News

Saturday

Saturday I was still feeling pretty burnt out. But I went to Hamilton with D13, and that was a lot of fun.

Sunday

Easter was a beautiful day at first. After getting off work at 8am, I went to church with dad. Then we had my friend Liz, her brother Ben, and her nephew L8 come over to hunt for eggs and play. Aaron helped me cook dinner. I cooked vegetables/sausage/potatoes mix (made them too spicy) & the corn casserole. Aaron cooked the ham and the mashed potatoes. Then we watched Notting Hill.

Monday

Monday started with an appointment for M10. After that, dad, IL4, and I walked to the park. The trip was crazy intense. I forgot how dad is on trips like that. First, I broke the stroller trying to adjust for a bigger child. We took him in the wagon. But the nut was missing on the wagon, and IL4 pulled out the bolt, and dad screamed at IL4 about it. Then, I assembled the kite wrong, so I had to jerry-rig it. By the time that had happened, the wind had dissipated.

We went to the playground, but IL4 ran off because he wanted to go to the gas station. I dropped the kite and chased after him, catching him just before the busy street. I took him to the gas station and got him a sprite, but he also wanted a candy bar and was difficult to get away.

Then dad walked to the hardware store and bought a nut, but he stabbed himself really deeply trying to get it put together, swear-yelling in front of all the kids in the playground.

IL4 then peed behind a tree (with my permission), and after hanging out for a while, we left. I had taken 4 books from the little free library, but lost two on the walk home.

Later we went to Outback in order to get an extra steak for M10’s feeding therapy appointment the next day.

Tuesday

Tuesday started out with M10’s appointment being cancelled – so now I have an extra steak lying around. It won’t last two weeks, so we’ll have to go get another steak then. Yes, I COULD cook one, but I figured I was better off making sure it’s a well-cooked steak rather than my rather amateur attempts. D13 had an appointment, and after that, I took a nice long nap. I’m burnt out from these 60 hour work weeks.

Wednesday

Wednesday I spent the day rushing around in an unstructured manner. I got to play D&D, but in a distracted sort of way, as I was multitasking. Then I went to work.

Thursday

Thursday D13 had 2 appointments, so we spent the whole day together – having lunch with her dad and running some errands. We all played family D&D in the evening.

Friday

Friday started with a GI appointment for IL4. The doctor decided that IL4 had a classic case of fecal impaction, where he’s so constipated that a rock solid stool has collected in his gut, leading to all the GI problems, stool withholding,  and lack of appetite. She says it’ll take months of household poop obsession to clear him out and get him pooping normally. Yay. I’ll find out more about what that entails when I get my detailed instructions. Later, he had speech therapy. Then we went to the park and had icecream after some running around.

In the evening Aaron grilled, and then D13 and I watched Heathers. She’d been really wanting to watch it for a long time and I finally succumbed. It was even worse than I remembered it being. Disgustingly rapey and homophobic. It made me feel sick that this was ok movie material in the ’80s. I mean, I guess you can’t expect much from a movie where the plot is two teens killing their classmates and making it appear like suicide.

Week’s Photos

Reading to IL4

• The Legend of Spookley, the Square Pumpkin, by Joe Troiano & Susan Banta
• PJ Masks: Operation Easter Egg
• Owl Diaries: Eva Sees a Ghost, by Rebecca Elliott
• Nelly Gnu and Daddy too, by Anna Dewdney
• Berenstain Bears and the Truth, by Stan Berenstain
• When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff & Felecia Bond
• Llama Destroys the World, by Jonathan Stutzman & Heather Fox
• Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse, by Jonathan Stutzman & Heather Fox
• Llama Rocks the Cradle of Chaos, by Jonathan Stutzman & Heather Fox

M10 reading

• My Teacher is an Alien, by Bruce Coville
• School of Fear, by Gitty Daneshvari

D13 reading

• When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller
• The Thing About Jellyfish, by Ali Benjamin

Wrote

• 1 letter Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Virginia Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Michigan Department of Corrections

Media Completed

Posts

• Pebbles and the Biggest Number, by Joey Benun & Laura Watson

Weight loss journey

Pebbles the butterfly decides he wants to find the biggest number. So he flies around the world asking various animals what the biggest number they know is. This is an educational book with fun facts and big numbers. It has great illustrations. Suggested age 4-8.

News

Saturday

The thunder-blizzard snowpacalypse dropped 6 inches of snow and blew down some branches. When I got up in the morning (at work) there was a snowdrift in front of the door so I had to exit through the garage when I left. Luckily, the people who clear the driveway had gotten most of it – except the stuff surrounding my car, so I only had to dig out immediately around my car. But as I was driving out, the street snowplow went by and left a huge berm blocking the end of my driveway. However, the person who had cleared the driveway was across the street with her tractor snowblower, and she came back and rescued me. But when I got to my street, I couldn’t turn in because it hadn’t been plowed yet and my car is tiny. So I parked at the park / city hall a mile down the street and trudged back through the snow.

I missed D13 and M10’s production of Wizard of Oz, which I hear was excellent. M10 forgot his jacket at the middle school where the play was, and I’m hoping it’ll still be there on Monday.

