Daddy Daughter Days: Happy Halloween!!!!

 Had a blast at the bowling alley last night. I took PLENTY of photos (which will be posted on the nostalgia corner) but here are a few highlights. 

NOTE: Some of them are a tiny bit blurry, but that's my fault for being jacked up on candy and cheese sticks. 

Renny and Fang

Me being a lil dork.

I'm DEFINITELY trying out that candy machine next time I go there. 

As stated yesterday, tonight will be my last year of Trick or Treating. I'll be making the rounds with a few friends (and the company of Renny) in hopes we get more candy... Which we will...

Also update on that King of the Hill thing I was stressing about. 

So Archive.org had EVERY SINGLE EPISODE available for free to watch AND download. The episode I'm working on creating now is the episode "Hank's Got the Willies" featuring guest star Willie Nelson. I watched the episode with my dad last night while it was being ripped to my hard drive. The episode itself was pretty charming, this one in particular is usually one to be skipped in my KOTH marathon but it actually isn't too bad. Highly recommend. 

Anyways, Happy Halloween and to all a good ni- oh wait that's Christmas.

Daddy Daughter Days: Hallo's Eve

That's right my friends. Tomorrow is Halloween. And sadly, my last year of Trick or Treating. And what better way to celebrate than heading to your local bowling alley to meet up with friends! 

That's right, we're off to our monthly "Furbowl" this evening. I'll be going as a "Pink Fox" which is my Pink Lady Costume combined with bits and pieces of my fursuit items. And then tomorrow will be the LAST HURRAH!

But Mariel's train of thought has gone to crap....again.

So back when I was between the ages of 12-13, I made LPS videos. Sometime in June 2016, back when my mom and I were stuck down south while my dad worked where we live currently. He'd come to visit us at least twice a year (once over the summer, and then at Christmas) and we'd work on at least 1 video. One of those being, a recreation of King of the Hill's Pilot episode. 

We took some of my LPS figures, a run of the mill camera, and got to work. Took us roughly a week or so to finish from what I remember. I only managed to go from the Pilot all the way to at least the 4th episode of season 1 followed by the season 13 episode "When Joseph Met Lori" I do have one King of the Hill episode on hand that I HAVEN'T made yet, and that's the season 12 episode "The Courtship of Joseph's Father" my dad and I managed to download it before just about all unofficial sties became infested with threats. 

Which brings us to a pretty big issue...

We can't download official episodes anymore due to what I just said. Now I bet you all are wondering "But Mariel. Can't you just go to YOUTUBE?" Well that WOULD be a good idea. If the episodes weren't split up into separate parts with the worst quality. Even going as far as to skipping entire scenes or bits of dialogue. So no, I won't be going to YouTube to solve my problems. 

BUT!

My dad came to me with a solution. We could try using my DVD player to rip the audio to our computer, thus creating full episodes! If that fails. We'll hopefully find at least something! 

But since I have this extra episode on me, I could probably try my hand at making that while we find a solution. First I gotta get a new LPS to play Joseph since I had painted my old one into an entirely new character. 

This is gonna be one stress inducing project....

Daddy Daughter Days: Oh Deer...

 So my mom and I had to make a few stops last night (mostly getting puppy pads, returning one of my dad's library books, and getting my $20 Estore card) and I thought it would be an easy thing to do! WRONG AGAIN! Right as we're driving down, not 1 but 3 deer come charging across the road. I forgot that it was deer season at this time. 

I actually had a fairly eventful day yesterday. Got in contact with an old friend I haven't spoken too in a year or so, we decided to leave our confidential crap behind us and start anew. Besides, we do a lot of stupid things at a young age that we often times regret. Even if some of it can have a lasting effect. But screw it, the two of us have decided to let bygones be bygones. 

(FYI, don't take my advice completely to heart. Not everyone wants to better themselves. But have faith in the ones who do.)

So tomorrow is my annual fursuit meetup! I'll be bringing my camera this time around since 

A: both of my regular friends won't be there to take pics

B: They made the official FB group private due to safety reasons. 

I'll definitely be posting pics on Halloween for the blog. Stay tuned for that! 

Daddy Daughter Days: Renny the Bunny.

