I hope everyone's doing well and had a fabulous week! It was a busy week full of babysitting, writing, creating art, hanging out with Tsuki, and working on the online course. It was pretty productive week with fun interspersed.
My dream recall was a bit fuzzy when I woke up on Monday morning, but I did remember my dream being all over the place. I was at a mall at one point. I ended up going to a store like Hobby Lobby with the boys, their mom, and April after having a meal at a restaurant. Their mom drove us to the store. We ended up stuck at the store due to an intense storm. I felt a bit claustrophobic because the store was packed with customers. We left once the storm passed. The highway was under construction, and we ended up driving off road on some makeshift, gravel path. We dropped April off at her car. I was at some kind of school or stadium. One of the boys from the preschool was there, and he kept rolling apples at me like a ball. My mom made some comment about being nervous because some house/building didn't have a true basement. It was like a partial basement being halfway underground. My aunt made some comment about checking out her basement and whispered something to my mom. We took these paintings/prints we got for her to the lower level of the school/stadium. There were groups of kids playing basketball. Their practice seemed to end, and they kept trying to give me the balls and the practice jersey things. A bell seemed to ring. I went looking for the boys I babysit. Some kid was in the office, receiving a lecture about how they needed to turn in their paperwork. I found the younger brother, and we seemed to be going to a class. This random kid started following us. She invaded my personal space, trying to irritate me by practically walking on me. She kept asking if it was bothering me, trying to get a rise out of me. That's all I could remember.
My dream recall was pretty fuzzy when I woke up on Tuesday morning. I think there was something about doing business stuff but remembering specific details was a challenge. That probably had something to do with not being able to fall asleep (lately, I've been feeling super energized at night/bedtime, which has made falling asleep to get up for babysitting interesting). Remembering my dreams when I woke up on Wednesday morning was extremely hazy. I think there was something about writing articles, but, otherwise, I had no clue what transpired in the dream realm upon waking.
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My dream recall was kind of fuzzy again on Thursday morning. I think I might have gone to a store at one point. There was a point where I was with my parents and sister. There was some weird outbreak of bugs that have never been seen before. They were black and larger than the giant ants. Not sure what they were, but one of my mom's coworkers showed up; it sounded like he ended up bringing them with him in his travels and that they came from a swamp/marsh. No idea if it was intentional or not. It was strange.
I struggled falling asleep Thursday night; I just didn't feel tired. My dream recall was somewhat fuzzy. I was at some sort of amusement park. I got in free because I pulled out some old, paper admission bracelet. The staff just told me to put it on. I seemed to be there with a group of kids. We went in to some store to make sure we had everything we needed for our day. Most of the kids wandered off. This one kid got kicked out because he got behind the staff counter and was eating the store's candy without paying. Some of the kids found lottery tickets and were eagerly scratching them. April's mom was there and wanted my help picking out a baby friendly soap. There were two options, and she was pretty pushy about smelling them and picking one for her. The soaps didn't really have a scent, but she insistently demanded I tell her which smelled best. I got a second opinion from Corliss, but she couldn't smell much of anything either. She suggested getting a different soap, but April's mom was insistent about getting a gentle, baby soap since she was having a baby grandchild over. More happened, but that's all I could remember upon waking
The main thing I recalled when I woke up on Saturday morning was helping out at some kind of preschool classroom. I didn't recognize it. I was sort of working at the classroom, but it seemed more like a training/school experience/work study program rather than being hired as an educator. My coworker from before care was also there. There was something weird going on with scheduling with "shifts" changing. There were some cute kids in the class. There seemed to be a rather high emphasis on technology, but there were still a lot of regular toys/activities. It almost seemed like there was a Parent Night/Open House going on. Specific detail recall was kind of fuzzy when I woke up; that's the gist of what I could remember.
My dream recall was a bit fuzzy when I woke up this morning. There was something about McDonald's having low quality food. I was outside of one of their restaurants, and this group was walking inside. There was a sign on the inside of the door. When the group read it, they were appalled. It was some kind of announcement about the McNuggets being made with rancid chicken. The group couldn't believe they were allowed to do that (although, it was hard to tell if they were more upset over there being a sign revealing that information or the fact that people would be willing to sell that kind of food; they seemed to just want to continue as they were and not question things). There was something else about walking around the general area of where my mom works. My dad said something about the road being diverted when it was made and something about carving out trenches.
At one point I was at some baked goods/sweets shop that seemed like Insomnia Cookies. There was a special sale if you bought this new cookie, you got another one free. I wanted to try it because it sounded good, but something about it left me feeling hesitant. Another girl had ordered them and offered a piece to me. They were sort of like cookie sandwiches, but they had this warm, creamy topping/filling that seemed similar to cinnamon roll icing. It tasted pretty good, but something about it felt very off. I started feeling weird and got something akin to a headache. The staff tried to convince me to buy some of the cookies and said something about them being made with penicillin. My mom and sister are both allergic, so I realized that I must be having an allergic reaction, so I declined.