We played D&D, where my character did something very naive and foolish, but it was in-character to be naive. Anyway, she got herself captured.

After that D13 and M10 had a production of Willy Wonka, and Aaron and my mother-in-law attended.

Sunday

Sunday we played Uno and Ticket to Ride. Then we colored eggs.

Monday

Monday started out with dropping my mother-in-law at the airport. I went to the grocery store 3 times, took D13 to an appointment, went to an appointment for myself, and ran some errands. I should have worked out, but instead I made a new D&D character so I could have it ready for a new campaign that I have no time for on Wednesday. I really wanted to do it, though.  I see I’m going to feel guilty about spending this me-time. In the evening, I started another 60 hour work-week.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a productive day. I cleaned up the house of my friend’s hoarder mom for a while, took M10 to an appointment, and went to work. D13, as usual, had play rehearsal for the middle school play, and both kids had a cast party for Willy Wonka. Apparently everyone brought cupcakes.

Wednesday

Wednesday, after an appointment for M10, I played D&D for my new Wednesday campaign. IL4 pulled some withholding poop stuff on me, but luckily didn’t poop his pants till after the game was over. There was just a lot of trips to the bathroom and “My tummy hurts!” “My butt hurts! I need cream!” He thinks aquaphor is the solution to constipation apparently. Anyway, as I was picking the poop out of his undies, I noticed blood. I knew it wasn’t a  big deal – constipation can do that, but I took him to urgent care since I got yelled at when I didn’t immediately respond to the blood when M10 had the same problem. Then I went to work.

Thursday

Thursday I helped the Easter Bunny make baskets. One for each kid and one for 3 adults to share. Each person gets a book from the Easter Bunny. That was very thoughtful of her. Then I went out to dinner with Aaron and IL4 (M10 rejected us, and D13 was at rehearsal). Afterwards, Aaron and I headed out to a concert – a string group playing theme songs from fantasy and science fiction movies. Then Aaron and I dropped the car off at home and walked to a bar for a little drink.

Friday

Friday IL4 had speech therapy. Then we tried to go to the Mario movie, but he didn’t want to stay. I was feeling pretty burnt out from working so much.

Week’s Photos

Reading to IL4

• Pebbles and the Biggest Number, by Joey Benun

M10 reading

• My Teacher is an Alien, by Bruce Coville

D13 reading

• When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller

Wrote

• 1 letter Virginia
• 1 letter Main Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Virginia Department of Corrections

Media Partaken In

Posts

• We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, by Ryan T Higgins

Games Played

Weight loss journey

In the morning, we decided to check out the city hall, to see if we could figure out how to get blueprints to the Blackwater estate in order to rescue the lady. While Adalene and Zepher were checking out the bathrooms (gross), and Grok and Raazmi were chatting up a rather boring civil servant, I walked upstairs to scope it out.

I saw a board with the same jobs and wanted posters I had seen before. I decided to ask a passing guard about Giovanni. He didn’t give me any new information, and I basically told him I knew all that already, and suddenly he decided he needed to take me into a private room.

You know who walked in? Sharzar Blackwater! He seemed rather nice (and handsome!), so I chatted him up thinking maybe he would eventually see reason and release his prisoner. But he didn’t like me nearly as much as I liked him, and he had a guard escort me to his estate and into a locked bedroom. The beds were delightfully soft, but I didn’t like being locked in.

On the way to this room, I met a lovely, and very sexy, woman with 5 dragon heads named Mother Ish. She suggested she could do me a favor if I converted to the cult of Tiamat. I think I’ll convert. I mean, what can I lose now? She told me to meet her in the East wing, but I’m locked in this room.

She also told me that Bouncy Inferno used to be owned by the Blackwaters. Bouncy seems pretty worried right now. We couldn’t find any vents for him to escape, but there are some loose bricks in the ceiling. I will try breaking out through there.

Penelope Rex is excited to go to school, but then she discovers that her classmates are all delicious human kids! This is a cute and funny story.

News

Saturday

Saturday, I went to the kids’ Willy Wonka play with my dad and my friend Liz. They did a great job! And the play was really well done and professional.

Sunday

Sunday was a relaxing day. I slept in, took IL4 to swim, went to watch the Willy Wonka play with the kids (they are only in half the productions, and they wanted to see the play from the audience), then went to dinner with the family.

Monday

Monday was pretty uneventful for me. M10 and D13 had auditions and then rehearsals for their spring break play-in-a-week Wizard of Oz. Deirdre got the part of Uncle Henry. She thinks she got it because she’s the oldest participant in the play. The age limit is 17, but I think 13 is about the upper maturity level of these things. She probably won’t do it again.

Tuesday

Tuesday the kids had a Willy Wonka performance.

Wednesday

Wednesday, my mother-in-law came to town. The day started by dropping the older kids off at their play-in-a-week activity, then I took IL4 to the library to distract him until it was time to pick up MIL at the airport. But he knew it was a distraction. He wanted grandma. And he wanted her NOW! So we drove to the airport early and wandered around the arrivals area for maybe an hour – which kept him occupied with all the new sights. All three kids were thrilled to see Popo.

