Demolished

We have the Land Disturbance Permit, the Building Permit and the Demolition Permit.   They're moving working on the land right now, clearing a path to the house while preserving as many trees as possible (my mission, which has been challenging as I am running into resistance from every direction).   Trees are being saved, although some may have to come down when we see what the overall placement of things will end up being. 

The road has moved quite a bit, initially away from the highest point in the lot, which would have been better from a drainage perspective but would have been nearly in the back yards of the closest neighbors.  I wouldn't want someone's driveway in my back yard and we did want to have a more private feel, so we shifted the driveway.   It became less straight because there were some very old trees we could save if we moved it left a bit here, right a bit there, etc.  

That's turned out to be a good decision because it looks just beautiful as you look at the path coming in.  The canopy of trees has been largely preserved while opening up the feel you have while you're going down or looking down the driveway in either direction.  Rob, our project manager, builder, etc. said it was one of the most beautiful sites he'd worked on.   That all goes to my husband, who found and championed the site.   It really was a find.

Today was the demolition of the existing house on the property.  My in-laws, husband, builder, and I came to watch as Shaun pulled the house down while saving two large trees that were within three feet of the building.  Our builder said it couldn't be done.  Shaun said he could do it.  And he most definitely did.  He also plucked the chandelier with the excavator so we could save the last custom glass pieces on it.   He's something else.  

My son: was sick today.  He didn't have COVID and he had no fever, but when I came to pick him up mid-day a father was picking his daughter up who had similar symptoms.

My daughter: was sad about the house being demolished.  I told her I was too, but in order for us to build our house it had to come dow.   That made her feel a little bit but not much better.   I did hate to see the house come down, even if it was in a mess of a state. 

 

I'm Still Here

I've been taking a break from the blog.   I loved doing my posts every night for years.  Of late, we're working on a video late at night after the children go to sleep, and when we're done, I want to just go to sleep—only I have a blog post to write.   I should write them earlier in the day, I know, tell me about it.  It just doesn't seem to happen that way for a collection of reasons, all of them my fault. 

But I'll be back, and I have a slew of topics that have happened since I last wrote here.  I'm going to backdate the posts and catch up on everything.   Currently, I have a project I shouldn't have accepted from a company that wanted to send us a printer.  It sounded like a good idea at the time; it was anything but.  

I have set a drop dead date of the end of this weekend for publishing the video, which won't be what I wanted it to be, but the printer is poorly documented and entirely different from anything else on the market.   I'll do the best I can to be honest while also telling the truth about what my thoughts are on the printer. I can do it, but it won't be the video I wanted to do.   I can't spend more hours figuring out things that aren't supported with documentation by the company or the small number of people who have bought the printer.  It will be something, though.  Typically, we require up-front payment, but my producer let them pay afterward since they were sending the printer, which was not inexpensive. 

Never again will I do that.  I would rather not have the printer than have a question of if they will pay us or not.  It is far, far too easy for companies to just not pay.  I have fellow content creators who have chased down companies and gotten angrier and angrier, feeling entitled to the money when they have virtually nothing to stand on and are without a legal team to pursue what is very small money in comparison to legal fees.  Couple that with the companies typically being in China, and, well,  you're never seeing the money—which is why we have an up-front payment policy in almost all cases.   

I do trust my producer and the decisions he makes, but I would rather not have the worry about the work we're doing, which is not low-quality, and not have the product to show.   Some people don't mind post-payment, but most people I know work that way.  As we grow, it will be easier because companies want exposure from our audience.   That's always the thing, though, will we see growth?  If so, how much and how fast?   So far, we've been very fortunate to have over half a million total subscribers/followers we now have across the platforms we publish on, but things could always change. 

It's a Takeover (Again)

My daughter wanted to take over and do the Filament Stories video for the night—so we let her.  She found out how hard it is to get your brain to say what you want it to say when the camera starts rolling.   Doing something as simple as bringing in the thing you're holding off camera to the center of the table while saying something can mess you up twenty times.  

It really is daunting how walking and chewing gum is something we can do easily because we've done it a lot of times.   Rolling a spool of filament on screen while talking about a model by a designer from a repository that's free to download is a lot at once.   She's having to remember things she has no frame of reference to.  I work with the designer and have spent loads of time browsing the repository and the filament I ordered and have been using.   So it comes a little more quickly to me.  

But she did a great job.   She's hired. 

The Big Boy Show and Tell:  My son gets so excited about his video games and the progress he's made in them.   He wants to tell me all about what he's done or the item he's gotten or how much in-game gold he's raised.   It's really sweet to hear him talk about it with such excitement and pride. 

Summer is Boring

My daughter is bored.   She is very bored.  And of course all the things we suggest she do she doesn't want to do.   One thing she never tires of is playing with the guinea pigs though.   Although I have a worry with them.  They are the kindest, sweetest animals you could imagine.  They have massive teeth that could tear us to shreds, but they never bite. 

Okay, Cheerio bites, but he mostly nibbles, which you can use to your advantage because it tells you when he's ready to go back to the cage (typically to go to the bathroom, but he might also be tired of being held)

The Critical Sibling:  My son really needs to work on his positivity.  He almost always, without fail, tells his sister she's doing something wrong with how she holds or does things with the guinea pigs.   She handles it well, but I wish he would look at things more positively sometimes.  

Fourth Of In Bed

There was celebration across the country.   I celebrated in bed almost all day long.  My favorite thing was the Geography Now YouTube channel's video on the United States.   He's been creating excellent videos about countries one at a time for ten years now.  His videos are so good they're used in classrooms in some places.   

In all this time, he hasn't done his home country.   I wondered how the video would cover everything and if it would receive negative feedback.   It was just right and it has been very well-received.   It was an hour long, but well worth the watch.   Especially if you're stuck in bed on the Fourth of July. 

The Children: are scared of me.   My daughter asks every time she hears my voice, "do you have your mask on?!"   If I don't and she's coming in the room or if I'm eating I tell her.  My son just makes a big display of sucking in a big breath and running away. 

July Three Blurred Together

I know things have happened.  The Guinea pigs cage needed cleaning, I was able to work for twelve hours one day, possibly this day, but I also did a lot of not doing much and sleeping or lying in bed falling in and out of sleep. 

My Children: are very sweet.  They want me to rest and feel better.   I'm tired of resting. 

Up at Five o'Clock

I got out of bed at 5PM today.   It wasn't a bad day considering, but I've had better. 

The Children Are Afraid of Me:  They run screaming from the room after making a big show of holding their breath when they run into me.   I was told I wasn't aloud out of the bedroom.   I have to eat, I told one.   My daughter just hid in her room all day.   I'll see them next week I suppose.