News

Saturday

Saturday dad and I drove a few hours each way to a nearby city to visit with my aunt, uncle, and some of their kids. There was a party for my cousin’s 50th birthday, which was a lot of fun. I also got to meet an online friend that I’ve never met before. It was a lovely meeting.

Sunday

Sunday I worked. Aaron made chili. D14 pruned, dug rocks out of the bed, and dug around a stump so I could get it out. It was in 3 parts, and the two of us got 2 of them out before it got dark. IL5 also helped by digging up dirt from the pile D14 had made and moving it to another place, and patting it down. Luckily, we have lots of spare soil to fill in the hole.

Monday

Monday started with back-to-back telehealth appointments for all three kids with the same doctor. Then I made beef stew, dropped IL5 off at school, ran to Best Buy, Home Depot, and Target. At Home Depot, I picked out a lovely green for our living room walls – which we’ll paint when I’ve saved up some money – probably in Fall.

In the evening, I hurt my foot by putting my weight on it when it was asleep. The ankle rolled. The pain actually seems to be in the bone rather than a tendon, strangely. (I’m guessing because the pain is on the top of my foot, but I could be wrong.) Sometimes the foot doesn’t hurt at all, but it was hurting enough to make it hard to sleep when I first went to bed.

IL5 said his most heinous part of his day was when Bobby poured ketchup in his hair. Bobby was surprised to learn that he had done that.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with an appointment for D14. Then I had my therapy session. I was pissed to find out that after my first two sessions of unhelpful (to me) diagnostic appointments she told me that she’s leaving the clinic, and I needed to find a new therapist. Since she was the only therapist at multiple agencies that fit my schedule, I don’t want to go through the effort of finding a new one. So my time and money has been wasted. That put me in a very pissy mood. Then I had another appointment.

In the evening, M11 had his jazz band concert. He surprised us by having a solo! Though to be honest I knew he had a solo because I thought he’d told me, but in retrospect I think he just mumbled something about it to himself, and I overheard. But it was a surprise to his bio parents. Regardless, he did great.

Wednesday

Wednesday I had my first day of leisure in a year. Literally. A year. I read my last year’s diary entry every day, and the last day that I took purely to myself popped up in my “last year today” section of my diary app. So I deserved a day off.

I got home from work at 9:30am, and had free-time till 4:15pm, when IL5 got off the bus. I couldn’t get anyone to have lunch with me, so I had a soup and salad from Cafe Zupa. I wrote two letters, read for 90 minutes, and took a nap.

In the evening, M11 had his tech rehearsal for Music Man and I read to D14 while IL5 played with his cars.

Thursday

Thursday I worked my day job after getting off my night job. M11 had opening night of his play, and Aaron and I went. He had a lot of lines, and he did fantastic.

Friday

Friday I took IL5 to an appointment. After that, I had been going to take him to the park, but it was windy and ever-so-slightly snowing. Instead, I took him to Olive Garden, and we had a lovely chat. He decided he wanted to be an architect. M11 was going to be a graphic designer, D14 a psychologist, daddy a financial analyst, and “other mommy” a scientist.

After lunch, we relaxed the rest of the day. In the evening, we put up the glow-in-the-dark stars and solar system stickers in his room. I’ve got a few more toys to move back into his room, but otherwise his room is now totally set up.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter North Dakota
• One letter Michigan
• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Maryland

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen podcast
• Maid, by Stephanie Land
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Bible

Reading to IL5

• Game Over Super Rabbit Boy!, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Cress, by Marissa Meyer
• Exile, by Shannon Messenger (reading this together)
• Fairest, by Marissa Meyer

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

News

Saturday

Saturday I slept in because I’d taken some NyQuil for a cough, and I was still feeling groggy in the morning. Aaron and I played D&D in the afternoon.

Sunday

Sunday I went to work. When I got home, the family went out to Red Lobster. I also set up an appointment to meet with a potential new kitten. The foster mom sounded skeptical that a 5 year old should get a kitten, so hopefully she gives us a chance.

Monday

Monday Aaron and I attended Zoom meetings for transitioning IL5’s IEP to kindergarten and D14’s IEP to high school. Then, IL5 and I went to the library. He picked out a book on the Bush dynasty to read to him. We were unable to watch the eclipse because it was cloudy (boo!). I spent a good amount of time moving toys back into IL5’s room. (J20 moved them all downstairs in a very disorganized way when he was in IL5’s room, so moving them back in is a process.) I didn’t quite finish, but he’s happy with the result for now. Then a guy came to look at our tree stumps to give us a removal estimate. In the evening, Aaron went to a baseball parent meeting and I took IL5 to swim lessons.

Tuesday

On Tuesday I ran errands, did yardwork, and took D14 to a dentist appointment.

Wednesday

Wednesday was anxiety-ridden. I hate vet appointments, and was dreading it all day. When I got home from my overnight job, I couldn’t really get myself to do anything except take a nap until M11’s dentist appointment. (Anxiety makes me very tired.)

When I got up from my nap, I went to the livingroom to pick up my book for the dentist appointment, and one of the cats had peed on it! I know cats pee in obvious places in order to get the attention of humans when they’re sick or in pain. It’s almost as if they knew the book would be obvious. It had to be either Polyphemus or Puck, because Hero doesn’t get on the table. But, coincidentally, I was taking Puck to the vet that day. I dried off the book and set it down to dry further. I was already anxious, and it was a disappointment to not take the book to the appointment.

