3D Unicorns, Accessable Dice, Subscription Boxes, And Other Random Things

My Dad got a 3D printer. Not a posh expensive one, but a reasonable one. Apparently he's having a great time with it. He's made several things, including a unicorn keyring he sent me recently, which you can see in the photo at the top of this post.

He's also made some tactile dice, which are pictured below.

One is just like the usual kind of tactile dice you get, where counting the dots gives you the number you rolled. The others are actual braille dice, where the letters of the braille alphabet is used to represent the various numbers. The regular tactile dice is a D6, the others are two D10s and a D20.

Right now he's trying some different templates to see which types work best before he makes a full set. I'm helping him test them out. Checking which ones roll best, which ones are easiest to read, etc. When we get it figured out, he can make accessable dice for me and my brother, Carl, for all the games we play that need dice, especially the various roleplaying games we play.

There is a company called 64 Ounce Games that does braille dice, as well as accessability kits for some card games, etc. But a lot of their stuff isn't cheap. Just like everything else you can buy to make things accessable. While I'd like to support their efforts, I'm also happy to help Dad figure out a less expensive way to get some accessable dice.

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We have a certain amount of money we set aside each month spacifically for us to spend on things for ourselves. It's sort of like an allowance, only we don't get it taken away for bad behaviour. Yeah, we could go without this spending to move quicker. But it wouldn't make a lot of difference to timescale. Besides, we can now take as long as we need to with nasty neighbour gone.

Anyway, Kelly uses his for magazine and game subscriptions. I mostly use mine for books, sometimes also DVDs, since I can no longer see to play the games, or read the magazines. I mean, there have been some magazines I've had anyway, for the stuff that comes with them, like the gems and minerals one I got for the samples that come with it. The ones out now though either don't interest me, or have nothing with them I could enjoy despite my inability to read the magazines.

But, I miss having things come in the post. I like getting post, and the only fun mail I've had in months is the package from Dad with the unicorn and dice in it. Everything else has been bills, copies of medical letters, or stuff for Kelly. So, either not for me, or not the kind of post to get excited about.

I know my DVDs sometimes come in the post (unless I get Kelly to fetch them when he's in town). But I've not been getting many DVDs, because I have a huge stack of them to catch up on as it is. Yeah, I know that's the case for books too, but they don't end up in piles all over the livingroom while waiting for me to get to them, since I mainly buy eBooks. Plus, only not having the money available can stop me buying books. *wink*

Anyway, as I said, I like getting things in the post to open, and wanted to have that happening regularly.

I'd heard about boxes of goodies you could get sent to you regularly by subscribing to the companies. The idea sounded like a fun one, so I figured I'd go see if any of them appealed to me, and were also accessable to me. I mean, I knew there were ones filled with food and drink products, like one for tea, one for healthy snacks, etc. But I didn't really want a food and drink one. Although, I'd have ordered the tea one if I couldn't find anything else, just so I had a regular package to look forward to.

Anyway, we found this site that lists the various subscription boxes in the UK. They have loads of great ones.

I was pleased to see all the different catagories. It didn't take me long to pick which one I wanted to look in to most either, because I also miss doing crafty projects. In fact, I mentioned earlier this year that I wanted to get back in to it, but just couldn't decide where to start, what to make, etc.

I'm sure you've figured out where I'm going with this, right?

Yep. I subscribed to a couple of the craft boxes.

One of them is officially meant for children, but I didn't see why I couldn't have it too. Besides, those kinds of simple craft projects are ideal for me to manage by myself, even without being able to read the instructions. Actually, if I know what I'm meant to be making, I'm pretty good at figuring out most craft kits without reading the instructions. But crafts aimed at kids are always easiest. Plus, some of them are fun. The activity book that comes along with the craft project in that particular box won't be any good to me, but I want it for the kits. Yeah, OK, so I'm a big kid. Whatever. The kits sound fun, and I want them.

Anyway, I've already subscribed to Mister Maker Club, and the SewMineBox. The first being the one that's officially meant for children. I'm also planning to subscribe to Makerly Crafts, since I like the sound of their boxes too.

I was going to say that my first boxes should come in the next week or so. But I got my first Sew Mine Box already. It arrived on Friday, and Kelly's still laughing about how excited I got when it arrived. It's got two kits in it. One is for an Autumn themed table runner, and the other is for a purse (a little coin purse with a clasp).

It won't be long before I get more fun post. I'm looking forward to having a go at making the things. Not just the kits in this box - one of which I've already made a start on - but the others that will be coming too.

