Category Archives: NaBloPoMo

A comfortable post: Ignoring the prompt

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Hello, Fluffsters! Today, I’m ignoring the prompt. It’s a nice enough prompt, I suppose, but I’m just not in the mood for it.

So today, I’m going to talk about some ways to break the ice at gatherings or with groups of people.

Without further ado:

3 great ways to break the ice.

One: Hit it with a mallet. This serves a dual purpose. First you have successfully broken the ice. In fact, you may have shattered it. It probably depends in part on what size ice you’re using. Of course, finding a mallet at a party might be a little difficult. So I guess you can just throw it on the ground.

Oh. A pun. Very funny, Webmaster.

I hope your other two options are at least somewhat reasonable.

Why, thank you Fluffy! And yes, don’t worry.

Two: wait for someone else to break the ice. This doesn’t always work, but it’s sometimes nice. Especially if you’re shy and you don’t quite know the best etiquette for your situation. And somebody’s going to break the ice at some point, right?

Three: Ask a random question.

No. NOT Muffin Flavored Shrimp AGAIN?!

I was actually just going to link to the FAQ page, but now that you mention it, yeah! Muffin flavored shrimp are a great ice-breaker! Either you get an odd and enjoyable conversation going, or you’ve figured out who the relatively boring people are, and have likely gotten them to leave you alone! Win-win, right?

Anywho, Fluffsters, what do you do to break the ice?

By the way, you realize that you never gave a second reason for using a mallet for #1, right?

Woops.

Comfort Music(NaBloPoMo 9)

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Only 9 days, and I’m starting to get really tired about writing about Comfort…

So today, I’m going to do another short post.

Today’s “Comfort Challenge” is:

What song do you play to bring yourself comfort?

Hmm. Two options here:

1) Songs I play on the flute: Yep, I play the flute. It’s a lot of fun. Anyways, I default to practicing “Aviary” from Carnival of the Animals, “Badinerie” by Bach, and Concertino by Chaminade. They’re delightful pieces, and have sections that are supposed to go fairly quickly. There’s nothing quite like playing really fast on the flute! I also sometimes just play random stuff, and listen to how it turns out.

2) Music I play from a computer or player: I really like the Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Disney music is also a lot of fun! I think I have a lot of music from Beauty and the Beast, Enchanted, and Lion King memorized. And maybe Aladdin, too. It’s fun! Oh, and definitely Star Wars music. There is NOTHING like it. Except maybe for other music by John Williams.

Oh, and the Muppet Treasure Island soundtrack. Seriously, it’s fantastic. Of course, it’s also Hans Zimmer, so that’s not too surprising. But I love that movie, and the music is delightfully whimsical.

I mean, how cute is this?

But how about you, Fluffsters? Do you have any favorite comfort music?

The Smell of Comfort: NaBloPoMo 8

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Wednesday! Wow, how did it get to be Wednesday already?

Anywho. Today’s Blog Post on Comfort prompt asks:

Do certain smells make you feel instantly comfortable?

For me the answer is “Yes.” At home, we have three of the loveliest scents during the spring.

The first is the scent of citrus blossoms. It is one of the most beautiful scents in the world. And we have at least three citrus trees that normally bloom each year.

Seriously, the scent of citrus blossoms is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It’s made that much better because it also means “home” for me.

The Second “comfort scent” is the smell of jasmine blossoms. Those also grow at home.

I think I’m detecting a theme here…

Yup. Jasmine is a very close second for favorite scent. In fact, some days I’m totally tied between night-blooming jasmine and the citrus blossoms. The Jasmine has the advantage of blooming around the entire neighborhood. So whenever I would take my two puppies on walks with my sister during a certain time of the year, the scent would be heavenly. It’s got such a delicate scent!

The third “comfort scent” is my Dad’s spiced cider. That, more than anything else, symbolizes the coming of the holiday season. He takes a few gallons of apple cider, several tangerines, and a handful of cinnamon sticks, puts them into a big vat, and lets it stew for a while. The cent of cinnamon, warm cider, and tangerine fills the entire house. It’s seriously impossible not to relax around that scent. It’s another one of my favorites.

That sounds nice.

It was similar for me. Whenever we arrived at our newest location, my Mother would bake her specialty cinnamon cookies. Whenever we smelled that, we knew that we had found a good location to set up camp, and that we wouldn’t be traveling for a while. It was essentially as though we had come home. For after all, it was home for however long we were there.

