Tagged family

posting sort of out of an obligation, but also wanting to put out some ruminations.

obligation: it's been close to two weeks since my last, and my current task for site dev is "focus on posting" which, i haven't been doing. lately i've been faltering on that resolution to 'post moar'. oh well! it's been a busy week! c'mon gimme a break.

i started out with a half-day of telework last friday to give my wife a chance to take care of some errands. monday i was going to telework as well, but that turned into taking most of the day off when she had to go to the doctor, and then the ER. she spent two nights in the hospital, meaning i had to take tuesday off too, before finally being able to come home on wednesday. just in time for the twins' birthday!! it's the small blessings.

but that isn't without a wrinkle: my mother is in town! a kind, loving, but sometimes frustrating woman, she is staying with us through the weekend for the babies' first birthday party. that happens tomorrow. in the meantime we've been using the last 72 hours since her flight landed to catch up (at the worst hours of the night), tote the kids around town to various thrift stores, and prep the house in one way or another for hosting upwards of a dozen people. it's a lot of work to make this place presentable, but i do think we've managed it. i was already planning on taking this time off work, so no surprises there. just wish that the duration of this break had been due to better circumstances.

these kids are amazing; this week has given their mother and i a chance to look through the past year and see how far they've come since they first entered this world. they've both quintupled their birth weights, just about. they've sprung up like weeds, they eat like athletes, and they're probably a month and change away from walking without any assistance. then we will truly have toddlers on our hands. nothing else excites me like that prospect.

now for the rumination part: despite making some sort of resolution within myself to waste less time on my phone, and despite taking steps to do so (like uninstalling most social media, blocking short-form video feeds, etc.) i still find myself opening it and looking for something, anything, in the way of visual stimulation. it would appear my brain is broken and i don't know what to do about it. i have the self awareness to notice when i'm doing it, but not to stop it before it happens. bluh. i'm hoping that once this week is over and things calm down, and we get back into a routine, maybe i'll have some self control. who could say.

anyway, i am really looking forward to this party tomorrow!! signing off.

-grady c

i find myself wishing i had made this website ages ago, so that it would already be the thing i want it to be without having to put in the effort to get it there.

i'm about to finish another book and wishing i had a place to log book reviews (other than goodreads). i have this same inclination every time i play a video game and want to write a few thoughts about it. truly it makes me wish i had an easier way to journal that didn't require me to bust out my laptop every time i want to post something.

but on the other hand, maybe i just need to keep my laptop close at hand. i can type faster than i can write, after all.

overall, i'm just not sure what i want this site to be. i've got a blog to journal in, but this blog structure isn't super conducive to anything other than posts. if i want an actual static page, it's just not that simple. i could have this be one wing of a bigger website? maybe i will get to that point some day.

my indecisiveness is causing me to lose sleep. i need to just accept what i've got and not push the limits because i don't have the time.

this weekend has been a bit hectic, my wife was sick so i had to take care of the kids largely by myself for the past four days, taking a couple of days off work in the process. that's okay though, i had been thinking about how i wanted a 3 day weekend, and i got one! i just wish the circumstances hadn't involved a family member being 70% bedridden for 3 days. anyway. i love those little babies. babies are great. nobody ever tells you how cool babies are.

other notes: i'm almost done reading the last of the cosmere novels (by brandon sanderson) and i need to figure out what to read next. i'm about halfway done with my next leather project! that'll be up on the gallery in like. a week or so. this upcoming week is going to be very busy, not least of which because we've got a baby shower to attend next weekend, and my wife needs to finish a quilt and mobile as gifts for our friends. let's cross our figures and hope the little ones are agreeable this week.

-grady c

this isn't actually a test post. more of an acknowledgement that i've been screwing around a lot lately with my website's layout instead of a) posting anything or b) doing anything that i could post.

i did manage to fix that a bit today, though. i learned how not to make a leather moccasin for a baby. i ended up producing an object that resembles a shoe, but would not really be useful or wearable as one.

this weekend was sorely needed, last week at work dragged on far longer than it should have, and it just made me miserable by the end of it. i dread waking up tomorrow because it means going back. i don't exactly hate my job, i don't even dislike it!! but it would go a long way towards me truly enjoying it if i was doing something fun, or exciting, or challenging on a regular basis, and i'm mostly not. tomorrow, for example, i have six one-hour meetings back to back. outside of that i will likely be generating more documentation. lovely! 🤮

back to this weekend: yesterday i made an attempt at finding a new d&d group to play with, and it was sadly unsuccessful. the gm i was going to play with and i didn't really click, and so i don't plan to return to participate in his campaign. alas, and my prayers go out to the poor soul who i helped build their character sheet. i wish them the best of luck, but i cannot and will not help somebody gm better. i have neither the patience nor inclination to step on toes when i could dance better solo. guess i go back to rotating my own blorbos.

thankfully yesterday wasn't a total bust. we took the kids to the library where they had an amazing time at the little toddler play area. today was largely full of relaxing, as well as the aforementioned creation of a not-quite-shoe-shaped object. dinner was wonderful greek quinoa and rice bowls with falafel, and it was really came together. delish.

that's about it for my weekend. maybe this week i'll find the time to figure out how to shoehorn a project gallery into this blog template. or maybe i'll give up and just use the minifeeds as-is, we shall see. signing off for now.

i don't know what idea i had in my mind that it would be easy to pick web design back up. partially it's my fault for picking a template based on functionality and not appearance, but i still get the impression that just don't know what i'm doing anymore. either way, i'll get this thing under control at some point. for the time being, please accept the "under construction" sign on the homepage as a concession of defeat.

we've got my mother-in-law in town this weekend to help out with the kids. we're heading to a concert and having a nice dinner alone, something we've not needed desperately, but is still very welcome.

it's only a handful of weeks left until the twins turn one. they're starting to walk (albeit with much assistance) and i haven't shed a tear over it yet, but i definitely am going to.

the illness that has plagued our household (aka The Crud™) has finally left our domicile, and none too soon. good riddance!! maybe now i can finally get back to games and hobbies and whatnot. of course, i do need to order some supplies before i get my next project(s) started in earnest, but nbd.

anyway, i'll call that a decent first post for this blog. more tk tk

-grady c