Y2K So Far Away

For some reason right about this time of year, just before it turns over to the next year, I start to think about how we were all so worried about what would happen when the year 2000 came around and if computer systems would fail, power would go out and chaos would ensue.  

None of that happened and the year 2000 started much like any other new year, with drunk people cheering at something falling slowly down a pole.   It's been twenty-two years since that night and yet it feels like only yesterday.  

I have children now who are already a decade into their lives.   This will be a night they get to stay up late for, unless they fall asleep early, which my daughter may well do.   

Tonight, my in-laws are coming over and we'll watch a countdown my husband is having play on the garage doors from a projector he has in the front yard that's been showing a scene on the house for the past few weeks.  

It will be mellow and no one will be drunk or watching something fall slowly down a pole.   But it will be nice even so.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has adapted to his reduced screen time without a fuss.   He was told if he made a fuss, he would get no more screen time and it appears he actually processed this enough to not get upset when his time is up.   He manages his time by setting incremental alarms on Alexa, deciding how much of his daily allotment he wants to spend at once.  Usually, that means all of it first thing when he wakes up.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to play Monopoly today.   I said I would play the electronic one, but we did't have the board set up tactually.   She said she didn't mind because she could have fun making up a game herself that way.   She is something else.   She does get bored, but she is also very resourceful and is always thinking up games to play. 

The Twenty Thousand Nozzle

I got a new nozzle for the printers in the mail today.   It's something new that's different in a rather dramatic way.  I put it on the printer, set some settings up, and started a live stream.   Five hours later I'm exhausted.   Droves of people came in to see what was happening.   People shared the stream with other people.  Questions were asked, I repeated the same thing over and over and started more prints that we all were amazed at.

In the end, twenty-thousand people liked the stream.   I am surprised at the new nozzle but just as much at the response from the people online. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Cheating Story:  My son helped my daughter figure out how to "hack" her typing program.   They played the same thing again and again and got a lot of free coins she could use to buy things for her typing pet.   I didn't mind too much—they were practicing typing all the while.

Glow In The Dark!

My son had an idea tonight to see what filaments were glow in the dark.   I only have one glow in the dark filament in the classic sense of the meaning, but I have some filaments that were suppose to be fluorescent.     We decided to bring the black light into the closet and were surprised at what we found:

The Big Boy Update:  My son sometimes is interested in the 3D printing things we do.  Lately he's been telling me I need to keep my hair down because it looks better that way.   He is very sweet. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been shy but has been wanting to talk to Andrew and Julia today.   They're teenagers and were interested in talking to her, but not as much as she wanted to talk to them, which makes sense.   It was particularly cute that she was shy when it came to talking to Andrew because he was a boy.  

Re-guested

We're having guests again.   It's the same guests as we had before, so I'm counting that as being re-guested.   And we should be cleaning up everything and having the house in spit spot shape as Mary Poppins would say.   Only we're a wee bit behind. 

Thankfully, I got about four hours of tidying done yesterday, so it's actually possible (I think) to get the house in shape before 1) the cleaners arrive tomorrow and then 2) our guests arrive.  

Since it's working on three in the morning and I'm still working on Filament Stories, what with the foolish thought that filming some things would, "only take a few minutes," we are up late again. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son continues to bring seltzer water into the living room and today I found him with candy in there.  He knows better, so it must be that the consequences haven't been important enough for him to cease and desist.   I am planning on more dire consequences next time.

The TIny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to play with Ashley again today and came home both tired and cranky.   She was so tired she ate dinner and went straight to bed.   It sounds likes she had a fun day.   

Two Down, One To Go

We have several things happening here coming up that necessitates the house being put back to rights.   It was nice having a few days where we got to (try to) sleep in and not worry about the wreckage that was Christmas.   But the time is over and we have to get back to being responsible adults again, and that involves telling the children they have to clean up their new things and find spots for them in their rooms or other approved locations. 

I decided after dinner that I had to make an effort to get some work done on the de-Christmasification of the house and so, while the children did their own things and my husband was out running errands, I started in on the task. 

It wasn't going to take long, I thought.  I would put each of the children's things in a spot in one room and they could work on it all together tomorrow.   The Christmas things I would move up to the attic and then get it back in boxes once it was all together.   

I was wrong.   It was no small task.   I ended the night after eleven o'clock with only the main floor and upstairs done, and that didn't even include the tree.   Tomorrow, my husband is helping as well.   We did get a bit done on the basement, but therein lies a lot more mess as that's where Christmas unfolded.   We may need to start early as the children aren't going to be the most willing of participants in the task.   I wasn't interested in cleaning up as a child either. 

The Big Boy Update:  Four hours is all the screen time my son gets each day during the break of screen time.   He uses it all up in the morning and then is completely fine doing other things for the rest of the day.   I expected him to balk but he's been fine with it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter asked me to message Ashley's mother today to see if she was available to play.   I got a quick reply that she could come over any time.   My daughter nearly bolted out of the house.   She stayed until well after dinner and came home tired but happy.   I'm really glad she asked me to message Monica.   I should have thought of it myself. 

Twenty-seven Bananas

My daughter is really into the Yonana machine she got for Christmas.   I said she should get twenty-seven bananas and freeze them all, because at the rate she's going through them it will be less than a week's supply.  

This is what our counter looks like right now as the bananas ripen to what the instruction book calls, "Cheetah colored".  

The Blink Boy Update:  I went into my son's room tonight to turn down or off his playing audiobook.   I was hunting around in the dark for the volume button and afterwards I turned around to find my son right behind me with his hands reaching towards me and a strangely blank yet evil look on his face.   I don't know why I didn't scream.  He was completely still.   He was playing a "Weeping Angel" from Doctor Who.   And he nailed it.   As I moved around I would turn around and behind me, again, perfectly still, my son would have his hands covering his face or he'd be reaching for something or me.   He followed me from the second floor all the way to the basement and continued to try and trap my husband in the corner of the print room.  Had he been able to, he might have been able to send us back in time—that being what the Weeping Angels do.   The only thing the statues can't do is move when they're being looked at, which is why you always find them reaching for you but perfectly still at the same time.    He did such a good job of it that we hated sending him to bed.  We were all three having fun.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The dog really wants to be in my daughter's room at night and depending on the night she wants her in there or doesn't.   Tonight the dog was so happy on her bed but she wanted her space.   I think it was due to the prior night when the dog decided she wanted out in the middle of the night and woke her up letting her know.   They are so cute on the bed together with the ceiling fan blowing on the dog, keeping her cool.

Happiness Was Had

I think 2021 Christmas was a success.   My son was thrilled beyond measure about his computer desk chair.   That, and his underwear were big hits.   The underwear and socks were more of a mellow sort of excitement, which is to be expected—even though I thought I got him very nice boy selections for both. 

My daughter got the build your own gum ball machine.   It was the one thing she wanted from Santa, and it was such a hot item at a very reasonable price point.  My husband found one of the only ones around (from what we could tell) and had driven to the store after paying for it ahead of time.   Santa had come through, my daughter thought.  

But it got better, what with Santa bringing her a Yonana machine.   It's something you need to see videos about to understand.  In short, it makes something the consistency and mouth feel of ice cream from bananas alone.  Granted, banana-flavored ice cream, but unless you've had it yourself, it's just hard to understand how so very like ice cream it is—even though the single and only ingredient is frozen bananas. 

My daughter made some Yonanas today and played with some of her toys.  My son got on the computer with his new keyboard he got from his sister and has been lost for the balance of the day playing with his friends online. 

We went to my in-laws house for dinner, which was prepared by my mother and mother-in-law.   It was very delicious and the company was my favorite in the world.   It was a good day. 

The Keyboard Present:  My daughter wanted to give her brother the expensive keyboard she got for him first, but I had to talk her into waiting again and again, explaining how waiting until the end would have him remember her present the most, because he wouldn't be focused on other presents afterwards.   When he finally opened it and we explained beforehand that she bought it with her own money he got part-way into the bag and yelled, "Oh no you did not!"  Then he jumped up, ran over to her and said, "I love you!" He was so excited.   She spent over a hundred dollars on this "Bloody" branded keyboard for gamers.   Even with his gaming chair, he said his favorite present of Christmas was the keyboard from his sister.  

