News

Saturday

Saturday D14, dad, and I went to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It was pretty good – over-the-top, but that’s to be expected. IL5 and I hung out for a few hours after that – though he didn’t want to do any fun activity. That was while Aaron was at his board gaming group. Finally, I went out for drinks with a friend. IL5 really wanted me to read the same Desmond Cole book as Friday. I’m glad he’s enjoying them!

Sunday

Sunday, I worked until 5pm. In the evening, Aaron, dad, and I watched “Big Fat Liar.” I’m not sure what to think of that movie. It amused me all the way through, but it also is 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back.

Monday

Monday I worked till 5. I got a letter written and some reading done in my downtime. At home, Aaron cooked burgers. Then I made a quinoa salad for a couple upcoming lunches and some pork chops for M12’s upcoming dinners. IL5 enjoyed playing with LEGO at school. D14 had a “mostly ok” day. M12 seemed unexcited by his day.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a pain. I got off work an hour early so I could drive to the regional office and take the CPR class. When that was over, I had a two hour break before a second class, this one for self defense against belligerent clients. I spent the time trying to find out what my new insurance ID was so I could stop cancelling appointments.

I started by calling up my benefits hotline, since that’s what they told me to do when I signed up for my insurance. They didn’t want to help, and told me to call insurance. After going through another “check 2 if…” menu, and being unable to plug in my ID number when prompted, I got through to a person. She told me I didn’t have an account and hung up on me. Click. So I call benefits again, and they say I definitely have insurance, but refuse to call for me. So I call insurance again, and that person tells me I have no insurance. But they do a better job of looking for me and after 20 minutes with them, she finds my account – she’d misspelled my name. Then when I got home that day, my insurance card was in the mailbox. That’s 45 minutes I’ll never get back.

Then nobody came to teach my second class. Apparently, they didn’t have anyone signed up to teach it. But someone higher up found a couple of people, and made them teach us. They had somewhere to be, so taught the 2 hour class in 20 minutes.

In the evening, Liz came over and we watched Doctor Who. The kids didn’t have anything exciting to say about their days.

Wednesday

Wednesday was glorious. When I returned home from my overnight job, I took a 2 hour nap and then had a late lunch with Aaron. Then I read for a while. IL5 seemed excited about school when he got home and told me about his best friend (whose name he doesn’t know). M12’s day at school was “ok.” D14 had fun at crew. In the evening, I read to D14.

Thursday

Thursday was hard for me, but harder for my client’s son. I went directly from my overnight job to my day job, and stayed there till 5, so I only had 4 hours before going back to my overnight job. But that was expected. My client had deteriorated quite a bit from the last time I saw her, and my client’s son was very upset about it. He was like a black cloud, and he kept walking in and out of the house, instead of leaving, so his mood rubbed off on me. I was sitting there worrying what would happen if she passed and I lost my job while Aaron is unemployed. I am too picky for a job to be easy to find. I need a job between 9:30 and 3:00, that is only 2 days a week, not on Fridays, and doesn’t involve working with violent people. That’s an unreasonable amount of pickiness.

After my day job, Aaron, dad, IL5, and I went out to eat and D14 and M12 had fast food. Then we relaxed until I left for work.

Friday

Friday, I was super tired in the morning. My alarm went off at 7am at work like it usually does, but then I immediately fell back asleep (which is the first time that’s happened at work). At 7:40, I got a notification, and it felt like I had just closed my eyes for a moment. Luckily, I managed to scramble through the morning by skipping a few non-essential tasks.

Next, I took IL5 to speech therapy. Next, I’d made a last-minute appointment for dad for what he thought was an ear infection. It turned out to be a lot of fluid in the ears, so the doctor suggested Flonase and saline. Then we went to Target and then <shudder> Walmart for a tea kettle.

In the evening dad and I took IL5 to the playground.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• The Week: Triggered
• New Scientist: Breaking Free from OCD
• The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty
• The Wrong Daughter, by Dandy Smith
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett
• The Wrong Daughter, by Dandy Smith
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges

Reading to IL5

• The Sleepwalking Snowman, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater
• Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her.)
• This Poison Heart, by Kalynn Bayron

Media Completed

Lydia Deetz and her daughter Astrid go back to her haunted family home for a funeral. Beetlejuice is called on in an emergency. This movie was funny in an over-the-top way. Very enjoyable.

Bronte Mettlestone is sent on an adventure when her parents die – she must fulfill the fairy-cross-stitched will or else her home town will be destroyed. This was a delightful middle-school fantasy.

Jason and his friend Kaylee travel to Los Angeles to call out a movie producer for stealing his paper. Stupid, yet funny.

News

Saturday

Saturday, I took IL5 to a friend’s birthday party at a bowling alley. His strategy was to aim the ramp at a bumper and let the ball bounce back and forth before getting most of the pins down. It was a more effective strategy than his friend was using – his dad carefully lined the ramp up perfectly straight.

After the party, I jumped into the D&D game with Aaron and friends a little late. I had already missed a close TPK. Luckily, one of us was left standing, albeit on his last few hit points, and he won the day. The rest of the party was revivified by a scale from my character’s patron, which she’d been carrying around since pretty close to the beginning of the campaign.

Then I cooked some meatloaf for dinner and tried to cook some jambalaya for this week’s lunches, but I didn’t have enough Andoulli sausages, so I had to place the rest of the cut up ingredients in a bowl overnight till I could get more. Meanwhile, Aaron played Spore with IL5.

The day was apparently unremarkable to M12 and D14.

Sunday

Sunday was uneventful. I was tired because I woke at 3am and slept fitfully the rest of the night. And dad was in a mood because he was annoyed at poor D14. I went to work and spent my downtime at work filling out a bunch of forms on my phone and writing a letter, so it was a productive day. I was exhausted when I got home, though, because of the lack of sleep. So I forgot to cook the jambalaya and chose not to cook dinner. The day was uneventful for the kids. IL5 took a long nap in the evening, but bedtime went smoothly, regardless.

