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Wednesday, 3 January 2024

10 Ideas To Celebrate Festival Of Sleep Day

10.Take a nap.
9.Study why we need more sleep.
8.Indulge in a little me time - grab some popcorn and a drink and settle down to watch your favourite movie or TV show.
7.Do some deep breathing exercises to get you to sleep.
6.Had a rough time sleeping? No problem! Take a nap before 12PM each morning to relax and recharge.
5.Make a collage of people or cartoon characters sleeping.
4.Draw a bed for your favourite cartoon character to sleep on.
3.If you have a headache or a cold, time in bed is the best option.
2.Spend time surrounded by pillows and cushions.
1.Take a nap when you feel like it.

Bearnard Writes A Book - A Review

Bearnard Writes A Book is a delightful, cream-coloured educational story about writing a story, according to a big story-loving bear and his blue neckerchief-wearing goose friend Gertie. Pleased by Bearnard's debut story, Gertie asks for one of his own, so Bearnard tries, but cannot think up a story. Cue the most amazing adventure ever as Bearnard and Gertie travel through different worlds, encountering characters, problems and lots of other quirky things along the way. Eventually, Bearnard goes for a thinking walk and quickly gets inspiration for a new story starring Gertie, who reveals her grandgoose used to write poems.

My favourite part about reading the story is that there is a lot to spot on each page, particularly the character page, when Bearnard and Gertie are attempting to choose their character for their story. There's people of different races included in the mix too, such as a Japanese man, a Chinese woman and a black mermaid character sitting next to a humanoid fish on top of a purple dragon. It also applies to the writer's room, where we see various pages for stories, a tea and coffee area for those who want a recharge and tables for people to write at. If only we had one in real life! And while Bearnard is finally writing a story after his thinking walk, we see flowers growing around him, symbolising his story becoming better and better. And while Bearnard is writing his story during his first attempt on the third page, Gertie is juggling scraps of paper. Cute!

I would definitely recommend this book to people who want to write a story just like Bearnard.

Pretend Play Idea: Perfume Parlour

Get your customers all spritzed up and free from their troubles with my new play idea - the Perfume Parlour! I already invited friends like Little Miss Splendid and Amy and Lulu to my parlour, now YOU can set up a fancy parlour to spritz up your guests with magic perfume!
All you need is:
  • A bottle of your own perfume
  1. Announce that your perfume parlour is open for business, and ask which customer is first.
  2. With each customer that comes to you, ask each one what the problem is.
  3. Spritz them with the magic perfume - there. All better.
  4. Continue doing so with more customers until they are all spritzed up and better.

Tuesday, 2 January 2024

Pretend Play Idea: Spa Day

Time to relax with my new pretend play idea - a spa day! My spa contains a haircut section, a massage table and a bath with lots of bubbles and a bowl of cucumbers for your eyes. I used Vince from Rex The Runt to be my customer, and maybe with your own cartoon friends, YOU can set up a spa like mine, too!
  1. Invite your customer into your spa and show them around.
  2. First, lead him to the haircut section for a shampoo, conditioner and trim, while telling him about all you've been up to (my hair appointments, anyone?) - juicy gossip, for that matter. Invite your guest to read celebrity magazines - or children's books if they're not into sour gossip.
  3. Dry their hair.
  4. Lead your guest to the massage table. Name each part of the body you're massaging as you do. If you're making Vince your customer, you might get clay dog skin all over you!
  5. Put your guest/customer into the bath near the massage table, turn on the bubbles and put cucumbers over his eyes. Engage in a part-time convo about how lucky it is to have a warm bath - add strawberries and chocolate if you want, but watch out for any furry employees!
  6. Heat up the bath by putting the heater on.
  7. Reassure and comfort your guest some more before lifting him out and getting him dry. Watch out for any plasticine if your guest happens to be a claymation character, on your towel of course!
  8. Award your guest with a bouquet of flowers and a heart shaped box of chocolates for a delightful experience at your spa before sending him off.
  9. Ain't that relaxing?

Monday, 1 January 2024

Chip N Dale: Lion O's Biography (A Comic Strip Transcript)

Panel 1:


[Lion O is sitting at a table in the library, with stacks and stacks of his biography, ‘Hail To The Prince’ near him. He is signing copies of the book and giving it to other humans and toons who are lining up and waiting their turn.)


Panel 2:


(Suddenly, a boisterous humanoid puma fangirl who looks like a teenage Pumyra, but with makeup, golden earrings and a blue vest with pink trousers dashes up to him. WHOOSH!]


FANGIRL: OMG, are you Lion O? I am so looking forward to buying your book, oh, haven’t I mentioned that I am your biggest fan? Yes, I am, but to be truthful I have lots of questions to tell you about your show, is it true that your brother Tygra is really in love with Cheetara or-


PANEL 3:


LION-O: (smugly) Tygra is already married to Cheetara in real life.


FANGIRL: Oh.

A Lullaby For Orko

Orko & The Comfy Chair

It was a lovely, lazy day and Orko was prepared to sit back in his comfy red chair with some tasty snacks and drinks, and watch his favourite nature programme on TV. “Aaaaahhhh…after a long day of doing chores, it’s good to kick back,” he said to himself, pouring popcorn into a pink plastic bowl.


He set up the sofa with some popcorn, cookies and crisps, poured some coke into a blue plastic mug and sat back in the red chair. It was all soft and comfy - just how he liked it. Then he turned on the TV. Just in time - Nature’s Wonders was on. “Time for a snack,” Orko smiled to himself under his shadowed face as he tucked into some popcorn.


But wait a minute - it’s Furaha! She’s got her favourite picture book, Dylan The Dinosaur, in her paws. She wants Orko to read her a story! “Orko!” she called. “I see you’re all relaxed. Can you read me a story?” But Orko is into his programme and his snacks, so Furaha storms away.


Orko stops for a moment and looks around. “I’m sure I heard someone calling me to read her a story,” he said to himself, and he went back to his snacks and programme. However, unbeknownst to him, Furaha was using her sharp claws to climb up the back of the chair. She sat on the top of the chair and dangled her tail in front of Orko’s shadowed face. However, instead of noticing her, Orko sneezes from the effect of the tail near his shadowed nose, causing popcorn and crisp crumbs to spatter everywhere.


The third time Furaha tries, she stomps around Orko dressed as a dinosaur. “GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! Read me a story about Dylan The Dinosaur, for I am his teacher at school!” she roars, “If you don’t, then I shall gobble you in pot roast stew!”


The fourth time Furaha tries, she dangles from a rope down from the ceiling and tries to hug him. She swings, and swings, and swings, but suddenly…WHOOSH! Furaha leaps off her rope and lands on the sofa, into a heap of pillows. Luckily, no one was hurt.


During her fifth time, she had run out of ideas and was sitting on the sofa watching pandas eat bamboo leaves on the TV. “Why can’t Orko read me a story?” she sighed, “All he’s into is his nature programme. For goodness sake, why can’t we always have what we want?” Furaha hid her face in her paws and sobbed. It was like Orko didn’t love her anymore. Luckily, Kiburi and Ua, her parents, heard her sobs and went to comfort her. “What’s the matter?” asked Kiburi. “Orko won’t read me a story,” explained Furaha, “He’s too interested in being a couch wizard.” “That’s because he needs time to himself. We’ll just leave him to have his time, and we’ll read you your story.”


So Kiburi and Ua read Dylan The Dinosaur to Furaha, while Orko enjoyed the last few minutes of his programme. But suddenly, something hairy with four legs appeared on the screen. It was a tarantula!


YUCK!


Orko spat out his food and turned off the TV. “NO! I am not watching that. Spiders scare me!” he said. His rest was over. As soon as he went over to Furaha, the young cub was delighted and gave him the softest, warmest cuddle ever given. “Would you like to settle down and listen to the story?” “Yes, I would love to listen to a story. After all, stories are better than big scary spiders anyway.”


So Orko settled down and listened to the rest of the story, happy that Furaha and her parents are by his side, safe near his little sister.


THE END.