As I was leaving, I ran into dad, who was walking back from his dentist appointment. We had both expected him to get his dentures that day, but it was just another fitting. He has another fitting in 3 weeks, and will get the teeth in a further 3 weeks. We had been going to eat pizza that night to celebrate his new teeth.

M11’s dentist appointment went smoothly. No cavities. They recommended further orthodontics, and I told them that we’d agreed with M11 that he didn’t have to wear his retainer after the last set of braces as long as he realized we wouldn’t pay for his second set of orthodontics. So, no, his crowded teeth and overbite is not something we’ll do anything about when he won’t actively participate in his orthodontics.

When I got home, I immediately stuffed Puck and Hero into cages. I’d been dreading that all week, because Puck is hard to get into a cage, but this was easy. Of course, they were howling, which bothered my anxiety. I was taking them to the vet to get updated on vaccinations, since I hadn’t been responsible about their boosters over the years because vet appointments stress me out so much.

Puck ended up being a problem. First, we needed a urine sample to see if he had a bladder infection (related to the peeing in a strange place – that’s a common reason to do that.) Then they discovered an ear infection, which could be the reason he (might have) peed on my book. But they also discovered that he had dropped 3 pounds since the last vet appointment, which they said was too much, and they needed bloodwork to see if there was an imbalance somewhere. Also distressing was the fact that both cats will have to come back in 3 weeks for another booster.

$600 later, I took the cats home. I called up the cat rescue organization and explained to them that we shouldn’t come and look at the kitten we were going to buy because the cats still aren’t “fully vaccinated.” I dreaded telling the kids. They were looking forward to seeing the kitten. Then I took another nap.

We had pizza anyway. Dad gummed his.

Thursday

Thursday I went from my night job to my day job, as usual on Thursdays. In the evening, Aaron and I finished watching the penultimate season of Supernatural. I tried putting ear cleaner in Puck’s ears. He is supposed to get cleaning drops in his ears every 2 days. After putting in the cleaning drops, I’m supposed to stick my finger in his ear to scoop out the gunk. Then I’m also supposed to give him medicine in both ears every day for seven days. But Puck isn’t a very compliant cat. I got in a squirt of ear cleaner to the right ear, but no finger-in-ear or medicine. I’ll try alternating ears for a couple of weeks, then putting in medicine daily for a week. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to scoop the gunk, though. He’d never let me do that.

Friday

Friday IL5 had 3 appointments. Speech, PT, and the dentist. We decided he didn’t need any more PT. So, yay! Another regular appointment off my agenda. The dentist appointment went really well. IL5 let the dentist look at and brush his teeth, and the dentist said that IL5’s teeth looked great. I managed to successfully squirt the wax remover in Puck’s ear without getting scratched. Then Aaron, D14, and I watched a couple episodes of X-Files.

I got the results of Puck’s blood test and urine test on Friday. He has stage 2 kidney disease and microscopic amounts of blood in his urine (possibly from infection, possibly from inflammation of the bladder). He needs to have his kidney function rechecked in 3 months.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Maine
• One letter Texas
• One letter Alberta

Reading to myself

• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Murder Your Employer, by Rupert Holmes
• Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Maid, by Stephanie Land
• Bible

Reading to IL5

• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Sydney and Taylor Take a Flying Leap, by Jacqueline Davies
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Side-Quest Test, by Thomas Flintham
• Fran that Time Forgot, by Jim Benton
• Press Start: Super Game Book!

D14 reading

• Matched, by Ally Condie
• Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
• Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

Taylor decides he wants to fly, and Sydney isn’t supportive. But Taylor wants to fly anyway. This was a cute and very colorful story that kept my 5yo happily engaged.

Mad scientist Franny hates being laughed at. So when everyone found out her middle name was Kissyface, she was angry when they laughed. So she invented a time machine to change her name. This was a cute book, and my 5yo stayed engaged and loved the pictures.

In this penultimate season of Supernatural, sharks are jumped and things feel a bit crusty and old. I’m a bit exhausted by this series.

News

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. I got on the exercise bike twice – each for 10 minutes – which is twice what I managed on Friday. In the afternoon, Aaron took the car for a tire rotation, and I walked to the library and then the playground with IL5. We found a new book in his favorite series, so he was thrilled. We all (minus D14, who was with her mom) watched Return of the King.

Sunday

Easter was fun. There was way too much candy, the kids hunted eggs in the yard, IL5 had a ball playing with the plastic eggs (drawing on them and connecting them in strings since they were hinged), we had a ham dinner, then watched Resident Alien.

IL5 earned a cat by pooping in the toilet! He’d been promised one if he did it in March. Lo and behold, on the last day in March he pooped in the toilet.

Monday

Monday worked out acceptably. I had intended on taking IL5 to the park before school, but I spent that time pondering between getting a barn kitten immediately or adopting from a rescue. In the end, we decided to go for the rescue, though I have to re-up Puck and Hero’s vaccinations before they’ll give us a cat. I hadn’t realized they were behind on vaccinations.

After dropping IL5 at school, dad and I ran errands. Then dad struggled in an attempt to fix our broken storm door – he doesn’t want us to buy a new one.

