Month: March 2025

Posted in Gaming, Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley – Can You Complete The Community Center in the First Year?

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! 

My daughter and I have been playing a lot of Stardew Valley lately. Well, I got her into playing it since we currently like playing Animal Crossing, but once you have everything unlocked, the only thing left is to decorate the island and make sure you have all the bugs, paintings, fish, and fossils. 

Which can get a little boring after a while, especially if you have to wait until the months that you are missing different bugs or fish. Anyway, I bought Stardew Valley on the Switch, which does take some getting used to if you are used to playing on PC like I am. 

My daughter would watch me play it on PC and kept asking to learn how to play, so I finally caved last week and we started showing her. So, we have a farm, its called MoMo Farm, named after her cat MoMo. 

One of the things that I was teaching her is about the Community Center, which, if you complete bundles, can unlock other game features. Now, technically, you can unlock these features through the Jojo Mart by paying for them, but what kind of fun is that? 

Once you unlock the Community Center, and go to speak with the Wizard to be able to understand what the Junimos are saying, that’s when you can start putting in what each of the bundles requires.

Now, the question remains: Can you finish the Community Center within the 1st year on the farm?

The answer, for most speed runners, is yes! However, you really need to come up with a gameplan because not everything you can get within the first year. Your best friend is going to be the Traveling Cart

She is located in the Cindersap Forrest, however she is only open on Fridays and Sundays and is open until 8pm both days. My advise is to make sure you have some extra gold or sell some stuff before you see her, so that if she has something you need for one of your bundles, you can buy it from her. 

However, you have to keep in mind it’s random stuff every time, so most of the time she will have many one or two items that you truly need, other times she won’t have anything you need. She also appears at the Desert Festive (Spring 15-17) and the Night Market (Winter 15-17). 

Now, let’s go through each bundle and find out where and when you can find each of the items, as well as the reward for completing the bundle.

Crafts Room

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock the Bridge Repair to unlock the Quarry.

  • Spring Foraging Bundle
    • Wild Horseradish
    • Daffodil
    • Leek
    • Dandelion
    • Reward: Spring Seeds (30)
  • Summer Foraging Bundle
    • Grape
    • Spice Berry
    • Sweet Pea
    • Reward: Summer Seeds (30)
  • Fall Foraging Bundle
    • Common Mushroom
    • Wild Plum
    • Hazelnut
    • Blackberry
    • Reward: Fall Seeds (30)
  • Winter Foraging Bundle
    • Winter Root
    • Crystal Fruit
    • Snow Yam
    • Crocus
    • Winter Seeds (30)
  • Construction Bundle
    • Wood (99)
    • Wood (99)
    • Stone (99)
    • Hardwood (10)
    • Reward: Charcoal Kiln
  • Exotic Foraging Bundle
    • Coconut
    • Cactus Fruit
    • Cave Carrot
    • Red Mushroom
    • Purple Mushroom
    • Maple Syrup
    • Oak Resin
    • Pine Tar
    • Morel
    • Reward: Autumns Bounty (5)
  • Tips: This will be the bundle you will start to work on, as soon as you complete one of them, the Pantry will then be unlocked. Out of all the bundles, this one is more of the easier ones to complete before the first year.

Pantry

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock and restore the Green House.

  • Spring Crops Bundle
    • Parsnip
    • Green Bean
    • Cauliflower
    • Potato
    • Reward: Speed-Gro (20)
  • Summer Crops Bundle
    • Tomato
    • Hot Pepper
    • Blueberry
    • Melon
    • Reward: Quality Sprinkler
  • Fall Crops Bundle
    • Corn
    • Eggplant
    • Pumpkin
    • Yam
    • Reward: Bee House (1)
  • Quality Crops Bundle
    • Parsnip High Quality (5)
    • Melon High Quality (5)
    • Pumpkin High Quality (5)
    • Corn High Quality (5)
    • Reward: Preserves Jar (1)
  • Animal Bundle
    • Large Milk
    • Large Egg Brown
    • Large Egg White
    • Large Goat Milk
    • Wool
    • Duck Egg
    • Reward: Cheese Press (1)
  • Artisan Bundle
    • Truffle Oil
    • Cloth
    • Goat Cheese
    • Cheese
    • Honey
    • Jelly
    • Apple
    • Apricot
    • Orange
    • Peach
    • Pomeganate
    • Cherry
    • Reward: Keg (1)
  • Tips: Out of all the bundles, this is one you’ll want to complete before winter of your first year since you can grow any crops at any time in there, as well as fruit trees. The Traveling Merchant is going to be the best way to complete the animal bundle, especially if you don’t have enough money to get a coop or barn started in time. Having the fruit bats will help with this bundle too as well.

Fish Tank

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock removing the Glittering Boulder that is around the Mines.