Monday

Monday I worked. I had less downtime than usual this shift, but I did get a letter written and some reading done. When I got home, the family went out to eat (dad’s treat). Afterwards, I read to D14. The kids seemed to have unremarkable days.

Tuesday

Tuesday after work, I had some open time to get stuff on my to-do list done. Then I took M12 to an appointment. I ran errands (getting a nick in the windshield while at it). I made jambalaya for our lunches and then shrimp for dinner. Aaron and I watched an episode of Supernatural, then everyone watched the debate. That made me sick to my stomach, so I was glad to leave for work. But then my coworker had recorded it and was watching it when I got to work, so I had to REWATCH some of it! As soon as she left, I pulled the covers over my head and slept.

Wednesday

Wednesday I had a short break after lunch, and then I took dad to get his covid and flu shots. After that, we went to see his vascular doctor to discuss the results to his CT scan. Just like the test results said, the arteries to both kidneys, to the legs, and the big one headed to the lower part of the body were narrowed. Those, in combination with his narrowed carotid indicated a referral to a vascular surgeon. This doctor thinks the risk of surgery is high enough that it shouldn’t be done till dad can hardly move, so I’m not sure why the referral. I cooked salmon for dinner. Then we watched the first couple episodes of Witcher.

Aaron took the car in to get the chips in the windshield fixed, and the kids had good days. IL5 apparently painted some dots in school.

Thursday

Thursday I headed directly from work to work. My day job was pretty calm – my client slept the whole time – so I read and wrote a couple letters. I did nothing interesting that evening, but Aaron went to a networking party at Surly Brewing Company. Delightfully, he drank BEER. (He doesn’t drink beer.) He got the grapefruit one, and said it was good. D14 didn’t have crew, so she was home after school for pretty much the first time. Both older kids had no late homework, so they earned fast food.

Friday

Friday after work I took IL5 to speech therapy. Then, after a nap, I tried to go on a walk with dad, but he was having trouble breathing, so we came home. M12 went to his mom’s house after school, and D14 hung out with her friends. In the evening, we watched Beetlejuice.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Texas
• One letter Missouri
• One letter Michigan
• One letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett
• New Scientist: Reclaiming Reality
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty
• Roam, by C H Armstrong
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Reading to IL5

• The Duckling Gets a Cookie?!, by Mo Willems

D14 reading

• 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater

Media Completed

Rand and his friend go on an adventure to save the world from Evil himself. This is the first time I read this classic novel. It was delightful. A very well-designed adventure.

The duckling gets a cookie. The pigeon is jealous. IL5 picked this book out from the school library and wanted me to read it right away. He then wanted all the other pigeon books, so I requested them for next week.

Andres and Desmond help out a friend who lost his snowman. IL5 is still loving these books. I’ll be sad when I reach the end of the series.

News

Saturday

Not much happened on Saturday. Aaron had a board gaming group that he hung out with, so I hung out with IL5 all day. I was super tired all day, so all I managed was about an hour of housework.

Sunday

Sunday I worked all day again. Then we ate Chinese food and relaxed.

Monday

Monday I wanted to take IL5 to the park, but he refused to go and I didn’t press it because I was super tired, anyway. The older kids got back from their grandpa’s – D14 went downstairs and M12 promptly fell asleep on the couch.

Tuesday

Tuesday was busy. Immediately after I got home from work, I took dad to an eye appointment. His eye prescription hasn’t changed! Then I ate breakfast as I called my benefits hotline to sign up for insurance. (We lost it when Aaron was laid off.) With no break, I took M12 to an appointment. He has gained 2 pounds! Only 2 more pounds to get to 25th percentile BMI. Then I ran errands.

At home, I helped D14 with her homework, then loaded dad’s, M12’s, and my pillboxes. Then pretty much immediately, my friend Liz came over for two hours and we watched Doctor Who with the family. I got 1.5 hours free-time before leaving for work again.

Tuesday was IL5’s first day of school. He said he enjoyed it, but he hasn’t made friends yet, because he doesn’t know how. D14 had a theater meeting, and she is excited to be in the fall play’s crew as well as helping with lighting on other events.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I took dad to a CT scan to check out his peripheral artery disease. The results didn’t sound good, but we’ll discuss with his vascular doctor next week to see what they mean. After that, I went to my day job. In the evening, I cooked dinner and read to D14.

D14 was excited about her activities on the theater crew after school, but not so excited about the Pacer. That’s a test in gym where she runs back and forth and they grade her on how many times she makes it. D14 also said she made a friend.

IL5 was excited about school. He apparently had a really fun time. He loved playing LEGO, which may have actually been his activity before school started. He even tried an oatmeal cookie at breakfast, which he said wasn’t good, but he enjoyed a chicken strip at lunch. He also said he made 20 friends.

Thursday

Thursday I went directly from my overnight job to my day job. I got home at 5:30. Aaron cooked burgers, then M12, Aaron, and I played Magic. M12 won. When M12 killed me, IL5 asked if I could respawn.

All three kids were rewarded fast food for not having any late assignments, though M12 said he was insulted that I bothered checking this early in the year. Everyone had another good day at school.

Friday

After work on Friday I ran some errands, then took my dad to a rather uneventful cardiologist appointment. Then, I had a glorious 3 hour nap before IL5 got home. I cooked steak for dinner, and then relaxed for the rest of the day. The kids all said they had an ok day at school.

