Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Time for T.A.P.S. Again

   I dropped off all of the donations last Wednesday and here are the totals with some pretty pictures:

Jan:
6 water bottle holders

10 baby monsters 


 My Mom:
4 water bottle holders 

1-16 Frazzles

17-39 Frazzles


Tammy: 
1-26 water bottle holders 

27-52 water bottle holders 

53-78 water bottle holders

79-90 water bottle holders 


Me: 
Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn in Cake Batter - Red Heart Unforgettable in Gossamer - Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints in 324 Sprinkles - Red Heart Super Saver Metallic in Silver - Caron Simply Soft in Ocean - Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage - Coats & Clark Red Heart maypole in 782 Country Berry
105 Worry Worms

Red Heart Super Saver Metallic in Silver - Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana - Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints in 324 Sprinkles - Caron Simply Soft in Ocean - Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage
105 Octopi 


Yearly Yarn Tracker:
Yarn In: 18 (0)
Yarn Out: 35 (0)
Total: -17

Sunday, May 24, 2026

The Big 21 (months)

Week 86:
  I peeked on her when I was hoping she had finally decided to nap.  She had her legs in a V position with some of her bedtime friends under the fabric of her sleep sack.  She was then moving one leg, then the other to reveal some of her stuffies and then the others.
  She has tried to play with Tank quite a few times.  She will swing around a shoelace I have for Tank to try and catch.  However, she doesn't understand that he doesn't want to play with it as she swings it around as hard as she can.  He has tried to play with her even through the danger.


Week 87:
  I love watching her look at the pictures in her various 'First 100' books when we ask her where something is.  She doesn't always know what we are talking about, but she will look them all over before taking a guess.  She's getting better at them the more we do it.
  Every time we go down the diaper isle at Safeway she likes picking out a new stuffie.  This time she tried to put the giraffe into the shopping cart so we would get it for her.  She was distracted by picking out flavored waters with Bill and I was able to put it back.  I keep meaning to make a Floppy Ferret for her to bring with her when we are shopping.  I like the idea of bringing something I made because if we lose it I can make another.  She was also very happy to carry her pack of cheese sticks.
  Before her naps she has been pointing to the bears on her Boppy.  For the big bears I made a deep roar sound, for the little ones I make a happy roar sound.  She has started copying me on it after confirming which ones make which sounds.
  She tried to walk from the table to her highchair again, but they were farther apart this time.  It didn't go the way she wanted, but luckily she didn't get hurt.
  She thinks it's funny to make sure I join everyone at bed time.  If I'm still in my computer chair she will push on my butt until I stand up, and then guide me to the stairs.
  When I went to go check on her when she was supposed to be napping I noticed she had gathered all of her bedtime friends.  She had gotten up and gathered everyone together so she could show them the big truck that was outside.  The neighbors across the way were getting a FedEx delivery.
  On the way to the cabin she decided to stay up, even though we got a late start and had multiple slow downs.  By the time we got the food put away and Tank mostly set up she was very energetic and very tired.  She was very unhappy with us after we only read one book and left her.  In the morning she managed to sleep through the guy installing the remote connection for the mini-splits.
  Before dinner on Thursday she was running up and down the ramp to the cabin.  She was also going "Wheeee" during it.  I had started doing that with her in the car going around corners and at the grocery store when we turn corners.
  The way she wants her bedtime friends to currently be is to have Bucky on the top of the walls of her crib.  At home that's fine because it's a wood top with a ledge.  At the cabin, we put her in her playard, which doesn't have a wide ledge.  Bucky tends to fall down if she is moving around too much or tries to interact with him.  She then screams like he has been hurt and wants us to put him back up.  Bill helped by laying in the room with her for a few minutes.
  While waiting for Bill to finish making dinner, Miss Spud and I walked down to the mailboxes and back.  She liked the small stream on the other side of the driveway.  She also collected a ton of sticks and a few rocks.  We had to keep stopping so she could hand me a few sticks and pick back up the ones she dropped.


Week 88:
  We went to go visit all the animals down the road from us.  There was: Gillie(youngest), Donny, and Marie (goats); Pepper and Piggy Pig (pigs); and Wilbur and Wayland (donkeys).  She had a lot of fun feeding the animals.  Donny was licking her hand to get some of them.  At one point Gillie became grumpy and was headbutting the fence, she thought it was funny until he hit it hard enough to knock her backwards.  She just needed a quick snuggle until she was back to feeding Donny.
  I have been getting a cone on top of my cup of ice cream at Smiley's.  Miss Spud and I both like it.  This last time we were there she would delicately take it from me and eat the ice cream off the cone piece before eating the cone.
  Bill asked her if she could say Mama.  She said "Mmmm" from her cow moo and "Ahh" from her sheep bleat.
  She's getting so good at saying words.  She can say Baby now along with Bubble!  She is also getting better at showing us that she understands our words.  When I ask her for a hand when we are walking, she will raise one so we can hold hands.  She can also point to her ears, head, cheek, tummy, knees, and toes.
  She was running around and I told her that she needed to put on pants to go on an adventure.  She sat down and lifted a leg for me.  I then asked what shoes she wanted to wear.  She ran over and grabbed one of my flip-flops.  She then brought it over to me and laid it down before pointing to my foot.  She also brought me the other one as well.  When I asked again she picked out her little sneakers and sat on the floor.  I asked if she could sit on the stair to put on her shoes.  She got up and went over and sat on the bottom step.


