Thursday, May 31, 2012

cardboard storage


A little better than where it was before...
Which was underneath a mile of cloth and paper
hard to find or get to...




Esme saying to Daddy not to interrupt her as she was 'just typing' at her checkwriter



Putting paper in the shelves



Scissors, tape, construction paper - and voila, two storage containers


I cleaned the workshop some last night - it was stacked about six feet high above the table with 'things'... I had also brought some cardboard boxes home from work and went to making them 'useful'. Each one has three compartments - so I knew there was something to be made from them.

I'll let you see what the whole space will look like in a day or so - I really want to get back into making more things and need to keep a nice open space to do so.

pictures courtesy of Mark, thanks :)

other: Esme has said a few things last night and this morning that really shows me she is progressing. Last night: 'It is all my fault. I am mad at not read three stories.' This morning while I am urging her to wash her hands before eating: 'Which hand do you want Mama, this one, or this one? haha. I'm funny.' She really wants 'more' lately, again. She is playing all sorts of pretends, video game, and having arguments and long disagreements of logic etc.., which are only slightly different - but do have a distinction.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

bits of content

Half or more of our corn fell down in the drenching down rain the other day. We don't know if it will stand back up on its own. I feel I am facing some unrealistic goals at work... don't know where to take that. Esme's indoor garden marigolds have begun to spring up. I spent several hours cleaning my workshop table tonight when I got home from work. I found my glasses - which I have not worn in over a year but had begun to miss. I called my mom and talked to my sister for a moment online. *whoosh* I watched Esme play PORTAL on Daddy's computer and she was amazing - it was a controlled room Mark built for her to experiment in - and she loved it. I could just see the gears running in her head as she played with the different elements. She argued HARD not to go to bed and to keep playing.

I am working more on the outline for the crafting book I want to write. It will take a lot of work, photography and finished objects to make it possible. But, I think it would be a good contribution to the craft book world, as well, for the approach that it will take. There is a children's math book I want to write, as well. I need more information on how to do things in the publishing world.... but mostly I just need to get the drawings and text all done so it can be presentable.

Mark and I have been talking a lot when I finally get home from work at night - and Esme has been fairly good about it. She would really rather we play, though -- and doesn't know what all this seriousness is about different businesses and things we all may need to sort in the weeks ahead. I'd say for a four year old she is doing quite well with the idea. She has still been on her reading kick a little - I got a few recommendations for books from my parenting group and they were very good ones.

Morris the Moose (sees a cow, goes to the circus, goes to school). She has these but I have misplaced most of them. Danny and the Dinosaur (again, we have it, misplaced), Moncure books like 'play with a and t' (we have) and the Biscuit book series which we do not have but would be a good one to start her on. There are at least four small easy-read books I made for her a year or more ago that would be reproducible and good to think about publishing as well.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Garden bounty


bounty


Red cabbage, summer squash (zephyr hybrid), a green bell pepper, green and wax beans, some carrots and herbs (basil, lemon basil, oregano, mint) from the garden today. There are still no ripe tomatoes yet.

I put most of this into a mixture on the stove with some butter and apples to boil down. A little more of it I put with some storebought tomato, rice and kielbasa to make a tasty hotdish for tonight's supper. Mark had made more fried apples for himself and Esme to eat with the wonderful pulled pork roast he did a few days ago. He is getting so good at it - ginger and other spices combine with lots of things so well.

In other news I am working on a pig sewing pattern. Esme has the first one and it is a sweet little piglet waiting for its mama. I should go work on her right now.

bit: kudos to Daddy for recognizing that little girl can and will sleep somewhere past the crack of dawn if we put a blanket over the canopy of her bed. It blocks the first rays of sunlight which otherwise have her popping out of bed somewhere around 6 am. Now, unless something else wakes her up and she realizes the sun is up, she might sleep until 8 or even 9.. sometimes close to ten. That is good, because she gets tired in the middle of the day and very cranky - and being full 'on' all day she doesn't really slow down earlier, just cranky and surly in the afternoon with possible chance of nap.

She still wants to go to school every day. Every morning her first question is: 'can I go to school?' Poor kid. Not until June 12th, again.


Last night eating an apple
we had sliced them up to put in dinner


Fresh from outside in the garden with us, muddy, sprayed with a hose, wearing plastic necklaces Grandma gave her and just happy and thoughtful in general.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Memorial Day

It is Memorial Day, and we will be visiting Grandma and remembering Grandpa today. But, as I work retail, it does not feel like it is a holiday - we really don't get holidays off so they just feel like a break in the insanity if it perchance, like today, happens to fall on our regular day off.