Aww, that’s sweet!

Anyways, Fluffsters, what about you? Are there any scents that smell like “comfort” to you?

When I Want a Comfort Food… (NaBloPoMo 7)

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Hello, Fluffsters!

Today’s question from the National Blog Post Challenge Thingamabop (official term) is:

What makes you reach for a comfort food?

The answer to that one is fairly easy. I’m currently a student. So, tests. And projects due. And more tests. And more projects.

In other words, “stressors.”

And I’m not really sure what else to write about for this topic. And this is slightly stressing me out. Especially since I don’t have any chocolate chip cookies… Or any of my comfort foods.

Oh, so I guess I can put “tricky blog-posts” on the list of things that make me want comfort foods…

Anyways, happy Tuesday! I hope your week goes well.

Comforting Foods (NaBloPoMo 6)

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Hello again, Fluffsters! Happy Monday!

Now, I understand that Mondays can be a trying time. But we can get through this… together!

Brassicae, now you’re just sounding like one of those cheesy shows our competitors put on!

Uh… Well, I haven’t seen any of your competitors’ shows. So I don’t know how to respond.

But anyways. As I was saying. Mondays can be trying, but there are some things we can do that bring us comfort.

Oh, so that was just a way of reminding everyone of the challenge you’re trying to do for a month, then?

You got it! And today’s question is:

What is your biggest comfort food? Share the recipe if you have one.

So, I’m not entirely sure how to take that. There are two ways, really. Is the question about Big as in Size? Or Big as in most emotionally Impactful?

Is “impactful” even a word?

…That doesn’t really matter. And it is now.

That doesn’t answer my question though.

So go with both.

Oh. Right.

In that case.

Biggest Size Comfort Food

Mom’s Hamburger Stroganoff. Or her Chicken Noodle Soup. Definitely. I could eat a huge serving of either of those and still want more. I unfortunately don’t have the recipe immediately available, but they’re really comforting for me.

I’ve always loved her chicken soup. It’s just a taste of home, and something she would try to make when we were sick to make us feel better. And then we’d have chicken salad the next day for lunch, with fresh chicken. That was always amazing. Especially with grapes. Or maybe apples.

And the stroganoff? That actually has a bit of a funny story behind it… For a while, my parents were trying to do the “low carb” diet. I sort of objected, since I loved pasta. (I still do, actually.) But we sometimes went to potlucks. And the stroganoff is a fairly easy dish, and the best part is that it calls for noodles. (Egg noodles especially.) Sometimes for dinners at home, Mom would make a stroganoff casserole that was pretty good, but it didn’t have pasta. And so that was never as much a favorite for me. But when she made stroganoff for the potlucks, she would always make the egg noodles to go with. Because of that, I really loved the stroganoff. It’s also just really good. I mean, really. Ground beef, sour cream, mushrooms, and onions? How can you go wrong with that?

Biggest Emotional Comfort Food

That is so much harder. I’m a fan of many chocolate desserts. I’ve already posted the recipe for my variation on chocolate chip cookies, which I love. But cheddar cheese and apples are another one. There’s something just really comforting about having that for a snack. Or anything dark chocolate. Nuts, dark chocolate M&Ms, and raisins combine to form a great trail mix. And my flourless chocolate cakes are also very good! If I do say so myself. Oh, and most Mexican food. Or any food that involves HUGE amounts of melted Cheddar. (Except cheeseburgers. I do not like those.)

So in other words, I’m not at all sure about the second category.

So, Fluffsters, what’s your favorite comfort food?

I guess I’m sleep-typing (NaBloPoMo 2)

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Hello again, everyone!

And if you’re here from the BlogHer challenge, Hi! Welcome! I’m glad you’re here. If you want to comment below to let me know you’re here, I’d love to meet you via the Interwebz!

Anywho, I know that you’re here for the content. So I’d like to get there. But I’m actually a bit confused by today’s prompt. You see, it’s:

Do you still sleep with a stuffed animal now?

And now? I’m writing this blog post. So how can I still be asleep?

Simple. This is a dream. You’re sleep-typing.

…Oh. Why didn’t I think of that?

…Nevermind.

So, if you are sleep-typing, are you sleeping with a stuffed animal?