Pictures

Letters Written

• One letter Texas
• One letter Maryland
• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Virginia
• One letter Maine
• One letter Pennsylvania

Reading to myself

• The Week: The New Brand
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty
• Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Alan Turing: The Enigma
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Newsweek: Feeling the Pinch

Reading to IL5

• Minecraft: Night of the Bats, by Nick Eliopulos
• Dungeon Academy: Goreball Scrimmage, by Dianne Walker
• Major Monster Mess, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater

Media Completed

Cassandra Web is a paramedic who doesn’t like being tied down. But then she starts seeing the future. This movie took a lot of suspension of disbelief. I know it’s about a superhero, and that was fine. But she stole a taxi, committed crimes with it, and drove it around for several days without drawing attention. Plus, she didn’t get a prison sentence for all the crimes she committed . 🤷‍♀️

Morgan and his friends are back in the game, and are also solving a bat problem in the real world. Cute late elementary school series. Nothing too special to me, but IL5 is loving it. The Minecraft aspect is so fun to him.

The Danger Club participates goreball game with visiting dragon students. This book read kind of like a quidditch match. Weird fantasy game rules were explained, then a blow-by-blow of the game commenced. I was never a fan of quidditch matches, and I wasn’t a fan of this book. IL5 seemed only partially interested, too. He kept saying he wanted me to continue, but he didn’t seem to be interested. I liked the other books in the series much better.

Andres and Desmond find out they smell like monsters, so they go monster-searching. This is IL5’s favorite series right now. He loved this installment.

Games Played

Cross-stitch

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron and I played our Escape the Underdark D&D campaign for the first time in 6 weeks. Then he played Spore with IL5 and I cooked dinner. In the evening, Aaron and I had a date at a board gaming cafe. We only stayed a little over an hour because my brain was fried, but it was fun.

Sunday

Sunday, I worked all day. Aaron cooked burgers, fries, and corn cobs for dinner. In the evening, IL5 watched M12 play Spore, and Aaron and I watched a couple episodes of Supernatural. At bedtime, I finished up a Minecraft book that IL5 was really excited about.

Monday

Monday, I woke late because I had had a hard time falling asleep. I felt like half the day was gone. Aaron played Spore with IL5 and I made some chickpea curry and cooked M12’s pork chops for the week. (He warms them for dinner.) Then I took a short nap before D14’s high school orientation

The orientation consisted of an activity fair, which D14 found frustrating since she couldn’t find the D&D club table, a pep rally, which D14 found stressful because of the noise and crowd, and walking through her schedule so we could listen to each teacher talk for a while. The orientation was supposed to be 3 hours long, but they let us out after 2.5 hours due to severe weather. D14 and I had to walk around the parking lot searching for the car in the rain and wind because we couldn’t find the car. D14 was pretty stressed at the end.

Tuesday

Tuesday, I came home from work in the morning and filled dad’s, M12’s, and my pillboxes for the week, as usual. Dad was out of a prescription that had one refill left, but the automated system gave me an error message, and sent me to a human. The human said that dad’s doctor “closed.” I’m like: “What? He’s not closed!” So I called dad’s doctor up, and the phones were out. So I don’t know what’s going on, there.

After that wasn’t cleared up, Aaron and I rented a tiller. Aaron tilled the ground where the tree stumps used to be. When he was done with the first one, I began laying manure down on the tilled soil and mixing it with a pitchfork. I had moved 1880 pounds of manure before I was staggering around and decided I had had enough. I hadn’t even finished the big tilled area.

Aaron had finished tilling the other stump area, and had a meeting with his placement agency. When he was done, I’d stopped working, so he called it a day, too, since tilling was hard work and he was exhausted, too.

The family went out for steaks later in the evening, and then D14 and I sorted school supplies for the kids.

Wednesday

Wednesday was D14 and M12’s first day of school. Both went well. D14 auditioned for the school play and didn’t make it to callbacks, but still hopes to do crew. M12 signed up for wiffleball as his “Irish Time,” which is his mid-day break.

Aaron took dad to his audiologist appointment, and then to the clinic that we were having difficulty contacting. Their phones and computers were down. They tried to relay my message, but unfortunately some more info from me is needed, so I’ll have to try calling until their phones work.

Then Aaron and I mixed the rest of the manure with dirt on the tilled land. He used a roller to flatten the area as much as possible, then put down the grass seed. We used some cloth that has seed in it, and apparently the cloth will dissolve and the seeds plant themselves. I helped by pinning them to the ground so they don’t blow away. We will water 3x daily until the grass comes in I guess?

I then picked up IL5 for his literacy assessment. I sat on the floor of the gym while waiting and he curled in a ball in my lap and tucked his head in. I don’t know if he was tired or overwhelmed by the people and noise. But he seemed to like his teacher. She said he did well, though didn’t listen to instructions well – which problem I forewarned her of in an email (warning her not to assume he doesn’t understand the instructions, which is tempting to new people). I also warned her about his speech, refusal to poop in the toilet, ADHD, and dislike of eating at school. She seemed to appreciate the warning. But she may have just been being polite, of course.

After his literacy assessment, I went to the library to pick up the next minecraft book in the series I started reading to IL5), then to the grocery store and to pick up cupcakes to add variety to M12’s high-calorie snacks (he has to eat one a day to keep his weight up).

I read to D14 – Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger – and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Thursday

Thursday morning was rough. I got off work at 9am and drove home a different route than usual because of construction. I missed my turn, which dumped me off somewhere that added 10 minutes to my trip home, then I got stuck behind a train for another few minutes. I only had 15 minutes to prepare to leave for my next job. When I left for my day job, I stopped for gas, but had trouble with the chip reader in the gas pump, which means I can’t get my card out of the pump till it reads the chip. So I had to wiggle the card around for a while until it read. Frustrated, I decided to take my anxiety meds because I was getting all worked up. But when I opened my bottle, it exploded red Crystal Light on my favorite sweatshirt. So I told my client I’d be 15 minutes late and went home to take care of the sweatshirt.

I worked till 5, but it was a calm day, and I was able to calm down and get a few things done like sending emails, making some necessary purchases on Amazon, writing letters, and reading.