Later:
Esme wanted LOTS of things today. She wanted to go to Jackson to the bookstore. She wanted to go to school. She wanted me to dial Grandma on the phone and wake her up early in the morning. And although I usually make things for her on my day off - I had some plans for things for the house today. I made two pillowcases for our bed with an airy light cotton I found at the store yesterday. Esme wanted to give me the bag of stuffing to make them into pillows. Then she wanted them for her bed, but then she was happy enough because she saw how pretty they were on ours. She brought me her pillow and asked for me to 'fix' the star on a part of the fabric print that had been sewn in a seam. She was unhappy I could not fix it. And then I made a sunhat, for me, for outside in the garden. She wanted that, too... poor kid. I probably will make her one but she didn't like hers last year and they are admittedly one of the more difficult pieces I've sewn from scratch.

We went to visit Grandma and she played and was almost very good... but did throw a bit of a tantrum. She fell asleep here at home after a meal of leftover pizza and juice. I went and watered Grandma's hillside garden. Now it is time to sit down and rest for a bit - unless something else comes to mind to make.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Summer Flowers, early midsummer plantings



It is actually not 'quite' summer yet - but it is hot out! These are flowers from our garden, zinnias, cosmos and also a 'Blaze' rose. The zinnias are 'volunteers' from last year.

I am working at writing more on my gardening lens : Beans, Squash and Corn and adding links to all of the books and companies I have found the most useful over the past few years.


The garden jungle as it is
Even though I mapped it carefully as I went along, I have to say I planted 'informally' this year
and I think it is working out well...



Two different squash fruits starting


I still need to plant my purple hull and black eyed peas, and the whipporwills as well. Some of the sorghum broom corn seeded itself last year but with the temperatures turning hot it is time to put that out in a row as well.

Other notes: I am getting a zucchini or pattypan squash out of the garden nearly every day. The big yellow blossoms are so nice to see early in the morning. There are two blue Hubbard squashes started - we will see where they go - as they have a long time until they would be ripe. The eggplant has flowers. The tomatoes have still not turned yellow/red. The green peppers are producing, but not the banana peppers. We have pulled all of the green cabbage, but the red cabbage is not yet ready. I have zinnias, cosmos and marigolds blooming! I need to put out more radishes around the squashes to keep the bugs down - I've seen and killed two adult squash bugs out there already. It has been an early but strange year gardenwise.. so warm at first, then cold for a long time, and now downright hot!

The bean that has impressed me the most this year is the King of the Early bean, bought from the Little Ragamuffin's shop. It has produced so many tasty green beans already - and the plants are upright, bushy and doing very well. Almost all of the seeds that were planted germinated right off, which is why they are producing so well now.

Later:


The new bean fence, for cowpeas and Kentucky Wonder climbers


I have been in the garden - even though it is hot! I planned on planting the 'midsummer' items in a month, but they really need to go in now. Like everything, it is a month early...seems fitting for the year as it has went. I took a bean fence already made up from last year and put it up in the back of the garden. It was getting tangled by our goat the other day - so I needed to do something with it other than where it was.

I planted Mississippi Silver Crowder cowpeas by it, black eyed peas, the whipporwill heirloom peas I have, and some Kentucky Wonder climbing green beans that just happened to be on that same fence last year.


A squash, beans and corn combination


When I came inside Esme had a plan for me. We were going to build an 'inside garden.' She had a craft kit I had been given at work for her - and it was indeed an indoor planter. We built it, filled it with dirt and planted some marigold seeds in it. She is very happy and I wonder how hard it will be to get her to understand they will not be up soon. At least she is not still watching it - she went back outside to play.

I have some more whipps to plant and also some sorghum broom corn.



Esme's indoor planter
with marigold seeds



Esme doing some antic
she swears is 'being piglet pushing on the swing'
and has to stand up here because Piglet is small


We have had to watch the Pooh movie many times this week. This morning she asked me for 'on pooh Mama - all the more you find it - on the pooh cry and cry and duckie go (curvy line through air) swim and quack!' For those of you who do not translate Esme well that is her asking for me to go to the 'MORE' special features on the Pooh disc where I found the Loch Ness short cartoon. For something that is hard for her to explain, I think she did that well.

Friday, May 25, 2012

bambi bit

I am working at making this pattern better - still have a few more to make. Esme liked this set so much she took it to town with her today. I should make a few for sale in the shop, too - my standards are so high though it would take several more tries to get one good for sale.


Bambi (as said by Esme), and baby, and one of her other favorites 'Mack' dog


I would like to see some of my internet presence grow again - I have just 40hour work-work-worked for so long now I need to make it a bit of a priority to see what is happening out there, make new things and work on the book I promised Dot I would think further on. I am updating my Squidoo lenses - and made a new one about vintage children's patterns to sew for babies and toddlers. Sewing the vintage patterns has been a whole other world than modern ones - I have learned so much from them.