Then D14 had an appointment, IL5 had swim lessons, and M11 had Boy Scouts. M11 re-ran the mile for his rank-up. The last time he ran it, he got a time 7-something, and he was offended when Aaron and I told him he was mis-timed because he wasn’t fast enough for that time. He wanted so badly for us to be wrong. But we were right. They miss-measured the mile. He ran it Monday and got 12-something. Which is much more telling of his fitness level. I couldn’t run a mile that fast. Maybe I could run a 15 minute mile. I need to work on that.

Tuesday

Tuesday I took D14 to an appointment, worked on my cross-stitch, had a therapy session (yay!), took dad to an appointment, and cleaned the living room, which still needed some reorganizing after putting away the Christmas tree. In the evening, my friend Liz came over and we watched Doctor Who and cross-stitched.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning, I had an appointment right after work.. Then I ran errands and took M11 to an appointment. While all that was going on, some men came and put in our new porch railings, which are really nice and sturdy. I got to start reading to D14 again, since she’s no longer really busy.

Thursday

Thursday, I worked at my day job almost immediately after my night job. In the evening, I cross-stitched while watching Supernatural with Aaron.

Friday

On Friday morning I moved the furniture around in IL5’s newly painted yellow and orange room (pictures coming soon). I had to get rid of one piece of furniture in order to make room for his new dresser, but otherwise, organizing the room went smoothly. After that, IL5 had an appointment, and then IL5, dad, and I went to a playground.

Week’s Photos

Letters written

• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett
• Maid, by Stephanie Land
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Murder Your Employer, by Rupert Holmes
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Bible

Reading to IL5

• Rise of the Balloon Goons, by Troy Cummings
• Super Game Book, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

On his first day in a new school, Alexander finds a weird notebook with monsters drawn in it. Then those balloons that dance in front of car dealerships attack! This book was funny and fun. My 5 year old loved having it read to him.

Three witches accidentally get involved when a tyrant kills the king. Chaos ensues. As usual, Pratchett wrote a funny, fun book with a reasonable plot line for a fantasy satire. Fantastic!

This is a choose-your-own-adventure book featuring the characters for my 5-yo’s beloved book series Press Start. He enjoyed it.

Cross-Stitch

News

Saturday

Saturday was pretty laid back. I cooked some sausage stew for this week’s lunches and played D&D. Aaron was at his friend’s birthday party, D14 was at another showing of Mary Poppins, and M11 was with his mom.

Sunday

Sunday, we were supposed to get 10 inches of snow, and were told to stay off the roads if possible. So I called in to my job (he said he wasn’t feeling well enough to go out, anyway), and I spent the day at home. I spent 2 hours cooking a lasagna, wrote a letter, and vaguely went through my to-do list.

D14 had her D&D session, followed by the closing show of Mary Poppins. M11 got back from his mom’s house and picked his activities for his week-long Boy Scout camp this summer. IL5 built LEGO bosses. And then…Aaron took D14 to the airport at 2am for her DC trip.

Monday

Monday was fun. I woke the M11 and IL5 up to go to Perkins with me and dad. Then dad went to his cardiac rehab discharge (yay!). Afterwards, I took M11 and IL5 to the trampoline park. They loved it. M11 really exhausted himself. D14 sent lots of texts about her first day in DC. It was a full day.

Tuesday

Tuesday I kept myself pretty busy during the day. After doing some tasks around the house, dad had a phone appointment. Then I tried riding the new stationary bike, but it was hurting my hip, so I stopped after 5 minutes. (I think maybe I had the seat too high?) Then I ran several errands – some of which had been on my to-do list for months. Afterwards, I picked up IL5 and took him to an appointment. Then I started relaxing. We ordered a pizza and watched a few episodes of Supernatural.

Wednesday

Wednesday was my first day off in about 6 months. I’d been looking forward to it for weeks. I managed to not schedule anything between 9:30 when I got home from work and 5, when IL5 would get home. But family drama arose with my nephew, sister, and dad, and I got dragged in as a spectator and commenter. I spent some time consoling my sister and also some time expressing to my dad why my sister was angry (though apparently she wasn’t acting very well, so it’s hard to take her side). So I didn’t get any reading done, which I was very much looking forward to. The incident even derailed the first hour of my next day, as I was so distracted that I forgot to pack for job #2, so I had to go home before going to my second job.

D14 had gone text silent on Wednesday, despite giving us blow-by-blow accounts of DC on Monday and Tuesday. M11 watched TV all day, because I was too put out to tell him to get off after 2 hours.

Thursday

Thursday I went from job #1 to job #2. It was a relaxed day, and I was able to play D&D while my client watched TV. Upon coming home, I found dad and M11 in the middle of a Cobra Kai marathon. I cooked a salmon dinner, and then M11 and IL5 colored eggs. I focused the rest of the night on getting as much reading in as I could to see if I can still reach my weekly and monthly goals. I met my weekly goals with one day to spare, but I still need to finish 3 books to complete a monthly goal. I have 3 in mind… It’s been a slow reading month. D14 arrived back from her trip, but I didn’t see her, as I was in bed when she came in.

