We have new kitten.

I know, I know. I don’t need 4 cats. It was never in the plan to have 2 cats, much less 4. But here we are… we have added a 4th (and absolutely final) cat to our home. And ya know what? I’m not sorry about it either. Adding a 4th cat is more responsibility and more money, but I truly believe we were meant to have this 4th cat. So with that said, I’d like to introduce you to our new little girl.

Hello Thea

Continuing our tradition of naming our cats after DC characters, Thea (aka ‘Speedy’) is the younger sister of Oliver Queen (The Green Arrow). This name fits her remarkably well. Much like her namesake, our little girl has a bit of a rough and complicated backstory.

Remember a few weeks back, I talked about Hurricane Matthew and our experience with it? Well Thea was rescued by a young couple during the storm. She was all alone and pretty roughed up. She was approximately just shy of 5 months old at the time (based on her weight and teeth), so it’s unclear how long she was out in the wild or where she came from.

Problem is… the boyfriend of this couple was super allergic to her.

During the week of the storm, we were cat-sitting the Foster Floofs. Remember them? I didn’t really talk about them much here, but we participated in a fostering program over the summer and fostered 2 female kittens, Dinah and Midna. They were adopted by a family in our neighborhood. They left them in our care during the storm so that they could take their kids somewhere less stressful.

During that same time, a young woman who has parents that live in our neighborhood, started posting in our Facebook community groups about Thea. I was apprehensive. Something told me that I wanted her… but my gut kept telling me something wasn’t right.

I asked about her anyways.

Thea hadn’t seen a Vet. She hadn’t had her shots, wasn’t tested for feline leukemia, and as far as I could tell, the people who had her really didn’t know anything about her. So unfortunately, I had to decline. I had our 3 cats to think about and the safety of 2 kittens not much older than Thea to consider.

The Foster Floofs went home the following the week, and I started receiving private messages from the woman who had Thea. She really wanted someone to take her, and offered to take her to the vet for a checkup and her shots. Based on this, I agreed to consider adopting her – pending Jeremy’s approval of course.

We Adopted Thea!

Jeremy didn’t want to tell me ‘No’, but he didn’t want to say ‘Yes’ either. I could tell he wasn’t super excited about the prospect of having a 4th cat… and admittedly, I wasn’t sure about it either. The fact that Thea was from outside and she hadn’t had her checkup was alarming.

I had to remind myself that while we adopted Harley from Charleston Animal Society, we don’t really know where she came from either. And so, I agreed on us adopting Thea… pending her trip to the Vet.

Once I knew Thea had been to a vet and had received her first set of shots, she was brought over to our home. It was then that things got kind of crazy and I realized Thea was meant to be part of our family.

Strike 1

There’s no nicer way for me to say this… The couple who rescued Thea are totally clueless. They clearly know nothing about caring for kittens – especially one from outside. This became apparent within the first 12 hours of having Thea.

You see… she was super sick. I knew when she got her that she had a kitty cold – her eyes and nose were pouring. I wasn’t really happy about that. It was never mentioned to me that Thea was sick, despite me being very firm and up front about not being able to take on a sick cat when we had 3 otherwise healthy cats to maintain.

They didn’t even realize she was sick.

Strike 2

When they dropped Thea off to us, they gave me 2 syringes of medication for her. They couldn’t seem to tell me what it was for. I assumed it was antibiotics and I put it in the fridge right away. They hadn’t refrigerated them and being unsure of what it was for, I made plans to call the Vet they took her to the following morning.

They also gave us some toys she’d been playing with, litter, a litter box far too large for her age and size, a big bag of canned food, and a ridiculously large bag of adult cat food.

This is when I realized that they didn’t really know what they were doing or how to take care of a kitten.

Strike 3

The following morning, I called the Vet they had taken Thea to. I let them know that I had acquired Thea and I was looking for information about what went on during her exam, what the medication was for, etc.

That’s when I was informed that there was NO EXAM. They did the basics, of course. They gave her a once over, took her weight, etc. But there really was no formal examination and the medication they were given was for worming. She received her shots, but hadn’t been tested for Feline Leukemia.

If you don’t know… Feline Leukemia is a virus that can impair a cat’s immune system and in some cases, cause fatal cancer. It can be transmitted through close contact – biting, saliva, and oh yes… nasal secretion, like the runny nose little Miss Thea had.

I was absolutely FURIOUS and never more sure that she was meant to be with us.

Thea gets a REAL trip to the Vet

Our Vet is so amazing. I called and although they didn’t really have an opening to see her on such short notice, they made time and got me in for an emergency visit once I explained what had happened and that I had 3 other cats to worry about.

Thea did beautifully at the Vet. She was crazy playful and had a freaking blast! She’s in great health (besides the kitty cold thing, which she’s mostly over as of this post) and thankfully negative for Feline Leukemia.

Unfortunately, Thea has some scarring on her eyes that may or may not be a big deal. She may have gotten into a fight with another cat or gotten hurt during the storm. So far, it doesn’t seem to be slowing her down.

