Life Adventures for Miles

So today's Luna adventures were of the usual sort-blocks, pups, balls, and the outside. I spent lots of the day anxious about the renewal of my meds health appointment...and then felt very jittery through and afterward (I didn't talk to the same personas usual, through me out of whack)- and no getting "dressed'" (out of my sweats) did not help me feel more prepared. Anyway, the other half came home and said "hey thought about dinner" and "could you?" when I said, "no, am I making it today". So...here is the progression of my rice and chicken dish step by step. Before you start cooking, make sure you have the chicken, rice, and veggies you want to cook. You also need tools and devices to cook them in (I used a rice cooker, microwave, and stovetop). First: prep your foods-thaw the frozen, grab your seasonings, and measure your quantities. We also shredded the chicken, but I have just cooked it whole or chopped it in pieces before too, y

 I finished a project! This week I am writing about the luna dress! So I bought a skirt, a year or so ago and for whatever reason didn't realize that it was wool and that the wool would itch me like crazy (even through layers) so I cut in half to make a replacement skirt with a quilt blanket we had. I realized that the skirt pattern was unsuited for renewing as a skirt (holes) so I thought smaller. Luna wasn't too keen on being the live dress form/mannequin but she said she could handle the wool with a lining so here we are! Granted there were a few resizing outtakes but it is done! 

 Today we did our normal weekend outing. We all slept in, we all have waffle bowls for breakfast, vegged out for a few (I was crafting most of the time) hours then had us a grand old normal outing! We visited our normal shopping plaza's and then out for pizza at Old Chicago's! It was good stuff and just the ticket as my child was getting real hiss-fitty by that point! After dinner, we played in the rain a bit (until it blew us away and drenched us at the same time). We turned back into vegetables until bedtime!

This week, I fell into old habits starting new projects without finishing the ones before. Luna's adventure today was digging dirt, making mud (with a castle or 2 each) and then creating a muddy pond for her ducks (with, of course, the 5 little ducks song played d out). Then I had some mom's night out at Chili's (I even got a side order of raw bell peppers for free! Woot! Woot!) and the Luna had a night pigging out on Chick-fil-A and playing with her daddy. Fun for us all!

 Today was...well I don't know what; maybe from yesterday's book, the appointment  Tuesday, the nursing refills, or just plain life (ie everything above plus more) we all needed a quieter day normal adventure day (screens, pups, blocks, etc.) Luna is really not liking the more humid-hotter days-especially when she equates moisture/wet with rain outside and it just...hovers. So even with it only cooling by not really anything degrees, evenings have been our outside time. Today's greatest adventure (and 4-year-old luna science theory) was the moon and just where that missing piece was! We explored both physically and...academically?...for a good 25/30 min before the rest of the hour was spent discovering just how "scratchy" the loose gravel dirt on the roads was. That led into a few dozen rounds of "rescue me" in which we had to rescue each other in different ways (mostly jumping holes or walking on the bridge gaps between the two sides). With Popeyes and

This book is a love story, I think, at least I read it that way. Not the typical romance stories between 2 people, but a love story about loving yourself, of being comfortable about what you have and have not; and of where you came from and where you are at. It starts with the birth mother's narration of the day that that kick-started the rest of the book. I'd say the true main character is Nina. She is adopted and the last of her adopted family has died and now she is floundering around about where she belongs and who she belongs to. From there, you see her deciding to go on a journey to find her birth family. She has no luck with the agency (or not strictly legal luck) but in the midst meets a younger sister who she knew from going to school. Her sister, Lindy's adoptive story was different but while she has the husband, the kids a fulfilled career, and still full and obnoxious adoptive family, she is also...finding herself-especially when she meets Nina and is sort of co

