Spooky Kids

Inspirational song: Blood Upon the Risers (82nd Airborne Division Association)

After a long day of hand-sewing, fighting with a cranky sewing machine, and doing geometry on the fly, I cranked out the last two costumes. I started with sewing the rest of the snaps on Dmitri's onesie, and then making appliqué details on the shoulders and sewing on ST:TNG captain's rank. I got his completely done, and then started making a matching top for his daddy. I had to pause midway through cutting the adult sized one to take Alfred to the vet. (When you have four cats, sometimes it takes a process of elimination to figure out who peed blood. He is the second suspect. We are waiting for his test results.) Once home, I jumped back in to sewing. I had an epiphany as I was taking the cat for how to piece it to make the funky asymmetric color blocks in one short afternoon. The execution wasn't perfect (see above mention of fighting with the machine that kept grabbing the knit fabrics and knotting), but it worked for a costume. I ran out of time to sew on his rank. I told him he was going as an ensign. They took the time to fix it so he could at least pass as Commander Riker to Dmitri's Captain Picard.

I delivered the costumes at roughly six pm. I felt awful for making those kids wait to trick-or-treat. Valerie was completely dressed and waiting by the door in her Link costume (from the Wind Waker version of the Zelda video games.) She absolutely loved her outfit, and wouldn't put down the cardboard and duct tape sword her mother made.

Our houseguest and I went next door once the few trick-or-treaters we had dried up. The neighbors wanted to watch Ghostbusters, and L (time to stop typing out "houseguest") had never seen it. L also had never carved a jack-o-lantern, so it was a unique night all around. For the first try at pumpkin carving, they did a fantastic job. Took a great picture of it too.

Pumpkin Time

Inspirational song: Dallas (Jerrold Immel)

Why is the theme song to the TV show Dallas stuck in my head? No idea. But it's a better thing to focus on than my tinnitus that gets louder when I stay up late. 

I've been in this place before, so many times. It's the night before Halloween, and I have over-committed to projects that are extremely time sensitive. If I can force myself to labor another half-hour or so, I can get the snaps on Dmitri's onesie, and it will be essentially done. I have to wake early if I'm going to make a matching shirt for his father. I am grateful beyond imagining that Valerie's costume was finished last week.

Yesterday's fatigue didn't abate much, even with a solid night's sleep. I hurt like hell all day, mostly in my hips and shoulders. My daughter recognized how hard yesterday was on me, and she gave me help with the kids rather than dropping them off and splitting. She shifted her schedule and that made all the difference.

Two of our three pumpkins got carved at the end of the evening, right before everyone went home. Valerie got to choose the shapes for hers, and exactly as her mother predicted, she asked for the same ones she always wants: a heart, a moon, and a star. (There are others, but those three are always first when she wants us to draw for her.) They took that jack-o-lantern home with them, so she could admire her style choices. I can't wait to see her dressed up for trick-or-treating.

The Face of Fatigue

Inspirational song: About Damn Time (Lizzo)

Picked up the kids at noon, on the way to Costco. Rolled into the driveway nearly four hours later, and it was all I could do to stagger inside with the baby boy in my arms. The intervening time? Endless walking. I covered the entire footprint of the Superior Costco at least twice. Maybe more. By the time we left, Dmitri was melting down at top volume, and I was screaming along with him, but silently on the inside. I had to stop on the way home to get a single gallon of milk at King Soopers, which of course is at the far corner of the store from the door. 

Ain't nothing on me doesn't hurt right now. Hips are the worst. Tramadol was necessary, and mercifully it started working in under an hour. I may not leave my chair until dawn.

How tired am I? I am willing to put this terrible selfie up, with no makeup, showing exactly how strained I feel.

Great Pumpkin Patch

Inspirational song: Season of the Witch (Donovan)

How many seasonal traditions are out there that I just never picked up on? I found yet another. I apparently never did a corn maze, and it didn't occur to me until I was halfway through one, pushing a stroller and wondering where the toddler had gone. I was making "baby's first corn maze" jokes, and it hit me, it was probably my first too. I'd say Dmitri and I are on equal footing, but I was in uncomfortable boots, and he was taking it easy in a stroller. 