Her official birthday is May 15, 2016. She’s weighed in at 4.05 pounds. She’s an all gray kitty with 3 slightly dark gray rings on her tail (her only markings). She has a slightly flat face and she almost always looks kind of sad. Her eyes are a bit further apart than you’d expect, so it gives her a very distinct look.

Becoming Family

When Thea first arrived, Harley hated her. She hissed and growled and got into a lot of trouble for her behavior. That lasted about a week. On the flip side… Thea didn’t like anyone either! It took her about a week to warm up to playing with Bruce and Oliver, which she now loooooves to do. She’s getting quite scrappy.

She’s definitely our wild child. Unlike our other cats, Thea actively plays with toys. Bruce and Oliver weren’t even this interested in toys when they were kittens. Harley a little more so, but nothing like this. Thea carries toys around and actively seeks them out. She loves to play!

Thea received her collar on Friday – a big tradition in our family. I had to buy one via eBay as the matching collars worn by Bruce, Olive, and Harley (in Blue, Green, and Pink respectively) are no longer sold in stores. It’s a cat collar from Martha Stewart Pets. They each have a glow in the dark pattern on them so I can see our freaking cats in the dark and not trip over them at night. Each pattern has been different so far… except this one.

Thea and Oliver’s collar pattern matches… which I think is fun based on their names. Thea’s collar is bright orange and looks so beautiful with her amber colored eyes.

She is definitely one of the family and I already love her so, so much. I’m glad we took a chance on her. She’s already got such a big piece of my heart. I know deep down, Jeremy loves her too. Shhh He won’t admit it, but I’ve seen them snuggle!

Looks like I have a lot of updating to do around the internet, changing that number of cats from 3, to 4! Welcome to your furever home, Thea.

The post Say Hello to Thea appeared first on Kimi Who?.

Why I Started Buying Online

I started purchasing my glasses online a couple of years ago. I tried it out because I couldn’t afford to spend $50 for an eye exam and another $300-$400 for glasses – and I don’t think anyone should have to spend that kind of money for something that they actually need in order to function.

I’m on my 4th pair… including one pair of prescription sunglasses that I’d otherwise have never been able to afford. Yes, they are all in excellent shape. Yes, I wear all 4 pairs on rotation. And Yes, the retail cost of those 4 pairs is about as I would have spent on 1 pair of glasses in a traditional store!

My Newest Pair

My most recent pair of glasses came from GlassesShop.com. I’ve received a pair of glasses from them before and the compliments haven’t stopped! What’s funny is that I chose some frames I’d have never chosen for myself, and the fact that they are much more affordable has convinced me to make more bold choices and embrace wearing glasses, rather than viewing them as an icky necessity.

That’s why when GlassesShop.com contacted me, I started looking towards choosing frames a little more outside of my comfort zone, and I am so, so glad that I did!

Woo… Look at that RED!

My bestie said “That’s a good color. I wouldn’t have pegged you for picking that color”. And he’s right… red is definitely not a norm for me. I’ve always chosen neutral colors and I am love having a more exciting pair of frames.

Truth be told, they are similarly shaped to my previous frames, but they fit a little more snug (which I am pleased about, since my last pair although comfortable, sometimes fell off of my face if I fell asleep at my desk haha).

But my favorite part? They are a little bit glittery and they sparkle in the sunlight. Sooo pretty!

Get Your Own

Get 50% off eyeglasses and sunglasses with free lenses (sale frames excluded) using promo code GSHOT50 and definitely share your purchase with me because I’d love to see your new look!

The post Why I Started Buying My Glasses Online appeared first on Kimi Who?.

With that in mind, you can probably understand why I was feeling pretty nervous about Hurricane Matthew. We’ve had a few tropical storms this year and even some hype surrounding Hurricane Hermine, but Matthew was quickly shaping up to be a different beast, and I learned a lot from this experience.

The Hurricane Hype

We’ve had so many hyped up storms in the last year and most of it ended up as just that… hype. When the news and my friends first started mentioning Hurricane Matthew, I blew it off. I wasn’t going to fall for the hype again and I wasn’t interested in running out to the store in sheer panic. Nope, not falling for that crap again.

That’s when I saw it obliterate Haiti and I got a little nervous. Should I be preparing for this? I don’t know a ton about hurricanes. The last one I was really in was Hurricane Andrew… in 1992. I have zero experience with a storm like this. What the hell was I supposed to be doing?

These are all I could think of. I had no idea what else to do or how to plan. Should we book a hotel now? How am I going to transport 3 cats in an emergency? Where would we go? How are we going to afford a pet-friendly hotel right now? – we just paid the mortgage! Crap, crap, CRAP!

There was so much hurry up and wait at that point. School cancellations started on Monday while there was barely a cloud in the sky. It was hard for me to take it all too seriously yet. Were they really expecting that sort of devastation? Was I about to lose my house?

Stay or Go?

