News

Saturday

On Saturday, dad and I went to the afternoon show of Mary Poppins and Aaron went to the evening one. D14 did great.

Sunday

Sunday I worked, the D14, dad, and I watched Irish Wish on Netflix. D14 had her 4th Mary Poppins play and M11 arrived back from camp.

Monday

Monday morning, IL5 had a speech therapy appointment. Afterwards, we went to the library. Usually IL5 wants to stay quite a while, but he just picked out a book and left. 🤷‍♀️ Then Aaron and I had an IEP meeting for IL5. It sounds like he’s made plenty of progress on last year’s goals and will get new goals in the upcoming year. In the evening, IL5 had swim lessons and M11 had Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work I took D14 to two appointments, took dad to an appointment, then spent an hour sorting a month’s worth of clean laundry for the family. (This is D14’s job, but she got behind.) In the evening I had a therapy intake – thank God. I’m very burned out and I really need to let off steam in an appropriate environment. M11 had D&D later in the evening.

Wednesday

I’m really happy with Wednesday. I stayed productive all day till the evening. I took M11 to his eating disorder appointment, and he’s met his goal weight! Plus, he did a pushup in the evening, which is an improvement from his zero pushups at the beginning of his training for Boy Scouts. Then I took IL5 to his endocrinologist and a blood draw. D14 had a Mary Poppins production in the evening.

Thursday

After work on Thursday I went from my overnight job to my day job. I played a D&D game on my phone and wrote some letters on my downtime at work. As usual all my client wanted is for me to sit in the room with her. 

After work, I took D14 to her Mary Poppins play and then had a salmon dinner at home. M11 gave me a history lecture on the Napoleonic Wars and WWI based on some YouTube videos he’s watched. He apparently loves history. Then M11 and Aaron played a game of Magic.

Friday

Friday I had no appointments! I took IL5 to a community center playground on a playdate with his friends. Then we had a one-sided snowball fight (he didn’t throw any at me), followed by dinner with dad, Aaron, IL5, and me at a Mexican restaurant. M11 was with his mom and D14 at her play.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Belgium
• One letter California
• One letter Maine
• One letter Pennsylvania

Reading to myself

• Akata Woman, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Unspeakable Mind, by Shaili Jain
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Bible
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett
• Mahabharata
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team-up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Mass
• The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie
• The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Aaron reading

Maddie is broken hearted when the man she’s in love with falls for her friend. But when she flies to Ireland for their wedding, she makes a wish that goes awry. This was a very silly and rather over-used premise, and the movie was cheesy. But it was ok enough to finish.

In this set of lectures, Johnson discusses how Jesus is represented as a literary figure in both the canonical and apocryphal gospels. It’s an interesting exploration… especially how some information that seems canonical in Christian tradition are actually from the apocryphal gospels instead of the canonical ones. 

In this third of a trilogy on Nigerian magic, Sunny grows into a mature witch who manages to keep her promise to a spider god. The trilogy is very good, unless you are looking for an action book. This story is mainly about plot setup and is not deep or full of action. It’s still quite enjoyable, though.

News

Saturday

On Saturday Aaron and I played D&D. We have a new player, who seemed pretty cool. Then we had a date to our favorite date place, which reopened under new ownership on Thursday. But we didn’t stay long because they didn’t have their liquor license yet, so we just ate and came home. We were going to try playing a board game downstairs for the rest of our date, but IL5 always takes me going downstairs as an invitation to go downstairs himself. So I tried to relax for the evening, but I was feeling pretty peevish. D14 and dad watched more Cobra Kai, so now I’m behind (that’s not what I was peevish about). M11 is still grounded through Monday, so he was downstairs reading.

Sunday

Sunday, I worked and then Aaron, IL5, dad and I went to Olive Garden. D14 watched some Wednesday and then dad watched some Cobra Kai.

Monday

I didn’t sleep well Sunday night, so I was really tired on Monday. The weather was beautiful, and I intended on walking to the library and doing some housework, but I slept all day. M11 had rehearsal in the afternoon, IL5 had swim lessons in the evening, and D14 had dress rehearsals.

Tuesday

On Tuesday after work, I took D14 to an appointment. I was going to take dad to an appointment after that, but he was sick, so instead I took a nap. I’ve been burnt out lately, so I’m not getting a lot done. In the afternoon, M11 had jazz band rehearsal. In the evening D14 had Mary Poppins dress rehearsal.

Wednesday

Wednesday I went from my night job pretty much straight to my day job. In the evening, Aaron, M11, and I watched Divergent while D14 was at rehearsal.

Thursday

After work on Thursday, I played D&D for a couple hours and then took dad to a cardiac rehab appointment. Afterwards, I drove to a bakery a neighboring city to get some treats for everyone. I got 2 cupcakes – color coded by kid – for each kid. I then helped IL5 build a labyrinth out of boxes for the cats. We’ve been saving up boxes for it for a while. It also had some rocks and straws as obstacles. D14 was sick all day.

When Aaron got home, he ate his treat, then grabbed a pink cupcake and walked up to D14 and taunted her that he was going to eat it. She tried to convince him it was her cupcake and he wasn’t supposed to eat it. I kept my mouth closed because I thought he was joking. Then he ATE the cupcake! He claimed that he really didn’t know it was D14’s. But he doesn’t get to forget soon, since he started it by taunting her.

Friday

Friday after work, IL5 had an appointment with his poop physical therapist. We discussed taking a break for a while, but she said she still had more to work on with him. Then we had his well-child visit with his pediatrician. We decided to wait on the feeding therapy until the poop appointments had settled down. In the evening, D14 had her opening night for Mary Poppins. She really enjoyed it.

