Update January 25, 2025

News

Saturday

Saturday, I drove dad 3 hours south to visit my aunt. She is very cheerful and says she doesn’t see herself dying any time soon. The pneumonia has turned out to be antibiotic resistant, but she is not in multiple organ failure as my cousin made it sound on Friday night. She was pretty tired, though. The visit took place from noon till seven, so I was pretty exhausted by the end of the visit. Dad and I then went to the hotel and a restaurant.

IL6 had his Pinewood Derby, and came in 39th out of 58th.

Sunday

Sunday dad and I went to church with dad, cousins Bob and Steve, and my uncle. Then dad and I had breakfast at Perkins, and visited my aunt. Before leaving, dad and went to dinner at Olive Garden with Steve.

IL6 was thrilled to see me when I got home, and demanded my attention. D15 was in an unusually chatty mood, too.

Monday

Monday we woke everyone up at 7 (despite it being a holiday), and stuck the cats in bedrooms. Workers came with their jackhammers to dig a trench where they’re placing the drain tile.

D15 and IL6 didn’t like the noise, so after their virtual appointment, we all piled into the car to go to Olive Garden (that’s where IL6 asked to go). We usually go to one in the suburb north of us, but M12 had an appointment right across from an Olive Garden in a suburb two cities to the west. So Aaron dropped D15, IL6, and I off there and drove off to the appointment. IL6 was crying so hard because he wanted to go to the other Olive Garden. It was -14 degrees out, and he just stood there outside crying. Finally I bribed him to go in with Dairy Queen later.

When the workers left, I let the cats out of the bedrooms. About an hour later, I realized I hadn’t seen Freyja since letting them out. But D15 said she’d seen him, so I dropped it. A couple hours later, I went looking for him.

Downstairs, I heard him meowing for help. It took a couple minutes to pinpoint it, since whenever I started looking, he stopped meowing. Finally, I found him in the area between the ceiling of the basement and the floor of the first level. He wouldn’t step down into my hands, so finally I wedged a large container about half-way up under the place Freyja was looking out. After I walked away, he jumped down using the container. Why do cats go places they can’t get out of?

Later that night, I noticed smoke pouring out of a greasy skillet on the stove. Dad had accidentally started the burner under it. I took it off the burner before it burst into flame. Then I pressed the check button on the smoke detector. It was dead! But we survived, and I guess we are fine. And now we know we need a new smoke

Tuesday

Tuesday, dad and I went to the gym with dad – I lifted weights with my legs and then walked on the treadmill.

The kids had the day off school because of the -40°F windchill. So they got to listen to more work downstairs. Freyja seemed to handle it a little better today.

I got a call from my cousin saying that on Monday my aunt crashed and is close to passing. It’s a bit surprising, since she seemed weak but ok on Sunday.

In the evening, my friend Liz came over, and we watched Doctor Who and ate pizza.

Wednesday

Wednesday Aaron and I went to the gym. Then he, dad, and I drove to the elementary school and asked to look in the lost-and-found. We found IL6’s missing hat and coat! I had hoped they’d eventually make it to the lost-and-found. He likes the replacement coat better than the original, but he’d really missed that hat.

Then we went to Olive Garden to see if D15 had left her coat there. She had. (How you accidentally leave your coat somewhere when the temperature is below zero is beyond me.) We decided to eat since we were there.

IL6 was thrilled to see his hat when he got home. Then he played Spore on the computer with M12 for a couple hours, which was kind of M12. D15 had rehearsal.

I got news that my aunt was probably going to die overnight or Thursday, and was unable to read or do much because of grief. Hopefully Thursday will be better for at least reading.

Thursday

Thursday IL6 and I had a useless appointment in which the provider told us there’s nothing she could do, and she wishes she’d called to tell us not to come in.

Aaron and I finished a couple of errands. We went to the gym. In the evening, we went to D15’s parent-teacher conferences. She is doing well.

That night, my aunt passed. I guess I feel relieved that she’s not suffering anymore.

Friday

Friday I took IL6 to an appointment, then relaxed for the rest of the day. Except, I did make a phone call to insurance about IL6’s med – which apparently will simply not be covered by insurance.

M12 went to board game camp and D15 went to visit her mom. Dad went to my sister’s overnight, and IL6 took a 1.5 hour bath. So it was a calm night.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
The Week: Agony in Los Angeles
Mahabharata
Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi
Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull

Reading to IL5

The Day of the Night Crawlers, by Troy Cummings

D14 reading

Girl in the Moon, by Terry Goodkind

Aaron reading

Fury of the Gods, by John Gwynne

Media Completed

Tiffany wants to be a witch, but has no one to teach her. However, when her brother is kidnapped she must convince some tiny men to help her use withcy powers to bring the brother back. This wasn’t as funny as the witch novels, but was pretty cute.

Alexander and Rip figure out why night crawlers are invading their town. IL6 was excited to read this book after he remembered the first book. It did not disappoint.

Franny develops a crazy dangerous bomb, but Igor eats it. She has to shrink herself and be snorted up Igor’s nose to retrieve it. Cute story. IL6 was pretty excited to read more about Franny’s creations.