There was a severe thunderstorm watch on the way home, but I was only sprinkled on. However, the roads were flooded and a signal out when I got to my city. The electricity was out at my home when I arrived. Aaron had been cooking chili. So we went to Olive Garden for dinner because he couldn’t finish in the dark on an electric stove. On the way out the door, Freyja, one of our kittens, made the usual dash for the door and experienced rain for the first time. I hoped he would show an ability to turn around and ask to get back in, but instead he hunkered down and waited for me to rescue him.

After dinner, the electricity was back on, and Aaron finished the chili. We sat and chatted about the book I was reading, and eventually D14 and M12 joined the conversation, because my book is a conversation-starter. Then I left for work at 9:30pm.

Aaron had managed to get several errands and tasks on his honey-do list Thursday

Friday

Friday after work, I took IL5 to speech therapy. Then I took a nap and did some reading before helping D14 in a virtual appointment, then taking her to an in-person appointment. Upon returning home, the older kids left with their mom for their grandpa’s. I sat and chatted with Aaron until he went downstairs for his weekly gaming session. In a while, I put IL5 to bed, and collapsed under my blankets.

Letters Written

• One letter Michigan
• Two letters Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• The Week: Wave Rider
• Newsweek: A Class of Their Own
• New Scientist: Mission to Europa
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett

Reading to IL5

• Minecraft Woodsword Chronicles: Into the Game, by Nick Eliopulos
• Desmond Cole and the Scary Library Shusher, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
• The 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater

Media Completed

Morgan and his friends get VR goggles that transport them into Minecraft for realsies. Cute book which was mostly character and setting development for a series.

Mr Osaka is having a midlife crisis. He quits his job and explores his purpose in life. Life seems surreal and out-of-control. He meets strange women who twist his life in unexpected ways. Like all other Murakami books I’ve read, I was kept interested by the narrative even though I was often thinking “What? Really?” It’s a suspend-your-disbelief sort of story. Very well done.

Desmond and Andres have a school project at the Kersville Public Library. They are both excited about the books. But then they start flying off the shelves. As usual, this Desmond Cole book was appealing to IL5. Cute story and black-and-white drawings. About second grade reading level.

Games Played

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron, IL5, and I went to lunch with my friend Liz. Then we went to the bookstore to buy 2 Minecraft books for IL5. They are way above the level I’ve been reading to him, and he didn’t even ask for them to be read to him in the evening – he was excited about the next Desmond Cole book I had out from the library. But he had requested Minecraft books, so there you go. The rest of the day was spent with a couple chores and reading.

Sunday

Sunday I deep cleaned the kitchen, including junk drawers, played Spore with IL5, and read. In the evening, the family played D&D. IL5 was especially wound up Sunday night and was very recalcitrant at bedtime. I was beginning to despair by about 12:30am.

Monday

Monday I accidentally slept through swim lessons for IL5. I turned my alarm off at 9 and fell back asleep till 11:15. Oh well. D14 helped out at the middle school library. M12, IL5, Aaron and I went to the pool and had a lot of fun, though IL5 threw a temper tantrum when we left. Then we all went to Buffalo Wild Wings with D14. By then, we didn’t have enough transition time to get IL5 cheerfully to soccer, so we skipped that too. M12 went to Boy Scouts. Freyja, one of the kittens, dashed out the door when I left for work, and I had to chase him down. So I ordered a tag with our phone number on it, and hope it comes before he escapes longer-term. People around here tend to grab up kitties.

Tuesday

Tuesday I did chores, had a virtual appointment for myself, and then an in-person appointment for IL5. I played LEGO with IL5 when we were done – I had some LEGO I had intended on giving him when we were visiting his grandma, but we didn’t go, so I gave them to him Tuesday. Then my friend Liz came over and D14 & Aaron joined us as we watched a little Doctor Who. We discovered dad has better without-glasses bision than me. I’m going to be so blind at his age!

Wednesday

Wednesday I got home from work at 9:20am, left for my second job at 9:55am, got home at 5:30pm, and left for work again at 9:25pm. That gave me 4.5 hours of non-work time, some of which was spent doing necessary tasks instead of relaxing. Aaron took IL5 to soccer, then played Spore with him when they got home.

Thursday

Thursday, I repeated Wednesday’s schedule. So by the time my shift is over on Friday morning, I’ll have had 9 hours off work in a 60 hour period of time. D14 watched the last episode of Monk. Dad and I watched the first episode of Queen’s Gambit.

Friday

Friday after work I mainly relaxed until the afternoon, when IL5 was ready to go on a bike ride. I had carefully picked a park with no playground, so that he’d actually ride his bike, but there was a lake beach, and he wanted to play in the sand after only a short jaunt on his bike. I’ll have to find another park for biking.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Massachusetts

Reading to myself

• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• The Week: Good Catch?
• New Scientist: Oceans in Chaos
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Newsweek
• Nurk, by Ursula Vernon
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges

Reading to IL5

• Night of the Zombie Zookeeper, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• Book Thief, Markus Zusak
• Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her.)

Media Completed

Andres and Desmond go on a field trip to the zoo, and run into a zombie. For second or third grade.  Loki loves these books and chooses to read them ASAP.

Nurk wants to go on an adventure like his grandmother, but is afraid of getting his socks wet. For third or fourth grade. Very cute and mildly funny. (Read it to myself, not IL5.)

News

Saturday

Saturday I mostly spent in bed, as did Aaron. D14 watched IL5, but had a headache at the end of the day and Aaron took over. The most I did was order a few essential groceries, McDonald’s, and pizza to be delivered, cancel our pet-feeder, and publish my blog. That was exhausting (even though my blog is mostly complete by Saturday morning, it was the hardest).