Letters Written

• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Michigan
• One letter Oklahoma
• One letter Maryland

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy’s Time-Jump, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

In a world where almost everyone is separated into 5 factions, Beatrice doesn’t feel like she’s in the right faction…but when it comes to her coming-of-age test to see what her faction is, she comes up divergent – with no solid faction. She must hide this secret in a dangerous world.

I loved the book, but heard bad things about the movie, so I never watched it. By now, I’ve forgotten the book and forgotten the complaints about the movie, so I watched it with a fresh eye. It turned out to be an interesting movie. Not mind-blowing, but not bad.

Sophie and Agatha are best friends, but when Sophie wishes to be kidnapped and dropped into the School for Good, both Agatha and Sophie are taken. Except Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil and Agatha into the School for Good. This was a well-done movie, and I really enjoyed the story and light humor.

News

Saturday

Saturday M11 worked on his drafting merit badge with a bunch of other kids. D14 cooked some mint chocolate fudge. Aaron painted the ceiling of IL5’s room orange. In the afternoon, IL5, M11, D14, Dad, and I went to Nickelodeon Universe – the amusement park in the Mall of America. IL5 was unhappy even with the tiny “scary” rides, though M11 was fine with them and not the bigger scary rides. D14 wanted the bigger scary rides. But they all got as much as they wanted.

Sunday

Sunday I worked for several hours. D14 played D&D. Then we ate take-home Buffalo Wild Wings and watched Resident Alien as a family.

Monday

Monday was exhausting for no particular reason. It wasn’t any busier than a normal day, but somehow seemed a bit extra. It started with me getting up early to organize myself before mobilizing IL5 for his appointment, but D14 wanted me to proofread her essay, and then M11 wanted an explanation of Planned Parenthood (the subject of the essay) which somehow became a racially charged uncomfy conversation. (M11 has not matured enough to separate what his white supremacist YouTubers say and his own opinion, so every once in a while a difficult conversation happens. He’ll mature, though.) I was left without time to go through my morning ritual including absorbing my long to-do list and making an attack plan. In fact, I didn’t get to that until 2pm, meaning I missed my window of opportunity for some if the tasks.

IL5 had a good speech therapy, though. He’s up to 10th percentile in speech (from 5th last year). Yay! Then we played in the sandbox for a while before M11’s appointment. Soon, I dropped IL5 off at preschool and dad had his cardiac rehab appointment, which is when I had time to go through my to-do list.

Later, I took IL5 to swim lessons. Aaron picked D14 up from an activity, dropped her at rehearsal, took M11 to Boy Scouts, and picked up D14 from rehearsal. (All three kids had to be somewhere at the same time, and Aaron got the brunt of that.)

I was pleased to go to work at 10pm so I could sleep.

Tuesday

Tuesday Aaron and I met at the clinic for an appointment with D14. Then dad had a clinical pharmacist appointment, followed by a fitting for his dentures (finally!). Except they didn’t fit him for his dentures, they filed down a bone that was sticking out and we made another appointment in two weeks for the fitting.

M11 was grounded when I got home because, despite all the help we could give, he still didn’t finish his missing assignments by the end of the trimester. It feels like he simply chose to be grounded, when I’d given him so many chances and he knew he would get grounded.

However, he decided that he was going to go to the park on his bike, because he wanted to learn to ride. And, after Aaron pumped up his tires, he did it! He can ride a bike!

Wednesday

Wednesday dad had cardiac rehab in the morning. And, yay! He’s being discharged after 3 more appointments!!!! I’m so excited for my calendar to open up. I have a couple new regular appointments to schedule, though, including much-needed therapy for myself since I burned myself out over the past 4 or so months of non-stop appointments. So, still with the appointments, but at least I’ll have a place to vent and won’t have to listen to dad bitch and moan about all of his appointments.

Next, I had an appointment with my sleep specialist. Nothing new on my sleep disorder other than an encouragement to actually take the meds before driving. Which promise I promptly forgot by the next day.

IL5 had an event at his preschool next, and I had to leave that early (after a trade-off with Aaron) to get to an appointment with D14. The event was mainly a bonding experience in which he was supposed to show me around his classroom, but he was over that in a matter of minutes.

M11 had rehearsal for the middle school play, as usual, and then D14, dad, Aaron, and I went out to Olive Garden. IL5 was asleep and we made a deal with M11 that he could watch TV despite being grounded if he stayed home with IL5.

Thursday

Thursday after work I took D14 to an appointment, then I went to my day job. I was feeling a little sick at work – nauseated, cold, headachy. I wondered if I was coming down with norovirus since there’s an outbreak at IL5’s daycare, but after pacing around in a circle for 5000 steps my headache and nausea subsided and I was able to eat lunch and relax a little. (There was even more downtime at work than usual, thankfully. My client was just cheerfully watching TV.)

M11 had rehearsal in the afternoon. IL5 played with his Duplos all evening instead of watching TV, and I cooked a family dinner. So it was a good evening.

Friday

On Friday morning, IL5 had a poop psychologist appointment in the morning and promised to do his “exercises on the toilet” 10 times a day, but later we realized he expected that to entail hand dumbbells.

Then IL5 and I went to an indoor park and we got our play on. I concentrated on being 100% in the moment instead of playing on my phone, which is sometimes hard for me when I’m burned out…and I’ve been pretty burned out, lately. So I was proud of myself for that.  Then I went to McDonald’s, where they totally messed up multiple times.

In the evening, the family watched some Resident Alien, and then I watched some Cobra Kai with dad.

