Update February 24, 2024

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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.