  • River Fish Bundles
    • Sunfish
    • Catfish
    • Shad
    • Tiger Trout
    • Reward: Deluxe Bait (30)
  • Lake Fish Bundle
    • Largemouth Bass
    • Carp
    • Bullhead
    • Sturgeon
    • Reward: Dressed Spinner (1)
  • Ocean Fish Bundle
    • Sardine
    • Tuna
    • Red Snapper
    • Tilapia
    • Reward: Warp Totem Beach (5)
  • Night Fishing Bundle
    • Walleye
    • Bream
    • Eel
    • Reward: Glow Ring
  • Crab Pot Bundle
    • Lobster
    • Crayfish
    • Crab
    • Cockle
    • Mussel
    • Shrimp
    • Snail
    • Periwinkle
    • Oyster
    • Clam
    • Reward: Crab Pot (3)
  • Specialty Fish Bundle
    • Pufferfish
    • Ghostfish
    • Sandfish
    • Woodskip
    • Reward: Dish O’ The Sea (5)
  • Tips: This bundle is going to be difficult to complete because you have to pain attention to both the season or weather. The Traveling Merchant helped me quite a bit on completing this bundle because I really don’t like fishing when you first start. The crab pot bundle is going to the easiest to complete.

Boiler Room

Once all bundles are completed, you will unlock and restore the Minecarts.

  • Blacksmiths Bundle
    • Copper Bar
    • Iron Bar
    • Gold Bar
    • Reward: Furnace (1)
  • Geologists Bundle
    • Quartz
    • Earth Crystal
    • Frozen Tear
    • Fire Quartz
    • Reward: Omni Geode (5)
  • Adventurer’s Bundle
    • Slime (99)
    • Bat Wing (10)
    • Solar Essence
    • Void Essence
    • Reward: Small Magnet Ring
  • Tips: This is another bundle you will complete quickly, especially if you are like me and want to get to the bottom as soon as possible. Plus unlocking this bundle will make getting around fairly quicker than just running all over the map.

Bulletin Board

Completing all bundles will improve each of the player’s friendship rating with each of those villagers.

  • Chef’s Bundle
    • Maple Syrup
    • Fiddlehead Fern
    • Truffle
    • Poppy
    • Maki Roll
    • Fried Egg
    • Reward: Pink Cake (3)
  • Dye Bundle
    • Red Mushroom
    • Sea Urchin
    • Sunflower
    • Duck Feather
    • Aquamarine
    • Red Cabbage
    • Reward: Seed Maker (1)
  • Field Research Bundle
    • Purple Mushroom
    • Nautilus Shell
    • Chub
    • Frozen Geode
    • Reward: Recycling Machine (1)
  • Fodder Bundle
    • Wheat (10)
    • Hay (10)
    • Apple (3)
    • Reward: Heater
  • Enchanters Bundle
    • Oak Resin
    • Wine
    • Rabbits Foot
    • Pomegranate
    • Reward: Gold Bar (5)
  • Tips: This bundle can be difficult, but the Travel Merchant can help with some of them. Building friendships can help with unlocking other receipes that you will need, especially if you are trying to complete all the achievements.

Vault

Once all bundles have been completed, you will unlock and restore the Bus Stop, unlocking access to the Calico Desert.

  • 2,500g Bundle – Reward: Chocolate Cake (3)
  • 5,000g Bundle – Reward: Quality Fertilizer (30)
  • 10,000g Bundle – Reward: Lightening Rod (1)
  • 25,000g Bundle – Reward: Crystalarium (1)

Overall, it is possible, but it can be a challenge. Best bet is to pay attention to what items you can get during which season. I actually have an app on my phone that has a check list for each of the bundle items. Plus the app also includes all the villagers favorite items and disliked items as well.

If you have a team or a few people playing together on your farm, you’ll have better odds at completing the Community Center quicker as well. Plus you can asign each player to focus on one of the bundle groups.

Let me know in the comments how soon you were able to complete the Community Center. I’ve been close to finishing it within the first year, but the fish are usually the challenge for me. The closest I got was two weeks after the first year I was able to complete the Community Center, but it does make you want to complete it way sooner!

Posted in Mom Talk

Mom Talk: How I Dated a Walking-Talking Red Flag

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know this post is overdue, but last year, I talked about how difficult it is to be single and dating nowadays and most of the red flags I ran into were because of one particular ex of mind. Now, since it’s been over a year since I last had to deal with him, I figured it was time to talk about how bad the relationship really was.

I’m not going to use his real name, so for the sake of this post, we are going to call him Ronnie or “Red-Flag Ronnie”, which fits him perfectly. Now, let’s get into this mess of a relationship that only lasted 3 months.

So, I first met Ronnie on Facebook Dating. I don’t remember who swiped on who first, but he was the one who sent the first message wanting to talk through texting. Which I usually have no problem doing, but looking back now, he didn’t want me to have his socials.

Anyway, the first day of texting, he really didn’t impress me right off. The conversation was going well until he mentioned wanting to do sexual stuff. To me, if that’s the first thing you want to have a conversation about when we just started talking, you aren’t looking for something serious.

Of course, whenever a guy starts the conversation out like that, I ignore them or move on to the next one. However, I decided this time to give Ronnie the benefit of the doubt, but boy did I know what I would be dealing with.