Reading through last year’s journal entry, I noticed that it said the orthodontist wanted to keep D14 in aligners for another “few weeks.” Which was hilarious because she just graduated out of aligners 2 weeks ago.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter to Texas
• One letter Louisiana

Reading to myself

• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Mahabharata
• Bible

Reading to IL5

• Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes, by Thomas Flintham
• Shark School: Deep Sea Disaster, by Davy Ocean

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

Harry the hammerhead shark and his friends are bullied into entering a forbidden shipwreck, and Harry must think fast when disaster strikes. This is a cute chapter book aimed for 2nd grade level. My 5 year old enjoyed it – especially towards the exciting end

News

Saturday

Saturday, I made some taco soup for this week’s lunches, then played D&D with Aaron and my friend Liz. It was a fun session in which we accomplished a goal we’d had for about a year. I cooked meatloaf for dinner, then Aaron and I watched Mortal Engines, which was a rather pointless movie. IL5 spent most of the day playing with his Duplos and LEGO.

Sunday

I spent a chunk of Sunday at work. M11 got back from Boy Scout camp in the morning (he said he had fun). In the evening, M11, Aaron, and I watched The Two Towers.

Monday

Monday started with a virtual doctor appointment for myself, then a cardiac rehab appointment for dad. I had to drag IL5 along to that appointment, but he behaved there, and at McDonald’s afterwards. Then D14 had an orthodontist appointment. She is done with her alligners! She’s moving on to a retainer for 4 months, and that’s it!

Tuesday

Tuesday I ran errands, then picked up D14 for an appointment. It was virtual, so we were able to have it in the car in the school parking lot. Then I had a virtual appointment with my doctor. I have been having dry-eye problems. She suggested that, in addition to the drops I tried out, I should put a warm compress on my eyes. If that doesn’t work, see an opthalmologist. Then D14 had another two appointments. In the evening, my friend Liz came over and we watched Doctor Who as a family.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I took dad to two appointments (his LAST physical therapy appointment for his arm, and his cardiac rehab). Then I took D14 to her penultimate knee physical therapy appointment.

IL5 was supposed to have an endocrinology appointment, but there was a funeral procession planned for the first responders that were killed on duty in a recent shoot-out. Of all the roads in that sprawling suburb, they planned for it to block traffic going to the hospital and clinics. So the clinic called me up to reschedule. Which was nice, because it was the fourth of five appointments scheduled for that day. Instead, I sorted through my grandma’s picture album for a genealogy project.

After that, I went to the last appointment with D14. Immediately following that, I took D14 to Mary Poppins rehearsal.

When I finally arrived home and relieved Aaron of IL5 duty, M11 and Aaron went to Starbucks to work on his 10 missing school assignments. M10 finished 8 of them in an hour. Which makes me wonder why they weren’t turned in on time. I think it’s his ADHD.

Aaron has promised IL5 a cat if he makes a big poop in the toilet. So after naming the cat Sake (I picked the spelling), he tried really hard to poop. Unfortunately, no luck. But he has a month to try.

Thursday

Well, I just checked my journal entry from last year and I had huge plans for that summer. And most of that stuff actually happened. Despite having much less planned this year, I’ll go over it now:

I think I’ll do a 5k by the end of the summer. Training will be difficult, as I won’t have time during the weekdays to run 5k, but I thought if I jogged 5k every Saturday and sprinted around the block a few times a day during the week that would be enough?

D14 will audition for Frozen Junior. M11 is on the waitlist for swim lessons (apparently the spots fill up within 8 hours of opening enrollment) and will play baseball. Plus he’ll be in Boy Scouts – with camp once a month. IL5 will continue his lessons at the swim school, but will also take lessons at the district for swim safety. He will be in T-ball and soccer.

Thursday I went directly from night job to day job. I played D&D on my downtime at work (I just pop out of the game when I’m needed). In the evening, I went to a meeting about D14’s school trip to DC in March. She’s not going to be getting much sleep on that trip!

At IL5’s school, the lockdown alarm went off accidentally and scared the poo out of the teachers. We got an email from IL5’s teacher  saying it was “really scary.” IL5 thought it was fun. Apparently they’re supposed to lock the door, turn out the lights, and hide in a huddle out of view of the door.

Friday

Friday was fun. At least towards the middlish-end. I went from work to IL5’s poop physical therapy then, after playing in the sandbox, we went to D14’s appointment. We did that in the parking lot of the school. When we were done, D14 was dreading going back inside, so I guess I was feeling generous because told her she could go to the park with me instead. So off we headed to an indoor park, and IL5 played for 2 hours, and still wanted more. After dinner, M11, Aaron, and I watched Resident Alien.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 2 letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• Akata Woman, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Maleficent Seven, Cameron Johnson
• Great Courses: Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Bible
• Mahabharata

Reading to IL5

• Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy, by Thomas Flintham
• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• The Book of Night, By Holly Black

Media Completed

In a post- apocalyptic world where cities are moving predators, London is trying to declare war on other settlements. Tom and Hester aim to stop the destruction. This had an ok premise, but had too many elements where it seemed like plot was going to be developed, then it wasn’t. It was 2 hours of thin plotlines and no character development. But it was ok to watch.

Obviously, I’ve seen this movie several times, but this time I got to watch it for the first time through the eyes of M11, who seemed to enjoy it.

This book is a somewhat personalized view of the opioid epidemic, mostly set in a smallish community in Virginia. There are descriptions of the lawsuits filed against big pharma, but mostly it is stories of people she interviewed. It was an interesting coverage of the problem – not the first I’ve read on the subject. I didn’t like her coverage of Ritalin, though. She made Ritalin into a gateway drug, and only pointed out the negative in it – thus perpetuating the stigma against putting one’s child on it. She pointed out that studies show that Ritalin doesn’t enhance the performance of the average person, but failed to point out that it does enhance the performance of people who truly have ADHD. So, overall this was a good book, though it was rather single-sighted about what the author viewed as right and wrong.

Cross-stitch

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron, IL5, and I went to Home Depot to buy paint and supplies to paint IL5’s room yellow and orange. IL5 picked the brightest yellow and orange he could find. Then we went to Perkins with Dad and D14. In the afternoon, I cooked a turkey feast for Aaron’s birthday.