 My Kabu bunny arrived yesterday afternoon after a stressful day dealing with family. 

Renny.

Our darling Renny came in perfect condition just as the seller stated. She also came with a pink shirt and vest combo with the shirt reading "I Believe In Glitter" which my dad mistook for "I Believe in Gluten." which I can understand since cursive is difficult to read sometime (And yes, the gold skirt was included too) 

Nothing too important today other than the usual errands and takeout. But my dad and I were doing some online shopping for our growing collection of bootleg Pokemon figures. And we found some really good deals! Someone had a bag of 24 for only $17 and two bags for $35. Probably gonna try snatching those orders soon. 

On the topic of Ebay, I was doing some clothes shopping for Renny and a few other Build a Bear plushies that will eventually come into our little haven and I did find some cute outfits. 

Only $11 for this look! (If you don't count the $4 shipping)

Speaking of which.... there's a movie I need to look into in the next couple of weeks...

Daddy Daughter Days: Work Work Work!

 Trying to pump out a Halloween short me and my friends made. Just need to animate all of it myself and it'll be finished. And ON TOP OF THAT, I'm trying to work on another creepypasta AND REVAMPED all at once. Plus my nerves have been up the scales since last night... 

Finally showcasing Jackie's "fro" after 4 years.

So a few days ago, my Godmother got sick, thus throwing a wrench in our last few plans before she leaves. She's supposed to go to an urgent care this morning but I'm not 100% how that'll turn out. Wouldn't be surprised if I got MORE ulcers after all this. 

Hopefully my day gets better than it already is now..

Daddy Daughter Days: Baby Steps

 Construction in Hollysburg is going well. I placed some bamboo fencing in the marketplace area which I will be converting into a carnival of sorts. Right now I'm focusing on getting rid of the insane overgrowth of flowers that's been an issue since pretty much day 1. 

Yes, this is an actual photo taken by me. 

Gonna be staying home for a change today. Which I'll be honest, I am actually glad. While shopping and doing fun stuff is always a great thing, sometimes you just need to relax. Plus I wanna focus more on myself and my island. Good news is my dad and I are finally getting back to work on REVAMPED! While that goes on, I'll be continuing on with my Home Movies creepypastas. In fact, I am gonna be airing one tongiht and one tomorrow night. The final creepypasta will air on Halloween night at 10:15 pm est. 

Daddy Daughter Days: Under Construction!

 My island, Hollysburg, is currently undergoing construction right now. The new update is coming out on November 5th (quite a ways away from a certain someone's birthday...) and I wanna make room for some new items. So I asked my mom to use this and next week's allowance towards a $20 Estore gift card since after the past week, I wanna take a short hiatus from shopping. I never thought I'd actually utter those words but there ya go. 

So I have another project to work on with my dad, which I'll see if he can post it to his main blog. But it involves the 20+ Pokemon I got from the flea market yesterday. 

These guys. 

While this does seem like a rather interesting lineup consisting of multiple Pokemon with the wrong color (such as a red clefable and pink gengar) but there is one figure that sticks out the most aside from the freakshow you're seeing right now. 

This young lad

Yep. The people over at Aliexpress made a Pikachu sporting a green top hat along with a matching tie and a cane that isn't even colored in... A little paint can fix that. I haven't seen this particular Pikachu up until now, he must either be rare or was just released. My dad saw this and joking started singing "Puttin on the Ritz" while playing with the figure. So it dawned on me to make a little stop motion video on our new channel using said song. 

But one thing I will need to work on with dad is Home Movies REVAMPED this evening. I've been so caught up with other things lately that neither of us have had time to work on it. 

So the agenda today is I'll be doing my school in the AM before meeting with family for lunch and ice cream. We decided to put the mall off until tomorrow. 

Daddy Daughter Days: Working AND Playing

Had tons of fun yesterday. I'm supposed to head to the flea market with my Godmother, grandma, and uncle. Then afterwards, we'll grab some subs from Wegmans.

If any of you are wondering about those photos I took? Well.... 

FYI: The nachos with bacon and cheese weren't too good as there was more cheese than nacho. Just lettin you guys know in case you just so happen to stop at a Mighty Taco and want to order this pile of yellow liquid.