Technically, no. At least probably not. I can’t quite tell; it feels so much like I’m awake! But if I am asleep, I’m either using my bright orange squish pillow, my absolute favorite doll of all time (that once again my sister gave me; the doll’s been mine since before I can remember) or maybe the felt superhero one of my really good friends sewed for me. Or maybe nothing. As I said it all depends.

That sounds comfortable.

It is. So, Fluffy, what about you?

I’m sort of trapped in the internet, remember? I’m your website’s personality?

But if I’m sleep-typing, I must be in the land of dreams, right? That means that you’re also here, in the land of dreams. So you can’t be in the internet.

That… almost made sense.

Well, back home, Peeves would normally cuddle. I haven’t really slept with a fake animal for a while. Not since Peeves grew sturdy enough to sleep in bed with me. So, after dinner I guess I slept with a stuffed animal!

Aww, that sound’s cute!

Well, if I’m dream typing, I may as well wish you all a happy Thursday anyways. Who knows, maybe this will actually be a genuine blog post for Thursday morning?

And how about you, readers? Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Or something comfortable?

Favorite Stuffed Animal (NaBloPoMo 1)

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Hello, everyone! Happy May!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m going to be trying to participate in a NaBloPoMo thingamabop. So if you’re here from that, welcome! I hope you enjoy this site!

Anywho. Today’s prompt is

“Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or lovey as a child? Tell us about it.”

Before I answer… Fluffy, did you?

…Of course you’re having me answer this before answering it yourself.

As it happens, I’m not entirely sure what your world means by stuffed animals… Peeves was a bit stuffed after she ate too much. But is that really what you mean?

Oh. I can see where that would be confusing!

But no. Stuffed animals are animal toys, usually fairly soft. Actually, I’m surprised I haven’t featured more of them; they fit Total Fluff perfectly!

When I was younger, for example, I used to have a lot of stuffed animals. Beanie Babies, Disney character animals, other miscellaneous stuffed animals, I loved them.

It made me so happy when I got my first horse stuffed animals one Christmas, shortly after I started horseback riding lessons. One was from my sister. It was a fairly big appaloosa stuffed animal, with a lovely red scarf around its neck. Because I was so original, his name was Apple.

Sometime shortly after that, one of my really good friends from that time got me a smaller appaloosa.

One of my two absolute favorite stuffed animals, though, is a GIGANTIC PINK UNICORN. Again, my sister got that one for me!

One of my other favorite stuffed animals was Chip the Cat. He’s an example of a pillow-pal, I believe, by TY. He was a birthday gift one year from a very good friend. When I got him, he was the softest thing in the world. At this point, he’s a little worn. But he’s still one of my other favorites.

But I got distracted. Does that explanation of “stuffed animals” make more sense?

Ok. I know what you’re talking about, now! And yes, I had one. And it was my favorite.

My parents, on my fifth birthday, gave me a toy that looked exactly like Peeves. I loved it, and brought it with me everywhere. I eventually outgrew it, of course. But I think my parents still have it somewhere. It might still even be used as one of the props in their performances sometimes.

Aww, that’s sweet!

You didn’t tell me you were going to get sentimental on me. Otherwise, I might not have said anything!

Why do you think I didn’t warn you about sentimentality?

… Good point.

But anywho. How about you, readers? Did you have a favorite stuffed animal when you were growing up?

Heads Up-date: NaBloPoMo

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Hello, everyone! Just letting you know, I signed this blog up for a “challenge” thing.

…You did what?

I signed up for a themed “National Blog Post Month” (NaBloPoMo) Challenge thingamabop.

So, are you going to elaborate on that? Or are you leaving us in suspense as to what that means?

Oh, explanations! Right! Sorry!

Basically, what this means is that I’m supposed to write a blog post every day for the month of May. And hypothetically, the blog posts are supposed to relate to the theme of “comfort”. It’s sponsored through a group called BlogHer, and, well, instructions for the challenge can be found here.

Now, hypothetically this won’t impact your reading experience that much. I may use their prompts, I may not. If I do, it will be because the prompt seems fairly fluffy. If I don’t, it’s because I wanted to do something different. But I thought you might want to know anyways. The challenge starts tomorrow, so that should be fun!

You and I may have a different sense of the word “fun”…

What? I’m looking forward to asking some of the questions in the prompts!

Oh. Dear. Yup, you have a very different definition of the word “fun”.

Well, tough. Live with it.

Anyways, happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope your week goes well.