u/the-triple-wide

I live in rural Illinois. I am about 2 hours from Chicago. I don't like Chicago. Unless I'm going to the United Center or the airport, I get kinda nervous driving there.

I have been to St. Louis a handful of times to visit family and I've always had a good time. I personally never felt uneasy there. But you could also say that I've never experienced St. Louis outside of a tourist perspective.

Any time it comes up in conversation with friends, coworkers, or people online, everyone hates St. Louis but loves Chicago.

Is this a general consensus?

I can see why Chicago is appealing, but why do people hate St. Louis so much?
What am I missing?

Edited to add: I would like to thank everyone who shared their personal experience living there, esp those who lived in St. Louis and Chicago. That is the type of insight I was interested in.

I would also like to add that I wasn't comparing the two against each other, they have vastly different populations and therefore aren't on the same playing field in my mind. But I could see how my post was read that way.

I am turning off notifications for this post.

I’m thinking about getting the bluebell cottage or the sky blue terrace. 

I currently have the red roof cottage and the sweet raspberry home.

I use the sweet raspberry home as a daycare for all my blind bag babies lol.

Which ones do you have?

Which ones do you want?

Do you have them up all the time for display?

Which ones do you get the most use out of?

(i’m on my phone and the spacing looks weird. I’m sorry if it’s weird!!)

I am only speaking for my experience in the US.

1. They are advertising families on their social media that aren't even available for sale. It's almost taunting. ):

2. There is no warning when an item is being discontinued. I have worked in retail and usually when something goes on clearance it is an indication that the item will no longer be stocked. Even if they took their prices from 39.99 to 39.88, that would be helpful.

3. Their pricing is all over the place. I have seen the koala family range from $20 - $34.99 depending on which website. (I am not including resale sites) I was shopping around for the grocery market set and it was on Target's website for $34.99 but on the official Calico Critters website it is $54.99. NOT TO MENTION, I purchased the striped cat family and the bakery set from Target recently and they actually shipped from Epoch. I understand that stores have the ability to price things as they see fit but it's honestly gotten crazy trying to shop around to get the best price.

4. This stems from #3 but WHY IS EVERY FAMILY A DIFFERENT PRICE? I understand that some have more elaborate outfits, more characters, or toys/accessories. But it's weird. On the Calico Critters website, the hedgehog family is $44.99, the fennec fox family is $39.99, and the chocolate rabbit family is $37.99. All these have 4 critters and outfits of a similar quality. It reminds me of this local restaurant that has different prices for each type of soda. Mr. Pibb, Coke, and Dr. Pepper are different prices, the difference is a nickel or a dime but it's weird business move to me.

5. Blind bags are wildly overpriced in my opinion.

6. The printed on fabric is not it for me.

7. They took the family names and details of the boxes and removed the catalogs -but the Japanese sets I've gotten come with a story book.

8. Inconsistent names/stories/lore. This probably doesn't matter to most people but I figured I'd add it while I'm complaining.

9. Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families has not made an official statement about this new law with the small pieces (to my knowledge) and they still have a lot of items on their website with very small parts. It makes me wonder if fans are going too hard making this a thing, or if the company is trying to downplay it. Maybe both, maybe neither!!

10. I got the penguin family in the mail today and the baby has a broken foot ): -this is what set off my rant lol. I can totally glue it and it will be fine. It was just like "ugh"

I promise to come back next time with a better attitude. I've had to get this off my chest for a while.

Also if any of these things have logical explanations, please let me know. If I understand why something is the way it is, then I will be less annoyed lol.

In the last year, I've noticed that I've had to change the way I speak and type.

I feel like I am trapped between making short factual sentences to appease short attention spans but also having to cram in details so what I say doesn't taken out of context.

It's starting to impact my life because I feel like there aren't that many people I can have a fulfilling conversation with. I feel like people misinterpret what I say sometimes.

Something to note is that I am not one of those people that never shuts the fuck up. I have moments where I can talk a lot, or not at all, depending on my mood and what's going on in my life.

I am 35 years old. I did not go to college. English was my worst subject in high school. I do not read for fun. I am diagnosed with ADHD. I should be the person on the other end of this. You think I would be the one who is spazzing out.

I seriously think that doom scrolling is ruining people's brains. Reading comprehension is seemingly at an all time low. Attention spans are gone.

It's okay though because robots will do our jobs and we will end up morbidly obese in floating chairs like in Wall-E.

About two weeks ago I ordered the seal family from Barnes and Noble’s website.

It said it was in stock and ready to ship within 1-2 days.

After a few days I checked their website and noticed it said “out of stock”.

I thought “oh no, they’re going to cancel my order”

I checked my account and it says item is on back order.