I ended up in the car with my dad, siblings, and Tsuki. My dad had us make a pitstop at a store to pick up something for my grandma, and my brother Adam started flipping out. He was screaming that we shouldn't get anything for her because she murdered his cousin. Not sure why he was blaming her; apparently, in the dream a cousin had passed, but it had nothing to do with our grandma. I tried to explain it to my brother, but he refused to be reasoned with, clinging desperately to his false beliefs. We went in the store, and I found some crystals. I was drawn to this reddish cluster crystal and decided to buy it. I debated whether to buy the stand, too, but decided that the crystal was the most important thing. It had a price tag of $15, but the cashier rang it up as a $.01 geode. Surprised by the price, I asked her if I could add the stand to my purchase. She added it (it was supposed to be $20), but she had issues combining them into one order. She got a manager to help, and he told me to give him $14 in cash. There was something about them struggling with math (they were trying to add something like $5.96 and $5.96 together), but I was pleasantly surprised by the total. That's all I could remember, but more definitely happened.
The boys were excited for another week of summer break. They enjoyed discussing InuYasha memes and jokes, anime (like Sword Art Online, InuYasha, YashaHime, Dragon Goes House Hunting, How the Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, etc.), abridged series, and recent videos they've seen. They wanted me to see the newest Mockey video and one about a fruit bat eating a banana. They made a song up about banana soup (not sure if that's a real thing or not). The younger brother showed me this YouTuber that builds all sorts of aquariums and terrariums; they're super cool, and he makes a lot of them for his various pets. The two wanted to show me this YouTuber that got a new kitten and how they let their audience pick out new cat toys and supplies for her (it ended up being over $1000); some of the toys were pretty cute, like the sushi stand. They enjoyed playing with their dog, Pearl, and just hanging out. They also had a D&D meeting and were excited about it. We ended up watching some of the Pokémon Journeys episodes just because, and I really enjoyed it, mostly because of our additional commentary. Some of the episodes were extremely predictable, and the boys kept insisting that the older Pokémon episodes were better. They tried to claim that the lightning bolt cheek marks on Ash's face were new and not in the older episodes, but I showed them that Ash always had them. They insisted some of the episodes were cringe, but I didn't mind watching them just to see what direction they took the show. Plus, I love the original Journeys opening--it's so freaking catchy!
I babysat for another family on Saturday night, and the kids were so excited to see me. Since it was just one of their birthdays and the other's is right around the corner, I brought them both birthday presents; they kept exclaiming that I was the best babysitter in the world (the girl was going on about how all other babysitters were mediocre and only wish you a happy birthday but that I was infinitely better because I actually got them presents). It was ironic because just earlier in the day she had been begging her mom for Squishmallows, but her mom told her not today. After they opened presents, their mom remarked, "Well, I guess that was the reason I told you no." They were super excited for the crafts, Squishmallows, and Pokémon stuff. They proclaimed it the best day ever. They had an interesting cake that was designed as a sushi roll, and the girl was surprised that I could figure out what it was right away (lol). The brother showed off his new gaming computer (it's pretty neat and sort of made me think of a 3D printer because it's transparent and lights up). We played games, created art, hung out outside, discussed anime, and just had an all-around fun, chill evening. It was great seeing them again, and their parents decided that they needed to do monthly date nights, so they would be contacting me soon to pencil me in.
I met up with Corliss this weekend, too, and it was great seeing her again! It'd been too long since we saw each other, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We ended up doing a lot of chilling with Tsuki and being outside. It was a lot of fun, and we bought tickets for the premiere of the Fruits Basket Prelude later this month--we're so excited! I look forward to seeing her again!
Tsuki's been a nut, as per usual. She missed me while I was away babysitting, but she loved hanging out with me while I worked on writing, the online course, and publishing articles. She had a blast playing with her tent this week. Tsuki played with bubble wrap, got cozy for naps, and enjoyed attacking me while I hung out on the couch. She's such a goofy kitty, but we love her so.
I got new goodies this week! The Goddess Provisions June box finally arrived! There were some pretty cool sun goodies. Plus, my Sesshomaru Popup Parade finally arrived after months and months of delays! It's been a great week!
Artwork for the week included:
My new piece for Vocal's fantasy prologue challenge is now up! For this challenge piece, we had to start the short story with, "There weren't always dragons in the Valley." Otherwise, it could be anything we wanted. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to take it at first, but I think this is a pretty interesting start. I haven't decided how to continue it yet, so if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears! Feel free to read it and share your thoughts! I'm also open to suggestions and recommendations for future stories! I have other pieces in the works, so stay tuned for more stories!
Our new blog is growing! Feel free to check it out! Currently, we have articles on the following art supplies:
My free time was mainly spent working on the new blog (as you can tell by the growing list of articles). It's been pretty fun, and I have even more topics in the works, so stay tuned!
No matter where you decide to journey to in life, be gentle with yourself. You're doing the best you can. Give yourself room to learn and grow; you're not going to get it perfect every time, and that's okay. Do the best you can; your best is more than good enough. Start where you are and watch how you bloom as you learn and grow! You'll be surprised just how far you'll go when you give yourself the opportunity! Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and stay blessed with love and light, everyone!
Food for thought from Ralph Smart on Infinite Waters:
Food for thought to consider:
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