Whoops!

Oldest Son had a birthday on 8, March.  His 22nd Day of Life’s Gift, to be precise.  So of course, we had cake.  However he is lactose intolerant (though he gets upset with me if I try to make foods that can accommodate his ailment.  He just loves dairy products.  🤷🏻‍♀️), so the traditional Carvel ice cream cake was out of the question.  Instead, we just picked one up at the local grocery store, and had that.  It was a good cake and all, but it never occurred to me to NOT to hand a number 2 birthday candle to the little Flower.

Can’t see the problem?  Try this one.

Should look more like that.  NOW do you see why this was a bad decision on my part?  Yep, little Flower ATE THE CANDLE.  😂🤣  I don’t know WHAT was going on in my head when I did that, but we all laughed when we saw it!  Things only a 2yo would do, right?  Gotta remember not to do that until she’s a bit older.  But good for a laugh, and we can all look back and have a chuckle over it, especially when she’s 22 and having her birthday.  🙂

I suffer from terrible insomnia, among other things.  I believe it’s a side issue related to the bipolar disorder, but I haven’t proven that yet.  For example, right now it is 3:12am on a Thursday as I’m laying in bed writing this, and I find myself completely unable to sleep.  It’s a terrible affliction, insomnia, and it gets really old, really quick.  But there’s simply nothing I can do about it, since I can’t/ won’t take sleeping meds, due to my history with them not working and the horrible side effects they have on me.  So I’m trying to find more productive uses for my sleepless nights, but so far Netflix and Bejeweled have been my only companions on those nights when sleep alludes me.  

The problem with having insomnia is, though, that that’s also when all these thoughts start jumbling around in my head, and I just can’t make them stop.  And they get worse when I have no one to talk to, which is frequently the problem at times between 10pm and 8am.  Because once I’ve FINALLY fallen asleep, the next day I don’t generally remember any of what was going through my head the night before.  Not that I really have anyone to talk to during the day, either, but at least there are a couple better options than nothing and no one.  

So I’m thinking I might start writing here when I get these insomnia-driven thought-tornadoes going, and just save them until I feel like posting them.  Maybe it’ll be good for me to at least get the thoughts out, even though I know no one actually reads this thing.  So I’ll start now.

Earlier tonight, as I was sitting on the loveseat, which is my usual position when I’m not at the dining room table or in my bed, covered in kittens, and I started thinking that I want to start sewing again.  I used to sew all the time, but once I started working, I just lost track of it.  I still bought loads of fabric, I just never made what I bought the fabric to make.  So as I was sitting there, being used as a bed by Rocky and Lilum, I realised I miss sewing.  Oh, obligatory photo of cute kittens.  Because reasons. 

Rocky is the little black one in front, and Lilum is the calico behind him.  They both believe my chest is the best bed in the world.  lol

He wanted me to stop talking, I guess.  lol

Now back to what I was saying.  I’ll get these ideas, and then, the next day, if I actually remember them in the first place, I don’t want to do them anymore.  My sister says it’s the bipolar, that I’m having these manic moments when I can’t sleep, and then, the next day, the depression keeps me from accomplishing any of it. I guess it could be worse.  Creative tendencies shouldn’t be too difficult to handle, right?

Oh boy...

... here we go again!  Or at least, we think it’s here we go again.  It seems, despite vigilant attempts to prevent it, Oldest Son’s dog may have managed to knock up Miss V’s chihuahua.  This is said chihuahua, the crazy thing.

This will be her second pregnancy in her 7+ years with us, and I am NOT looking forward to it.  Though admittedly, her last one DID mellow her out noticeably, it just didn’t stick around long after the pups were born.  And this time, the doggy-baby-daddy is a bit larger than the Pomeranian who was the first one.  He’s a sweet little boy, but he just couldn’t resist her feminine wiles, and I guess we’ll know for certain within the new couple of weeks, but I just...  UGH!!!  We don’t need this at the moment.  But we’ll deal with it, as we always do.  I just hope her pregnancy and delivery is as easy as her first one was.  We didn’t even know she had given birth the last time, she was so quiet about it.  So now I have yet another thing to deal with, but I’m not going to worry about it until I know for certain.  I’ll keep updating as we find out!

Aaahh...