Vintage childrens sewing pattern lens with lots of info

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

sad

We have lost Mr.Henry today, our Grandpa, Mark's father. He had been sick and in pain for so long, we are glad he is no longer in pain, and sad as well in many ways. We are trying to support Grandma wherever she needs it... foisted myself on her kitchen to cook her a meal tonight so we could all be together. I hope she will get some rest tonight, as she had not gotten much the last few days. Remember we will help with anything that is needed or be there if you would like....

Mark and her will have things to do tomorrow - so I am staying home with Esme to give them all of the time they might need without having to hold on to her in a strange place. I have tried to tell Esme what happened tonight after we returned home.. but she doesn't really get it, or does not believe it is not just another hospital stay... I don't want to press the issue until she asks further. She said she DOES want to help Grandma and to hug her. She said she would be a strong girl and help Grandma tomorrow.




I had the day off today - and was keeping my mind off of things early in the day by using my sewing machine. These are pictures of Esme in a new pink shirt. I know Grandma will like to see the pictures. I asked her what to make and she picked out the fabric and said it should be a shirt sweater. I used a 1949 sewing pattern Simplicity 2948 size 4 and was too short for her. It really was a mock up putting the eyelet lace on around it to change it from a bolero to a shirt.


Simplicity 2948
size 4, copyright 1949

It is not my best work but she seems to like it and it is the kind of thing that grows on you over time... The Singer Heavy Duty does make things a little easier in general... it was a quick sew up until the point I realized I would have to make up three to four inches on the bottom to cover her belly button!




her impression of a monkey at a tea party



And they pick a flower for the king lady and it is like this (pick petals)
The funnier thing is that she was a king lady and her puppy Loula was a queen. That raised my eyebrows!

Monday, May 21, 2012

cabbage (and the rest of the garden, too)

Those two foot across cabbages are beginning to have edible size heads on them. The outer leaves are full of 'wildlife' but after taking off five or six leaves (twice as big as this) we are left with what looks a lot like the size of cabbages seen at the local supermarket!


a head of cabbage fresh from the garden


cabbage and apple recipe
I think I will make this out of half of my produce - and give the other half of the head to Grandma to do what she wants! There will be more coming, so we will have to look up how to make sauerkraut.

The green cabbage by itself is a substitution.. .but that is what we have this week. The red will be a bit later. I substituted white wine vinegar for the white vinegar, and added a little apple juice to the mixture as well. We will see how my subs turned out in about an hour.

There are small summer squash, zucchini and pattypan squashes coming on nearly all of the plants. I have a hubbard fruit started of the Blue Hubbard variety. The corn has not yet tasselled out. The tomatoes are huge but none of them are red or yellow yet. We have mint, basil, oregano and lemon basil. The dill is half-size and fragrant. The carrots are doing well. Blue sweet corn is about six inches tall. Zinnias and cosmos are beginning to flower!

The green beans (Mayflower and King of the Early) are producing lots of green beans for the size plants they are. Many of the other beans are starting to flower but they are to be dry beans, so I will not be picking them. For a future note - the King of the Early bean flowers yellow and white mixtures of flowers. The Bosnian bean has whitish flowers very similar to Mayflower. Lina Sisco and pinto are dry bean plants that have whitish flowers. The dragon's lingerie and shackamaxon beans have purple flowers although the shackamaxon are not blooming yet. There are Jeminez and Maria Amazalitei beans left to record. The Kenearly beans, Pawnee shell and Tennessee Greasy are yet to flower.

I cut my hand at work today and there was a lot of blood. I did well in not passing out! I sought out the person I know is on the 'rescue squad' for the county and he helped me get it under control without stitches, as it was just slightly too deep for 'no worries' and just slightly too shallow for 'ER'... we will see how that turns out, as well. I did not let it stop me from knitting on the tank top I'm working on, although it makes everything slower when I cannot bend that thumb... it is bandaged in such a way as to prevent bending it and keeping the wound shut.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Simplicity 7371


Simplicity 7371, circa 1967
girls size 6
I made view 3, top left corner.

Posing on the tractor with a very dirty face and disheveled hair.
She had just been in the sandbox!


from the side - it is hard to get her to sit still today!

I stitched this up last night with the Singer Heavy Duty - very easy, less than two hour job for everything prior to the buttonholes. The thing that was best was that the facings first joined together, then joined to the garment and then were just topstitched over once they were turned inside-out. It made for very easy finishing.

The pattern asked for 1.75 yards of fabric - but when we were in Murray I had only bought a yard of this koi goldfish fabric. I shortened the sleeves a little and also the width of the back at the side edges an inch on either side. This made the entire garment fit in a yard of fabric. What would have been the inside facings on the front pieces I cut from another piece of fabric and joined - which worked really well to help make the pattern fit on the yard.

