Update, July 27 2024

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Saturday

Saturday we mostly relaxed. I spent campground lounging time to write 6 of the 9 letters I need to write this week. We went to the playground and got overheated, then we sat in the Air conditioning in McDonald’s and got Dairy Queen. Aaron and IL5 had a water fight. Aaron, M12, and I played 2 games of Exploding Kittens. We played a form of flashlight tag, but IL5 didn’t like the rules once he got tagged, and threw a temper tantrum. I got him in the car to take him home, and he said he was ok to go back to his sleeping bag, now. So we all went to sleep.

Sunday

Sunday, we woke up to rain on the tent. We quickly broke camp and drove away. We had about enough time for us to unpack the car and me to take a bath before it was time for me to go to work. When I got home, I cooked a quick dinner and then I DM’d our first family session of D&D. IL5 bailed about 15 minutes in, but that’s ok.

Monday

Monday was relaxing. All three kids had a virtual appointment in the morning. Afterwards, we met with Aaron at Buffalo Wild Wings for a lunch date. I tried to convince IL5 to play outside, go to the library, and play with crafts, but he wasn’t interested and I didn’t push. I cooked pork chops for M12, split pea soup for Aaron’s week’s lunches, and meatloaf for dinner. I washed dad’s laundry. And I relaxed.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with a virtual appointment for D14. After that one, we were supposed to talk to the orthodontist tech for her final appointment, but we were having trouble getting pictures of her teeth to send to them. But they helped us figure it out, and we ended up scanning her teeth with my phone and rescheduling the appointment for later in the day.

I took M12 to get a haircut – he’d been annoyed at the length of his hair. I then picked up IL5 for a virtual appointment. Afterwards, he and I went to the library. He played with the toys and on the computer, then picked out books.

D14 had her orthodontist appointment, and was told she’s good, no more appointments. Yay! She’s done! Then my friend Liz came over and she helped D14 learn the magic loop in crochet and we watched a couple episodes of Doctor Who. David Capaldi made his appearance.

Wednesday

Wednesday, pretty quickly on the heels of arriving home from work, I jumped on a virtual appointment for D14. Then, I took dad to see his vascular doctor, who said dad’s peripheral artery disease is a lot worse than last year. He wants dad to start physical therapy three times a week, and to do further testing.

Because we were a distance from home at that appointment, and in two hours dad had another appointment that was in the same area, we just stayed in the area and went to the fancy upscale Perkins to kill time.

His second appointment was just a follow-up with his primary after his hospital visit, so nothing new there. Then we rushed home, and I shoved three cats in cages. Puck didn’t fall for the tuna-in-cage trick again. He saw me put it in the cage and skedaddled. I had to recruit D14 to close the cage. I risked my arms and hands to grab Puck and shove him in. Freyja was easy, but he was so terrified at the vet he was shaking. Then Sake also scrambled and struggled. I think I may do one cat at a time with the vet from now on because they see another cat going in a cage and run.

After the vet appointment, Aaron and I took IL5 to soccer. As usual, he ran around in happy circles a lot, but this time he ran after the ball a few times – and kicked it again. He also was goalie once, and was great at paying attention. Though not at stopping the ball, but there’s nothing wrong with room for improvement. He’s enjoying himself, which matters more.

Thursday

Thursday I went from work to work, with a half hour break in between. Then I ran errands, relaxed, and went back to work. Aaron stayed home from work, so he did the school shopping! I had been DREADING that task.

Friday

Friday morning I had a meet-and-greet with the petsitter that will be coming during our vacation in August. She is pet CPR certified. I wonder how many pets she does CPR on? Then I horribly lost at a game of Magic against M12.

In the early afternoon, dad had peripheral artery disease physical therapy. I had been dreading it, because I didn’t want to take him to three appointments a week again. I managed to set up medical transportation for him (for future appointments – this was his first), but he was resistant to trying it out. However, at the appointment, he was acting confused and wobbly, making me hesitant to be sending him on appointments alone, anyway. The therapist didn’t want to work with him, because she said he was too wobbly. She wanted him to go to physical therapy. Probably for the best, because dad took a disliking to the therapist and refused to ever go back. I suppose if we ever get the referral again, we’ll go to the facility farther away to get a different therapist. I’m a little skeptical the wobbliness is going to go away with physical therapy, and don’t know if dad will consent to the physical therapy, because it was the other therapist who referred him. Maybe I can manage not to tell him who referred him.

After the appointment, dad wanted to go to lunch. I wasn’t in the mood, but dad really enjoys going to lunch. I could have told him the truth – that I had been planning on taking IL5 out on his bike, and I’d really rather do that, but I felt bad about being annoyed at him when he wasn’t feeling well…and who knew if IL5 would actually want to go? I wasn’t in the mood to drag IL5 kicking and screaming to a bike ride, and if I told dad that I didn’t want to go to lunch because I was taking IL5 on a bike ride, then I actually had to make it happen regardless of IL5’s feelings on the subject. Then, of course, dad pressed his luck and asked me to go for a walk, but Deirdre wasn’t in the mood to babysit more and I didn’t think dad was steady enough. Besides, he was really stressing me out.

In the evening, I was sitting on the couch waiting for my 24hr readathon to start, when D14 started asking me questions about it. I asked her if she wanted to join. She seemed excited by the idea. Then Aaron agreed to join us too. (Though then he bailed after one hour to play his weekly game with his friends.)

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

One letter Virginia
One letter Maine
One letter Pennsylvania
One letter Maryland
One letter Arizona
One letter Massachusetts
One letter Alberta
One letter New York

Reading to myself

Mr Ballen Podcast
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
Ophie’s Ghost, by Justina Ireland
Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
Nurk, by Ursula Vernon
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

Reading to IL5

Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
The Haunted Library, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Super Rabbit All-Stars, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Aaron reading

The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly

Media Completed

When Kaz is blown away from everything he knows, he meets Claire, a young solid who can see ghosts. They solve a mystery together. This was a cute book with nice pictures.