Christmas Has Arrived (Almost)

We were wrapping presents until quite late tonight.  My daughter has been putting braille tags on every present so that she can help in the morning by being "Santa" and helping give out the presents.   Her brother wanted to be involved and got angry that he wasn't included, but he, like he commonly does, waited until the very last minute when he realized his sister was involved and then suddenly wanted to help.  

I told him this was something his sister could do that none of us would be able to do, since the tags were now in braille.   (Well, I can read them, but I didn't remind him of that.)  I told him that of all the things we can do that his sister can't, let's let her have this as something she can do that we can't.   I think he got it.   She wants him involved and tomorrow might be a power struggle between the two of them, but we shall see. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to know if he could watch Bob Ross tonight.   He was a little upset because he realized he hadn't gotten many presents for his family members.   I helped him out some by letting him put his name on presents I had gotten, but he just didn't want to go get presents when we offered to take him.   He was siting in the chair, organizing his colored pencils and intently watching Bob Ross.   Bob has a very calming nature to him.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  While we were wrapping presents tonight my daughter had changed from how he was feeling earlier in the day.  She was counting presents to her and her brother, complaining if he was ahead or had bigger boxes than she did and then being happily smug when she had more.   I gave parental advice about being grateful and not everyone had the quantity of gifts she and her brother did.  I talked about how size didn't always matter.   And then finally when I'd had enough I told her I would tell her what was in the one particularly large box for her brother.  She thought I was joking when I told her so I let her feel the contents.   I said, "this entire box is all new underwear and socks for your brother—because that's what he asked for."   But later, she was merrily helping with the presents and said about giving presents, "it warms your heart."

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and I am totally not ready.  But good things are afoot.   Aside from a few presents that I am extremely behind on, I think I have things under control.   I mean the decorations aren't on the tree and the presents aren't wrapped, but I can get that done tomorrow.  

I'm in the basement now with pain shooting up my right side and thinking how very nice it's going to be to get in bed, only I have more work I need to do.   Leaning over at the live stream printer has taken its toll on me today. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son I hate to admit, is a nicer person when he doesn't have screens.   He is such a boy.   And I mean that in the stereotypical fashion.  If his sister were a brother I could see them wrestling all the time, fighting and not thinking a thing about being physical, jumping on top of each other, screaming, running around, and having too much energy and way too much need to be physical with someone in a friendly yet adversarial way.   But he has a sister, and she doesn't like any of that.   She screams no and then cries if he doesn't stop.  Not cries, wails.   And then calls us to intervene.   He's just being a child with too much energy and a need to get it out in different ways than his sister.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter just shoved her brother interestingly enough and is now taking revenge like he does on her.   He doesn't like being treated like he treats others.  Interesting.  One point for my daughter. 

 

I Can't Type

My husband is listening to a video beside me.   I thought I was going to be able to type while he listened, but the video he's listening is about the video I made with the 3D Printing Nerd and Joel is talking about me as a wrap-up video he does for his Patreon members (of which I am one).   And in this case, I just can't focus.   So I'll write more tomorrow.  

It is 1:34 in the morning and I need to get to sleep, but tomorrow everyone is on vacation because the Christmas or Winter holiday has begun.   I'm sleeping in.   And then I have to jump into heavy-duty house tidying with the children and *then* I get to have fun finishing up Christmas.  Because we are so not ready yet here.    There are three presents under the tree, tomorrow there will be more. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has one little screen back: his Nintendo Switch.    It is limited in what he can do with it.   We will see how he does. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  After school, my daughter and I went to get some presents at Five Below for people.   She loves to shop.   I think she did a good job.  

It's Not Nine O'Clock

That's what happens here.  I look up ant it's twelve-thirty six.   How did it get past midnight?  It was just after the children got home from school.   Time goes by so quickly.   Did I, or rather we, accomplish things today?  We did.  I did.  But there is a lot more to get done.   I was worried for a while in the beginning that I wouldn't have enough content to get out with Filament Stories.  Now it's the exact opposite: there is just so much content to get out. 

Today I ran some live stream hours on a new set of models that was fun. I kick off the live stream say a few words and then leave.  I come back in and check on things from time to time and say hello and answer questions.   It's neat. 

Tonight I need to go to bed because I have a very early doctor's appointment and then I'm back home for my daughter's last day of school.  Then we're all on holiday time.   Only I have so much to do still.   Christmas is barrelling down on us whether we like it or not. 

The Tiny Girl Big Boy Interaction:  My son jumped on my daughter's inflatable chair.  She was fine with it until she wasn't and then he broke it.   She was livid and hated him forever.   He acted like he didn't care, but I knew he did.   She makes it very hard for him to apologize.   They worked it out in the end with some adult guidance.   

My Little Helper

I was doing a livestream today when my son, who has no screen access currently, came in and wanted to help.   He was trying to bring me things, models, anything I could show on the livestream.   He was dumping models on me faster than I could get them out of the way.   I was in the middle of a conversation with a gentleman who wanted to show me the model he'd designed from Harry Potter.

It was so sweet, having him want to be involved.   But he was completely silent.  He didn't want to be heard on the camera.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son has lost screens and interestingly enough, he hasn't asked for them back.   He's almost having a good time doing other things at this point /

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been holding on to a lot of stress lately.   She had Shelia massage her for an entire hour today and seemed to be in such a better mood afterward.   I was a skeptic at first, but I think it really does help her. 

A Younger Perspective

My son has lost screen time.   Today was a fun day and a challenging day.   We went on a Christmas train ride with my in-laws which was fun but also freezing cold and raining.   In truth, it wasn't that cold, but it had been seventy degrees yesterday and we just weren't ready for weather that cold.   

When we got back to my in-laws house the children had some soup for lunch and we watched the video with the 3D Printing Nerd that was released the day prior.   It was then that I realized my son hadn't seen many of our videos.  

We got home and some things happened that didn't make the mood any better.   My daughter was in a fighting mood with the people she wanted to pick a fight with being us.   Asking her to do chores or even help us do something to help up when the thing we were doing was helping her in the first place, was a terrible burden and we were awful parents.

My son was in an uncharacteristically good mood and wanted to come "snuggle" with me on the bed.   We talked for a bit and then he asked about our videos.  I pulled them up and we watched some on my iPad together.  

He had some s suggestions and advice—and what he had to say was good.   He's young, but he's heard so much about 3D printing that he knows enough to be dangerous.   But he also sees things from a different perspective.   I'll keep his ideas in mind for future videos.  I'm just excited he liked watching the videos. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son said I was famous to me.   I am most definitely not famous.  I told him there are a lot of definitions of famous and I was known by some people who do 3D printing, but only a very small fraction of the overall people who do.   It was sweet that he thought I was, though. 

The TIny Girl Chronicles:  So defiant.   So incredibly defiant.   I don't know what's going on, but my daughter is angry and doesn't want to do anything while expecting to be served by us constantly.   This isn't going to work for her, but she's trying mightily to get us to do her bidding and do nothing in return. 

3DPN

Today Joel Telling, otherwise known as the 3D Printing Nerd, released the video he and I made together.  I'm working on another Filament Stories video now, which is going late, as usual.   All I want to do is go to bed.   But we're close to finishing.  Hopefully.  

Here's the video: 3D Printing Nerd: Can My Filament Problem Be Solved?

The Big Boy Update:  My son got in trouble tonight and then he tried to be mean and insulting back.   He lost privileges.   We don't know if we're being too hard on him or not hard enough.   We're worried about him.   But we're not exactly sure what to be worried about. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was so loud tonight.   But so happy.   She was in a house full of two families and she wanted to find someone, but she didn't know where they were over the din.   That someone was my son, who was playing hide and go seek with her.   She found him eventually, when he wanted to be found.   She was having so much fun she didn't want to go home.   Then she bumped her head rather hard.   I don't know how she goes through life so unafraid.   Or I suppose she is afraid sometimes.   But tonight she got to pet a cat, or two.   She grabbed at the one and it pulled away.   She can't see it.   The only way she can experience it is to touch it.   There are little things that make my heart hurt for her.   She's so strong though.  So very strong.  

Never Stop Talking

I just did a live stream on TikTok.   It's odd, you have an audience and they're listening to you and asking questions and talking back, but you have to talk 100% of the time.   I can talk a lot—I do talk a lot, but this is more tiring than it seems because you're on your toes mentally the entire time.   

The installation and setup live stream I did was different because it was topic-specific and there was a product that was involved so it took part of the time up.   This live stream was me just talking.  And talking.   About anything, people wanted to know about 3D printing.  