Week 89:
  We went to our craft group at the church.  It was a lot less fun this month because the preschool that uses the outside space put padlocks on all of the gates to get in to the playground area.  There was a swing by the church entrance, but that was fun for only so long.  She spent the rest of the time there playing with the toys they had and giving toys to other people for them to play with.
  She was trying to help get herself dressed for the day on Mother's Day.  She pulled a shirt out of her hamper and tried to put it on over her PJs along with a pair of pants.
  After dinner she decided to amuse herself by drooling and watching it run down her stomach.  After we all had some chocolate, she spit chocolate drool and watched that.  Bill had to clean past her belly button when we got her out.
  I was peeking in on her from time to time to see if she had fallen asleep for her nap yet.  At one point I saw her touching her fluffy puppy's nose and then her own.  At another point I saw that she was sitting there with the blanket over her head, like a ghost costume.
  She has started saying Ahh Goog.  We were trying to figure out what it was.  I thought it was All Good.  However, it's probably Oh God because Bill will say that when she's getting into everything.
  Bill went out of town again and this time Miss Spud insisted that Tank take his place as the second person to wish everyone a Goodnight.  After he came in, she held her bedtime friends out to him and made distressed sounds until I carried them over to him to sniff.  He was a good sport about it and even let me pick him up so she could pet him some before bed.
  At one point a while ago she would pretend to be asleep when I would try and get her PJs or sleep sack on.  At that point I would comment that she must already be asleep and put her outfit on her like a blanket.  At one point I started also saying Ha-shoe while she was curled up in her usual sleep position.  She thinks it's so funny that recently she's started making Ha-shoe sounds when she does it.
  I asked her if she wanted to pick her apple on Thursday morning.  She nodded, smiling, and then giggled when she found the gate to the kitchen open.  She then got distracted by the wheat puff snacks.  I got one out while she picked out her apple.
  She had fun on our walk today.  At first she was keeping an eye on Tank while I opened his Chewy box.  After that she had so much fun helping me bring the recycling to the bin at the curb.  Once a quick diaper change was done, we actually went walking around.  She's gotten so much better at staying in the sidewalk.  She pointed out the neighbor's big trucks and everyone's mailboxes.  When it was time to head back she waved to some of the neighborhood kids getting home from school.  I had to carry her in because she kept wanting to turn back when we got close to our driveway.
  She has been pushing back her nap or skipping it way to often lately.  I think she's been feeling the effects because when I was getting her ready and wind down she moved my hand so I could stroke her hair.
  We went to Kyuramen again.  This time one of the other servers gave Miss Spud a fist bump and she managed to give one back.  She was a bit unsure about it.  Later that same server brought her a Maneki Neko keychain.  She loved how the gold pot spun on its paw.
  She is having more and more fun putting on lotion.  She asks for many daps on her hands, arm, and now legs.  She's getting better at using her whole hand to rub it in instead of just her fingertips.


Week 90:
  We started her nap even later than we normally do after knitting, so dinner was even later.  When we were deciding what to have she took the tinted lip balm out of my pocket, took the cap off, and mangled it with her finger.  I offered a trade for the cap for that in exchange for a regular lip balm.  She didn't want to give up the cap, but we got it figured out.  She then proceeded to have a meltdown if we tried to take it from her.  After a few minutes she dropped it on the other side of the baby gate.  She was laying there, reaching through, like she was trying to save her best friend in a dramatic film.  Her face was covered in tears and snot.  She managed to get it back and everything was okay again.  She was also a lot happier overall after some fruit gummies.
  I went to go and get her before we went out to dinner.  She hadn't napped yet and when I went in she handed me her diaper.  I doubt checked and found her checks flapping in the breeze.  I had to change her sheets and spray her mattress a bit because of a wet spot.
  We dropped off the donations to T.A.P.S. together.  She wasn't sure what to make of the giant escalators or the glass backed elevators.  She was very quiet and held tightly to my finger.  She wasn't sure if she could trust the luggage cart.  When I was done unloading the bags I didn't see her next to me, where I had left her.  She had moved to put me between herself and the cart.
  I had to use the bathroom about halfway through her nap and she was standing up and looking at me when I came out.  I said "Shh, you're asleep" and after giving me a blank stare, she laid back down and went back to sleep.
  Most of the trip to the cabin was spent taking shoes and socks off and putting them back on.  She can sometimes put her sock back on, or her pull on shoe without a sock, but not her pull on shoe with a sock.  When we went to get out to get ice cream we couldn't find her other shoe.  After pulling her one sock and shoe off, put on her other shoes, I found it behind her head.


