86400

My daughter and I were in the car today, heading to the chiropractor, when she asked me how many seconds were in a day.   Or rather she asked me what sixty times sixty was.   I helped her figure out the answer by stepping her through easier steps starting with, "well, you know what six times six is, right?"

After getting that answer she said she was trying to figure out the number of seconds in a day.  So we kept going.   She worked out all the answers herself with me giving her ways to split the problem into pieces she had the knowledge to solve at her age and math skill. 

When we got to the office, she had just figured out the final answer—and she was so proud.   When we went inside she was telling the ladies at the front desk the answer and saying she was going to figure out the answer for a year next.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son was very outgoing at a family dinner tonight with my in-laws and brother-in-law's family tonight.   He was playing the comedian role almost and getting a good bit of laughs.   He seems older than he was a year ago.  By a lot from a maturity standpoint. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter, ever the thinker, was given the answer to how many seconds in a year by the helpful staff at the chiropractor's office as we walked back today.   She called out, "yes, but what about a leap year?"

Not Even Sure

...what to title this post. My back is screaming at me and I need to get to bed and have been helping someone with something that needs help.   So let's see what the children did today. 

The Big Boy Update:  I think my son has some real friends that want to spend time with him.   He doesn't search them out, they come to find him.   I suppose that's a good thing.   He's so interested in being cool and accepted.   I think he actually is. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter insisted there was a bug in her hair because she could hear it.   She was freaking out and said it had been trying to get in her hair for a while.   I didn't believe her but after feeling around in her hair and not finding anything at first I saw something and then lost it.   I didn't tell her but said we should go upstairs and brush her hair out.   She had some cricket-like creature in her hair that was close to an inch long.   It jumped out and landed on my shirt and I calmly, without upsetting my daughter anymore, went to the door and shooed it away.   

Gloomhaven

We have some friends that wanted to play a board game and wondered if we'd be interested in playing with them.   We said sure.   They warned us it would be a long game.   We said that was okay.   They said meaning multiple sessions.   We said we were still in.   

Today, we found out what the full meaning of, "a long game" meant when we went to their house while Nana watched the children (and singlehandedly entertained the children while at the same time managing to clean and tidy our house, leaving it in a far, far better state than when she arrived) while we played this board game for five hours. 

We made it past the very beginning.   The game we're playing introduces the concepts of the game level by level because there is so much complexity it's too much to take in all at once.   And the game we're playing is the introduction game to the actual game, which is another who knows how many hours of time necessary to complete. 

We had fun seeing their game room and learning about the games they've been playing plus just talking about this and that while we played.   If we had focused completely on the game and nothing else we would have gotten farther along, but that wasn't the complete point.  We wanted to do something together and play the game at the same time. 

We're going to schedule the next round of the game, Gloomhaven, the "toddler" edition it felt like given how little we knew at the start, as soon as we can sync up schedules.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is in bed.  It is after eleven o'clock.   Funny songs are starting to play out of my Alexa beside the computer.   He is making jokes two floors up, it would seem. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got us all to take a neighborhood bike ride just before dark tonight.  She and her father on their double bike with her in the back and my son and me on our bikes.   It was a short ride, but it was a lot of fun.

Club Champion

I am so wiped out.   I'm going to say my husband won the club championship today, coming back from a rocky start yesterday and winning by several strokes.   He's pleased because he's lost to sudden death several times in the past years 

The Big Boy Update:  I lost one of the models I was filming for Filament Stories.   I found it on my son's desk—broken.   I normally wouldn't mind, because I could print another one, but in this case, I needed it for filming.   He now knows not to pick up my models until I'm finished.   Then he can have them and if they break, it's okay.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was wailing and miserable upstairs at bedtime.   She had lost her piece of paper with a string on it tied in such a way it would make a sort of kite.   She found the paper but the string had come loose and part was missing.   I retied it but it wasn't the same.   It wasn't just a piece of paper, it was her friend, she told me.   Tomorrow, I told her, we could get a longer piece of string and upgrade her kite.   She thought that would be okay and went to sleep now that her friend was going to be all right. 

Late and Wow, Yeah Late

Dear me, I had a nap that turned into much longer than a nap.   I've been working with my husband to get out the next "Story" with Filament Stories.   All has been going rather swimmingly considering we don't know what we're doing and are learning as we go.  

That's not entirely true, we know a lot about a good portion of the facets of this whole endeavor.  It just feels like we know very little because the portions we don't know much about seem to be important.   But we're learning, and we're doing it together, and that's been fun.   

The best part is when I'm recording and can't for the life of me get the words to come out the way I want them to.   We have some rather silly gag reel things we might someday release.   I'm trying to embrace the silly, because it's me in a way, and that sounds so much better than stilted, formalized words.   The feedback we're getting interestingly has a large portion related to the funny things I say or do that weren't my intention in the first place.   From that standpoint, it's been nice encouragement to leave all those accidental parts in.  

Not that we have that much content yet.   It's a surprisingly large amount of work to get a single minute of video released.  I think we all know realistically it has to be a lot of work to get audio, all the video shots, the timelapse videos, other video pieces, color correction, noise reduction, music, sound syncing, uploading, tagging, uploading and tagging four more times to the other platforms, commenting, liking other's comments, responding to other's comments, etc., etc.    

And that's just the video creation side of things.  There is all the printing side, which is a whole other big side.   Thank goodness it's all fun, or it might seem like work.   

But it's late, and I'm super tired, and I'm only going to write one sentence saying that and then press publish.   Only I seem to have written more.   

The Big Boy Update:  Taking three stuffed animals upstairs and getting his shoes to walk out the door to go to Nana and Papa's house for an overnight visit was just too hard.   How dare we, as parents, expect him to do those things?  He pitched such a fit over it.   My husband said, "This is easy.  This is the easiest thing to do, but you want to make it harder by fighting, taking time, getting everyone upset, and in the end you're still going to have to do them.   Why do you do this?"   My son was too angry to answer the question. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wants to make cookies.   She asked me to look online for some recipies.   I told her I had a recipe book with 1001 cookie recipes in it.  She was excited but then when I showed it to her she said, "but it's not in braille."   It was so sad, her little voice.  I said I knew it wasn't but the recipes on the web weren't either, so let's find something together and then I'd print it out for her in braille.   There is a world of information out there she can't yet get to.   When she learns to use some of the device technology out there it will open up her world.  

Rachet & Clank

A long time ago in a galaxy far before I had children, my then not-husband and I enjoyed playing a series of video games called Ratchet & Clank.  Clank was a little robot that rode around as a backpack-type attachment to Ratchet, who was the last of his kind creature with huge, fuzzy ears and an endearing personality. 

The games were all about gratuitously large guns that did sometimes silly things in a world that was cartoonish and campy.  The story was cute and the gameplay was almost Looney Toonish in feel.   The games were just fun and both my husband and I enjoyed them from start to finish. 

It has been many, many years, but a new game has come out in the series.   Tonight, my husband started playing after trying to get my son interested for a few weeks.   My son has been shouting out what to do next, giving advice, and asking questions.   We've been telling him how the game is like the historical games.  

Tomorrow I bet he'll want to start his own game.   I enjoyed being part of the conversation, helping my son understand that games have been cool in the past and both his father and I were game players with skills.    He is currently annoyed we sent him to bed, even though it's almost midnight.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Laundry Update:  The children aren't happy about this.  The next iteration of laundry duty is upon them.   They must now bring their laundry down, start their own loads and run them through to the end result of folded and hung laundry being put away.  My daughter threw a fit tonight saying it wasn't fair she had to do her laundry.   I told her fine, no allowance.  And I wasn't going to do her laundry for her.   She huffed off.  I wonder if she'll do her laundry tomorrow?

Around The World

I have some friends I communicate with on a daily basis electronically.   They are what I would call my, "3D printing friends."   People talk online in various different ways, this group of friends is via a sort of chat group not unlike a big text message chain with a lot of people in it in this case called a "channel."

What amazes me is that these people are all over the world but it doesn't seem like it.  Someone will have a picture of something they've printed.   They'll drop the picture into the chat group and we'll all comment about how lovely it is or what a good choice of filament or how funny that the models are mouse houses to protect his daughter's stuffed mouse collection from their household cat.   Anything at all can be posted. 

The rest of us see the picture a second or two after the person shares it.   It happens so fast we don't even think about the complex order of events that has to happen for the bits representing that picture to travel around the world from their device to ours.   Did the bits fly by satellite?  Did they go under the ocean?  What was the path taken, because it might have been anything other than direct.  

I've started thinking in time zones, trying to remember if it's morning or afternoon in Russia based on what time of day it is for me.  Or Australia.  Or England.    We talk about products related to 3D printing such as printers, filament, accessories, and through that discussion we're addressing the locale of the manufacturer, their location, and what shipping costs might need to be paid to get the item to them. 

There are commonalities, such as most people speak English in the channel, but there is a smattering of American and proper English amongst the group.   Currency for the various products comes up as well.  If a particular spool of filament costs $19.99 for me, what does that equate to in Euros or Australian dollars? Is there a way to get the product within your geography as opposed to buying it from the manufacturer?

It's a lovely little group of online friends I'll never meet.   I am humbled in that we all speak English, my native language, and the default currency discussed is the US dollar.   Everyone else does mental conversions regularly.   The world keeps getting smaller.   It was getting smaller, now it feels like it's getting more connected. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son got his keyboard back at a price.  He had to get online with his friends and say with sincerity, "remember how I called my mom stupid a couple of times yesterday?   That wasn't really a good thing to do.   I should have been more respectful."   We let him say it with his own words and that's about what he said.   I didn't want him to lose face with his friends as that is very, very important to him, but he had to say he was wrong.   And when he did, I heard the other children being supportive of what he was saying.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Countdown to kitten visitation.   My best friend from childhood, whom I have missed very much these past COVID-19 months, has two kittens.   They are now safe to be out in the house with her other, older cat and my daughter has been invited over to see them.   She absolutely positively can not wait. 

My Stupid Mom

Someone lost the keyboard to his computer today.   Someone is reaching the age where parents are incredibly uncool and no matter what we do or say, we're cramping his style.   Someone, let's just say for the sake of argument, might be my son. 

We're trying to be understanding that the types of communication he has with his friends is different than how we might choose to interact with our peers.  My husband and I are all about sarcasm and snide comments.   Backhanded compliments and outright insults can be okay too if the scenario is such that everyone understands it's all in good fun and no slight is taken by the person.   It is just hard to tell when all you can hear is one side of the conversation because the remainder is happening inside headphones. 

My son was told he had to talk nicely or he'd lose the ability to spend time online playing games with his friends.   He complained to me later, in a rather nice way, that he was just talking like everyone else.   That by saying he had to talk nicely, we were effectively muting him because he couldn't participate and be, well he didn't say this exactly, but what he wants is to be seen as "cool."  

Yesterday at dinner he spoke to us in that same tone and turn of phrase, which sparked a conversation, or perhaps lecture is a better word, about how if he couldn't tell the difference on when to use polite words, then he wasn't going to be allowed to talk with his friends that way.    

We want him to feel accepted.   He's trying so hard to be seen as interesting and the kind of guy other boys would want to hang out with.  And we don't want to crush that.   But he has to be responsible.   Which is why today when he was aslked multiple times by me to get off the computer, eat lunch and pack up to go on an overnight with Nana and Papa, he said angrily to his friend down the street how his stupid mom was being stupid and making him get off the computer. 

So I took his keyboard.   He had a friend right there, looking in the window.   I didn't make him look bad.  I let him grumble and even let him go back outside, calling him in twice more to pack for the trip and telling him he had to sweep up all the rice he'd thrown around the porch (and it definitely was thrown) but that it was easily remedied because he could just sweep it off the edge.   I even gave him the broom. 

He had to pack himself.   He wanted to play with his friends outside, but he'd elected to spend time on the computer, so I wasn't overly sorry for his last-minute scrambling.   I repeated multiple times that I was not making him look bad in front of his friends, but that we expected him to speak to us and about us with respect.   When he returns tomorrow, he can see what he can do to convince me he should get his keyboard back (and therefore access to the computer.) 

The Big Boy Update:  My son wasn't interested in packing so he shoved some clothes in the bag I put out. He did remember to bring underwear (Nana checked).  What he didn't remember were shoes.   At all.   I don't know how he got in their car to go to their house with no shoes, but he's there for a full day with none to speak of.  Nana called and said she hoped he didn't get blisters. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter, on the other hand, packed a tidy collection of all the things she'd need for the trip to Nana and Papas, laid them out on our bed and then asked for two bags so she could put her rollerblades and helmet in one and her clothes and shoes in the other.   She brought two pair of shoes for the trip.   Pity my son can't wear hers since she would likely be glad to share if he could.  

Fifth Grade Math

My son has had a thing with, "what is two plus two" and how it equates to supreme intelligence as in, "you don't even know what two plus two is?!"  Today he told us how teachers make up numbers and how counting goes.   He said, "they just make up stuff.  There's no rhyme or reason for it."   

He had new information on addition this time, though.   He explained how one plus one equaled sixty-nine and that, more importantly, two plus two was actually seventy-three and not four, like most people thought. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is currently trying to get out of bed by talking to his father about the video game my husband is trying to relax playing at the end of the night.  It's close to eleven o'clock, but my son has him naming different alien creatures on the screen.   And my son has dodged the, "go to bed now, buddy" line at least four times now by distracting him with more questions."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got caught in a lie today and wanted me to get her out of it.   Her brother came into her room and she stopped the audiobook because she didn't want him to know about the new book she was listening to.   He asked and she said it was another book and then he wanted to listen to it with her.   She came down asking how she could get him out of her room.   I told her sometimes when we tell lies, and I could understand her hesitation in letting her know about the new book for various reasons, but that we had to deal with the consequences.   I said she would have to get him out of her room on her own.   

6000

There's a video we posted with our new Filament Stories endeavor that has 6000 views.   I don't really know what to think about this.   It's odd.   It's strange.   My little blog here gets about five hundred views or so every six months.   Or so I imagine it does.   I don't really know, but I've never advertised it, only telling friends and family about it as the topic came up. 

This is and has always been my diary that anyone can see.   I don't think most people would want to read my diary as it's not that exciting, so I just plod along, writing this for me and for my future children as well anyone who wants to check in and see what's been going on in our family of late.   Six thousand views is so way beyond that I don't even know what to think. I don't know six thousand people.

It's been confusing, figuring out all the platforms and formats.   Some are vertical with one ratio while another is at a different vertical ratio.   One is more squarish.  There are reels and shorts and regular videos.   Pictures are a good thing, but videos are more interesting.   Some videos take off while others only get a few hundred hits. 

It's a hashtag game and one of interest, where people who are interested can share, comment or like and the post gets put higher up in the algorithms for suggesting to other people.   The good news is since we don't know what we're doing, any success is a great thing.     

I just want to make fun videos; I don't think I even care that much about how much people watch them.   It gives me the same, uncomfortable feeling, knowing people are listening to me talk just like the podcast did and this blog does for my written words.   But I decided to do it, so I suppose I'd better see if I can do a good job. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Shane Visit:  Shane is in town but is leaving for the summer to do something in Hawaii.   I missed finding out what it will be, but today she came over and took the children to the pool for a few hours.   They've missed her a lot.   I warned her that now with all the vaccinations we've had, to be prepared for a hug.   She'll be back in a few months.   I can't imagine she won't have a wonderful time in Hawaii.   The children remember going and hope the same thing for her on her trip.

Father's Day Work

My husband should be relaxing today, but he's him and instead, he's been working on the next video we're releasing for Filament Stories.   We have a tenant whose air conditioning is not working and given how it's hot and we're in the south, it's not something that can just be left to sit, so he's over checking it now and is calling the HVAC company we work with in case it's something that needs attention beyond what we or the tenants can suss out on our own.  

The children got some presents for their father, which I think he liked.   They also got him a card each that reflected what they each thought about him as a dad.   I got a card for my father as well, although since I found it yesterday, I wasn't able to get it to him in time so I emailed him pictures of the front and inside.   My daughter wanted to read it to him over the phone, which meant memorizing what it said first so she could tell him.   It's always nice to talk to Gramps.   We miss him and Mimi and hope we can see them some over the summer since the COVID-19 vaccinations have helped reduce the dangers from the pandemic. 

We're going to have dinner with my in-laws and wish Papa a happy Father's Day too.   It is a grand thing to have grandfathers to wish this message to for both the children and for us as parents. 

The Big Boy Update:  My husband and I aren't thrilled with the language my son is using when he plays games online with his friends.   It is less than complimentary.   My son has pleaded his case, though, saying it is all in fun and while it seems negative, it's just competitive talk and not insults, like it might sound from what we can hear on his end alone.   He said we wouldn't understand because we were old and he was GenZ.   Interesting.   We have decided to let him play a game or two with the sound completely on to see if his assertions are true.   We know the other children he's playing with as they're all within a few houses of us, so we'll be able to see if the comments really are in good fun.   We had a conversation with him about how being positive was always better but we also understand he wants to fit in.   We're trying to find a balance ourselves. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   We've asked the children to put their dishes in the dishwasher when they're done eating.   What we didn't realize was my daughter didn't know how things went in.   When I commented that cups with in the top, she was surprised.   So we waited until the dishes were clean and let her feel all through the dishwasher.   Now she knows what to do.   How we missed this, I don't know. 

Two Votes for Awesome

My husband and I acquired a piece of property this past week.  We'll be renting the house but more interestingly, there is land behind the house.   The house itself has many different things than a typical house and we were looking forward to showing it to the children to see what they thought about it. 

There are some odd things, like a stairway that ends in front of the air conditioning unit, and I mean right in front of it.   There are interesting dog doors for large dogs in two of the doors, lots of wood, strange staircases, and wood ceilings, and other things that make it odd.   Both children thought it was very interesting and my son wanted to have a sleepover on the sofa and master bedroom bed they left there that were both very nice. 

The big draw I had hoped would be the natural area.  My daughter was afraid of spiders and snakes, although I assured her we were pretty safe.   When we got to the creek, she changed her mind.   My son loved it all.   

We won't be there much, although we have some things we need to do to fix things before we can rent it, but for now, it has been dubbed awesome by the children. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is having so much fun playing Fortnite and Minecraft with friends online.   He has some nice friends and they're playing together in a positive way.   He sits beside us so we get to hear it all as it unfolds. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter hugged many of the big trees at the property today.   She was doing so to see what tree would be the biggest.   There were some she could barely get her arms across.   It's a beautiful wooded lot. 

The Magnet Board

This is the magnet board my daughter has been making up games on.  When I went to her room today I found this:  

I asked her about it and she said, "I spelled my name out in print."  And she had.   Some of the magnets had dropped out by the time I found it but not only did she spell her name in print, but she also spelled it in braille to the right.   

We decided to get the VI room one of their own to use for the other students.   If my resourceful daughter could come up with games to play with it, I would bet some of the other VI students will have ideas of things to do with it as well. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been talking about being embarrassed lately.   Today, I had my chance to also be embarrassed, something I told him rarely happened to adults.   I was looking at videos and fell asleep today right after lunch as I watched.   I had an alarm set at 1:20 so I could get him in time when camp ended at 2:00.  I woke up at 4:00 and had to pick up my daughter from a birthday party that ended at four.  I called and told them I was on the way, apologizing and insisting on paying them for the extra time they had to stay there.   They were exceptionally nice about it, but I wasn't.   The alarm was correctly set.  It had gone off the day before.   I still don't know what happened.   Forty-five minutes before it went off I was awake.   I must have been really tired. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got to skip school today to go to a birthday party.   She has excellent attendance and the second-to-last day of school had very little happening.   She was so happy she could go to the party.   It was a five-hour party, unheard of for children, but the mother was so nice and had all sorts of activities.   She sent me this about my daughter tonight.  Louie is her son who was the only boy at the all-girl party:

I was just talking about Reese and how mature she is for her age! Louie was teasing the girls so they were going back and forth- I reminded the girls to be nice to Louie…they didn’t want to…but Reese stepped up and said I want you to invite Louie to the table to be with us! 🥰I called Louie over and the girls apologized to him and told him how much they appreciated him playing at the pool! 🥰 it was definitely a learning moment for everyone! Reese was amazing! 🥰

 

Olympic Trials

The Olympics are exciting things.  My niece Olivia is currently at the Olympic trials.  She has been swimming since she was tiny and has grown up competing and this week she's at the trials and has a chance to get on the Olympic swimming team for her best event, the 200M butterfly.   

She has made it to the final eight swimmers.   In a few minutes, she'll compete in the final race that will determine if she'll make the team.  She's made it to the top eight swimmers in the country and for a harrowing two minutes (for those of us watching!) she'll be doing possibly the swim of her life.  

Regardless of the outcome, we couldn't be more proud of her for this tremendous accomplishment.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I have a secret about something that would potentially be bad for him, but that his sister wants very much.   I wasn't even going to suggest anything but he said he thought we should pursue our secret.   It was so kindhearted of him.  He knew how much it would make her happy.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was working on a project outside with Nora and I heard her ask, "When your parents got married, did Greg have a different last name or did Erin have a different last name?"

The Small Company Conversation

I had a friend with a question.   It was a 3D printing question and I had an answer.   The answer was correct, only there was another answer that was apparently correct too.   A second correct answer?   It turned out he was correct and that the company had put out conflicting information about this 3D printing thing.  

I thought I could help this friend so I started making some test prints to confirm one way or another.   While that was ongoing, I thought maybe contacting the company would also be a good idea.   I was having one of those twelve things are happening at the same time days, but I didn't expect a response in the chat straight away.   Only I got one. 

I found out the answer to the question and why there were two answers to the question and it turned out no one had asked the question before so they hadn't realized their documentation might be confusing.   In the middle of this, I talked to the person about the YouTube channel I had, which featured their filament in one of the episodes, and over the course of the next bit, we got to know each other. 

He told me he was Nathan and he and his wife had started the small company and were pleased it had met with so much recent success.   We talked about some technical things and other things related to 3D printing and children.   It was just a lovely conversation.   

It's an interesting time.   Starting your own business is easier in a way because of the World Wide Web and Internet.   I've connected with a collection of small business owners over the past few years whose products or web presence makes them seem far larger.   You stand a chance of failing and the business not making it, but it's much easier to give it a try nowadays than it was in the recent past.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son was yelling, and I mean yelling at his friends online.   We make him use headphones, but I think we're going to have to get a sound governor for him.   He doesn't have it that loud, it's not that at all.   It's the noise-canceling headphones that make him not able to hear himself talking so he talks even louder.   He also wants to be heard by his friends, who are also talking loud.   It becomes a loud competition.   And it hurts my ears. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has to return library books by Monday, the last day of school.   The race is on to get her books read in time.   And we are almost out of time.   

Podcast Interview?

I'll write more about the goings-on in my life tomorrow.  For now, we just put out our twelfth filament video on Filament Stories so I'm going to paste it and write about the children instead.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son is enjoying some extra screen time with his first week off from school.   A lot of this is because he's at a camp where he's writing customizations for Minecraft.   When he gets home he wants to relax—playing a video game.   We can't let this happen for the whole summer, but what is summer after all if it isn't doing what you most want to do in excess, because you're out of school. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  One of our sitter's cousins is doing work making podcasts.  He has an employee who lost his sight as an adult and another blind person they're working with.   They are doing something with a space-based children's story and wanted a child's viewpoint and thought of talking to my daughter.   She was happy to have a video call with them and after the initial introductions, they've scheduled another call with her to talk about their story ideas.   She is so very happy to be involved with something and loved having her opinions and ideas heard.  

Hiding

I have this blog.   It was a while before I was comfortable telling people about it.   It's still not something I advertise.   Then I foolishly went and created a podcast.   That was even more uncomfortable.  Now people would be not only hearing my words, but they would also be listening to me speaking them.  

Compound the uncomfortableness with a YouTube channel that also involves posts on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.   Suddenly I'm all over, "the socials."  People are hearing me and seeing, well part of me as I only have my hands in the videos.   But in this case, we're tagging companies, creators, and manufacturers. 

I'm telling people in the 3D community I know and their channels/groups/etc. about Filament Stories.   I cringe, cover my eyes, and press enter when I send a message about the new YouTube channel.   I don't think I would do this without my husband; he's been instrumental in so many steps along the way.   None of this seems to bother him.  I just want to hide. 

He tells me if there's been a subscription or subscriptions to the channel.   And that's the point in doing all of this, announcing it, and sharing it with people—to have them subscribe or like or comment.   But it is uncomfortable to me.  I love filament.   I love sharing that information and helping people understand what a great filament such-and-such from this-and-that company is.   I like sharing and being enthusiastic about things I'm passionate about.  

My ex-husband said one time that I don't like the limelight.   He said I'm like the ringmaster in the circus.   I introduce things, build up excitement, and then handoff with, "here come the clowns!"  I've always remembered the time he said that.  

I'm so excited about making videos showing off filaments.   I just want to sit in a corner and do that.  So far only a few people have subscribed, which is fine by me.   If only I could find the social media equivalent to the clowns to hand off to. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son admitted to me last night that he gets embarrassed a lot.  I told him it happened to me all the time when I was young.   I talked about when and why I got embarrassed and how much I hated the feeling.  I told him when he got older it would go away.   He was very interested that I got embarrassed.   I think he thought it never happened to me. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has made up so many games on the stylus of magnetic balls she keeps in the car.   We've played her version of Life and today we did variations on Tic-Tac-Toe, multiple of which involved singing as part of the game.   I had her take it into the VI room at school because it's been so interesting.   They hadn't seen it before and thought it could be helpful in things beyond games, like making bar graphs.  It was very inexpensive on Amazon so I ordered one for the VI room as an end-of-year gift from our family.

Filament Stories

I love 3D printing.  Anyone who's known me of late knows I have a passion for 3D printing.  My children insist it's an obsession, but that's still out for debate.   The other thing I may well be obsessed with is 3D printer filament.   I love the colors and styles, the glitter, and the silky metals.  I love them all.  

My husband and I had an idea and over time we decided to execute on it.   Last night, we went live on a YouTube channel where I show in more detail 3D printer filaments, one by one.  

Our launch video features models by well-known 3D model designers, Clockspring and Fotis Mint.  In addition to our launch video, there are ten other videos on the channel.   Check them out, subscribe to the channel, click the bell to receive notifications as we'll be releasing new videos multiple times per week.  

I hate saying all of that.  I'm terrible at self-promotion, if you're here and reading about my family's lives, maybe you'll be interested in these Filament Stories too.   They're cute and short at a minute each.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Hug Status:  My son and daughter spent the night at Nana and Papa's house last night.   Upon their return, I got a third of a hug from my son.   He barely touched me, but it was close enough I suppose.   My daughter tackle hugged me and squeezed me for a full minute.  

Play Date!

We had friends over today for a play date.   There were three little children running around the house, my daughter had new friends in her room and we ordered pizza to have for lunch.   The parents stood around talking in between handling questions and issues with the children.   We showed them things in our house and they told us about their lives. 

We got to talk—real adult talk—interrupted regularly by children, but it was okay because it was fun, it was like old times.   It was almost like COVID-19 wasn't still out there, sickening, harming, and killing people.  

I hope it lasts and we don't have a relapse.   Hopefully, the trend will continue.   Hopefully, we manage this new freedom well as a world. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son snuck downstairs today and got on his computer to show something to his two friends—who were standing inside the house.   I shooed them out with a threat of lost computer time to my son.  We had guests in the house, but we're not open for the revolving children door again like old times.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was thrilled beyond measure to have three little friends to play with.   They were all younger than her, but the mental social age was just perfect.   She was the perfect host.  

Brutal

We've been cleaning the house all day.   It's after midnight now and I'm so tired I don't even feel like adjusting the post time to make it look like this was written earlier, when it was officially yesterday.   I'm going to bed.   My body aches all over.   We put cleaning off for far too long.  Today was brutal. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son now has a chaise lounge in his bedroom.   There's a little side room that was planned to be a storage area but we finished it when we built the house.   The old chair from the living room has the old ottoman butted up against it, making a lounging location for him to read or do other things.   He really likes the new arrangement.   We had a table in there that was almost never used.   Maybe the new furniture will give him a reason to spend time in there. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My son complained about cleaning his room; my daughter attacked the mess in her room with diligence and determination.   She is determined about so many things.   

The Moonwalk

My daughter has been interested in creating board games recently.   She creates games for me to play verbally with her while I drive her to and from school.   The game board is a grid of magnetic balls that would typically be used by a child to make low-resolution pictures.  My daughter can extend the usability of this grid to be much more. 

She created something that reminded me of the Game of Life the other day.   When she returned from school the following day, I suggested we play the real board game so she could experience some of the parts of the game I'd talked to her about.  

The version of the game I have is the one I grew up with and is a bit worse for wear.   The little stick people were shortened in some cases where I'd chewed off some of the length to represent a child.   Other than that, the game was as playable as it was when I was young. 

My daughter loved playing and today, when we headed off to school again, she set up the game to play on her grid.   I started off (I'm the only player in these games) and got the job of being a doctor.   I was robbed and then I got married.  

She followed the protocol of the real game at this point, saying, "now we have to figure out how much you get for wedding presents."   After that, she said I got a free turn and could move one to ten spaces of my choosing for my moonwalk.  

I had no idea what she was talking about until I remembered the real game, after getting married, you got to take a bonus turn to go on your "honeymoon".

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son I was proud of him and couldn't believe I had a fifth-grader.   He insisted, despite my logic, that he wasn't a fifth-grader yet.   He wouldn't be one until the first day of school.   He was a rising fifth-grader, and that was that.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is in the tub getting clean after being outside riding her bicycle—all by herself with no adult supervision.    She was going up and down the street just in front of the house, but it took a special kind of self-control to let her do so without hovering and worrying.   She put everything away, closed the garage door, and came in when she was done like this was nothing unusual for an almost completely blind child to do.   

That New Syndrome Again

We have a new couch and two new chairs and now we have a third new chair and a new ottoman.  And I'm trying to not be overly worried about a spec of dirt or dust getting on it.   It's so easy to do, especially when you don't have children, who are basically noise with dirt on them.   

The children wanted to hop on the new, spinning chair that came in today.   I wanted to shout, "have you washed your hands?  Did you take off your socks?  Have you been sweating?  Is there dirt on the back of your pants?"   But I only made them wash their hands.   It's so hard not to want to keep the perfectly clean thing perfect.   It's just not realistic. 