By Wednesday, I wanted to leave. We all discussed leaving as a family – Jeremy, myself and our 3 cats, plus his brothers, wife and cats that live in the neighborhood. Governor Nikki Haley ordered an evacuation and for our interstate to be reversed at 3pm that day (basically, it means all lanes lead out of Charleston, towards Columbia and there’s no way back into town).

Part of me wanted to stay. What if it really wasn’t too bad? We weren’t technically in an evacuation zone. What if it just flooded a little? I could protect the house from some flooding if I stayed. Ultimately, I let Jeremy make the call and we agreed to stay. We prepared our home for guests (even invited a close friend of mine, her boyfriend and their 7… yes, seven cats), and did everything we could to get ready.

Preparing for Hurricane Matthew

Thanks to the power of Facebook (and with help from more experienced home owners in my neighborhood), I think we prepared ourselves for the worst. I picked up a lot of great tips that were randomly shared by friends and I put them and my common sense to good use. Here’s a few things we did…

Window Screens

We removed all of them. I have no idea how hard they may or may not be to replace, but they weren’t difficult at all to take out. I imagine it would have been easy for a hurricane to rip them out and make them into a projectile. I think removing them from the 9 windows in our house (some windows don’t have screens) took all of 10 minutes.
 

Frozen Water Bottles

Probably the most genius thing I did. I um, have an addiction to Lipton Green Tea with Citrus and I buy it in big cases, bottled. Don’t hate me for that. I know that’s wasteful. I save them with intent to have them recycled at least. Hence, I had a ton of them and after cleaning them we filled 45 bottles with water and put them in our freezer.

We did this just in case we lost power. We didn’t have much in our freezer – it was near grocery shopping time anyways. I figured we could use the frozen bottles instead to keep the contents of the fridge cold in the event we lost power. Spoiler Alert: It worked brilliantly.
 

Washed Clothes

There was still that chance we may need to leave in an emergency, so I made sure all of our clothes were washed. If we had to leave, there was no telling how long we’d have to stay gone, so I wanted to know I at least had clean undies for my bum.
 

Ordered Cat Food

Every week, I order our cats food via Amazon. I do this because although every bag comes with a $3 off coupon, it’s actually cheaper by a whole $6 per 4 pound bag to purchase their food online and have it 2-day shipped. We had a lot, but I wanted to be absolutely sure we had enough. I ordered their food with plenty of time to spare. It should have arrived on Thursday, but of course… there was no way into town by that point. I ordered the food before the interstate reversal was made. The food never arrived and Jeremy ended up buying a bag of the old food our cats used to eat – just in case.
 

Grocery Shopping

Jeremy went to the store in search of food for us to eat in case we lost power. He purchased non-perishables and snacks… Spam, Potted Meat, cans of soup, chips, fruit cups, etc. We stocked our pantry with enough food to last us at least a few days worth of not having power.
 

Filling Bathtubs

Someone told me you shouldn’t fill up bath tubs that are on the second floor of your house, but for us that would have left us without a tub of water in case we lost water pressure for flushing the toilet. We filled the Master bathroom and guest bathroom tubs upstairs because there’s no tub on our first floor.

Braving the Storm

I absolutely do not want to discount the destruction caused or the lives lost because of Hurricane Matthew. It was a brutal storm and it affected the lives of several of my blogging friends in Florida, not to mention the lives of hundreds of people in Haiti.

Having said that, by the time it reached me, Hurricane Matthew was nothing more than a Category 1 bitch storm with a little rain and some wind. I wouldn’t say it was over-hyped… but I would say that we made the right call by staying home.

Flooding

Being that we live at the lowest point of our street (the storm drains are in front of my home), I expected flooding as all of the water rushes towards our house, and it’s been known to flood during Tropical Storms. Spoiler Alert: No flooding. None, like… at all. At least not on my street.

That said, historical downtown Charleston is flooded. Granted, if you even say ‘water’ too loudly in Charleston, it floods. Some places in Moncks Corner (including my neighborhood) saw some flooding due to bodies of water overflowing. Some of my neighbors ended up with small pools in their back yards.

Damage

The wind caused most of the damage. Fortunately for my home, it was protected by several other houses as the wind blew down my street towards the side of my house. Some families in our neighborhood lost roof shingles or siding. And some idiots lost their trampolines because they didn’t tie them down correctly. Way to go assholes. Surrounding areas saw a lot of broken trees, signs torn down, etc.

Power

We lost power eventually. I was surprised because it had held out really well and it seemed like the worst had already passed when it finally gave out. Three cuts out and back in… followed by BOOM, and the power was gone.

The strange thing about our neighborhood is that it’s on two different grids – so the newer portion lost power, while the older did not. Jeremy’s brother had purchased a generator beforehand and there was brief talks of bring it over to our house since we weren’t sure how long we’d go without.

We split up the frozen water bottles in order to protect the food in the freezer and fridge. It worked brilliantly. We were without power for 8-9 hours and the food was still frozen solid 6 hours in when we pulled out some pork chops to bring to Jeremy’s brother’s house for a cook out.

