Who knew salad could be so sweet?
These cookies are simply too beautiful to eat.
These astounding cake creations are mesmerizing to watch come to life.
You can read the X user's full complaint below:
"I need to talk about my neighbors because I have been holding this in for too long."
"They had a birthday party this weekend. For one of their kids. In their backyard."
"I counted six children and two adults. There were balloons. There was a cake on a folding table. It lasted maybe two hours in the middle of the afternoon."
"And I am sorry, but who is going to tell people that you cannot just do this?"
"The noise. Six children making the sound that six children make. For two hours. On a Saturday."
"I had things I wanted to do in my own home, and instead I had to listen to a party I was not invited to and would not have attended anyway."
"The cars. Two extra cars parked on the street near my house. On the public street, yes, but near my house, which means in front of the area I consider to be my general zone."
"And the balloons. One of them came loose and drifted into my yard, and I had to be the one to deal with a stray balloon on my own property because of a party that had nothing to do with me."
"They did not warn me. No note, no heads up, no hey, we are having a small thing on Saturday. They just decided to have a celebration in a yard that shares a fence with mine, and let me find out about it by hearing it."
"If you are going to host an event, even a small one, the neighbors should be consulted. We share an environment. My Saturday is part of that environment, and they spent it without asking."
"I am aware some people will say it was just a kid's birthday party. To those people, I would say it is never just anything when it affects the people around you."
@Liza137823/X
The X user also included a snapshot of the birthday party, which did appear to include six children and two adults around a table in the backyard next door.
@Liza137823/X
The original post can be found here:
The X user clearly thought that she was calling out a great injustice with this post, but fellow X users weren't having it.
It's understandable that not everyone likes children or child-friendly activities, and maybe some unwanted noise permeated the house on a Saturday afternoon for the duration of the party.
But the extremes that the X user goes to in order to describe her woes are reminiscent of the woman who complained about a family-friendly hotel allowing children to be in the pool. If you're going to exist in family-friendly spaces, understand that children are going to be there, too.
Gerhardt explained:
"One of the greatest luxuries in life is being married to the handy guy."
"Not yacht or private jet rich. I'm talking about a level of wealth that is way more realistic."
"The dryer starts making a weird noise, and your husband goes, 'Let me take a look at it.'"
"That is wealth."
To Gerhardt, not only does this save money by being able to do the repairs from the comfort of your own home instead of having to call and make an appointment, but it also offers a sense of security and independence that money cannot buy.
You can watch the video here:
The video sparked passionate responses from fellow TikTokers who agreed or felt seen and valued.
Fellow TikTokers agreed with Gerhardt's take.
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
Some self-identified "handy" TikTokers felt appreciated by the video.
There's been a negative stigma placed on people who work in repair and "blue collar" work for decades, and while these jobs are very much needed by every member of society, it's somehow socially frowned upon to do these jobs.
Seeing someone not only place value on these roles but encourage people to marry those filling those positions has to feel like great validation.
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
@jilliangerhardt/TikTok
Unfortunately, people with valuable talents like being able to repair household appliances are often not valued enough. Because rich people could call a repairman without thinking about the cost, or just skip that step altogether and buy a new one, the onus of value is always placed on the wealthy instead of the self-sufficient.
But there's something so comforting about being able to fix the problem yourself—or being loved by someone who can.
The family rounded the trees into a clear area where the teenager was standing alone with a life preserver meant for a young child strapped tightly around his neck. While he had managed to swim from a small bank to the other, he had no way to safely continue in the direction that his "friends" had gone, and the current had grown stronger, so he had no way to swim back.
He saw the family looking at him, and he said:
"Hi...They want me to go over there."
"I'm gonna...I think I'm gonna die."
The mother initially told her husband to help before pivoting her own paddleboard herself toward the teenager, reassuring him that he wasn't going to die. He swam the few feet between where he was standing and her paddleboard, grabbing onto the back of hers and the back of the board her sons were sharing.
The family found out that his name is Marquis, with the nickname Lamar, it was his first time to the area, and he'd been brought there by his "friends."
Knowing that he might fall if he climbed on the board, they slowly pulled him behind them until they safely reached the shore he needed to go to.
As he walked away, King's husband laughed as Marquis called his friends out and they continued to banter with him, before whispering that Marquis's friends were "a**holes."
But what should have simply been a kind gesture to a person in need quickly turned into a political debate.
Allegedly, King follows several conservative politicians on TikTok, so some assumed that she and her family must be MAGA supporters, and that saving Marquis was a "token" that they could use for views and performative kindness.
People started to scrutinize the video, saying that saving Marquis was the "bare minimum" they could do and not something they should be thanked for. Some also said that the family seemed awkward and cold while pulling Marquis to the shore, and some also took serious issue with King's husband laughing at the banter rather than disciplining the teenagers into treating Marquis better.
King's video was swiftly taken down after being accused of including hate speech.
Fellow TikToker @mznewyorkone, however, saw the video and posted it on her platform, which you can watch here:
Though the video was not removed from her platform, the debate around the King's actions continued.
Some were grateful that King stepped in and helped Marquis. No matter their reasons for doing so, Marquis did not become another young Black man to mourn on the news.
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
But others remained critical, calling the King's actions the bare minimum and questionable at best.
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
@mznewyorkone/TikTok
TikToker Natalee King later posted a storytime video after reviewing all of the criticism.
The family was quiet throughout the situation, because they weren't entirely sure what was going on. They were also worried about Marquis falling into the water, so they pulled him rather than trying to have him climb on one of the boards.
You can watch the video here:
The most important thing to note out of all of this was that Marquis was safely pulled from the river, and he also made it home alive.
On the video that was taken down by the platform, he commented, stating that he had arrived home safely and would try to think more critically about who his friends are and how he should be treated.
After her latest shopping trip, TikToker @realprogressive11 felt moved to speak up about her experience, referencing the price of tomatoes and bread.
"Things are becoming so dystopian."
"I paid two dollars and fifty cents for a tomato. A tomato!"
"You have to spend five dollars for two cups of cheese."
"A loaf of bread has stickers, 'Sale sale sale,' all over it, but you can't get it for under five bucks!"
According to the TikToker, 70% of the area voted for President Donald Trump, and the area was in the top 10% of poverty-stricken areas in the state. Where it was once obvious in public who voted for him, based on tattoos, t-shirts, and MAGA hats, people have stopped advertising who they voted for.
Their attention is much more focused now on checking prices, researching quantities and ingredients, and asking employees questions about the products, trying to determine what they can afford.
The TikToker said:
"The store was packed, and everybody was moving so slow, because they were studying everything in shock."
You can watch the video here:
Fellow TikTokers felt seen in this video, gesturing to their very similar experiences in their own states.
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
Some have resorted to growing their own vegetables to avoid paying the extreme prices.
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
@realprogressive11/TikTok
While it's weirdly reassuring to know that none of us are delusional, thinking that we imagined the prices getting out of control, it's also terrible knowing that people are struggling everywhere to put dinner on the table.
From making more affordable meals, to shopping at more cost-effective locations like Dollar Tree and Aldi, and growing our own food, there are things that we can do to lower the costs of what happens in our kitchens—but at the end of the day, it shouldn't be this hard.
