deliver me from evil

Talking about this has been in the back of my mind for some time now! I don't mean this in an "anti-haul" or anti-consumeristic way, although I suppose that's part of my feeling on it... But, being interested in cute stuff and knick-knacks and the like, the internet hawks me these things all the time. And I refuse. I REFUSE!!!! To even START! To even CONSIDER! Collecting anything else!

... That's a straight-up lie. I face constant temptation in the forms of these little kawaii little hunks of plastic.

But, thus far I remain strong!!!

SANRIO ANYTHING

Here's the thing. I love Sanrio!!! I collected it as a child, in the late 80s/early 90s, before Hello Kitty was as ubiquitous as she is now! I've loved it all my life. As a child my mother would reward us after a difficult experience such as the dentist by taking us to the mall, where there was a gift shop that had a Sanrio shelf. She would let us pick out an item, and my sister and I had an impressive combined Sanrio collection. I'd really love to post about some of the items we had sometime!

In high school (this was in the late 90s for me) I still collected! But I mostly loved stationery items, which I actually used a lot, so I don't have most of it now. I do actually still have a few Landry things from ~1998. Landry's not super popular. But I had a lot of Chococat and Badtz-Maru stuff! To this day I have an appreciation for Sanrio characters other than Hello Kitty. My favorites continue to be Badtz-Maru, Chococat, Landry, Keroppi, Marron Cream, and Little Twin Stars.

I wish I had endless money to dump towards cute Sanrio blind boxes and the like, and the space to display little figurines. But I simply don't, so I only allow myself to enjoy pictures of other people's Sanrio collections!

(But in the interest of honesty, amidst all these other things, Sanrio is what I have the most emotional connection to, so it's a case of "I would if I could!")

SYLVANIAN FAMILIES

Just super duper cute. So cottagecore. So kidcore. What would be the harm in attaining just one? Or one little family...? I do wonder...

POPMART FIGURES

These anger me so much because I like them so much. I'm talking about the Skullpanda Warmth Series specifically, because these muted/cool pastel colors are so BEAUTIFUL to me! But I like a few other Skullpanda figurines too. I've looked these up on eBay and Etsy in moments of extreme weakness. But I've never pulled the trigger. I ask, "Will this really make me happy?" It's like I have an itch in my brain that I feel like I can soothe with one of these. But I'm sure it'd make absolutely no difference in my overall wellbeing, so this gives me the strength to close the tab whenever I find myself tempted!

SONNY ANGELS

These also make me want to derisively curse. I love 'em. I hate 'em. I love 'em. I know these are extremely extremely trendy, which means that -- sort of like Funko Pops, in my opinion -- they're going to strike everyone as a very dated and irritating thing to have a whole mess of in the future. (Of course, I don't believe in letting something stop you from enjoying what you sincerely enjoy. Sonny Angels and Funko Pops make a lot of people really happy and I love that!) But thinking of them this way helps me not give into the temptation to start collecting these dust-catchers. Even though they're so cute in a little display case that I could scream.

Of course, I am not beyond my little collections! Here's what I do collect/what I am allowing myself to have:

TAMAGOTCHIS

I have six Tamagotchis and have built up my collection slowly over many years now! (I first/last posted about Tamagotchis in 2015, almost ten years ago now.) 90s nostalgia is of course all well and good, but I love the more modern Japanese Tamagotchis that have color screens and minigames! I have the iDL (still my favorite), the P's, the 4U, and the Meets. I would love love LOVE to expand this collection! But it's a cyclical phase type thing for me. I'll get really into running a Tamagotchi for a while and then I won't be in the mood to do the constant maintenance aspect of it again for a while.

Tamagotchis have long-running characters such as Memetchi and Kuchipatchi. The fact that there's specific characters adds an appeal factor that's not unlike Sanrio for me. They also often have Sanrio-themed Tamagotchis (or pierces, in the case of the P's).

Also, people make cute crocheted Tamagotchi cases, and this is SO up my alley!

THESE SPECIFIC STITCH FIGURINES

Stitch is, unfortunately, what the kids call my "comfort character." (I sorta got a douche chill just saying that, though.) In other words, he's a long-term favorite of mine, and I have a big emotional attachment to him. I have a stuffed Stitch that I sleep with and a couple of other little Stitch stuffies. I am always having to talk myself out of buying Stitch plushies. This is kind of a humiliating thing to admit, haha.

But, look at that little trio I have! I think this is a great way for me to indulge my bizarre autistic Stitch love without having Stitch stuff out the wazoo. There are four more little figures in this particular series and I would really like to have them all eventually, but I'm not focused on attaining them.

I also really love these because I got a couple of them from my little sister for Christmas. She knows me so well!

TAROT DECKS

I used to study tarot back in 2015/2016, before I had a huge mental health crisis and stopped being able to engage with all of my many hobbies. I have yet to pick up my studies again in anything longer than small spurts but I retain an interest, and every now and then, I am gifted a new tarot deck (most of the decks I have were gifts). I have ten decks total.

LITTENS

I got all my Littens in one fell swoop, as you know!!! Here are pictured just the figurines as they sit on my shelf. But you know I have a little gaggle of plushies. A litany of Littens. And I love them so freaking much. I would absolutely accept more Littens into my heart/my bedroom.

OTHER COLLECTIONS I HAVE BUT DID NOT MENTION HERE (BESIDES BLYTHES OBVIOUSLY):

• Animal Crossing Amiibos/Amiibo cards
• a huge hunk of the Sweet Valley Twins series, which I at one time was actively collecting
• BL Metamorphosis, the one manga series I have actively collected (it's only five books)

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'tis the damn season (almost)

It was 90 degrees here today, but I've been planning for the chilly days ahead by getting some autumnal clothes. It's been a long time since I posted about new clothes here -- clothes for me, at least! I used to do this somewhat often in the first couple years of having this blog. But I certainly haven't done it in many years now. Berets aside.