I like to keep my hands busy while watching or listening to things, so I enjoy doing crafts while watching movies and TV shows, and sometimes while listening to books (assuming I'm not listening to the books in bed). That's what I did when I was doing crafts a lot before. So my plan is to work on the kits while catching up on the things I want to watch and read. Especially the things I want to watch.

I've got plenty to catch up on too. I've got NCIS and Ghost In The Shell to finish watching, as well as a stack of Disney movies to rewatch (which I'm rewatching because they're among the DVDs in the boxes my Mam gave me). There are a few other things too, but I actually don't even remember all of what I need to catch up on. Yeah... That just shows how long I've been meaning to watch these DVDs! I have a long list of other stuff I want to see too, so I'll have plenty of options for things to get hold of to watch when I finally get through all those DVDs. Plus, I also need to catch up on watching past episodes of Critical Role, since I'm still quite a few episodes behind with that too.

I made a start on the first kit yesterday (Saturday). I started to work on the little purse, while reading part of a book for a buddy read. Although, I didn't get to do much work on the purse project, because I was also doing other things, and only finished as much reading as I did because of reading for a while in bed before settling for sleep.

I'm planning to work on it some more today. The kit is officially simple enough to complete in a couple of hours easily, which should have meant I either did it all yesterday, or was close enough to doing so that I'd be finishing it today for sure. But I'm doing it in bits between other things this weekend, since I'd planned to be sorting some things around the flat this weekend with Kelly, not expecting any kits to arrive until next week. I don't suppose it matters how long the kits end up taking me to complete though, as long as I enjoy doing them.

Oh, and... Yes. Of course I'll get Kelly to take photos of the projects when I finish each one. I know some of my followers at least would be very disappointed if I didn't do that. *wink*

I'm considering getting this Harry Potter themed box too. Because... Well, it's Harry Potter stuff!

There I was, worried I wouldn't find one that appealed to me, while also being accessable enough that I could really enjoy it, and now I find I'm spoiled for choice. Haha!

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Apparently the last time we had the police out because of nasty neighbour - just before she moved away - was the last straw for the police.

We got a call from victim support a few days ago.

Yeah, I know. Better late than never though, right?

Anyway, I figured there's not much point in doing anything now she's gone though. We've not seen or heard anything from either her or her guy since she moved, and nobody else is hastling us. So I told him she'd finally moved.

He asked if we were OK now.

I told him we were, and thanked him for checking in, since it seemed like the right thing to say. Besides, what else could I do? She's gone, nobody else is threatening us, so there isn't anything he could help with, and it was good that they followed up, even if she'd already gone by the time they did.

Well, I suppose I could have asked him to help us move too. But usually they only help with that kind of thing if the situation can't be resolved another way, so it seemed pointless to ask.

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We went to Oscars in the evening this past Thursday, instead of for our usual Friday lunch, and were the only people there.

We usually eat outside, but went inside because it was trying to rain. So we were in there chatting with the people who own and run it while enjoying our meal. They're lovely people, so it was nice.

I'm assuming the weather was why it was so quiet. It's always quieter near the beach when the weather isn't so good. It probably also helps that most of the Summer visitors will have gone, so it will be mainly locals around for the next several months.

Anyway, Lilie loved our trip to Oscars too. She always does, but was really excited about being able to go inside (they've always told us we could take her in, but we never did... Until now). They think she's adorable, and she knows it. She loves attention, and they always give her plenty of it.

As it happened, the rain did start while we were having dinner. Not that there was much rain. To be honest, we didn't even get all that wet on the walk home.

A warm front came through here on Wednesday, and decided to stick around. So we had a couple of days where it was about 19 or 20 degrees C (about 70 or 72 F). As I said, it got rainy on Thursday evening, but it was like a warm Summer rain, because it wasn't really that cold out.

I think we're supposed to get some storms soon though. Parts of the UK have had them already Not that I'm complaining. I mean, I wouldn't be so eager for storms if our storms were like the really nasty ones that keep hitting the US, and I'm certainly not hoping for those kinds of storms. But a mild storm would be nice. I expect we'll get plenty of them over the next few months though. We usually do.

As I said in a comment towards the end of last week, I wish I could order certain types of weather. This would be my order:

"I'd like to order a mild thunderstorm please. A bit of gust to the wind, and a reasonable shower of rain, but nothing too heavy. Also, can I pre-order some snow for the holidays? Nothing too deep. Just a few inches of the kind of snow that's perfect for building snowmen. Thank you!"

What would your weather order be?