I'll have a full slideshow on YouTube coming soon. 

Update: Just returned home from the flea market. I got a Dr. Katz DVD (that I accidently forgot to get out of my grandma's purse, way to go doofus.) about 25 or so of those Pokemon figures (along with a free case) and about 5 Build a Bears. 

Name reveal coming soon.

Another thing I got was Weird Al's "Bad Hair Day" CD along with an Ash plush and Sunset Shimmer from My Little Pony. 

Very successful finds! The next week or so, my dad and I are gonna kick back at the house for a while (unless we have our usual Sunday dinner) and so I'll have money saved up for any other shopping spree he and I may go to in the near future.

Turns out I'm headed to the shopping mall tomorrow as well (followed by ice cream) soooooo more Pokemon figures maybe????

Daddy Daughter Days: The Most Sincere Pumpkin Farm.

 

Today's a semi rough day for me mentally. As today is the 6th anniversary of my grandpa's passing. I'm usually one to sweep the more intense emotions under the rug since I was taught in a crummy school that emotions like that show weakness in a person. Enough talking about my woes, here's our plans for today!

1) My mom, Godmother, Uncle, and Grandma will head to the cemetery to pay their respects while I stay at home and down my own thing.

2)  Group will come pick me up to go to the pumpkin farm.

3) Get pizza at a local place that my dad claims he "Goes to ALL THE TIME!" 

4) Family then comes over to watch movies while I occupy myself in my room (Not a big fan of projector films, makes me feel uneasy.) 

After some searching the past few weeks, we found the "most sincere" (and inexpensive) pumpkin farm in the area for all of us to go to, Godmother and I will be getting baked goods while I try my hand at outdoor photography. I did do some outdoor photography months ago when I was at a local meetup with some friends. 

I will be taking my recently added Honey Girls to the farm with me for a little photo op. 

Hello, Viv. 

I'll let father take over from here. 

I'll be staying home and shoveling out the basement so there will be room for chairs. I just bought some clear contractor bags so I can scoop up all of someone's massive pile of plushies and stash them out of the way.  I learned that if one doesn't use the clear bags a person is liable to mistake the thousands of dollars worth of stuffed animals for actual trash, and... well, you've seen Toy Story 3, right?

Daddy Daughter Days: Did Somebody Say Cheesecake????

 This is not a drill, people! 

1) Wait for family to arrive at approximately 1 pm.

2) once they DO in fact arrive, we set off the mall and head to Cheesecake factory. 

I'm not ordering exactly all of these shown here but I'm certainly getting the crispy cheese sticks. Annnnd maybe a slice of carrot cake.

So this morning started off with me and a close friend of mine casually joking about in our typical fashion. Specifically one time where we were on a Discord call and totally making fun of this one Randy Marsh plush we saw on Ebay. 

This plush is so far, only available in Australia and the UK but some have made their way to the US, its one of those cheapy claw machine prizes. I showed the image to my friend and we were both laughing so hard at how bad the quality was. Allow me to add a little quote for you all...

"His head looks like a BALL!!!" -Mariel's friend 2021. 

I will update you all when I return home with my loot. 

Update: Mall day was a success!

Cheesecake Factory was definitely one of the best upscale eateries I've been to in a long time. The food was great, service was a bit pokey due to lack of staff during this stressful time. Now its time for my ratings on the food

Crispy fried cheese: Delicious little cheese wedges sprinkled with a little bit of parm cheese. Highly recommend (10\10)

The "Bacon-Bacon Burger" Really good! They seemed to use that maple bacon for the sandwich which added some nice flavor. Sadly there was so much bacon that I had to take some off! Was a little messy but worth it! (9.5\10)

Stawberry Shortcake: Now how the hell can you mess up a strawberry shortcake? They didn't. Really good cake with a ton of strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Will order next time (10\10)

Overall, Cheesecake Factory was a really good place, but will only be for rare occasions like my birthday or something.

Afterwards, me along with my Godmother and Grandma went to the Build a Bear (as is tradition) where we picked up The Honey Girls! 