After The Storm

We were one of the lucky ones. I have friends still without power, trees through their homes, leaks in their roofs. We came out of our first real hurricane with little more than a week of stress, and inconvenience – which I am incredibly thankful for.

We were well prepared, but I definitely learned from this experience and know that there’s plenty we could have done to better prepare (something I hope we don’t have to think about for a long time coming).

This morning, there’s not a cloud in the sky…

The post Experiencing Hurricane Matthew appeared first on Kimi Who?.

This post is sponsored by Friskies® and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network. I am being compensated to help create awareness about Friskies® Pull N Play available at PetSmart® but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Friskies® and Nestle Purina PetCare®  are not responsible for the content of this article.

I will go to great lengths to make our cats happy. Luckily, that doesn’t always mean I have to spend a fortune or go well out of my way. I was presented with an opportunity to work with Purina (again!) and I knew in an instant that Bruce, Oliver, and Harley were going to love this new Friskies® Pull N Play toy.

Check This Out

I’d like to introduce you to Wobbert. He (uhh I’m calling it a “he”, okay?) is a wobbler toy that’s perfect for making treat time, play time! I hope you enjoy this video…

Pull ‘n’ Play!

The Pull ‘n’ Play Pack takes cat treating to a whole new level! It combines tender edible strings with a wobbly cat toy (that would be Wobbert) that also dispenses Friskies treats! Each pack comes with 9 strings (you only need one at a time) and they even come in 3 different flavors: Chicken & Cheese (that’s what we received), Salmon & Shrimp, and Tuna. As you can see from my video, Bruce & Oliver preferred the edible strings the most – probably because they are lazy. Ha!

Some Things of Note

It’s important to me that I remain honest. Yes, this is a sponsored post… but that isn’t going to stop me from sharing some things I think you should know.

Wobbert is a little… loud. Our home has all wood floors downstairs where our cats usually play. The “clunking” noise that the weight inside of Wobbert makes (it’s what keeps him upright), paired with the skidding effect caused by our cats aggressively playing with the toy was kind of intense. My ears preferred Wobbert the Wobbler on carpeted areas of our home.

Harley had zero interest in this toy – which is why she isn’t pictured with it nor in the video. To be honest, Oliver didn’t interact with it much either. He was only interested in the treats he found. Bruce (much to my surprise) enjoyed it most and is the cat featured for the majority of my video interacting with the toy and batting at it.

Get One For Your Cats!

You can purchase Friskies® Pull N Play, plus extra treats at PetsMart (click here to find your local store), or you can even purchase it online! It’s not terribly expensive either – it’s at an excellent price point, especially considering all that you get with the toy!

You can learn more about Friskies by following them on social media!

Twitter: @Friskies | Instagram: @Friskies

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. Do your cats like playing with toys that have hidden treats?
2. Have you tried any of Friskies toys before?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Purina®. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Friskies makes Bruce & Oliver #MostPlayfulCat appeared first on Kimi Who?.

Days before my birthday, I didn’t yet have any real expectations. Honestly, I didn’t even have any birthday plans! But the day unfolded with some ups and downs (mostly ups) and I think I had a nice day.

I Made my own (Cup)Cakes

Jeremy went to the store and returned home with 2 types of cake and frosting for me to choose from – Red Velvet, or Strawberry. I chose Red Velvet and he went to his brother’s house to borrow a cake pan (seriously, I don’t know what happened to ours but it seems to have vanished). Jeremy wanted to bake me a pretty, round cake and realized that that just wasn’t going to happen unless he went back to the store and bought a round pan since his brother only had a rectangular pan.

At midnight, I got clever and I said “Why don’t we just make cupcakes instead?” and he seemed kind of sad – let down by the fact that he wanted to do better for me (he’s so sweet sometimes). I was totally down for making cupcakes. I think they are more fun to eat anyways! So I made them… because I kind of took over. Oops.

(I will never stop sharing this. NSFW.)

The cupcakes turned out amazing (certainly better than a couple of years ago when I made myself that ridiculous TARDIS cake).

I sobbed uncontrollably

Wait, what? I don’t know where it came from or why it was brought up. I just know that in the middle of making cupcakes, I had a breakdown and I started crying. Let me explain.

When Jeremy and I decided that we wanted to have a baby, I told him that we had until I was 35 years old – at which point I would no longer try. My reasoning for this is that my health isn’t particularly stellar to begin with, and I’m not sure I could withstand pregnancy and delivery at that point. I realize plenty of women have beautiful, healthy children well into their 40’s and I think that’s so fantastic. I just don’t see it as an option for me.

Turning 31 means I lost a year. A whole year out of the 5 I gave us is gone – and it went by far too easily. It was only last summer I started trying to get my PCOS under control and we started actively trying a year ago. So now there are only 4 years left and I already don’t feel particularly optimistic.

I “opened” presents

A week before my birthday, I started asking Jeremy what he’d gotten for me for my birthday. Yeah he pretty much hadn’t bought me anything at all (which also means that he bought me nothing from my birthday wish list).