I am tired and I'm going to bed. 

The Big Boy Update:  We forgot my son was to be picked up at noon today.   We got there at 12:30 and I hoped he wasn't overly upset.   He was fine.   I just remember the time I overslept and missed picking him up by several hours.   He was upset afterwards from that one, thinking we might forget him or his sister in the future. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband was supposed to help make cookies with my daughter tonight.   He and I took a bit too long with something and she fell asleep on our bed.   He promised her they would make the cookies in the morning, first thing.   Breakfast sugar cookies anyone?

This Sleeping Business Is Frustrating

It is so frustrating how I get to a point by mid-afternoon where I'm in enough pain that I have to lie down for a little bit to get my back, neck, arms, etc. to calm down.   My children probably think their mother is lazy because I'm in bed sometimes, well, more times than I would like to be when they get home from school.  

The thing is, the position I can get out of pain in, is lying on my left side with my head propped up at a very specific height.   I need a pillow between my knees and then I'm finally comfortable and can relax.   I think I just hold on to a lot of stress, trying to fight against the pain.   This sounds terribly dire, and it isn't really, but sometimes the pain is omnipresent in my life so when I can take that time to get a break from the pain is tends to be such a great relief that I fall asleep.  

Add to that the fact that we're working hard on so many things.   This Filament Stories venture is quickly turning into a potentially profitable business—something I never thought would happen.  We've been hired for the entire year of 2022 to create social media content for one company.  And then based on conversations we had with the very popular content creator during our trip, we might be able to be even more profitable.  

He said, "you have something companies can't buy, and they will pay you for it.  You have well-produced content and a great presence as a female in an industry where females are in the minority."   He told us the range of fees he's getting for just a simple sponsorship spot in one of his unboxing live streams and that amount was staggering.   Far more than I would have ever thought a company would pay for being mentioned with product placement/usage.   He said we need to start looking at everything from a profitability perspective. 

We don't have his reach or audience and we haven't been doing this for nearly as long.   But we are focusing on filament, and there are companies who want their filament showcased.   So for now, I'm going to think on it while we grow and consider what to do going forward and how to think of us as a business and not just a fun venture into filament and 3D printing. 

I'm sidetracked, but while I'm typing and on a roll, I'll keep going.  He said, "You are the brand," pointing to me.   He said that yes, my husband and I were doing this together, but the brand was me, regardless of if I wanted it to be that way or not.   He and his camera person have been together for six years, but most people don't know much or anything about Shaun who behind the scenes makes everything look great.   My husband is much of the same.   He is the reason we're so professional looking.   I just come in, say some things and make sure my hair is brushed and my clothes don't have stains on them.   In that way, I have the easier job.   I'm minimizing things, because I work very hard all the time to get us to the point where we do the recording and I manage all the customer contacts and communication with people, but my husband does do an awful lot.

I was concerned my husband was okay with being the behind the scenes person.  But he completely is.   He doesn't want to be on screen. He prefers to do the film and editing work.   We each have our roles and we work well together.   We get along, even when we're together for long stretches of time.   We do disagree, but it's minor and quickly resolved and compromises are made.   

So back to the sleeping in the middle of the day.  I hate it.  I hate that I have to do it.   I try to, "just push through" as my son tells me.   I want to, I really do.   But sometimes if I don't lie down, well, it's just too much some days.   I'm still looking into other ways to combat the need to lie down.   So many things are better now, but some things are worse, and it's those worse things that are taking a bigger toll than I'd like them to.

The Big Boy Update:  My son pulled out all the Paw Patrol characters and toys from the back closet and had them all over the place in his room today.  Lack of friends outside to play with and no screen time and he's been doing different things in his room.   I need to get his sister in there to play with him tomorrow.  She gets so bored. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I got some cookie decorations as a set at Wal*Mart today.   It's everything to make a snowman face and all the pieces are tactile and different shaped.   She will be able to be successful making sugar cookies and decorating them.  I love making sugar cookies.   Hopefully we can make them this weekend.  

Hello Random People

Okay, this live stream thing is just odd.  And I mean really odd.   I start prints and kick off a live stream in the printing bedroom.   I tell people who enter initially what I'm printing, the filament, where to get the model, anything interesting.   And then I walk away. 

I go in to check on the print from time to time.   I could do this remotely, but it's a chance to say hello to the people in the room and rinse repeat the above about message.   Maybe I'm changing filament, or maybe it's time to start a new model.   Or I scroll and there have been questions so I see if the person is still in the stream, and if so, talk about my thoughts on the matter.   

There is such a thing as "five 3D printing minutes".  That quantity of time is actually more on the order of an hour, possibly approaching two hours.   Which means I get stuck talking to people.   They're liking the video and doing this thing where they give hearts out, which equate to actual money later on, so it behooves me to hang around and speak to them for a short bit. 

It's random people in my guest room that can hear me, and can type messages to me.   I feel like I'm on a podium talking to an audience who can't see me, because I'm behind the camera.   They can see my hands moving around, but not the rest of me (thank goodness because I haven't washed myself all day.)  It's eerie but in a way it's nice.  

The good news is I can walk away any time, and it's completely okay to do so.  It's practically protocol.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son worked on his Secret Someone gift today.   His class friend likes baseball, blue and Garfield.   So he got him a blue baseball, wrote his name on it and put Garfield stickers on it.   He's covered all the bases so to speak.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I were late to school today.   We left the house late and then my son's teacher needed to talk to me.   We could have skipped Starbucks, but my daughter said she was very hungry, and I wanted her to have a big breakfast for energy-purposes, so we went through the drive through and she was five minutes late to school.   Tomorrow, no Starbucks.   We're not doing that again. 

In My Bedroom

We're running a live stream of the prints we're doing on the time lapse printer.   What this means is that there is a phone pointing at the printer while it prints.   For hours and hours.   And while it isn't a big issue to have people popping in to see how your print is coming along at varying points in the day since the prints is enclosed in a shrouded box to control lighting, what is an odd thing is that they can hear you. 

And that is good.   And bad.   Because if you're walking by the room in question, say talking about how you heard Aunt Elsie's hemorrhoids were acting up again and she can't make it to the after Christmas tea and crumpets party, well, now everyone listening knows all about poor Aunt Elsie's rather unfortunate condition.   

Or any other thing you might not want anyone in the world who feels like dropping in to hear about.   Thankfully, the room has doors and is in a corner of the house, so it's simple enough to shut the door and keep Aunt Elsie's private life private.   It is an odd thing though, knowing people can hear you and not knowing who's in the room next door. 

But there are advantages too.  I can walk in and start talking about what's printing, who the filament manufacturer is and answer questions people might have about what's going on.   And then I can just walk off whenever I feel like I want to leave.   It's a sight easier than responding to individual texts or messages and it is a way to connect with people in a right now kind of way that is in short bits of time that you alone control. 

We were already printing in the room and walking in there to check on things from time to time.   The prints were already being shared online.   This is a way to watch remotely as things happen.   I remember the first time we got to watch my niece swim at a large meet by connecting to the event online.   The scale and production level is different, but I remember feeling like I was a part of something I wouldn't have otherwise been able to be.     This is different but in a very tiny way it's a bit the same.

The Big Boy Update:  My son (and we) forgot his medication today.  He did not have a good day.   I read him his teacher's email.   He figured out he needed his medcation but didn't know what to say or do about it.  Next time, we'll find out before the day is over and nothing can be done about it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter asked if she could please go to the Chiropractor today.   She said she'd been waiting for days while I was out of town and that her back and neck had been bothering her.   we went this morning and she felt better afterwards.   I'm glad she's willing to ask for help.   I always want to help her. 

My Word I Was Tired

I got home and my husband fell asleep diagonally on the bed with his clothes on after his parents left and started snoring.  I fell asleep on top of the covers with my clothes on and when I woke later, he was up and gone.  I fell back asleep again until it was almost dark.  It would appear we were very tired from the trip and the overnight flight, even though we slept. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was happy to see us and slowly, ever so slowly so as to savor the experience, opened his cards and presents from people for his birthday.   I missed him. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had a partially bad day.   She ran into a wall after her brother ate some of her Advent Calendar chocolate that was precious to her.  She cried on the bed and brought her stuffed animals out that help her with strong emotions.   I am worried about her.   She is having some tough times.   Then, later, when she's feeling okay, things seem all fine.   The question I have is when she feels bad, and is saying everything is always bad and there is no happy, if that is just the moment talking, or if it really is bad all the time.   Because when I ask her later, she is fine.   That is unless I bring back up the time from earlier and then she loses it all over again.   It's like she is barely holding on to happy, to normal.   I just don't know.   I really don't know if she's okay or if she's dealing with normal childhood things or if the blindness is far more of a burden on her than any of us realize. 