Esme's reaction: She had seen the picture and saw it was for night - she would wear it to bed. She still wants sleeping bed shoes, but that will be later. She said it was slightly too big - and I said she would grow into it. She interpreted that the shirt was FOR growing and she would eat a lot of food, then wear it to bed and GROW and in the morning she would be big enough to throw cars around. She was disappointed in the morning that she was still little - maybe she had not eaten enough food? I tried to explain she would be growing in little bits, over time, like the baby kittens. She still thinks the shirt is for growing and really likes it ;) She also wondered if she slept in our big bed with the shirt on if she would grow faster than sleeping in her little bed.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Four and a half years old

I have not 'updated' for real in a good while. Esme is officially four and a half. She has made a lot of progress in the past few months, especially in her communication. She still points at some things instead of talking about them -ie: pretzels the other day at a store she did not want to be told 'no' about but wanted me to see... but she will tell me she does NOT like things, does not want things, does want things, and sometimes just spouts off huge plans for things she wants to do - or retellings of things that happened days, weeks, months and even years ago. That can be difficult - finding out 'when' she is talking about , past, future, potential...? And I just nod and try to figure out what it is she is saying - and have a very decent conversation with her. She tells me emotions more - happy, sad, mad - and sometimes she tells me I am not looking happy, be happy, does this make you happy? etc. She will tell me things do not make her happy - like going to bed.. and it is not 'sweet' and not 'nice' for her. Her PT is 'good' almost all of the time, a few accidents here and there mostly when she has been sleeping or we are out in town and she does not know how to ask and we have not yet offered an opportunity for her to say yes or no.

Her logic skills are excellent - she puts things together that we would not expect her to understand and when she is focused on something (like my Sims game or the process of buying things etc..) she makes large leaps in understanding that make us very surprised. She makes up her own theories for why we do things, why things are in games or movies and they are pretty interesting. Her making a moat in the game to protect her Sim characters from the monsters (vampire characters who walk around like they are going to bite someone) was an eyebrow-raiser.

And sometimes she knows things or terms for things we don't know where it is coming from. ie: the 'sleeping time bed shoes' for the blue terrycloth slippers she saw in the store which were not at all in her sizes. She told me last night she still needed them 'for to grow sleeping time bed shoes' when I presented her with a handmade night shirt that was too big 'because I left room for you to grow'. She thinks (and I have encouraged the thought) that sleeping helps her to grow and she will be 'bigger and stronger - way strong' when she wakes up in the morning. I have tried to press the idea that it happens in little bits, not all at once. She was scared once she would wake up a giant *haha* but that was a while back.

We went to buy a goat the other day at a farm and paid money for it. She paid a lot of attention to that - and Daddy pulling the money from his wallet and giving it to the farmer. We were quite embarrassed parents, because the first goat actually got out of the fence and ran away. She wanted us to go buy more goats. We had a long discussion about how we get money, and when it is gone we can't buy things and that Mama goes to work for them to send money to our mailbox every once in a while. She decided after that work was 'good' and started ushering me to the car and telling me it was good I go to work and bye bye and don't get eaten by brown bears and come back home when I was done etc. For several days she did not bug me about going to get another goat - just going to work.

And then one night she asks me to ride to walmart in the truck, use it to buy more goats. I told her we still didn't have the money for it. She decided maybe I should sew goats on the sewing machine. A 'pillow' goat (stuffed) won't run away - they would be like toys - and that is a good idea? Wow. So, I did sew her a goat toy - which she likes and calls a bambi. She told Daddy (I was not here) that she did not want to buy a goat it was like money in the potty go away. Wow - again. **Mama take a breath and then try to sort that one out with her**. Then - after we had bought a new real goat she told me that it had sharp things on its head and she did not like that - goat with sharp things on head was as good as money in garbage, not to the man at the farm, money in garbage for her, because she was scared of the sharp things. She has decided she does like the goat - she is nice, but her sharp things (horns) are not...and she has spent days I swear 'learning to speak goat' following her around and 'I'm just talking to her and watching the goat.' As a benefit, the goat is eating poison ivy out on a stake by the garden while Esme plays in her sandbox and with other toys.

She told me the other day that she was fighting brown bears with her flashlight and she goes KICK and they run away but not eat her foot. And she said that the brown bears had to go away, go outside, find a lady bear to love and be happy, do not eat us. Then she said she was going on her bicycle with her 'lady Esme' to be happy. Had to shake my head at that one... If she is asked if she is a little girl she will often say she is an Esme, and yes, a little girl, four years old.

She had her last day of school the other day and was sad that Miss Candace told her they would not come back for a long time. She said all the kids were sad and cried about not playing with the toys and the toys were Miss Candace's and had to stay there. She told me the playground equipment broke and they had to fix it - so they watched a movie, wchich was Scooby Doo, and it was the one with the green man ghost who walked like a Frankenstein (flat head arms at side, walk rocking side to side very slowly then arms out). She said she told the other children to not be scared the ghost would not eat them.

