The kids are off school for a week for half-term. It has been non-stop "Muuum she did this" "Muuum he did that!". I'm so stressed, my migranes are getting worse, which is making me more snappy, and it's like they realise I'm struggling and are 100x worse. My daughter is just constantly rude to my son when he tries to play with her, she gets really controlling with her games (literally "ok walk your doll over there, now say this..." and will freak out with any slight deviation) and my son will start acting out, which causes her to scream at him, which causes him to hit/scream/throw her toys or whatever. Then she screams more. Then my roommate screams at both of them (which causes them to absolutely lose it) and gets all arsey with me and calls me unfit while I'm trying to calmly de-escalate the situation. Funny how childless men are the best parents. Doesn't say anything to my husband who is also their parent but sure I'm awful. All that does is stress me out more. Then I shout more. Then they get more frustrated and fight more. Today has just been awful, I've sat down and spoke to them before bed and said tomorrow is a fresh start and they need to start acting kinder to each other. But it'll be a marathon not a sprint.

I ended up picking my alien back up. I actually rage quit it a few weeks ago. First, the head fell on the floor and the paint came off, it ended up with lots of little tiny tiny scratches and a whole layer of paint missing from its brow/cheek. So I ended up adding some red to make a blush. It looks less like a Sim, but I have a default-replacement alien skin in my game anyway so I figure it's a happy accident. Then when putting the eyes in, they melted! All down the face. Turns out acrylic paint over plastic eyes are not the way forward when you have to heat up the vinyl head to get the eyes in. Acrylic goes rubbery and sticky. I managed to get most of it off, but it's in the tiny scratches making them way more noticable. That's when I rage quit for a week or two. Today I decided to try painting the eyes with shiny black nail varnish and it went better. It's more of a grey but I figure this kit is blah anyway, might as well use it as a practice and then take those skills and make a better one in the future. Husband was kind enough to do the fiddly bit of securing the eyes into the head, without me even having to ask. It looks good, despite its very obvious paint cracks all over. I do love how it looks.... if I don't look too close. I'm debating giving it eye brows now though, to make it more Sim-babyish.

Also crocheting it a hat. In case it's poor little bald head gets cold.

This weekend, we're expecting a dumping of snow.

My family and I are tired of the icebox conditions outside.

Plenty of snowfall here, too - but it just gets throdded down into an icy/slippery layer in the span of a day or two, so it's no fun. My hope is that the milder weather today + rain is going to wipe away at least the icy layer.

We're bracing for impact.

The snow is starting.

It be blizzardin' outside. Somebody can shut off the snow machine anytime now. We had 2-plus feet snow banks in the yard already from the last snowstorm we had.

We're going to have snow banks until June at this rate....

If anybody wants to see the mess that is happening on the east coast of the US, Ryan Hall ( one of my favorite YT weather guys) is live.


Live - Historic Blizzard Slamming the Northeast - Thundersnow, Whiteouts & 100K+ Without Power

https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHallYall

The snow is not a big deal where I am as it is melting back.

Went shopping and decided to compile my favorite recipes into a set of cookbooks based on month, type of recipe, events and even seasonally available fruit and veggies.

I also pre-ordered the game Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream for my Switch 2 and I am buying the physical version. It is similar to The Sims, but quirky and uses a Mii Maker.

I even bought new slippers, a rainbow athleisure shirt and a safety orange hoodie.

Walking down a street near my house i saw someone sitting on the edge of the sidewalk next to a car where there's usually a cat. I got closer and the person was petting the cat and talking to it and the cat was nudging them with its head

Yesterday was my anniversary, my husband has officially put up with me for 9 years (married for 4) We went to an all you can eat buffet that we've been to a few times that the whole family love. I had 5 plates - first was salad (feta with olives), then a few different chinese dishes (beef in black bean sauce, some kind of seafood dish, chicken gyoza) with sides of different rice, veggies and noodles, then I had a plate of small portions of each curry (chicken masala, lamb rogan josh, beef madras), then I had a bowl of Eton mess (which was ok, the fruit wasnt fresh), and even though I was super full, I always skip the strawberry pie and say I'll have it next time but I thought "no this time I'll definitely have some" so I made a small bowl, it was more like a crumble, and I put some cold custard on it and OH MY GOD. It was the best. If I could eat only 1 meal for the rest of my life it would have been that. It had this lovely warm jam taste and the crumble wasn't too stodgy. The custard was sweet and creamy with the tart of the strawberries Amazing.


So anyway today I had stomach ache

For the first time in GORK how long, my parents went out to dinner, which lessened the dish load and I waited for a package.

I got some small customizable divided craft trays, to hold my blind box collection of doll shoes and handbags from Rainbow High.

Due to the issue of them being expensive and random, only one series of both shoes and handbags were made.

I am still working on the collection as of late. I love a good gamble and as for doubles, I could always do set design for a stop-motion or even "Chuckimation" short film.

(For those wondering, Chuckimation is a extremely cheap animation style, a form of stop-motion that would sometimes work in tandem with stop-motion, pioneered at Nickelodeon in the mid 1990s for a short semi-serialized cartoon "Action League Now!" about a motley crew of action figure heroes with dumb luck in fighting a corrupt mayor.