Sunday

Sunday, I worked a shortened shift and then came home to play D&D with Aaron, M11, and D14. We played a one-shot, and I got a bunch of cross-stitiching done. Then IL5 and I started bedtime routine.

Monday

Monday was more frustrating than expected. I had originally had three appointments scheduled, but they were all moved for unrelated reasons. So I thought it would be a good day.

I started with a shopping trip to buy some ingredients of a strawberry shortcake. D14 then cooked it for Aaron’s birthday, but IL5 wanted to help, and was very frustrated by what he was allowed and not allowed to do. So he spent the next two hours screaming on and off, while I ran back and forth between calming him and making baked beans for this week’s lunches.

I was supposed to go out with IL5 and my friend Liz, but she cancelled because of an asthma attack so I ended up sorting laundry and doing dishes instead…which isn’t nearly as fun. Then, I had planned to go to the library with IL5. He wanted to go in the stroller, so we had a nice walk, but the library was closed for President’s Day. IL5 was very disappointed.

IL5 was running like a motor all day, so the next couple hours were spent watching him zoom around while hoping he stayed out of the important stuff. Then swim lessons for him.

The day had at least three frustrating elements besides the ones mentioned, but they all seem pretty minor as individual events, and I don’t want to sound whiny, so I’ll stop here.

Tuesday

Tuesday went ok. I was feeling a bit frazzled all day, as I seem to be reaching the end of my safety rope and am not sure how much longer I can stay swamped in appointments. That feeling of exhaustion is bleeding into my interactions with people, which I don’t like.

After work in the morning, I did some tasks around the house, then took D14 to an appointment. Not long after that, I took dad to an appointment. At this point, I decided the most productive thing I could do in that state of mind is nothing (although doing nothing is a struggle sometimes). I took a nap, woke after 30 minutes to take D14 somewhere, then slept for another hour before IL5 arrived home.

Monday, I had promissed IL5 I would go out and play in his sandbox with him after school, and boy did he remember. Before he even got off the bus he said “Sandbox!!!” He ran straight for the toys he had carefully picked out the day before. All this was great, except, in all the excitement, I forgot that I was supposed to give him his morning meds, which he didn’t drink in the morning. This led to problems later.

When everyone was home, we all went out to dinner for Aaron’s birthday. It would have been a nice meal, but IL5 was hyper from not taking his meds. He was jumping up and down, sticking silverware in drinks, rolling around, and sticking his hands in his ketchup. On the way out, he was giggling and rolling towards the exit, and when I was able to catch him, I tried pulling him up by the arm, but he resisted and we bumped his head on a table. At least that distracted him so I could get him out of the restaurant without him rolling the whole way.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I talked to a mold remediation guy who pointed out the the mold in the basement was worse than we thought. He suggested sanitizing two stone walls, cutting out the bottom two feet of the drywall back of our closet, and pulling out the carpet in our closet. The cost of this was more reasonable than I expected, though they’re leaving the area as an eyesore, so if it bothers us, we’ll have to fix it. I feel we should just leave it as an eyesore and save money for more important things.

Then I went to my day job, where I got a bunch of reading done because my client was asleep. When I got home, I went through some pages of my grandmother as a child and labeled them with Post-its so my mother-in-law can scan them in for her genealogy project.

In the evening, I went to dinner with IL5 and my friend Liz. D14 and M11 both had rehearsal.

Thursday

Thursday morning after work I started out the day playing D&D. While I was doing that, I was able to fold some laundry and go through some pictures from my grandma’s album. I’ve finished post-it noting the whole album now…it covered my grandma as a baby to my mom as a baby. It was a treasure.

Then I took dad to cardiac rehab and got my steps in while he was in there. I ran some errands, dropped D14 at her appointment, and then fell asleep for 2 hours, with a quick break for getting IL5 off the bus. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep – sometimes it is just overwhelming due to my sleeping disorder. I had been going to cook some meatloaf. Oops.

Friday

Friday after work I took D14 to her spine specialist. He said that she was done growing and the scoliosis doesn’t need to be monitored. Then I took IL5 to speech therapy. After that, I fell asleep for a little while. I cooked salmon and baked potatoes for dinner. Then read for the rest of the evening. D14 went to her mom’s for the weekend, and M11 went to BSA camp.

Letters Written

• One letter Virginia
• One letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Bible
• Great Courses: St Augustine’s Confessions, by William R Cook and Ronald B Herzman

Reading to IL5

• The Beast of Soggy Moor, by Martin Howard
• Super Rabbit All-stars, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Time-Jump, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Side-Quest Test, by Thomas Flintham

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• A Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramee
• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas

Aaron reading

• The Book of Night, by Holly Black

Media Completed

Bitzer and Shaun go hunting to capture a scary beast. Good story, though maybe too advanced to read to my 5 year old for lack of pictures.

Our group of travelers accidentally ends up at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe while searching for a mysterious man. I’m not sure what the point of this book was, but it was pretty funny.

The Jungle follows Jurgis Rudkis over several years of miserable existence as a working man. This book went into great detail about the horrors that take place in a slaughterhouse and meat packing company. It ends as a lecture on socialism. The middle contained more of a story though.

Spoilers abound below.

These questions are adapted from Susan Bauer’s Well-Educated Mind, Chapter 5.

✏️Is this Novel a fable or a chronicle?

Chronicle – it takes place in the real world.

🖍️How does the writer show us reality (if chronicle)?

We see reality through physical descriptions of the plight of the “working man.”

🖍️What is the intent of the world (if fantastic)?

The intent was to educate the reader on the plight of the “working man” and on socialism.

🖍️Is the novel primarily realistic with a few fantastic elements?