Sunday, 31 December 2023

Walking On Ice

Let's face it: when you want to lose weight, going a long way to get to a waterfall doesn't require running at lightning speed. Which is why I made it all the way to Rogie Falls in less than 3 hours.

As my support worker and I drove all the way to the falls, we saw a sheep with a bleeding red bottom, a tall tower and a wooden village shop, plus two huskies. As we got out and walked to the falls, my support worker told me about the fairies and goblins that live in the forest, and the rock trolls that guard the falls. I also added Seal Shamans into the stories, who migrated from Miami in the USA and are worshipped by the Salmon People, who succumb to their spells and become food for them.

The highlight of the walk was crossing an icy path to get to the falls: I was walking on the ice when all of a sudden, I slipped and - PARP! I landed on my bottom. I burst into a crying fit. My support worker reassured me, one man tried to help, but I got up and walked on the grass. Then we had our picnic. There was a little girl carrying a Squishmallow, but I stayed calm even when my support worker brushed me off and I dropped my phone in the dirt. I took a lot of pictures, and when we were walking back, I crossed the grass yet again to get away from the ice.

I was starting to run out of breath, and my support worker was having trouble breathing, so we sat down for a rest and pretended to be dragons breathing the air in and out. I was huffing and puffing all the way to the car park, my heart was beating as fast as a speedy race car and my legs hurt like crazy! Luckily, we made it, and now I feel safe in the car, with a new idea: The Fairies Of Rogie Falls.

The story is about three cat-like fairies who bring Spring, Summer and Autumn to their area with the help of their Rock Troll and Seal Shaman friends. They set out on a quest to find their Winter sister, who lives in the mountains with her polar bear friends, so the circle of seasons would be complete.

Sounds sweet, doesn't it? And now I'm here, writing this blog. Make sure the fairies heal you after you've slipped on the ice!

Saturday, 30 December 2023

Drawing Pictures

On a dark, rainy day indoors, Furaha, Orko and their friends love nothing better than to draw pictures on paper. They get out paper, pencils and crayons and huge rolls of white paper, and immediately start right away, as the rain’s lovely music makes a pitter patter sound on the windows outside.


Although there are some mistakes, like breaking crayons or trying to unroll the paper, everyone just laughs it off and continues anyway. And from what they’ve drawn, four of the drawings each tell a story. Settle back and listen with intent:


In a castle far away (that is thankfully not Eternia) there is a handsome wizard prince Orko, and by his side was his younger sister, Princess Furaha. Both of them tried to act cute, but they still had lots of fun. They ate cheese sandwiches for lunch, shared the same beautiful yellow bedroom and cartwheeled down hills outside. They were given a complete sense of freedom and enjoyed their lives in this majestic kingdom.


One day, they heard a loud growl from far off. So they got up on their trusty steed Minty and galloped towards the scene of the problem. Their journey took them to a dark, dangerous valley, with dry cracked grounds and ancient rocks which spewed lava.


At last, they found the source of the problem: a dragon, all green and purple, who got a thorn stuck in his foot! Orko shrank back, because he was scared of dragons, but Princess Furaha couldn’t be able to pull the thorn out without his help, so she said, “If you help out, the job will be done in double quick time.”


So Orko felt the fear and did it. And guess what? The thorn was out! Orko produced some bandages from his sleeve and wrapped it around the dragon’s cheesy foot. Although his feet smelled bad, Princess Furaha sprayed it with Orko’s magic perfume, and the dragon became much sweeter and kinder.


The whole kingdom celebrated with a massive party in the village, and the dragon was of course a guest of honor. And guess what all the villagers had? Don’t tell the dragon…cheese sandwiches!


The next drawing is by Hack and Slash. Let’s see what they’ve drawn through the next story:


Once upon a time, Furaha and Orko went to the funfair to have a great time and enjoy the rides. They went with Hack and Slash, who enjoyed a good trip to the fair since all the rides were mechanical like them.

Good Luck Doggo!

Hey hey hey...