All week, our daughter has been reminding us we agreed to go to the pumpkin patch with them today. They had gone last year, and one-and-a-half year old Val loved it. I've usually acquired all my Halloween pumpkins either from a grocery store or my own garden, so I mostly shrugged and said sure, whatever. I didn't expect to have so much fun watching Valerie run around and take it all in. There were busloads of kindergarten and elementary school kids there, and she wanted so badly to take off in the same direction as the big kids. It was amusing watching her laser focus on them. 

There was a giant ring toss on a plywood cow, some giant drainage pipes to roll down a track (lined with hay bales), the aforementioned corn maze as well as a smaller hay maze, antique tractors (that they weren't allowed to climb on), and animals to see and/or pet (goats and rabbits). We bought three large pumpkins to carve this weekend, assuming the squirrels don't get to them on the porch before tomorrow.

Once we got home for babysitting time, it was not much of a fight to get Val down for a nap. She burned up a lot of energy in that pumpkin patch.

Fancy Pants

Inspirational song: Looking for Trade (Shock Treatment)

So you know that role-playing game where my character is my own grandfather, transported back in time to ancient Gaul? We played that campaign tonight, and the entire session was us bartering with a blacksmith (who is supposed to be one of the player characters, but that guy keeps having scheduling conflicts, so the game master played him), trying to figure out how we could get goods and equipment, and maybe some clothes to blend in a little better. So there I was, a dentist from 1974, bartering with a pair of blue plaid Sansabelt pants, and being told they were so fine, that maybe the smith couldn't find customers who could afford such luxury. Ah, Dacron. You fancy fiber.

I completed my part of Valerie's Halloween costume, and left it with the kids. I have the basic structure done for Dmitri's, and I took it with me tonight to try it on for size before completing it. It's a little loose around, but the right length, I think. The arms were snug when we put it on him, but we did pull it over the sleeper he was already wearing. So take it in and let it out, then appliqué the details. Shouldn't be too hard.

Observation

Inspirational song: Weird Science (Oingo Boingo)

I was six when my grandmother let me use the sewing machine for the first time. I took to it like I was born to it. But I don't remember much about watching her or anyone else sew before that. I'm sure I watched and expressed interest, but I have no memory of it. 

I was working on Halloween costumes most of the day, with Valerie popping in and out to watch when she could. She touched things when I let her, like the new dressmakers shears I bought with the shiny gold handles, or the little fabric scraps she picked up and properly identified as green triangles. She wanted to watch the needle on the sewing machine go up and down from right next to it, but we kept making her sit at least a foot away. By the end of the day, she had a completed tunic and an almost-done cap for her Link costume from Wind Waker (one of the Zelda games, as I understand it, and that is literally all I know). She has a long-sleeved t-shirt to go under it, and legging and boots. I think I'm supposed to make her belt too, but maybe her mom is doing that part. I have only just started her brother's Star Trek uniform. That will be tomorrow's project.

I want to give you an update on the mystery person who had surgery. It was a long morning for them, having an early show time but not getting into theater until basically lunch time (not that they got to eat). All appears to have gone well, and pain is mostly under control, except for one spot that was just a little extra pinchy. Thank you all for good vibes, whether expressed or just quietly thought. I wanted this one to be easy and successful.

Improvement

Inspirational song: Black Velvet (Alannah Myles)

It has been a week since I took Athena in to the vet, where the tech delivered on her promise that the shave would be sloppy and choppy. She warned me that she wasn't skilled at grooming, and Athena didn't make her job any easier. After a week, soft, short hair has grown back everywhere except where Athena licks at hot spots, so most of her back and butt feels like velvet. In all this time, she has had the worst time getting comfortable. I can't imagine what they all went through trying to get a urine sample. She must have been cathertized, and she still acts bruised from the ordeal. For the first 48 hours, she didn't sleep at all, twitching and jumping and hissing at her own butt. She has needed all the extra cuddles this week, but she finally appears to be getting rest.

