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pandemicpatches.com

ADULTING AWARD

Eight weeks in, what is our motivation anymore to keep doing the right thing? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get some sort of recognition for the effort it sometimes takes to put on real pants and brush your teeth? Pandemicpatches.com has created patches. I for one would love to wear a sash full of patches with my mask when I go grocery shopping because I never had the chance to earn patches as a Brownie and then I could authoratatively tell other shoppers to follow the decals on the floor telling them which way to go.

These were some of my favorite patches in the first wave online...

Go to pandemicpatches.com today to get on the mailing list because you’ve totally earned at least one patch and should order merchandise when it becomes available.

@brandon.hardy.art

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER

According to Insider.com, Brittany Hardy’s brother, Brandon (@brandon.hardy.art), surpised Brittany with the cake inspired by Fauna’s attempt to bake a birthday cake without magic. She told Insider, “Brandon’s whole job is often creating whimsical objects which are built to last, so he had experience on his side.”

Brandon wrote in an Instagram post, “I had to make the broom by hand using things lying around the house because I couldn’t find one the right size or style.” The handle attaches to the metal system holding up the vanilla cake. That’s amazing. —MV

@leif_me_alone_brah

MAGIC BRUSH

I’m assuming you’ve seen a glow up montage. The dance teachers at my childrens’ school made one. Luis showed me one because the WWE Divas made one. Everyone has seen one... But Leif Gantvoort (@leif_me_alone_brah on Instagram) made one that tried to figure out how this works. Where did the brush come from? Check out his attempts to escape the brush on IGTV.

ENTERTAIN THEM

Bored Panda’s round up of people who used instructions from IKEA for how to build forts was fed to me shortly before my children became insanely bored. Luckily I was also doing laundry, so I could pull the sheets off their beds and tell them to go crazy using the sheets to build forts. I’m always a huge fan of times that social media can tell me realistic ways to keep kids occupied offline.

Keeping Boom away from more screen time

Madeline Vega

QUARANTIME TIME

All Betty has wanted to do for weeks is get in the pool. She couldn’t care less that it’s 60 degrees or colder. One day it was almost 80, so into the pool she went. Meanwhile, it was Betty’s school that suggested having kids sweep stuffed animals into a basket but only Boom was interested in that game. He used a toy golf club like a hockey stick and had fun.

Madeline Vega

CAPED CRUSADERS TO THE RESCUE

Around here, when we talked about different sports that were shutting down and then considering coming back, we were excited to talk about Mark Cuban offering to pay vendors in his stadium and how maybe it’s smart for players who want to sit out the season. But when talking about New York Comic Con, we’ve mostly left it at Luis being disappointed NYCC might not happen.

Without the conventions, cosplayers are missing not only sales, but also connections—photo shoots and motivation to complete projects, plus the opportunities to express themselves. The mental health and business impacts are worrisome. But cosplayers are prevailing. As Yaya Han told Gizmodo, “Fandom is very resilient and has persevered because that’s part of the human psyche.” Han made masks to donate to hospitals and released a tutorial on YouTube, but she ended up with requests to sell masks on her website which hopefully can keep her three employees on payroll. —MV