Way Home And Way Behind

So much has happened in the last four days and I want to write about it, but I just have been dead on my feet when I got to the computer at the end of the night.   I want to write some of it down because it's memorable and I think important in the evolution of the Filament Stories brand.   But it's going to have to wait. 

It's going to have to wait because I'm in the plane about to take an overnight flight home.   We missed my son's birthday, which I was sad about, but he is with Nana and Papa and I know he is being taken care of very well along with his sister and our dog.   

The gate is closing.  Time to wrap this up.

The Big Boy Update:  Today my son turned eleven.   Yet again I find it hard to believe eleven years ago I delivered a little boy and became a mother.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was at a visually impaired holiday gathering today.  There was a talent show but she didn't want to be part of it.   But when I sat down in the airport and looked at the twenty-eight text messages, there was one that included a video of her in the talent show singing Silent Night.   It was so beautiful.   Better than I've heard her before.   She was on key and tempo as she sat quietly and sang while sitting at the fireplace.   I wanted to cry it was so hauntingly beautiful.  

Long Day, Back Soon

I'm writing this on Saturday for Friday.   We worked in Portland for some of the morning and then drove to Seattle to continue working with the 3D Printing Nerd.   We went out for dinner and then to his pub and by the time we checked in to the hotel after midnight I was too tired to write something.  

Today, we woke up late and have been going non-stop since then.   We're now in the car heading back to Portland and then the airport.   I miss the children and home, but I'm so glad we made the trip.  

The Big Boy Update:  Today is my son's eleventh birthday.   We called him but he was shy at the time and didn't want to talk.   We'll see him in the morning.   I miss him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to a VI event and did singing there and then did caroling with her choir in the evening.   She loves singing.  

Do We Know What We're Doing?

We worked a long hard day today.   After work, we all met for dinner and then we went back to the very quaint Dragonfly House named Airbnb.  We had to pack up and be back at the factory at seven in the morning.   

I woke up on Friday morning and realized I forgot to post here last night.  We got to the site, got some more video with one of the owners while the extrusion lines were off, which was nice because the noise level when they're running isn't great for capturing people talking, even with lavalier mics and noise dampening. 

We're off to Seattle now on Friday morning to the 3D Printing Nerd, Joel Telling's, studio with Alex from Protopasta to do two days of filming there.   It's long days but it's still so much fun.

The Big Boy Tiny Girl In Nana's Bed Phone Call:  Last night we called the children to find them in Nana and Papa's bed because there was a sound that scared them.   They were so cute.  I miss them.

Protopasta

We are at Protopasta World Headquarters, having traveled from the east coast this morning.   It's their world headquarters, but it is also their only office/warehouse/plant.   I just like calling it that.   Tomorrow we have lunch with one content creator and dinner with another.  Or perhaps the dinner is on Friday.   We're so fortunate to have met such nice people.   And the fact that they're my favorite filament company in the world, well, it's just an amazing thing that this has happened to us. 

Alex said today that he was appreciative of us just taking the social media and running with it.  He and his staff don't have the time to do the social media side of things, but maybe more accurately is that they don't want to do that side.   And that, it turns out, is something we're good at (creating videos and seeing content opportunities.)

I can already tell the trip is going to be over far too quickly.   Hopefully, it won't be the last time we visit them though.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Who Goes To Therapy Decision:  My daughter really needs to go see Dhruti this week.   And possibly every week for some time with the things she was telling me the other night.   She's just having a hard time being blind.   I thought if she and her brother talked about it, he would suggest she take the week, which is exactly what he did.   It was very sweet of him, even though technically it was his week.

Almost Off

I am usually one who prepares for a trip well in advance.  I get as much ready ahead of time so I don't have to rush at the end.   This trip, however, has been the entire opposite.  Every day I've been working on whittling down my list.   But then the list would just grow back.  

The time is nigh and I need to be asleep, well, now.   I'll be back tomorrow very tired as well, I'm guessing from taking the first morning flight to the west coast and then working all day followed by a dinner.  But it's also bound to be fun.

The Big Boy Update:  My son sought me out to get a hug before he left with Nana and Papa today.   He was very quiet about it.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I gave my daughter a stuffed animal that has the insides come out to reveal the inverse of the animal.  I told her that if she had bad feelings inside her, she could pull its insides out and it would be a way to feel all the sadness or anger or anything other that's bad feelings calm down and go away.   She was practicing and taking it very seriously.   These kinds of mental imaging things do help her in a very real way to cope with emotions. 

A Very Down Daughter

Oops, my post from last night was sitting in drafts mode.  I hate when that happens. 

My daughter had a very bad night.   I thought she'd had a good day, singing in the choir concert and then getting to see Santa followed by a massage.   But before she went to sleep she broke down and told me about how awful it was to be blind.   She was saying things like she didn't know that there was a reason to go on, that there was never any happiness.   Bad things.  Sad things. 

Does she really feel that way in the way an adult feels depressed?  The things she was saying were alarming, but she also is adjusting to being blind and does have significant mood swings.  I am going to keep talking to her and see how she's doing.   She does have lots of happy moments but when she's in the deep depths of a mood swing, she's very down. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son went to his sister's concert tonight to be there for her.  He was very sweet all day long. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter said she has to ask for help all the time, for everything.  She hates it.  Absolutely hates it.  

Catalogs

My daughter is excited about Christmas.   She is wanting to help with just about anything and one thing she knows we need to do is look at the catalogs we have from the mail and determine if anything in them might be a good present idea for someone or be something she or her brother would like on their wish lists. 

She's been wanting to help with the catalogs for days now.   Tonight I went up to her room while she put up her laundry and told her about the things in the catalogs.   She had a lot of wants.   I told her too many things on your wish list and you won't get them all and you might not get the things you most want, so we need to rank them and consider how many things to add. 

She was fine with all that and just had a great time hearing about all the possible things available to but. But it's a very constrained world she's in in this way.   She can't see all the items in the catalogs; all she can do is listen to what we tell her are in there.  

And there is no time to tell her about all the things our eyes glance through in the span of a two seconds, thinking, "nothing on these pages" and move on.   So many words to describe what we see so quickly and easily.   

But she was happy.   And she will retain every single bit of it too.  She is a vault when it comes to memory, that's for sure. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Laundry Difference:  My daughter doesn't want to do her laundry, but she does it and takes time to do a good job.   Her brother fights it and puts it off and dawdles and then gets in trouble, even though he was given multiple opportunities to get it done himself, encouraged to.

Headaches and Fevers

Each of us in the family had some sort of mild side effect of the vaccination or booster yesterday.  The children, who had their second vaccination shot had headaches.  My daughter had a mild fever.  My husband and I felt tired and had headaches.   But all in all, not too bad.   Tomorrow hopefully we'll all be, "right as rain."

First Friend Met

Today my first 3D printing friend and I met.   He was on the way to Florida and stopped in for two hours to meet us.  It was during the time the children were in school but he may stop in another time on another trip to meet them.   It was short, but it was a busy time and we caught up like we'd known each other for years. 

In the entire time I've known him I've only typed to him on a social media platform where a group of 3D printing enthusiasts gather.   We met early on when we both had just joined.   He messaged me when he saw I liked filament and from that point on, we've been friends.  

He and his wife are retiring soon and relocating to Florida and this trip was to bring some things down as well as to help his parents move from their home to one closer to where he and his wife will be living.   Last year during COVID-19's worse and more isolated days he lived alone there, working from home and being close to his mother who was quite ill.   His wife remained up north with her jobbed for months, the only people he talked to was via this community that grew up around a creator we all enjoyed printing from. 

It was just a very easy and fun two hours that ended far too quickly.   

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Round Two Injections:  My son forgot about the second injection today and was mad when I picked him up after school and insisted he was going to boycott the injection.  My daughter was terrified for not really a good reason since the last time it didn't hurt much.  They both managed fine and are now fully vaccinated.  My husband and I got our booster today along with them. 

