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.