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Bee good to me.

@caj-jac

I was going to delete this blog because it was inactive, but Tumblr wouldn't let me because its the main. So im starting it up again. Don't mind everything that came before. Inbox: Open.
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Just in case

I’m actually going to reblog a thing just because this is really important.

As someone who has epilepsy and used to have several grand mal seizures a day, I’d also like to add that “offer help” can range anywhere from keeping the person calm to explaining to them where they are and what they were doing to even just telling them they should sit and rest for a while longer (lack or coordination is common, and it can be hard to walk straight or see clearly).

It’s okay for them to take up to a half hour to fully regain their bearings and sort out what they were doing prior to the seizure. Just answer any questions calmly and be there for support.

If they come around and you start to panic or shake them or ask them what the heck is wrong with them they are going to freak out and panic too.

I cannot stress it enough that this is bad.

If someone has a seizure and they come out of it, please. please stay calm. They are likely disoriented and confused, even if it’s only for a minute or two, and you don’t want them panicking on top of that because they can have another seizure as a result.

IMPORTANT

IMPORTANT because last year a kid in my class had a seizure, none of us even knew he was at risk for them either so just cause you don’t think you know anyone doesn’t mean you don’t 

stay safe

I have to stress how important it is to time a seizure. If it lasts more than a few minutes, call an ambulance.

DO NOT CALL THE POLICE. I’m dead fucking serious. I had a grand mal in public once and the POLICE were called and imagine coming out of the seizure, feeling like you got smacked in the head with a sack full of bricks, confused, dazed, in desperate need of some sugar to boost low blood pressure and some DIPSHIT has called the police and I was being threatened with being ‘drunk and disorderly’. It took a phone call to my doctors office to get them to back off. The police cannot properly deal with sick people

Offer help can be:

  • assuring person where they are/what time it is
  • getting them something to drink if they can; seizure burns so much energy and does cause a blood pressure drop
  • getting them safely to transport or a carer
  • getting them some dignity like a blanket/towel [loosing control of your bladder and bowels is fucking horrifying]
  • ensuring they have a way to get home. Someone who has just had a seizure should NEVER DRIVE straight after
  • calling emergency services if you notice any of these symptoms because they may have stroked out.

Why you shouldn’t put anything in someone’s mouth: they will choke. Yes, they may bite their tongue but I can assure you it’s less traumatic than cracking your jaw on someone’s greasy wallet or choking on a spoon.

DO NOT HOLD ANYONE DOWN. Example: someone pinned my right shoulder mid-seizure a few years back and how I have a permanently displaced and clicking shoulder. Let the person flail around, those muscles are out of control and restraining them does cause more damage to the patient and you.

Noticed that this wasn’t on there, so:

  • Remove any objects or furniture near them, as if it’s convulsive they may hurt themself by flailing and hitting a table or something
  • If they’re flailing at themself, such as hitting their chest, hold something soft between their fist and chest (Note: Do Not put this soft something, such as a pillow, on them or hold it down! Just hold it in your hands between them and their arms)
  • Also, someone else should add on about this because I don’t have seizures myself and don’t want to get anyone injured, but I know that sometimes medical professionals do gently hold certain body parts down as flailing starts. Do not attempt this yourself with no medical guidance, and it isn’t so much holding their wrist/arm as it is placing your hand firmly in the space just above their arm. If you aren’t sure, best not to try holding something. Better safe than sorry.

Hope this explains what I mean. Like, not ON THEM, more over them.

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

Want to learn something new in 2023??

Cooking with flavor bootcamp (used what I learned in this a LOT this year)

Learn Interior Design from the British Academy of Interior Design (free to audit course - just choose the free option when you register)

How to ride a bike (listen. some of us never learned, and that's okay.)

How to cornrow-braid hair (I have it on good authority that this video is a godsend for doing your baby niece's black hair)

Making mead at home (I actually did this last summer and it was SO good)

Basics of snowboarding (proceed with caution)

How to draw for people who (think they) suck at art (I know this website looks like a 2003 monstrosity, but the tutorials are excellent)

Pixel art for beginners so you can make the next great indie game

Go (back) to school

Introduction to Astronomy (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Principals of Economics (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Introduction to philosophy (free college course)

Computer science basics (full-semester Harvard course free online)

Learn a language

Japanese for Dummies (link fix from 2022)

Portuguese (Brazil)

American Sign Language (as somebody who works with Deaf people professionally, I also strongly advise you to read up on Deaf/HoH culture and history!)