The Lost Shoes

My daughter will be buying a new pair of shoes for herself.   I bought her two new pair recently.   They were not inexpensive.  She's grown recently and it was time and she had done a good job of wearing out the old pair.  

Three days after getting the new shoes, specifically after wearing them twice, she lost them.   She has had over two weeks to locate them.   We've looked everywhere and she knows she will have to buy a replacement pair if she doesn't find them.   Why? she asked.   Because we bought them and you lost them and you need two pair of shoes. 

Today we talked more about this.  Why she needs two pair of shoes is because come time to leave for someplace, say school or choir or anywhere, what if she can't find her shoes?  Having a second pair is the answer.  Also, it's nice to have more than one thing you put your feet in every day as well. 

She's left them in the rain for days.   She's hidden them under the bed so she could find them later, only she forgot she put them there.   There are so many times we need a backup pair of shoes for her as well as for my son. 

She has agreed it is necessary, but she was surprised when I told her she would not get her money back if she found the pair later.  Why?  Because we had to buy the pair a second time.   If we had found them before buying a second pair, she wouldn't have to spend her money.  But once it's spent, it's not un-spendable. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son had a little note card taped to his pencil when he got in the car today saying, "Vote for Davis".  He decided David would be a good class officer and he is lobbying for him to be one of the newer students to replace him and his other two classmates as they step down after half a year of being officers managing the classes responsibilities. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted, begged, pleased for us to let her buy her brother a very expensive computer keyboard for his Christmas present tonight.  Because he was her brother, she said.  Because she loved him.   And, because he spent his money to get her a big present last year.   He did and we allowed that.   So we let her spend her money to get him a nice present.   He will be very excited when he opens it on Christmas Day. 

Left the Love Zone

We got to see my nephew Kyle today.  And my in-laws and my brother- and sister-in-law.   It was a good day seeing them all.   It was even better actually getting to hug someone not in my family.   I've never been a huge hugging person, but all this time alone with COVID-19 floating around and I was ready to hug my parents and Uncle Bob and Uncle Brian, and everyone else in my family.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son just came downstairs complaining of having not a nightmare, because he wasn't asleep.   He had "bad thoughts" trying to go to sleep.  I told him even adults sometimes had that happen to them.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was happy to have two dogs to pet tonight with Daisy also at my in-laws when we went to dinner.   She was on the ground, petting Matisse and Daisy.  Daisy wandered off and my daughter said to her, "Daisy, you left the love zone."

The Phone Call

I had an odd experience today.   Things are just happening with the filament videos at a rate I wasn't expecting, and by that, I mean fast.   We're going to work with one filament company and then we're going to meet one of the most well-known content creators in the 3D printing arena.   This is because the filament company has worked well with them before and they have a good relationship.  

Today I got a message on Instagram and then ended up on a phone call with someone I've been watching his videos for several years.  He knew me and I knew him because of the content we put out.  So in a way it seemed like we knew each other, only we'd never met. 

The meeting we're having with him has turned into two days with multiple videos and a live stream and who knows what.   It was a bit surreal how easy the conversation was.   I'm looking forward to the trip. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Puzzle Story:  My son and daughter were doing some puzzles tonight.  My daughter had to do them blind, because she is, but my son also decided to see if he could figure it out.   It is not easy—at all.   He got it with a little bit of help.   I really don't know how my daughter does all the things she does. 

Emails Running Amok

Things have priorities and depending on how high something is it will either get done earlier or later, or perhaps not at all.   I have a thing about my email, liking it to be as empty as possible.  I wax and wane on the state of my inboxes, sometimes having nothing them at all, meaning everything needing to be done from an email-based standpoint has been taken care of, responded to or filed.   Sometimes, things are not so well-managed. 

The current state of my emails is full blown jungle overgrowth.   I get a bit of time here and there and do some portion of catching up, but it isn't enough to make any real progress.   At the end of the day, typically quite late, I just want to go to sleep.  Or when I do take time to not do anything and relax or take a nap, email is the furthest thing from my mind. 

The way 3D printing works is there are lots and lots of little things that need to be taken care of.  Maybe I should write a blog post about that some day, although it might bore you to death.   Even though there are long bouts of time for some models that they print on quietly and calmly without your intervention, when you have multiple printers running at the same time, something always needs to be taken care of, restarted, sliced, downloaded, uploaded, edited, filament changed, ad nauseam.  

I have let the emails slide.   I'm getting to all the important ones and perhaps it doesn't matter that everything isn't filed, deleted or marked.  Every few days I say, "I'm going to beat back my inbox(es) tomorrow!" not unlike the phrase we are known to say about starting the diet tomorrow.  Only tomorrow it gets put off for another day. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl One Minute Shower Morning:  We forgot to set our weekday alarms back on and woke up eight minutes before we needed to leave for school—and the children absolutely, positively had to have showers because they were bad news from a cleanliness perspective.   Somehow we made it to school as they were shutting the door to my son's classroom so technically he was late, but only by a minute or two.  My daughter and I missed our morning Starbucks pumpkin bread, but we somehow survived.   The car had breakfast consumed in it, I'm not sure how it fared with the crumbs though.

Keeping Up With The Jonses

I used that phrase tonight even though it's not something I say, because I've been having fun with my new Australian slang deck of cards.   Only it's caused me to realize I don't think about American slang.  So tonight when I remembered that phrase, I used it in context and found out it is also used in Australia.

I'm going to have to cave and search online and then I'll remember all the phrases that just haven't been coming to mind. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Shower Lapse:  The children haven't had a shower in several days.   And we forgot to get them to take one before they went to bed.   They would skip washing themselves for months I would bet if they weren't required to get clean from time to time.  

Everything Goes Wrong, But There Was Song

I won't detail for you all the things that went wrong today, but it was a bad 3D printing day.   We lost hours of filming, had to print models multiple times over and at this point, at the end of the day, we have no video and no completed models.   

Some days just don't go your way. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son just came down with a nightmare.  He couldn't get past it for the first ten minutes but eventually, his father got him laughing and he was fine.  I was working on a broken printer and the three of us were talking while I was repairing it.  The nightmares don't happen often, but it's scary when they do. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  This is where the song part comes in from the blog title is that while I was filming today, Ashley came over and she and my daughter started decorating.   They brought down the bin of animated stuffed animals that are all Christmas-themed.   When I came upstairs the two ladies demonstrated how each one worked.  

Presents In Action

It's hard to tell when a child will like a present they receive.   They may want it, but when it arrives they have changed their mind or they aren't as interested in it when they find out what's involved or how it works.   Today I saw two presents in action that are working well, and on both occasions, I had wondered how they would work out. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son likes magic because his grandfather has been a magician since he was eight himself.  Tonight for the first time I saw my son put in enough practice to be able to do a trick without being nervous or bumbling through it not sure what to do.  He was so pleased with my surprised reaction to the cups and balls routine he had learned the first moves to.  When I went upstairs to help his sister, he started working on another trick with his father. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is "bored bored bored" but today she got a circular loom from Uncles Bob and Brian.   This was a simple loom that would make tubes of knitted material that could be made into hats or other items.   I had fairly high confidence she could do it—but would she want to.   Tonight she is up in her bed, lying in the dark, making mistakes, because when you can't see what just went wrong, it's not always easy to recover.   But she's being successful.  I told her not to worry about it being perfect, that this first time was to learn and to get the motions down so she knew what to do and how to prevent the yarn from going in the wrong places.   She is interested and determined.   I think she would be so happy to go to school and have people compliment her on her hat this winter and then be able to tell them she made it.  

Hedgehog!

Today we had four grandparents, two uncles, two parents, two children, and a dog for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had taken my parents and the children's uncles over to visit the rental property we bought during COVID-19 that hopefully will someday have our retirement home built on it.  For now, it's a very eclectic rental property.

My husband was working on the turkey, Uncle Bob was making a pie.  Mimi and Gramps had brought ham and green bean casserole.  Nana was making a completely from scratch starting with a pumpkin pie. Dinner was on the way to being ready.

Uncle Bob managed to get ten chairs around the one table in our dining room and we had a very nice dinner with no bickering at all from the children.  They were having fun doing something that could be initiated by either child by calling out, "hedgehog!"

The two children would then duck under the table and grab our legs or play with the dog, who was waiting to have any food at all sent her way.  

The food was so good tonight.   I ate some of everything except the roll and then finished up with a slice of both pies.  

I got to sit beside my father and talk to him some.   It was nice to spend a little time talking with him.   He's become more quiet as he's grown older but he does talk a good bit when it's just him and you.  