BIG NEWS! I JUST GOT A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM LEIGH-ALLYN BAKER, AKA AMY FROM GOOD LUCK CHARLIE! Oh, yes, she did this special video in person. You see, I was having a confidence crisis in the past few days, but suddenly, the mum from a Disney Channel sitcom - Amy - was talking to me. She explained that I must write a children's story - I'm not just talking about kids' stories, I'm talking about any kind of writing I do. Stories, poem, fanfiction, songs, anything. She explained that she wrote what she felt, liked and needed, and she tamed the little evil voice in her head, AKA Gragh - but telling her to be quiet and take a backseat, and if she can write a children's story, I can.

So now I have a boost in confidence thanks to this video message, which I can play anytime I feel low and out of joint. So a huge thanks to my mum who made this meeting possible, complete with interruptions from Amy's real dog Cosy...now when that comes to mind, I'm thinking of the dog Posy from those Tucker videos that feature real dogs speaking doggo lingo.

Stories, here I come!

Friday, 29 December 2023

BITING DOG ALERT!

Today my support worker and I took the dog out for a walk. For one part of the journey, I was left to carry the 'Poo Bags Of Shame', but I was relieved when I put it in the bin. It wasn't too icy, leaving plenty of time for me to spend with Mylo and my support worker.

After our walk, we went to my support worker's house in the country to have breakfast. To my surprise, all her pussies were there: Putzell, Princess and Angel. Putzell's fur is very soft, and of course, Angel's was soft too. Angel WAS glad to see her auntie Sybil again. While I was watching videos about PBS Kids shows and My Little Pony and the like, my support worker suggested something about a play - I suggested a show for the whole family. A musical! Using puppets! My support worker showed me a few puppets on her phone - some looked like ugly duckling aliens, and some looked like chipmunks mixed with old men. We did start the videos off with the usual Compare The Meerkat adverts starring Aleksander and Sergei, but then it shifted to more tasteful things like ponies swearing and making goofy facial expressions, PBS Kids funding and lovely music that even sent Angel off to sleep.

And guess what greeted me when I came home?

That's right....A BITE FROM MYLO!

"Mylo Bit My Finger - now available to watch on Youtube."

Also available to watch on Youtube:

Cradled In The Leaves

All was peaceful and quiet in the jungle, save for the sound of tropical birds singing their paradisiacal tune to serenade a young lioness cub to sleep. Her name is Furaha, and she’s only a baby, living under the care of Orko, her big wizard brother. Here he is, cradling her in his arms, singing a lullaby:


“Hush little Furaha, Orko’s right here

To whisper soft things into your tiny ears,

And when the day comes and you finally rise,

The day will come with me as a surprise.”


Orko carried Furaha to the large, big enough for two leafy hammock which they both like to share, and settled her in the soft gentle greenery. He wrapped her up in a little palm leaf, so she looked like a baby caterpillar in a cocoon. He kissed her softly and said, “Sleep tight. Don’t let the giant ants bite…even though they were around years ago. Geez, they should be sent to ant jail.”


Orko sat by the tree and produced a book from his sleeve. He settled down and began to read. It was very peaceful, with him keeping watch over his baby sister there wasn’t a problem in the world…until he heard a wailing noise coming from nearby. Orko looked around to see where the wailing noise was coming from…and when he looked, he saw. Baby Furaha was crying loudly. “Oh no…” he groaned. “What does she want now?”


At that moment, Orko’s friends Pikachu and Treecko entered the whole scene. “Pika?” asked Pikachu, which meant, “What’s the problem?” “It’s Furaha. She’s started crying and I don’t know why.” “Treecko,” explained Treecko, which meant, “Maybe you just need to give her some milk. That always soothes us Treecko babies.” So Orko produced a baby bottle and a fresh pint of milk from his sleeve. He poured the milk into the bottle and screwed the cap back on. He took the wailing lioness cub in his arms and began to cradle her, asking her softly, “Does baby want a nice bottle of milk?” and “Does baby want a little rockybyes?” Pikachu was adored by this and hugged Treecko, who wasn’t at all amused. Furaha was calm again, and Orko placed her back into the hammock so she can fall asleep soundly. But the peace wasn’t to last, for as soon as Orko and his two Pokemon friends had settled down, Furaha started crying again!


