Life Adventures for Miles

 So the day was for Katja lessons. Parenting my four year old is getting a little more interesting. I am unsure if it is because of the age, my recent evaluation or just because the inevitable actions of parenting evolution (or all of these factors and more), however, I am finding it hard to understand and foster that fine line between encouraging/pushing for her to do things and letting it be. This week also brought an expectation of doing something and anticipating it would turn out a certain way and it turning out differently. While I was right with this party-I could totally compare it to collage house/frat parties and being the one in a lone corner, while all the others mingle (not that I've ever actually been to such a thing)- I was also kind of expecting it to be a little less collage frat party and a little more...er, not collage frat party. My husband never did put on the scary movie he brought for background noise so I never had to deal with that either. I suppose it work...

      After the halloween event, today, Luna wasn't much interested in doing anything but playing inside and in the wind. There was lots of screen time, resting with blankets, make believe and running in the windy outside (peppa pig wanted to go to the beach). I remembered to start my laundry (so we have clean clothes), clean some dishes and sweep some floors. I also did a lot of screen time (I suppose that is normal for us). I am lucky to have Kindle unlimited for most of my reading and I have put it through it's paces this week as I have finally started to clean out my book notifications/emails and organized them a bit more, adding new authors and/or unfollowing others. This, of course, drew me in into the romances I have mostly neglected while trying to broaden my book horizons (...again, I am thinking it will happen on a routinely basis as I fine tune and redirect my readings- fun and easy reads are always good to have, and go back to, right?).  Tomorrow we have ...

Today has been pretty windy. It took Luna galloping about near the the house with her stuffies for a bit before she settled with them and her screens inside. The main event came in the afternoon. The event was pretty good. I don't know if was because  we came at the beginning or because of the 3 parking lot rows of  " street fair" vibe I got (though I seem to feel that way with most of the fests/events we encounter here). My husband invited a co-worker buddy and his family to hang out with us (and eat dinner afterwards) so Luna had a counterpart to play with and talk to. I have to say, I did enjoy it as well, though I did feel quite awkward meeting somebody new. As she gave me her contact information, I must not have too awkward, heh. We had dinner at the new mexican restaurant (fajitas, yummy!) that opened here this year and as families due school and syc=uch came up and I found my self automatically reciting the reason she is not yet in any sort of daycare/school system...

Today's pup adventures took place mostly in the kitchen though they did find themselves in the rest of the rooms too. There was "pup" soup and "pup" salad, they played on boxes, buildings, and karaoke machines. They saved the day with the pi masks and even switched places with Romeo and played bad guys to his good guy. We tried to play mountain climbing and hide-and-seek though the interest was quickly lost to eating leftovers. The screens were the ever-present background noise. Tomorrow will be her trunk-and-treat event, full of music/dancing, treats, and games (so they claim) in front of a fitness center here in town. I hope it will be fun and less of a candy line wait for her as last year's wait was far too long for her (she got bored, and we all know a bored 4-year-old is a trouble-maker!).

  Today's adventure was a good mix of cleaning her toys from yesterday's play, have picnics outside, making more messes, and the big screen tv. Ducks, sand toys, and pups seemed to spend most of their time outside today while she found entertainment in eating the rest of her pumpkin cake and making funny face fruit. The velcro catch mitts came out to play as well throughout the day, but sadly, her want of water balloons came too late in the day to enjoy them. I guess we have to save them for tomorrow's adventure!

Today was all about playing independently. She spent a lot of her time in and about her room her toys and her games. There was block building and superhero playing, book reading, and screen time. I with her daddy while they waited for dinner to be done.  cleaned, did some screen time, and some food cooking. My other half came home early so we could do some mental health/EFMP paperwork to work on. Luna was pretty excited to exercise with her daddy and play outside while the sausage and noodles were cooking but boy, oh boy did she have a hard time going to bed! 

 This week's craft was thanks to a Stich of my luna child. Her "critical thinking" didn't get her a new book as she wanted but did give me an easy project to do this week (which...in a roundabout way helped me cause I've had a whopper of a headache all day and wasn't real sure what I would have ended up doing otherwise).  One big book of 7 stories turned into a folder of 7 separate stories. I used tape to bind them in place and due to my...taping skills and my child's tearing skills, a few books are crooked, but I made sure all of them are readable. Sadly she tore up the front and back cover so the message from my in-laws is gone, but at least we have the books! Ooh, and while I was taking care of her books, the husband had a project of his own: her pumpkin cake! What little I got before luna searched my piece from me was pretty good too! 