Sunday

Sunday Aaron was feeling much better, and I was able to stay out of bed for most of the day. I was even able to put IL5 to bed, though my voice didn’t hold out for much reading.

Monday

Monday I was feeling a bit foggy-brained in the morning, but otherwise I was ok. I took dad to the doctor for an appointment for a new-this-week back pain. She wasn’t very helpful. She diagnosed him with back pain and assigned him physical therapy. So I played appointment-roulette and moved stuff around until I got 3 PT appointments scheduled. Then later in the day, I was putting lidocaine on his back, and realized the pain was exactly where his last broken rib was. He probably rebroke it while COVID-coughing. This hopefully means I can cancel the PT appointments.

The trip to the doctor tired me out, so I took it easy for the rest of the day except for cooking dinner. I played some Spore with IL5. Then Aaron took IL5 to soccer. M12, dad, and I watched “Taken,” which dad complained was too dark and over-the-top. His complaint about “Identity Thief” the day before was that it was too silly and over-the-top. So I can’t win.

Tuesday

Tuesday I was feeling a bit fatigued, and pushed myself more than I should have. I did some laundry and other chores, played Spore with IL5, did some cooking for the week, and then crashed for 3 hours. While I was asleep, D14 cooked the meatloaf I had been planning on cooking for dinner. Then I did a couple more chores, but I still had energy to read to IL5 before bed. Aaron applied to a few jobs, did some chores, and played Spore with IL5.

Wednesday

Wednesday I was still feeling fatigued, but I managed to wash a load of dishes. Aaron weeded and played Spore with IL5. I tried reading to D14, but my voice wasn’t holding out. IL5 stood happily on the soccer field while his teammates played.

Thursday

Thursday I felt pretty much normal. I ran some errands, played Spore with IL5, did things on my to-do list and cooked shrimp for dinner. Aaron had a honey-do list which he completed. D14, Dad, and Aaron watched Seventh Son in the evening, then D14 and I watched Penelope.

Friday

Friday I was feeling pretty good, besides a little pokiness in the morning. I played Spore with IL5, did some chores, took a walk with dad, and read. I had been hoping to go to the pool, but it was too cool out. Aaron did chores and watched “Land of Bad.” The kids went out to dinner with their mom.

Letters Written

• One letter Arizona

Reading to myself

• Nurk, by Ursula Vernon
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Reading to IL5

• Mega Mole Girl Digs Deep!, by Thomas Flintham
• Surf’s Up, Creepy Stuff!, by Andres Miedoso
• The Goat Who Chewed Too Much, by Tom Angleberger
• Super Game Book!, by Thomas Flintham
• Bear Country, by Doreen Cronin

D14 reading

• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
• Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Media Completed

Diana steals Sandy Patterson’s identity and uses it to commit crimes and max out credit cards. So he sets out to bring her to justice. This is a silly, over-the-top comedy of an unlikely friendship. It made an entertaining evening with my dad (who didn’t really like it).

Bryan Mills’ 17-year-old daughter goes to Europe to be a band groupie. She is kidnapped on the first day, and Mills goes on a rampage to find her. This is an old favorite of a lot of people. I enjoyed my rewatch. Dad thought it was too dark and over-the-top for his tastes.

Andres and Desmond go to an awesome beach and settle in for a nice day. But then mersurfers start mixing up the action. IL5 is really enjoying this series. It takes me about a half hour to read one of these books, and he enjoys the whole thing.

The chicks go in search of their missing human, Barbara. Funny. Cute. Enjoyable.

Games Played

News

Saturday

Saturday we relaxed at the campground for a long time. Then we went on a short walk, and went to a bar and grill at a nearby town for dinner. It poured rain in the night. M12 couldn’t sleep because of his allergies, so after trying a few different things, he decided just to sleep in the car. He then woke us up at 6am because: “The sun’s up!”

Sunday

Sunday we packed up camp (after letting IL5 and Aaron sleep in to 8:30). The evening at home was pretty relaxing, with not much going on. IL5 was pretty thrilled about the second Desmond Cole book, so I promised to get more from the library.

Monday

Monday IL5 had swim lessons. Aaron met with HR about his severance package, and got a call-back about a job. The gastroenterologist got back to me and said that hospitalization won’t be necessary to get IL5 clear. They want us to give him yet more daily laxatives. I’m not 100% certain giving him 3 Exlax, 1-2 Dulcolax, and 2 tsp of Calm Magnesium a day is good for his gut in the long-term. I read to D14 in the evening.

Tuesday

Tuesday was calm. D14 had a video appointment with Aaron and myself. I had 3 hours to relax – I took a nap and read. Aaron had an interview with a placement company. He also ran errands and weeded so I could rest.

I used to pay myself 25c for every task completed on my to-do list, $1 for every weekly goal, and $2 for every monthly goal. The money goes to my fun budget for the family (and myself). But while Aaron’s looking for a job, I switched to a point system where each dollar converts to a point, and I pay 25 points an hour for time off where Aaron does “my work.” He has kindly agreed to this.

In the evening my friend Liz came over, and we all watched Doctor Who (except M12 and IL5 who were playing Spore and Creature Creator respectively). IL5 was thrilled when the new Press Start book arrived in the mail – I had pre-ordered it months ago. Instantly, he saw the ad for the next book that won’t be out for another several months. He paused his video so I could read the new book to him (usually he only wants to read at bedtime, so I only get to read to him on the three days a week I don’t work nights). So that was fun for both of us.

Wednesday

Wednesday felt a bit long and lonely. I went almost directly from my overnight job to my day job, and didn’t get home till 5:30pm. There’s no one to talk to at either job, due to my clients not really being verbal, and the day job is simply sitting around (though I bring books, work, and cross-stitch with me).

