Update September 14, 2024

News

Saturday

Saturday, I took IL5 to a friend’s birthday party at a bowling alley. His strategy was to aim the ramp at a bumper and let the ball bounce back and forth before getting most of the pins down. It was a more effective strategy than his friend was using – his dad carefully lined the ramp up perfectly straight.

After the party, I jumped into the D&D game with Aaron and friends a little late. I had already missed a close TPK. Luckily, one of us was left standing, albeit on his last few hit points, and he won the day. The rest of the party was revivified by a scale from my character’s patron, which she’d been carrying around since pretty close to the beginning of the campaign.

Then I cooked some meatloaf for dinner and tried to cook some jambalaya for this week’s lunches, but I didn’t have enough Andoulli sausages, so I had to place the rest of the cut up ingredients in a bowl overnight till I could get more. Meanwhile, Aaron played Spore with IL5.

The day was apparently unremarkable to M12 and D14.

Sunday

Sunday was uneventful. I was tired because I woke at 3am and slept fitfully the rest of the night. And dad was in a mood because he was annoyed at poor D14. I went to work and spent my downtime at work filling out a bunch of forms on my phone and writing a letter, so it was a productive day. I was exhausted when I got home, though, because of the lack of sleep. So I forgot to cook the jambalaya and chose not to cook dinner. The day was uneventful for the kids. IL5 took a long nap in the evening, but bedtime went smoothly, regardless.

Monday

Monday I worked. I had less downtime than usual this shift, but I did get a letter written and some reading done. When I got home, the family went out to eat (dad’s treat). Afterwards, I read to D14. The kids seemed to have unremarkable days.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work, I had some open time to get stuff on my to-do list done. Then I took M12 to an appointment. I ran errands (getting a nick in the windshield while at it). I made jambalaya for our lunches and then shrimp for dinner. Aaron and I watched an episode of Supernatural, then everyone watched the debate. That made me sick to my stomach, so I was glad to leave for work. But then my coworker had recorded it and was watching it when I got to work, so I had to REWATCH some of it! As soon as she left, I pulled the covers over my head and slept.

Wednesday

Wednesday I had a short break after lunch, and then I took dad to get his covid and flu shots. After that, we went to see his vascular doctor to discuss the results to his CT scan. Just like the test results said, the arteries to both kidneys, to the legs, and the big one headed to the lower part of the body were narrowed. Those, in combination with his narrowed carotid indicated a referral to a vascular surgeon. This doctor thinks the risk of surgery is high enough that it shouldn’t be done till dad can hardly move, so I’m not sure why the referral. I cooked salmon for dinner. Then we watched the first couple episodes of Witcher.

Aaron took the car in to get the chips in the windshield fixed, and the kids had good days. IL5 apparently painted some dots in school.

Thursday

Thursday I headed directly from work to work. My day job was pretty calm – my client slept the whole time – so I read and wrote a couple letters. I did nothing interesting that evening, but Aaron went to a networking party at Surly Brewing Company. Delightfully, he drank BEER. (He doesn’t drink beer.) He got the grapefruit one, and said it was good. D14 didn’t have crew, so she was home after school for pretty much the first time. Both older kids had no late homework, so they earned fast food.

Friday

Friday after work I took IL5 to speech therapy. Then, after a nap, I tried to go on a walk with dad, but he was having trouble breathing, so we came home. M12 went to his mom’s house after school, and D14 hung out with her friends. In the evening, we watched Beetlejuice.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

One letter Texas
One letter Missouri
One letter Michigan
One letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett
New Scientist: Reclaiming Reality
Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty
Roam, by C H Armstrong
Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Reading to IL5

The Duckling Gets a Cookie?!, by Mo Willems

D14 reading

57 Bus, by Dashka Slater

Media Completed

Rand and his friend go on an adventure to save the world from Evil himself. This is the first time I read this classic novel. It was delightful. A very well-designed adventure.

The duckling gets a cookie. The pigeon is jealous. IL5 picked this book out from the school library and wanted me to read it right away. He then wanted all the other pigeon books, so I requested them for next week.