Update October 18, 2025

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Saturday

Saturday I woke up late. I took dad on a bunch of errands. Helped IL6 play Pikuniku while I wrote a letter. Aaron mowed the lawn and made chili for dinner. IL6 and I finished the Captain Underpants series, which was bittersweet.

Sunday

Sunday I slept in again accidentally and missed Mass. I made some chickpea curry for Aaron’s lunches this week and played Minecraft with IL6. Then he had swim lessons, and I made shrimp for dinner. After dinner, the family (minus dad), played Pandemic Legacy and lost pretty quickly. This is a form of Pandemic where you play it 12-13 times, and the each game affects the following games. Then I read to IL6.

Monday

Monday, I took IL6 to occupational therapy and we discussed eating. We are going to start feeding therapy again to see if we can get him to gain weight. Then I took dad to the gym, where I got 45 minutes of treadmill time. I ran some errands after the gym. After school, I took IL6 to watch M13’s soccer game. In the evening, IL6 and I played Minecraft.

Tuesday

Tuesday I took D15 to an appointment and then went to a car mechanic appointment. They are going to replace the part for free (which is wonderful!), but the part won’t get here till Monday. It must be coming from Japan.

In the afternoon, IL6 made a game in Scratch – we even had to ask ChatGPT about a bit of code, so he was doing new ideas that were complicated enough that I couldn’t figure it out myself (though it was clear when it was pointed out.

In the evening, my friend Liz came over and she, Aaron, D15, and I watched Doctor Who. D15 is more pleased at the episodes now that they aren’t campy anymore. Then I played Minecraft with IL6.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I took Dad to the gym. I worked out an hour on the treadmill. I read. I took IL6 to his appointment, but the provider cancelled last minute. I read some more, including the new Desmond Cole book to IL6.

Thursday

Thursday, immediately after work, I had a telehealth appointment, then another teleheath appointment. My mother-in-law arrived, and she, Dad, D15, and I went to lunch with her. In the late afternoon, Dad had an at-home appointment. Then IL6 went to Cub Scouts, and apparently did a great job participating.

Friday

Friday IL6, D15, my mother-in-law, and I went to a farm to pick apples. We rode the hay ride and walked along the orchard. IL6 and I ran in the “hamster wheel,” buried him in the corn pit, and ran around the hay bales. The hamster wheel was exhausting. I cooked shrimp for dinner, then we relaxed for the evening.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

Pandemic, by Sonia Shah
Sojourn, by R A Salvatore
Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him, by Tracy Borman
The Week: Under Siege
Survey of Hinduism, by Klaus K Klostermaier
Hero With a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
Hunger of the Gods, by John Gwynne
The Plantagenets, by Dan Jones

Reading to IL5

Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir-Stinks-A-Lot, by Dav Pilkey
Chill of the Ice Dragon, by Tracey West
Beast Mode Unleashed, by Andres Miedoso
Double-O Dodo, by Tom Angleberger

Media Completed

In this final book in the Captain Underpants series, George and Harold battle a stinky, mind controlling gym teacher with the adults they could trust the most. Again, excellent. I’m sad the series is over.

The Dragon Masters help a new friend battle a giant. Cute.

In this brand new Desmond Cole book, he and Andres deal with a three-headed dog named Bubbles. Always IL6’s favorite series.

This book started out really good. It mostly covered cholera as an example of pandemics, but mentioned several others. The benefit of mostly focusing on cholera meant that the history could be covered in more detail. The book was a bit alarmist, but on the other hand, she was right that a pandemic was on its way (COVID-19 happened after original publication). I didn’t like the penultimate chapter, as it covered a bunch of iffy science and was poorly edited. Some of what Shah said made no sense no matter how many times I read it. But overall it was an informative book.

In this classic about the (Jungian) psychology of myth, Campbell covers a large variety of myth, including the rarely-studied African myth. He did focus on Christian “myths” a lot. It wasn’t very exciting to me because I kind of pooh-pooh Jungian psychology. Campbell also spoke rudely about the myths, calling the absurd, or the like.