 This morning was a late start but usual in the way of quiet time and then playtime. We also cleaned the kitchen a bit. This afternoon was my pre-screening mental health testing. They asked a lot of questions I was never really certain about. I realized later on in the day (after the appointment) it might be because all they asked about is a normal part of my day so I don't think about more then I do when it happens during those 24 hrs...also I don't recall things very well (especially if it's not recorded in some way). U made white rice and chicken tonight (I wanted to do fried rice but my other half, wisely told me to start easy). I sort of got the rice worked out this time around though it was sticky- the skin was cooked all the way through too. As it was not completely thawed all the way when I started with the meat, I thought putting it in water...then cooking it up on the stovetop...I left to often again and burnt one side. Eep! Good thing my other half actually like

Today I re-listened to the songs from the hobbit as I had that in my head since I've been concentrating on that subject for a good week! They are so pretty! I also worked on some fabric letters. Luna had great fun with her pups, screens, and blocks. We made robot Dessi and robot Bo (on the go). We played hide and seek with them all, the pups played ball and we all build gardens and houses aplenty.

This week my crafting is in part because I wanted to thank the friend that will take my active four-year-old so that I can actually attend part one of my psychological testing I found the lightsaber  while googling for ideas and got super excited. While I found it to be an easyish pattern for me to complete, my crocheting is still very me-ish (frumpy and crooked). My husband said he could recognize it (mostly) which gave me an extra oomph to continue. However the longer I looked at mine, the longer it reminded me more of a sward/dagger and I decided to name it Sting and go in that direction. The next creature I decided upon was a dragon (modeled off of Smaug). Smaug I remember as looking a combination of Asian dragons (long winding bodies) and or Wyverns (mostly the bat-like wings with the winding bodies), as well as Komodo dragon and Dinosaur (legs, head, armor plating/horns/scales) lounging about on his stolen hoard...though he technically won fair and square as he DID fight them all

 SO Tolkien has been on my feed and on my radar for a while now it seems. I guess I've been in a nostalgic mood with books lately (Homer, Black Beauty now Tolkien). Also going in the 3rd week of audio I have confirmed that I need to know the story beforehand and I enjoy it when the reader does voices. I think that is usually a given when reading out loud so the listener knows who when and what/how but on those freebie volunteer apps I have it's not always the same person (especially when its a long book) so I am not always certain they do that.  So anyway, The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien, for anyone who doesn't know, is a fantasy world of adventure. He created a world full of different cultures and then mashed them up to see how they can orbit around each other. The little hobbit (Bilbo Baggins) is more or less manipulated into sojourning to help the dwarfs gain back their mountain from a dragon who (in my opinion) fought for it and won, by a crafty grey wizard...who comes and g

Today's playing adventure started after a bit of quiet downtime, But as Luna geared up for the day, the pups (in one form or another) were out and about the house. She also tipped into using her Vkid "computer" activity desk thing.  Throughout the day, the pups traveled between legos and wooden blocks to the paw patrol play mat and bed/carpet flooring. Playing ball was a favorite of there's as well as hide and seek. My other half even got in the mix today when he got home.  For a good amount of time, I've noticed the fighting she acts out through the pups (usually over a ball but sometimes just a tuffle over...other things). This hasn't gone any farther than when she plays with any of her characters, however, that and the fascination of smelling (mine in particular) of the butt is something I have noted growing in frequency.  For myself, I may have written about my isolation observations before but as I have recently realized that they are...increasing with ev

I was preoccupied with my craft for this week most of the day...which meant Luna played on her own a lot of the day with her legos. As the day fell into the evening and her daddy came home with dinner, we had a game of shadows, a dance party with spotlights and a spotlight hide and seek game before the draw of settling down for the night before bed overcame us all.

As the rain came playing about all day we mostly spent the day playing inside. Blocks (and pups) were the favorite but we also had some play outside in between the rains for a good bit. We started with a short stint of a flying frisbee (boomerang as she calls them), to the longer game of fishing and ball playing and ending with an exciting many a round of "road crossing" in which we each took turns playing the cars driving through and the pedestrians crossing over, hide in seek and instrument playing. My amusement of the day was when she kiboshed the jam session because of my bad singing! She wanted me to sing about Minnie Mouse and as I finished the first line, she took the "microphone" (a paw patrol maraca) and said "I am done now." and went back to playing with her pups! I giggle just thinking about it! I did craft a bit today. I have a habit of saving things that I find outside the trash dumpster-OUTSIDE the dumpster, mind you, not in it- and I noticed

 so...we did a lot of nothing again today. Starting the day with blocks and ending it with a game of catch, there were pups and stuffed animals that were thrown in there too. But mostly there was a lot of screen time. I YouTubed it up with hosts analyzing...well mostly pop culture, and luna,  her education shows.  There was, however, sun outside so I did coax the child to run about outside towards the end of the day. We had a dance party in the middle of stick finding and "pet" walking...

