I Have a Problem

I think it's time I admitted it.   I've been accused by my husband, children, and even Blake, who is staying with us until his family are well and truly beyond any possible suspicion of having any remains of COVID-19.    I thought I had it under control but after this past week, I'm afraid it's not something I can hide anymore. 

I'm addicted to filament.   Specifically the filament of the 1.75mm variety that prints in today's 3D printers.   my 3D printer and printing addiction is another topic altogether and I'll have to address that as well, but for today, I need to talk about filament. 

There are just so many colors, textures, and materials.   You can get copper and gold filament or filament that's silky that transitions through multiple colors in a single print.   There are translucent filaments, deeply pigmented filaments, and pastels.   Would you have thought you can get filaments that have small particles of wood in them so the resulting print has a wood-like appearance and feel?   Or marble.  You can get filaments that have—and get this—teeny tiny cut up bits of artificial hair.   Those bits of black, grey, or brown hair make the resulting print have a marble-like appearance. 

Then there are the types of filament.  By this, I mean the material the filament is made of itself.  What plastic polymers are combined to make them.   There is ABS, which is the same thing LEGOs are made out of, but that's only one of many types and each type has different properties.   You can even print with flexible materials that, when complete, might squish down like a tire or rubber duck.  

And lastly, there is quality.   I've learned over the course of the time since getting the first 3D printer that filaments are not all made alike.   There are lots of factors that can make a filament a dream to print with or a frustrating mass of stringing blobs that doesn't even remotely look like what you were trying to print. 

And I love them all.   Or, rather, I love having the option to print with just the right filament for the model, project, part, or toy.  Whether it's useful or whimsical, downloaded from another creator or designed by me; I want to have choices when I go to print it. 

My husband has, I think, done the proverbial, "throwing up of his hands" and doesn't even protest when another filament arrives in the mail.   I've told him several times, "I think I have everything I need now" only to find something else the very next day.   

It's fun though, having lots of choices. 

The Big Boy Update: On the way to school today I talked to my son all about Minecraft.   He really knows a lot about the game.   I think he like answering all my questions and knowing I was interested.   He would say to me when I got quiet, "do you have any more questions, mom?"  So, of course I did. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves a big box.   I got a kitchen trash can but didn't make the connection when a massive box arrived from Amazon today.   It must have been the best size to fit the trash can, even though half of the box was empty.   My daughter has had Blake and me shutting her in and pretending to get various packages in the mail and then be surprised when she jumps out.   She never tires of this type of game.

The Dragon Squisher

From time to time Audible has original titles for children that are free to download for members.   This book by Scott McCormick from the title alone sounded like the perfect book for my children.  It's the grand adventures of a boy and his "frenemy" who get sent to military school for bad behavior.  The story is well-read and entails a lot of humor from the author, but it had an unexpected message worked in that I was pleasantly surprised to read in a story written for pre-teen children. 

My children are eight and nine, but this story of acceptance is one I would like them to hear.   They might be younger than the heroes (for they do become the heroes of the story), Nigel and Lance, but they enjoy many other books in this age range such as the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series and I expected they would listen with as much enthusiasm as they had to the other stories in the same class. 

Nigel has been stuck doing latrine digging duty with Lance, whom he despised at first because Lance had it all: adoring girls, good looks, wit, and charm.   Lance had appeared Nigel's village with no history and had turned himself in so he would be sent to military school with Nigel and it didn't make sense—until Lance told Nigel the secret he had never told anyone before: he liked boys.   Nigel, in a moment of spectacular denseness, didn't understand, but when Lance explained he liked boys, "romantically" Nigel finally got it.   

Then Nigel got mad.   He was so mad because how could Lance have all those girls hanging off his arm when he wasn't interested in any one of them?   It just wasn't fair.   When Lance asked and Nigel said that no, he wasn't upset or bothered at all that he preferred boys (even though girls didn't look twice at him when Lance was around) something connected between them and they became best friends.   

Military unacceptance of homosexuality was also brought up as in this land, the case was the same and Nigel realized how much trust Lance had put in him.   It was written beautifully, covering just enough so that children would grasp the importance of the topics.   It was done in a very touching way too both at that point and several other times too.   The reason Lance had appeared in Nigel's village was there was a bounty on his head.  When Nigel asked who would do such a thing, he couldn't believe when Lance told him it was his parents and he'd been on the run for some time, turning himself in the day they were carted off to military school for an innocent prank gone horribly wrong, because he saw the bounty hunter arriving town. 