Friday

Friday morning I had another go on the new exercise bike, and this time my hip didn’t hurt. Though I got bored pretty quickly and got off. So now that I convinced myself to get on it, I need to convince myself to stay on it. 

I took IL5 to an appointment, then took M11 and IL5 to Harriet Island – a historical park that M11 wanted to get a picture at for Minnesota Studies. We followed that up with the Children’s museum. It was a mistake to take M11 there. He was bored silly and acting quite rude. IL5 loved it, though.

D14 hadn’t been awake when we left, and she was gone with her mom before we got back, so I still haven’t seen her post-trip.

In the evening, Aaron and I watched some Supernatural. I fell asleep, so now I have to catch up with the last episode. Finally, I spent a good chunk of time reading to get in my 200 minutes. I finished a book, so I’m in my way to meeting two last monthly goals.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Australia
• One letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• Unspeakable Mind, by Shaili Jain
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett
• Mr Ballen podcast
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Mahabharata
• Bible
• St Augustine’s Confessions, by William R Cook and Ronald B Herzman
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Racers, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Side-Quest Test, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie

Media Completed

Drake is taken from his family to the king’s castle. There, he finds out that he is a dragon master. He meets Worm, his earth dragon, as well as three other kids and their dragons. This is a second grade reading level chapter book. The story is left open for the next in the series, but the plot of this book is pretty much completed. My 5 year old LOVED this book. He got very excited as I was reading it. My stepson read this to me when he was nearing 7 years old, and he loved it too.

A destructive army is ravaging the lands, creating an empire for a new goddess. Only 7 people stand in their way: a team of antiheros. They are a demonologist, a necromancer, a war-god, a vampire, an alchemist, an orc, and a pirate queen. Together, they fight a mighty battle.

This book is not polite. It is rude and crude and dark. It’s also exciting, humorous at times, and fun. Definitely a good read for fantasy lovers who are fond of moral ambiguity.

News

Saturday

On Saturday, dad and I went to the afternoon show of Mary Poppins and Aaron went to the evening one. D14 did great.

Sunday

Sunday I worked, the D14, dad, and I watched Irish Wish on Netflix. D14 had her 4th Mary Poppins play and M11 arrived back from camp.

Monday

Monday morning, IL5 had a speech therapy appointment. Afterwards, we went to the library. Usually IL5 wants to stay quite a while, but he just picked out a book and left. 🤷‍♀️ Then Aaron and I had an IEP meeting for IL5. It sounds like he’s made plenty of progress on last year’s goals and will get new goals in the upcoming year. In the evening, IL5 had swim lessons and M11 had Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work I took D14 to two appointments, took dad to an appointment, then spent an hour sorting a month’s worth of clean laundry for the family. (This is D14’s job, but she got behind.) In the evening I had a therapy intake – thank God. I’m very burned out and I really need to let off steam in an appropriate environment. M11 had D&D later in the evening.

Wednesday

I’m really happy with Wednesday. I stayed productive all day till the evening. I took M11 to his eating disorder appointment, and he’s met his goal weight! Plus, he did a pushup in the evening, which is an improvement from his zero pushups at the beginning of his training for Boy Scouts. Then I took IL5 to his endocrinologist and a blood draw. D14 had a Mary Poppins production in the evening.

Thursday

After work on Thursday I went from my overnight job to my day job. I played a D&D game on my phone and wrote some letters on my downtime at work. As usual all my client wanted is for me to sit in the room with her. 

After work, I took D14 to her Mary Poppins play and then had a salmon dinner at home. M11 gave me a history lecture on the Napoleonic Wars and WWI based on some YouTube videos he’s watched. He apparently loves history. Then M11 and Aaron played a game of Magic.

Friday

Friday I had no appointments! I took IL5 to a community center playground on a playdate with his friends. Then we had a one-sided snowball fight (he didn’t throw any at me), followed by dinner with dad, Aaron, IL5, and me at a Mexican restaurant. M11 was with his mom and D14 at her play.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Belgium
• One letter California
• One letter Maine
• One letter Pennsylvania

Reading to myself

• Akata Woman, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Unspeakable Mind, by Shaili Jain
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Bible
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett
• Mahabharata
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team-up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Mass
• The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie
• The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Aaron reading

Maddie is broken hearted when the man she’s in love with falls for her friend. But when she flies to Ireland for their wedding, she makes a wish that goes awry. This was a very silly and rather over-used premise, and the movie was cheesy. But it was ok enough to finish.

In this set of lectures, Johnson discusses how Jesus is represented as a literary figure in both the canonical and apocryphal gospels. It’s an interesting exploration… especially how some information that seems canonical in Christian tradition are actually from the apocryphal gospels instead of the canonical ones. 

In this third of a trilogy on Nigerian magic, Sunny grows into a mature witch who manages to keep her promise to a spider god. The trilogy is very good, unless you are looking for an action book. This story is mainly about plot setup and is not deep or full of action. It’s still quite enjoyable, though.

News

Saturday

On Saturday Aaron and I played D&D. We have a new player, who seemed pretty cool. Then we had a date to our favorite date place, which reopened under new ownership on Thursday. But we didn’t stay long because they didn’t have their liquor license yet, so we just ate and came home. We were going to try playing a board game downstairs for the rest of our date, but IL5 always takes me going downstairs as an invitation to go downstairs himself. So I tried to relax for the evening, but I was feeling pretty peevish. D14 and dad watched more Cobra Kai, so now I’m behind (that’s not what I was peevish about). M11 is still grounded through Monday, so he was downstairs reading.