When I got home, I really wanted to stay home, but I also wanted to talk, and Aaron was taking IL5 to soccer. So I went along. IL5 didn’t do what the coach told him to do at all. I’m wondering how he’s going to handle kindergarten. I guess he really belongs in a Montessori that actually follows the original Montessori structure (letting kids pick their educational activity) rather than the college-prep-during-kindergarten structure that so many people associate it with (not sure when the spirit of the teaching structure changed). But we can’t afford a private school, so IL5 is going to have to learn to do what he’s told…which I don’t see happening quickly. I don’t know if he doesn’t hear the instructions (his ADHD), doesn’t understand the instructions (his language difficulties), or just doesn’t like the instructions (personality). Plus he is hyperactive – gets up and runs around in circles for no reason – so how is he going to sit still for kindergarten? Plus his inability to clearly talk. Plus his fear of the toilet. I’m actually scared of kindergarten.

Thursday

Thursday was another long day of going directly from overnight job to day job, and then arriving back home at 5:30pm. Dad was out of bed – he’d been bedridden by a virus for a couple days. We had a quick dinner, and then I started feeling super tired. Then the awful chills. I put on long underwear under my clothes and still felt cold. Finally, I decided the responsible thing to do is take a COVID test so that I don’t expose my overnight client (again). The test had a very faint pink line that Aaron couldn’t see, but D14, M12, and I could see. So I called in to work and went straight to bed.

Friday

Friday I was very sick. Aaron called his mom and they decided we would not have our trip to Oregon in the morning. Aaron started having symptoms by Friday evening.

Letters Written

• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Texas
• One letter Massachusetts
• One letter Maine
• One letter Belgium
• One letter Missouri

Reading to myself

• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
• Mr Ballen podcast

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham
• Mega Mole Girl Digs Deep, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Maas

Media Completed

In this humorous anthology Holly and Justine introduce stories which demonstrate each of their points – which are better: zombies or unicorns. I listened to this with M12, and both of us found it funny and refreshing.

Andres and Desmond have another ghostly adventure, this time with haunted bikes. IL5 absolutely loved this book, and its ghosts. He asked me to get more of the books.

Mega Mole Girl must rescue Super Rabbit Boy and all the other heroes of Super World. IL5 has made us read this book to him 3 days in a row.

Games Played

News

Saturday

Saturday I continued my readathon, but I got close to the same number of minutes read for all day Saturday as I did on Friday night from 7pm till midnight. It was fun, though. I’ve been trying to take days off for reading once a month for a while, but haven’t found the right day. Maybe I should take a “relaxation weekend” once a month where I don’t try to be productive – I just do my hobbies.

In the evening, D14, my friend Liz, and I went to Little Shop of Horrors at the Guthrie theater. They did a fantastic job! It was the Aquacentennial in Minneapolis, though, so we had to compete with traffic that slowed our trip home by 30 minutes. 20 of that was just sitting in line at the parking ramp.

Sunday

Sunday, I exercised on the stationary bike for a short stint, then went to work. Afterwards, D14 and I went to Frozen Junior, which was well-done. I took her to dinner, then home. We might have had family night afterwards, but one and then the other adolescent was occupied. So I called an early night for IL5 and myself. (Since IL5 cooperated, I guess he was tired, too.)

Monday

Monday was a difficult day. I had to cancel all of IL5’s activities because he hadn’t pooped properly in 8 days and I was trying really hard to get him to poop. No success, though.

On top of that, dad started the morning screaming at me because I asked him to tell me how far he walked and for how long so that we could keep track for the next peripheral artery disease physical therapist. I guess it reminded him about how angry he was at the last therapist, so he took it out on me.

Because the day was so stressful, I mostly relaxed, trying to keep myself functional. In the evening, I read to D14 for over an hour, and she had a fun time listening to my theories about her book. We did that while sitting with IL5 in his bed because he wanted to cuddle under a blanket in bed, as he wasn’t feeling well.

Then, the hard day continued when I got a letter telling me one of my pen pals had died. He’d been sick for a while and hadn’t been answering my letters, but I’d kept writing because I knew how much letters can brighten up a life. That makes two non-RL friends to die recently.

Tuesday

Tuesday was busy. After arriving home for work, I tried to fill the pillboxes for dad, M12, and myself, but only finished dad’s because I realized that I had forgotten to pick up his prescriptions last week, and I had to go get them. (So of course I never got to mine or M12’s, which became apparent when M12 went to take them in the evening.)

Then dad and I went to his dermatology appointment, followed closely by a virtual appointment with D14. I had to leave that appointment early to get to dad’s balance PT intake. Dad, thankfully, seemed pleased with with the therapist, and actually did his exercises later that night.

Before driving home, I needed to call dad’s doctor’s office to tell his clinical pharmacist that we would be 15 minutes late to her phone appointment, but luckily she was running late, too.

I was relaxing after that busy day, when IL5’s gastroenterologist’s nurse called and suggested we try magnesium citrate to get him to poop, and that she’d talk to the gastroenterologist and get back to me Wednesday. I told her I would do my best, and rushed off to the drug store.

IL5, of course, didn’t drink the magnesium citrate after any amount of cajoling and bribing. He didn’t even try it. And because we cajoled him to drink that, he decided not to drink anything we wanted him to drink…so we switched to trying to bribe and cajole him into drinking his normal daily laxatives. That became a big argument, because he wanted Dairy Queen, and we wouldn’t give him Dairy Queen until he drank his daily laxatives. That went on over an hour until finally he said “ok, I’ll take ice cream from the freezer instead.” That sounded like a stalemate-breaker to me, so I gave him some ice cream from the freezer. After eating that, he agreed to drink the medicine. I went to work before seeing that happen. He thus completed his 9th day without pooping.

While the cajoling was going on, M12, Aaron, and I played a game of Settlers of Catan.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a tough day. Aaron’s work downsized and he got laid off. Everyone was stressed about that.