“Not again…” growled Orko. “Pika-pi,” said Pikachu, which meant, “Relax, there’s another way, you know.” “Treecko,” muttered Treecko, which meant, “That’s right. You could try cradling her and whispering soft words into her tiny ear. That’s what you said in your lullaby, right?” “Mmm-hmmm!” nodded Orko.


He gently took the tender, tiny lioness cub in his arms and held her close, comforting and soothing her like any brother would do to a newborn. “Ssssssshhhhh…there’s a good girl. Brother’s here, it’s all okay. There. You’ll feel safe and warm and protected in my care.” As Orko continued hugging and reassuring Furaha, the young cub stopped crying and at once felt whole and content. Pikachu at once felt tired and settled down to sleep just as Orko placed baby Furaha back into the hammock. But once again, the silence was broken by Furaha’s crying, yet Pikachu still kept sleeping.


“TREEEEEEECKO!” screeched Treecko, which meant, “This is too much! Do something, Orko!” “Maybe I’ll use my magic to make the whole place quiet so Furaha can get some sleep.” So, wiggling his bony fingers, he said some magical Trollan words, and in an instance everything flashed and turned grey and completely silent, minus the howling of wind. No one can be heard speaking at the time, so here’s what Orko and Treecko said:


“Oh no, what have I done?”


“Treecko!” (“It’s all your fault, Orko. You’ve made one attempt at making the entire jungle quiet and now you’ve made everything grey and dull and mute. Plus, our dialogue has turned into annoying little subtitles which no one wants to put on their screen at the moment. It’s not fair.”)


“Subtitles? I didn’t know there were subtitles!”


“Treecko!” (“Well get a move on and do something to get the subtitles away from whoever is reading this!”)


“Okay, us Trollans are known for reversing magic spells gone wrong by saying spells in reverse. Lemme try.”


So Orko said the spell in reverse, and in a flash, the jungle was restored to more colour and sound. “Treecko,” sighed a relieved Treecko, which meant, “Thank goodness, those subtitles are really starting to get on my nerves.” But Furaha was still crying! Orko felt like crying himself, so he sat down near the tree and sobbed. By that moment, Pikachu was waking up, and saw Orko crying. He looked at the crying cub. Then he looked at the crying wizard. He approached Orko and leapt onto his lap. “Pika, Pikachu, pi pi, Pika.” he squeaked, which meant, “What this cub really needs is you by your side.” Orko felt heartwarmed by what Pikachu said. “You mean…she needs me?” he said, wiping his tears away. Pikachu nodded.


“Furaha!” he cried, and he leapt into the hammock beside his baby sister, cuddling her. At once, she stopped crying and began to cuddle with her big brother. Orko kissed and hugged his baby sister, as only a big brother can, while Pikachu and Treecko looked on with warm hearts. Now everyone can get to sleep, and that includes Pokemon.


“I finally understand why you’re crying, Furaha,” said Orko, wiping a tear from his eye, “You needed me. Not a hug, not some milk, some love. Love is the best medicine for a crying cub like you. It happens all the time.” Orko yawned, as did his sister. Both of them snuggled down and relaxed, until they were finally tired. Stroking his big brother’s cloak, Furaha snuggled right up to her big brother as they and their two friends drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Thursday, 28 December 2023

Sunshine

Furaha woke up. She was in a dark room, in bed, with only one window lit by one beam of sunlight. She tried looking around for Orko, but he wasn’t there. The bed she was sleeping on was hard and uncomfortable, and the duvet covering her was itchy and rough. Just then, a huge plume of darkness hovered over the light. Furaha screamed!


Furaha woke up. This wasn’t a dream. She was in the clean, boundaryless countryside - a patchwork of grass and flowers, with a huge oak tree standing near the beach, which was carpeted with golden sand and deep blue water. By her side, Orko was fast asleep, but woke when he heard Furaha breathing heavily. “Furaha, are you okay?” “I had the dream again,” worried Furaha, “I was trapped in this one room, with an uncomfortable bed and an itchy duvet on top of it. They never let me leave to see the sunlight. They even covered the room up with complete darkness! Oh, woe is me…” “Don’t be scared, Furaha,” reassured Orko, “Dreams like these are dark, I know, but let’s enjoy our time in the sunshine to get rid of our fears and have a little fun.” Furaha wondered for a minute, then she lit up. “Such a room as this never exists!” she squeaked in a positive way, “Race you into the meadow!”