Sunday

Sunday, I worked and then Aaron, IL5, dad and I went to Olive Garden. D14 watched some Wednesday and then dad watched some Cobra Kai.

Monday

I didn’t sleep well Sunday night, so I was really tired on Monday. The weather was beautiful, and I intended on walking to the library and doing some housework, but I slept all day. M11 had rehearsal in the afternoon, IL5 had swim lessons in the evening, and D14 had dress rehearsals.

Tuesday

On Tuesday after work, I took D14 to an appointment. I was going to take dad to an appointment after that, but he was sick, so instead I took a nap. I’ve been burnt out lately, so I’m not getting a lot done. In the afternoon, M11 had jazz band rehearsal. In the evening D14 had Mary Poppins dress rehearsal.

Wednesday

Wednesday I went from my night job pretty much straight to my day job. In the evening, Aaron, M11, and I watched Divergent while D14 was at rehearsal.

Thursday

After work on Thursday, I played D&D for a couple hours and then took dad to a cardiac rehab appointment. Afterwards, I drove to a bakery a neighboring city to get some treats for everyone. I got 2 cupcakes – color coded by kid – for each kid. I then helped IL5 build a labyrinth out of boxes for the cats. We’ve been saving up boxes for it for a while. It also had some rocks and straws as obstacles. D14 was sick all day.

When Aaron got home, he ate his treat, then grabbed a pink cupcake and walked up to D14 and taunted her that he was going to eat it. She tried to convince him it was her cupcake and he wasn’t supposed to eat it. I kept my mouth closed because I thought he was joking. Then he ATE the cupcake! He claimed that he really didn’t know it was D14’s. But he doesn’t get to forget soon, since he started it by taunting her.

Friday

Friday after work, IL5 had an appointment with his poop physical therapist. We discussed taking a break for a while, but she said she still had more to work on with him. Then we had his well-child visit with his pediatrician. We decided to wait on the feeding therapy until the poop appointments had settled down. In the evening, D14 had her opening night for Mary Poppins. She really enjoyed it.

Letters Written

• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Michigan
• One letter Oklahoma
• One letter Maryland

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy’s Time-Jump, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

In a world where almost everyone is separated into 5 factions, Beatrice doesn’t feel like she’s in the right faction…but when it comes to her coming-of-age test to see what her faction is, she comes up divergent – with no solid faction. She must hide this secret in a dangerous world.

I loved the book, but heard bad things about the movie, so I never watched it. By now, I’ve forgotten the book and forgotten the complaints about the movie, so I watched it with a fresh eye. It turned out to be an interesting movie. Not mind-blowing, but not bad.

Sophie and Agatha are best friends, but when Sophie wishes to be kidnapped and dropped into the School for Good, both Agatha and Sophie are taken. Except Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil and Agatha into the School for Good. This was a well-done movie, and I really enjoyed the story and light humor.

News

Saturday

Saturday M11 worked on his drafting merit badge with a bunch of other kids. D14 cooked some mint chocolate fudge. Aaron painted the ceiling of IL5’s room orange. In the afternoon, IL5, M11, D14, Dad, and I went to Nickelodeon Universe – the amusement park in the Mall of America. IL5 was unhappy even with the tiny “scary” rides, though M11 was fine with them and not the bigger scary rides. D14 wanted the bigger scary rides. But they all got as much as they wanted.

Sunday

Sunday I worked for several hours. D14 played D&D. Then we ate take-home Buffalo Wild Wings and watched Resident Alien as a family.

Monday

Monday was exhausting for no particular reason. It wasn’t any busier than a normal day, but somehow seemed a bit extra. It started with me getting up early to organize myself before mobilizing IL5 for his appointment, but D14 wanted me to proofread her essay, and then M11 wanted an explanation of Planned Parenthood (the subject of the essay) which somehow became a racially charged uncomfy conversation. (M11 has not matured enough to separate what his white supremacist YouTubers say and his own opinion, so every once in a while a difficult conversation happens. He’ll mature, though.) I was left without time to go through my morning ritual including absorbing my long to-do list and making an attack plan. In fact, I didn’t get to that until 2pm, meaning I missed my window of opportunity for some if the tasks.

IL5 had a good speech therapy, though. He’s up to 10th percentile in speech (from 5th last year). Yay! Then we played in the sandbox for a while before M11’s appointment. Soon, I dropped IL5 off at preschool and dad had his cardiac rehab appointment, which is when I had time to go through my to-do list.

Later, I took IL5 to swim lessons. Aaron picked D14 up from an activity, dropped her at rehearsal, took M11 to Boy Scouts, and picked up D14 from rehearsal. (All three kids had to be somewhere at the same time, and Aaron got the brunt of that.)

I was pleased to go to work at 10pm so I could sleep.

Tuesday

Tuesday Aaron and I met at the clinic for an appointment with D14. Then dad had a clinical pharmacist appointment, followed by a fitting for his dentures (finally!). Except they didn’t fit him for his dentures, they filed down a bone that was sticking out and we made another appointment in two weeks for the fitting.