So, we continued to talk, and not even a week later, he was already asking me to borrow money. The first time was so that his phone service wouldn’t get shut off so we could still text and then it was “I don’t have money for food” or “I need a couple bucks to get me a vape pen”. Even though I was giving him little amounts here and there, boy does it add up.

Then we planned to meet for the first time, but he didn’t have a way to get to me unless he took the bus. Want to guess who paid for the bus ticket? Shocker, I know. I even had to pick him up at the bus stop too. Apparently, he totaled his truck and couldn’t pay to get it back up and running, but had his license.

Meeting him in person for the first time, I honestly enjoyed it and didn’t notice any other red flags at the time. Of course, we made it official, but when I asked if he wanted to make it Facebook official, he didn’t want to do it.

That honestly should’ve been another red flag, especially since the name that he used on Facebook wasn’t his actual name. Not to mention, he wouldn’t even friend me on Facebook, which I thought was also odd. If you were dating someone, wouldn’t you want to show that you are with someone? I mean, I do.

So, once we had the first weekend together, I thought everything was great. I waited until the next weekend I didn’t have my daughter, for him to come back down, but the second time he visited, he was glued to playing my gaming PC. All he did most of that weekend was play Rust, trying to get me into it which I honestly couldn’t do.

Pretty much you can guess that almost every time he came down after that, spent playing on my gaming laptop. I would even ask if he could spend time with me and when I was able to get him off my gaming laptop, he was glued to his phone. It was a nightmare getting him to do anything with me unless he wanted to do it too.

Then there was the time when it was a weekend we weren’t seeing each other and he randomly texted me that he possibly got someone pregnant. Now, I wish I would’ve dumped him right there and then. I don’t know why I didn’t, but he told me it was a “false alarm” the next time I was able to see him again.

Then he claimed he needed a place to stay because of his current living situation, his “roommates” were all moving out and so he asked if he could stay with us. I agreed as long as he got a job and was giving money towards the bills and food. This man, I swear you not, got a job and then quit a day later because he called out on his second day.

Instead of job searching, while I was working, he was playing on my gaming laptop all day and all hours of the day and night. Then would sleep, eat, and repeat. Until one of my family members offered him another job and he finally was working, but I had checked out of the relationship.

I think he could sense that the end was near because he even tried to get me to start looking at apartments for us to live in. I had told him no because I wasn’t going to be the only one that was paying for everything, especially when he couldn’t keep a job.

He even told me through text messaged that he supposedly loved me and got mad when I didn’t say it back. I only say the “I love you”, when I mean it and I would never do it in text message. I didn’t love him and I wasn’t going to say it back or be forced to say it back because he did.

When I had enough, I wrote him something, the one time he was actually working, explaining that it was over. I wanted to get all my thoughts on paper to figure out what I wanted to say. He kinda had a sense of that and asked what was wrong. All I told him was that I had written something down for him, and immediately, he asked “Is it a break-up letter?”.

I told him we could talk about it later since I didn’t want to mention it while he was working. He then kept asking and I finally just told him. Apparently, I made him cry at work over it. Well, you asked and didn’t want to wait until later.

It was pretty awkward when he got back from work and he read my letter. He sent me what he was feeling in a text message thinking that I didn’t want to be with him because he wasn’t rich.

First of all, I just want to clarify that I never judge someone by how their lifestyle is. I don’t care if you are rich or poor, its about how you are as a person. Clearly, my brain was not working when I met Ronnie, since he made himself seem better than he really was.

Once I ended it with him and he moved out, it was a huge relief not having to deal with him. He still tried to contact me and ask me for money, but I shut him down. I wasn’t going to keep stressing myself over it.

You also might be wondering, “Why didn’t he give out his real name?”. Well, this might answer a few things as well as the big one, why he couldn’t keep a job. Well, it turns out that Red-Flag Ronnie had a record. Now, I didn’t search his name when he gave it for his bus ticket, but if I had, I would’ve blocked him.

Turns out that when Ronnie was in college, he sexually assaulted someone. Which is why he doesn’t use his real name because if you were to search it, it pulls up articles that talked about it from a few years ago. Apparently, the case was still on going.

Ronnie did tell me about it, but he spun the story very differently than what the articles explained. He told me that he met this girl, and they hooked up, the boyfriend supposedly found out she cheated and apparently, the girl didn’t want her boyfriend to leave her and claimed that Ronnie assaulted her instead.

However, that wasn’t what the article said. The news article said that he threatened her with a knife, which he never mentioned. Mind you, I didn’t find this all out until after the fact, if I knew this, I would have ended things and blocked him right off.

Which explains quite a bit why he couldn’t keep a job and probably one of the reasons why women wanted nothing to do with him after they found that out. This is exactly why whenever you are dating someone, Google their full name and see what pops up.

Granted, a few other things happened with that relationship, such as him raising his voice at me and having angry outbursts when things didn’t go his way that were some more red flags.

In the end, I learned a few things and I now know if I attempt to go back on Facebook Dating, I know exactly what I want to avoid. I think one of the big things that I’m not going to do is rush into things. Nothing goes well when you rush.

I’m now at the mentality of “if something is meant to be, it will be.” I’ve also completely accept that famous quote Chandler Bing in Friends says: