A Storm, A Storm!

Okay, it's not just a storm, it's a hurricane.   It's done damage south of us and is heading towards our general area.  General meaning that it's a storm and it can change its mind on if it wants to go a bit more to the left or the right.   Regardless though, some weather will be coming our way. 

I do love a good storm, but there's a point where it's too much of a storm.  We live in a sturdy home so I am not overly worried we'll have any dramatic damage.   You never know though; we have solar panels that could be pulled off with the shingles, windows could be broken or worse. 

Typically, for the last half-century or so that I've been alive (okay, that just made me feel very old) we live far enough inland and to the north that most hurricanes have lost significant power by the time they get to us.   But you never know.

School's Out Hooray: My daughter's last day of school before track out was tomorrow, only they canceled school due to the incoming weather.  My son's school was also canceled as well.   They have a three-day weekend.   Well, my daughter has three days plus three weeks off from school.  Good times!

That Sounds Good

My son doesn't like transitions.   Or at least he doesn't like transitions when he's focused on something.  It doesn't matter what the thing is, he could be looking at his collection of very weapony looking sticks in the corner of his room, thinking about my request to please let the dog have a few because she's all out of sticks. 

If my son isn't ready to end that activity and you say it's time to go get the newest video game, meet his YouTube content creator favorite people and get a milkshake on the way, but if he's not ready, you're going to get pushback.  

He knows he's like this, though.   Today his father told him about a symphony event we'll be going to later in the year that features music from movies he loves.   He said these exact words to his father: "Oh, that sounds good. I’m totally fine with it right now, but I’m sure will be cranky about it on the day."  

His father said, "that’s very self-aware of you."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had her father running all over the house to get his birthday presents.   She loves doing the treasure hunt and takes great pleasure in making you go back and forth from room to room, getting as much exercise as possible to earn the "treasure" at the end.

An Apology To The Blog

Dear blog, 

I'm sorry I haven't been giving you the same attention as I used to.   Some days I get to writing my post for the day before it gets late.  When that happens I usually do a fair job of the words here for the day.   That 3D printing thing (I'm sure you've heard about it more than you'd care to by now) takes large swaths of time and when I look up, it's 12:36 AM and I think, "dear me, I'd better write something quickly so I can get to bed."

And that means you don't get the attention you deserve.   I'm always sorry when that happens, but I'm also tired.   You're always so understanding.  Now, about those children...

The Big Boy Update:  Tomorrow is my husband's birthday.  I thought he would have forgotten, but he remembered and had even made him a card in advance.  Good job!

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter came downstairs and said she had plans for her father's birthday.  Only she wasn't sure what he wanted as a present.  She and I snuck out and got him some things.   She'll do a birthday surprise for him that I'm sure he'll love.   After school, though, I told her.  Mornings are way too hectic and this is a present that takes time to "discover".

When Words Fail

It is really frustrating when there is a word you want to say but it fails you.   It's on the tip of your, well, it's somewhere, but you can't bring it forth.  I don't even think the word was on the tip of my tongue tongith.  I was thinking of a thing I could picture, I could see it vividly.  I could imagine people interacting with the thing.   I could see variations of all manner of this particular thing.   

Only I didn't know what the thing was called. 

I sent a message to someone about the thing I was unable to label properly, dodging the word entirely and using a different way to indicate what I was talking about.   

After I sent the message, I started to walk away and then suddenly I turned around and went to the keyboard to add: ORNAMENTS!

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Mimi Conversations:  My children each took some time to talk to my mother over the past two days.  I was afraid my daughter was going to wear Mimi out.   She was in the tub and decided to lounge in the water, and tell Mimi about simply everything.  My son talked to both Mimi and Gramps today.  It's really nice that they get to talk to their grandparents some.  We all miss seeing them.  

Not My Commitments

My husband is so good at never being upset at anything.  He's supportive, he doesn't complain, he's just an all-around amazingly nice person. Which is why I don't know what to do about this.  We have commitments to a company we're working with.  We need to get work to them through the month.   It's getting later and later every month, and it's not within my control because it's the parts of what we do that my husband does. 

There was a point where I thought he was putting some work off, which was true, but it was because he didn't know what to do.  We figured that out, and things moved quickly.   Currently, we have work that isn't creatively challenging—it's technically challenging.

It's the pieces of the photographic editing that he does, coupled with the very particular photographing that he likes to do.  We're getting down to the wire, and it's late, and I'm not even going to worry about posting social media for Filament Stories until we have some things delivered.  

It's not my personal commitment to the work that needs to get finished, it's my husband's side of things, but we together are delivering the content so I'm going to do what I can to help him get things done.   He has a lot of filming and editing to do with small models on a rotating table. 

Everyday time runs out.  I can't complain about being bored, that's for sure. 

The Big Boy Update:  We let him have screens today.  We only saw him twice when he came to get food.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is singing a song from Encanto, the movie in choir.  She decided she wanted to see the movie tonight so she watched it and her father got interested and sat down to watch it too.   It's a great movie.  Lots of words that are come fast in some of the songs, but that's Lin-Manuel Miranda for you.   The music was great.  

All in All

All in all, I think my daughter had a good time at Space Camp.  When I asked her if she wanted to go back next year, she said yes.   I also asked if she'd like for her friends locally to attend too, and she said that would be nice.   Their parents were aware of the option but hadn't pursued it like my husband had, watching day after day until registration was open to make sure he got her a spot. 

She made friends and learned a lot of things.  She told me about some of the other attendees who had additional disabilities.  There was one boy she liked a lot that was in a wheelchair.  He could walk, she said, but not very fast and it would take him a long time to catch up with the group, so he used a wheelchair.  He also, "talked funny".  It sounded to me like he had muscular dystrophy from the way she described his talking.   She said he was funny and really nice. 

The one thing that surprised me a little is that she didn't come home excited to be an astronaut or excited about space travel or anything related.  Perhaps she is, and she just hasn't shared those thoughts with us.   She did have a good time.  I'm so glad she had the opportunity.   I liked that I got to spend the time with her going down before and spending the night together before dropping her off. 

The Shoes and The Dog:  My daughter realized she left her crocs at camp.   This was a terribly upsetting thing to her and she was wailing pitifully about it.  Her brother told her to, "grow up" which upset her even more.   I told him to get his shoes on, he was going to walk the dog with me (the neighbor asked if we could walk their dog.)  We got over there after some moaning from my son, who got told to, "grow up" by me which clued him in to why he was being required to do so.   When we arrived we couldn't find Roxy.  My daughter had gone over ahead of use while my son dawdled with his shoes.  Then the two dogs, two quarreling children and I went around the block.  By the time we got home, they had gotten over their anger with each other.   The dogs loved it.   

My Spacer Returns

I am going to write a very fast post right now because I just got word that my daughter and husband have landed and I'm heading out to the airport to pick them up.   

I am very excited to see my daughter.  I missed her more than I expected to.   I can't wait to hear about her week.   I'll have to write an update tomorrow on how her week went. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son did not want to go to his class picnic tonight after school.  He complained very much so, all the way there to the point that I said anything else coming out of his mouth and we'd stay for longer.   We got there, he pouted in the side area, making an art sculpture in the gravel and then kept poking me and giving me looks from time to time when he'd come over, as if to say, "hurry up mom, stop talking to these other parents and teachers so we can go."  I told him I was very disappointed in him when we got in the car.   I really was.   It was an embarrassment.