But heck! This is making me happy right now! So I'm posting about it!

Whatever you wanna say about Walmart, I have gotten a few items I like from there lately, all pictured above: a hugely long duster-length sweater in this pretty mauve-y color; a little floral knit shirt; these wine-colored Mary Janes that are soooo 90s to me; and an orange corduroy "shacket" (a revolting word, imo, which -- to get my Lemony Snicket on -- here means "shirt jacket") that I really love because it's RUST ORANGE! One of my top favorite colors!! The corduroy and color are both super 70s.

It's of course too hot to wear the sweater and jacket right now! But I am wearing the shoes!

Like I said, these Mary Janes are so 90s to me. They remind me of a pair of Skechers Mary Janes that I had in the late 90s/early 2000s, with chunky bottoms/heels! I loved and wore the heck out of those shoes. Mary Janes are a lifelong favorite and I have had so many pairs of various kinds! So of course I saw these and was nostalgia pilled.

I do think they're cute, but I'm not sure if they're cute on me, if you know what I mean. But I have yet to style them correctly, I think. They'd look a lot better if I wore them with tights and/or socks, and a dress or skirt. Tights, I have, but... I don't have the right type of socks.

Because I think the Mary Janes would look really cute with some ruffled socks, specifically! I do prefer the kind that you can fold down. To me that is a classic lewk. Hence the second set. I also like orange and purple. CLEARLY! But I think the floral set is way cutier. And wouldn't that black set look so good with the MJs?? But, the white fold-over pairs would be very useful...

Decisions, decisions!!!

Well, I'll mull over that. But I quite simply can't wait for it to be cooler out so I can plop on a beret and this sweater and stroll around in my Mary Janes.

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aunt lyfe

August was quite the month for my family! A lot going on (weddings! new houses!), but I want to post specifically about my brand new nephew, especially because I feel very aware that I am experiencing some of the best days of my life thus far. It is so nice to know those moments as they happen, instead of missing them belatedly.

Nephew was born just before midnight on August 8th, and we (my mom, my brother-in-law's moms, and me) got to see him at about 3 AM on the 9th, after hours of waiting antsily at the hospital for him to arrive, and further hours of baby and parents having crucial bonding time. Getting to see him was so incredibly special to me.

I am nine years older than my baby sister -- almost ten -- so I have extremely clear memories of seeing her after she was born. I remember the hospital room; I remember holding her; I remember that I insisted upon staying at the hospital with my mom for most of that day, rather than let my dad take me home. I was enchanted by my baby sister. I held her tons. As she grew up, I baby-sat and minded and played with her a lot. After I started driving, I picked her up from elementary school every day. When she was in high school I took her to school and picked her up from school frequently. I felt like she was my baby!

That's us! This was taken in early May of 1997, when she was 5 and I was 14.

As she's grown older, graduated from college, gotten married, and now, had a baby, my heart still pangs: my baby!

So it was, for me, such an emotional full circle moment. Seeing sis in the hospital when she was born. Seeing sis in the hospital when her own baby was born. I had deja vu. I reminisced about it... to her... while she was lying in bed having just given birth! Haha. But in all sincerity, getting to peer at her baby's beautiful face for the first time, and getting to tell my sister that I loved her and am proud of her, and getting to see my mom and my sister's mother-in-laws see their grandbaby for the first time, all in the middle of the night... Ah. It was so peaceful, even when Nephew let out a screamy squeal (just once). Everyone was shedding happy tears. It felt like a sacred space. I am so glad to have had this experience. I left the hospital immediately knowing I had just had one of the best moments of my life.

And of course, I had zilch to do with this baby or his birth! That was all my goddess of a little sister, who was so tired she was falling asleep in the bed as we all admired Nephew in his bassinet. She'd given it her all and wouldn't get much sleep in general. Regardless she was beatific and beautiful. My heart bursts thinking about her. Of course my Nephew is great fun to admire and dote on. But I just feel so proud of my baby sister. I still count it as one of my favorite moments I've ever experienced.

Getting to hold him for the first time after he came home from the hospital... I was floating on air for hours! Starkly reminded of how I refused to go home after getting to hold my baby sister. The only reason I let anyone else hold him was because my elbow got tired!

But the very best has been getting to see my grandmother meet him for the first time! Her first great grandchild! It was the very best to watch her hold him, and to sit with my sis, my brother-in-law, and my parents, hanging out and taking turns holding the baby. I got to feed him and hold him for two hours. The vibes were so excellent. The sunset, golden. Sister, beautiful, glowing. The baby, content to sleep in our arms. I am really living my best life whenever I get to hold that baby. Like at the hospital, I knew I had just had one of the best days of my life. I will literally remember it forever. In the future I will reminisce with my family: Remember the day Grandma met Nephew? Remember how she held him? Remember how Mom used to hold him and stroke his tiny baby temples with her thumbs? Remember how gently Sister touched his head? Remember how Brother-in-law poked his belly and then said, for Nephew, "Daddy's buggin' me! Mean old Dad!" Remember his cute stripey pants? Remember how conked out he was?

Last night I got to feed Nephew and sit with him for hours again. Sis and Bro-in-law left him with me while they ran an errand. My first nephew-sitting gig! I was in bliss, patting his little back while he snoozed. Crazy to think that in just a week, he'll be a month old.

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