Mystic Kids Gene (modded Ears)

"Welcome to my Cooking Show"

Make a Pumpkin Gratine with Maple (Weekly Photo 38/2024)

"First grap your pasta, this is a single serving recipe but take as much as you need! Put into a pot and cook the things. We have Pumpkin Seed Pasta here"

Then you need some pumpkin... make sure it's not alive and CHOP. CHOP CHOP. Into little bits.

Chop your other vegetables too. We have onions, garlic and spring onion here. oof.

Pasta is done. Up into the oven pot. Mix your vegetables in.

OH and now...

We need two eggs. And spices. And a bit of milk. Mix them. MIX MIX MIX. Pour over pasta and veggies.

If you are fancy you can garnish it with cheese and spring onion. UP TO THE OVEN FOR 25 MINUTES.

ENJOY.

... the fancy human added pumpkin seeds later on. And had some yogurt with herbs to go with it.

THANK YOU FOR ENJOYING MAPLE'S COOKING SHOW.

.... can I have my blog back now Maple?

".... maybe."

Crunchy leaf

Komm, süßer Tod

By John Moore (1821-1902)

How to Plot a Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin?

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots.

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow.

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear.

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story.

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours.

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension.

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work.

Disclaimer for this post.

Hello, those of you who follow me on Tumblr (l3irdl3rain) or Facebook (Chloe's Home for Disabled Cats) or know me in real life know about my passion for special needs animals, specifically cats. Almost all my pets are seniors or have special needs. While most of my vet work is covered through my job at the clinic I work for there are still medical costs that can add up.

Arthur is one of the many cats I've taken in over the years. He's the king of comfort, an expert at lounging, and a beloved uncle to foster kittens. I like to joke that he 'tricked' me into adopting him. He was from a hoarding situation and in such terrible shape that the shelter mistook him for a senior. I had my doubts when I went to meet him and saw how spry he was, but he did look really bad. I thought maybe he really was just an energetic old man. Upon taking him to my vet my suspicions were confirmed. We estimate Arthur at around 5 years old.

Due to being an exotic shorthair and having an extremely flat face Arthur does have some special care. I have to clean his face crevice daily as well as apply eye drops. He has also had an entropion repair to fix his eyelid as well as 3 separate rhinoplasty surgeries to allow him to breathe better. Doc also warned me he would need a soft palate resection. This will remove the extra tissue in his throat and allow him to breathe better.

A few months ago I called and got an estimate from a referral clinic. They quoted me anywhere from $5,500 to $7,000. At the same time I discovered a growth on my bird, Joey's head, and I elected to put Arthur's surgery on hold to get to the bottom of what was going on with Joey.

Unfortunately Arthur has started to have actual problems related to his soft palate. He is eating slower and gagging at times. He also has started hyper salivating and it is a struggle to keep his face dry and clean, leading to infections on his cheeks. Unfortunately I no longer can put his surgery off for a better time when it is more affordable for me. I called around and got more estimates. UW Madison quoted me $3,500 to $5,000 for the surgery.

As always, I appreciate anyone and everyone who has supported me and my critters. Any and all funds raised in their fundraiser will go directly into my pet care, even if we exceed the goal I set. Also, after his initial consult I should be able to get a more accurate estimate. For now I have set it to the high end of the surgery, but I will adjust as needed.

***Arthur's Medical Fund***

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

If a website has a paywall, like New York Times, DO NOT use the ctrl+A shortcut then the ctrl+c shortcut as fast as you can because then you may accidentally copy the entire article before the paywall comes up. And definitely don't do ctrl+v into the next google doc or whatever you open because then you will accidentally paste the entire article into a google doc or something!!!! I repeat DO NOT do this because it is piracy which is absolutely totally wrong!!!

Night at the Museum (2006) dir. Shawn Levy