Update November 14, 2026

News

Saturday

Saturday I did housework. IL7 and I picked his carrots. There is now a huge bucket of tiny carrots to wash, degreen, and sort into bite-sized, reasonable-sized, and inedible. So far, I have spent 40 minutes washing and sorting them, and only made it through a quarter of the bucket.

In the evening, the family went out to Outback Steakhouse.

Sunday

Sunday, I made some white chili for Aaron’s lunches, then went out to Olive Garden with IL7, my friend Liz, and her nephew. When we finished, they came to our house to play Minecraft, but the electricity went out. Afterwards, IL7 had swim lessons, then Aaron and he played Minecraft. I scrubbed carrots for about an hour. Aaron also got the shopping done and the screen door removed during the day.

Monday

Monday, I spent a couple hours washing and degreening IL7’s carrots. Now we need to eat them. I also did a bunch of housework. The oncologist called and said Dad’s lump was lung cancer, but it should be easily treatable. It had not metastisized. M14 twisted his ankle in gym, and was hobbling around on crutches in the evening. I took Deirdre to an appointment.

Tuesday

Tuesday was busy. It started with me writing an email to IL7’s teacher asking questions about the curriculum and making suggestions as to what IL7 was actually having trouble with. (That his math performance may actually be a writing/language issue instead of a math issue – he tests high on math, so should perform high on math, too. And that if it appears that his reading level hasn’t gone up – it definitely has gone up – then maybe he finds what he’s reading boring.) But the teacher answered simply that she received the email and forwarded it to an administrator. Why do we need an administrator in this conversation? I wasn’t suggesting a curriculum change. Nor was I attacking the teachers. I just wanted a discussion about how we can support IL7.

I ate a salad with some of IL7’s carrots. That was yummy.

I took IL7 to an appointment. It was frustrating because I needed to schedule with the provider using a very full schedule for both of us. But with help from Aaron and a coworker, I managed.

Then I took M14 to urgent care about his ankle. Yeah. It was broken. But he has a boot on it, and has no other walking restrictions.

In the evening, my friend Liz came over and the family watched Doctor Who for a while.

Wednesday

Wednesday was calm. I took Dad to the gym and was able to work out myself. Aaron scrubbed the bathroom floor and took IL7 to his appointment so that I could take Dad out for Veteran’s Day. That left me some extra time that I used for writing a letter.

Thursday

Thursday, Aaron and I both took off. Besides my normal to-dos, I read, wrote, and played D&D with Aaron. Aaron and I went out to lunch. D16 had a play in the evening: Kung Fu Zombies versus South Asian Girl Scouts for her special week-long class in school. She very much enjoyed it.

Friday

Friday, I took Dad to an oncology appointment, and we are preparing to do radiation on his tumor. Then I took him to the gym and squeezed in a workout for myself. I cooked dinner, then watched a movie with Dad: Playdate. (A very odd but funny movie.) D16 went to another play, and Aaron played a computer game with his friends.

Reading to myself