Life Adventures for Miles

We have a birthday coming up tomorrow (me) so today when all are here and home, we decided to make birthday brownies! Yum yum! Triple chocolate fudge brownies that I think have chocolate chips in them. Even more yum! Luna had a blast putting all the ingredients together  (eggs, fudge box mix, brownie box mix, water, and vegetable oil) though she backed away from the sound of the mixer. We were also the lucky ones to lick the tools/ bowl after the mixing and pouring wax was done, I loved doing that as a kid.. then we decorated with lemon icing and sprinkles! Also on another, we noted that the Winnie the Pooh jack in the box has officially broken. I've had it for a long time but with a 4-year-old, I am surprised it lasted this long, heh. Brownie Instructions: 1) Combined the brownie mix and fudge pouch mix with vegetable oil, egg, and water 2) Mix until blended (consistency of goop) 3) Preheat oven for 325 F and cook for 40-50 minutes until consistency has a cakeish moist/spring to

Today we went out in the sunshine. 45 minutes was about all the adults would handle with all the kids there and such. After our nature loop, I am pretty glad we decided to go as Luna was pink-cheeked and seemed a tad bit worn out when we took a drove to get our pullups. First, we made a couple of pit stops, one for food (Chick Fil A) and one for fun (Hobby Lobby), which was I always enjoy. Sadly, I found out the news about some people I know. The fact that my social awkwardness seems to come out the most in such situations does not lend me well as the one for a shoulder to cry on (like I thought I had when growing up). Death can be a sad and scary time and grief is...another complicated concept. What to say when it's of people you know or know of but who you don't feel close to, I suppose empathetic and sympathetic shoes are best to be slipped on and yet, not knowing what reaction to give or that will be received when doing so...feels very awkward and in some way very rude, esp

The friday play was mostly imagination with her Mr potato and all his friends. Creating different looks and putting it in different positions while acting out scenarios with other toys had Luna basically running about the house with great joy. While there were lulls with blankets and big screen watching, I think the fact that she didn't have any more "burritos" (eye ointment) seemed to cheer her the most. The pizza was made by the husband today so it was a full pizza with lots of toppings and not always crunchy crust. Delicious! I have also been mooning over the past. Not the historical past of society like usual (though I DO still think I would have an easier time of it with its structure and understandings-even if it WAS ALL ridiculous). No this time it is more about my history and my ruminating over it. Everyone and their mother knows/says that it is one major attachment to the spectrum (in any part) so one one hand I feel like it should just be forgiven and forgotten

Today was more normal normalness. The main adventure was making her realize that sticker decoration was for paper and NOT walls and furniture -especially if it was for daddy! The evening was spent crafting a house and bus for her toys to play in (following directions from the booklet the blocks came with). Woohoo!

  Today's adventure was a post on an appointment with the eye doc for Luna (they said she is doing just fine and recovering well). The appointment was in the late afternoon so the morning was full of play, big screens (we hid the little screen for now), and cuddling with books and stuffies.  My husband planned the trip as the appointment was a good hour away from home, so after the eye doc visit, hibachi for dinner, it was. Luna was never a fan of the heat and flame the open fire makes that the chefs safely  play/use with and with her still having light sensitivity, she quickly donned her sun glasses and ducked under the table. However, the food was good and the crayons and paper she got to use was lots of fun. To walk it off, my husband decided to let me window shop JoAnn's and even got Ollie's in before the drive home. Woohoo!  