It has no fantastic elements

✏️What does the central character want? What is standing in their way? What strategy do they pursue to overcome this block?

Jurgis only wants to survive with some vestiges of health and prosperity. He tries several different ways of life, eventually failing to achieve his goal in all of them, presumably until he discovers socialism.

✏️Who is telling this story?

The POV is third person limited omniscient (the narrator knows the thoughts of Jurgis and his family, but focuses more on physical descriptions than on thoughts).

✏️Where is the story set?

The story is mostly set in Chicago

🖍️How does this setting convey the character’s relationship to the world?

The title of the book “The Jungle” is talking about the concrete jungle. The story revolves around how the city affects Jurgis.

✏️Do you sympathize with the characters? Which ones and why?

I sympathize with Jurgis to a certain degree. He was in a bad situation, so his poor choices were understandable, but he made quite a few.

✏️Does the writer’s technique give you a clue as to his take on the human condition?

Yes, Upton Sinclair seems to sympathize with the socialist movement and to care for the plight of the underdog.

✏️Is the novel self-reflective?

As far as being reflective about his views on socialism, yes. As far as his own condition in life, no. This is coming from someone with the wherewithal to write a book. Not someone suffering in the stockyards.

✏️Did the author’s time affect him?

Of course. This was a time when socialism was spreading and the plight of the working man was even worse than it us now.

✏️Is there an argument in this book? Do I agree?

I somewhat agree with socialism – within limits.

News

Saturday

Saturday morning dad and I went to Perkins for breakfast because there was no milk – despite my having bought some just the day before. I also made some chicken chili for our lunches next week. In the afternoon, Aaron and I played our alternating-Saturdays D&D game. In the evening, M11 and Aaron went to Perkins and I made some Jambalaya for more lunches for next week.

Sunday

Sunday I left early from a tough day at work. I thought we had a D&D oneshot planned, but apparently that was for next week. Doh! So instead we played go fish, went to Olive Garden, and then watched the Super Bowl. Well – Aaron watched the Super Bowl. I cross-stitched and took IL5 to bed. D14 made cornbread and watched a couple of plays. And M11 played on his tablet till 9, then acted insulted when I sent him down to bed during the overtime since he really was not interested in football, he just wanted to stay up. If he’d honestly cared about the game, I wouldn’t have sent him downstairs.

Monday

Dad had two appointments on Monday. Cardiac Rehab went well, but he was tired. The second was to discuss the spot on his arm that could be cancer. It’s not. So, yay! Some good news! Dad’s second bit of good news in a couple of weeks.

To offset that news, we found out D14 does, indeed, have scoliosis. It is a 30 degree curvature in the spine, and we’re going to see a spine specialist next week.

In the evening, IL5 had swim lessons and M11 trained for knots and lashing life skill with the Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday D14 had an appointment, followed by a well-child visit for M11. Then my friend Liz came over and we watched Doctor Who.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a tough day. It had three appointments plus an appointment drop-off squished into literally the shortest amount of time possible: An hour-long cardiac rehab appointment with dad at 11am, then a 45 minute physical therapy appointment with dad at 12:20. Then I dropped dad off at home and picked up D14 for her 45 minute appointment which started at 1:45. Then I dropped her off at her final appointment at 3. Following that, I had some errands to run.

When I got home, I realized that 5 cans of chicken noodle soup and 3 cans of chili that had been bought yesterday were missing. They had been purchased on Tuesday. Dad is convinced J19 (my couch-surfing nephew) ate them – and somehow disappeared the empty cans. But I have reason to believe he took them to his girlfriend’s mom’s house. Not that I mind helping out people in need, but I want to agree to do it first – not have my food stolen. I don’t have money to feed an army.

Then I found out his window had been open – in winter, after being told twice to keep it closed. Plus, he ate ALL of the jambalaya I cooked for Aaron and my own lunches this week, despite being told last week that the stuff in Tupperware was reserved for Aaron and myself. Neither of us got any. So I texted J19, who communicates mainly by text, even when in the same house as someone, that he was out at the end of next week. This was difficult, as it will make his exit contentious. I had been hoping for a peaceful exit in April. Keep in mind, we’ve been mightily pissed at J19 the whole time since October, but this (plus losing multiple vapes – containing who knows what – in the house, which I found out the other day) pushed me over the edge. It was VERY stressful.

After that, I suddenly realized M11 wasn’t home. I had told him I needed him to come straight home after school to look after IL5, since I (at that time) planned on going somewhere. He was an hour late. So, I let dad watch IL5 (scary!) While I dashed quickly to the library – which is the ONLY place he goes after school. He wasn’t there. I checked his room again, and pondered. (Keep in mind, I was already exhauseeted and pissed off and stressed out.) It was now 5, and he is always home from the library by 4:30, so I thought it was starting to be irresponsible to not call 911. So, feeling a bit sheepish, I went ahead and called. Twenty minutes later, M11 came strolling up the driveway, carrying his trombone wearing a black coat, red, blue, and black backpack, and black pants, carrying a trombone – just as I described him to the police.

I was livid. He had forgotten that I’d told him to come directly home, and had found out that day that it was the first day of rehearsal for the middle school play, so he went to rehearsal. I felt he should have called, regardless of whether he remembered.

Then, I decided that I should try to cry, because I really wanted to cry, and crying is a good release. But I can’t really cry on demand, apparently, so I forced myself to sob, and managed two tears and slightly damp eyes after a good five minutes of trying. It was pathetic, and made me even more angry.

Then I read a book to IL5 and went to work.

Thursday

Thursday was mainly spent recovering from Wednesday. I went directly from work to work. But I wasn’t very productive at work, as I had a headache. The headache lasted throughout the day, despite the news that while I was gone, J19 had moved out with no arguments. He did leave some ammunition in the room, and IL5 came running out with it, feeling he’d found a new toy. I was livid. I don’t like guns, and I told J19 multiple times that guns were NOT allowed in my house.