My new car, well, it was half a year ago now, was easier to not worry about.  Mostly because it was the same car as my four-year-old prior car.   It looked and felt the same.   So when my husband looked in a few weeks after it arrived, only to find debris from outside and food crumbs on the floor, he was shocked. 

It was just my car and that's what's been happening with the children all this time.   It wasn't "new" to me. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son brought home loads of things from school as tomorrow is his last day.   Trying to get him to tell me which things will go back next year (he's in the same classroom with the same teachers, beginning his second of three years there) was an exercise in futility.  He's done with thinking about school for the time being.   I can't say as I blame him.   I loved the last day of school too. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter tried to get the new chair to spin as fast as she could make it go.   I think she's going to spend a lot of time on the new spinning chair.   I hope it's sturdy enough to handle her.   She's still pretty light and it's a big chair.  I hope so. 

Cusions

I've never had cushions made for me before.   I think people probably do this all the time.  If you can sew, that is.   I don't sew, or, I've only sewn a few things a few times and while I am sure making a cushion is easy, I just don't know what I'm doing. 

The last bits of our living room arrive tomorrow.   And the lady I've been working with said we needed some cushions on the couch to "tie in" with the chairs.   The thing about this tying in is the more important thing.   She had gotten just the right choice of materials.   She knew what the cushion size should be.  And...she's going to sew it for me.   

Designers are marvelous people.   I'm looking forward to this long-awaited furniture tomorrow.   The children are excited, "the ottoman" and "the chair that spins" are coming in while they're at school. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is going on a field trip, something he hasn't done in a year almost with COVID-19.   And then he has a half-day and school is out.  How is it possible summer is here almost?

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wants to cut hair.   She wants to cut hair so much she and I got the hair dummy out and we did the first few steps of what you have to do to cut hair.   She needs left-handed scissors so she had to cut the synthetic hair with her school scissors.   I have no idea how she managed it.   

Trash Collector

My son likes collecting receipts.   He's been taping them to his bed frame,   Only special ones, with some selection process known only to him.   He also has this taped to the side of his dresser (it's empty).   We are under no circumstances allowed to remove it.   And no one knows why. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son will be a fifth-grader in two days.   How is this possible?  At all?   I swear, he was just toddling around in diapers.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  In a little less than two weeks my daughter is going to be a fourth-grader.   That also, cannot be possible.   No way.   She was just learning how to stand.  

My Grandma Is Special

My daughter came downstairs tonight asking for batteries.   She wanted to replace them in two books we have that are for very young children, having only a few words on each page.   The special thing about these books is you can record someone reading each page and as the child changes pages, the book reads itself from the recordings. 

One of the books had the recording lost and wasn't functioning well, but my daughter still likes to record herself making up stories she's imagined as she turns each page.   Tonight, she came down with the other book she had recently found.   She asked for new batteries and said she wanted to see if the recording was still on there. 

And indeed it was.  It was my mother, reading the book to the children.   She did this several years ago.   I told my daughter that book was very special to me, because it was my mother talking and I want to make sure we kept it just like it was.   My daughter agreed completely before taking the book upstairs to her room to listen to Mimi before going to sleep for the night. 

The Big Boy Update:  I have to say I was nerd-proud of my son today when I overheard him in a video game asking his friend, "what's your ping?"   I didn't hear the answer but after that, my son said, "okay, well, what's. your FPS?"   Proud I tell you.  So proud. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter was overjoyed to have Blake come over today, during his short stay in the US before his next international travel for his gap year.   She was positively manic when she heard he was coming over.   We all were happy to see him.  

It's 1AM Again?

This keeps happening.   I stay up late working on things, some projects of my own, and some things my husband and I are working on together.   I make it as long as I can and then I drag myself upstairs to go to sleep.   But then I wake up early.   So by the afternoon, I'm tired and I need a nap.   I need to figure out a better schedule or I need to discover a way to go without sleep.   For tonight, I'm going to end with something about the children and then go to bed. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been playing Fortnite with his friends on the computer lately.  Today he got in trouble for leaving something out upstairs and was sent up to clean it up.  Without telling anyone, his father picked up his game and continued playing for him.   Through the headset, we heard and couldn't help laughing as the other two boys talked to each other saying, "do you think that's his dad?"   "That's definitely his dad."  Followed by them getting frustrated at getting killed repeatedly.   When my son came back they were on the point of quitting.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter found a cape in the costumes bin that she put on.   It was a custom cape their Aunt A had made for each of the children with their initials on them.   At the time, they were huge.   Now, it just barely fit around my daughter's neck.   We'll have to put it in keepsakes storage for the children so their children can play with them someday. 

The Hair

I have permission now to show you my daughter's hair.   

