Kittens and Catastrophes

I'm pleased to announce that I've finally perfected square dinner.

Important part of square dinner is that it's made in a square silicone liner inside the air fryer (see below image from a previous, more messy square dinner). The silicone stops the mess from being messy. The good news is: this is a one-pot dish.

The squinner from last night was made with a base of frozen hash browns, chicken fingers, and bacon bits cooked until crispy. The potato product used can be swapped out (I've used tater tots the most, and you can see above I've used regular french fries) as can the protein (I actually think popcorn chicken is the ideal size for this dish, but I've used nuggets and tenders and cooked ground beef and presumably one could use just about anything—I'm using what we have in the freezer). A few minutes into cooking I added a chopped tomato—I'd also use mushroom, spinach, zucchini or other soft veg if we had it. Open the draw and stir occasionally, you want the bacon and potato to crisp as much as possible. If you're adding a lot of veg, you might want to add it in layers so everything has a chance to cook.

For me it takes about 20 minutes for everything to crisp up. Then I add cheese, several eggs, and more cheese. If I haven't added tomatoes, I'll add tomato paste. I usually do the eggs unbeaten, but that's personal preference—it'll come out more like a quiche if you beat your eggs first.

Cook until the egg is cooked and the cheese is crispy on top. The egg is what really gives it the square dinner ability to hold together. It takes about 10-12 minutes for me to cook through 3-5 eggs thoroughly—though if you'd prefer em a little runnier, a 5-7 minute cook is alright too. It won't hold its shape as well if it's runny, but maybe you aren't here for the shape. I don't know you.

This is nothing special. It's mostly frozen yellow foods baked together by egg. It's kinda like a fucked up pizza. Tell u what though my autism is satisfied as hell.

ralsei: kris needs me to be a princess?

cuptain: no, just "darlings." they can be any ge-

ralsei: i'd do it for kris! i'd change my whole gender for kris if they asked! haha!!

cuptain: you don't need to do that-

ralsei: it will be strange being called "she" and "her," but i'll get used to it!! for kris!!!

cuptain: one of the other darlings is rouxls.

This might be my favorite inside cover inset, because it does actually look like a science text illustration and the need to show multiple magnifications at once is hilarious.

I love picturing K.A.A. writing this book with a pocket calculator and a scratch pad on the desk next to her, forced to figure out if you start with a 0.0625-inch human, and then reduce that human by half, and then have that human turn into a proportional humpback whale (how many 4'3" humans in a 45' whale?) and you also have a 0.0625-inch red-tailed hawk who then turns into a proportional human (how many 20-inch birds in a 5'1" human?)... What is the relative size of the human morph to the whale?

Seriously, though, there are so many aspects of the physics of shrinking that this book gets into that I haven't seen in any other kids' book. Sure, there's lots of "small objects looked big" but the stuff about relative speed and strength changing, or how a larger animal would be more delicate but a smaller one would be more subject to physical forces... All of that is pretty technical, but in a really fun plot-driven way.

Ax, bby! Panicking about controllers potentially seeing him turn from an andalite to a human! Only to have Rachel point out that he's literally the only actual andalite on the team and that this will not, in fact, reveal anything about their identities. Poor kid. We've all been there.

On second thought, does the thing with helmacrons killing their own leaders... actually make sense? Because Visser Three says helmacrons are "a fungible species. Kill one and its mind... is absorbed into another. They never die" (p. 150). So like, is there an actual logic to Elect Wise Leader => Kill Her => Receive Her Wisdom => Discuss in Committee What She Would've Done? Okay, I was not expecting that absurdist detail to have that much fridge logic to back it up.

Canes come in a HUGE variety of colors, styles, materials, and ways to decorate it. As long as it's the right length, sturdy enough for your weight, and has a non-slip tip there's a good chance it'll do for you*.

Additionally: there are a lot of assholes that don't want you to take care of yourself this way. People who use accessibility aids despite the social pressure not to and their own internalized ableism are powerful people.

Additionally additionally: You are not taking anything away from anyone else when using your own personal cane or rollator. You're just making it easier for other people to exist while using them.

Smut fans: *gasp!!!!!*

Writer: So They Spooned All Night And The Brooding One Allowed Themselves To Feel Vulnerable For The First Time In Years And The Chirpy One Got Some Quality Snuggles

There was only one bed and so they lay there together, only inches apart physically but it may as well have been miles for neither could muster the courage to tell the other the true depth of their feelings and so they lay there sleepless in their mutual pining

Angst fans:

Hurt/Comfort fans:

My sleep deprived ass:

Me, who just wants domestic curtains found family fic:

Enemies to lovers fans

My OT3-loving ass:

It turned out to be a defective Murphy bed and it trapped them in the wall.

Crack fic fans:

This Garden of Lies — Submitted by gkdeamon 

They're smart fuckin birds, I believe in them