Do you really think they are going to get more in stock? I have a feeling they won’t. I haven’t seen it available at any US retailer besides resale websites.

I think I will email them soon, but I wanted to know your thoughts.

My OCD has taken many forms over the years and I feel like I'm in a way better place than I used to be.
The thing I struggle with is thinking certain items are tainted or dirty.
In the beginning, there were reasons.
Now, I feel like sometimes I just decide that I can't touch something anymore without washing my hands afterwards. No reason at all. It's maddening.

Does that happen to anyone else?

Are there there any tips for fighting this? I feel like it's easier to fight the compulsions when I could talk myself through why I was being irrational.
But in my mind, when there is no reason, it's harder to fight the unknown. (cause what if there was good reason!) It's like the feeling of being apprehensive is added to whatever else I'm feeling.

I wish I could trick myself into thinking things were not tainted as easily as tricking myself into thinking things are tainted.

I have some things I've been wanting to talk to people about but my boyfriend is probably tired of hearing me talk about Calico Critters lol. (I am in the US so I am referring to the US line but everyone is welcome to chime in.)

I first started collecting in 2018 or 2019, whenever the baby band series blind bags came out. I remember they would go on sale for like $3 at my work. Now blind bags are over $10 in some places. It's crazy! But I do recognize the outfits are more detailed.
After acquiring 3 families and several blind bag babies, I decided to focus my collection on furniture and accessories. I've been away from collecting for about 3-4 years (but getting back in) and I'm sad that there hasn't been much new furniture released.
There are a lot of things I regret not buying when they were cheaper and easily available.

Oh, does anyone think that some of the English names for the animals are not good lol and not even in a funny way. And why are the koala dad and kangaroo dad both named Bruce?
It also bothers me the inconsistency with the child and the babies. The koala family for example has Adelaide the girl and Julie the baby. Sometimes in a blind bag the koala will be called Adelaide or Julie, but they're the same size. It's not that serious, just something I've noticed.

Questions for you:
When did you start collecting?
Is there a focus to your collection or do you just get what you like?
What item do you wish you would have gotten when you had the chance?
How do you feel about their names?

I have collected them in the past. My friend and I used to get the blind bags when we worked together. Then I bought the koala family. Then my aunt gifted me a cat family, not even knowing that I liked them lol. Then during the pandemic I bought the cottage house and bunch of furniture.

I never displayed them because of my cat. But I did try to do stop motion and photography with them.

Anyway they've been in a box for at least 4 years. I started seeing pictures of them on Instagram or wherever. I fought hard for 3 days to not buy anything. But I started obsessively looking at them.
I did talk myself out of spending $60 on one little baby critter on ebay. And now I'm wishing I just would have gotten that one.

Today I went to several different stores in the next town over looking for Calico Critters. I knew they wouldn't have them but I had to look. I know the only place they are is Barnes and Noble an hour away.

Now it is night time, and on the drive home I already made the decision that I was gonna buy something and I couldn't talk myself of it.

Do you guys get obsessive?

I am also diagnosed with ADHD and OCD and I sometimes can't tell what is little hypo mania and what is a little something else.

My thoughts are racing and my brain feels like a pin ball machine and I want to buy more things but I know I will regret it.

They have pretty positive reviews but I still like to ask Reddit lol.

Also, where is your preferred place to get disposable cameras developed?

I used Walgreens for YEARS, even after they started mailing them out to a third party. But I haven't had to devleop a camera since 2016. I'm looking for the best up to date option. Ideally I'd like 2-3 sets of prints and digital scans through email or usb or cd. Bonus if they give you the film back lol.

Thanks!

The feeling of "no one understands me" never used to be something I really experienced deeply until maybe the last year or so. In fact, I used to think it sounded very middle school cringey.

I am not referring to feeling like no one can relate to experiences with bp2.
I am also not expecting family/friends to memorized every thing about me.

I just feel like the people who are closest to me no longer understand me or even pretend to. It is starting to hurt and make me feel alone. I feel like I am in my own orbit, on my own wavelength, or sometimes even in the freakin twilight zone.

Do you have any advice to change my way of thinking about this?

Important factors:
-These are not my children.
-I would not be starting with a lot of money.

I was thinking about starting a savings account or doing savings bonds for my friend's two children. They are not in a financially stable home.
I am not well off but I get by.

I was thinking about doing a $100 savings bond for each kid, but I feel like the end result wouldn't even get them a college text book.
If I did savings accounts for them, I could add to it when I'm able to. But I do not want to worry about inactivity or fees or anything like that. Also, I don't have their SSN's and I don't want to ask.
I'm not trying to turn $100 into $10,000 or anything, I just want to set something aside for these kids.

What would be a good option for this scenario?