The Big Boy Update: My son was cranky this morning.   It was not a good morning overall.   Then, I noticed the iPad was missing from beside my computer and I had found out he had told his father he had no digital in his room.   So he lost screen time today.   When he came home I talked to him about it and he said when he took the iPad it was at 8% battery so he didn't really use it.   I had found it at 3%.   He had lied to his father though, and that wasn't a good thing.   He was angry, but he worked through it.   We did let him on the computer later for some actual work.  He's doing some 3D modeling in Tinkercad and has come up with a plan to make a rubber band launching device.   It's not bad.   He printed out his first pass and found some design flaws and is working on the second version.  I told him I'd share his model in an action video if he got it all working. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I think my daughter is very much loving the attention she's getting with her new hairstyle.   Today, I got a text message from one of our Movie Night friends that we haven't seen in ever so long.  Jen, upon singular coincidence, had an appointment with Sue today to get her hair done.  What had she planned on doing?  Having it colored in pink and blue.   She and I swapped pictures and I told my daughter about it, who thought Jen had cool taste in hair colors, obviously. 

Pink and Blue hair

My daughter's hair is pink and blue.   There is teal and purple in the midst and it is absolutely beautiful.   Only I'm not allowed to post a picture of it here because she wants to show some people herself before I share it with the rest of the World Wide Web.    

I picked her up from school and we went straight to the salon, where she spent several hours getting her hair done in this beautiful collection of colors.   We got home close to dark and I jumped on a conference call.   And now I'm tired.   So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be allowed to share a picture.   She looks very striking.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to create a rubber band launching machine.   He got home, loaded up Tinkercad and designed what he was thinking about in his mind.   Then he sent it to a printer with the help of my husband.   When it was done printing four hours later he saw that part of his design didn't work or connect the way he had hoped it would.   Which is part of the design process.   Tomorrow, he's going to work on version two. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The children's printer we got contacted me after I sent an email to them about how Reese could do things with their printer that she otherwise couldn't do.   They want to know if she'd be interested in helping with their marketing of the printer.   If things happen, I'll let you know, but for now, I told them we'd be glad to help in any way we could to market their excellent printer that makes 3D printing such an easy thing for children to do. 

Under the Canopy

It had been hours since the dog had gone outside and I realized I had to go shortly, so I took her out in the hopes she'd go quickly as I had my first board meeting in person since before COVID-19 lockdown.   Of course, she was in no hurry and that was doubly troublesome for me because it started to rain rather hard all of a sudden. 

I had a thought that brought me back to my childhood: if I stood under the tree at the start of a shower, I could stay completely dry as the droplets hit the branches above and didn't trickle down for a while.   This isn't something surprising as an adult, it makes logical sense.   But as a child this was something new, my discovery, and something I sought out. 

Spring and early summer rains bring cooler temperatures and breezes and standing under a tree made the hot weather feel comfortable.   I felt like I was in my own protective bubble standing under a tree as a child.   I remember later, as the rain progressed, it was much less enjoyable than being out in the rain itself because droplets would combine into bigger ones and the large, erratic amounts of water hitting you was not fun at all. 

So today, I stood under a tree and remembered a long time ago.   A time at about the age my children are now.   I wonder if they've noticed the same thing?

The Big Boy Update:  I just realized my son is out of school for the summer at the end of next week.   That's six more days of school.  I'm not prepared (mentally) for summer to be here yet!

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter received a thank you note from Rayan and Keira today for taking care of Charlotte, their dog, this past weekend.   In the note was some money for my daughter, forty dollars.   This was the first job my daughter has ever had.   She was very happy about it.   She wants to do more pet sitting for people around the neighborhood. 

The Flower Girl

My daughter has been bringing me flowers.   It's been something she's done to make me happy or because she knows I'll like them just because she is that kind-hearted and wants likes to do something nice.   The other day I was taking a nap and when I woke up, there were some knock-out roses on my nightstand.   I wasn't sure where they came from as we lost our plants in a blight that happened a few years ago.   I learned later she had gotten it from a bush when she walked down the street with Madison.   I don't know who's roses they were, but they're still on my nightstand now, dried and withered, but still making me happy. 

Then, two days ago, she made me an entire bouquet.   Down at my computer, I found a paper cup with two types of flowers in it, carefully arranged so all the flowers were hanging just so over the edge of the cup.   When I came back from an errand my daughter told me there was something waiting for me when I went downstairs.   I'm not even sure where she got these flowers, but there are lots of things in bloom right so hopefully, the plants didn't mind giving up their blooms. 

Then today, my daughter ran in from being brought home from school by Nana.   She came straight to me and proudly handed me two small sunflower flowers.   One of the teachers had them and was giving them away to students who wanted one.   My daughter asked for them so she could bring them home and give them to me.   

They are currently in a vase in the kitchen.   This is a very special thing my daughter is doing.   It's a way to say, "I love you, Mom."   And I definitely appreciate it.   The other way she says she loves me is in Pig Latin, which she's getting faster and faster at.  

The Big Boy Update:  We were saying what we were thankful for the other day as we sitting around the dinner table.   My son said, "I'm going to thank the chicken who was used to make my dinner."    And today, my son brought home a Didgeridoo he made in art class at school.   It's just a cardboard tube, but it's the right width and length to sound just right and the painting he did on the outside makes it almost look like the real thing.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter told me, "Mom, no offense, but this story is getting kind of long."  I asked her how she listened to the teachers when she was in school.   She said, "Oh I don’t,  I just zone out.  But I still know what they’re saying.  It’s sort of a blind skill.  This is my special skill.  It's like how people are different in different ways.  I think it’s just me."