Recommend: Cute Things as Visual Reminders

Conflicted about what to do with all those smallish figurines collecting dust in your closet? Let's put them to work around the house!

If you came over to my house and looked out the left back window, you might notice a little Donald Duck staring up at you from the corner of the windowsill. Slightly sun faded, the rubber figurine is about half an inch tall and instead of legs, has a suction cup body from the chest down. Unlike his irascible and anxious cartoon self, this Donald is calm and serene, which enables him to do an important job: providing a gentle reminder to not pull down the window shades in order for morning sunlight to stream through to the house plants located on our kitchen floor. That reminder is for me, or for the cleaners, or for any house guests. “Do not close these blinds!”

There are other figurines dotting the rest of the house as well, each of them given specific jobs. Hangyodon comes out onto the bathroom counter as a reminder to close the small shower window when the bathroom is done airing out. So far he has been dependable and on theme, since he is a fish. He also has a suction cup attached, but not at the cost of his lower body. Sorry Donald.

A miniaturized but anatomically correct rooster relocates from a kitchen shelf to the kitchen countertop when the dishwasher cycle is done. When this rooster is at his post, it means the door is ajar and serves as a visual warning that any humans coming this way should be careful turning the corner. (We have an European dishwasher that needs the door left slightly open to air dry.) His chicken-y presence is also a sign that the dishes are clean and need to be put away soon.

All of these tiny reminders could be done with notes, or other visual objects—mental reminders don’t work, trust me--but using cute figurines makes things so much funner! Marie Kondo wants your stuff to spark joy, I want them to be cute! For years I’d collected little figurines and just stuffed them into a box, waiting for a time when they could be aired out and displayed. Now, with this grand idea, they are instead deployed with utility in mind and serve as an efficient (and adorable) way of communicating within the household.

Update: The rooster has now been replaced by a bright pink Oaxacan cat.

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction: Jace

Image
What is this and who is "Jace?" With 2025 starting up, I’ve decided it’s time to return to the world of online writing. At first I was exploring alternative options, such as Instagram or creating another newsletter. However, there are major downsides to both. Instagram is primarily a visual medium and text posts on there are limited to 2,200 characters, which is just around 400 words. That’s enough for some things but not nearly enough for longer pieces—which sometimes I’d like to do. So Instagram was out. Newsletters are fun and I even now have a separate email address specificially for subscribing to them—an idea I strongly encourage you to try—but I like being able to just link to a post in my archives if needed Plus I'm sure nobody wants me to flood their inboxes. Also, there’s some debate on whether using the industry standard, Substack, is moral or not. Additionally, with Mailchimp's Tiny Letter service now discontinued, I just didn’t have the heart to start ano...
Read more

Books: Page Me

Image
Wherein I re-dedicate myself to reading and re-energize my long dormant Goodreads. Plus, presenting a new Bookstagram account! There’s a world where I didn’t read anything in 2021. Usually I keep very detailed records of books I’ve read—and bought—but ever since 2020, it’s been a little shoddy. Somehow, I have no records of reading a book in 2021. Not. A. Single. Book. Someone please surface evidence of me reading something in 2021, please. Remember back in 2019 when I said “After last year’s debacle of twenty-two books read, I think it’s safe to say that I am no longer a reader.” Well friends, I am now officially no longer a reader. In total, it seems like I only read ten books between 2020-2022. I don’t even know how that’s possible but my guess it was video game related. Or just a simple lack of record keeping. The latter is possible because all ten of the books I jotted down from those years are hits, which seems nigh impossible. Here’s the list: A Phoenix First Must Burn, Patric...
Read more

Stuff I Consumed: 2024

Image
Going over my year in books, movies, television, and games. Plus a quit list!   Can you believe it? My first blog post in five years! I'm back baby! I know it's been dead around here since 2020 but I've never stopped blogging--in my head. I've got years of stacked up posts--okay ideas for posts--stacked up and ready to go. I'll lead off with the classic annual review of stuff consumed! My tracking for all consumption was in dire straits in 2022-2022, but I've got it all down from 2023 forward so maybe I'll move backwards. Nothing says "fresh" like years old recommendations! Let's gooooo! Books I’m almost too embarrassed by my lack of book reading to lead off with this subject. I technically logged about twenty books read but some of those were awfully short, some were semi-graphic novel, and some of them I’m just in the middle of them, but past the fifty percent mark. Of those reads, I can only cite four as semi-recommends: 17 Things I’m Not A...
Read more