Week 91: First part
  When she woke up there were dogs visiting.  She tried to let Gremlin sniff her apple, but she took it as an offering.  She was having a great time chasing Caley.
  We had a pretty fun, if wet, short hike.  Miss Spud got carried some of it, but had a great time.  We all had to dry off when we got back.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Apparently I Don't Look Hungry

  I was getting dinner ready after letting Tank on my back porch when I heard some weird sounds.  When I went out to look; either the fox, Tank, or both were making unhappy sounds at each other.  It's screened in with bars, so unless there was suddenly a big rip in the doorway, there was no way for them to easily get at each other.  I got Tank inside and the fox ran off when I came out.  Tank's tail was puffed all the way out.  The foxes came back to the stairs and sniffed around, and Tank kept checking the door to the porch.
  One of the foxes came back on the porch, sniffing cautiously.  The other stayed at the bottom of the stairs.  After some more checking on both parties' parts; one fox went under the porch, the other curled up by the tree near the porch stairs, and Tank got a snack before wondering off and taking a nap.

  There was the incident with Mother's Day.  Then when my mom, Mary, and I were at a ramen place I wanted to try the Omurice.  I was going to compare how it is to the ones I get at anime conventions.  We asked about my food not long after the other food has come out.  We were told that they only have one chef working on them, which makes sense to me.  When our waitress asked about desserts we asked again about my food and she seemed shocked that I hadn't gotten it yet.  The manager came over and apologized since everyone else was done and my food was just getting out.  It ended up getting comped, which was very nice of them.  He said he was thankful that we were understanding and said most people would have really torn into him about it.  He also said he was going to talk with the kitchen staff about it.
  It was nicer than the ones at the conventions.  The egg is less cooked and cut open at the table where the ones are the conventions is drawn on by the maids.  The fried rice was of higher quality, and I got it with curry sauce.  It tasted just like Golden Curry, which is my favorite curry.  I would definitely get it from them again, even with all of the wait time I had.  The next time we go, Mary wants to try and get one of their themed private rooms.  It doesn't cost more, but it means a longer wait time when they are busy.


Yearly Yarn Tracker:
Yarn In: 18 (0)
Yarn Out: 35 (6)
Total: -17

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Oil Spill Hat

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Coffee and Red Heart Unforgettable in Gossamer - Needle: US 11 (8 mm)
  I really like how it came out with the dark brown.  It isn't as harsh as the black.  It's still dark, but a warmer dark color.  When I make some of the other rainbow hats, I'm going to have to use brown again.

Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage - Loops & Threads Impeccable in Stillness - Coats & Clark Red Heart maypole in 782 Country Berry - Red Heart Stripes in Americana - Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn in Cake Batter - Bernat Softee Baby in Baby Denim Marble
  I keep distracting myself from making worms and octopi with other projects.  I'm also working on the house more lately.  I felt very overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to put it back together after the flood.  But as I'm putting things back, I can take time to look through them, I'm figuring out what I actually want to keep and use or pass on.

Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage - Loops & Threads Impeccable in Stillness - Coats & Clark Red Heart maypole in 782 Country Berry - Red Heart Stripes in Americana
  For Mother's Day we went out for brunch.  Everyone's food came out except for mine.  When we asked about it again, because it was long enough that everyone else was either done or almost done, we were told there was kitchen drama.  I just wish we had been told what the drama was!!  I love some workplace drama that doesn't affect me.


Yearly Yarn Tracker:
Yarn In: 18 (7)
Yarn Out: 29 (2)
Total: -11

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

A Bit of Pride Prep

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M.  - Size: 12 sc top - Yarn: Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn in Cake Batter - Hook: US E/4 (3.5 mm)
  I don't know why it didn't occur to me before that if I was going to try and make an adult sized hat with a thin yarn, I need to add more single crochets/more short rows.  This will keep the hat from having a comically small "decrease" crown area and prevent bunching from having to do so many extra wedges.  I was so glad it worked.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 56 sts - Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Stripes in Americana - Needle: US 11 (8 mm)
  I had to make this one twice.  I was pulling from the inside and the outside of the skein to double the yarn.  I was letting the colors fall where they may and was liking the look well enough until I was about half way done.  When a few sections of the red and white lined up, I realized that I liked the look of that more.  The blue had fallen so that only one strand at a time was blue, with only a few stitches overlapping.  I've never done any planned pooling before, but it didn't take as long as I feared it would to get everything lined up.
  I started with the blue sections together.  After offsetting the pattern by one white and red section I had to adjust a bit more since the pattern was going in two different directions and one side had white and the other had red before the blue.  I think having to deal with some tangled yarn was worth the finished item.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 - Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Black and Red Heart Unforgettable in Gossamer - Needle: US 11 (8 mm)
  I keep trying to work on other hats, but I just keep coming back to this one for now.  I added 8 more stitches than the pattern normally calls for to make a larger size.  She says the size is for an adult, but with the brim folded up, I find it a little tight on my head.  I have also added a plain row to the crown after the first two decrease rows and have added another decrease row at the top.
  I would say that this one got it out of my system, but I have another planned.  I do also have a few other patterns queued up.


Yearly Yarn Tracker:
Yarn In: 11 (1)
Yarn Out: 27 (2)
Total: -16