IL5 pooped overnight, but not 10 days’ worth. I got a call from his gastroenterologist and they ordered an x-ray and told us to go in on Thusday or Friday if he didn’t contine pooping.

Aaron and I took M12’s trombone in for maintenance ($400, and they’ll have it for 6-8 weeks. They gave us a loaner, though.) M12 hadn’t been taking it apart and putting it away daily, despite being told to, and I suspect it was stepped on. New rule: put it away, or he’s grounded.

Then Aaron and I picked up some cupcakes – something we’ve been buying from a bakery to help M12 keep his weight on. I don’t get any, but I color code the rest so there’s no confusion.

And then we spent some of my saved up for-fun money to go out and eat and get lunch and a beer. We needed to discuss plans for insurance, etc. Luckily I can get insurance through my job. Probably not great insurance, but we’ll get by. We left D14 babysitting, and when we got home, D14 was babysitting while on a video call appointment. I felt so bad that I forgot about her appointment. It was supposed to be a private appointment, so it wasn’t on my personal schedule, and I just forgot. But both she and the provider were very understanding.

Then I had a bariatric MD appointment. She prescribed a med she thought my insurance might cover, since the ozempic is a no-go. This one has a generic, and isn’t necessarily a weight loss med, so might slip by. Of course, my insurance is about to change, but I doubt it’s better than what we had.

Then I called insurance and made sure my insurance covers step-kids, as they need to be on my dental and will qualify for Minnesota care through the state for medical (they’d have to switch dentists with Minnesota Care dental). My insurance will cover them, thankfully.

After that, I wasted time sitting around feeling stressed. Soccer was cancelled due to rain, so now I have 12 kids’ worth of snacks to get rid of.

Thursday

Thursday, I took IL5 to an appointment and then Aaron took him to get an x-ray while I was at work. I worked a couple hours extra to help save money, and it was a bit disorienting to get home at 5:30. But if they let me do so while Aaron is searching for a job, I’ll do that.

D14 had a friend E spending the night, and M12 was playing a fun computer game that IL5 really wanted to play and felt left out with E around, so Aaron got out his computer and we played the game with IL5 for the rest of the night.

Friday

Friday morning after work, I took IL5 to speech therapy. Then we packed up the cars and headed out for our last camping trip of the year. (Just the guys and me, again. D14 is with her mom.) We set up tent and chatted for the evening. IL5’s x-ray results came in while we were lounging. Apparently the radiologist found a “small-to-moderate stool burden,” but the gastroenterologist disagreed and said it was “a larger burden.” They will call on Monday with further steps, so I get to worry all weekend about potential hospitalization.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Louisiana
• One letter Massachusetts
• One letter Michigan
• One letter Washington

Reading to myself

• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Reading to IL5

• When Glitter Met Glue, by Karen Kilpatrick
• The Three Little Guinea Pigs, by Erica S Perl
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• Super King Viking Land, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Mass

Aaron reading

• The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly

This is a sweet story of friendship where each friend brings out good qualities in the other. IL5 wanted me to buy him glitter glue after reading this book.

The Three Little Guinea Pigs was a twist on the three little pigs. Cute

Games

News

Saturday

Saturday we mostly relaxed. I spent campground lounging time to write 6 of the 9 letters I need to write this week. We went to the playground and got overheated, then we sat in the Air conditioning in McDonald’s and got Dairy Queen. Aaron and IL5 had a water fight. Aaron, M12, and I played 2 games of Exploding Kittens. We played a form of flashlight tag, but IL5 didn’t like the rules once he got tagged, and threw a temper tantrum. I got him in the car to take him home, and he said he was ok to go back to his sleeping bag, now. So we all went to sleep.

Sunday

Sunday, we woke up to rain on the tent. We quickly broke camp and drove away. We had about enough time for us to unpack the car and me to take a bath before it was time for me to go to work. When I got home, I cooked a quick dinner and then I DM’d our first family session of D&D. IL5 bailed about 15 minutes in, but that’s ok.

Monday

Monday was relaxing. All three kids had a virtual appointment in the morning. Afterwards, we met with Aaron at Buffalo Wild Wings for a lunch date. I tried to convince IL5 to play outside, go to the library, and play with crafts, but he wasn’t interested and I didn’t push. I cooked pork chops for M12, split pea soup for Aaron’s week’s lunches, and meatloaf for dinner.  I washed dad’s laundry. And I relaxed.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with a virtual appointment for D14. After that one, we were supposed to talk to the orthodontist tech for her final appointment, but we were having trouble getting pictures of her teeth to send to them. But they helped us figure it out, and we ended up scanning her teeth with my phone and rescheduling the appointment for later in the day.

I took M12 to get a haircut – he’d been annoyed at the length of his hair. I then picked up IL5 for a virtual appointment. Afterwards, he and I went to the library. He played with the toys and on the computer, then picked out books.

D14 had her orthodontist appointment, and was told she’s good, no more appointments. Yay! She’s done! Then my friend Liz came over and she helped D14 learn the magic loop in crochet and we watched a couple episodes of Doctor Who. David Capaldi made his appearance.

Wednesday

Wednesday, pretty quickly on the heels of arriving home from work, I jumped on a virtual appointment for D14. Then, I took dad to see his vascular doctor, who said dad’s peripheral artery disease is a lot worse than last year. He wants dad to start physical therapy three times a week, and to do further testing.

Because we were a distance from home at that appointment, and in two hours dad had another appointment that was in the same area, we just stayed in the area and went to the fancy upscale Perkins to kill time.

His second appointment was just a follow-up with  his primary after his hospital visit, so nothing new there. Then we rushed home, and I shoved three cats in cages. Puck didn’t fall for the tuna-in-cage trick again. He saw me put it in the cage and skedaddled. I had to recruit D14 to close the cage. I risked my arms and hands to grab Puck and shove him in. Freyja was easy, but he was so terrified at the vet he was shaking. Then Sake also scrambled and struggled. I think I may do one cat at a time with the vet from now on because they see another cat going in a cage and run.