It was a lovely Thanksgiving.  I'm so grateful for the family we have and that we were able to get together this week and today.

The Big Boy Update:  My son opened his birthday present from my parents early tonight.  I haven't seen him so excited.  He got a mouse for the computer that apparently is the best mouse for drag clicking—ever.   He hugged them and thanked them and then ran downstairs to install it.  He is playing on the computer now, presumably drag clicking away.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is currently wearing the Cookie Monster pajamas I got myself for Christmas two years ago.   It's a bit scratchy, what with it costing only five dollars and most of the cost being eaten up with fluff materials of questionable quality.   The ankles are elastic so it doesn't really show how loose the pajamas are on her.   She is so happy.   I can't believe she's wearing my pajamas. 

Long or Short? Detailed or High-Leveled?

I spent several hours today filming a review I'm going to be putting out on the Mosaic Palette 3.   After finishing it my husband pointed out that the monitor (a small screen that lets me see what's being recorded) had dropped over the corner of the lens, blocking part of the shot.  That meant a significant portion of what I'd recorded was unusable.  

Or was it?  I asked my husband if he could do some editing magic and paste the unblocked corner from another video earlier on, before I knocked the monitor (not like a computer monitor, this is a small thing like a small-sized tablet that I use only at the beginning to make sure the videos look okay.)  My husband had saved the day and the video I'd been working on so long to script, or to outline more accurately, didn't have to be recorded again. 

It took me a number of takes to get what was in my mind to work well when I recorded it.   But I'm not sure I want to publish it after my husband said something: is it interesting, fast-paced, full of neat things, shot changes, basically anything to make a longer video something people will want to take twenty to thirty minutes to watch?

And this got me thinking.   We talked about it and I explained what I thought the typical audience would be like that would watch the video, and I think I may want to do it over.   Is that bad after all the work I did today?''  Possibly not.  It will be much easier to redo and if I can make it snappier, plus do a quick overview video for people who don't want an in-depth view of the product, it might be better than what I recorded.  

I need to look at the current video and make a decision.  And I need to get this video out because I'd like to have it behind me. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Uncles Arrive:  Children are interesting things.  They love their uncles Bob and Brian, but when they're occupied on something else it is quite possible they won't jump out of their chairs to say hello and greet them upon their arrival.   My son stopped watching television and did his version of hello and my daughter was definitely happy to see them.   My son went back to his television show as soon as he'd said his greetings and my daughter headed off to Madison's house (a special concession letting the girls come into each other's houses).  They've been talking about when they'd get here so I know they're excited to see them.   So am I.  I can't believe it's been two years since we've seen them because of COVID-19.

Review To Do

I have a product review I need to be working on.  I've needed to be working on it all day, but a hundred little things stopped me every time I tried to get started.   At this point the camera is up, the lights are on, everything I need is in frame.   My outline is prepared.  

All I need to do is press record and start filming.   But at 9:12 at night I can't keep my eyes open.   I'm trying to even write this post and I'm falling asleep as I do.   I might have a nap and get up later to record.  

I even had a shower and did my hair.   I wash it every four or five days, it just takes too long.   I always love when it's clean and freshly styled—even if I'm about to go to sleep on it.

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Out of School Status:  My children are out of school for the entire Thanksgiving week now.   Only two days of school this week and now they're done:

Holly Night

On the way to chorus today my daughter wanted to do a round of Silent Night, one of the songs she's singing with the older chorale group, who will be singing an entirely different song while they sing Silent Night.  She and I have practiced this together and it's tricker than we thought it would be, but we've got the timing down now and we don't have to put our fingers in our ears so we're not distracted by the other person's part. 

She decided she wanted to do a standard round of Silent Night today, though and it was a bit in when she corrected me, saying it was "holly night". I said the word was "holy" and then thought that perhaps she didn't know the full meaning of the song. 

She was fully aware of the story Silent Night is about, but she hadn't made the connection with the words of that song.   After explaining, she was quiet, thinking about the song's meaning until we parked.

The Big Boy Update:  My son didn't finish folding his laundry last night so he was grounded today until he did.  My mother picked him up from school and he was hungry but he declined my mother's offer to get him food through a drive through.   When my husband and I found out, we told him we were so sorry, that that's not what we had meant.   He doesn't have much of an appetite from the Adderall he takes for school and we like to make sure he's fed when he gets home.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter rode home from choir with her friend Grace, who is also visually impaired.  This is the first time in all the years my children have been alive that we've had driver duty turn taking with another family.  My daughter loves getting to spend time with Grace. 

Maybe it's Puberty?

My son has been very angry lately.  Maybe not so much angry, but something is going on.  We are getting all kinds of moods from him lately.   He's cranky, he's boastful, he's angry, he's just seemingly not happy.   He's also defiant and we just can't figure out what the impetus for any of this can be.   

He's not happy at us, but that's in significant part because we're asking him to do things like clean up his things, do his laundry, not use improper language, be respectful, eat properly, you know, all the standard things parents ask children to do and not do.  

But something else is going on and he's fluctuating between moods that go from angry to sad and upset.   I was talking to him tonight and he actually let me hug him for a while, which I could tell he needed but I didn't think he'd let me get near him, but he did.   I asked him if he knew why he was so upset lately.   He said, "maybe it's puberty?"    

I don't know, it's a little early, but it could very likely be. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son had to be taken away from the dinner table with my parents tonight twice, after not seeing them for several months.   He was not having a good day.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had the best time talking with the my parents while her brother had been excused from the table for bad behavior.   She was so happy to see them after such a long time apart.

I am the Bed Destroyer!

I just heard my son say online to his friends, "I am the bed destroyer!  How many beds have gotten?"  Now if he were a teen, I would have been concerned.   He is about to turn eleven in a few weeks and at this point, comments like that I know mean something else entirely.  

He was playing a variant of Minecraft in which eight players try to conquer each other's bases.   The "mod" is called Bed Wars, because to knock the other players out, you have to destroy their beds.   The players can either take an offensive position and attack the other players or spend time trying to fortify their bedrooms and beds, commonly entombing them in layers upon layers of bricks and other materials.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son didn't have a good end of the day.   He had his friends complaining that his microphone wasn't working, which really upset him.   He didn't want to eat his dinner and generally had a bad time all around, which we felt badly about because his aunt and uncle were visiting.   His father spent some time with him in his bedroom tonight and he thinks he helped.   We had no idea his mic wasn't working consistently.  I hate hardware that's not working well, just like my son, only no one teases me about it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  In true fashion for my daughter, just because the adults were interested in talking, it didn't stop her from making up games that we had to passively play.  She would come around and whisper words in our ears and the one with the different word was, "the special one" that round, or tap us on the shoulder and see who was paying attention and if so, how many times did she tap us?   She was so happy having us all around and not in the least bit deterred when we said we didn't want to play games because we wanted to talk and catch up.

Test Video

My husband and I worked on a sample video to send to our new client.   It's short at only twenty seconds in length, but I think it looks quite professional.   We're going to have a meeting with them and get their feedback as soon as one of them is back from vacation. 

I like the content we produced, but I think the thing that makes it is the animation sequence for their new logo, which has been recently updated to reflect that they're now making recycled filament.  We engaged a graphics designer to do something short with the logo to animate it in some way to be used in videos.  We knew we could do something, but it would be at the level we wanted to be and we would have spent far too long on the lesser version we might have come up with. 

The designer initially came back with a seven-second video.  We had asked for a two to four-second video.   We went back and explained much of the content we would be making would be only twenty seconds long and so it had to be much shorter.   We decided on three seconds and he came back with a very nice version that was shortened while keeping the essence of what he'd done in the first iteration. 

So far, I think the video work we've done for the client doesn't have the same feel as our videos, which was something we wanted to try and do—to separate the work with a different style.   We'll see how they like it and what suggestions the client has. 

I'm so glad we got an outside source to build the logo work.   It looks very good. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son asked for new masks.  He wears disposable masks for school and complained there were only pink ones with hearts left.  I got him several sets, all with space themed patterns.  He found them before I even had a chance to show him.  He said he liked them a lot.   I think he'll look good in a black mask with stars and planets on it.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is still in book reading grounding status.   She was very unhappy tonight about not playing with her friends tomorrow.   If she read book four in the set (braille book, one fifth of the total book and reasonable in size to read) then she could play with Keira.  She said it was impossible.   I said I was so sorry about it, but she decided to play with her friends and not read for the past three weeks and that made this weekend a hard one to catch up.  Consequences can be hard, I hope she remembers this for next quarter's book.