I was unaware of how stressed I felt until this evening. I thought I just had the normal everyday stress of life, yet when thinking it over I realized my stress (or the energy that came from it) found other means. I woke up from a dream about being surrounded by a deep well of water; and while it had the familiarity of it being the Olympic diving pool from my childhood and characters I grew up with (I remember my little sister there), I also remember fighting for us to find a way out and leave when others tried to keep us there. Another way my energy found an output is my child. Again, I thought we were golden after we all settled from the surgery. Luna is recovering without a problem, the red seems to be clearing with every day, and she seems as active as ever. However, I did notice, today, she seemed to be...staying closer and closer to me more than her independence usually likes when she has the run of the house. Our main adventure today was storytelling. Yes, there were screens, an

We started the ointment the day after surgery and found that the best way is to wrap her like a burrito and sit on her. Obviously, my husband had better strength, control, and combination so I know that at least 1 or 2 of the 4 times a day is getting through the putting it in the corner of her eye and let her blink/cry it into the eye itself thing. By this point, she is resigned to the burrito but still can't help but flinch or move when anything comes close to her eyes (refinery my kid as it always took a whole heap of the family to flatten me and pry my eyes open for eye drops). She is more or less back to her active self (no naps today) and the red eyes seem to be clearing slowly. The doc said 7 days for the ointment so we will see. However, she has been living her sunglasses (probably because they are the not flimsy plastic ones and actually stay on and darken the lights for her), though she has been slowing down with the use of them too. The landscapers even gave her an umph t

Again, due to this week,  I wanted low stress so when Luna took out her playdough, I thought it perfect timing! Her goal was to make cookies and dog treats (first for the ghost we were catching, then for her stuffie's) so we spent let's of time rolling out dough and cookie cutting letters and shapes and animal forms for said treats. Also, we want to play with them as much as possible as have a tendency to dry out quicker around my 4 year old. Woohoo for a stress free craft!  

 Due to this week, I did not do any deep reading. We also didn't get to read any new children's books with luna (just the favorite comforts) so this week is short stories. This volume is a fun silly fantasy about dragons. Edith Nesbit wrote the Book of Dragons (a book with 9 short stories) and while I didn't get to read all of them yet, the first 2 were a lot of fun. As all writers in that time do, the style is very proper English and leaves a lot of the details to the reader's discretion; though these and she wrote for children, I'd say they were a lot like children's movies are today: written for adults but pictured and printed for children.  The first 2 shorts in the book I read were "The book of beasts" which is about a little boy who became king and lets out magical creates from his great great great so on and so forth, grandpa (the last king) magic book from his magic book library and in doing so has to save his subjects from the mess he created.

Today was the rescheduled eye surgery. While it sucked for us adults to take up super early to be there on time, I was thankful I didn't have to worry about trying to not feed to water my child-as it states for surgery rules. While I was freezing and worrying in the car (we totally need to remember to grab comfy warm blankets for the truck as this isn't the first time we've suffered through);  my husband was where all the action was, escorting our 4-year-old.  According to my husband's timelines (and his texts), it took 2 hours before they were ready to admit her fully, 20 minutes (at least for prep), 40/45 minutes for surgery, and another hour for my child to wake up and calm down enough to have some juice and be set to be out the door. While I wish I was with them, I think he is the better choice in these cases. He has, at least an outward calming effect on the child and he has more strength than I do. I was told wake up from anesthesia makes them seem (and feel?) lik

    Today's adventures were of the normal sort. We had screens, books, play toys and imagination. For the most part, Peppa pig and her brother dominated the leading role. They are together, played together, shopped, schools, went to the doctor and even went to the beach. It was a fun low stress normal day. It was nice to have with what is coming next.

Today I spent a lot of time watching Naruto Shippuden and the next gen series of his son Boruto (that series is currently ongoing), I got it in my head because my husband found a unbridged (think that's how you say it) version of the Naruto series (a light hearted mock/dubbing of the series); but mostly ninjas! Have I posted about this anime before? I love ninjas! Although from my understanding they have a very...harsh history in actual history. It also is a television show based off a manga (or with lots of volumes) if one would rather read it then watch it. In any case this series starts with a little boy Naruto (I think he's around 10 or so...maybe 12) who is an orphan because of his dad sacrificing him and his wife to save the world (ish) by sealing a angry wild beast (9-tailed fox) in his baby boy. The the beginning his basically this having a track record of being...unpopular and acting out to get attention. He does however, stick to his notions and even with the beast in

