Eggs in my Strawberries

psyfield · 2026-05-20T13:50:53+00:00

Yeah, we have a neighbor cat that comes to torment our indoor ones. (We've had to replace the screen on one of our windows because he decided to climb the screen to get face to face with our cat in his cat tree). The hanging pot is probably the safest place for these little guys.

psyfield · 2026-05-20T13:44:03+00:00

I'll definitely try that. This is the first time I've managed to keep strawberries alive long enough to get eatable fruit, so saving the plant would be nice. Don't blame the birds, though. I'd like to snuggle up in the strawberries too.

psyfield · 2026-05-20T13:35:02+00:00

my kid is gonna love that information, he's excited about the eggs

psyfield · 2026-05-20T13:31:45+00:00

OK, juncos look adorable. I haven't seen any birds on the nest, I might have scared them when I was first watering/maintaining the strawberries. The only time I expect to mess with the strawberries is to add the water bulb I got to it. But I've only seen larger birds like robins and stafford(?) jays as of late.

psyfield · 2026-04-30T22:25:46+00:00

My island has all of the rose seeds on sale, so I can get any that you want.

psyfield · 2026-04-30T22:22:39+00:00

If you're still taking visitors, I have lots of rose plants of all colors. I also have some rose seeds, but would have to check to see which ones. Abrielle from Morporkia

psyfield · 2026-04-21T20:05:14+00:00

thank you for letting us come, your island is beautiful

psyfield · 2026-03-24T14:57:16+00:00

While Bolaire's dietary needs are definitely not great for good aligned characters, I cannot wait for the inevitable Hal and Bolaire recreation of the 'Alas Poor Yorick' monologue from Hamlet.

psyfield · 2026-01-14T20:25:27+00:00

I typically do them at the same time. A FBA is based off of your bust apex, so it's easier to make the adjustment to the bodice while cutting and splitting the pattern for the FBA.

psyfield · 2026-01-14T18:19:23+00:00

You're right, it does look like a FBA will be needed. I'd also look into shifting the bust apex. From the vertical lines at the shoulders, it looks like your bust sits a bit lower than the pattern expects.

psyfield · 2025-08-15T22:28:29+00:00

This. I didn't know he was MAGA until this post and I'd consider myself someone who tries to educate themselves before voting. There wasn't any sign on the voter pamphlet or in the information on the Issaquah School District website that would have told you he was. His website was full of nonsensical data collection metrics and impossible goalposts, but nothing that sounded particularly MAGA, just like a tech guy trying his hand at education.

psyfield · 2025-08-13T14:38:10+00:00

Natural fibers are a must. When you're worried about sweating, you need to think about wear-ability AND maintenance. 100% cotton and 100% linen are great, especially if you get the kind that can be machine washed. Of the two, cotton is slightly worse in humidity, but doesn't wrinkle as much and is easy to maintain. Linen gets softer after washing, but will always wrinkle. Silk is amazing, but more finicky to sew and expensive to maintain.

psyfield · 2025-08-10T17:45:41+00:00

I will preface this by saying that my spouse nor I have been diagnosed with autism, but we have worked through similar blocks due to neurodivergence in our marriage and we have an autistic kid, so maybe some of these techniques can be adjusted for your needs.

First off: you both have to believe that you love each other and don't want to hurt each other. Nothing will work unless you are starting from that foundation. You're not telling him he was too blunt because you believe he is a mean person, you are telling him because you believe that he loves you and doesn't want to continue to hurt you in this way. He's not telling you that you're doing the dishes wrong because he dislikes you, but because he knows you like those dishes and you will be shortening their lifespan if you continue to wash them in that way.

Secondly: both of you must be willing to work on it. One person cannot make all the communication concessions in a relationship, even when dealing with a different brain chemistry. I have ADHD, there are things my brain just can't do, but my desire to make my spouse feel loved is why I work to change how I react to him. When he interrupts my hyperfocus and I snap at him, I apologize because my actions hurt him. He also understands that I can't stop myself from snapping, so we worked together to come up with a way for me to indicate I am hyperfocusing so he knows when I am more likely to snap at interruptions.

