Y2K So Far Away

For some reason right about this time of year, just before it turns over to the next year, I start to think about how we were all so worried about what would happen when the year 2000 came around and if computer systems would fail, power would go out and chaos would ensue.  

None of that happened and the year 2000 started much like any other new year, with drunk people cheering at something falling slowly down a pole.   It's been twenty-two years since that night and yet it feels like only yesterday.  

I have children now who are already a decade into their lives.   This will be a night they get to stay up late for, unless they fall asleep early, which my daughter may well do.   

Tonight, my in-laws are coming over and we'll watch a countdown my husband is having play on the garage doors from a projector he has in the front yard that's been showing a scene on the house for the past few weeks.  

It will be mellow and no one will be drunk or watching something fall slowly down a pole.   But it will be nice even so.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has adapted to his reduced screen time without a fuss.   He was told if he made a fuss, he would get no more screen time and it appears he actually processed this enough to not get upset when his time is up.   He manages his time by setting incremental alarms on Alexa, deciding how much of his daily allotment he wants to spend at once.  Usually, that means all of it first thing when he wakes up.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to play Monopoly today.   I said I would play the electronic one, but we did't have the board set up tactually.   She said she didn't mind because she could have fun making up a game herself that way.   She is something else.   She does get bored, but she is also very resourceful and is always thinking up games to play. 

The Twenty Thousand Nozzle

I got a new nozzle for the printers in the mail today.   It's something new that's different in a rather dramatic way.  I put it on the printer, set some settings up, and started a live stream.   Five hours later I'm exhausted.   Droves of people came in to see what was happening.   People shared the stream with other people.  Questions were asked, I repeated the same thing over and over and started more prints that we all were amazed at.

In the end, twenty-thousand people liked the stream.   I am surprised at the new nozzle but just as much at the response from the people online. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Cheating Story:  My son helped my daughter figure out how to "hack" her typing program.   They played the same thing again and again and got a lot of free coins she could use to buy things for her typing pet.   I didn't mind too much—they were practicing typing all the while.

Glow In The Dark!

My son had an idea tonight to see what filaments were glow in the dark.   I only have one glow in the dark filament in the classic sense of the meaning, but I have some filaments that were suppose to be fluorescent.     We decided to bring the black light into the closet and were surprised at what we found:

The Big Boy Update:  My son sometimes is interested in the 3D printing things we do.  Lately he's been telling me I need to keep my hair down because it looks better that way.   He is very sweet. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been shy but has been wanting to talk to Andrew and Julia today.   They're teenagers and were interested in talking to her, but not as much as she wanted to talk to them, which makes sense.   It was particularly cute that she was shy when it came to talking to Andrew because he was a boy.  

Re-guested

We're having guests again.   It's the same guests as we had before, so I'm counting that as being re-guested.   And we should be cleaning up everything and having the house in spit spot shape as Mary Poppins would say.   Only we're a wee bit behind. 

Thankfully, I got about four hours of tidying done yesterday, so it's actually possible (I think) to get the house in shape before 1) the cleaners arrive tomorrow and then 2) our guests arrive.  

Since it's working on three in the morning and I'm still working on Filament Stories, what with the foolish thought that filming some things would, "only take a few minutes," we are up late again. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son continues to bring seltzer water into the living room and today I found him with candy in there.  He knows better, so it must be that the consequences haven't been important enough for him to cease and desist.   I am planning on more dire consequences next time.

The TIny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to play with Ashley again today and came home both tired and cranky.   She was so tired she ate dinner and went straight to bed.   It sounds likes she had a fun day.   

Two Down, One To Go

We have several things happening here coming up that necessitates the house being put back to rights.   It was nice having a few days where we got to (try to) sleep in and not worry about the wreckage that was Christmas.   But the time is over and we have to get back to being responsible adults again, and that involves telling the children they have to clean up their new things and find spots for them in their rooms or other approved locations. 

I decided after dinner that I had to make an effort to get some work done on the de-Christmasification of the house and so, while the children did their own things and my husband was out running errands, I started in on the task. 

It wasn't going to take long, I thought.  I would put each of the children's things in a spot in one room and they could work on it all together tomorrow.   The Christmas things I would move up to the attic and then get it back in boxes once it was all together.   