Today was a day off for the husband but we had another COVID test appointment so we thought to make it an outing. Sadly, my child caught on and had a stressed out fuss fest that resulted in not wanting to do much this afternoon. We did made it to a couple stores and the playground on this bright and sunny day, however.  We even had a nap! Also tried juice popsicles from ice cube trays (our sticks didn't work as well as I was hoping, I guess that's what I get from using pretzel sticks!) Hopefully it wasn't anything more than that.  Yesterday was presidents day thus we have a couple facts (compiled from a google search)! It was established from the 1968 uniformed Monday Holiday Act It was established in honor of George Washington's birthday (who was actually born FEB 22) and considered for Lincoln's (FEB 12) but ultimately celebrates all our presidents Presidents have a established lots of national/state parks and in returned have been honored with their own monuments

We watched Gone with the Wind yesterday night for Valentine's. Granted we thought it fit the holiday a little better without seeing/remembering it, though it does have a surface level of romance in it, however, it is mostly about a genteel woman doing everything she can to save her home no matter what the cost. While most see the surface layer of it being a selfish white rich lady not getting her way with unrequited love...until she realizes too late what she had was what she wanted, watching it again, I think it was waaay more about her home turf than anything else. I also think she had little growth sports, though Ashley Wilks did get her head turned every freaking time. From the get-go, she did everything to stay and get back to and then keep Tara (her home). It was brilliantly put together, we all disliked (or pitted) the main characters, oohed and awwed over the set, and clothes, and the atmosphere. We even admired that it stuck so freaking close to the book (and oh my gosh we

This book week is more about a series of books that is trending on netflix. The series is the Bridgertons and is based off a series of books by Julia Quin a good decade ago (ish). She is a romance author and if anyone paid attention (or remembered my posting on the beginning of this book broadening adventure), I am and was a avid reader of romance and these posts are trying to steer me way from that. However this week I couldn't resist this new netflix trend. The show is basically (as I determined) mostly a "today's modern" version of a fictional historical world. The clothing is a modern version of historical accuracy, the world setting plays in a history time period with (at least one) historical accurate person (the queen) among fictional characters that play in historical roles. The show keeps- or rather, exaggerates- the playful but serious nature of the books. The characters are swept away into their survival in finding matches, gossip and ultimately living thei

 Today we did all the shopping of this week. It rained all day so we didn't want or even try to make it out of the house until closer to dinner time so we weren't out any later. Thus: the morning was a normal day of gaming, playing and screens. I did, however, try my hand at AMERICAN pancakes and while my husband did eat them, with a bowl full of syrup for dipping, he did claim them not panCAKE-y enough to count; which to be honest is fine, because the batter for american pancakes is waaaaay to glompy and thick for me. It just felt super wrong making them (this obviously is cause german pancakes aer what i am used to making and so are way better, haha!). The afternoon was filled with getting ready to head out, walmart-ing, home depot-ing (just cause) and food shopping with a side of wings and salad for dinner. yum yum! The craft we managed to get ahold of and do is a kid's craft from a nice lady worker at home depot! The craft includes, nails, 2 fence sidesa, a kid-sized, s

Today...was long. I don't when i will ever understand why the second day of anything always feels the worst! Emotional sore, physically sore, mentally sore (long) days always seem to increase in agony on the second day after the fact. In any case, neither I nor my child really wanted to do much today. AS it was and has been raining, it was very much a snuggled and cuddle day with screens, stuffed animals and blankets. The teepee tent and it's food cooking toaster oven imagination from the previous day also made a brief appearance but mostly it was a laying about the house day. I also made a intention on framing some puzzles laying about and doing some little bits of cleaning (de-modeled the shower curtain and dishes! woot!). The evening came with the husband coming home tired (and cranky) as all get out so, the pizza was delivered and house was while slightly more active (the child was well rested and excited that her daddy was home-the balence of having both parents home, I gu