I like the book.  It's quite good.   My children haven't finished it yet and I'm fairly confident the topics of acceptance won't even be brought up by them because they already feel this way.   It's nice to have it in an age-appropriate story for them though.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is creating the most interesting things in Minecraft.   He showed me a cactus farm tonight.   It looked very orderly but it had another function.   It was a cactus factory in fact.   As the cactus grew, they would fall over and land in the water surrounding each plant, flow to a drain, go underground and run into a chest to be collected.   He can come back tomorrow to find a large collection of cactus that he can use in recipes to create other things in the game. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is decorating some rocks for teachers this week.   She wanted to gold leaf one for a favorite teacher.   This sounds easy but gold leaf is a nightmare to get to stick.   Blake and I are both on the job because we need to get it to the staff member at my son's school (who always was kind to her when she used to go there and to this day loves to say hello to her when she comes to school to drop-off my son).   I hope we can get the gold leaf to stick by tomorrow,

Curly Hair

I have curly hair.   Or, more accurately, I'd say I have frizzy hair with a splash of curl.   My hair is long right now so perhaps the frizz is less than normal on account of the weight of the hair, but I'm not so certain about that.  The frizz seems to have a strength that defies any amount of hair weight. 

I've been having keratin treatments on my hair for years.   This magical process makes it possible for me to have non-frizzy hair—which is something I've wanted my entire life.   I wash and dry my hair and then (and this is the part that might seem counter-intuitive) I curl my hair.   I don't curl it so much as flat iron it and add a bit of curl to the ends in the process.   It takes a while to get from clean, wet hair to the final product of smooth, soft hair with a bit of curl, but it is so worth it.  

I can easily go for four days with my hair done in this fashion and barring rain or humid weather, my hair looks mostly the same throughout this time.   In the last two weeks though, I've tried letting my hair dry as is.   This normally ends up with an undesirable product but I discovered something that made letting my hair dry naturally a solution that looks good: I go to sleep with my hair wet. 

I hate getting my pillow or bedding wet, but if I sleep with a folded over towel something happens overnight that lets the hair dry with some curls but doesn't let the frizz completely take over.   It's a change without doing much different, save for taking less time to do my hair.   

I don't like it as much as the soft, smooth, and straight hair, but it's good to have options. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I were talking about Halloween in the car this morning and I think he summed it up when he said, "Halloween seems very half-hearted this year."   People, parents, still aren't sure what to do.   We aren't decided on what we'll be doing ourselves. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Blake was on the phone with his sister, Shane, earlier today.   Shane got on speakerphone and asked my daughter how Blake had been while staying at our house.   She told Shane, "he's annoying and hilarious and mean and reasonable."

The 3D Latest

What's been going on with the 3D printing?  I know you've been dying to ask.   I've been restraining myself from winging on every day about 3D printing this and 3D printing that, because—as my children love pointing out—I'm obsessed with 3D printing. 

I made a bubble gum ball container out of some clear filament that I keep in the mechanical room beside the printer:

You can see the individual levels of the print easily in the bubblegum vase.   I've been using a large nozzle and pushing lots of filament through with a layer height of .5mm.  It intentionally shows the layers, which I really like on some models. 

I'm still a big fan of vases and have even designed one of my own (that is less than spectacular, but it's mine).  Here are two more impressive vases as well as a tiling gecko puzzle I'm printing using progressive color filament.  Blake likes the "shark's tooth" vase on the left.   I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it's grown on me.

There's a creator who created one cup design per week for an entire year.   I love the variety and creativity in them.   And yes, there is an ear in that one cup in the middle.   There isn't a matching ear on the other side.   That's the most unusual cup of the bunch.    The materials I'm printing them with are food safe so one day, after COVID-19 is over and we can have other children in our house again, maybe I'll let them pick which cup they prefer.   I wonder if anyone would pick the ear cup?

As I write this, my husband is working through a 3D design instructional video on his computer.   Blake even got into the game and created his own first 3D designed and printed model yesterday.   I know my children are saying I'm obsessed with 3D printing, but I'm not the only enthusiast in this house.

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Bite and Scratch Report:  My children were at Nana and Papa's overnight and all was going well until today when my daughter annoyed my son so much that biting (him) and pinching (her and possibly him) happened.   Discussions are being had.  They are eight and nine, they should know better.    Maybe I bit and scratched other children when I was younger, but I don't remember that I did.   I was an only child though and this behavior seems confined only to their relationship and not with any of their friends. 

sdfsdf

Night Off

My in-laws picked up the children before dinner tonight and are keeping them until tomorrow.   I have thus declared a night off.   I'm going to bed—to watch YouTube videos about 3D printing, what else.   I'm even giving the 3D printer the night off.   The power is off and the light isn't lighting up the print bed.   It's all quiet in the mechanical room where the printer lives.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was reasonably impressed today with the LEGO-shaped part I had created from scratch in a CAD tool (I'm taking the step to start learning 3D modeling, but it's slow.)  He told me he was impressed, but I should be more impressed with the spectacular world he had created in Minecraft. Two nights ago my husband and I looked over to see him working inside what was the perfect rendering of a modern architecture house.   It was very impressive.   I thought it was a world he'd loaded, but he had created it all himself.   We told him to save it.  He likes to create and destroy things.   He said with pride mixed with a bit of annoyance, "I've already saved it."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was outside in her pajamas today.   I don't like that she does this but she had an exception granted by Blake, who didn't realize she'd extend the exception to the entire day, thinking she would only be out until after breakfast.   She came in and asked me for a ladder—to climb a tree with branches she couldn't reach—and had nearly destroyed her pajamas from hugging the large trunk and trying to climb it.   No more pajamas outside.   