Someone very close to me is having an important surgery in the morning. I have not been cleared to talk about it, especially not in ways that would identify them. I just want you all to put out some positive thoughts for them. They would appreciate the good energy. 

Adaptation

Inspirational song: Believer (Imagine Dragons)

Like most social media, Twitter has an algorithm to throw a constant stream of "things you might like" at us. Just now, it showed me a lovely piece of art "based on" my likes. It was a dragon, done in purple, black, gray, and white, and was offered up by the artist for "Ace awareness week," a thing I didn't know was going on now. (For those not in the know, Ace refers to people who are asexual, commonly thought of as the A in LGBTQIA+.) The dragon was beautiful, and my first thought was gosh, that would make a great tattoo for someone. My second thought was how much it reminded me of my favorite dragon of all time, Darius from The Dragon Who Liked to Spit Fire, by Judy Varga. 

From there my thoughts kind of exploded like the fireworks that Darius would spit, all purple and orange perkles (a word I might have made up in childhood?) It mostly involved the idea that if the other dragon could be someone else's tattoo, then why couldn't I get one of Darius? So naturally I went looking for the source material, the out-of-print book from 1961. I've mentioned it once or twice here, many years ago. My grandmother had the book at her house when I was a little kid, but if that copy still exists, it's buried in a box somewhere and may never be found. I would like to obtain a copy elsewhere, but used ones on big sites like Amazon list them for more than 40 bucks, and I just can't bring myself to order one. (I dislike buying online--yet another weird quirk.) Maybe someday I'll see it in a used book shop in the wild, and I'll know it was meant to be. Until then, I might sketch out tattoo ideas from the few pages available on the internet, and let the idea of it simmer for a while to see whether I really want this, and where. I usually give myself at least a year, to see whether I like it enough to want it permanently. Avoided several mistakes by doing this.

While I was googling the book, hoping to see more pages of it than last time, I did find something new. Earlier this year, a theater group in Minneapolis adapted it as a musical, assumably for children. There were significant changes, such as making the lead character a princess named June, rather than a prince named Frederic. Since I haven't seen the book in decades, I'm not sure about the rest of the story. At least they kept the purple and orange color scheme. As for the dialogue and songs? Well, maybe I should just not comment on that. I only watched about 30 minutes of it, and I don't expect I'll finish it.

Obviously, tonight the photo is not my own. Cover art of the book, I believe saved from the Goodreads site.

Starving

Inspirational song: Grow For Me (Little Shop of Horrors)

That is not a baby. That is a cat. And as we all know, cats have never been fed, ever. That's what they all tell us. The kids were with us barely five hours today, and he went through three full (fist-sized) bottles, screaming in anger when it took a minute to mix up the formula with warm water. I have started threatening to mix in a little rice cereal next time he's here. Something needs to fill that celestial black hole in the boy's belly. 

He's not getting chubby from all of these frequent feedings. He's getting tall. And strong. And it sure seems like that big brain is growing at a proper pace. I don't know that he will be interested in sports, but if he is, he will be picked first for the grade school teams. He'll be taller than his sister before kindergarten, I bet you dollars to donuts. And she is even on the tall side too. I think these are genes coming down from his papa's side. My family are only a bit above average height, and his daddy is the tallest on his side, and the same could be said about him. There are some skyscrapers among the Smith cousins, though. Dmitri will be standing in the back row with them for family reunion photos.

Spooky Shower

Inspirational song: Hush (Deep Purple)

Of all the baby showers I've been to over the years, I'd say the one today ranked in the top five for decorating theme, and won outright for rowdiness and noise. I'm pretty sure our neighbors were the first of their peers to have kids, because not a one of the other guests knew to modulate their volume while we were there with the grandkids. They liked looking at our babies, and even holding Dmitri, but wow, did they compete with each other for who could be the loudest. There is going to be a reckoning one of these days, in roughly five weeks, and T is going to be the one paying the price for it all when they forget to shush.

