I Was Going To Sleep In...

But I woke up and made the mistake of getting out of bed early to do "just one thing" at seven in the morning. It is now midnight, and I'm tired, and I don't think I've sat down to take a break.  This means at this point in the day (or night), the Guinea pigs are clean, their cage has had its weekly overhaul, the children have done things with us, and we've gotten a video ready to release tonight.   

I think most of those things have happened.  I was trying to get caught up on my blog posts from this past weekend.  I've finished Friday, but I'm still missing Saturday and Sunday.  I'll get there.  I remember what I want to say.  

The Tiny Girl Pet Caregiver: my daughter wanted to wash the Guinea pigs tonight.  While she waited for us to be finished our video, she relocated a lot of the cage internals to our bathroom.   She helped me wash them and then decided she was too tired to help clean everything up.  She was a real help, though, and they definitely needed their lower halves cleaned. 

The Big Boy Update:  I wrote this down when my son said it, and he got mad, thinking I was going to be picking on him in the blog.   I had a hard time convincing him that I thought what he said was very clever, and I wanted to share it.  He said this afternoon while he was looking out the windows in our backyard.  

"There are too many deciduous trees here."  His grandfather was a scientist and loved botany.   I see him in my son.   

He's Home

I have really missed my son.   I left for RMRRF, and while I was gone, he left for Acadia National Park with his Upper Elementary class.   He was scheduled to come home late evening tonight, but as things tend to happen, they were delayed.    He's in now, and I'm happy he's home. 

He doesn't smell like my son.  That might sound odd, but he doesn't smell like he normally does.   He smells like a great aunt's house.  I don't have a great aunt that I'm referring to, but this smell is how I imagine it would be if you had a great aunt that wanted to have you over for the summer vacation.   It's not a bad smell, it's just a musty, older house smell.   Some people love the mystery of old houses.  And I have to admit, the times I spent with my grandmother over the summer were interesting times indeed and the smell was part of what made it so memorable. 

The thing my son said when he got home though.  The bit that was so heart-warming, was after I'd calmed down the bouncy jumpy dog who was just beside herself with happiness he was home was the first words my son said to me as I sat on the floor, hugging him.   He said, "I want to play video games."   It just melts a mother's heart. 

The Grown Up Girl Chronicles:  Aunt A sent some adorable stuffed guinea pigs for my birthday.  Their names have been up in the air until recently when they have been settled upon.  This is not unlike what we went through when picking Cheerio's name.   The new siblings are Trix and Fruit Loop.

Fifth Grade Flashbacks

My daughter is very responsible.  She does her homework and tries to do a reasonably good job of it, even when she's put it off until the last night, which is most of the time.  She has been turning in her work every day (that it was due) and turning in other things that need to be reviewed by a teacher during the day as work is completed.   She had school knocked out of the park.  Or so I thought. 

On the way home, I talked to her about getting her homework done because I'd seen an email from her teacher with all the things that were due.   She told me she would get it all done tonight.   She also told me she usually didn't turn her homework in.   Wait, what?   "Why not,"  I asked her?  It didn't really matter was what I was hearing.  Hmmm... is what I thought.  

My daughter brought her backpack in, went upstairs after school, and didn't want to come out until it was after ten o'clock.  It was then that she told me it was Teacher Appreciation Week.   Or rather it had been starting last Wednesday only she forgot to tell me and tomorrow was the last day we could bring them things.  

My husband read through some things and found out she had math and science work to do.  Plus, there was a day the students could bring in notes to their teachers, and she had to do those as well.   And wasn't going to sleep until she was finished.   

She was up late working.  I'm still not sure about the unturned-in work.   It gave me flashbacks to fifth grade because that's the exact same thing I got in trouble for.  My father brought that up until I had graduated from high school.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son is coming home tomorrow.  He's been in Maine with his class all week.  I'm really interested in what they did this week.  The pictures looked so interesting.  My son will probably not want to talk about it at all.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter hasn't been turning in her homework—that she completed.   When I was in fifth grade when I didn't turn in my work, it was because I didn't want to do it.

Up and Down

I woke up, and the dog looked at me with the, "Please, could you let me outside?  I can go back to sleep, but I sort of need to go now" look.  So I got up and hobbled to the door to let her out.   I collapsed back in the bed and reached for the Tylenol bottle on my nightstand.   The muscle aches were pretty bad.  I also had a nasty headache.  And, to add another layer of fun, I had a fierce sore throat.