Chinese (Simplified)

Quenya (LOTR fantasy elf language)

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So my cat Ashley has severe seperation anxiety and she was having a Moment so I made a cat sling after googling it how to do it and this is the best idea ever.

She is calm and purring. Sleeping and comfy. She's not running around screaming and destroying my room but she's held against my torso and occasionally butting her head against chest with her eyes closed. I'm cleaning and she'll only ocasionally wake up if I make too much noise doing something then she goes right back to sleep like meowmimimimimimi meowmimimimi

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Sorry for the gross mirror but meowmimimimimi

I cannot express how important it is to brush your teeth and floss regularly. It's especially important as so many people don't have dental coverage and that preventative work saves you so much pain and money in the long run. I know it sucks and it is so hard, but you'll also feel so good after doing it. And when you start doing it regularly, you'll find your mouth and gums feel so much better. If you've already done it today, good job! I'm so proud of you and so happy for you!

This is the first tumblr blaze post I've seen that's made me go "actually yes, it's good if people see this"

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If any of y’all didn’t know, there’s a free online library, aka

and I found like, twelve ebooks I’ve been wanting to read on there, and blasted through like three of them during the course of a boring-ass shift.

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Guy there are books on magic on there.

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There’s books on EVERYTHING there!

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Wouldn’t this be bad for authors though? or is this like a normal library where they get /some/ money?

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It’s like a normal library. Libraries can upload ebooks there and let people check them out through openlibrary if you have an openlibrary account, or it can point you to nearby libraries that have physical copies of the book for you to go and check out. If you check out books via openlibrary it counts towards the count of books checked out from the library that uploaded the ebook, and they can use it in their reporting and funding and stuff.

There’s like 150 libraries partnered with openlibrary so far.

They also have copies that you can check out if you are print-disabled.

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You can also ‘sponsor a book’, which means you pay the cost of the ebook you want openlibrary to acquire, and then they can add it to their collection and let people check it out.

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I sure did!

And click on a title even if it says ‘no ebook available’ and scroll down, ‘cause sometimes that just means “all of the copies of ebooks are checked out right now but you can get on the waitlist when it’s back in”

This is part of the Internet Archive! I’ve posted about this before. Please go, it’s amazing. 

Upsizing clothes! There are a million upcycling tutorials for clothes that are too big, but so few on how to make too small clothes you still love bigger!

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Thank you for your suggestion! We all go through weight fluctuations in life, so it stands to reason our clothes should be able to fluctuate with us.

Resizing your clothes used to be a very common practice before the advent of fast fashion. Fast fashion sizing is extremely flawed, especially when it comes to plus size fashion, and we’re stuck with a lot of vanity sizing, so it’s a good skill to have regardless of whether you’re looking to mend something old or buy something new.

How to upsize clothes:

Introduction:

There are many different ways to make a garment larger. The following list is not exhaustive, just a few ideas to get you started.

Grading patterns:

If you’re making your own clothes, it’s always useful to know how to modify a sewing pattern. The easiest way to adjust a pre-existing pattern to your size is slash and spread grading. First, you need to define which spots on the pattern need extra space. You then cut your pattern in that spot, and slide the resulting pattern pieces away from each other until you’ve got the size you need. Use paper to fill in the gaps. To ensure the resulting pattern makes for well-fitting clothes, make a mock-up and add, move, or remove darts where necessary to adapt it to your body type.

The image below shows potential slashing lines on a set of standard pattern blocks. Each line is a spot that allows you to add extra space. To read more about this process, check out the corresponding article by Threads Magazine.

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(Image source) [ID: a diagram of slashing lines on a pattern block for a dress, bodice, skirt, sleeve, and a pair of pants.]

To make your clothes easier to let out in the future, make sure to provide ample seam allowance when cutting out your pattern pieces. This surplus fabric has several different uses, including giving you some wiggle room for when you need to size up your garment.

Now, let’s take a look at pre-made garments.

Lengthening clothes:

A garment that’s too short on you is easy to modify. Just add more material!