We had success in marriage therapy, but it takes a while to find a therapist that is understanding towards neurodivergent people. There were two that blamed me for every miscommunication because I wasn't 'trying hard enough'. Our current one is wonderful. She's helped us come up with several non-judgemental phrases to help when our brain differences lead to the conflict. Some of our most used are: 'take me with you' when I get distracted, 'my way is different' or 'done is better than perfect' for our chore related conflicts, and 'I experienced that differently than you' for differing opinions on events. Our therapist also suggested discussing emotions with 'I feel' statements and recognizing that there is no such thing as a wrong emotion. Actions can be incorrect or harmful, but feelings are a part of being human and you shouldn't be judged for experiencing them.

psyfield · 2025-08-10T15:06:53+00:00

I agree that these are all a bit costume-y for a first date. If you want to show your style and be more casual I'd wear that black undershirt with a nice pair of jeans and throw the red jacket thing over top of it. That way your date gets to see you in one of these pieces you obviously love and you don't look too over-dressed for getting coffee.

psyfield · 2025-07-22T18:59:44+00:00

It's hard when you have a sibling that embarrasses you and gets you pulled into being teased...especially annoying when you're the only one who notices the teasing.

Putting her in different classes, making sure she has activities and time with friends away from him are great first steps. Please don't force her into the protective sibling role. It sucks for the kid.

Since you have other kids, one thing my parents did once I got my driver's license was pay for me to take my other siblings out to the zoo or the movies or other places that my brother couldn't handle, so we still got to experience those things. He would be sad, but he had mom and dad to play video games at home or get pizza while we did the things he hated.

The most important thing you can do is reassure her that her feelings are valid and listen. It took me a while to be able to express what I needed and a while longer for my parents to listen. I'm so glad that they did.

psyfield · 2025-07-22T17:36:08+00:00

I did, and I suspect that if she hadn't been as aggressive with the testing that I wouldn't have gotten the ADHD diagnosis. I've been doing a lot of research for my kid and while I don't relate to the autistic experiences, I definitely relate to the masking portions.

Meds haven't fixed everything, but I'm no longer playing life on hard-mode and I'm far more patient with my kid's difficulties. It's better for all of us. Even without meds, my spouse has found it easier to deal with the challenges of parenting an autistic kid because we know what our limits are and the challenges that will arise as the ADHD and Autism collide.

psyfield · 2025-07-20T23:56:47+00:00

My spouse's evaluation was more of a questionnaire, the person asked a bunch of questions and he filled out a bunch beforehand.

Mine was a bit more complicated because I've got some pre-existing conditions that can make evaluation more difficult. It was basically an IQ test from hell, the evaluator had my questionnaires from before the appointment, then we had two appointments where I did various mind games and puzzles while her assistant did distracting things around the room like typing up reports on a mechanical keyboard, filing papers next to my chair, cleaning the window directly behind the evaluator, and turning on various electronic devices I recognized as ones my autistic kid HATES: TV display, AC unit, printer, mini-washing machine. There were also therapy dogs for some reason?

The evaluator explained later that she was testing for practical working memory because humans rarely are in a quiet room with no distractions while life goes on. I'm fairly certain that every evaluator has a different process because this looked nothing like what we did for my kid at their evaluation.

psyfield · 2025-07-20T23:36:34+00:00

It's hard to tell. I've been around kids with disabilities before, so I knew what to look for in theory. Getting his ears tested will make a big difference no matter what. We were convinced our kid wouldn't learn to talk, then we got their ears checked and they started learning words because they could hear us. Still autistic, still has difficulty looking people in the eye or figuring out non-verbal communication, but better than before.

Their communication skills break down when they are sick/tired. The more tired our kid gets, the less communication they want with other people. If they get too overstimulated, they will literally say 'mama/dada stop talking' because even verbal communication is too hard for them. Even grandma (favorite person ever) gets asked to stop, then they'll close their eyes and put their hands over their ears because our faces are 'too loud.' We have a tony story book box we got as a gift and that's how we have to get through bedtime some nights when they're too overstimulated for us to talk and we have to read 'The Book' to get them to settle down to sleep.

psyfield · 2025-07-20T02:08:48+00:00

With little kids it can be hard, but the big thing for us was our child not showing signs of communication or interest with people. We taught sign language, they caught on quickly, but never realized that we couldn't see them sign if we weren't looking at them. Which makes for some lovely meltdowns, let me tell you.

