Update January 27, 2024

News

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. I started the day making sausage stew for the week’s lunches for myself and Aaron. IL5, dad, and I headed to the library for a while. We picked out books, played with toys, and set up dominos. Aaron went to his board game group and D14, IL5, dad, and I went to Olive Garden. Aaron and D14 started a jigsaw puzzle hour at night during the time I sometimes read to her, so we had to compromise and say Aaron gets her 3 days a week and I get her 3 days a week and Aaron and I watch Supernatural one day a week. (The Supernatural was already a thing, but we often don’t get to it.) Anyway, Saturday was puzzle day.

Sunday

Sunday I worked for a bit and Aaron watched IL5 and ran errands. After dinner, we played a game of Cranium – D14 and Aaron against M11 and me. We had lost the board, strangely, so I made one on a piece of paper. In the evening, D14 and Aaron worked on a super hard Mickey Mouse puzzle.

Monday

Monday I took D14 and then dad to an appointment. I got a bit of a disappointment when I found out that my new third job didn’t even have a client, so I can’t work it. I was a little put out, because I was told there were two clients when I was hired. I asked my boss about it, wondering if she had been dishonest with me, but she said that one passed and one “graduated.” I’m not used to this graduation thing, and am disappointed I won’t be able to bring in money steadily with this job. But it’ll be money on and off, at least, and I was wary of taking a third job, anyway.

Tuesday

Tuesday was hard. Dad had an appointment in the morning, and slipped on the ice and hurt his tailbone and hit his head. I worked for a while after that, and that was calm. Then dad had a phone appointment and they never called. I finally called them, and they had it wrong in their computer – it was logged as in-persin with a note saying “by phone.” This was upsetting to me because I had left work early for that appointment. Anyway, the specialist called me back and we had a super-quick appointment so we didn’t have to reschedule. On top of that D14 and I had our first teenager fight. It was huge (for her), but I’m proud of her for finding a coping skill to calm down without her screens. Unfortunately, the fallout of the argument was that I was distracted and didn’t get IL5 or dad their meds for the night.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I took dad to an appointment, went to Perkins, went shopping, and took him to another appointment. Then I trained in for my third job despite not having a client to work with.

Thursday

Thursday I was displeased with my performance, but in retrospect, U kept pretty busy. I guess I have a weid disappointment in myself when I take a nap. Not sure why.

Anyway, I took the car in for maintenance, went to lunch with Aaron, did an appointment with M11, went grocery shopping, and took D14 to a meeting that turned out to be in my calendar wrong (it was on February 29, not January 25). In the evening, I watched an episode of Supernatural with Aaron.

Friday

Friday, I took IL5 to his last feeding therapy with this therapist. That appointment solidified my suspicion that the therapist simply didn’t like IL5. She was always making comments to me that he never did what he was asked, and other kids do. And her facial expressions were sometimes very telling of her distaste.

I feel that if she’s going to work with kids with problems, she should have the decency to LIKE kids with problems. If not, just do adult OT. Right? Plus, IL5 doesn’t necessarily do what he’s told, but he’s not defiant, and tone goes a long way with him. His speech therapist seems to love him. So do his teachers. The problem lies with the feeding therapist.

Later in the day, I had to haul IL5 along on a cardiologist appointment for dad. He behaved pretty well, though. And we found out that dad’s heart monitor from November showed no atrial fibrillation.

Dad, Aaron, and I went to Mall of America, had dinner, and walked around. Dad had wanted to take the kids and get them presents, but all of them decided to stay home.

While Aaron was gaming with friends in the evening, M11, D14, and I watched Umbrella Academy.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

One letter Maine
One letter Louisiana
One letter California
One letter Oklahoma
One letter Alberta, Canada

Reading to myself

Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
Horrorstor, by Grady Hendrix
Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnson
Dopesick, by Beth Macy
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair

Reading to IL4

Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up, by Thomas Flintham
Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray, by Nick Bruel
Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes, by Thomas Flintham
Super Rabbit All-Stars, by Thomas Flintham
Super Rabbit Racers, by Thomas Flintham
The Shocking Shark Showdown, by David Bowles
Inspector Flytrap, by Tom Angleberger

M11 reading

Wing and Claw, by Linda Sue Park (in school)

D13 reading

Call of the Wild, by Jack London (in school)
Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Mass
Exile, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Aaron reading

The Burning God, by R F Kuang

Media Completed

When Uncle Murray comes to look after Puppy and Kitty for a week, Bad Kitty is upset. Funny, as usual. Love the pictures.

When Amy went into work that day, she thought it would be a normal day in retail nightmare. But this time the nightmare was real. This is a hilarious horror satire about a haunted IKEA knockoff superstore. I loved every minute.