LittleBluberry

I am still alive. Still trying to wrangle children and help them fight brainweasels. It's been a rough year. Hoping that we can get enthused about doing some painting during the online ReaperCon. Even went all out and ordered the massive box of swag, because honestly, our entertainment and vacation budget has not been strained this year.

Ha! I literally came to the forum just to share that same news! Apparently they made a deal with Kraken rum, too.

I am still among the living, still busy. Testing proceeds with middle daughter, we've gotten as far as proving she has measurable reading difficulty. More testing still required, she's done six hours and we have two more scheduled. Oldest daughter is going to get some iron infusions, we're done trying to manage with just supplements. Will be interesting to see if this helps with her anxiety. We're supposed to go camping next week. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Kinda wish I could just spend that week home painting, but hubby wants to escape the house.

Finally did the pledge manager thing. I feel like a lame fangirl, but we just hadn't found time to sit down together and sort out what we wanted. Which was apparently almost $500 with shipping, yikes!

Last year I made some cherry jam with cinnamon and kirsch. Tastes very good on top of brownies.

Sweet, I stumbled upon that method for the orchid I got in May!

I got assorted cheap tea cups on eBay several years ago for a little girls tea party, I might have to use them for a sundae party. On behalf of all us iron deprived people, thank you!!

Oldest daughter completed the filming for her virtual graduation today. Yay? They provided all graduates with face masks with the school logo and the year (they didn't wear masks for the actual filming). Daughter said it was the most apt symbol of her year. Youngest made a hexaflexagon that counts down the days left of school. (She's been watching a lot of Vihart videos.) Also a pretty apt representation of her spring. I'm a little terrified of dealing with school in the fall.

There is a pharmacy with a drive through pick up window 5 minutes from my house. It's heavenly.

My heart has been breaking too, but for more personal reasons. (And I don't like to get into details of my kids mental health struggles online.) When you can't talk about what's hurting you the most it leaves you with little to say. When you feel like you're in a crisis it's hard enough to hobby at all, never mind document the process. @Pingo, you should know that Red's YouTube collection has been helpful to my middle schooler as she's stuck at home looking for something to distract her from staring at the same walls. And if you ever want to chat you can PM me and we can exchange contact info.

I got mine this afternoon too! I don't remember getting a shipping notification, but my two measly plinths showed up so all is good. I even found my Frozen Ninja busts and put them in the same place!

I think I've successfully persuaded hubby that he doesn't need to use Kaladrax for the 'someday' undead dragon encounter we're apparently likely to face in his D&D game. Fortunately we got the Bones 4 zombie dragon, and test fitting the pre-production Kaladrax we had was a complete pain. Phew! Our noble heroes might survive the encounter!

I slathered some stynylrez on some snake people and started blotching a mottled green and brown on them. It meets the minimum bar to be counted as 'paintint miniatures'. I might even finish them, they're pretty simple.

I got my first ink samples from Goulet Pens, many thanks to @Last Knight for the recommendation. Now I can write in my journal with 'Ocean Shimmer' ink, which makes my boring life much more interesting. (It actually does have a tiny sparkle!) But the biggest news today is that we're going to be allowed to have very small outdoor gatherings!! So I can have a tiny little party for my daughter's graduation! It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

Neat! One of my daughters was lucky enough to participate in a seminar at her school where she learned some native dances and learned about traditional foods. It was a wonderful experience and I wish it was easier to find those sorts of educational activities. Lots of work to be done even just documenting languages that are on the verge of being lost.

Pretty sure that's one of hubby's favorite beers as well. Sometimes I think he's secretly a member of WOOF.

Oooo, exciting! I can't even remember how many I pledged for, but it was at least one.

I'm going to simply say that I think you're well suited to the task and it's a great idea to start with the easier job and see if you feel like attempting to move into a bigger role later. Go OneBoot!

SpaceX launch cancelled.

I've got YouTube streaming it on the living room TV. I figure it's educational and more interesting than anything else right now...

I have three daughters and psychic vampire is exactly the phrase I use to describe when one of them is in a "needs lots of support" phase. @kristof65 is also correct that they can super-charge you when things go well. May fortune favor you.

@Cranky Dog, you will tell us how it tastes, right? I mean, I can't buy any unless they open the border, but I could ask my sister to set aside a bottle... Waiting here very anxiously to get word of what June will be like here. Can I even have a graduation BBQ with a few of daughter's friends? Inquiring minds are keen to know!

Yes. Yes they will. They still call for my son, he's O+. But he's also working nights stocking shelves so I think he won't be donating for a while.

I didn't think I'd been away that long, but BAM! New thread. Thank you for explaining what that is, I always found it irritating as a child. Which was what I was doing this afternoon, taking a knitting class via Zoom. Despite learning how to knit around age 5, I never learned how to do more than one color at a time. Of course I hear some people paint things for therapy. The social thing is an interesting puzzle... My 17 year old struggles to make small talk and is shy with possible selective mutism. However, she also desperately needs to spend the time with her friends. Quarantine has been really hard on her. Her 12 year old sister is so very outgoing that even with constant texting, zooming, etc, she's still desperate to see her friends. We've begun preparing to do a lot more outdoor entertaining this summer, since it might be the only type of social activity we'll be able to do.

We are playing D&D over video chat, and the town's local adventurer's shop has an intelligent war hammer that wants to be owned by a hero. I'm playing a paladin of Thor. I think we know where this is going....