M11 was grounded when I got home because, despite all the help we could give, he still didn’t finish his missing assignments by the end of the trimester. It feels like he simply chose to be grounded, when I’d given him so many chances and he knew he would get grounded.

However, he decided that he was going to go to the park on his bike, because he wanted to learn to ride. And, after Aaron pumped up his tires, he did it! He can ride a bike!

Wednesday

Wednesday dad had cardiac rehab in the morning. And, yay! He’s being discharged after 3 more appointments!!!! I’m so excited for my calendar to open up. I have a couple new regular appointments to schedule, though, including much-needed therapy for myself since I burned myself out over the past 4 or so months of non-stop appointments. So, still with the appointments, but at least I’ll have a place to vent and won’t have to listen to dad bitch and moan about all of his appointments.

Next, I had an appointment with my sleep specialist. Nothing new on my sleep disorder other than an encouragement to actually take the meds before driving. Which promise I promptly forgot by the next day.

IL5 had an event at his preschool next, and I had to leave that early (after a trade-off with Aaron) to get to an appointment with D14. The event was mainly a bonding experience in which he was supposed to show me around his classroom, but he was over that in a matter of minutes.

M11 had rehearsal for the middle school play, as usual, and then D14, dad, Aaron, and I went out to Olive Garden. IL5 was asleep and we made a deal with M11 that he could watch TV despite being grounded if he stayed home with IL5.

Thursday

Thursday after work I took D14 to an appointment, then I went to my day job. I was feeling a little sick at work – nauseated, cold, headachy. I wondered if I was coming down with norovirus since there’s an outbreak at IL5’s daycare, but after pacing around in a circle for 5000 steps my headache and nausea subsided and I was able to eat lunch and relax a little. (There was even more downtime at work than usual, thankfully. My client was just cheerfully watching TV.)

M11 had rehearsal in the afternoon. IL5 played with his Duplos all evening instead of watching TV, and I cooked a family dinner. So it was a good evening.

Friday

On Friday morning, IL5 had a poop psychologist appointment in the morning and promised to do his “exercises on the toilet” 10 times a day, but later we realized he expected that to entail hand dumbbells.

Then IL5 and I went to an indoor park and we got our play on. I concentrated on being 100% in the moment instead of playing on my phone, which is sometimes hard for me when I’m burned out…and I’ve been pretty burned out, lately. So I was proud of myself for that.  Then I went to McDonald’s, where they totally messed up multiple times.

In the evening, the family watched some Resident Alien, and then I watched some Cobra Kai with dad.

Reading through last year’s journal entry, I noticed that it said the orthodontist wanted to keep D14 in aligners for another “few weeks.” Which was hilarious because she just graduated out of aligners 2 weeks ago.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter to Texas
• One letter Louisiana

Reading to myself

• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Mahabharata
• Bible

Reading to IL5

• Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes, by Thomas Flintham
• Shark School: Deep Sea Disaster, by Davy Ocean

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

Harry the hammerhead shark and his friends are bullied into entering a forbidden shipwreck, and Harry must think fast when disaster strikes. This is a cute chapter book aimed for 2nd grade level. My 5 year old enjoyed it – especially towards the exciting end

News

Saturday

Saturday, I made some taco soup for this week’s lunches, then played D&D with Aaron and my friend Liz. It was a fun session in which we accomplished a goal we’d had for about a year. I cooked meatloaf for dinner, then Aaron and I watched Mortal Engines, which was a rather pointless movie. IL5 spent most of the day playing with his Duplos and LEGO.

Sunday

I spent a chunk of Sunday at work. M11 got back from Boy Scout camp in the morning (he said he had fun). In the evening, M11, Aaron, and I watched The Two Towers.

Monday

Monday started with a virtual doctor appointment for myself, then a cardiac rehab appointment for dad. I had to drag IL5 along to that appointment, but he behaved there, and at McDonald’s afterwards. Then D14 had an orthodontist appointment. She is done with her alligners! She’s moving on to a retainer for 4 months, and that’s it!

Tuesday

Tuesday I ran errands, then picked up D14 for an appointment. It was virtual, so we were able to have it in the car in the school parking lot. Then I had a virtual appointment with my doctor. I have been having dry-eye problems. She suggested that, in addition to the drops I tried out, I should put a warm compress on my eyes. If that doesn’t work, see an opthalmologist. Then D14 had another two appointments. In the evening, my friend Liz came over and we watched Doctor Who as a family.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I took dad to two appointments (his LAST physical therapy appointment for his arm, and his cardiac rehab). Then I took D14 to her penultimate knee physical therapy appointment.

IL5 was supposed to have an endocrinology appointment, but there was a funeral procession planned for the first responders that were killed on duty in a recent shoot-out. Of all the roads in that sprawling suburb, they planned for it to block traffic going to the hospital and clinics. So the clinic called me up to reschedule. Which was nice, because it was the fourth of five appointments scheduled for that day. Instead, I sorted through my grandma’s picture album for a genealogy project.

After that, I went to the last appointment with D14. Immediately following that, I took D14 to Mary Poppins rehearsal.

When I finally arrived home and relieved Aaron of IL5 duty, M11 and Aaron went to Starbucks to work on his 10 missing school assignments. M10 finished 8 of them in an hour. Which makes me wonder why they weren’t turned in on time. I think it’s his ADHD.

