits, “I’ve never seen it done before.” And Deco Guy understands the pressure, “We’re going where no man has ever gone before.” And then they talk briefly about having to draw up the steps to build it because “it’s really simple.”

Now they gotta convince Host Lady. Instead of anchoring the wooden build in the ground they want to use deck pair footing inside plastic flower pots as floor weights. My idea would have been simpler, safer, cheaper and longer lasting, but I guess you could do that too. I still don’t know why they need the flower pots at all, but, on the plus side, Wood Guy drew little stick figures on his sketches so that Host Lady can understand what he’s talking about, and who cares about the flower pots anyway. She has to let them do it now, right? She does and Wood Guy gets “a gold star today.”

He actually deserves one, btw, because – for the first time ever on this show – we do actually see footage of him and the girls building the whole thing including all the steps he talked about before.

We’re back with Deco Guy, Caprisha and her bff inside the house. He’s teaching them how to sew straight lines to make a pillow. And that’s as complicated as it gets. He also shows them how to fix the fabric with pins and does it wrong (puts them in line with the sewing direction, which will get them stuck in either the sewing machine or your fingers, instead of pinning them sideways to the direction, so you can easily pull them out as you’re sewing). Fortunately, the two ladies don’t know how to sew and won’t even notice. And since they’re now “master sewers”, they get to sew a whole bunch of pillow cases overnight. Right before the party. Because why would the birthday girl need any sleep, am I right?

So, it’s the next day, and the pillows are done. Deco Guy is excited but criticizes the “fresh, out-of-the-fabric-store smell.“ Now, I don’t know where he bought the fabric, but all the fabric stores that I’ve ever been to smelled lovely. And new fabric usually doesn’t have any smell at all. Maybe that’s different where they are though, I assume. But, fear not, Deco Guy is a true hero because he brought some Febreze Fabric Refresher which will both freshen up the pillows and add to the ever growing family of product placements on this show. And, man, does it smell good. They all agree on that and we’re getting lots of footage of them spraying the pillows very elegantly with their new super weapon.

We’re now back in the kitchen with Chef Guy and Caprisha and he’s gonna show her how to make whipped cream out of cream and syrup, because clearly the other food they got doesn’t have enough sugar. They put it onto the previously made mousse and it looks like… chicken poop. Which started out as a joke on my end, but genuinely must be the unspoken theme of their party. I didn’t even plan this when I began writing this review. I genuinely edited the title just now.

Back out in the yard, Host Lady and Wood Guy are talking about building a fire pit in the center, and that sounds like a really cool idea, I have to admit. This is something that’s gonna last and will come in handy later whenever you wanna have a garden party. It’s great. However, instead of building a fire pit, they just drop sand and big pieces of gravel onto the floor and put an empty grill bowl on it, like a random makeshift beach bonfire. This is the most disappointed I have been so far on this show.

Host Lady then steps inside and suggests that she and Caprisha will decorate the inside of the house with lemons in case any guests come in and need to use the bathroom. The instructions are, “Make sure to have enough toilet paper, light some candles and hang out fresh hand towels.” I have no idea where the lemons actually come into play and they don’t show it either, we just see them step into another room and that’s it.

The final results of the “renovation” are now prepared and shown. Suddenly there are several big pink, yellow and orange tables and étageres standing around which serve as displays for the food. They are the biggest eye catcher in the whole garden. But all we got to see about how those came into play was in a brief overall work process montage (where amongst many other things Deco Guy was shown for about half a second, painting them). No idea if they built them themselves or bought them. It’s never addressed and they’re just there.

Host Lady goes to get the girls and loses her shit “bright yellow” style when she sees them. The pitch of her voice is higher than ever and she throws her hands up and screams, “You look gooooood , guuuurrrrlll!!!” and then puts her hands to her hips and screeches, “Woooooooooooooow!!!” , except it sounds more like a police siren. I mean, it’s a nice compliment. A bit super over the top and super loud, but… nice, I guess. Maybe they couldn’t take the barbed wire down because it belongs to the neighbors who put it up in fear of the weird Host Lady.

Anyway, back to the final look of the garden. The lounge benches are now painted, no idea when that happened, and they now have padding and cushions and pillows and are even higher than before. Sadly, no chicken ladders though. But Caprisha and her bff won’t have to use the bench anyway, because they get a couple of swinging chairs as a gift for under the pergola (which they need to remove for the party, but can keep afterwards). Yaaaaay!