I have to say - the school has helped her a lot. Miss Candace also told us that she tried to help another boy come when he was called - but she misidentified who they were calling. She was trying to herd a boy they were not calling to the teachers until they told her she had the wrong child. As we were leading her out of the school Mark and I noted to each other that she was taller than everyone - even the boys, and was the calmest quietest one in the entire group - observant and paying attention to the adults for cues while other children were crying or running around or being told by the aides to sit still. Esme was tugging on my sleeve to point at the tater tots they were serving in the lunchroom, and trying to find a way to tell me she wanted those - not a french fry, when we went to our lunch. She knows we sometimes call those 'french fry' as well - and wanted me to be certain to see 'which' french fry she was wanting badly. I guess I had better differentiating more, because she is absorbing more and wants to call things properly now. She goes back to the school eight times in June/July for a special summer session. She started the year late but they have taught her a lot of social things, getting along, how to interact with people who are not Mom and Dad and just exposed her to a lot of different personalities, dialects and words she would not have gotten at home.

Physically, she is still very strong. She is 43 inches tall and only about 40 lbs, but can drag things that are nearly as heavy as she is. She can turn on the hot and cold water in the tub and kitchen sink now, and turn them off. She thinks that is a big thing. She is trying to learn to turn on the hydrant outside to fill the dog and goat's water dishes out in the yard. She tells me she is a big strong girl about lots of things - and wants to help with everything she can. She says that Daddy is strong he takes her to school driving the car, and Mama is strong, she goes to work to buy things at the walmart and to help people with (mime straightening boxes and giving them to people) boxes and she is strong, too. She still cries about getting her hair washed but cooperates a lot more - I am not fighting a tornado anymore to get it done.

She understands 'right' and 'left' more - and some more about time than she used to. She still does not understand the difference between 'earlier' and 'yesterday' - but we are working on it. 'Later' and 'Tomorrow' are sometimes hard for her, she just knows that means 'not now but forward from now' and sometimes has more trouble with it than others. She has a better idea of medicine and doctors than she did before - and plays doctor to check our hearts and ask us if we feel good. She asked me if we were buying her medicine, or if the goat makes medicine, or if she is all better now she doesn't need medicine. She plays in the dirt a LOT, and builds hills and covers up toys, pretends she is cooking with ingredients and throws dirt everywhere. She can do that for up to fifteen minutes or an hour without a break .... Mama gets tired of it long before. Her imagination is vast - but has themes and requirements for playing the game right that Mama doesn't always agree with. She likes to play some games 'exact' and repeats how she did it before - sometimes I have to press her to play a new way, but then she feels better about it and gets very creative. She still does not answer questions very well but acts like she didn't process it..wasn't paying attention etc. When she does understand the question she makes a good attempt to answer it. She can tell people things that have happened recently, but if they don't understand the first time she will not often repeat it.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

In the garden and pictures with Esme


Mother and daughter picture

Checking out the garden, which is coming along very well.
I'm very glad to have a day off or so to work on it.


I asked Mark to take a picture of Esme and I together - so we could send it to Nana in Minnesota. I think he did a very good job! He also caught me checking in our garden some, and looking at the tiny green beans that are starting to come in.

odd little expression Mark caught on Esme after we told her she had a dirty face...
I love the eyes as she doesn't quite believe him but wonders where the dirt is.

Stuffed Deer or Goat


Esme's new bambi
more likely a goat...




This is the prototype of a new pattern. It has a long way to go. It looks more like a goat right now, but Esme insists it is a 'bambi' deer. She wants me to make tiny bambis, bambi mama, and GIANT bambi so big.

This one is handsewn and there will probably be a few more made before any pattern is available at theEtsy shop.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

home now off tomorrow

I'm home again now, and off tomorrow. My mom is better than I was told - she went to get some medicine from the doctor and is feeling slightly better. She is seeing a specialist because her pneumonia has lasted so long. I may have a stuffed deer to show in pictures tomorrow - I have been working at the new pattern and sewing the prototype. Esme is excited about it and wants me to be done sewing on him so he will have eyes and 'not ow with needle'. Esme also has school tomorrow, so I need to do all of her hair washing and brushing tonight for tomorrow, and laundry... and packing her bag. It is her last official day tomorrow I think... and then there is a form to fill out for the summer program, which is twice a week.

I am looking forward to a few days off...but I sense tomorrow will be busy and long and the real rest will not come until after that.

Monday, May 14, 2012

So this is Monday

Very busy (and tired) lately. I really don't remember where the last few days went - including Mother's Day, because I worked a 'split shift' that day and had a very tedious policy meeting at work. Maybe it will make some good changes.. probably not. But it made for a long day and a short night. Esme told me 'I don't want to have to miss you, I woke up from sleeping on the bed and you were lost, and the car was lost, I don't want you to be lost and miss you' or something very similar to that in the morning before I left. She still tells me not to get eaten by the brown bears when I am leaving and she thinks it will be dark when I return. She never got up from her nap during the time I was home later - except for a brief second she sat up in the bed and looked at me, and went back to sleep. My mom is sick in her bed with pneumonia in Minnesota and I was not able to get her on the phone... I don't know if it is bad or if she is just tired... she has had bronchitis all winter and has sounded the same for months on the phone.