 Book of the week:  It works for those who can soak up vocab pretty well, I think. You read a story, it gives you the summary in English and English definitions for the vocab in the story. They offer an audio version so you can hear how it is pronounced as well. I think it can work too, for assessing your skills. As it is from a linguistic learning company,  they have many more versions of this level (and other levels) in other languages. I will say the stories are a bit dry and textbook-ish and more like an essay passage than a story. Maybe because of my background in listening to the German language, I understood it better with the audio (which means I am still abysmal reading and writing... and vocab). Alright, on to the fun stuff: pumpkin picking! So today's adventure was at a farm out here. They offered some entertainment like a magic show, taking a gander at their animals...and feeding them if you have the coins -though they specifically say not by hand and tha...

Today's morning set us for the rest of the day. While I was having my morning wake up (COFFEEEEEE!!!!!) my child comes to me with a pile of her Paw Patrol book and says "I told my hands to rip it." when asked why she answered, "I destroyed it so I can get a new paw patrol book at the bookstore." While I applaud her logic, I set her straight right quick and the punishment was no bookstore (que the start of the grumps and wailing).  However, we have been housebound all week so I decided a walk to the playground was in order. By the time we were all fed and ready it was just after noon...and a lot hotter then I thought it would be. There was good bunch of kids there with more and more coming periodically, so Luna found a few to play with right away. A pup or 2 was a long for the ride and caused a bit of mischief  along the way. By the time we found an unclaimed car on the ground and the  sharing lessons it brought her, her, her mini marshall, and the kids she was p...

Today's adventure was make-believe! Luna started out the day with her blocks and her figuring pups and a blanket picnic napping area made up of all her blankets and couch pillows for her stuffed pups. Her pup cars came out to play after lunch and zoomed around the rocking gaming chair and her wooden piece I saved for her messy playing so the floor would be saved (doesn't always work that way of course). We also spent considerable time watching the ninja lego series on Netflix and about 5 pm we remembered the slow cooking rice she wanted. We also played "The Claw" in which we both took turns pretending to be the claw machines. Full of clawing for the stuffed pups, break downs, and low batteries. Towards the end, she was adding lots of different things to use the claw on, even herself! I gotta say her almost 40 ponds with just my arms and probably my back/core is hard work! 

Today while Luna played along with the big screen and all her stuffed animals and blankets (side-stepping into playing outside on occasion) and making a big old mess in the living room, my adventure was downsizing a pair of husband pants (it might be a theme this week) and while I was tackling that, I went into a rabbit hole of the YouTuber,  Jon Solo . One of his main series' is all about explaining the origins of well-loved (or not so loved) stories we all know: fables, fairytales, myths and legends, as well as, beloved movies and books. I knew some of the origin stories, however, I was unaware that there were just as many "happy" endings as "messed up" endings (the bad guys and/or good guys didn't always die) and while most-if not all-of them had some sort of moral or lesson involved (especially ones that were ages and ages-old), there were some that were just written out of the whims of the author. If you like watching that type of stuff I highly recomme...

 So today was another home day adventure. Luna played with her screens, her pups and her building blocks which led to outside fun with pup and pj masks playing and picnicking. Her big adventure was destroying a big bucket still mostly full of popcorn and trying to clean it up (playing more then actual sweeping, of course). Her wanting the big screen led into my main adventure today, however. While finally mending a pair of old pants of my other half's for me to wear, I got to netflix today and watch the full 8 seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defenders! So this is a animation show (Dreamworks) about, well, defending good and defeating evil. I was impressed that it was all very much a humanity evil, i.,e., the evil was explored into why they were "evil" and doing what they were doing which led to, yes, destroying them, but at the same time, absolving them of their mistakes which led to their ultimate acceptance and help in saving the worlds and realms around them. As this was...

  Today was a bit of a mess all around. The play was a whole house of a playground leaving no place or thing whether it be a luna toy or house tool alone. The pups and blocks were involved of course, and her screens, and while the big screen quieted her down a bit, the bath-my bath- she decided to overtake come evening perked her back up. But hey at least we got clean right? I basically either ignored the mess all day and/or turned into a sort of rover, cleaning up, or helping to clean up with her, messes that got too big, and then left too long.  So a typical non-adventury adventure day of a Monday!  