A Whole Book

My daughter read a whole book today.  It might have been in part that she was grounded for not reading her book.   It might have been that the deadline for reading the book was today and she was still on volume one of five.   It might be because she has to start a project with a team or partner tomorrow and she hasn't even read the book yet.  

For whatever reason, she spent a long while reading today.  The lubricant I gave her to roll on her fingers to keep them from getting sore has helped a good bit, she said. 

The Big Boy Update:  No screens during the week, but my son convinced his father he wanted to do some 3D modeling in Tinkercad today and his father let him.  I came down later to find some nice things he'd designed.   He made a complete crown replete with detachable gems.   He's not asked me to print it yet but perhaps he will when he's done with it.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came home today, got her Chromebook out, opened it up, logged in, asked us to be quiet so she could hear the VoiceOver talking and then found a window and navigated the complex process to get to her music class page and open the school choir signup form.   This, coming from a child who said she didn't know how to do anything and hated working with the computer not one week ago.

With Flying Colors

My son took a standardized test today for Middle school entrance.   We went to one of those testing centers and he (and I) had to go through more security than the airport to allow him to go in to take the test.   I had to sit and wait while he was the only child amongst a collection of adults.   

We were worried he would be upset or lose the ability to sit there and test for the entire three hours.   He came out for three short breaks and calmly sat to talk to me.   When he was done he and I went to get lunch, which he wanted to take to go in the car so he could get to school for a music event he and his classmates had been working on.

As we drove to get lunch I asked him how he did.  He said, "I passed...with flying colors."   I talked about how he did and he told me about some questions and then we talked about other things.   He seemed nonplussed about the whole test.

When I dropped him off at school his teacher gave me his COGAT test score, another standardized test he had to take that's nationwide.  He was at the 99th percentile in two of the areas and 97% in the other.   We really had no idea how he would do with these kinds of things.  It looks like he does fairly well. 

The Big Boy Update: My son's COGAT percentiles are in comparison to national scores.   Within his class,  he scored right at the 50th percentile, which means I think that the school is doing a good job educationally. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been grounded until she reads the book(s) she's been putting off reading.   She's had several weeks to read them and tonight we drew the line.   She cried, saying her fingers would hurt.   I believe her, but she wouldn't have to power read if she would read some every day.   I thought of something I could give her for her fingers that would lubricate them.  She liked it a lot and got a good bit of reading done.  I made a little roller bottle of what is actually a hair product I repurposed for her fingers and have it in a little zipper pouch attached to her backpack now. 

The Sparrow's Fart

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "what?"   That's okay, we were thinking the same thing too. I had a friend from Australia mail me a care package in thanks for some filament I sent her.   As it turns out, "the sparrow's fart" means way too early in the morning, the crack of dawn.

And as it also turns out, I have to get up at the sparrow's fart in the morning.   And now I'm wondering if the last the words in that sentence are redundant.   They probably are.  

I have another Australian friend who is going to be my new Australian slang victim.   I shall unleash it on him when he least expects it.   I just explained about having to get up at the sparrow's fart and he texted back he was on a video call and he was trying not to laugh. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has four hours of standardized tests to take in the morning—at ten years old.   Plus an essay.   I have no idea how he's going to make it through.  I wouldn't be able to sit still for that long at that age and take a test.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loved opening the care package from my Australian friend.   She is a model designer and she made her a keychain with her online name, 3DPrintBunny, in Braille.   So cool

Family Visits

I came home today to find my daughter walking a dog that wasn't ours.  I realized fairly quickly that it was Daisy, my brother- and sister-in-law's dog, visiting with Nana, who was bringing my daughter home from school.   The dog is stopping in for a week while her parents are traveling back and forth from Florida as they relocate to their new, under renovations, retirement home.

Daisy is only one of several family stopping in for a "spell" here.  My cousin and her husband are spending the night with us tomorrow.   They're in for a dinner event in town and we're glad to have them stay and catch up where we can. 

Then, my brother-in-law and his wife will be back and plan on storing their trailer in our off-site garage later this week.   And later still, they'll be back down to get the trailer and leave some other things which they'll be back for later.  

All in all, it's nice to have family around again after all the time and distance COVID-19 put between us. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has loads and loads of fidgets.  More fidgets than anyone needs to have.  Of course the one thing she wants is the one thing we gave away at her party yesterday: these little rubbery, squishy things called Mochis.   She wants them because the set I got online had all kinds of shapes she'd never felt before.   She might even spend her allowance to get some. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has to take a standardized test for middle school entrance this week.   He can take it a second time, but either time he takes it he will have to answer questions quickly.  Hopefully he'll do well on the test.   We'll know eventually how it goes.

Middle School Applications

It is very hard to believe we are filling out applications for middle school for my son.  My daughter will be going to the school that has the vision impairment specialty with the county's public schools, so we don't have to do anything for her next year, but since my son is attending a Montessori school that's private, we have to make a decision on where he'll be going next year. 

There is a possibility we could have him attend his current school for one more year and then have him and his sister attend the same school the following year, which is one of the options we'll look into, but we also want to consider other options. 

This weekend we had to pull teeth, and by that I mean we had to get my son to answer two written questions for one of the applications.   One of the questions was if he had a super power that would help him at school, what would it be?   The second was how has an experience at home changed how he sees things in the world. 

The second was an easy one because he talked about how having a sister who is blind had helped him see people with disabilities just as regular people and that he saw them the same as he sees everyone else.   The super power one I had to help with and we decided he would be Focus, a super hero who's power gave him the ability to focus (which definitely has advantages when it comes to school)

The Big Boy Update:  My son didn't get off the computer at the start of my daughter's birthday party today and then proceeded to throw an entire temper tantrum because of his actions.  I had to go to extremes, counting to ten, telling him he'd better get his butt outside, and then, to no adult's surprise, he had a good time.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter's birthday party was today.   She had a great time and I think her friends did as well.  Many Popits and Fidgets and things that the children know all the names of that we as adults can't keep straight, were handed out.   Also, there was cotton candy.  

Tired

It's so late and I’m so tired I’m going to have to write a better post tomorrow. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is working on applications for missed school, which involves writing question short essay answers.  He doesn’t really want to do them. He doesn’t see why they're so important. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  my daughter is so very excited for her Fidget themed birthday party tomorrow. She went to bed early to get some reading done for a bit school assignment she's been putting off. 

Booking Flights

Well, we're a go for a trip to Portland to work with a filament company that wants to hire us to do their social media.   We've discussed goals and we're all going to prepare in advance with us working on some things here and them thinking about what they want to have long-term from a content perspective.  As I type this, my husband is booking flights.  

It's a bit surreal, this whole thing.   It's like the imposter syndrome: surely this can't be me.   I have messages in my Instagram inbox from companies that want to talk to us and emails to respond to.   And yet we're so tiny.  Less than twenty thousand combined subscribers/followers and yet because our focus is specifically filament and no one is doing similar content, companies are starting to want to work with us. 

I already have a patter I send back stating what we're willing to do and within what timeframe.   It's not a problem committing to make a video if they send a filament (I suggest only one filament but some have sent more) because I need filament to make the videos.   I have a surplus I could do videos on for some time, but newer filaments are nice and sometimes reflect what's becoming more popular.   So I have the filament company side relatively handled at this point. 

But the large amount of work we'll be doing for this one company is a bit of a mystery to me at this point. They understand we're not professionals, they're only asking for us to do work similar to what we've put out for our own content.   Still, we want to do the best job we can. 

Then there are the other content creators.  For some reason, we're suddenly "one of them" when only a few months ago I was someone watching their content as a viewer.   That part is odd too, when they comment on your content.   

But the most interesting thing is a day we'll be spending while we're there.   We're going to do a day of filming with one of the biggest content creators in the 3D printing English-speaking world.   He's recently been working with Neil Patrick Harris on some 3D printed things for his home.   But outside of that Hollywood anomaly, he's just big in the world of 3D printing.   And we're going to be filming with him. 