The animation style's cheap aspect did not detract the story quality of Action League Now!, but enhanced it. To best describe it, it was like watching a nerd actually play with his action figure collection.

Due to the extremely cheap production costs, this allowed for quick turnaround of a storyline and relatively big celebrity appearances through action figure form. The band KISS was involved with a plot with a Kaiju attack involving a really big baby doll.

Crooner Lou Rawls, which Rawls had a frequent spot on "Hey Arnold!" at this point in Nickelodeon's history as a mailman, also appeared during a mass-brainwashing scheme, parodying one of his famous hits to turn an angry mob that was against the heroes into a fan club of peaceful, lovingly devoted followers.)

Also on this day, I reignited the hobby passion and got back into doing things like doll modifications and helping my parents and I work on food ideas like recipes for year round celebrations or seasonal eating, recipes that are marked by level of effort and my latest fascination in pastries, the taiyaki.

Taiyaki are fish shaped, waffle like, food filled traditionally with red adzuki bean paste (anko), and sometimes white bean paste (shiroan). It is usually likened to filled doughnuts.

However, starting in the 1960s, when taiyaki was filled with custard, it opened a door for the use of fillings that appeal to Western tastes and those who has a sweet tooth that didn't discriminate in terms of sweet fillings.

As they explored fillings like fruits and sweet potatoes, it also included savory fillings like cheese or curry.

I started writing down ideas for Japanese and American inspired flavors (I know Japan has 47 prefectures and the US has 50 states, but every week would be worth a trip to my shop.)

Only time we close up is during the weeks Christmas and New Year's are celebrated.

It has been one of those weeks. UPS has felt the need to add to the pile.

Last weekend I ordered a refill for one of Chica's meds. I was charged $30.00 for shipping but have yet to get my order. UPS keeps stating the order is loaded onto a truck and will be delivered. Come 8:00 PM they declare some imaginary weather emergency.

During the snowstorm that happened on Monday, yes, things were a total shit show. There was a travel ban in place for all vehicles, then when it stopped snowing, the travel ban was left in place for trucks and other heavy vehicles so plows could get things done. Fair enough, nobody should have been out driving around anyway. We haven't had any other weather emergencies since then. Granted, there are piles of snow everywhere that look like miniature ski slopes, but Fed Ex, Amazon, and other companies that deliver stuff have been out delivering since Tuesday. The roads are plowed, our driveway is clear as is the walkway to the front door.

I had a problem with UPS not that long ago when I ordered Chica's pheno. I had to get the bank involved with that one as UPS thought it was a good idea to charge me $11.99 twice for whatever f-ing reason. Those charges were disputed and my bank shut down my card along with clawing back the fees I was charged for whatever UPS trying to do.

This is not the problem of where I order from, nor is it a animal hospital problem. This is UPS being asshats for whatever reason and I'm over it. The only reason I order from the lab in this case is so Chica's meds can be compounded. The dose she needs does not come in a single pill, so the lab makes it into a one-pill dose. The headaches of dealing with this crap is not worth it. I can give Chica a extra pill twice a day. I was told yesterday that if push came to shove, I could go to CVS to pick up pills there as the drug is a human medication. I appreciate the offer, but no. We've been down that path were CVS decided it was a grand idea to tell the whole room that I was either taking or selling Chica's meds. I refuse to give CVS the time of day since that happened. We go in there for prescriptions and that's it. I hope they appreciate their $7.00 for every prescription.

If UPS continues to be assholes, we'll make the trip to Chica's neurologist office where they will fill her prescription. If my order shows up eventually from UPS, great. If it doesn't, I contact my bank yet again and tell them what happened along with sending them a copy of the email that shows everything.

I can't force the lab to use a different shipping company. I'm going to call them today to let them know what is going on because according to their records, this whole thing hasn't happened. Apparently they don't check UPS's website because the history of this order which shows what UPS is doing is posted on their website. Why a person has to point these things is well beyond my comprehension. Press a link and there is the whole history. It's not complicated ffs.

EDIT: Chica's meds have arrived. I behaved and didn't throw snowballs that the driver; although I did think about it. I'm kidding, kind of. It wasn't his fault for the BS that has been the past couple of days. Then I called my vets office and told them they can order meds from this point forward. That way if there is a problem, they can deal with it. I have bigger problems to deal with than being on the phone trying to figure out how to navigate medication issues.

Incoming old woman yells at cloud rant:

Today, I think I realize that internet as I knew it is dead. I'm browsing my favorite websites and... it's crickets. No interaction what so ever. It's seems as everyone freaking body is on Tik-Tok. I don't like that app and refuse to be sucked in watching 20-second clips of brain rot material. Maybe the dead internet theory people are right. The Internet is dead.

My family and I had a rough time. The dishwasher needed a deep clean, I accidentally got on my parents' bad side, my father burned his hands, I am still trying to keep my promise to keep up with the dishes...

I feel like I am being crushed by the weight of the world.

For now... I have to keep calm.

I've been... hacked? For the first time in my life.