The headache lasted through my date with Aaron at a Mexican restaurant. But it was nice having a date. I took a nap when I got home, and that made my headache subside before I went back to work.

Friday

Friday, I decided to relax as much as possible. I figured Thursday’s headache was burnout, and I hoped to be back to my productive self on Saturday.

After work, I took IL5 to an appointment, had an hour break, and then took him to his speech therapy. Then I “relaxed” for a few hours; “relax” being a loose term because IL5 was in an energetic mood and it was mostly me chasing him around doing damage control. Towards the end, we had a game of hide and seek, which ended with me hiding in the bathtub and him not being able to find me for quite a while. He checked under the bathroom sink (which I couldn’t fit under), but didn’t turn around and look at the tub.

That bit of positive attention calmed him down a bit, and we settled down to watch some TV. I set him up on the computer, and the rest of us watched the new Netflix show Resident Alien which was pretty funny, if lacking in continuity/verisimilitude. Aaron eventually left to do his gaming with his friends.

IL5 fell asleep and when he half woke up, we convinced him to switch to his newly Minecraft-decorated bed instead of the parents’ bedroom, but eventually I realized I forgot to put a diaper on him, and I didn’t want him to ruin his sheets on day 1. But then he wanted to move to our bed when he realized I wasn’t going to stay in there all night.

Reading to myself

• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson

Reading to IL5

• Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Racers, by Thomas Flintham
• Super King Viking Land, by Thomas Flintham

M11 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• A Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramee
• Dragon’s Legacy, by Deborah A Wolf

Aaron reading

• The Burning God, by R F Kuang

Games Played

Go fish

News

Saturday

Saturday was another sleeping disorder day. I slept at 7pm the night before, slept through till 5am Saturday, and got up to make split pea soup for this week’s lunches for Aaron and myself. Then I slept till 9:30. Back to sleep at 10:30, and so on with breaks in sleep until about 4:30, when IL5 woke from his super-long nap. I then felt refreshed, and salvaged a bit of productivity at the end of the day.

Sunday

I managed to stay alert all day Sunday, which was a great change from Saturday. I worked, then we cancelled “family day” because D14 was sick.

Monday

Monday, dad had another cardiologist appointment. This one specialized in heart rhythm, and the appointment was made in October when dad was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. He said that what the hospitalists saw in dad’s EKG in October was NOT atrial fibrillation. He was misdiagnosed. He could go off the Eliquis (which is super expensive). So…yay! Good news on dad’s health finally!

Dad had cardiac rehabilitation later in the day. Then I took D14 to get a strep and COVID test, because she was sick (both were negative). I did some housework and then took IL5 to swim lessons.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with a run to Perkins with my dad. Then I took D14 to an appointment, and I got to pace around the building to get my steps in while she was in the appointment.

Following on the heels of that, I took her to a pediatrician appointment for her well-child visit. There, we discussed whether to take her to OT for eating…she says she’s willing to try introducing new food into her diet, but seems to feel anxiety about doing it on her own. I am not sure if I want a third kid in eating therapy, but Aaron and D14’s mom are on board, so I guess that’s three against my waffle. Also, the pediatrician pointed out that D14 has scoliosis. It isn’t very much, but enough that I need to take her for an X-ray so they can measure the bend in the spine and decide if she needs a spine specialist. 😱

Later in the day, I went through some old stuff of my grandpa’s. I found the hospital bill for my dad’s birth and the first letter my grandma sent to my grandpa, as well as the first letter from her sister Alice.

You see, Alice found my grandpa in a Boy Scout (or some such) magazine for pen pals. She started writing him. At some point a couple of years later, she culled her pen pals, and grandpa didn’t make the cut. However, my grandma (Elizabeth) started writing my grandpa (Robert) instead. My grandpa almost didn’t write back, but figured “oh well, might as well.” They fell in love and got married.

I set aside the letters and bill so I could take them to Oregon in case my mother-in-law wanted to scan them and put them in her genealogy stuff for IL5.

My grandma’s letter

Dear Bob,

Before reading this letter you had better turn to the last page and see who it is from. Now that that is over you will want to know why I am writing to you. Well here is my reason. My sister Alice is writing to several boys and decided she would have to stop writing to one of them and as you were the least important (to her, not to me) of them she decided she could no longer waste her time, ink, paper and last but not least her stamps on you. Of course I know that you will be sorely disappointed to get this letter from me instead of her, but I sincerely hope to get an answer from you.

First I suppose you will want to know a little about me. I don’t know how old my sister told you she was and I doubt if she remembers but I am almost two years older, so figure it up. I am five feet three inches tall and weigh 95 pounds. I am neither fair nor dark complected and have dark brown or almost black curly hair. I don’t suppose you can get much out of this description but if you will write real soon I will send you a picture of myself in my next letter. I have the picture now but I will wait and see if you are going to write to me. Also send me a picture of yourself.

I hope my picture will add another to your rogues gallery of which I am sure your own picture heads the collection. If it doesn’t it certainly should.

Last night my sister, my brother, and I gave a watch party and I didn’t go to bed until well after 3 o’clock. I am rather sleepy now so I will close, but will write you a long letter next time. Hoping to hear from you real soon.

Your friend,

Elizabeth M-

PS if I never hear from you I will know that it is because you are in the deep, dark, depths of despair because you didn’t hear from my sister.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning I went straight from my overnight job to ushering dad quickly out the door (actually he ate breakfast and we were late) to cardiac rehab. Then I went to my day job. I had a short break, followed by an evening appointment for D14. Then I took her to Mary Poppins rehearsal and participated in M11’s parent teacher conference via phone while driving home.