(I did get some Animal Crossing pajamas for Viv the bear until we get her a proper outfit)

Thankfully the store was less picked over than it was last time I was there. They had some blind bags with a random bear you could stuff there, but I'll save that for a later occasion. I also got some $10 gift cards that I might use soon. 

Also.... 

.....

Daddy Daughter Days: Glitches

 So I logged onto an Instagram account that I run with a close friend of mine, only to find it only displayed 6 of the 40 something posts. Right now it seems to be working fine but I'll bring it up to my friend next time we talk online. 

Doin the usual Thursday schedule of ordering from our little pizza joint followed by mom doing grocery shopping. So I'm more than likely working on shorts that'll be airing all throughout November. Tomorrow is the annual mall day with my Godmother. My mom will be taking my Uncle to the local hobby shops in the area. 

Did I mention there was Cheesecake involved? 

So many choices.... 🤤🤤🤤

Daddy Daughter Days: The Final Countdown

 Yes I used the title of an overused Europe song, sue me. 

Anyways, the day is finally here. I'll be meeting up with my Godmother and my Uncle for the first time in 2 years. Boy has it been a wild ride. So here's the game plan

1) Boring Old School

2) Go See Dr. Katz (new nickname for my therapist)

3) Relatives arrive at our house (something I was NOT aware of until last night) Wait. What?!?

4) Go out for ice cream

5) Decide where to go for dinner

6) Well....you get it.

I actually have a pretty funny story. 

So I was watching the Fireman Sam episode "Cadet Catastrophe" last night as I was heard its one of the worst CGI episodes. This episode is from season 11 or 12 so this is around the time where the animation was starting to improve. 

The story is that the Junior Cadets (PontyPandy's version of girl\boy scouts. Well, minus the gender part.) are learning about camp safety, and my first minor issue with this show comes from the fact that Mandy and Sarah start fighting within uh, let's see.... THREE MINUTES INTO THE EPISODE! But then, the troop leader for the day, Ellie, had to leave to go find James. Sarah and Mandy then fight over who attaches the propane tank to the grill, then CAUSING A MASSIVE XPLOSION WHERE EVERYBODY DIED! Wait, that wasn't it? Well shit. 

This episode was alright, the whole friends to enemies thing was a bit stupid, but I did get a few laughs over Norman being a simp for Ellie. I give it a 6.5\10

Either way, I've a TON to look forward to today!

Daddy Daughter Days: Tomorrow Is....

 MY GODMOTHER IS VISITING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2 YEARS!!!!!

Which means both me and my dad finally get a well deserved break from our typical father daughter weekend. 

Will resume after this all important visit has concluded. 

So tomorrow we will be meeting up for dinner and ice cream after I finish school and my therapist's appointment. Always good to have some ice cream after seeing a shrink. 

Mother and I got in touch with a few ASD support groups in the area since one of them has a gaming night for kids like me who are on the Autism Spectrum. It seems like something worth trying! Plus it involves video games, you know I won't turn down a good ol game of Mario Kart! 

Now to end this post with a little song from one of my favorite musicals... 

Daddy Daughter Days: Group is Now in Session!

 I had my homeschool group today. We had some leftover candy and played "Apples to Apples" pretty exciting stuff right? but not as exciting as

WEDNESDAY!!!!!!

That's right, we're 2 days away and already making plans! 

The face of an excited neurodivergent and her "Service Dog"

My mom had a doctor's appointment today, leading me to stay home and do some filming while she's out. I started working on a project and is near completion. So before I wrap things up, just thought I'd work on the daily blog! No school for this gal! 

My schedule for today

1) Wake up

2) ?

3) Eat Candy

Woah, woah, woah! You gotta pace yourself!

Peace out. I guess.

Daddy Daughter Days: Costume Controversy

 So my Godmother's flight got moved to Wednesday morning which is fine. I mean its 3 extra days, what could go wrong?

Nothing <3

So my dad and I are doing a Trunk or Treat night at his church I planned on going as Carol MCCormick just for laughs out of some of the adults there, but my dad was concerned that it might not be a good idea to go as a "battered housewife" so I decided to go as Inez from Cyberchase instead. 

So while scrolling about to see if I had a picture of Inez available to show on here.... I found my OLD YOUTUBE LOGO! 

