Dear Diary,


    It seems I still haven''t quite shaken the habit of talking to Lee. One of my pixies, Cedar, caught me talking aloud to myself and seemed rather worried about me. I''ve been trying not to do so too often, but I can''t help but find myself slipping back into bad habits every now and again. I still miss him so much and I always feel a little closer to him when I speak as if he was still here with me, even if he isn''t.


    I''ve also been working on being more productive lately. I created several new challenge rooms on the first floor that I hope the children and parents who visit my dungeon will enjoy. I finally decided on what theme to use for a tribute room and have made it so that the new challenge rooms reflect that choice. I was inspired by the old-fashioned candy shops that I used to see in the local mall when I was growing up. They always felt so magical with all of the huge barrels full of colorful candies.


    One of the challenge rooms I created was a 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. I know it likely seems a bit repetitive since I already have a normal slime-themed jigsaw puzzle, but it''s not like there are a ton of options for safe challenge rooms that can also incorporate in the theme of slimes. I decided to go with pecan "kisses" based on the old-fashioned peanut butter "kisses" I''d receive around Halloween. They were always wrapped in orange and black wax paper, so, of course, I even recreated that detail with my version. I would have made them peanut-flavored, but I didn''t have peanuts available. I figured pecans would work well flavor-wise, so I ended up making the swap.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The second challenge room is a sliding image puzzle, also slime-themed. Despite being yet another flat image of a slime, I''m sure it will present its own challenges. I remember playing a demo game disc from some fast food restaurant with a fish protagonist when I was younger. It also had a sliding-image puzzle you had to complete. I remember struggling with it quite a bit and that was with the ease of being able to click the pieces to move them. This puzzle will have to be rearranged manually, which will make it that much more difficult.


    For the challenge reward, I decided to go with rainbow lollipops. You know the ones that are big and round like you''d find at a fish aquarium or zoo? They never really tasted that great, but the colors were always so fun so I still ended up begging my parents for one a few times during my childhood. I suppose, they''re a bit like jawbreakers in regards to how big of a deal cartoons and the like make them out to be, but then they were always mostly just a generic sweet flavor. I''m hoping the fruit flavors I incorporated into their creation will help make my version taste a little better.


    Well, I should probably get back to work. I still have a lot of challenge rooms I want to work on.


    -Violet