Thursday

Thursday, I started a new D&D campaign. I jumped in on the second session, so I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but it was still interesting. I’ll pick it up eventually. In the evening we had parent-teacher conferences for D14 and IL5. Both are doing great. D14 has A’s and A-‘s. (M11 was too, though he was missing more assignments. I forgot to mention that yesterday.) IL5 is ready to end up in a regular classroom, and the teachers agree with me that he can understand what people are saying…he just has difficulty speaking.

Friday

Friday, IL5 had an appointment in the morning. It was his psychologist who is working with him to encourage him to poop in the toilet. It was good timing, because IL5 was claiming he had pooped in the toilet at school and the teacher denied it. The psychologist was able to talk him through the frustration of not being believed.

Then I took D14 to get an x-ray of her back to see if she does, indeed, have scoliosis. As of the end of that day, there was no news. D14 and I also went to Red Lobster. I had intended it as quality time, but she watched a video on her tablet, so I read.

In the evening, IL5 had a playdate in an indoor park. He enjoyed the date for about an hour, then suddenly said “Let’s go!” And he proceeded to push open the exit door. I had to chase after him before he got himself locked out.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Pennsylvania
• 1 letter Texas

Reading to myself

• The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham
• The school is Alive!, by Jack Chabert
• Robo-Rabbit Boy, Go!, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team-up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham

M10 reading

• Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park

D14 reading

• A Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramee
• The Dragon’s Legacy, by Deborah A Wolf

Aaron reading

The Burning God, by R F Kuang

Media Completed

When Sam finds out Eerie Elementary is alive, and wanting to eat people, his friends won’t believe him. But he tries to save everyone anyway. Very cute and funny. My 5 year old and I both loved it.

The Jungle follows Jurgis Rudkis over several years of miserable existence as a working man. This book went into great detail about the horrors that take place in a slaughterhouse and meat packing company. It ends as a lecture on socialism. The middle contained more of a story though.

News

Saturday

Saturday M11 went ice fishing with the Boy Scouts. He seemed to have enjoyed himself, other than falling in one of the ice fishing holes up to his hip.

I went to Olive Garden with IL5 and my friend Liz. We discussed our book club book, and chose a new one. Then dad, IL5, and I went to the Mall of America to walk around. IL5 was awfully disappointed not to ride the rides, but I didn’t think I would fit on those rides and M11 hadn’t wanted to come to the mall with us. We lost dad twice at the mall – once at the elevators for about 15 minutes and once in the parking lot for about 5 minutes. D14 and Aaron went snow tubing for a late birthday present. They had fun, but there was a lot of time waiting in lines.

Finally, Aaron and I walked to a nearby tavern for our date. We were disappointed to find out that our date spot is closing this coming Friday. It was a nice place to go. Now we will have to choose between driving (and not drinking) on Thursdays, walking about 10 minutes to a louder bar on Sundays (they have Vingo on Saturday, and we find that distracting), or walking 15 minutes to a quieter place on our usual Saturday night date. None of these sound as appealing as what we were doing until Saturday.

Sunday

Sunday, after I worked for several hours, we watched Solo as a family. Aaron and D14 worked on the cruel and unusual Micky Mouse puzzle. The thing is insane, I’ll have to get a picture when they’re done. It’s like 100 little Mickey faces all squished together. Dad and I got it for them as a joke, and D14 has accepted the challenge. She dragged Aaron in, against his better judgement.

Monday

Monday started with me cooking some beef stew for Aaron and my lunches this week. Then IL5 and I went on a play date with some triplets from special education. I had a good talk with their mom, and it was a reminder that three kids with “problems” is easier than three five year olds with “problems.” I just can’t imagine.

Then I had my supermom moment. It’s rare that I think I’ve done really well, but I dropped dad off for his cardiac rehab appointment, took IL5 to school, picked up D14 from school, picked up dad from Rehab, and went to D14’s knee PT – all in 1.5 hours. Dad had to come to D14’s PT, and D14 was late to her next appointment (we knew she would be – she was double-booked).

In the evening I tried a new meatloaf recipe, and everyone seemed satisfied with the results.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work, I took dad to his arm PT appointment, then went to my day job. Aaron worked from home due to the plumber coming to clear out the tub pipes. Dad went to the mall on the bus. M11 had jazz band. D14 had a late appointment. We got IL5 to sit on the toilet when he actually needed to go poop, but he couldn’t manage to poop. So, half-win.

Wednesday

Wednesday, after work and an appointment for D14, I worked my day job. Then I went to D14’s second appointment of the day, cooked dinner, and put IL5 to bed.

Thursday

On Thursday, I took dad to his CT scan of his elbow. This is one step further in finding out if he has bone cancer. The follow-up appointment for the scan is in a little over a week, though, so we’ll still have to wait for answers.

Then I took dad to his cardiac rehab appointment. While he was in there, I created a character for a D&D game I’m joining on Thursdays. It’s a squeeze to fit it into my schedule, but I really want the time to entertain myself. The character’s name is Asmirus, and she’s a shifter cleric (level 2) / bard (level 1).

Friday

Friday, IL5 had poop physical therapy, followed by speech therapy. Then I hauled him off to see my surgeon for a follow-up. Apparently, despite the after-care instructions saying that I could take a bath starting 10 days post-surgery, I’m not supposed to take a bath for another 2-3 weeks. Yeah, right.

D15 texted me while I was downtown. Apparently, she wanted a ride home from school because her hip hurt. She proceeded to call up Aaron to ask if some random “office lady” that she didn’t know could give her a ride home. He left work and picked her up.