So I had metal hoop wires and I thought I could do weave a basket with then as the spokes. I started with three spokes and one crocheted weave in I decided a 4th would be better. As I was crochet weaving my second spoke I saw the shape of the tulip take form and liked it better. It is pretty big as it took 4 big squished hoops and 6.25 skins of yarn so I am not real sure what to do with it. My process was taking each hoop, squish it, and wind yarn around it. After placing it in a wheel spoke shape, I wound ribbon and yarn through and around it to hold it in place and then took my 11.5 mm crochet hook and chained between each spoke from bottom to top. It was pretty fun and once I got into it pretty easy and relaxing.

Today's adventure was New Burn, NC and it's mumfest. We were lucky to plan a day of other things around it as it was more of a downtown street fair (in my opinion) then a full on mumflower fest. I suppose they are just celebrating its bloom as we did see quite a few out and about they they were very pretty.  Our day started out with trying to find a non crowded, non hour long wait for breakfast (Denny's to the rescue!) The first stop on the way to the fest, however, was a gander at a small RV lot. We even found one that we liked and that would fit our truck (I am totally calling it the kitty clipper if we end up getting it)! As each travel trailer seemed to be Luna own playground, she had a fun start to the day. We decided to wander downtown new burn as well and hit some fun spots. In a church area, we found a bunch of halloween picture cutouts and a playground that luna loved. We also saw some cool items in some stores here and there and places that I want to go back for (...

Today seemed to go by quick. We had screen time, all building blocks out, all pup toys out...and then it rained. First came the hyper active make believe pup play, her blanket and screens dragged in almost every room of the house for sleepy or sick or hiding pups. As the day progressed she popped in and out of her room with various block toys and pup figurines when meals were requested or acknowledged. Towards the beginning of the afternoon she settled right outdoor with her stuffed animal pups, her kindle and a umbrella for some shade from the sun. The umbrella came in handy when it started to poor come mid afternoon and after singing and dancing in the rain under the umbrella, her pups went swimming in the "pool." Mean while I had a pounding headache so I was taking it easy with low lights, book reading and easy crafting and cleaning. I also got to try out my new tea kettle thing (it was a magnetic tea fuser thing). My other half came home and as he was gone on that all nig...

My husband got tagged for an all-nighter at work today...which usually means us too, here at home. The beginning of the day was kinda sluggish...for me, anyway. Luna was all up and at'em from the beginning. We were hide and seeking, block building and fussing food eating (she wanted eggs but then wouldnt eat them). After that I tried diving deeper into EFMP enrollment but soon realized, I have no idea what I am doing with it. After a respite of cleaning house, came the afternoon starting with a mental health appointment (2 in one week! I probably will be out of sorts for a while!). Mean while Luna moved on to legos and making and driving her trains on tracks with and without her figurine pups. I started crafting my project and then suddenly I had a pup who wanted to play fetch with me. Luna turned pup for a few rounds of frisbee then decide a pirate pup then pirate person was more fun so we found and buried treasure sailing on the pirate ship (her daddy's chair) and going on pi...

Today I had follow up appointment meant for the testing. Turns out, I was right about somethings, high functioning autism, slow processing speed, anxiety and depression; me and my other half scored ourselves fairly the same, though I was harder on myself on the self assessments. I think it's the knowing, it's my "label" that settled me slightly faster then not and while I am not entirely sure what it will bring, I have it officially. It was highly recommended accommodations for any more schooling and vocational rehab/training when I wanted to job hunt. Also, EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) might help me too, now. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with my luna (trying not to fall asleep from the early morning!) and reading fluff and nonsense. We played her favorites: pups, blocks and screens. She also found kitchenware again as I was putting them away so there was feeding bowls, and bath bowls and then at some point pup soup with some oranges. Among th...

