Update December 28, 2024

News

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. Dad and I went to the gym. Aaron, IL6, and I went to get IL6’s Christmas presents to the kids and a turkey for Christmas.

Aaron took out the carpet in D15’s room. We ran into some problem when we found out the pad was glued to the asbestos tiles. Then dad went down there and ripped it up, anyway, before I could ask the advice of the asbestos removal people. Now we have 1 broken tile, as well as some pieces of wood nailed along the sides of the room that we will have to remove. I want to wait until I call for advice before those are removed, though, so I’m not going to tell dad it needs to be done. I’m not sure that after the broken tile and removing the wood the room will be safe for D16 to sleep in, so I’m hoping I can get the asbestos removal people to come early – before she gets back from her mom’s on the 1st of January.

After that, I cooked dinner and read.

Sunday

Sunday, we had a laid back day. Aaron, IL6, and I went to the zoo. We stayed for quite a while. IL6 even wanted to see some outside animals, but the walk was too far so we turned back. We’ll have to go back with a wagon. I cooked shrimp for dinner, and then IL6 and I sat in his room.

Monday

Monday I had an appointment with a dietician. It was actually quite helpful. I found out why I could never meet the grain goal from MyPlate. I thought “1 serving” was about 4 times more than it is. I may start keeping track of my food groups again. We’ll see. Then I took dad to his cardiac rehab appointment.

On the way home from cardiac rehab, my nephew J20 called dad. Apparently, he’d been kicked out of his homeless shelter (hotel), and had 1 hour to get out. We went to pick him up. He may be sleeping on the streets, now  I can’t have him overnight at my house any more, because he’s too disrespectful.

Aaron got some bad news on the job application front, and so he was feeling a bit glum.

I cooked chicken for dinner, and got some reading done. I’m now 10 pages from the end of a 675-paged book, and I’m really excited. I have my next book all picked out.

Tuesday

Christmas eve went well. Aaron and I wrapped our stray presents. Aaron picked up a few groceries to get us through Christmas. I finished my 675 paged book that I’ve been reading for months! I attempted to sew a patch on M12’s sash, but couldn’t remember how to tie off the end. I tried and tried in frustration. Then I finally used fabric glue to secure the end. Go loose now, bitch!

IL6 and I baked cookies. He spilt some of the liquid part of the cookies, so the dough was very crumbly. I had to squish the dough into hard little spheres in order to bake them.

In the evening, dad, Aaron, IL6, and I went to Applebee’s. Because everything at Applebee’s is ridiculously high calorie, I ordered a french onion soup and a house salad. (I ate Chipotle for lunch, which sounded more delicious at the moment than any high-calorie food at Applebee’s.)

IL6 put out all 6 cookies and milk for Santa and one baby carrot for the reindeer. I had to go to work in the evening, so I couldn’t steal any of Santa’s cookies. Hopefully they were yummy!

Wednesday

On Christmas, I got home from work at 9:30, and IL6 wasn’t awake. In fact, he slept in till after 10. He loved his presents and books (mostly his presents, he would have liked the books better if he weren’t getting presents).

Then Aaron set up the switch and put Mario Maker 2 and Kirby and the Forgotten Land with IL6. He also put together one of IL6’s LEGO sets for him.

I cooked a feast – turkey, au gratin potatoes, and brussels sprouts. It all turned out well. The au gratin potatoes had better have turned out. I lovingly spread cheese sauce on each slice of potato.

I spent the rest of the day chatting with Aaron.

Thursday

Wednesday, dad and I missed his appointment because he wasn’t awake when I got home, and he only had 15 minutes to get up, dressed, and ready. (That takes at least an hour.)

So I found myself with extra time. I’d like to say I spent it well, but mostly I wrote letters and relaxed. IL6 played on the switch. Aaron had two interviews.

After Aaron’s interviews, he and I took IL6 to an indoor park, which he really loved. Then we picked up dad and went out to eat.

At night, about 10 minutes into my 20 minute drive to work, I suddenly realized the gas tank was on E. I had another 10 minutes of driving before getting to work, and there were no gas stations on the way. I was very flustered. As I approached the turn for the gravel road (which veers sharply diagonal back in the direction I came), a semi passed me, so I didn’t stop my car in quite the right spot to get on the road. The road is white. The snow is white. I drove into the field (which is about a 3-foot drop). I’m lucky the car didn’t roll. Thinking as quickly as my flustered brain would think, I decided not to take my foot off the gas, lest I stop in the snowy field and get stuck.. So I kept driving parallel to the gravel road. Eventually, the field went flush with the road to the point where I could get back on.

Friday

Friday I had a pretty productive day. I cleaned, wrote letters, and ran an errand. Aaron and I took IL6 to the library. The last several hours I spent sitting in IL6’s room with him. I got a bunch read at that time, as well as some cross-stitch.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

Mr Ballen Podcast
The Unlikely Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson
Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
Mahabharata
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull

Reading to IL5

New Pets on the Block, by Nick Eliopulos
The Show Must Demon, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Media Completed

In the 4th book in the Stonesword Saga, our brave troop of Minecrafters needs to go on a mission to fetch a mooshroom. Yet another enjoyable book for IL6.

In this intelligent and humorous book, Sapolsky discusses the biological (and some environmental) controls of our social/antisocial behavior. I love Sapolsky’s dry sense of humor and all the interesting discussions in this super long book. Some of the neuroscience was a little over my head – he did a good job explaining it, but then I was expected to remember details later in the book which I did not remember. However, I got along pretty well despite that.