I already mentioned my gifts on Funko Friday, but Jeremy bought the entire set of the most recent line of Doctor Who Funko Pop for me. Which means between these and the Labyrinth Funko I picked up from my pre-order… I am in desperate need of another bookshelf in my office. Oops! Haha

Not gonna lie. I kind of thought Jeremy was going to propose. More on that later…

I Took a Long Nap

I spent a lot of my birthday sleeping because we had plans that evening that I knew would keep us out relatively late (or what is late for me these days). I wanted to be sure I was well-rested and able to stay awake!

Jeremy mostly played video games and let me have the bed to myself.

I Saw Labyrinth in Theater!

A few days before my birthday I realized that Jeremy would actually be home for my big day and that meant we could go to see Labyrinth in theater for the 30th anniversary celebration. I immediately bought tickets online and invited all of my friends to come (50 people. I didn’t even realize I knew 50 people locally!)

Labyrinth has been my favorite movie for my entire life. Yes it’s cheesy and there’s that whole massive amount of glitter and Bowie bulge thing going on… but I don’t care. It’s my favorite and you can’t tell me otherwise. So getting to finally see Labyrinth on the big screen, surrounded by other adoring fans? Opportunity of a lifetime!

Well, none of my friends came. Most people RSVP’d as ‘No’ almost immediately. I get it… it was a Wednesday evening and basically everyone I know has one of those job things and had to be at work. But that was okay! I had Jeremy with me and I was just there to enjoy the movie.

But then I got sad in the theater, and I cried…

A lot of people brought their children to see the movie. It was then that I realized that I’d never really gotten to share the magic of Labyrinth with my daughter Hailey… and that there wouldn’t be another opportunity to experience it with her like this again while she’s still a kid. Even if it happens again in another 10 years – she’ll be an adult by then and it won’t be the same.

I Ate at one of my favorite places

There’s a place around here called Smokey Bones. They specialize in BBQ really, but they also have the best steak I have ever had in my life. Seriously, there is ONE steak on their menu. It’s not at all what they are known for, and yet I think it’s the best thing they make.

Two of Jeremy’s brothers went with us to Smokey Bones and I ordered my wonderful Medium-cooked steak with a side of fire roasted corn and loaded Mac N Cheese (because fuck veggies… it’s my birthday). I waited with anticipation as I drank my strawberry sangria and cut up with the boys.

Well, my steak was well done (thus, totally ruined). It still tasted good… it was just kind of dry and sad. I was too tired to ask them to re-do it so I just let it be and I ate it. Blah

Jeremy Did not propose

This is the third time this year that I have set myself up for a proposal that would never come. I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself. I know Jeremy very well. He isn’t a romantic sort of guy. He’s thoughtful… but not romantic.

And yet I was convinced he was going to propose to me when we closed on the house. I was absolutely sure he would do it on our anniversary. And I was determined he would get down on one knee for my birthday.

No. Nope. Think again missy.

I Still had a good birthday

I realize that it sounds like my day was kind of rough what with all the crying, overcooked meat, and lack of marriage proposal… but overall, I think I had a nice birthday. I’ve definitely had a lot worse… and at least this one left me still feeling loved and incredibly lucky to be 31.

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. What do you want to do for your next birthday?
2. What’s the best birthday gift you’ve ever received?

The post Why my 31st Birthday was an Emotional Roller Coaster appeared first on Kimi Who?.

That said, sometimes you need them. When Funko comes out with a new set of Doctor Who Funko Pops that further represents iconic Whovian moments… you just have to have them. Lucky for me, Jeremy gets me and that’s exactly what he bought for me for my 31st Birthday. Prepare to be insanely jealous.

The Set Up

Jeremy thinks he’s so clever. I knew about other Doctor Who Funko Pop coming out – I’d even seen some pictures of this 10th Doctor with hand (and totally wanted it). But I also knew there were other things I wanted and needed to be spending my money on so I didn’t ask to go out and buy them.

A couple of days before my birthday, Jeremy started mentioning the new Doctor Who Funko Pops – naming them off: 10th Doctor with Hand, 11th Doctor / Mr. Clever, War Doctor, 12th Doctor with Guitar, and Davros. It never really clicked with me that he might be grilling me to see if I was interested in them. Turned out, he’d already purchased them and they were in the cabinet over the fridge (the only one I cannot reach – even with out step stool haha).

I absolutely GUSHED about the 12th Doctor with Guitar. My eyes lit up brighter than a sonic screwdriver working on a wooden door. I wanted it. I needed to have him. The 12th Doctor with his Guitar has been one of the many highlights of Peter Capaldi for me. Sorry but… can we just… let’s just take a moment here.

Okay, calm down ladies. *fans self* Now that we’re done with that… how about we check out the Funko Pop I got for my birthday?