We have a few visible beans in the garden, and green tomatoes, and a possible squash blossom. Several of the beans are climbing whatever they can find and need a fence. I have a pair of pants nearly made for Esme from this morning, and am working more on my knit blanket.

I do have to say that Esme is still bursting out all over the place. Before I went to work she was pointing out the window and told me that she needed a toy there. I kept asking what the 'toy' was, a bucket, a bottle .. she kept saying NO MAMA it is a toy. Then she said: 'A Tuh - WYE - OH - WYE, a TOY. Mama. It is like the TOY.' I followed her fingers and she was pointing to our hexagonal unfinished porch frame. It looks like the wheel gear toy in her toybox.. and I knew what she meant. But still. Wow. Mama had a hard time with that one, but she knew what she wanted to say. Daddy had a similar instance the other day when she was telling him about a bell that should not be wet, people don't like it. It was a small brass bell I have told her (3 months ago) she could not bring into the bathtub with her as a toy. She had not even mentioned she was thinking about a bath - just that people don't like bells to be wet No No No, they do not .. .they do not.' ((oh my)) I've been told a lot of other things, and asked questions - like why I left cat fabric on top of my sewing machine instead of it be pants this morning. That was a good question. And she got very mad I would not help her find her squinkie dolls (tiny things!) after she left them in her room somewhere.

work again tomorrow... lots to do... hope nana is alright in Minnesota.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Singer Heavy Duty and garden update





Heavy Duty Singer machine
We traveled yesterday to Murray and picked up a new Singer Heavy Duty sewing machine. It would have cost a third of the amount just to have the old one looked at, which was nearly what I had paid for it in the first place. It had lasted over four years - so... it was time for a new one. We did get some money for it in trade-in, and the lady showed me how to use this machine before we left. It does not shake like the Advance did when I am sewing - which was something I had grown accustomed to. It does collect a lot more static and dust, but it has more metal than plastic in it. Take the good part of that with the bad etc...



Esme asleep in her bed.
She was quite tired after all of the running around yesterday.

One of the things she said while we were in town was that we were feeding the truck 'banana gas' - because the station we stopped at had yellow pumps and red ones and green ones. We chose a yellow tank. I had to listen closely to get what she meant about that one. She was very talkative yesterday. At the sewing shop she told me that Daddy was 'getting to me he is anoising at me' - because Daddy wanted her to slow down and not run around. She said she was 'mad face' at him and he was 'laugh face' at her so it was annoying. Hearing this new 'spurt' stage she is going through is very funny for us right now! This morning when she did wake up I told her to put on her shoes because downstairs was cold. She said she would go on the porch because it was warm out there. Then she came back inside after a moment and put on her shoes and said she would go downstairs because she had to use the bathroom - and then go back outside because it was warm out there. And I just nodded along and said 'uh huh....' then she went into a whole description of everywhere we went yesterday and all that we did - and on to her plans for today 'take ride to walmart' and 'paint castle'. The castle is what she did with the box and styrofoam from the sewing machine packaging. I told her I was not painting styrofoam - and she is pretty mad and sulking at me about that. She wants to paint the castle with the new pink paint we bought (for paper) last week. This morning when I was getting her cereal ready she told me 'Mom, I think that is not enough. It needs to be here and up and up.' That was different for me -but I did give her another cup and she was happy. She did call the rice crispies 'peanuts' though - said she had eaten them yesterday and wanted to eat them again today.

prototype dress
I didn't finish all of the inside because it was so late last night - but it should do well this summer.

volunteeers

Here are the updated pictures of the garden. The west field has corn about 4 inches high and the fenced garden has monstrous plants! The bed here by the cabbages was planted with carrots. I did NOT plant tomatoes in it. All of those are volunteers from last year's yellow tomatoes.

fenced garden

west field

I intend to plant one more time down here in the west field - and that should be the last succession. There are squash plants doing well beyond this corn and two successions of corn here, three rows each.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

bursting

Esme is bursting out all over the place. She had a bath and was 'throwing letters' to me back and forth. She had said she was 'gone' while hiding - so I said 'don't forget to write', which started it. The last letter I "threw" her said 'We will miss you. signed Mom and Dad' and she said 'Ahh.. what a nice letter - oh no! The cat peed on it! ARRGGH CAT! (throw away).' What a character.

She told Dad she was 'just reading a book' and didn't want supper. Mark commented to me that she has graduated from asking him 'what is that' about his books to 'What word is that?' and 'What word that say?' etc etc. He has seen her trying to sound out words before she asks him what it says. When I named her Sims characters for her the other day she was sounding things out some, too.