MTS has set up new verification methods recently and I logged into my old email account. I see the MTS emails for login, but just under a bunch of random "new post on wiki fandom that you completely forgot exists", I see twitter emails saying in order,

login attempt - enter a code
login attempt - enter a code
password reset attempt - just answer your security questions
locked out due to suspicious activity
logged in successfully

It's from someone on a Mac, first in Barcelona then in Washington D.C. a day later.

I managed to log in and reset my password and I don't see that the hackers posted anything. The last post (and probably the last login) on that account was in 2013. Shame, I really wanted to see AI titties and a bunch of bait links!

I'll delete the account now. Luckily, my email address has a TFA set up and no known attempts of burglary.

Is there something about shit going around on the internet that I don't know about? If there is, I'm not asking; I don't need to know. I just find the topics surrounding shit abundant this week.

Chantel shitting herself while on her scooter.

Foodie Beauty Snipe the Poo Incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl93ePJslL8

Then there is this equally foul human being talking about how people should wash their underwear in a hotel room coffee maker.

Another Influencer "Hack" That Cost Her Everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za79ueA058o

Meanwhile, my doctors office continues to give me the side-eye when I say I prefer to home than be around people.

I saw the cute new neighbourhood puppy again! It had something in its mouth and it really didn't want to give it to the owner

Oh my god chocolate stresses me out. I hate how expensive easter eggs are getting, and all of my friends are buying easter eggs for my kids so I thought it would be better this year to just buy slabs of chocolate and melt them down myself. I had some nice little easter egg molds. And. Ugh. I put the chocolate in. I slater it around the sides and it sets and its so thin it breaks when taking it out the mould. I made 2 so far, they're both... very ugly on the inside. So I tried putting a smaller mould on the inside and letting it set upside down, but that didn't work either, it gives a smoother inside, but i've noticed air seems to get in-between the chocolate (I dunno how to explain?). I could try doing it the way I made chocolate before in smaller moulds where I fill it with chocolate, let it set slightly and then turn it upside down and let the bit that hasnt set drip out, but it would involve waaaaaay more chocolate. Currently trying to melt it in layers and see how that turns out?

Been meddling with making filled chocolate bonbons for some years, so if you want any tips, here are a few of mine:

- If the chocolate is very thin/runny, use two coats (let it set between each coat). If the chcolate is thicker, go for one coat, but make sure you've covered all thin spots. Some molds let you see (via color or light shining through) where it's still thin.

- Make sure you heat the chocolate in a proper way (chocolate with cocoa butter needs tempering (microwave+seeding is an easier way of doing it) to set properly, while compound chocolate can be more forgiving).

- Tap the mold on the kitchen bench a few times (plastic/hard mold). It gets most of the air bubbles out.

- If it's a silicone mold (or molds with a similar "flop"), you can set it on a stable surface and then tap this down like above, or put a decent amount of chocolate in the mold and then press the outside of the mold together with your fingers a few times, especially in the smaller parts, so the chocolate can stick to the sides and air bubbles find their way out of the mold (I've found this helps for smaller chocolate bonbon molds with narrow spaces where air bubbles like to hang out and the "tap" method just doesn't work).
If all else fails, the end of a teaspoon dipped in chocolate can get into tight spots.
I prefer this method because it's less chocolate waste/cleanup.

- ("chef method") Fill with chocolate, tap mold, turn upside down to empty the chocolate out, clean off the worst of the chocolate, move to other surface still upside down to run off.
(I do this one too, but don't like to clean up the mess, so I don't fill more than necessary to coat. Does help for making a slight "edge lip" for filling bonbons).

- Fill them with something - but if it's a bigger mold, don't fill it with chocolate, or anything else that goes rock solid when chilled (Mind your teeth). They're often easier to get out of the mold when filled (Not runny fillings like caramel, though - those can be a nightmare to fill and get out, especially if the coating is too thin in places...).

A filling that's decent in small quantities (bonbon size) is powdered sugar mixed with (preferably) egg whites, but a bit of water or lemon works too, and whatever flavor you want. Been using this one a few times with mint flavoring, plus a few other variants. The "plain" version tastes a bit like the inside of Creme Eggs, but is less runny.

--

Planning to make some chocolate myself for Easter
I've cut down on the flavors, though. Had some rounds with 10+ types when I was testing out what worked and not, but these days it's mostly 2-4 flavors.

After browsing for apartments for some time now, I found an object. I'll still get a roommate, but at least I know his habits, cleanliness and hobbies match mine. Still not a place completely to myself after all (in this economy?), but at least I know I can be myself and I'm just glad to get an affordable place away from a main street

Plus the place has 4 tall windows in the living room with deep sills, perfect place to just sit and for my cat to hang out.

Resting after a quite tiring work-weekend (three 12+ hour shifts, with a LOT of yapping). My energy battery was almost empty at the end of it, and is struggling to creep back up to a level where I can function like a human being again... My social battery will likely remain dead until next time I go to work (*nudge, nudge* nope, still flat ).

The work weekend wasn't bad in itself (I've had much worse - this one was up there with the good ones), but I struggled with my sleep, and the second shift was a big ball of condensed stress, along with all the yapping spread across the whole weekend...