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.

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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.

News

Saturday

Saturday, I worked later than expected because the person who was supposed to relieve me forgot she was supposed to work. By the time I got home, I was going to be 45 minutes late to D&D, but surprise, surprise there wasn’t a time change in Denmark yet, though it had changed in the US. So I was actually early.

We played a lovely game of D&D. Immediately followed by my having BBQ with a friend. After that, I spent a little time with Aaron and IL4 before going out with my friend Todd to a club. I didn’t really want to go out, because I wanted to sleep, but his mom texted and asked me to hang out with him because he was having a hard time.

Sunday

Sunday I had Olive Garden with IL4 and my friend Liz and we discussed Sixteen Scandals, by Sophie Jordan. M10 went to rehearsal for his musical production. IL4 went to swim lessons. Then we had family day. It was D13’s choice, and we watched a few episodes of Psych. Afterwards, I went to work – starting my nasty 60 hour work week.

Monday

Monday D13 had an appointment. Then I ran errands with dad, then went to Perkins. At work in the evening, my client really wanted to buy me dinner, and I felt bad telling her that I’d eaten my calorie fill for the day, so I ate it. Oh well. I’ve been doing well recently. One bad day won’t hurt. Except that eating a lot always makes me hungier the next day.

Tuesday

Tuesday was ok. My throat started to hurt AGAIN and I was going to go to Urgent Care because it’s been 5 weeks (if I’m remembering correctly). But then dad wanted to go to Perkins, and for some reason I prioritized that because I figured he asked because he was lonely.

I had two people come in to give me an estimate for asbestos removal. One quote not only came with the better sales pitch, but also with a lower quote by over $1000. I’m going with that guy. Even if he were slightly more, he also seemed more competent. Now I just need to figure out what to do about my cats during this project. One of them is close to death, and I don’t want the stress to kill her. My client offered to take her for the day, but I’m concerned about her bladder control issues in someone else’s house. I’ll probably box her up in my super-large cat cage and sit in the car with her all day. The other cats can be locked in a room upstairs. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the stuff in that room. being our storage space, it’s a lot of stuff.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a bust. I spent the whole day sleeping on and off because I’d taken NyQuil the night before, which makes me drowsy. D13 and M10 had their first production of Willy Wonka in the evening.

Thursday

Thursday was a good day. 15 hours of paid work, plus I got my cross stitch organized for starting. I didn’t get my scrapbooking stuff organized as I had hoped. I got lots of audiobook listened to. The kids were off from Willy Wonka rehearsal for the day, but D13 had middle school play rehearsal.

Friday

Friday I spent a lot of quality time with IL4 after his speech therapy. We had lunch with Aaron, played shuffleboard, and spent two and a half hours at the library (which he chose over the park). D13 and M10 had a Willy Wonka production in the evening.

Week’s Photos

Reading to IL4

• The Yeti Files: Meet the Bigfeet, by Kevin Sherry
• The Yeti Files: Monsters on the Run, by Kevin Sherry
• Eva Sees a Ghost, by Rebecca Elliot
• Love Monster, by Rachel Bright
• Spookley the Square Pumpkin, by Jac Troiano
• Boo, Who? by Ben Clanton

M10 reading

• How to Speak Dragonese, by Cressida Cowell

D13 reading

• The Doldrums, by Nicholas Gannon

Wrote

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

Media Partaken In

Posts

• The Good Egg, by Jory John
• Boo, Who? By Ben Clanton
• Zealot, by Reza Aslan

Productivity

Weight loss journey

The premise of this book is that Jesus was not a peaceful man who was snarky about the Romans – he was actually a militant fighter for Israeli rights. It was well-researched and an interesting alternative point of view, but I found the evidence Aslan presented that he was militant rather flimsy. It was reading a lot into the situation, and not using the Bible’s account of Jesus at face value at all. I do agree that Paul changed Jesus’ message to say things Jesus didn’t actually say, but that’s as far as Aslan’s evidence convinced me. Still worth a read, though.

In this adorable story about fitting in, Boo is a new friend. But he has trouble fitting in because he can’t play a lot of their games since he can’t touch anything. So his friends find a game he can play. It’s a wonderful book about inclusivity.

In this delightful story, an egg is busy trying to encourage his fellow eggs to be good. Then he starts to crack under all the pressure of paying attention to what everyone else is doing. It’s a good moral about worrying about yourself and not what other people are doing. Great for many adults in today’s society, as well as my older two kids.