Honestly, it wasn't just our kids who got a little overstimulated with the noise. I had a rough time with it myself. I just can't do big parties like that anymore. I stayed as long as I could, but I ducked out when my tank was empty. The parents-to-be had a good time, and that was what was important. We came home and set Val up to watch a movie and nap. Dmitri had a meltdown, and after 20 minutes of failing to calm him, I tapped out and let his grandfather have a go. It only took him five minutes to get Dmitri back to normal. Me, I ended up falling sound asleep in the chair, only to wake when our son-in-law came to take the kids home. Val was still conked out at that time, and she and I both had to work a bit to be fully awake.

I'm really excited to meet the neighbors' baby. I just know she will be adorable. There will be no shortage of aunties and uncles to help hold her on game nights, and at least half of us will be experienced baby-wranglers.

Check and Check

Inspirational song: Tragedy (The Bee Gees)

Don't read anything into today's song. It's just an ear worm. My daughter likes an artist who does parodies of disco classics as if famous movie monsters had sung them. She sent the above song today, as it would have been done by a 1950s werewolf. I can't shake the original out of my head now.

We did brunch and then shopping for tomorrow's baby shower today. While it wasn't quite the slapstick comedy from yesterday, or the hilarious face when Val was looking in my front door and someone instructed her to frown, we did get some darned cute faces looking in from the parking lot while we packed up and paid, and Papa and Val went out to play by the statue next to the restaurant. On her own, she came over to the window next to the table and pressed her nose to the glass and made silly faces. I only got one picture off before she was on to other pursuits.

While babies went down for naps, our houseguest and I finished up the last few blocks in the precinct who hadn't yet received voter guides. Now that round is completely done. I'm so relieved. During elections past, we stressed over getting the whole precinct covered. We have until next weekend for folks to start turning in ballots, and then we re-run our lists from the county. We get to do the neighborhood again, with papers that say (in essence) Hey! It's now too late to mail them! Go drop them off at a box, or drive by the poll workers at the courthouse to hand them to a human. I wonder how our neighbors will do with getting ballots submitted, so we don't have to tape quite so many vote notes as the guides we did this week.

Funny Girl

Inspirational song: Don't Rain on My Parade (Barbra Streisand)

Words might just fail me. I'm not sure I can properly express just how bleeping funny that toddler is becoming. Her comedic timing is naturally perfect. Her vocabulary is enormous now. Her quick wit takes us by surprise. But I think my favorite of all is her physical comedy.

We went shopping today, to prepare for Halloween. We started at a small Spirit store around the corner from my house (in a general sense), before heading to Boulder for the nearest Joann Fabrics. As we were getting out of the car, one of us said that mommy just had to steal Dmitri, meaning take him and his car seat and plop it on the stroller base. Val took off running in a toddler gallop, saying, "Mommy stole Dmitri!" about thirteen times. We had to work to steer her into the store, as she ran right past the door doing this. We thought she might be a little scared in this store, considering it was fully of spooky costumes and decorations. She was a little leery of the 8 foot tall grim reaper inflatable, until we said it was just like her dragon at home. From then on, she was skipping through the store, randomly from aisle to aisle, like a fly trapped in a car. We took turns tailing her and pushing Dmitri around, actually shopping for what we hoped to find.

While it was my turn to mind her, I was standing near the rows of little kid costumes. She was off on the other side, just out of sight. I looked at the far end of my row, just in time to see her shuffling by, chest puffed out, arms hanging behind her, sort of dangling as she walked in a leaned-back pose. As she passed through my field of vision, she turned her head and looked at me, a little half smile betraying that she knew how goofy she was being, and kept on sliding. It is a tragic loss to the comedic arts that I didn't have a camera ready to go right then. I will regret it all my days.

Shave and a Nail Cut

Inspirational song: Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult)

This was not Athena's favorite day. She was tricked out of hiding by the rattle of the treat bottle, only to be scooped up after getting two small treats, and dumped inside a softside cat carrier. She took that well enough until the carrier was set on the front passenger seat of the car, and then the songs began. She began with a few verses of "Car Sucks," followed by a chorus of "Mommy, Why Do You Hate Me?" 