10th Doctor with Hand

I love it when Funko Pop are designed like this one – where one of the props is literally, well… helping prop up the Funko. The container for the hand is totally adding stability and that’s so clever. I do wish however that they were more careful with painting him. :(

11th Doctor / Mr. Clever

Say what you want, but the 11th Doctor’s “monologue” of sorts when he’s having that conversation to himself as he interacts as Mr. Clever is amazing – one of Matt Smith’s best performances. I love this Funko! So much detail.

War Doctor

They did such an amazing job on his hair. I love the extra effort to get that color fade just right. His drawn on wrinkles make me giggle tho.

12th Doctor Playing Guitar

*Swoons* I love this Funko! Ugh I wish so, so much that they were more careful with the painting. It’s so messy on this one and that bums me out. But I LOVE having him. I do wish they had put more effort into his hair – which is much more salt & peppery.

Davros

This Funko is pretty big – it came in one of the boxes for the 6″ pops. Davros almost looks like you can take him out of the Dalek bottom, but sadly you cannot. Oh how I wish that I could!

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. What Doctor Who Funko do you have?
2. Which of these Funko are your favorite?

Link Up!

You too can participate in #FunkoFridays! All you have to do is write a Funko related blog post and fly the Funko Fridays banner on your post!

Copy the Code. Paste the Code. Have Fun.

<a href="http://www.kimiwho.com/category/funko-fridays/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="http://kimiwho.com/Media/FunkoFridays.png" alt="Funko Fridays Blogging Prompt" width="150" height="150" /></a>

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The post The 5 Newest Doctor Who Funko Pop appeared first on Kimi Who?.

Most of the time, I’m good about staying strong and not running out to buy Funko I don’t really need or don’t even absolutely OMG want… but then there were these 5 times I bought Funko thanks to peer pressure…

1. The Labyrinth Pre-Order

Anyone remember back in uhhhh JUNE when I ran out to my local GameStop so that I could pre-order the entire Labyrinth Funko Pop set? Yeah. That was actually a result of it being mentioned in one of my Funko groups on Facebook all of 2, maybe 3 times. Before I knew it, this girl was putting on pants and running out the door.

A photo posted by Kimi Kinsey (@kimiwho) on Jun 1, 2016 at 11:47am PDT

Not that I don’t absolutely want these Funkos. Labyrinth is my all time favorite movie and I have been waiting for these Funko as long as I have been a collector. Buuuut I probably didn’t need to immediately run out and put down money to pre-order them. Haha

These Funko finally come out this month. I cannot wait for them to be in store so I can go pick mine up!

2. The Hoodless Kylo Ren Exclusive

Easily one of my dumbest Funko purchases. Funko came out with an exclusive for Target. It’s Kylo Ren from Star Wars… without a hood. Except, look at these two:

In case you are missing the subtleties between them, the hoodless Kylo Ren is on the right. This is one of those stupid ploys just to get people to buy more Funko. This is exactly what happens when you succumb to peer pressure and go out to buy the so-called “exclusive” because everyone else is getting it.

The saddest part is that I already owned the regular, non-exclusive version when I bought this (which looks way better in my opinion). I actually got so excited that I totally forgot I had one and that there was practically no difference between them. This purchase taught me a valuable lesson.

3. The Glow-in-the-dark My Little Pony

Yes, I do actually have a My Little Pony Funko Pop collection (I’ve already shown you my non-pop collection). I went out about a month or so ago and I combed my local Walmart looking to see if I could find this exclusive set of My Little Pony Funko Pop – mostly because I wanted to have them, and a little bit because everyone else seemed to want them too.

This is probably kind of dumb, because Funko keeps using the same mold to re-make their MLP Funkos… to the point that it’s starting to make me kind of annoyed. The exclusives from Walmart are a GitD Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Notice I didn’t say Princess Twilight? That’s because they used the same mold from the original (the ones at the bottom) to make it:

That’s okay. They are still really cool looking Funko Pops that I’m glad I went out to buy (and got for stupid cheap because Walmart couldn’t find them in their system).

4. The Freddy Funko Hipster

Every Wednesday, Funko has a new collectible on their website for sale. A lot of the time, it’s a variation of the Funko mascot, Freddy Funko. One week in particular, they put up this super cute guy with thick, black eyeglass frames and freckles. People started snatching up the very limited amount of them and they sold out quickly.

A photo posted by Kimi Kinsey (@kimiwho) on Jun 3, 2016 at 12:40pm PDT

I was one of the lucky few to get one. I’ve yet to be able to buy anything on Funko day since – they always sell out before I get to them. Sounds good right? I bought a Funko I really liked. Except… I kind of did it because everyone else was so interested in them. And worse… Funko did a second wave of them just a few weeks later so they aren’t even as rare as they were when I bought it. Thanks Funko…

5. The Harley & Joker FYE Exclusive

I have a small, but growing collection of Batman Funko – mostly because I started out buying them for Jeremy. But did I really need the new Harley and Joker Funko based on the movie Suicide Squad? Eh. Probably not. I based my decision to purchase at all on the fact that I like Harley Quinn and have started collecting Harley Funko (like that time when my blogger friend Ashlee sent me one). But the exclusive, 2-pack Metallic Paint Harley & Joker set from FYE? Yeah. Purely based on peer pressure.