Today's adventure started out with an early morning breakfast with 3 of my other half team. Boy, did I forget how much humans like to socialize. Observing it reminded me of that country song about old men talking about old ladies and old ladies talking about old men, I am not sure who actually sings it...as Alan Jackson does it in my head. But in any case, these men were all having a lively conversation and totally geeking out about technology stuff that went way over my head. I was impressed with the speed of it all too, didn't stop even after breakfast until suddenly it did, heh. The kettle diner was the place we are at. It was super good food and big enough that I wasn't actually hungry until dinner (and even that jambalaya took me a while to start and finish). We did our getting ready for the week stuff as we had time before the main adventure (and what the whole day was about).  The play grounds have been officially open for a bit now but today was the first time we we...

Today, legally claimed a federal holiday by Roosevelt in 1934 (in response to heavy lobbying by the Knights of Columbus organization)  celebrates the Italian explorer of 1492 (Christopher Columbus). Celebrations from the people of Italian accessory and catholic faith started celebrating his exploration achievements as early as the late 1700s. Columbus was looking for China and didn't realize he had a "new" land discovery until his third time visiting the Americas. I suppose by that point, the damage was done and exploring had turned into trouble-making for the peoples of the "new" land.  In recent years, this holiday has been claimed- rather they renamed it-by the indigenous groups who have a long history of white American brutality: from explorers bring disease and slavery to the historical evidence of Columbus's 15-century humanity (ie, he enslaved and tortured those that opposed him and his leaders). In any state, whatever the name, the celebrations are i...

 So this week I planned to finally put to use the wooden pieces I saved and have been sitting about my house. I had one piece I wanted to split and yes, I realize I wasn't being the safest when trying to split it. It was pretty darn stubborn too! I was expecting it to be an easy week but splitting that piece took some work. (Seeing as it wasn't glued as I thought but actual staples/nails that held them together...) So after the splitting of the pieces, I thought it might be easier...life went on and I didn't get back to it till today and today was raining. Also, my other half was here and informed me that my plan was basically moot because the tools I was making a box for should be put away in the shed where they belong and in trying to finish the project so that I can say, I finished the project... I realized, my environment does not make a good wood workshop. We might have tools that work but space and places for working with those tools we do not have. Also, the wood is ...

I guess Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina State, is my other half's place to be when we have more than a weekend off. We've made the REI, World Market, JoAnne's, and BJ's Restaurant staple when we go and as the last couple tome proved, the earlier we go, the more we seen to acquire (we found a different big mall today and wasted time at a home depot plaza). Luna drove us crazy when she got bored as she constantly complained of "hunger grumbles" even after we fed her!  On the way there we truck-stop stopped and she ended up with a baby octopus. Apparently, we are just converting her bed into stuffed animals because she has sooooo many, heh.  I saw my handy-work in action again, as she wore that yellow/orange wrap skirt most of the day. It worked pretty well (she was complemented in it, looking like Moana), though I noticed a few hicups, I will probably need to fix at some point.  I got to spend a fun almost 2 hours last night board gaming with some moms (s...

Overthinking: How to Stop Worrying, Eliminate Negative Thinking, and Control Your Thoughts By Ashley Hill is another handbook for self-care. I am not quite sure why I gravitated towards this book this week as it is just a longer version of all the other mindful care books, but maybe the expansion will help?  It gave case studies examining each method of how one does overthink and worry and case studies of how the tips may help in such cases. The main focus was on how one can create such a space that will help one not overthink (mostly mindful behaviors that always focus on the positives, or finding the positives and confront/analyze the negatives with the ever-present structure).  Reading this, it made sense, as they always do, but I've also noted that with every book, I find it to be more and more fairy-tale like as it is not always practical to do some of the things noted...which means what, that we are stuck? In any case, when one needs a good reminding of mental health tip...

So we did finally make it out of the house on our own today. Instead of the park, we ended up at a safety vehicle exhibit thing by the mall (which was awesome as she was more interested in that then the exhibit). Before and after was our normal day's adventure, screens, blocks, and pups. I was pretty amused at her play as she was reciting the videos almost word for word as she watched and reenacted them with her toys. We also made it out to do our Thursday food shopping later on after the event, so dinner was fast and easy tonight!

Today...well there were no real plans though I am hoping we feel up for the park at some point this week as they are open now. Luna wanted the big screen most of the day, however, the blocks and pups were ever-present as always. Another reason I hope we make it to the park is the ever-present whine I have been getting lately, she definitely needs something/somewhere else to do/be. Our outdoor space helps a little, though I was very much annoyed that she couldn't make up her mind about inside or outside, today. Leaving our area might help me a bit too, come to think of it. When doing the dishes I had a "my-husband" thought (it has been occurring more and more often, my-husband thoughts). What is the point if a dishwasher?  I have to rinse the dishes off before loading, so might as well wash them at the same time...also with average budgets, most cookware is not dishwasher safe (ie, plastic that melts from the washers heating coil), so one is stuck with a full sink of dirty...