So today was pretty normal. We had some fun driving and crashing a stuffed animal bear "boat" and then camped out roasting "marshmallows and hotdogs". We grilled "whale,  bear, and elephant" (little books she has) that led into a jam session. We played blocks and pups and had screen time. I was torturing myself with things that will not be possible...yet while doing some research for my craft of the week (working with yarn this week!) so that was kinda not smart (or is it prepared-ness for the future?). Anyway, the new adventure for us was melting our broken or tiny bits of leftover crayons! Woohoo! We found the molds on Amazon  and it took only 10 minutes to melt and 30-60 minutes to cool/chill, depending on you putting it in the freezer or refrigerator. Some did better than others but it was easy so I don't mind experimenting with it!

The book this week is another classic: Black Beauty. I remember reading as a kid and it fueling my love of horses even more. Though as I started this copy, I realized the only thing I had in my head was the movie version of the scene in which he and Ginger partner together for a carriage run(s) with the high fashion of holding the horse's neck high and keeping it there while they pull heavy, sometimes overly heavy loads. As a kid, I was fascinated by the horse and the characters it spoke of and about, the experience it had. This time around I noticed the setting and the over-layer (or is it the under-layer) of the book itself. The swishing of the layers of silk from the misteresses outfits and the scenery the land they inhabit. The high-bred land of country roads to the busy crowded streets of London. The comparison to human nature/society is stamped in its reality; all played out in the perspective of this high-bred born horse that ultimately gets messed-up by the mistreatment of

I was so excited to make a lace-up type of bodice top (without the boning) and eagerly to start it after having a trial period of something similar. I got super duper uber close-like all I had to do was sew the shoulder straps and felt the seams closed-when it fell apart (literally in some places). I am counting it as my craft for the week because I worked hard on it all week but also a lesson learned. When I get back to it, it may still be the top I envisioned or maybe something easier...ish. Edit (8/16/2020): I turned the bodice top thing I tried making into a luna skirt! It is a bit big but if it is layered I think it'll fit well. Yay!

Today we all woke up congruent with the weather: stormy. We basically mimicked its pattern as well, thundering here and there with times of excitement and times of quiet. There was screen time and block time, but mostly the stuffed animals and paw patrol ruled the day. They played ball, hid and found easter eggs, made and ate pizza, and played at the playground. There were also lots of mountains to climb today (mommy, bear, unicorn, to find coins-we were all over the place). Not the worst of days but not the best of days either...just...stormy! 

  “Aleen! Aleen! Take your sister and go to the market with this pig of ours! See that you get SOMETHING out of her!” Aleen looked up from his model flying machine to where his mother was waving at him through the window. He stuffed his machine in its sack and hefted it over his shoulder. “Aye, mama,” the boy called and strolled over to his sister playing nearby. “Come along Iz.”; he said, taking her hand and trudging to the barn where the pig in question was routing around. Along the winding path to the market, they spotted an old man looking torn and worn, though Iz could see a hint of something glistening every time the man moved. As they grew closer, the man shouted, “Oy! That’s a find hog; you got there! Where be you taking the beaut?” Iz shuffled closer to her brother but answered bravely, “To market, good sir. We mean to sell her.” ”Sell her, you say!” The old man said. “Well, might an old worn weary traveler rest upon her back to this place, which you are going?” Aleen, curious

Today I have sad, sad news. The life of my pillow has passed. It had a short but fun-filled life. It started out its days as just a couch/bedsheets. However, as it grew with age, it wore itself out and needed a change! It tried many different styles of work, from diaper bag to book bag before it landed in its role as a pillow. And oh the fun it had! The excitement of being used as hurdles to jump over, as pit stops for racing, and as tools to bash people over the heads with! On weary days it was a soft spot for heads and hands and even feet! It was used for cuddling and for napping, for sitting and even for standing! But alas it grew dirty and stinky and then, that mean old washing machine just tore it asunder! Fair well thee pillow and decompose peacefully!