An hour later and I felt a decent bit better.  My husband had let the dog in, and she kept looking at me with the "Where is my food?' look.  I kept telling her, "Go get your breakfast, go." but she persisted.  Did she not know to go check to see if the food was there?

I got up to show her and found the bowl on the counter, filled, but for some reason, not put down on her mat.   Go me.   

I took some herbs from Nana's garden that she brought over for the guinea pigs and went upstairs to feed them, do the morning cage cleaning, and get some Halls that I knew I had in my mint collection.

They were very happy about the morning's greenery.  I put them in the playpen and took a few videos of them doing "zoomies" (the term for when they run about in joy) and fighting over food, which is really cute because there's plenty to eat, they just always want the thing the other one is eating.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son said he feels like he's being mean to me because he doesn't want to be anywhere near me.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has hidden in her room for two days now.  We need to get her out.  My husband (who is now negative for COVID) just took her and the dog for a walk in the park.

Tired of Furniture

We walked all day yesterday, looking at furniture and lighting.  There was so much to see it was overwhelming.   The thing that was mostly overwhelmed though was my feet.  They were the most tired. 

It must have been the festival, the travel, getting in late, and then walking all day because I slept and didn't ultimately get out of bed until 4PM.   Talk about being lazy.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been begging her father to play Monopoly with her.   He and she have had either a very long game going on, or they have been playing multiple games upstairs.  She is really good at visualizing everything on the board and who has what.

The Acadia Sixth Grader:  We've seen some pictures coming in and it looks like my son is doing interesting things.  One activity was with a large map that covered the floor of an entire room.   Maps are his favorite!

Lots of Walking

I've never been to the Furniture Market in Highpoint North Carolina before.  You can't go as an individual, you have to have a ticket and the only way to get a ticket is with someone who is in the industry.  Basically you need to have a designer or someone else get you a ticket to come. 

We met our designers at a place that gave us a spot in their parking lot for the day.   We looked at the one sofa they thought would match what we were looking for.   Then we looked at what things we'd like on a sofa that was different from what they presented.  

It's an interesting process.  The designers can't read our minds and we can't give them every preference in our heads, so we come to a meeting in the middle.   They're both very nice, and seem to be enjoying the process of discovery as we go through this. 

They are mostly helping us with things that will be built with the house, like the cabinets and paint, tile and countertops.  Handles and fixtures and anything else the house needs.   There are a few places we need a piece of furniture because what we have is going somewhere else.  Still, Market was fun.  There were so many beautiful things to see. 

The Tiny Girl All Alone:  My daughter was picked up from school by our neighbor's nanny.  She had to leave at 6:10 and we weren't quite home, which was okay as my daughter is fine to leave for periods now.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son isn't hear.  It's odd to come home without him here. 

Meow Wolf

RMRRF was amazing.  People are still talking about it months later because the turnout was far, far more than the organizers or anyone expected.  It was their first event, and they did a very good job planning and executing the event.   The turnout was boosted in part because there hadn't been a maker faire in that area of the country before.  

COVID concerns have been continually diminishing, and people just wanted to get out.  I didn't get a break from the steady stream of people, so I took one whenever there was a lull and walked around, talking to people in the other booths.  It was a fabulous weekend, and I am very much looking forward to going next year. 

The one regret I have was an invitation some of us had for Saturday night after hours.   There was this place called Meow Wolf in Denver, and did I want to go?  It was very hard to explain what it was, but it wasn't something you wanted to miss.   It was only an hour's drive away in Denver.  

An hour?  I in no way wanted to drive two hours total after a long day or be cramped in a car with people I only knew from their online presence.   So I passed.   I was so tired.  My back hurt, and all I wanted to do was eat dinner and go to sleep.  I ended up at the bar at my hotel, hanging out with other people from the event, which was very fun.   But when the others got back from Meow Wolf I was immediately sorry I didn't go. 

It was hard to explain other than it was an interactive experience with room after room with each being their own mystery and adventure.   The rooms were created by people with imagination to spare and more artistic skill than two artists.   The place was so large you could spend over a day there and not repeat rooms.   They ran into people who were on their tenth hour in and were still discovering things and having fun.

The pictures and videos they were showing us at the bar were so oddly beautful, strange and exciting looking.   I should have gone.   

I talked to Matt about it later and he said next year the trip will be on Friday before the event begins since the setup day isn't as long or tiring.   I am not missing it next year, even if I feel awful .