Today was a normal Thursday. We did our screens, our books, our playing and our foods. My husband was on was tagged for another babysitting mission the day ultimately felt longer then it probably was. I am not sure why my brain has trouble deciding to sleep when he is not here considering I stay up (or did) for longer hours then he when he is here anyway. The major adventure was the "camping in the mud" episode we played out from peppa pig. Luna had enough fun with her tent and toys she decided to end up sleeping in it for the night! Woohoo!

 So we woke up uber early so we wont be late for the surgery only to get there and almost immediately turn around to go home. The doc was sick so everything was canceled. These situations, I wish I was a little more...balanced?...in my emotional output because some one like my husband was just pissed off that we did all this work with nothing to show for it for maybe the drive home and then just went on his day (we had to go back to work). I...took longer and agonized over the common thread I saw between this and my original Luna date (ie, we were all set and ready and in motion when she flipped and they suddenly called it off just to -well it felt to me-blame me 2 weeks later when we evacuated her due to me acquiring health concerns, not because she was in any hurry to leave.). Hopefully the rescheduling will be quick and easy.  So the rest of the day was simple. Some errands that were put off due to working hours were done and the rest of the day we-Luna and I-...stayed home and play

Today started with the intent to clean the house a little more (I noticed the mold spray I got works pretty well). Yet, the closest I have gotten so far was organizing a luna toy box in search of a missing puzzle piece and water bottle (I found the water bottle hiding in a Luna bed). We decided to forgo the missing piece and glue the rest of the puzzle together anyway (I'll just glue in later if we ever find it), yay, another fun glueing puzzle project for my kid! She has a lot of fun "painting" on the glue and seeing the picture come together. Another adventure she found amusing was to watch me figure out how to unclog the bathtub drain (she has discovered the toilet paper). It was super fun!  Among the screens, books, amd imagination play, Luna found the game of Qwirkle.The game is all bout matching color and or shape, so it is basically the best game ever for a person like my child who has a blast just sorting and sorting and sorting! Now, for actual game play there is

Today our adventure was getting my four-year-old ready for her eye appointment in 2 days. This morning had all of us being wrapping ourselves in cold-weather clothes and going to a nearby covid testing area. I was told the tests are only by appointment or if some felt they had symptoms so this is the first time I've seen it happen. I must say, while it wasn't as bad as I thought, Luna as NOT impressed with the nose swipe. It took me holding her in place and the tester doing it at least 3 times trying to land a proper nose swipe for it to be done. Her having to be in the direction of the sun didn't help either.  The rest if the day was a normal house adventures.: screens, playing with her toys, books, and imagination. 

Today we all decided it was too cold outside so we all huddled inside and hung out. Screens, books, blankets, stuffies and games were the main adventure.  Luna enjoyed creating and playing school. They napped, read, colored, ate, cooked, sang and danced. It was quite a commotion for all who wanted to walk through her school! 

Today was an easy day. We went for a our family walk but other then that our adventure was homebound. screens, toys, snacking and games.  So this week the books are coveted by my child. One is much more of a soft busy book geared towards learning. The felt book is called "Starting the day" (Horizon brand books) and it has pieces for each page the help illustrated what they should do (brush teeth, wash hands, comb hair, tie shoes, ect). the text is simple phrases that enhance the pictures that go along with it. I would say it is laid out (especially with the pieces) as more like  prop settings where the reader can practice/play with each page.   Another book we have been reading a lot lately is "The Biggest Kiss" ( Joanna Walsh)  this book is about a little penguin exploring all the different kisses (like frog and dog kisses, hello and goodbye kisses), noting the differences and its opposites. By the end of the best kiss, the little penguin found after all of the exp

