Update February 3, 2024

News

Saturday

Saturday M11 went ice fishing with the Boy Scouts. He seemed to have enjoyed himself, other than falling in one of the ice fishing holes up to his hip.

I went to Olive Garden with IL5 and my friend Liz. We discussed our book club book, and chose a new one. Then dad, IL5, and I went to the Mall of America to walk around. IL5 was awfully disappointed not to ride the rides, but I didn’t think I would fit on those rides and M11 hadn’t wanted to come to the mall with us. We lost dad twice at the mall – once at the elevators for about 15 minutes and once in the parking lot for about 5 minutes. D14 and Aaron went snow tubing for a late birthday present. They had fun, but there was a lot of time waiting in lines.

Finally, Aaron and I walked to a nearby tavern for our date. We were disappointed to find out that our date spot is closing this coming Friday. It was a nice place to go. Now we will have to choose between driving (and not drinking) on Thursdays, walking about 10 minutes to a louder bar on Sundays (they have Vingo on Saturday, and we find that distracting), or walking 15 minutes to a quieter place on our usual Saturday night date. None of these sound as appealing as what we were doing until Saturday.

Sunday

Sunday, after I worked for several hours, we watched Solo as a family. Aaron and D14 worked on the cruel and unusual Micky Mouse puzzle. The thing is insane, I’ll have to get a picture when they’re done. It’s like 100 little Mickey faces all squished together. Dad and I got it for them as a joke, and D14 has accepted the challenge. She dragged Aaron in, against his better judgement.

Monday

Monday started with me cooking some beef stew for Aaron and my lunches this week. Then IL5 and I went on a play date with some triplets from special education. I had a good talk with their mom, and it was a reminder that three kids with “problems” is easier than three five year olds with “problems.” I just can’t imagine.

Then I had my supermom moment. It’s rare that I think I’ve done really well, but I dropped dad off for his cardiac rehab appointment, took IL5 to school, picked up D14 from school, picked up dad from Rehab, and went to D14’s knee PT – all in 1.5 hours. Dad had to come to D14’s PT, and D14 was late to her next appointment (we knew she would be – she was double-booked).

In the evening I tried a new meatloaf recipe, and everyone seemed satisfied with the results.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work, I took dad to his arm PT appointment, then went to my day job. Aaron worked from home due to the plumber coming to clear out the tub pipes. Dad went to the mall on the bus. M11 had jazz band. D14 had a late appointment. We got IL5 to sit on the toilet when he actually needed to go poop, but he couldn’t manage to poop. So, half-win.

Wednesday

Wednesday, after work and an appointment for D14, I worked my day job. Then I went to D14’s second appointment of the day, cooked dinner, and put IL5 to bed.

Thursday

On Thursday, I took dad to his CT scan of his elbow. This is one step further in finding out if he has bone cancer. The follow-up appointment for the scan is in a little over a week, though, so we’ll still have to wait for answers.

Then I took dad to his cardiac rehab appointment. While he was in there, I created a character for a D&D game I’m joining on Thursdays. It’s a squeeze to fit it into my schedule, but I really want the time to entertain myself. The character’s name is Asmirus, and she’s a shifter cleric (level 2) / bard (level 1).

Friday

Friday, IL5 had poop physical therapy, followed by speech therapy. Then I hauled him off to see my surgeon for a follow-up. Apparently, despite the after-care instructions saying that I could take a bath starting 10 days post-surgery, I’m not supposed to take a bath for another 2-3 weeks. Yeah, right.

D15 texted me while I was downtown. Apparently, she wanted a ride home from school because her hip hurt. She proceeded to call up Aaron to ask if some random “office lady” that she didn’t know could give her a ride home. He left work and picked her up.

In the evening, I crashed. I’d had big plans to watch The Two Towers with M11 and then get some reading done, but I fell deeply asleep. Then, when Aaron wanted to go to his videogame with his friends, I woke up for about 30 minutes, but was really struggling to stay awake and watch IL5. So the two of us got in bed, and he watched his phone while I slept.

Week’s Photos