IF any of you are wondering what the text reads... its supposed to say

MarielCatDragonGribble Studios

Pretty questionable name, I know. I was 13 and a HUGEEEEE Joseph fangirl back then. But I will admit my "munksona" doesn't look too bad! Screw it, I'm attracted to both Toki and Joseph. BOOM! 

Back form Trunk or Treating!!!!! Had a ton of fun and a ton of treats! Me and pastor's oldest went looting for whatever was leftover (hint hint, a lot) so we grabbed what we could and let me tell ya, my bag is literally almost overflowing. 

So what did father and I do afterwards?

We did our cheapskate night! With a teensy change of plans. 

We didn't have much money left for the week so we did the smart thing and hopped over to the Dollar Tree. I wound up with Breadsticks, Chicken nuggets and waffle fries, and cookies n cream ice cream sandwiches (which I'll save for later as I've already got MORE THAN ENOUGH sweets) Will update with me and dad's ratings on our meals.

RATING TIMEEEEEE

So the breadsticks were pretty good! My takeaway though is add more cheese, but we can do that ourselves! 7\10

Chicken Nuggies and Fries were great! Fries were a little watery but it didn't really matter. The nuggets were surprisingly good! Nice breading! Definitely gonna buy it again sometime! 9\10

Cinnabun from Fallfest was ok. 8\10

I got a veggie eggroll and a chicken fried rice entrée.

The eggroll came with a duck sauce packet and was pretty darn good! I give it a nine out of ten. 😁

The fired rice, though? Sorry, this one was a three out of ten. 😦

I'm pretty beat from the Fall Fest. We packed up just in time, because within an hour of getting home the rain came. So, a pretty successful October Sunday, all in all! 

Daddy Daughter Days: We Aren't A Puzzle 🙄

 So yesterday I was diagnosed with mild ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) which really isn't all that surprising to be fair. I was always a little quirky compared to the lame neurotypical kids out there. I'll be educating my parents on different parts of the autism community from what I've learned from my other friends who are on the spectrum. 

So what's on the agenda today?

So father and I woke up bright and early to head to that rummage sale. I wound up getting "Mama Mia" on DVD and an Office DVD Board Game. (I couldn't turn down a few Schrute Bucks) 

We will be heading to Savers as well as a few pitstops in a few minutes. See you then, troopers! Aspie out!

Back from Savers! I lucked out today with 5 Build a Bears and a large Squishmallow. 

Gonna turn to my mates in the BAB Discord Server for name suggestions. 

My dad was responsible for finding the AppleJack BAB. I do have an AppleJack from years ago but this one is a lot softer to snuggle up with, compared to my other one that's stiff as a board. See, the Build a Bear in NC would always stuff any of the four legged creatures to with so much filling just to make them stand up better! I do have a few floppy legged ponies in my collection but this AJ is always a great edition!

I think my favorite in today's lot would have to be the German Shepherd (who came with a pink hoodie no less!) 

All of them will be in quarantine for 2-3 days before they meet their new room mates of the plushie household! 

Daddy Daughter Days: In Search Of Plushies.....Again.

 Today is the ANIMAL CROSSING NINTENDO DIRECT! I'm beyond excited for what we as fans are gonna hear about. We all know the topic of "The Roost" is involved since we've been waiting for over a year to get an update on our favorite friendly pigeon, Brewster. 

All we know at the moment is that Brewster is finally making a return, his shop is sadly been demoted back to the museum rather than having his own building entirely like in New Leaf. On top of that, the update is coming in November (just in time for another very important holiday in that same month....no I'm not talking about Thanksgiving.) 

Speaking of exciting events.

Tomorrow is the rummage sale! And there are not one, not two, but FOUR plushies I'm in search of right now. 

These guys.

The origin of these fabulous four plushies will be a chit chat for another day. But FINGERS CROSSED I FIND THEM!

UPDATE: I just finished watching the Direct! Saying that I was completely BLOWN AWAY is an understatement. I won't spoilt too much other than the following.

The update is releasing on November 5th 

Brewster and other characters are being added

A new set of Amiibo cards will be releasing

And lastly, a Happy Home Designer Style DLC will be launched for $25 at the Nintendo Estore. 