The Big Boy Update:  I hate to mention this, but for the sake of historical accuracy I think I should mention that my son is streaking his pants again.  Streaking is a minor word for what's happening.  There is nothing medically wrong with him, he just doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom.  Oddly, I remember feeling the same way when I was young.   Tonight, we couldn't get him to stop what he was doing to eat dinner, if that's any indication to the level of his focus when he gets focused.   He is fine, and "just being a boy and he'll grow out of it" his doctor has said.  He doesn't like dealing with it afterwards, but he doesn't want to stop and go when he needs to either. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got more birthday presents today.   They came in the mail and she wanted to open them so badly but I had finally laid down to rest for just a bit.   She couldn't wait so she tried to wake me up.   Apparently I wasn't coming out of the sleep I had drifted off to not ten minutes before.   After trying to rouse me for a few minutes she said, "Maybe I should come back later."   That jolted me awake.   I had been trying to wake up but the sadness in her voice made me realize what had been happening and that I wasn't there for her to celebrate opening her presents.

Ten Today

My daughter turned ten today.   She was so happy about being a year older.  She woke up and asked about presents and because we had some on hand from some family members, after getting my son off to school, she opened them up.   

She's off of school today and tomorrow for some teacher workdays and she wasn't letting us get away with waiting to have the presents later.   You never know about presents for a blind child but I had hoped the things I put on her list would be things she liked.   

As it turns out, she was thrilled with both of them.  The first were some plastic tubes that are like the bendable straws that can stretch, only these were much bigger and the entire length expanded.   She had thirty of them and she loved them.   

We sent a video to her aunt, uncle, and cousin of her opening them.   I have no idea how she knows what something is so quickly.   But her hands can tell things ours wouldn't be able to.   Her friend, Madison, came over in a bit and they hooked them all together and had a grand old time with them. 

Then she opened a toy that was targeted at much younger children, but I had a feeling she would love them.   It was a set of dolphins that made different notes when they were in water.   Musical dolphins for playing in the tub.   Since my daughter still loves to play with toys in the tub (as does her brother sometimes) I thought she would like them. 

She and Madison ran off to the bathtub and they figured out how they worked.   I thought it might need batteries but no, it's all in how they're arranged internally.   She really loved them.   She and her brother did indeed have a bath tonight and made a big mess around the tub with music abounding from little tooting dolphins.  

She had what I hoped was a good day.   I got to spend some time with her and we had a dinner she picked out.   Her father was unhappy he had to be at the virtual neighborhood annual meeting since he's on the board, but she was okay eating her meal and talking with her brother and me, playing a game on Alexa. 

She's looking forward to her party this weekend.   A whole decade ago she was born.    It's so hard to think it's been that long. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son might act like baths aren't cool sometimes, but othertimes he loves getting in the tub and splashing around with his sister still. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was very sweet today.   We got presents from family members and many texts wishing her a happy birthday.   She smiled every time I read one to her and said things like, "aww, that's so nice."

Mission Impossible

I came upstairs shortly before bed to find a crazy mess in the hallway.   The children had gotten the ropes we used before going on our sailing trip and had made a tripwire setup so it was nigh impossible to get into my son's room.   

My son didn't want it taken down so it's still in place for the morning.   I wonder if my son is going to be in a mood to clamber all over it when he's groggy and hungry?   As I saw him shutting the door for the night all I could think about was that he had "mission impossibled" his room. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has school on Thursday and Friday while his sister does not.   He's getting older and didn't get upset, saying it wasn't fair she had days off.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter turns ten tomorrow.  It's hard to believe ten years ago I had her.  

What's In a Face?

Uncle Bob sent an article written by a completely blind many who didn't understand why people always asked if he wanted to feel their faces.   The article was interesting and explained how blind people experience the world serially through their fingers, while sighted people can see a wealth of information at a literal glance. 

The writer didn't understand the need to see faces, even when he was at a museum and was allowed to feel the faces of all the statues.   It wasn't until he was part of a research project in which a feedback area on a table lifted up pegs in a grid to match the facial expression of the person he was talking to that he got an understanding of faces—because of how they moved while they talked and interacted with you. 

My daughter tries to match what we do and doesn't understand much of the time.   We tried to explain what it meant to put your elbows to your side and hold your upper arms up with your hands out.   We said it meant something similar to a shrug, that it indicated you just weren't sure, didn't know, were taking a guess.   

She tried to mimic the motion but it came out stilted and awkward.   If she could see, she would just absorb the information and know.   But she has to learn and try very hard to get something "right" that makes no sense to her. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son sleeps diagonal in his bed.   A full half of his bed was until recently covered with stuffed animals, preventing him from sleeping straight on.   Even with them reduced significantly, he likes to have his head close to the wall and his feet close to the edge of the bed. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got her converting scooter today for raising the money for her school (thank you again to all who helped her out).  She was overjoyed.  It's an interesting scooter and I think better suited to her than the standing scooters.  It converts to a sitting position.   Nana and Papa watched as she went up and down the street this afternoon after school.   The thing is fast!

To Portland We (will eventually) Go

We had another call today with the company that wants to hire us to do their filament social media.   We're going to do this, because the company is very reputable and is well-connected and, well, it's my favorite filament company.   We're scheduling going to their location to collect a lot of footage on all aspects of what they do. 

It's also their eight year anniversary coming up, which seems short in some ways but in the 3D printing world, that's a decently long tenure.   They're going to ask some other social media people to come join us, which, if it happens, will likely be very beneficial for us as well from a connections standpoint. 

This is all odd, surreal, bizarre.   We're working with, talking to, making future plans with and being hired by (I think there was some redundancy in that list) people and companies I would have never thought I would even have a chance to meet.   I'm not sure, but I might be dealing with a bit of the imposter syndrome.   

It's exciting.   Now we need to do the quality job we've been doing for ourselves for someone else.   They're extremely nice to work with and we're all being very reasonable with what we can do and the timeframe in which we can do it.  It's a very positive situation and with a company I'm pretty much thrilled to be working with. 

The Children To The Grandparent's:  My daughter wanted to know if she could go to Portland with us to the filament company.   I told her maybe next time.   Our thanks (in advance) to my in-laws for being willing to watch the children while we're gone.  

Five Hours to Laundry

My children took five hours to fold and put away their laundry today.   Five hours.  And the only reason they completed it in less than six hours was because we took away the entertainment we allowed them to have while they worked on the apparently arduous, cruel and unusual task.  

My husband lost his temper at my son who nearly lost his mind when I brought him more laundry that I had washed for him and then separated.   The children put things in my hamper and when I do my laundry, they get those pieces done "for free."   Putting the items on the coffee table was apparently an unpardonable sin as my son nearly flew into a conniption fit with rage at the attempt to help him in this fashion. 

I asked him if the chair would be better and he nodded yes, that would help (minus the helpful words) and then I left him the laundry basket, which he also mumbled about wanting.   We left them at that point in the expectation that they would finish the task, but that was short-lived as my son was angry and needed help with motivation and my daughter, who had had so much energy when she was lounging on our bed playing audio games on Alexa, had become completely exhausted and enraged at the same time. 

We did not help them.   They tried valiantly to rebel, but it didn't work.   My daughter was caught again, over an hour later, at still not having put up the clothes that were folded and waiting on her bed in the hamper, and almost became hysterical because she was going to miss out on the family game of live Among Us.  

They explained that they didn't like doing the laundry.   I had some rather lengthy explanations about how I didn't like doing it either, but who exactly did they expect to do their clothes?   It was their responsibility and <enter lengthy discussion from me> "fine, Mom, you always take forever to explain something, just stop talking about it."  And that's when they started working. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was so angry about the laundry and had finally gotten a portion of her things in her basket to take upstairs.   She said in a cross voice to us, "your calm voices are making me mad."

The Big Boy Update:  I came downstairs and wanted to message Clockspring the latest news about how a company had paid us for some work we'd done with their filaments.   My son was looking at the screen, knew who I was typing to and said, "he doesn't know the secret of how to type without making mistakes when you're on your phone.   It's using your pinky."  Then he did the muhaha evil laugh and continued, "and he'll never know, he's not powerful enough.   You have to infuse it with blood and then only can you use it.  And you will never tell anyone this piece of information Mom, right?  Because if you do, lives might end.  Do you understand that?"   I typed it as fast as I could and when he realized what I was doing he gave me the, "seriously, mom?" look.  I read what I'd typed and he had a very cute little grin on his face, knowing I'd typed what he'd been saying because I thought it was funny enough to tell someone.   Sometimes, even when children are being silly, they like to know that they're funny and interesting.