If it’s a skirt or a dress, add ruffles to the bottom. Ruffles are easy to make by hand or with a sewing machine. You could also add lace, or wear the item with an underskirt.

For pants, let down your hem or sew on a new cuff. If this isn’t enough, maybe consider turning your trousers into capri pants or shorts.

As for shirts, sewing an extra layer to the bottom edge is the easiest way to go, too. You could even combine two shirts into one to get an extra long shirt.

Another option is to cut your item in two and insert extra fabric between your separated garment parts.

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(Image source) [ID: a pair of blue pants with cuffs sewn onto the bottom of the legs to lengthen them. The cuffs are made out of a fabric with a blue and brown geometric print.]

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(Image source) [ID: a before and after picture of a red t-shirt that was lenghtened by adding in a patch of colourful fabric at the waist.]

Letting out seams/darts:

Remember how we made sure to have ample seam allowance earlier? When a garment has surplus fabric in the seams and you only need a little extra space, you can undo the seams of your garment and sew them back together again, this time with a smaller seam allowance than before. The Spruce Crafts has a pretty good tutorial on how to let out seams. You won’t be able to make major size changes using this technique, but if you only need a few centimetres, this is a good way to go.

A lot of garments also have darts. Darts are fabric folds that are sewn down in strategic places to help the fabric follow the body’s curves. If a dart doesn’t fit you the way you want it to, then unpick the dart and try on the garment. Either leave the dart open, or pin the dart in place however you want it, then take off the garment again and sew the dart back together.

Be careful not to rip the fabric when using a seam ripper. Also note that removing entire darts may change the garment’s fit.

You can also add custom darts to achieve a better fit, but that’s a topic for another time.

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(Image source) [ID: twelve different types of darts on a feminine bodice block.]

Adding extra fabric to your garment:

If we need to add more room than seam allowance or darts can provide us with, we need to add extra material. Remember those slashing lines we looked at earlier? If you’re working with a pre-existing garment rather than a pattern, those are the perfect places to chop up your clothes and add in extra fabric.

Check your sewing stash for fabric that’s similar in weight and material to your original garment, or go thrift shopping for an item you could use to upsize your garment. Long skirts and maxi dresses are a great source of fabric for alterations like these!

Lace inserts are also a fun choice to add some room, and if you’re working with a knit item, you could even knit or crochet your own custom insert.

Define the area where you want to add extra fabric on your item, and measure how much you need. Draw a straight line on your garment with chalk/soap. Make sure the line doesn’t cross any important structural or functional parts of your garment like darts or button holes: refer to the slashing diagram we saw earlier if you’re not sure what spot to pick. Cut the line open (or unpick the seam if it’s situated on a seam), and add in your extra fabric. Finish off your new seams so they don’t unravel later on, and you’re done!

You can add straight strips of fabric for extra width or length, or you could use flared panels or even godets to make your item flair out.

Want to see this technique in action? Check out this video by Break n Remake:

Some ideas:

This Pinterest user cut a straight line down the front of a t-shirt and inserted a lace panel to add extra width in the front of the garment.

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(Image source) [ID: a blue t-shirt with a panel of dark blue lace added in at the centre front.]

Busy Geemaw cut open the side seams of a shirt and used flared panels to add some extra width in the bust and hip area.

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(Image source) [ID: a green and white long-sleeved shirt with a striped flared panel in matching colours inserted at the side seam.]

This person added a panel to the sides of a pair of jeans to give them more space in the hip area. You could easily use a long straight panel or a panel that flares at the bottom to resize the entire garment instead of just the hips, or use a wide piece of elastic for extra stretch.

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(Image source) [ID: a side view of a pair of light blue jeans with a dark blue wedge-shaped denim insert running down from the waist and ending above the knee.]

This person added a godet in the back of their shirt in order to get more space in the back.

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(Image source) [ID: a blue and white plaid shirt with a white lace godet inserted in the back.]

Blue Corduroy enlarged a pair of shorts by opening up the side seams and adding in strips of fabric.

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(Image source) [ID: blue denim shorts with a floral fabric insert at the side seams.]

You don’t need to resize the entire garment if you don’t want to. For example, One Brown Mom turned this ankle-length skirt with a too small waistband into a well-fitting knee-length skirt by taking advantage of the skirt’s flared shape.