Thursday

Thursday was a SNAFU for me. One of the members of my productivity group suddenly ghosted us – blocked us on all social media accounts and we had no idea why. Because of the chaos surrounding this change in my productivity routine, I forgot to check my calendar and totally blipped on an appointment for M10. 🤷‍♀️ But we’re starting to regroup the productivity group with a new member, so hopefully I’ll be back on-game soon. D13 and M10 had another Willy Wonka production that night.

Friday

Friday was difficult in the morning. I had forgotten to take my meds for a couple of days – and I was feeling waves of dizziness. They went away as soon as I realized what the problem was and took my meds, but it still ruined the morning. In the afternoon, my MIL, dad, and I took IL4 to an indoor park, after which I was exhausted. That night, the thunder-blizzard snowpacalypse began.

Reading to IL4

• Love Monster, by Rachel Bright
• The Yeti Files: Attack of the Kraken, by Kevin Sherry
• Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse, by Jonathan Stutzman & Heather Fox
• Knight Owl, by Christopher Denise

M10 reading

• How to Speak Dragonese, by Cressida Cowell
• Dragonbreath: the Case of the Toxic Mutants, Ursula Vernon

D13 reading

• The Doldrums, by Nicholas Gannon
• When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller

Wrote

• 1 letter Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Michigan Department of Corrections
• 1 letter Virginia Department of Corrections

Media Partaken In

Posts

• Escape the Underdark Episode 5
• Attack of the 50-Foot Fluffy, by Mike Boldt
• Love Monster, by Rachel Bright
• The Yeti Files Series, by Kevin Sherry

Games Played

Weight loss journey

Weight Loss – 8lbs lost this month

This is a great series to read to my 4 year old. It was long enough to have a little plot, but had funny black and white drawings on every page with only a few words to make it a fast read. It was funny and cute.

Blizz the Yeti is excited when he learns there will be a family reunion of the Bigfeet. But a nutty photographer gets in the way.

When Blizz’s friend Nessie gets lonely, they travel back to the time of the dinosaurs to find someone like her for a friend.

Blizz goes to visit the merfolk and save them from some kracken attacks.

This googley-eyed monster is searching for someone to love him. But it’s hard to find love when you’re not cute and cuddly. I love the spirit of this story about finding love where you don’t expect it.

Claire is a sweet little girl with a sweet little fluffy. But when she gets mad…watch out for the 50ft Fluffy. This is a cute story with bright, colorful pictures.

Nigel took us to a secret tunnel under the city. The trip to the Resistance hideout was mostly uneventful, though Nigel and I were both engulfed by a floating acid-cube. Luckily, I was able to misty-step my way out of the cube and Nigel managed to crawl out.

Soon, we arrived in a large room full of interesting people. I wandered off from the group, hoping to find a new friend. I met a strong, ruggedly handsome blacksmith (Drako) and a short yet muscular woman with a lovely midriff (Braenria). Both let me know that this was the place to get reasonably-priced black market weapons.

At that point, Nigel called me over to the group which (minus Grok) had been discussing jobs we could do for the Eel of Gold to earn a referral to the merpeople. They took my blood in order to punish me if I told anyone the location of their hideout. I find that very disturbing, but I felt I had no choice, despite Eel saying I had one.

The three jobs that he had suggested were 1) to steal an item from the Blackwaters, 2) to save a Blackwater lady whose family has her locked up, 3) to get rid of the guards who keep the Blackwater lady. We chose to rescue the Blackwater lady.

The Eel of Gold was creepy. He, quite impossibly, knew my name and implied he had spies on the surface. He had a chest which he claimed could send items to the surface, and urged us all to write a letter to someone on the surface. I was a little suspicious that he was going to read them for nefarious reasons. I’m not sure what reason, though.

Here is the letter I wrote to my lover Oneida:

Dearest Oneida,

I long to see you. I hope this letter finds you. I know you are traveling on your own adventure, looking for heroes to save your people from the evil mongooses ravaging your young. I was on my way to find you when I found myself shunted without ceremony into the depths of the underdark. I am trapped here, but my group and I are working to get back up to the surface. In the meantime, I am searching for more soulmates, hopefully to join us in loving embrace. I have found a wonderful bunny of steel. His name is Bouncy Inferno. I love him dearly. I hope he will return with me to the surface.

I am not in a rush to get to the surface, but my group is – and that’s fine by me. As soon as I am up, I will begin making my way to you again.

With love,

Obsidian

Oneida is a tortle wizard from the Snout if Omgar. I have been friends with her since we were both children. Here is a painted miniature I have in a locket around my neck.

Strangely, I forgot to ask any of the people I spoke to about Giovanni. I will ask Nigel in the morning.

Anyhow, after we had completed our letters, we were taken to a large room filled with magical items. We were able to borrow some items to help us on our quest. I borrowed some Boots of Elvenkind, which make me stealthy and the Rod of the Pactkeeper which makes me a more powerful warlock.

Then, we were allowed to decompress and rest for the night. I had to take a soak to get all the cube-goo off of me. I met a nice minotaur who was a great listener…though strangely he never seems to leave the baths – no matter how long he’s been in there.