Today I worked on some sewing. We also had fun playing out a few paw Patrol missions and pup houses, and pillow fights.  Then the adventure of the day came! We journeyed to the mall! No play areas were open but she still had fun walking and reading and looking and dancing! We started our walk in a downpour and ended it in sprinkles, we were pretty wet the whole way through. Luna even got to play in the puddles after we got home! Fun fun in the rain! 

Today was an inside day (mostly). This gave me time to do some revamping on some old projects. I did some re-stitching on her rabbit's pants and the couch blanket and turned the brown and purple bag into a pillow. In line with researching and organizing my wardrobe I actually wear, I did some experimentation with layers today and I liked it enough to tweak it (I couldn't wait to start on it so it is currently laying out on my craft table!). The other day my child took a learning assessment (she's firmly in preschool territory especially in math) and today we got a fun package of letter/number puzzles and some workbooks. She dove right into ye puzzles and played with them on and off all day. To my surprise, she even took some time to look through one of the workbooks (she found U/unicorn and matched the U puzzle with excitement) too. You for puzzles!  

This week, I tried audiobooks. It hasn't really worked for me in the past and as I found for this book, audiobooks, for me at least, are only good when I know the story inside and out and want background noise. Those books I need/want to concentrate on, I find it hard to do, as the way I read, I am usually faster than the speaker of the book as well as I would have to be shut in with no distractions of any kind...and that is just not practical.  In any case, the Odyssey (By Homer-though some histories say probably by multiple people) is an epic (a long poem usually memorized and performed with musical accompaniment) and tells the tale of Odysseus's 10-year journey home, with a side story of how his family is fairing without him. It is a classic, which I am sure has been at least heard of before. I will say, if you can get through the writing style it is a fun adventure of a story. With all the components of an adventure story, a journey, romance, vengeance, a sense of hope and

Luna had a big mid-morning/early afternoon! The weekends are usually at a slower pace (no one wants to do anything before 10am) and today she surprised me by being a lot more studious than I've seen her. We played with puzzles/shapes creating first some of the cards it came with then faces and then a game of shapes (a shape version of 52 pickup/beanbag toss-we even started the alphabet before her wiggles needed to dance) and of course the building structures for her pups. I learned that she picked up all the scholarly things they say she should be but she just couldn't and wouldn't sit still., Also, we had to other "players" in her figurine pups-which helped extend the attention span and interest, slightly. But whoowie! I am pretty exhausted from all that work! So this week I repurposed a luna blanket. I actually think it was a swaddle-er as it was much smaller than the other blankets...but in any case, I made it into a bag! It started out pretty easy as I folding

 Today's adventure was a slow start. I woke up waaaay earlier than my child so I had time to, yes wake up and think about the day ahead, however, as I did the dishes, I realized that I am the type of person that gets stuck into something and it's hard to get unstuck (or go back to it). So there was a lot of waiting on my part. Luna had a later start than usual but woke up ready for the day. She was keen on playing next to me, today, but not necessarily with me, so I had more time for me, as well. I spent it mostly researching (clothing/wardrobe) and went down a rabbit hole on child-led learning. I filled up 2 folders full of sites I'll downsize at a later time (probably). It was pretty successful as I downloaded one of them- Khan Academy - and Luna seems pretty fascinated/engaged by it. I also made the final piece for my craft this week. Luna spent a lot of today with her pups and her building materials. The outside was also calling and while our Robin Hood showed his face

 Luna woke up today with a mission of dancing outside. So we did! We seemed to entertain the few drivers out and about as we had a dance party along the sidewalk. We followed that up with Ninja vs knight and building blocks until the hungry monster crept in and sidetracked us with some morning meals/caffeine. We were lucky enough to get some rain play before the thunder and heavy rain chased us inside for some cuddling and screen time. I got to work on my craft for this week (totally figured out the zipper thing! Woot!) before we did some puzzles and more block play. As the rain lessened and the thunder left us, the Luna was on another mission of enjoying the puddles it created. This lasted until her daddy came home with dinner (Popeyes, yum, yum!) We had an easy peasy day, today! Yay us!