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(Image source) [ID: a woman wearing a black shirt and a brown tartan knee-length skirt.]

Conclusion:

Throughout our lives, our weight will fluctuate and our bodies will change. There’s no shame in this: it’s just a fact of life. Therefore, knowing how to upsize an item that is too small for you is a useful skill to learn.

If you want more inspiration, check out these projects by Confessions of a Refashionista, One Brown Mom, and Thriftanista in the City.

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i am not joking we need to force teach cooking in schools. like. it is an essential thing for survival. do you know how easy it is to make things if you know even the bare bones shit about how cooking works. we need to teach teenagers how far you can take an onion and some other veggies it''s sad that people grow up not knowing how to prepare literally anything. and i'm not talking about oh this home ed class taught me how to make chicken nuggets at home i'm talking about learning the balancing of sweetness and acidity and saltiness and bitterness and shit like that and techniques and oil temperatures and how meats cook. it needs to be taught because it's literally not even that difficult and it matters so much

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i truly believe that knowing how to cook is a basic survival concept and the fact that so many people can't even make simple dishes is depressing as hell this is the sorta thing that should be taught at a young age. being able to take the ingredients you have around your home and turn them into a meal is like, essential and will make life so much better. you don't need to be a high end chef you just need to understand some things that can be easily taught... but then again maybe the education system is playing a roll against this and ultimately they want you to grow up to rely on mcdonalds for dinner. i don't know. please learn how to cook for yourself if you're able. i'm not asking you to hunt for specific ingredients to make some expensive youtuber's "best" recipe but if you know the basics of cooking you can do a lot with cheap canned ingredients. cooking can be affordable i promise you just need to learn how to make do with what you can get

Can anyone point me towards resources that teach those basics cus I would LOVE to teach my child this stuff but i dont know how to cook

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not comprehensive but heres some:

internet shaquille's basics but especially:

food safety + a recipe to demonstrate

how to learn to cook (just a list of subtopics, no actual tips)

basics with babish s1 & 2, but particularly:

  • freezer meals,
  • weeknight meals,
  • kitchen tools (although the specific suggestions are pretty expensive even with the lower end scale items the basic categories are solid, and you can evaluate what items you will realistcially need - eg. if you dont need to read temp for steaks etc the temp reader will not be relevant) &
  • kitchen care (mid-high advanced home cooking)

and then recipe channels representing various cuisines:

again definitely not a comprehensive list but it touches on most of the basics

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dont know if this has been mentioned already but chinese cooking demystified is a fantastic channel for chinese recipes that also includes methods and ingredients that can be implemented in p much any western kitchen!

Food Wishes, home of the beloved Chef John, is a GREAT way to learn how to cook just by watching and listening. All the focus is on the process and the reasons why we're doing certain things, which then helps you develop your own sense of comfort re: experimenting with recipes and ingredients

I needed this drag. Let’s change guys and not look back

working out your brain is a must!!

• hydrate it by drinking lots of water

• eat dark chocolate and blueberries and walnuts and salmon and other foods high in antioxidants!!

• play little brain games on your phone; I like wordconenct! anything that makes you think!

• read books. It’s simple but necessary. Even better - join a book club, or read with a friend, so you can have discussions after. This will improve your reading comprehension.

• do puzzles - it doesnt have to be sudoku, I love playing Beat Saber on the Oculus Rift because it makes my brain have to match colorful patterns to physical movements very quickly!

• learn a new dance - even a tik tok trendy dance. Learning new dance moves are proven to strengthen synapses!!

• go bird watching, or foraging, or anything outdoors that requires you to explore pattern recognition and visual searching

• watch a movie with the intent of analysis - this is best done with a cinephile friend!! talk about tropes and symbolism and character growth

• cross stitch, or sew, or do anything that requires matching nimble hand movements to patterns

• play or learn an instrument!

• develop a consistent sleep schedule (or as close to consistent as you can get!)

• when eating, try to identify the ingredients and flavors you’re perceiving!

I hope this helps :)

Take a moment to care about yourself! <3

Two job-hunting resources that changed my life:

This cover letter post on askamanger.com. A job interview guide written by Alison Green, who runs askamanager.

