the random, as usual.

Is it tacky to ask how much preschool is supposed to cost? I absolutely know it's regional, but I am sort of looking into the preschool situation lately, since E will be four in the fall. I have found a few more options than I thought I had, and am currently researching the possibility of her attending the public school that she'll be going to kindergarten at next year, which I didn't think would be possible but just might be. That would be free, which would be excellent, of course. Tuition locally seems to be $1400/$2260/$4,000 per year. I think it would be excelent for her to get some social skills. It also sounds delightful, three hours or so per day where I could do whatever I wanted. :) M is laughing at me because I used to talk about homeschooling. Of course that wouldn't be for another five months but still. :)

Not to cement my reputation as a rashy sort of person or anything, but I have broken out in an unexplained rash again. Not itchy yet so far, just a heap of red dots, nearly everywhere I have skin, which actually is a vast amount of area for said dots. Wonderful! My allergist won't be in town until next Wednesday or I'd have booked an appointment with him, but it hardly seems worth the trouble of going to the regular doctor. I know from experience that they won't do much, or if they do something, it'd be ineffective at best. I just wish I knew what caused it so I could avoid it.

I'm trying to turn a corner of the sunroom into a crafty space. It's slow going but I've spent a little time out there accomplishing actual sewing stuff. Yesterday, I made Evie a skirt! A real garment that I would like to see her wear in public! I have never really had much desire to make wearables but it was a special kind of awesome to see her strutting her stuff in a mama-made skirt. It was super-simple and would have taken almost no time had I not had space and supply and childwatch issues. I'd post pictures but I don't have them transferred yet. My plan is to make a quilt in quilt-as-you-go fashion (as linked to by grain_damaged, to this post), but although I've made a bunch of trips to the craft store to buy supplies for this project, starting with thread and bobbins that I ended up not needing because I finally (yay) found my lost sewing stuff, but I somewhat managed to not buy anything for the back of the thing. I am good with mixing and matching, but my supply of quilting fabrics is pretty low. In the meantime, I'm cutting strips and cleaning up my stash, so I'm still getting stuff done with it. I have a lot of flannel and I thought of using squares of that, but I am not sold on the idea for a lot of reasons, one of which includes that my stash of flannel is very kid-oriented. Or moose-oriented. I couldn't resist clearance moose flannel at some point and now I have no clue what I should DO with it. In general, I need to figure out what to do with flannel now that I am not sewing diapers and liners and similar. Thoughts?

I have a perfectly awesome story to end with. My grandfather went in for an eye doctor appointment last week. My mom had recently gone to get her eyes checked and made appointments for my dad and her dad, neither of whom had been in a long while. My grandfather has very poor vision. Not only does he have cataracts, but he's almost completely blind in one eye. A piece of wood flew up into his eye thirty years ago, more or less putting it out. He can see vague light and shadow through it and nothing else. Also, he's color-blind, which just adds to the mess. So anyway, he went to the doctor, who examined his eyes and scheduled him for cataract surgery tomorrow (which is being canceled, I believe, due to illness) and.... also informed him that he actually DOES have vision in his right eye, and if he would come back in a week after the first cataract surgery, he'd put a lens in the bad eye which would allow him to see with it again. After THIRTY YEARS, he would be able to have vision in BOTH EYES. Can you imagine? Because I can't even fathom how that would feel. It is also entirely possible that he won't let them do it. He's had a lot of health problems in the last year and is pretty depressed about his overall state, so it'd really be just like him to say he didn't want to bother with something like that... but I am still excited at the concept just because isn't life strange like that?