In the evening, I crashed. I’d had big plans to watch The Two Towers with M11 and then get some reading done, but I fell deeply asleep. Then, when Aaron wanted to go to his videogame with his friends, I woke up for about 30 minutes, but was really struggling to stay awake and watch IL5. So the two of us got in bed, and he watched his phone while I slept.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Maine
• One letter Massachusetts
• One letter Michigan

Reading to myself

• The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
• Jesus and the Gospels, Luke Timothy Johnson
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnston
• St Augustine’s Confessions by William R Cook and Ronald B Herzman
• Great World Religions: Christianity, by Luke Timothy Johnson

Reading to IL4

• Super King Viking Land, by Thomas Flintham
• The Goat Who Chewed Too Much, by Tom Angleberger
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• The Super Side-Quest Test, by Thomas Flintham

M10 reading

• Wing and Claw, by Linda Sue Park

D13 reading

• The Dragon’s Legacy, by Deborah A Wolf

Aaron reading

• The Burning God, by R F Kuang

Media Completed

Han Solo starts his adventures in this Star Wars movie. It was interesting and fun. Also easy to follow.

Cross-stitch

News

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. I started the day making sausage stew for the week’s lunches for myself and Aaron. IL5, dad, and I headed to the library for a while. We picked out books, played with toys, and set up dominos. Aaron went to his board game group and D14, IL5, dad, and I went to Olive Garden. Aaron and D14 started a jigsaw puzzle hour at night during the time I sometimes read to her, so we had to compromise and say Aaron gets her 3 days a week and I get her 3 days a week and Aaron and I watch Supernatural one day a week. (The Supernatural was already a thing, but we often don’t get to it.) Anyway, Saturday was puzzle day.

Sunday

Sunday I worked for a bit and Aaron watched IL5 and ran errands. After dinner, we played a game of Cranium – D14 and Aaron against M11 and me. We had lost the board, strangely, so I made one on a piece of paper. In the evening, D14 and Aaron worked on a super hard Mickey Mouse puzzle.

Monday

Monday I took D14 and then dad to an appointment. I got a bit of a disappointment when I found out that my new third job didn’t even have a client, so I can’t work it. I was a little put out, because I was told there were two clients when I was hired. I asked my boss about it, wondering if she had been dishonest with me, but she said that one passed and one “graduated.” I’m not used to this graduation thing, and am disappointed I won’t be able to bring in money steadily with this job. But it’ll be money on and off, at least, and I was wary of taking a third job, anyway.

Tuesday

Tuesday was hard. Dad had an appointment in the morning, and slipped on the ice and hurt his tailbone and hit his head. I worked for a while after that, and that was calm. Then dad had a phone appointment and they never called. I finally called them, and they had it wrong in their computer – it was logged as in-persin with a note saying “by phone.” This was upsetting to me because I had left work early for that appointment. Anyway, the specialist called me back and we had a super-quick appointment so we didn’t have to reschedule. On top of that D14 and I had our first teenager fight. It was huge (for her), but I’m proud of her for finding a coping skill to calm down without her screens. Unfortunately, the fallout of the argument was that I was distracted and didn’t get IL5 or dad their meds for the night.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I took dad to an appointment, went to Perkins, went shopping, and took him to another appointment. Then I trained in for my third job despite not having a client to work with.

Thursday

Thursday I was displeased with my performance, but in retrospect, U kept pretty busy. I guess I have a weid disappointment in myself when I take a nap. Not sure why.

Anyway, I took the car in for maintenance, went to lunch with Aaron, did an appointment with M11, went grocery shopping, and took D14 to a meeting that turned out to be in my calendar wrong (it was on February 29, not January 25). In the evening, I watched an episode of Supernatural with Aaron.

Friday

Friday, I took IL5 to his last feeding therapy with this therapist. That appointment solidified my suspicion that the therapist simply didn’t like IL5. She was always making comments to me that he never did what he was asked, and other kids do. And her facial expressions were sometimes very telling of her distaste.

I feel that if she’s going to work with kids with problems, she should have the decency to LIKE kids with problems. If not, just do adult OT. Right? Plus, IL5 doesn’t necessarily do what he’s told, but he’s not defiant, and tone goes a long way with him. His speech therapist seems to love him. So do his teachers. The problem lies with the feeding therapist.

Later in the day, I had to haul IL5 along on a cardiologist appointment for dad. He behaved pretty well, though. And we found out that dad’s heart monitor from November showed no atrial fibrillation.

Dad, Aaron, and I went to Mall of America, had dinner, and walked around. Dad had wanted to take the kids and get them presents, but all of them decided to stay home.

While Aaron was gaming with friends in the evening, M11, D14, and I watched Umbrella Academy.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Maine
• One letter Louisiana
• One letter California
• One letter Oklahoma
• One letter Alberta, Canada

Reading to myself

• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• Horrorstor, by Grady Hendrix
• Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnson
• Dopesick, by Beth Macy
• The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair

Reading to IL4

• Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up, by Thomas Flintham
• Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray, by Nick Bruel
• Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit All-Stars, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Racers, by Thomas Flintham
• The Shocking Shark Showdown, by David Bowles
• Inspector Flytrap, by Tom Angleberger

M11 reading

• Wing and Claw, by Linda Sue Park (in school)

D13 reading

• Call of the Wild, by Jack London (in school)
• Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Mass
• Exile, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Aaron reading

• The Burning God, by R F Kuang

Media Completed

When Uncle Murray comes to look after Puppy and Kitty for a week, Bad Kitty is upset. Funny, as usual. Love the pictures.

When Amy went into work that day, she thought it would be a normal day in retail nightmare. But this time the nightmare was real. This is a hilarious horror satire about a haunted IKEA knockoff superstore. I loved every minute.

Malia, Ivan, and Dante go back to 13th Street to save the Quiet Prince. Cute and funny as usual. I love the frequency of pictures.

Games Played

Weight Loss

Lost 54 pounds total