Shout-out to @ms-demeanor for putting these on my dash again, I’d like to add this exceptional interview question “answer guide” that explains traps and “the best” way to answer over 64 common questions. I don’t know who to attribute it to, but here it is: PDF from tri valley one-stop career center.

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I reblogged this last month, tagged it, and said “might as well see if it works.” I used this video as a reference to find all the forms that i needed (which is A LOT, especially if you’re a dependent) and sent them through the mail, not really allowing myself to hope.

dude.

$2,714 of medical debt from my top surgery - gone. im shaking this was such a weight on me for 2 years and it fucking worked. what the fuck.

Im reblogging, but man I'm glad I don't live in America.

“frugal” eating recipes be like

oh its SO EASY, just buy this fifty dollar item for forty-nine dollars off with a coupon that you can’t find and don’t have time to cut out at a store that doesn’t have outlets in rural areas and then you can fill in the rest with odds and ends that are SURELY already taking up space in your kitchen that you totally somehow forgot about! [photo of a table full of perfectly arranged meats and fresh vegetables] this little family secret is SO easy and delicious just looking at it will make you gain ten pounds ;) so make sure pace yourself! this right here should be enough to stock your fridge for the next ten months at LEAST so you don’t have to worry about the hassle of mealtime again for awhile!

you know what website actually has my motherfucking back? myfridgefood, put all three (3) things in ur cabinets into their site & even if it’s some stupid shit like “bread cheese and pickles“ they’ll still throw at least half a dozen Depression Meals™ your way

For my followers! 

-FemaleWarrior, She/They 

Also try Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Book Strap. Basically austerity meals Jack made for themselves and their young child when they were living on benefits, everything works out at pence a meal. Sidenote: Jack Monroe is a fantastic queer person and activist and you check them out regardless.   

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recipes broken down by cost per recipe and per serving, meal plans, meal prep, tips on stocking a pantry and how to freeze food

“frugal” eating recipes be like

oh its SO EASY, just buy this fifty dollar item for forty-nine dollars off with a coupon that you can’t find and don’t have time to cut out at a store that doesn’t have outlets in rural areas and then you can fill in the rest with odds and ends that are SURELY already taking up space in your kitchen that you totally somehow forgot about! [photo of a table full of perfectly arranged meats and fresh vegetables] this little family secret is SO easy and delicious just looking at it will make you gain ten pounds ;) so make sure pace yourself! this right here should be enough to stock your fridge for the next ten months at LEAST so you don’t have to worry about the hassle of mealtime again for awhile!

you know what website actually has my motherfucking back? myfridgefood, put all three (3) things in ur cabinets into their site & even if it’s some stupid shit like “bread cheese and pickles“ they’ll still throw at least half a dozen Depression Meals™ your way

For my followers! 

-FemaleWarrior, She/They 

Also try Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Book Strap. Basically austerity meals Jack made for themselves and their young child when they were living on benefits, everything works out at pence a meal. Sidenote: Jack Monroe is a fantastic queer person and activist and you check them out regardless.   

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recipes broken down by cost per recipe and per serving, meal plans, meal prep, tips on stocking a pantry and how to freeze food

People always talk about undiagnosed people, or people who get diagnosed with ADHD as adults, and how they spend so much time wondering what’s wrong with them, or not realizing a problem they’ve been having their whole lives is because of their ADHD.

But no one (that I’ve seen anyway) talks about people who were diagnosed and put on medication at like 8, and have been on meds since then, and still not knowing a damn thing about ADHD, because their doctor’s only real concept of ADHD was hyper and can’t focus. 

and like, yeah, I was hyper and had trouble focusing.  But I also have a ton of other issues, and it would have been nice to know that they were related to my ADHD, and not just personal failings or laziness or being unable to cope with things for no reason.  

and my meds do help those issues a little, but not as much as maybe they should.  And it would have been nice to have not gone 10 years on the same meds without ever being able to bring up how it wasn’t helping my other symptoms, because I DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE SYMPTOMS!  maybe different meds might help more, or different coping mechanisms.  but I’m only just recently finding out these problems even have names, let alone that they’re related to my ADHD.

tldr: people who got diagnosed with ADHD as a kid sometimes don’t know anything about ADHD and how to get help/coping mechanisms because no one told them ADHD was more than hyperactivity and focus issues