I was wrong.   It was no small task.   I ended the night after eleven o'clock with only the main floor and upstairs done, and that didn't even include the tree.   Tomorrow, my husband is helping as well.   We did get a bit done on the basement, but therein lies a lot more mess as that's where Christmas unfolded.   We may need to start early as the children aren't going to be the most willing of participants in the task.   I wasn't interested in cleaning up as a child either. 

The Big Boy Update:  Four hours is all the screen time my son gets each day during the break of screen time.   He uses it all up in the morning and then is completely fine doing other things for the rest of the day.   I expected him to balk but he's been fine with it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter asked me to message Ashley's mother today to see if she was available to play.   I got a quick reply that she could come over any time.   My daughter nearly bolted out of the house.   She stayed until well after dinner and came home tired but happy.   I'm really glad she asked me to message Monica.   I should have thought of it myself. 

Twenty-seven Bananas

My daughter is really into the Yonana machine she got for Christmas.   I said she should get twenty-seven bananas and freeze them all, because at the rate she's going through them it will be less than a week's supply.  

This is what our counter looks like right now as the bananas ripen to what the instruction book calls, "Cheetah colored".  

The Blink Boy Update:  I went into my son's room tonight to turn down or off his playing audiobook.   I was hunting around in the dark for the volume button and afterwards I turned around to find my son right behind me with his hands reaching towards me and a strangely blank yet evil look on his face.   I don't know why I didn't scream.  He was completely still.   He was playing a "Weeping Angel" from Doctor Who.   And he nailed it.   As I moved around I would turn around and behind me, again, perfectly still, my son would have his hands covering his face or he'd be reaching for something or me.   He followed me from the second floor all the way to the basement and continued to try and trap my husband in the corner of the print room.  Had he been able to, he might have been able to send us back in time—that being what the Weeping Angels do.   The only thing the statues can't do is move when they're being looked at, which is why you always find them reaching for you but perfectly still at the same time.    He did such a good job of it that we hated sending him to bed.  We were all three having fun.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The dog really wants to be in my daughter's room at night and depending on the night she wants her in there or doesn't.   Tonight the dog was so happy on her bed but she wanted her space.   I think it was due to the prior night when the dog decided she wanted out in the middle of the night and woke her up letting her know.   They are so cute on the bed together with the ceiling fan blowing on the dog, keeping her cool.

Happiness Was Had

I think 2021 Christmas was a success.   My son was thrilled beyond measure about his computer desk chair.   That, and his underwear were big hits.   The underwear and socks were more of a mellow sort of excitement, which is to be expected—even though I thought I got him very nice boy selections for both. 

My daughter got the build your own gum ball machine.   It was the one thing she wanted from Santa, and it was such a hot item at a very reasonable price point.  My husband found one of the only ones around (from what we could tell) and had driven to the store after paying for it ahead of time.   Santa had come through, my daughter thought.  

But it got better, what with Santa bringing her a Yonana machine.   It's something you need to see videos about to understand.  In short, it makes something the consistency and mouth feel of ice cream from bananas alone.  Granted, banana-flavored ice cream, but unless you've had it yourself, it's just hard to understand how so very like ice cream it is—even though the single and only ingredient is frozen bananas. 

My daughter made some Yonanas today and played with some of her toys.  My son got on the computer with his new keyboard he got from his sister and has been lost for the balance of the day playing with his friends online. 

We went to my in-laws house for dinner, which was prepared by my mother and mother-in-law.   It was very delicious and the company was my favorite in the world.   It was a good day. 

The Keyboard Present:  My daughter wanted to give her brother the expensive keyboard she got for him first, but I had to talk her into waiting again and again, explaining how waiting until the end would have him remember her present the most, because he wouldn't be focused on other presents afterwards.   When he finally opened it and we explained beforehand that she bought it with her own money he got part-way into the bag and yelled, "Oh no you did not!"  Then he jumped up, ran over to her and said, "I love you!" He was so excited.   She spent over a hundred dollars on this "Bloody" branded keyboard for gamers.   Even with his gaming chair, he said his favorite present of Christmas was the keyboard from his sister.