Whatever it has been lately, (the weather (it has been wet and cold as of late) or the upcoming new scary risk (ish) adventure of Luna's eye surgery),  these days we haven't done much of anything but continue to settle in. Of course, the pandemic raging on (though I did hear they have the first vaccine cycle complete now) doesn't help with us (me) wanting to leave, even if I want w homebody.  Today's adventure was of a simple day's activity, screens, play toys, music, and screens. The universe has been kind to us most Fridays and has graced my husband with early outs so we came home closer to lunch than even his usually Friday homecomings. We have both noticed that we all (luna especially) all seem to settle in our skin a bit more when all of us are in one place. Our play consisted of shopkeepers and pup feedings (pizza) and as my, my child enthusiastically watching my husband prepare and back the pizza for our regular Friday night pizza nights.  Luckily our routine

Today I was barely hanging on. for whatever reason I have been not sleeping as well My dreams have consisted of me usually in some sort of peril in the intent of saving or trying to prevent something happening. Also, I have been catching up on my reading escapes and my youtube so night and days are slightly longer than they should be. Plus, all the walking (even with as little as I do with the fam), I think has come to pay its complaints as my body is continuously achey... In any case, after I spent the day trying not to fall asleep (the time in the limited sun playing with luna help slightly-as it was cold but bright), and entertaining the child for our weekly foods shopping trip, I got to have some more yummy soba soup from that Japanese noodle restaurant and then promptly crashed into bed for a nap, thinking/knowing my husband could handle the child. I was slightly irritated to wake up between my nap and going back to bed, my child was getting away bending her boundaries. Thinking a

  Today while continuing to sort out my massive amounts of craft stuff (it will take lots of time as I plan on making things through it all) I came across these 2 unfinished projects! One was a pair of sweat pants my family got me at some point when I wanted some more trendy leisurewear. They were more of a jogger style that I found bothered my circulation/sensory issues so I chopped them into shorts. The sweater I remember decided to try the trend of cleverly sweaters (I think it was meant as a cooler version on sweater vests)...i realized quickly that I never would wear it so that was donated fast, the pants, however, were worn enough to need mending. While mending I decided I had enough sweat-type clothes so after asking luna (who was liked the idea) I decided instead of donated them I would mend tailor them for her. Surprisingly, all I had to do was cut some inches down the inner leg seam to make then more narrow as the waistband fit. Honestly, I don't know if that means I am t

 Today's adventures were of the messy and lesson kind (hopefully). The bathtub draining was somehow forgotten after last night's bath which means Luna decided to play with it this morning (she claimed the sunshine was hot and everything needed to be cool) and her tablet came with her. Lesson one: electronics and water don't mix (not the first warning, I am starting to think she needs to be the "prove it" kinda, girl). While the visual worked after she fished it out and brought it to me, the sound was gone. Maybe the old rice method will work, hopefully, if nothing else, she will remember that this causes her to not have the tablet for as long as it takes to dry (and possibly have a broken tablet to use afterward).  The second lesson was her "snow" playdate. Again not the first warning but hopefully the fact that we had to wash the stuffies of the flour "snow" (which means they are also off-limits until they are completely dry) will be a reminde

*If your brain is like mine, the backtracking I may (or may not do) through this post may be confusing as I might talk about things that may not have been posted yet.* So I sort of took a break in January from posting. It wasn't really planned but the road trip back was a little long (mostly because we covered a longer distances in a shorter amount of time-as it took 3 days instead of closer to four) and exhausting and by the time we recovered from the trip we were in the midst of re-establishing our routines of life: unpacking, sorting, working, playing, and all round getting back into the swing of all things normal; documenting our adventures just didn't meet in anywhere. Saying that, now that I am back to posting...I will probably end up back posting so January will be slowly showing up as it's original days. Now, obviously even though I wasn't blogging about it, we did do things and I haven't figured out how to not think yet so processing and pondering was still