I left her in the carrier while we were in the exam room, waiting for the tech. I had an inkling that they would be taking her to the back, and I didn't want to have to catch her again. I explained how her mats were way worse this year, how she has been peeing on the floor next to the box, and how there is now blood in it. I reminded them that she has had super bad teeth in the past, and asked whether that might be a contributing factor in both of the other things. They took her to the back as expected, and I waited for about 45 minutes for an update. She has been partially shaved, and they said they had to do it in short bursts because she would suddenly be DONE with it (I said I am familiar with this), and they clipped her nails. They got all of the biggest mats, and most of the medium ones. I said we can leave the ones on her belly. Urinalysis didn't show an infection, and the doc said sometimes cats can have an idiopathic condition a lot like interstitial cystitis, that appears to be stress and/or pain induced. They think getting the mats off will help calm her, plus they gave me the stink eye for not getting her in for another round of tooth-pulling yet. She has a fang that has to go, that I swear I've asked about before.

I expected her to be mad at me at least part of the evening, but she went to cuddle-mommy mode a lot sooner than I would have guessed. I stayed home tonight, neither going to a party nor out with the smallest version of the game group. Being at the vet for an hour and a half made me more wrung out than Athena, and I didn't even get a shave or a manicure out of the deal.

Short

Inspirational song: I Can't Drive 55 (Sammy Hagar)

Come to think of it, you know who did not contact me yesterday on my birthday? AARP. I find myself disappointed. I've been slighted. Now, I haven't checked the spam filters on all of my email accounts, but c'mon, man! I'm prime demographic now.

This morning was my second bone density scan. First was right after I started taking long-term oral cancer meds. The papers I had to fill out asked for my tallest height and current height on separate lines. I wasn't sure whether the measurements from the last few years were accurate, or was I reading shorter because I was hunched forward, unconsciously protecting the part of my body that was causing me drama. We measured today, and sure enough, I'm now down 3/4 of an inch. Well. It's going faster than I expected.

I always disliked being a tallish woman. When I was young and dating, I would be self-conscious when my partners were close in height to me, and I really felt weird when I went out with the short guy who wore the Chip the mascot costume (or maybe Chip was his roommate--it's a blur), because I towered over him by a whole inch. As I got older and my weight went up, being tall and curvy around thinner, shorter women made me feel even worse. So if this means I can feel even slightly dainty again, who needs strong bones? (I know, I know. It's sarcasm.)

Think happy thoughts. Athena has a vet visit Wednesday afternoon. I'm reasonably sure she will be fine. But pray for the techs and doctor who have to try and touch the Spiciest Kitty in the West. She is the ghost pepper of cats who do not want to be touched.

Enjoy It Now

Inspirational song: Seasons in the Sun (Terry Jacks)

More than halfway through October now, and the flowers out front are still going strong. I can't believe how well they are doing. In many years past I ran out of stamina in July, and let my flowers bake and dry out in the sun. This year we were more disciplined with water, more consistent, and I made more of an effort to provide plant food. It wasn't easy, but we did it. Alas, this is probably the last week for them, regardless. The weather has been beautiful, but we have hit the time when we get our first frost watches overnight, and this Sunday the weather is really supposed to turn. I just looked at the forecast, and for the first time in months, the little snowflake icon was present, for next Monday. Lots could change between now and then, but I'm so ready for the seasonal coolness.

I had a quiet birthday, my favorite kind. I don't need big parties anymore. I used to try to go to events, but here I just learned that the Who were playing in Denver tonight, and I was only barely wistful for the idea of seeing my favorite band from high school. Didn't feel the need to drop hundreds of dollars on last minute tickets. Instead, I had a glorious massage (he did serious stretching work on me today and now I'm a wet noodle), and I followed a whim to make chicken fried steak for dinner at home. I'm happier this way.