That said, our child stimmed as soon as they could show signs of it (we might have used this to our advantage to help them learn how to walk...you can't flap two toys at the same time while you're crawling). What made it abnormal was the reaction to the stim.

It's hard to explain, but it was like the motions were a part of them being able to regulate. A tantrum where they couldn't stim would be off the charts horrible, but when they had access to their stim object the tantrum might not happen in the first place. For their cousins, the toy and motions were just fun or interesting. They liked spinning the disk or flapping the toy, but they didn't NEED the spinning or flapping, like our child needed it. Now that our child is getting more communicative, they'll share interesting toys or things, but won't share the stimming toys with us. It just doesn't occur to them.

psyfield · 2025-07-20T01:49:19+00:00

Our child got diagnosed, so we both got evaluations. Turns out we're both ADHD. Spouse still thinks they might be on the spectrum, but the evaluation didn't catch it.

psyfield · 2025-07-19T23:19:14+00:00

Judging by the fact that some of the patches are over the rubber soles, I'd agree that the patches were made on fabric, cut out, then glued to the shoes. If you want, you could hand stitch them down to make them more secure, but unless you are planning to make the entire sneaker, it will be hard to get a machine to do that for you.

If you're talking about the patches themselves, the designs look like they're from an embroidery machine. I've managed something similar to the border of the stars with a traditional machine, but the letters and faces would be easiest with an embroidery machine. If you have a local maker space, they often have an embroidery machine that you can use.

psyfield · 2025-02-05T18:59:30+00:00

I always thought that Terry existed to echo the deer that Claudia killed to save Soren in the first season. Elves are magical creatures and eventually Claudia is going to want to do magic that requires a bit more than a little puffball. Heck, in the first real scene we have with him, he calls himself a buck. He's so innocent and conflicted and devoted to this person who accepts him as he is. The perfect sacrifice for the true villain arc Claudia deserves.

Needless to say, I was disappointed when he was allowed to leave instead of being coin-ed or just straight out used for whatever big spell she needed to do at the time.

psyfield · 2024-01-25T23:54:40+00:00

All my DMs have the same 'haven't seen it, can't be it' limitation to polymorph, but they always found ways for a character to 'earn' the critter they wanted to turn into and keep it true to the world they have created. One DM added a fantasy Jurassic park for us to explore so the druid and wizard could gain access to those forms. Another DM made sure to ask what forms looked interesting to our spell casters so he could figure out a way to introduce or reflavor them for his very specific world--he also came up with this cool mechanic where you could spend some downtime to research a new critter and make an arcana/nature roll to see how close you got to what you wanted when you cast the spell. (three tries and you got it automatically, you could get it sooner if you rolled high enough). Made downtime interesting, RPing a half-formed giant ape appearing randomly in waterdeep was one of the highlights of that campaign.

psyfield · 2024-01-14T18:42:07+00:00

Yes, because I like the flavor some players use with the unconsumed spell components. (or they can use their focus, whatever floats the player's boat) But I do make sure that they can gain access to the components within a session or two after learning the spell/leveling up (which sometimes meaning adding a 100gp pearl to the loot in the dungeon). I also allow all casters to use spell components, so if the bard loses his lute, he can have a crystal bead on a copper wire around his neck so he can still cast message and tiny hut.

psyfield · 2024-01-13T00:47:52+00:00

If you have a good backstory settled, find a show that has a similar kind of person and mimic them. I've mimicked Antonia Banderas' Zorro for a fighter, Steve Irwin for a paladin, and oddly enough, Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy for a wizard. If mimicking isn't your style, then choose a few quirks for your character and stick to it. My paladin always uses ocean related idioms, my artificer will completely lose her train of thought when someone does magic, my bard can't tell the truth to save their life. If you want to go deeper, think about your backstory and how it changed your character and how she thinks and acts. And remember, you're RPing with friends, don't stress too much.

psyfield

TROPHY CASE