Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Too Much Time on My Hands?

 


It would seem so, but I've never complained about having too much time.

I decided to try one of these little masks, and they are very simple, but the smallness makes it a little harder than regular ones.  The good thing is the dolls don't care if it's too tight or too loose or if all the stitches are neat.  Cats care though.



The mistake I made was taking a box of fabric scraps over to let Graysen and Katherine choose some and match up some fabrics.  I should have known what would happen.  They loved nearly every one of them and were digging through them like little squirrels.  "I think Violet Anna would like this purple one with the crowns and the purple one with the flowers."  "Rusty wants this one."  (One with princess faces all over it!)


They want to sew so badly.  I think right now they're happy with a pincushion full of pins and some fabric pieces, but one day....  




They decided they wanted some matching ones for themselves, even though they will hardly keep on the ones they already have.  I'm still working on some expanders to keep the elastic from hurting their ears.  Mine too.

I'm sold on them.  I tried crochet, but I don't know that it's worth the time since they are under my hair.  I tried the green chenille one on the left yesterday, and it worked wonders.  I was hardly aware of wearing a mask, so I will definitely expand on that and try just elastic or ribbon.


I forgot to take the fox ribbon one for the girls to try, but I'm thinking it might be more trouble than not to get them to keep up with it.  I know I need larger buttons, but most of mine are small.  I probably don't need to buy any more buttons, but I still might!


Yesterday was Ryan's birthday, and he celebrated just like he likes.  No fanfare except, of course, from the girls.  I went over yesterday to deliver my gift:  A pan of freshly baked breaded chicken tenders for the man who has everything.  I guess he had to share, but at least he got a few.  I had heard he liked them, and Emily confirmed last night that they all did.  

The girls and I had a conversation about how old he was and how old Mom was and then Mimi.  They knew exactly how old I was and how old I'll be next month.  I guess I'm discussed more than I know.  I'm sure they have a hard time imaging such big numbers.  

They are reading Charlotte's Web now, and I mentioned that Charlotte was my mother's name, their great-grandmother.  To differentiate between all their other grandparents, sometimes Graysen would call her Old Grandma.  They only met once and Katherine never.  I said when they had children, I would be Old Mimi, and they were shocked.  "No!  You'll never be Old Mimi.  Even if you're 99 years old, you'll never be Old Mimi."   Sweet girls.  I'm not sure I want to find that out.  We decided that when I'm 99, they will be in their 30s.  It makes me sad to know I won't see their lives unfold, but it makes me treasure this time together that much more.  I refuse to be sad about that!






They were much too hyper for many pictures, but it was such a pleasant afternoon, cool in the shade and a little wind blowing the maple tree leaves.  What discussions we had!  All the birds coming to eat out of their feeders.  Cats. Sharks. Climbing trees.  London's broken arm and how she called her sling a purse (she's 2).  Grandma and Grandpa Bindert's upcoming visit tomorrow.  Various boo-boos that made me say, "Maybe when you go up and down your back steps, you could WALK."  I know that someone falls on those bricks at least once a day, and they still don't slow down.

I had taken over two books that I had requested from the library back in February, and they finally came.  

They loved I Had a Favorite Dress so much that we had to read it twice and discuss it a LOT.  What a great little book.  



Seeds and Trees was (to me) a little weird and abstract, all about good seeds (good words) and bad seeds (mean thoughts and words).  It was poetry, I guess and not really clear, but the girls totally got into it and said later that it was a GOOD book.  I think we got across the idea that mean words are like those horribly deformed trees shown in the book and that kind words are like lemon trees.  Or something like that.  I do believe that they think more deeply than I give them credit for.

We then read as much as I could take of another Geronimo Stilton book.  Reading with a mask on for what seems like hours gets a little much, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I took them a little bag of Gummy Bears, and after every story, they would come pick out two gummies and thoroughly discuss the colors, the taste, the chewiness.  Not like bribery or anything!  Reading was their idea.  I love this age and these girls.  They make me laugh and love me unconditionally.

Today is Mike's birthday, and it's not something I like to dwell on.  I think of him every day, so this is no different, but it is special in that I did get a message from an old friend who was thinking about us and an actual phone call from a friend.  I was so excited when I saw Jo's name appear on my phone, and we had a wonderful long conversation.  She said she reads the blog and was so glad to find someone who has her same fears and thoughts about our country.  She and Larry were such good friends to Mike when he lived in Texas and came to visit us a couple of times, once in Montgomery and once here in Snoqualmie.  Makes my heart so happy to have gotten back in touch with them again.  Larry had left FB behind long before I did because of being a little disgusted with what it had become.  This is much better.  I have the promise of a picture of their new puppy Peanut, so what can be better than that!

It's okay that I've spent the entire morning on this blog and the phone and texting and emailing.  Just fine!  I will also spend the rest of the day doing exactly what I want to do, and that will probably include looking up some of Mike's old emails and Facebook conversations and remembering what fun that group craziness was.  He was truly the glue that held us all together, and we have to work extra hard now to keep it all the same. 

 Happy birthday, Baby.


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