Furaha and Orko raced into the meadow and ran (or floated if it’s Orko) freely across the long green grass. Furaha instantly forgot about the dream as she felt the wind in her little furry face, blowing the rest of her fur as she ran like she had never run before. Orko felt the wind blowing his ears and flapping his cloak and scarf, as he felt a freedom he didn’t feel back in Eternia, when he was forced to work and slave away under He Man’s orders.


They ran across a part of the meadow where some seagulls were nesting. Furaha roared loudly, scattering them all in different directions, and she and Orko screamed with laughter as they watched the seagulls fly away, squawking maniacally like a thousand mad scientist ladies. At last, Furaha screeched to a halt at the edge of a cliff, where she saw a whole field of yellow and pink flowers. Orko arrived as she said, “Hey…last one in’s scented.”


The two took hold of each other hand in paw and leapt into the flowery meadow, scattering flowers everywhere. Furaha and Orko emerged, laughing away as they rolled in the flowers to indulge in their sweet scent, and watched butterflies flitter about, collecting nectar. Sometimes they lay down amongst the flowers and watched the clouds float overhead and take shape. It was so relaxing.


When they arrived back in the meadow a few minutes later, Orko and Furaha climbed up a tree and sat down on the branches to watch over the whole world. To them, the tree was just like a leafy fortress - something which they can look at the world from in the distance without any armies to tear them to the ground. It was the only castle they’ve ever been raised in. Something which nature can allow them to live in. After a while, Furaha felt really sad. “What’s the matter?” asked Orko. “The dream - it’s coming back into my head.” explained Furaha calmly, “Trapped…abandoned…never being allowed to see the sun ever again.” “It’s what gives us vitamin D, the sunshine,” said Orko softly, “But still, at least we have each other. You’re never going to be trapped again.” “Really?” “Yep, never in a million years.” Furaha, delighted with what she heard, hugged Orko gently, feeling the softness of his velvety cloak as she kissed his shadowed face. Orko was always there for her, even during tough times.


After this consolation, they safely clambered down from the tree to play on the beach. They ran across the sandy dunes. They made hand or paw prints on the sand and watched them get washed away by the waves. They ran into the water and splashed about, even going so far as to swim in it, then lie back and look up at the beautiful blue sky. It was so relaxing (for the second time in this story).


By the time they left the beach, the sun was setting and the sky was painted in tropical orange hues. Furaha and Orko settled under the tree and snuggled next to each other. “Aaaaaaahhh…” sighed Furaha as she nuzzled into Orko’s chest, “I’m glad we all have each other after such a bad dream as this.” “Goodnight, Furaha.” “Goodnight, Orko, nothing bad is ever going to happen to us ever again.”


But somewhere across the world, a young grey furred lion cub woke up in his dirty, poorly conditioned house. War was raging outside, as armies battled over who gained control of their power. The windows were dirty and smashed, and little balls of fire flew through the window, setting the cub’s entire bedroom on fire. His bed was dirty and covered in stains and smelly wet patches. Cries of “Quick, get out of there!” and “There’s no time, leave him!” echoed from the other room as the cub hid under the duvet and prayed he would find a better future…


And now, here he was, in a tranquil place among the clouds. He is now fitted with a soft white robe and an angel’s halo, or a thingamajig, and walking slowly towards the pearly gates. Before entering, he says a prayer so difficult it’s hard to put into the story. The prayer gives him access into Heaven, where he sees a whole entire meadow of lion and lioness cubs who have lived in poor conditions like him playing and having fun. A golden furred lioness cub takes his paw and leads him into his new found freedom, while the voice of Furaha echoes through the clouds:


“Alas, where true sunshine shines is where a better place lies in wait for you.”


THE END.