She washed her hair for school tomorrow and for once in forever - she didn't demand to go to school right then and there once she was dressed. She said it was dark time outside, and she would have to go to sleep, and have it be light time, and then go to school with kids at 8 o clock. YAY! cheers I've been waiting for that!

I weeded the garden and planted the 'pink' popcorn today in the places the red popcorn had not filled out well. It is actually lavendar and tan kernels in the package. We will see what we get. We have flowers on the bush beans and the peppers, and golf-ball sized green tomatoes, as well!

Monday, May 07, 2012

Our little girl is on a roll...

I think she is definitely back 'in fine form' again.  I said that last week - hopefully I am right this time!  She was playing Sims 2 on my computer while I was knitting.  She had set up 'a party' which included selling half the house's furniture to have money to buy balloons, chairs and food banquets outside and then she started digging holes and building 'hills' as she calls them, spikes that reached all the way to the sky positioned all around the chairs forming a wall of 'teeth'.  She got clicked off of the icon she wanted and wanted help from Daddy.  He helped her, and then she needed something else - so I get over there to see this very odd scene while she is saying she needs me to change the viewpoint 'How do I get down there Mama'- because she wanted the 45 degree viewpoint (first one) on and I had the overhead viewpoint I prefer (second one) on when I finished helping her.  The clincher is why she describes needing to 'use the shovel dig a hole'...  She said she had to invite everyone over to the party but the water-filled holes and walls were to keep the monsters out or to have the monsters fall in the holes so they don't eat the people.  ??  Oh my.  She does have her 'own ideas' about what games are really all about.  This one is about throwing parties with balloons, having lots of chairs, avoiding monsters and going dancing!
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the strange Sims2 scene she was making...
you can't see them very well but the rest of the house is surrounded by bits
of 'moat' - large holes dug and filled with water.  

It was also interesting to see her 'snapshots' she had made while she was playing.  At times, she was taking twelve pictures per minute of game time all of the 'thoughts' the people were thinking about while they were sleeping, or reading a book etc etc... I am going to have a lot of files to delete if she plays quite a bit more on my computer!  Also, daddy's 'people game' has fighting. (skyrim)  Mama's people game has people but they are no fighting.  She told me that today...

Her language is improving quite a bit.  We are hearing things much closer to full sentences from her.  We still sometimes have to say 'HUH?' but mostly it is because she is rattling things off so quickly.  When she was on my computer and wanted the headphones on - had them almost in the jack and on her head before I knew what she wanted - but then she said 'they no work for me *sigh*'.  I turned the volume up and she was so happy - couldn't adjust them to her size and she was upset about that...but later a song was on 'something a noise to me, I no like it.'  'annoying' is a word she is still working out, but she understands the concept.

She was watching a bit on a 'grownup' movie in between drink cups and bathroom breaks from being outside and made a on-the-nose comment about the plotline because she has seen a parody of it before on the Simpsons.  Mark and I looked at each other and weren't quite sure if we heard what we thought we did - 'That man try GRRRR and it so heavy. (the bathtub).  The big n'dan man, he do it.'  That is what we thought we heard - but the jury is still out, she wouldn't repeat it and went running back outside.  At the store she wanted 'blue shoes to go sleep in' - fuzzy blue slip-on slippers in the women's section.  She must have seen that in a book or on computer.   We looked, but found nothing in her size in the kids section.  She did pick out a pair of Hello Kitty clogs like her purple croc shoes that we agreed on - there is coming a day soon the purple shoes are going to fall apart!

And there were 'tigers' in our garden according to her - when I was thinning corn.  She wanted to 'come into the grass plants (corn) with you' to get away from them.  Mama wouldn't play that game - because I didn't want her to knock the corn over.  She carried a very embarrassed orange housecat (our PeanutNinja cat) out of the garden in an undignified fashion and told the 'tiger' to stay out.  She was trying to read things on my screen and was very excited about the possibility of getting a box of books she had seen me looking at in an auction.  I told her they would come to our mailbox and she said she didn't want a nail box, no nails, don't need nails.  MAIL box - oh wait, that is a different story - yes books in mailbox, she wants that!

Sunday, May 06, 2012

A long week for little girl and for us

This has been a long and stressful week with strep and a four year old.  But it might become easier now?  Esme seems to be getting better and has not given me more scares in the temperature department.  I did not write on here about it - but Wednesday Esme gave me a terrible scare in the bath when she had a momentary shock reaction to the change in temperature.  Later that night she sweated so much she actually got cold and was shivering and had white cold feet.  A bath followed by wrapping up in blankets and sleep brought her temp back up then - and then she was feverish again in a few hours.  With these I watched her so very closely from that point on knowing that this fever was going up and down so quickly.  And she is so much smaller than us it effects her much more.  Also, she does not tell me if she is cold or hot, or tells me the opposite - and I still have to physically check to really see how she is.  One of those nights I was checking her every few hours, waking up before the alarm I had set nearly every time just because I was worried about her.  I checked her several times again last night and she was stable each time.  She was sweating some, but not enough to make her wet and cold as long as she kept her blanket on.