Sometimes, after a day at work, my feet positively ache.  And so far, nothing but laying down with my legs raised above heart level for about 2 hours is all that has helped.  But the other day, I stumbled upon this recipe for a foot soak, and I fell in LOVE with it.  It smells wonderful, and actually helps my feet feel better in 20 minutes FLAT.  I just dumped the required amount into my foot bath (a Christmas gift from my daughter 2 years ago) and 20 minutes later...  aaahh...  no more sore feet and I can still smell the peppermint! I did add the essential oil to it, as I didn’t feel the tea had enough oomph on its own, and let it run.  Ooh, the relief was amazing!  I’ve had to make more because my kids are just as in love with it as I am.  lol

Ignore my messy floor, it needs a good cleaning, and I just haven’t had the time or desire to clean it.  lol  The only “problem” with it, and it’s really not even a real problem, hence the quotation marks, is that if you use the peppermint tea in it, you’ll end up with teensy tiny bits of peppermint tea in a ring around your feet.  So not really a problem at all, just a personal preference.  I’m going to make up a big jar of it to keep on-hand for days when I come home with aching feet.  So thank you, Erin at Suburban Simplicity, for a great foot soak recipe that has helped keep me from suffering from aching feet!

Surprise!

Well, seeing as how the cat’s out of the proverbial bag, and it’s been announced officially, I can post about it here.  It seems my son and his fiancée are expecting number 2 this coming October.  Of course, we are all excited, and wish her the very best, and hopefully she won’t have the same horrible hyperemesis gravidarium she had last time.  Oh, she was MISERABLE her last pregnancy, as she could barely hold anything down!  And she also didn’t even have the joy of a baby belly to show for it.  Even though my beautiful grandbaby was a healthy weight and a good length, her mama barely showed at all!  

But this time, it’s looking like she’s NOT going to have to deal with the horrible vomiting, and she might even show this time.  She’s only a few weeks along (6 or 7, to be exact), but already has a tiny bump going on.  And believe it or not, she’s excited to get a big ol’ pregnant belly.  She said she felt like she missed out on something not having one the first time.  lol

So, when she found out she was pregnant, as I did with my oldest, she said, “Baby, mama’s got a new baby in her belly.  Is it a boy or a girl baby?”  And my sweet Flower said, “Oh mommy, is girl baby!”  So now we just have to wait a few weeks and see if her prediction is as spot on as her father’s was.  But whatever she has, we’ll all be happy so long as s/he’s healthy and has no complications.  But that’s all for today from up here in the wilds of northern Florida!  Have a great one!

Sometimes I feel like it would be nice to have friends that I can talk to about anything.  As it stands right now, my one real friend lives over 300 miles away, and we rarely talk anymore, likely because of the distance between us, as well as familial and social obligations.  So I have no one to go to when I’m having a problem with one of my kids (lately it’s the Oldest I’m having problems with...), or when I just need to vent about something that’s just really irritated me.  Sure, I talk to people all the time, but I don’t always manage to do more than listen with most of them.  They call me to complain about their own lives, and the second I want to talk about my own life, they have to go and can’t talk anymore.  🙄

Makes it really hard when I’ve had a particularly bad day, or when I’m just not feeling quite up to snuff.  Not having anyone to vent to really is a problem for me.  So I might start using this space for that.  I mean, let’s face it.  No one actually reads this blog, so it’s really more for my own catharsis than it is for anything else, right?

Adventures in Crafting

My daughter is a wonderful young lady, she truly is.  She can be quite a handful at times, but for the most part, she’s pretty mellow.  But she’s also a great deal like my husband’s sister, in that she’s more interested in finding a way to make money than she is in finding a boyfriend or playing with makeup.  So tonight we started testing out recipes to make bath bombs and shower melts.  

Tonight’s recipe failed.  Epically.  Both the bath bombs and the shower melts.  But I believe the problem with the bath bombs was ours, and not the original poster, as I think she added too much witch hazel to it. But no matter, we’ll be trying again.  But, it’s also been fun, being able to just sit down with her, and not worry about what this person or that is doing/ saying, only looking at our phones to check the recipe instructions, instead of being totally consumed by social media and all of its “charms.”  

She’s excited to try again, to see if we can get the balance of dry to wet correct.  And then, if we can, we’ll invest in some soap colourant so we don’t dye ourselves pink or purple or whatever colour from food colour.  But it’s a learning experience for her, and that’s what I like.  It’s letting her know that it’s okay to fail, and that sometimes she’s going to fail, even that sometimes she NEEDS to fail, so that she can then appreciate when things work out and go her way.

As I mentioned before, she wants to try to earn money for herself, and this is one of the ways she’s trying out to do that before she’s old enough to get a real job.  And I’m going to encourage her to do exactly that.  She is bound and determined to be a successful, independent woman on her own.  This is definitely going to be an adventure with her.  🙂