Housekeeping update: Last night I tried adding more readers to this bloggity, blog-blog, but the more I read about how it works, the more I decided to bell pepper it up and "just do the thing" as Costuming Drama  likes to say. So...now my blog is public and searchable and monetized (or at least I okayed all that). I also added Grammarly to my chrome extension thingy so I will (probably) go back and edit/revamp my past posts...maybe. To the background sound of thunder/light rain, we had a pretty normal day. Luna was a bit more...restless?... than usual, I think as we didn't stay in one area of play as long as we usually do. Today was pups, all sorts of building material, screen time, rain play, puzzles, dancing/music; and brief stints of coloring, playdough, and stuffed animals that gained more playtime as the day went on. Luna also found the spray paint I used for her wooden stool and wanted to try it out. I was lucky to find spare bits of those pegs I cut from/for the wo

I kind of find this period an interesting study. COVID has brought out many emotions for everyone. There has been destruction and kindness, strict structure, and...a less strict environment. Some will be fined while others just reprimanded. The isolation that is so important to staying healthy has also other factors attached. We are social creatures, thus, not being able to touch or speak person to person is difficult at best and downright dangerous at the worst.  I can't say if my emotions are linked anymore then usual. As we haven't changed our habits (though now I am trying to). I've had conversations lately about how my actions, reactions, and interactions are perceived and treated. It seems I've always been in some way combative (...inquisitive and headstrong), but only recently seen it and understood it as a possible...fault? The face of not giving a flying bell pepper and cleaning a toilet hand to elbow with no gloves had fallen, and my uncertainty of the world a

Okay, so after my day, I guess my processor kicked in because I woke up with the umph to see how I can organize me a little better. I did a little Google and downloaded some task planning apps and worked on a more visual Luna schedule. Though as I was doing some me time (and housework) I had a thought about WHY I have not the energy or motivation for such things...this house has a mindset that because one is working OUTSIDE the home, the other has the rest of the work...even when one comes back home (I.E., there's a lot of historical play-out in this house-makes me wonder what would happen if it was a 2 income house rather than 1). There is also my lack of multitasking (even if that word only means task by task speedily-my speed is a turtle). The adventure had pit stops of climbing animal mountains and demolishing animal mountains (we used a hammer for that one). We also built houses and trains/stations. The story play of the wolf (3 little pigs/red riding hood) led to today's

Today, emotionally, has been kinda rough. Again I have no concept of why but the onslaught...sadness...I guess. The surroundings we are all involved in might have an effect-i have been watching/listening and reading a lot of people who at least give the impression of having their stuff together and/or how to acquire and secure that. Earlier in life, I always attributed this to homesickness. Not in the literal/traditional sense as I never went anywhere until I married into the military but in that, I feel...a sense of longing for the familiar or what I feel like should be familiar. Today there was a lot of wow, my kid's growing fast and how do I even keep up (by the way, the answer is not to tell me I am being too emotional or that it will happen and I should just get used to it.). Today I realized I feel mentally and more comfortably in that "growing up" phase where nothing has to be perfect and someone else is there to say "hey! Good job! You did it" and handle

Luna requested some pants (then a dress and shirt) for her stuffed animals. I thought it would be a lot easier then it was as I am just repurposing old luna clothes and cutting down to size and fit. Well...I basically got all discombobulated about it all and it took me a lot longer to do one part then I thought. And man, I must say, these pants are really rough! I am impressed that I figured it out and all though. Go me!