Aaron has promised IL5 a cat if he makes a big poop in the toilet. So after naming the cat Sake (I picked the spelling), he tried really hard to poop. Unfortunately, no luck. But he has a month to try.

Thursday

Well, I just checked my journal entry from last year and I had huge plans for that summer. And most of that stuff actually happened. Despite having much less planned this year, I’ll go over it now:

I think I’ll do a 5k by the end of the summer. Training will be difficult, as I won’t have time during the weekdays to run 5k, but I thought if I jogged 5k every Saturday and sprinted around the block a few times a day during the week that would be enough?

D14 will audition for Frozen Junior. M11 is on the waitlist for swim lessons (apparently the spots fill up within 8 hours of opening enrollment) and will play baseball. Plus he’ll be in Boy Scouts – with camp once a month. IL5 will continue his lessons at the swim school, but will also take lessons at the district for swim safety. He will be in T-ball and soccer.

Thursday I went directly from night job to day job. I played D&D on my downtime at work (I just pop out of the game when I’m needed). In the evening, I went to a meeting about D14’s school trip to DC in March. She’s not going to be getting much sleep on that trip!

At IL5’s school, the lockdown alarm went off accidentally and scared the poo out of the teachers. We got an email from IL5’s teacher  saying it was “really scary.” IL5 thought it was fun. Apparently they’re supposed to lock the door, turn out the lights, and hide in a huddle out of view of the door.

Friday

Friday was fun. At least towards the middlish-end. I went from work to IL5’s poop physical therapy then, after playing in the sandbox, we went to D14’s appointment. We did that in the parking lot of the school. When we were done, D14 was dreading going back inside, so I guess I was feeling generous because told her she could go to the park with me instead. So off we headed to an indoor park, and IL5 played for 2 hours, and still wanted more. After dinner, M11, Aaron, and I watched Resident Alien.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 2 letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• Akata Woman, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Maleficent Seven, Cameron Johnson
• Great Courses: Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Bible
• Mahabharata

Reading to IL5

• Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy, by Thomas Flintham
• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• The Book of Night, By Holly Black

Media Completed

In a post- apocalyptic world where cities are moving predators, London is trying to declare war on other settlements. Tom and Hester aim to stop the destruction. This had an ok premise, but had too many elements where it seemed like plot was going to be developed, then it wasn’t. It was 2 hours of thin plotlines and no character development. But it was ok to watch.

Obviously, I’ve seen this movie several times, but this time I got to watch it for the first time through the eyes of M11, who seemed to enjoy it.

This book is a somewhat personalized view of the opioid epidemic, mostly set in a smallish community in Virginia. There are descriptions of the lawsuits filed against big pharma, but mostly it is stories of people she interviewed. It was an interesting coverage of the problem – not the first I’ve read on the subject. I didn’t like her coverage of Ritalin, though. She made Ritalin into a gateway drug, and only pointed out the negative in it – thus perpetuating the stigma against putting one’s child on it. She pointed out that studies show that Ritalin doesn’t enhance the performance of the average person, but failed to point out that it does enhance the performance of people who truly have ADHD. So, overall this was a good book, though it was rather single-sighted about what the author viewed as right and wrong.

Cross-stitch

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron, IL5, and I went to Home Depot to buy paint and supplies to paint IL5’s room yellow and orange. IL5 picked the brightest yellow and orange he could find. Then we went to Perkins with Dad and D14. In the afternoon, I cooked a turkey feast for Aaron’s birthday.

Sunday

Sunday, I worked a shortened shift and then came home to play D&D with Aaron, M11, and D14. We played a one-shot, and I got a bunch of cross-stitiching done. Then IL5 and I started bedtime routine.

Monday

Monday was more frustrating than expected. I had originally had three appointments scheduled, but they were all moved for unrelated reasons. So I thought it would be a good day.

I started with a shopping trip to buy some ingredients of a strawberry shortcake. D14 then cooked it for Aaron’s birthday, but IL5 wanted to help, and was very frustrated by what he was allowed and not allowed to do. So he spent the next two hours screaming on and off, while I ran back and forth between calming him and making baked beans for this week’s lunches.

I was supposed to go out with IL5 and my friend Liz, but she cancelled because of an asthma attack so I ended up sorting laundry and doing dishes instead…which isn’t nearly as fun. Then, I had planned to go to the library with IL5. He wanted to go in the stroller, so we had a nice walk, but the library was closed for President’s Day. IL5 was very disappointed.

IL5 was running like a motor all day, so the next couple hours were spent watching him zoom around while hoping he stayed out of the important stuff. Then swim lessons for him.

The day had at least three frustrating elements besides the ones mentioned, but they all seem pretty minor as individual events, and I don’t want to sound whiny, so I’ll stop here.

Tuesday

Tuesday went ok. I was feeling a bit frazzled all day, as I seem to be reaching the end of my safety rope and am not sure how much longer I can stay swamped in appointments. That feeling of exhaustion is bleeding into my interactions with people, which I don’t like.

After work in the morning, I did some tasks around the house, then took D14 to an appointment. Not long after that, I took dad to an appointment. At this point, I decided the most productive thing I could do in that state of mind is nothing (although doing nothing is a struggle sometimes). I took a nap, woke after 30 minutes to take D14 somewhere, then slept for another hour before IL5 arrived home.