Today we slowed things down a bit. We played with blocks, pups, screens (big and little), pillows, blankets, and toys of all sorts. We mainly stayed inside, however, as we had a bit of a kerfuffle when playing outside when the 4-year-old wasn't getting her way exactly as she wanted it. Whenever we have these types of days I always tend to remember the day I babysat (maybe? I know I was in charge of him somehow for a bit) a child who was about Luna's age when I was...middle school I think. We were playing vacuums as...something-cars maybe?- and all the adults had a good laugh about me participating in the game rather than just following him around (I still have that feeling I did wrong there, actually). I may have brought him up before (I kinda feel like I have) but the actual act of participating in the act of imagination play or more specifically actually get down to their level and hang out there for a duration of time always seemed a natural thing to do...is that problematic...

Today I did the mendings on the outer lining of the winter coat I deconstructed and while I was doing that, Luna had a normal morning of destruction! Every time I checked-in, the mess she created while playing grew and grew! Luckily, today was a day where she wasn't too fussy about cleaning it up when asked. She put together puzzles, drew, and played with her blocks, legos, pups, used various objects for various things. The latest has been a rockband drum set for Xbox I found free by the dump, (I brought it in before realizing what system it was for and what system we had and did not have) and all to the background noise of her screens.  When I was done mending the coat enough to be wearable, we headed outside for some fresh air and a bit of running around. From sand castles, to using a plastic flag pole for many different adventures (planting, magic wands witches brooms), she did it all, switching gears, sometimes faster then I could follow. Teehee. Not a bad Monday at all!

This week I used some jeans I destroyed after realizing I didn't l didn't like the fit.  Did I cut them apart without really having a plan? Yes, did they sit with all the other clothes I deconstruct for a while taking up room? Yes. Did I Katja-fy it all up by making it more complicated than the video I decided upon for tutorial-ing? Yes, as per usual, I had a "well this might be fun" idea with no real plan of action. But it worked out pretty well thus far. So I made the back panel first from just looking at a jacket I mended the pockets of...and got confused on how to work the sleeves and front paneling. However, in deconstructing the winter coat, I created a pattern (ish) piece I could trace and then studied a DIY video I found (which seems a lot less complicated than what I did-but that might be because she is using one pair of jeans while I have multiple pieces...).  As each piece was created and sewed on I realized how heavy it was! I am not sure if it was just b...

So I came across this site when googling and I found it to be pretty fun. The German Project is a German learning site and as language YouTubers and the overall concept of learning tells me, children's books (or anything that has simple text and lots of descriptive pictures) are one of the best ways to do learn. The first book I came across on this site was Henry Hühnchen (direct translation is Henry Chicken, English book title is Chicken Little). I was pretty excited to see this as it was (as I remember it) one of the first books I ever learned how to read and used it so much the hardback covers and spine were literally falling apart. Now if I understood the words correctly (which I am pretty sure I did, as it has a translation button, and I used it to check my comprehension with) is a very modern up to date version. Henry finds out the sky is falling from the internet! One by one his bird friends find out and they all go nuts until they come across the fox (writing on his laptop)...

 Today I crafted for a good amount of time, getting the body of my project done (ish). Before I got started I decided to deconstruct a winter coat jacket that I saved from the purge at the beginning of our apartment stay and then yesterday, realized that I just can't handle the itch of the lining! I was pretty excited that while deconstructing (I have an idea for the fleece/wool lining too, by the way!) the outer lining stayed mostly intact, so I can just mend it here and there and then use it as a summer jacket. Woohoo! This also came in handy when fine-tuning the jean jacket pattern. In other news, I am still dreaming pretty consistently, though nothing too weird scary as of late, just normal day to day stuff: arguing with family and/or friends, viewing developments in family and friends, and the latest was realizing the weather turned and that I absolutely need shoes for going out (even for the trash!) as the dream gave me a good zoom in frame-by-frame of critters (snakes specif...