A photo posted by Kimi Kinsey (@kimiwho) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:44pm PDT

You see, I could have bought these as singles. FYE had those as well. It would have cost me maybe a coupe of dollars less to buy the single boxes with the regular paint, but I decided… why not? Everyone else was getting the exclusive 2-pack box so why shouldn’t I? Next thing I know, I’m walking out of FYE with Funko I probably didn’t need.

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. Have you ever bought a Funko based on seeing others buy it?
2. Do you have any Funko that you probably didn’t need to buy?

Link Up!

You too can participate in #FunkoFridays! All you have to do is write a Funko related blog post and fly the Funko Fridays banner on your post!

Copy the Code. Paste the Code. Have Fun.

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The post 5 Times I Bought Funko Thanks to Peer Pressure appeared first on Kimi Who?.

So I set out on a quest… to come up with some non-traditional fall color palettes and corresponding decorating ideas for people who hate orange. There are links (some affiliated) to the home decor shown in each look. Check out my boards and re-pin your favorites below. Also, keep an eye out next week 3 more sets to help inspire you!

Navy, Brown, & Gold

I was feeling really iffy about that rug when I bookmarked it. It isn’t a rug I’d normally go for. But then the other pieces started coming together, and I realized it’s kind of the perfect rug to tie it all together. I love the textures and how warm this look feels without needing to bring orange into the equation.

Purple, Teal, & Gold

I adore that NY Taxi pillow and mixing these non-traditional colors together. It’s a little wild… but something about it still feels so cozy to me. These are great accent pieces if you really need to add a burst of color into a room.

Neutrals & Baby Blue

I am absolutely obsessed with this rug. I can’t even believe how perfect it is for this mood board. I love how cool and neutral the whole thing feels, and yet it still reminds me of fall with the darker browns and that charming leaf stand decoration.

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. What are your favorite, darker colors for Fall?
2. Which palette inspiration board or decor item above is your favorite?

The post Non-Traditional Fall Colors and Decor Ideas for People Who Hate Orange appeared first on Kimi Who?.

But…

Sometimes it’s really hard. Some weeks I struggle and my chronic depression & anxiety give me a rough time of it. It happened again to me last week – I went from being incredibly happy for several weeks and getting so much amazing work (seriously, some of my BEST work) accomplished… to suddenly doing nothing all week because I felt tired, run down, and sad.

What changed recently?

Things have been slow at work for Jeremy. We go week to week unsure of whether or not he’s working and if so, where he’s being sent. More recently, it’s been Atlanta and has been for quite some time. If you’re new to my blog and don’t know… Jeremy programs power monitoring systems for data centers. Ideologically, he keeps the internet wheel spinning. His job often takes him out of town – usually Monday through Friday, and he travels back home for the weekend.

But lately, we’re really out of swing with our “normal” routine. Like I said – things have been slow. Jeremy has been coming home halfway through a work week and put on standby. Some weeks he doesn’t know where he’s going or if he’s even working until really last minute. Yes, we are super thankful he’s on salary.

He just had a pretty long “work from home, remotely” happening where he was at home for 3 weeks in a row. He spent the majority of it playing Diablo III and Dragon Age. I spent it mostly in my office working, but otherwise figuratively up his ass. It was nice. Never mind that he didn’t have to do work – it was just wonderful to be in the same state for more than 2 days out of the week.

But all things come to an end eventually… and Jeremy went back to work last week.

Queue the Depression

I tell him often “I don’t laugh when you aren’t home.” Maybe that’s an exaggeration – I do occasionally get a chuckle from internet things. But whole belly laugh? Nope. My entire week is instead filled with silence, otherwise only interrupted by the low hum of my laptop, or asshole cats meowing.

I had three, very happy weeks of him being around. We’re one of those couples who enjoy being in the same room together – even if we’re doing completely different things. Just being within arms reach makes all the difference in the world. I got used to him being there after those three weeks… and suddenly, he was gone again.

I knew Monday would be rough – it always is. I spent a lot of it in bed, trying to sleep. I felt like I couldn’t manage to sleep enough. I was exhausted. I was aching. I was depressed, but I wouldn’t yet admit it to myself. The rest of the week went similarly. I either felt really tired, hungry when I shouldn’t have been (I binge ate all week pretty badly), or I just felt bored… despite the long list of work I needed to be doing.

The Roller coaster

It’s the roller coaster that gets me the most. Jeremy sat through a work meeting via computer at the end of last week. The purpose was to give employees a heads up of what’s to come project wise. That’s when Jeremy dropped the bomb on me: He will likely be more busy with work going towards the end of the year, and it sounds like he won’t be working on the project local to us – something I thought he would be back to sometime this summer, but it just never happened.

