I just learned that Cracker Barrel sometimes stocks Calico Critters! The selection is admittedly small. My husband spotted the Chocolate Bunny figurines, the (singular) grab bag, some washing machines, and a few boxes of the Nursery Friends Rainy Day Duo. Elsewhere in the store were a Red Roof House, cat families, a kitchen set, bunny triplet care sets, and a mouse sibling bath set. The Calico Critters Nursery Friends Rainy Day Duo gives its owner a marshmallow mouse baby and a panda baby, with articulated limbs, dressed in raincoats with a puddle and their own umbrellas and boots. (I imagine…
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I applied late on July 29th, the package was received by the processing office on August 1st, and I received it on August 23rd. Overall, it took ~4 weeks. 2025’s wait time certainly beat the time my other first-time passport for a minor took to process in 2023! It went about as expected, except for one thing: Although the United States travel.state.gov website only mentions a marriage certificate under “Step 3: Show Your Relationship to Child”, the intake agent at the post office wanted the marriage certificate. The government website says under Step 3, “If your name is different than…
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SiderAL, an iron supplement I had never heard of before this year, is the best-tasting iron supplement I have ever had. An immense positive is it does not have a very common side effect of constipation! That is an annoying side effect of iron pills that any woman who is on her period and takes iron supplements knows. A serving of SiderAL comes in a small packet that look like powdered drink mix. The packet is simple to tear—- no scissors required!—- and the taste is a palatable though very sweet orange. It is much easier to swallow than a…
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My daughter lost a tiny radish from her Sylvanian Families Gardening Set. (We later found it in the hollow of a tree in her treehouse.) I decided that I would try the off-brand, which is available from several storefronts on Aliexpress for roughly US$3.24 before tax. The box of the Stomle Hacienda Set came crushed enough that I could pull the bagged contents out of the very large holes without removing any tape. Issues I noticed are: Compared to the Sylvanian Families Gardening Set, the colours are less appealing. These are somewhat compatible with the on-brand Sylvanian Families / Calico…
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In 2024, I signed up for “free” baby things from Amazon, Target, Macys, and Babylist. I checked my old Enfamil and Similac accounts. I was going to possibly sign up for buybuy Baby and Walmart, but both of those were out of stock every time I checked. Some of these are not available if you do not reside in the continental US. I originally thought I would skip free baby boxes this time, but I decided to sign up in hopes of getting a variety of pacifiers and bottles to try with my future child. In 2020, I received a…
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I decided to try the Gryph & Ivyrose Seal the Deal(TM) Moisturizing Balm after I had been experiencing a wrist rash for about half a year. It was suspected to be a metal allergy, but the rash unfortunately persisted months after I stopped wearing the suspected bracelet. The rash was annoying, a little embarrassing, and I was willing to spend more to try make the allergy rash go away sooner. I found this balm in the Saks Fifth Avenue online store for US$49 before tax. Gryph & Ivyrose is based in Miami, Florida, United States. The Seal the Deal (TM)…
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When I decided I wanted to try the Bétta Carry me! baby carrier, I had been looking into baby equipment marketed in Asia. Many of the baby carriers marketed in the US were just were not comfortable for me. Problems included carriers being too long, too heavy, excessive leftover tail length after tightening, straps lying in uncomfortable places, waist-based types set too high if secure and just better positioning my infant to scream in my ear, etc. Being a shorter torso-ed Asian woman, I hoped that a baby carrier from Asia would suit my Asian body better. (A similar concept…
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I was using VLC media player recently. It kept pausing playback. It was on a Lenovo laptop, and this potential fix for this VLC issue on specifically Lenovo computers solved my problem: This “Zero touch video playback” is supposed to stop things from playing when your computer thinks you are not presently using your computer. I am glad the setting is easy to disable.
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Before we begin, when we talk about gold here, we are talking about 24k gold specifically. Taiwan, being part of Asia, prefers 24k gold. There is often a cluster of gold shops in larger cities in Taiwan. They will display their gold buying and gold selling price prominently. I think it is per gram, but I have forgotten for the moment. Any gold piece in a gold shop has two numbers: a gold value listed as weight and an artisan cost in Taiwanese dollars. Because the cost of gold fluctuates day to day, they multiply the listed weight and the…
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In my most recent trip to Japan in 2023, I purchased baby cooling gel patches from Pigeon, a line of baby products made in Japan. These patches, typically used for fevers, are a somewhat popular item with Japanese mothers that can be purchased at most drugstores and some Don Quijotes. It is easy to pack away; the box is neither very expensive nor large and can be squished without issue. To further reduce weight/volume, one could consider taking out the contents— which are labeled— and trashing the box. The penguin-decorated gel patches are designed for use by babies (For those…