Monday, I had promissed IL5 I would go out and play in his sandbox with him after school, and boy did he remember. Before he even got off the bus he said “Sandbox!!!” He ran straight for the toys he had carefully picked out the day before. All this was great, except, in all the excitement, I forgot that I was supposed to give him his morning meds, which he didn’t drink in the morning. This led to problems later.

When everyone was home, we all went out to dinner for Aaron’s birthday. It would have been a nice meal, but IL5 was hyper from not taking his meds. He was jumping up and down, sticking silverware in drinks, rolling around, and sticking his hands in his ketchup. On the way out, he was giggling and rolling towards the exit, and when I was able to catch him, I tried pulling him up by the arm, but he resisted and we bumped his head on a table. At least that distracted him so I could get him out of the restaurant without him rolling the whole way.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I talked to a mold remediation guy who pointed out the the mold in the basement was worse than we thought. He suggested sanitizing two stone walls, cutting out the bottom two feet of the drywall back of our closet, and pulling out the carpet in our closet. The cost of this was more reasonable than I expected, though they’re leaving the area as an eyesore, so if it bothers us, we’ll have to fix it. I feel we should just leave it as an eyesore and save money for more important things.

Then I went to my day job, where I got a bunch of reading done because my client was asleep. When I got home, I went through some pages of my grandmother as a child and labeled them with Post-its so my mother-in-law can scan them in for her genealogy project.

In the evening, I went to dinner with IL5 and my friend Liz. D14 and M11 both had rehearsal.

Thursday

Thursday morning after work I started out the day playing D&D. While I was doing that, I was able to fold some laundry and go through some pictures from my grandma’s album. I’ve finished post-it noting the whole album now…it covered my grandma as a baby to my mom as a baby. It was a treasure.

Then I took dad to cardiac rehab and got my steps in while he was in there. I ran some errands, dropped D14 at her appointment, and then fell asleep for 2 hours, with a quick break for getting IL5 off the bus. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep – sometimes it is just overwhelming due to my sleeping disorder. I had been going to cook some meatloaf. Oops.

Friday

Friday after work I took D14 to her spine specialist. He said that she was done growing and the scoliosis doesn’t need to be monitored. Then I took IL5 to speech therapy. After that, I fell asleep for a little while. I cooked salmon and baked potatoes for dinner. Then read for the rest of the evening. D14 went to her mom’s for the weekend, and M11 went to BSA camp.

Letters Written

• One letter Virginia
• One letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Bible
• Great Courses: St Augustine’s Confessions, by William R Cook and Ronald B Herzman

Reading to IL5

• The Beast of Soggy Moor, by Martin Howard
• Super Rabbit All-stars, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Time-Jump, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Side-Quest Test, by Thomas Flintham

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• A Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramee
• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• The Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

Bitzer and Shaun go hunting to capture a scary beast. Good story, though maybe too advanced to read to my 5 year old for lack of pictures.

Our group of travelers accidentally ends up at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe while searching for a mysterious man. I’m not sure what the point of this book was, but it was pretty funny.

The Jungle follows Jurgis Rudkis over several years of miserable existence as a working man. This book went into great detail about the horrors that take place in a slaughterhouse and meat packing company. It ends as a lecture on socialism. The middle contained more of a story though.

Spoilers abound below.

These questions are adapted from Susan Bauer’s Well-Educated Mind, Chapter 5.

✏️Is this Novel a fable or a chronicle?

Chronicle – it takes place in the real world.

🖍️How does the writer show us reality (if chronicle)?

We see reality through physical descriptions of the plight of the “working man.”

🖍️What is the intent of the world (if fantastic)?

The intent was to educate the reader on the plight of the “working man” and on socialism.

🖍️Is the novel primarily realistic with a few fantastic elements?

It has no fantastic elements

✏️What does the central character want? What is standing in their way? What strategy do they pursue to overcome this block?

Jurgis only wants to survive with some vestiges of health and prosperity. He tries several different ways of life, eventually failing to achieve his goal in all of them, presumably until he discovers socialism.

✏️Who is telling this story?

The POV is third person limited omniscient (the narrator knows the thoughts of Jurgis and his family, but focuses more on physical descriptions than on thoughts).

✏️Where is the story set?

The story is mostly set in Chicago

🖍️How does this setting convey the character’s relationship to the world?

The title of the book “The Jungle” is talking about the concrete jungle. The story revolves around how the city affects Jurgis.

✏️Do you sympathize with the characters? Which ones and why?

I sympathize with Jurgis to a certain degree. He was in a bad situation, so his poor choices were understandable, but he made quite a few.

✏️Does the writer’s technique give you a clue as to his take on the human condition?

Yes, Upton Sinclair seems to sympathize with the socialist movement and to care for the plight of the underdog.

✏️Is the novel self-reflective?

As far as being reflective about his views on socialism, yes. As far as his own condition in life, no. This is coming from someone with the wherewithal to write a book. Not someone suffering in the stockyards.

✏️Did the author’s time affect him?

Of course. This was a time when socialism was spreading and the plight of the working man was even worse than it us now.

✏️Is there an argument in this book? Do I agree?

I somewhat agree with socialism – within limits.