Here's the full Direct with all the fix ins! 

Daddy Daughter Days: Trunk Or Treat!

 So my dad and I will be handing out candy at his church on Sunday. We don't have much to work with in terms of decorations since this was a last minute idea. I'm gonna be making a sign to put above the bins saying "Take some....if you DARE" to add to the spookiness. My dad will mostly be in charge of handing out candy since I'll be visiting the other trunk or treaters. 

I actually wound up with a little treat this morning!

So I casually logged onto the Build a Bear Discord server I'm in. Turns out our friends at BABW brought back Bowser and Yoshi! 

Sadly, they are online exclusive only now...

Gosh! Just in time for your godmother's visit? 😁

I remember getting Bowser in stores s couple years ago. I was gonna get Yoshi but COVID came along. 

Also, in February of this year, Build a Bear made an adult line of items for the older collectors out there known as "The Bear Cave" and turns out things are gonna get a little saucy 😏

I'd totally get this if I had an account online. 

Time to turn to good old Ebay for guidance. 

There's also one last thing I'm looking forward to. 

Daddy Daughter Days: In The Home Stretch!

We're 4 days away, folks! But we have a problem....

Like everything else I look forward to, there always has to be some kind of bump in the road. The airline my Godmother's airline, Southwest, has been cancelling flights left and right. They had recently cancelled 18 HUNDRED flights. Mother shot my Godmother an email wondering how this will effect her visit. I was assured that if we know my Godmother, she knows she wouldn't miss this one for the world. 

Unrelated Behind the Scenes stuff from today's Flood Report post

My mom had to get bloodwork done this morning, resulting in us having a light school day AND going out for breakfast. We both needed a well deserved meal. 

At least we have the rummage sale to look forward to the day before Godmother's arrival. 

UPDATE: Got an email back, she's still coming!

Daddy Daughter Days: Minty Minty Minty....

 Welp, I rewatched the very underrated and forgotten about G3 stage show "The World's Biggest Tea Party" Cuz, yknow. Minty is the best pony. But I didn't know there were very important "safety videos" involved that aren't even G3. 

Minty Minty MINTY!

So uh. About those plans on Saturday? Yeah, my dad mentioned something yesterday causing me to push them back to a couple of weeks from now. 

Turns out there's a church rummage sale nearby on Saturday and you know I can't miss a rummage sale. I've already missed a lot with all that saving I did for a concert I never got to attend. Maybe they'll have some BABs for sale? If all else fails. I'll keep Savers as a backup plan.

Church rummage sales are "da bomb!"  As a grade-schooler, I looked forward to the annual Church of the Advent sale every year.  For ten cents you'd get a card and then run around picking stuff out. The volunteers would then write down how much you would pay on the card. At the end of the night they'd cash you out, based on what was written on your card.  Seems like I always walked away with lots of amazing stuff I got for a dime each.  Ah, memories!

Also, 5 more days until the all important date of the 17th. 

Daddy Daughter Days: Time Is Running Out!

 Red alert, dad! Only 6 more days until you know who arrives! 

So I have a somewhat elaborate weekend planned.... Saturday, after dad does at least some chores he wants to accomplish, I thought about having us go to Savers thrift store. One of my main reasons for this is because that place is a GIANT watering hole for Build a Bears. Or, uh....just any plush in general. Not looking for a specific Build a Bear (Other than the Kabu bunny, any Honey Girl doll, or Pokemon) just any that strikes my interest will do. I also have two other stops in mind on the way back. 

1) Salvation Army

There is a location just a block or so away from Savers, so its an easy ride! I've only been to this particular location once 2 years ago and only wound up with a Webkinz snake (new with code) 

2) 5 Below

Again, there's a location just as your driving to Savers. Like SA, I've only been to this location ONCE to look for Squishmallows, but to no avail. Seems like there's a shortage in the area. 

Then on Sunday.... my Aunt will finally be here! (As well as a trunk or treat at church) 

In other news, I've taken up photography on my new meme page "The Flood Report" I'll see if my dad can link it to the post so you can check it out for yourselves. But here's a sample of my work. 

Happy Columbus Day <3

Click here for THE FLOOD REPORT