It sounds like he’ll be doing a lot more traveling going into 2017 – and spending a lot more time on planes again. I’m really not looking forward to that. Going back and forth between home and Texas was so rough on him. He looked awful – large, purple bags under his eyes, thinning hair… he was exhausted and his body showed signs of stress and fatigue from all of the travel.

I stayed stressed out. I was driving him to the air port every week and picking him up. We never really knew exactly when he would make it home – delayed flights, switched flights, missing luggage. It was something different every week and it took a toll on him. And so, it took a toll on me.

I feel like we’re just hanging on tightly to the safety bar… building up with anticipation of what’s to come next and waiting for that fun, easy ride down in reward of our patience.

My Trigger

I think the biggest problem for me is the isolation. When Jeremy is gone, I’m home alone all week. It’s stupid… because this is the part that makes no sense: I don’t want to go anywhere or be around anyone a good 95% of the time. There’s that part of me who wants to just be home working on stuff related to my blog or business.

But there’s that other part who feels trapped at home… stuck here all by myself because he has to use the car to drive to work.

During Jeremy’s recent 3 weeks off from work, we largely stayed home. I’ve said it jokingly before, but I honestly think I just like the idea of having the option to leave the house. I don’t really need to go anywhere. I just want to know that I can.

This is my trigger: Feeling stuck. It stems from my first marriage – my ex husband did not allow me to go anywhere. I couldn’t just up and go places if I wanted to – not to see friends or family… or even to just go to the grocery store to get food for our daughter. So the car being gone brings back those same feelings of helplessness.

Depression Makes No sense

None. Not even in the slightest. Most of the time, I’m totally fine. Then bam… I’m depressed and laying in bed for 20 hours of the day. It’s stupid and annoying.

I’ve considered going back on Zoloft. It worked really well for me while I was on it. It did wonders for my problems with anxiety as well. But it isn’t cheap – and I’d have to go back into therapy which I can’t afford. I feel like almost anyone could benefit from therapy, so I’m not at all ashamed to say that I could use it. I have a lot of baggage stemming from life long emotional abuse from my parents, and physical abuse from multiple romantic partners.

But like I said – most days, I’m fine. I’m far, far removed from those negative impacts and I’ve started sorting out my feelings on my own and coming up with my own healthy ways of coping.

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. Is your partner out of town a lot?
2. Do you ever feel how I described in my post?

The post My Stupid, Chronic Depression: The Roller Coaster of my Every Day Life appeared first on Kimi Who?.

And then there are other times when buying a Funko third party is just a big gamble. Sometimes, you end up spending too much money on a single figurine out a sense of urgency. And thus, the story of my 6″ SDCC Exclusive Baymax begins.

So Here’s the Story…

Last year during my SDCC craze, this Baymax caught my eye. I absolutely LOVED Big Hero 6 (I think it’s one of my favorite movies and it makes me cry every. single. time.) I decided that I wanted him and I was willing to pay the $60 price tag to have him.

You read that correctly. Sixty buckeroos.

I was looking to buy him through eBay as I knew absolutely nothing at the time of places like PopCultcha (who sadly, as of this week… no longer sells Funko to residents of the US or Canada) who were known for selling exclusives to collectors at a more affordable, retail-like rate. So naturally, I looked at eBay and the cheapest one I could find was for $54 + Shipping. Ouch.

Like an idiot… I bought it.

The Current Value

Sometimes Funko prices skyrocket. A lot of times, they stay about even and end up worth as much money as you spent on them. Most times, the value plummets either because it’s a figurine with a higher number of stock, or because it didn’t do well in stores (this is true of the Frozen Olaf Pops… because there’s so friggin many).

This 6″ Opaque Glitter Baymax with Emoticon Belly is really only worth $35 at most. You can buy it on Amazon now directly from Funko like it’s no big deal. And that’s because it really isn’t. I think a large part of why I bought it had something to do with it’s size (I had previously not seen a 6″ Funko before), the fact that it was opaque/glitter (I thought that made it more rare), and being an SDCC Exclusive (I assumed made it more valuable).

Do Your Research

Always shop around for Funko and ask people in groups if something is a good deal (I’ve listed a few below for you). It’s crazy how well some of these people know their stuff. These groups keep track of pricing, known scammers, value of exclusives and number of them made, and all sorts of stats I never knew was important.

Funko Collectors Anonymous
Funko Pop Buy-Sell-Trade
Poppin’ Off About Funko
The Funko Posse

Answer True These Questions Two:

1. Have you ever purchased a Funko for way more than you should have?
2. Do you regret buying any of your Funko because of the price you paid?

Link Up!

You too can participate in #FunkoFridays! All you have to do is write a Funko related blog post and fly the Funko Fridays banner on your post!

Copy the Code. Paste the Code. Have Fun.

<a href="http://www.kimiwho.com/category/funko-fridays/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="http://kimiwho.com/Media/FunkoFridays.png" alt="Funko Fridays Blogging Prompt" width="150" height="150" /></a>

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The post The Price of Funko: The Gamble of Buying Third Party appeared first on Kimi Who?.