Carefully

My daughter has been outside most of the day lately.  This morning my husband left early to go to a golf tournament so my daughter had to ride with us as I took my son to school.   We returned at 8:45 and instead of coming in, she opened a garage door and headed outside.   When I asked her what she was going to do she said, "I'm going to be outside, mom" as if that answered everything. 

She is spending more time than anything else at the playset when no one else is around.   She's done so much swinging she has not only calluses but locations where calluses were that have subsequently torn off.   So this morning, down she went to the swingset and waited until her friends showed up. 

She's very much enjoying having friends to play with again—even though it's only a few in comparison to pre-COVID-19.  She has a new friend next door, Nora, who also has a toddler-aged brother, Leo.   My daughter likes playing with Nora and Keira equally much I'd say at this point.   She is in the middle with Nora a few years younger and Keira just starting middle school. 

The thing they've had a lot of fun playing with lately is the American Girl doll things sent down from Coco, my daughter's cousin.   I wouldn't consider letting the items go outside as I don't want anything to happen to them, but these days, if it can't go outside, it doesn't get played with friends. 

After two days of the girls playing with things under the deck on the patio, we changed plans and gave them free run of the porch for American Girl "land."   I spoke with my daughter in private about the importance of taking care of her things because if they were taken good care of, someday perhaps we could give them back to Coco if she has a daughter.

This afternoon I looked out on the porch as my daughter was inside getting an ice pack for Keira, who had hurt her leg on the playground.   My daughter hadn't been on the porch but I saw Nora and a younger boy in a mask (who turned out to be her cousin stopping in for an outdoor visit.)  They had separated, my daughter letting Nora have the space with her cousin and she had gone back to the playset with Keira.   I thought it was both polite as well as a good measure that they took that social distancing step themselves.

I asked my daughter if she thought Nora would take care of the American Girl things on the porch while my daughter was elsewhere with Keira.   My daughter said very matter-of-factly, "if I know Nora, she will."   That was enough reassurance for me. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son hasn't been eating a lot of his lunch lately at school and what he does eat has been the more preferred items, skipping the things he should eat first.   I mentioned it to his teacher when I dropped him off this morning after he had entered the building and couldn't hear me and I got some unexpected insight.   His teacher said, "he's not alone.   What's been happening is a group of the students hurries through lunch so they can go play, giving them more playtime."   There are some, like my son, who would rather play than eat.   Then there is the social eating group.  I'm not surprised my son would rather play than eat.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The swings on our swingset are in constant fluctuation.   I would say they change at least once per day.   I'll look out to see my daughter straddled and hugging the top of the A-frame chain in hand, preparing to swap one swing for another.   This isn't a simple feat because while disconnecting the existing chain and dropping it to the ground is fairly straightforward, getting out to the hooking in spot with the new chain in hand involves planning as well as a good dose of daredevil.   My daughter is such a daredevil.   I try to not limit her life any more than I have to so yes, she could fall and break an arm or worse.   Trust me, I think of that possibility all the time.   She is probably far more careful than most children because of her lack of sight.   So, I just tell the panic in my chest to calm down.   I was a child and my parents let me make my own mistakes.

The Deck Sleepover

My daughter and her friend, Keira, decided to have a sleepover tonight.   Keira is one of our "backyard neighbors" because while their house isn't next door directly, our back yards connect, and it since most of the playing takes place in the back yard, it seems like we're next door to them.    Given the state of the infectious world right now, the only playing that's being done is outside at social distancing range, which means our back yard is the location our children usually go when they're sick of being inside and want to spend time with children their ages. 

Keira and my daughter came up with an idea that they could have a sleepover if they did so outside.   They thought it through and had a few options.   They didn't want to be outside where they would be exposed which narrowed down their choices to two locations: Keira's screened-in back deck or our deck that has no access other than through the house. 

They would have gone for the better choice of Keira's deck but painters had come today to do some work on and there was wet paint.   That left our deck.   Keira and my daughter met in our back yard after dark and my husband set up the fire pit for s'mores.   Afterward, the ladies hung around the fire pit for a while and then retired to the deck. 

Once they were settled in on opposite sides of the small deck, I went to wash my hair.   As I was about to head downstairs to write this post I heard Keira leaving to go home.   We're going to put my daughter up to bed in a little bit in case it starts to rain.   I'm sure there will be many more sleepovers in the future.   I'm proud of the girls for coming up with a safe way to have one while also maintaining social distances.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been making his own lunches, but his motivation has been to get through the process as quickly as possible and hasn't been making the best of choices and then isn't eating the better parts of his lunch at school.   Today, I took over his lunch making and am going to supervise him for the next while so he can both make his lunch quickly and make good food choices. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Keira went home from the sleepover a bit ago but my daughter is out cold on the deck.   She is so very independent in some ways and this is one of them.   Nothing stops her if it's something she really wants.