She ate a plate of food yesterday, apples and chicken, and said 'Mama, I eat it and it not hard, it is good!'  And she didn't throw up.  That will help a lot if she is hungry and eating again.  I was getting worried there for a few days when spoonfuls of yogurt and a small chunk of chicken were 'Mama I'm full I don't want to (puke).'  Daddy seems a little down in the weather right now as well - I hope Grandma and Grandpa are not feeling likewise.

I worked a half-day yesterday because I was just so tired from being up and checking on her two nights in a row.. it had caught up to me and my brain was working 'on the back half'.  ie: I was able to answer questions but it took me a long time and it felt like I was translating everything from left-to-right in order to arrive at the conclusion.  I was dialing fax numbers instead of phone numbers when they were both right in front of me, and was not finding my words very well, or at least, the words I was finding were nonsense, or mixes of the foreign languages I know with English that would not have been very comprehensible to those around me.  

Other things Esme has said to me lately:
'I be the happier in the whole wide world you come with me to the big town and I come with you be at work!'
This child build a castle.  I no have a castle.  Can you build this child castle? (referring to the box).
'All at the same time' has been showing up in her conversation.  I can't repeat how she uses it yet - but she gets very excited about all the things she wants to do, names them in order, then at the end tacks on 'And it is all at the same time and we are happy!' or something like that.
'Mama I had a dream, of green juice and medicine and I helped Grandma to put a sheet on the bed at her house, let's go, let's help Grandma at the white house and get green juice!.'

Garden:
I've been out to the garden and it is a scary thing!  Things have jumped a whole foot of growth 'while I've been gone.'  Everything needs weeding - as the weeds are a foot high, as well.  The peppers and the tomatoes have flowers.  The cabbages are about two feet across.  The pole beans need poles and the corn needs thinning.  Now if it will dry out some without the sun being beating down on my back - and Esme is truly better - I will have to get some work done out there.

Friday, May 04, 2012

a bit better

Esme seems a bit better this morning.  She is still coughing.  She was sweating quite a bit last night and I changed her clothes to keep her dry, added a warming blanket on her legs so she would not get cold like the night before.  The wide differences between cold and hot were worrying me quite a bit.  She has not had more tylenol but seems to be doing well without it.  She had her antibiotic and a decent amount of cereal.  She played outside some with her plastic deer in a puddle, watched me weed a little in the garden and walked me to the lake and back - would not admit that she was tired and cried a lot when we got back.  I convinced her in and made her happier with new socks *roll eyes* she had not seen yet.  She wanted a balloon to follow her, but wanted it to fly - she meant she wanted to put a small weight on it to keep it halfway airborne so it would wander around the room.  That is a trick Mark taught her.  I also had to draw a giraffe on it.  It popped after she stuck it with a pipe cleaner she was bouncing it around with... but she took that well and said 'I told you so Mama, now I have to throw it in the trash.'  You told me what?  It was your idea and now it popped!  *ha*  Now she is watching a cartoon and eating a popsicle.  She told me the grape flavor was 'strawberry coffee' and she wanted a banana one instead because strawberry coffee is for mamas.  The garden needs a lot more weeding - things are doing well out there.  Our volunteer tomatoes are half as big as the storebought ones.  Hopefully Esme will continue to improve over the next few days and I will get more time to keep the garden in good condition.  I need to clean in the house more, too - I did some power cleaning last night to calm my nerves, but there is a lot more to do.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

back and forth

For a short time last night, after gave her some tylenol, Esme was 'full on', no fever and jabbering up a storm about everything.  She ate some yogurt and soup and held it and the medicine down.  She watched a few scenes of a 'scary' movie and was trying to save the characters from sea creatures.  We turned that off because she was much more awake and thinking about it than we thought she would be.  She played Minecraft for a little bit, fishing rod and bow and arrows and made a cake with me.  Like the other day she was in 'fine form' with all of her imagination and plans, more like the Esme of months ago.  But, I was very tired myself and insisted she go back to sleep after a few hours.  She was cool most of the night but then started back up again about 4 am, topping off at 100.5.  I woke her up a few minutes ago to give her the second dose of the antibiotic.  She is not coughing half as hard as before, either.  She kept the medicine in and went back to sleep.  I think it is working, but she didn't get enough of it yesterday to do a good job.  I have to work this afternoon into the night so I am hoping she shows more signs of improvement before I have to go.  I may need to catch more sleep this morning as well, while I can.

It rained very hard twice yesterday.  I am wondering how much the garden liked it - and if anything got beaten down by it!