After the vet appointment, Aaron and I took IL5 to soccer. As usual, he ran around in happy circles a lot, but this time he ran after the ball a few times – and kicked it again. He also was goalie once, and was great at paying attention. Though not at stopping the ball, but there’s nothing wrong with room for improvement. He’s enjoying himself, which matters more.

Thursday

Thursday I went from work to work, with a half hour break in between. Then I ran errands, relaxed, and went back to work. Aaron stayed home from work, so he did the school shopping! I had been DREADING that task.

Friday

Friday morning I had a meet-and-greet with the petsitter that will be coming during our vacation in August. She is pet CPR certified. I wonder how many pets she does CPR on? Then I horribly lost at a game of Magic against M12.

In the early afternoon, dad had peripheral artery disease physical therapy. I had been dreading it, because I didn’t want to take him to three appointments a week again. I managed to set up medical transportation for him (for future appointments – this was his first), but he was resistant to trying it out. However, at the appointment, he was acting confused and wobbly, making me hesitant to be sending him on appointments alone, anyway. The therapist didn’t want to work with him, because she said he was too wobbly. She wanted him to go to physical therapy. Probably for the best, because dad took a disliking to the therapist and refused to ever go back. I suppose if we ever get the referral again, we’ll go to the facility farther away to get a different therapist. I’m a little skeptical the wobbliness is going to go away with physical therapy, and don’t know if dad will consent to the physical therapy, because it was the other therapist who referred him. Maybe I can manage not to tell him who referred him.

After the appointment, dad wanted to go to lunch. I wasn’t in the mood, but dad really enjoys going to lunch. I could have told him the truth – that I had been planning on taking IL5 out on his bike, and I’d really rather do that, but I felt bad about being annoyed at him when he wasn’t feeling well…and who knew if IL5 would actually want to go? I wasn’t in the mood to drag IL5 kicking and screaming to a bike ride, and if I told dad that I didn’t want to go to lunch because I was taking IL5 on a bike ride, then I actually had to make it happen regardless of IL5’s feelings on the subject. Then, of course, dad pressed his luck and asked me to go for a walk, but Deirdre wasn’t in the mood to babysit more and I didn’t think dad was steady enough. Besides, he was really stressing me out.

In the evening, I was sitting on the couch waiting for my 24hr readathon to start, when D14 started asking me questions about it. I asked her if she wanted to join. She seemed excited by the idea. Then Aaron agreed to join us too. (Though then he bailed after one hour to play his weekly game with his friends.)

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• One letter Virginia
• One letter Maine
• One letter Pennsylvania
• One letter Maryland
• One letter Arizona
• One letter Massachusetts
• One letter Alberta
• One letter New York

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
• Ophie’s Ghost, by Justina Ireland
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Nurk, by Ursula Vernon
• Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• The Haunted Library, by Dori Hillestad Butler
• Super Rabbit All-Stars, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
• Everblaze, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Aaron reading

• The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly

Media Completed

When Kaz is blown away from everything he knows, he meets Claire, a young solid who can see ghosts. They solve a mystery together. This was a cute book with nice pictures.

Henry goes on a field trip and digs for dinosaurs. As usual for this series, cute and engaging. Good ratio of pictures to words.

Games Played

News

Saturday

Saturday I spent the morning cooking – baked beans for this week’s lunches for Aaron and me, quinoa salad for meals for me, and pork chops for M12’s week. In the evening, Aaron and I had a date. We went out to dinner at a new (to Aaron) restaurant where we had a coupon, and then walked from home to a tavern.

Sunday

Sunday I worked, and then Aaron, dad, and I had dinner out. I got to bed after midnight due to IL5’s dawdling. Then at 3am, dad woke us up saying he had chest pain and pressure. The EMTs wanted him to go to the hospital, but seemed to want me to drive him there. So we are sitting in the ER as I write this.

Monday

Monday, I spent from 3:30 – 6:00am at the hospital with dad. They decided to admit him and do an angioplasty, so I went home to sleep, as it was unlikely they’d rush to get that done. It wasn’t really easy to sleep, though, since at 8am my phone started beeping and ringing away.

I kept myself busy during the day. IL5 had swim lessons. Then I worked on cleaning the house. I even read for a little while.

In the evening, I took IL5 to soccer. I found out that I had missed the first week. Apparently it started last week. 🤷‍♀️ Oh well. IL5 did better than last year – he stayed on the field when he was supposed to be on, and stayed off when he was supposed to be off. Maybe by the end of the season, he’ll notice the ball.

M12 had a Court of Honor at Boy Scouts and was awarded his tenderfoot rank, and the climbing and astronomy merit badges.

Tuesday

Tuesday, I rushed home from work and did a few necessary things, then had a virtual appointment with D14 and Aaron. Immediately afterwards, I went to the hospital, in hopes they’d release dad. I was there all day. I took a nap by pushing two chairs together and curled up in a ball. I went through my phone to-dos. I read. I watched YouTube. Finally, at 6pm, they released him, only having done a stress test. Which came up uninteresting.

On the way home, we popped over to a hotel to help my homeless nephew J20 a room. Then, we went home, and I did a few more necessary things before work.

IL5 had soccer pictures, but we think they’ll not work out because the coach gave another kid IL5’s order sheet, so there will be two under his name. Oh well. We have T-ball pictures.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I went to Perkins with M12 and dad. Then dad and I ran errands. Dad had an ultrasound on his leg, checking for peripheral artery disease, and I didn’t like the sound of the results, but we won’t follow up with the doctor till next Wednesday. After the appointment, dad and I ran another errand.

In the evening, I took IL5 to soccer. He kicked the ball (in the correct direction) and he was very proud. Most of the time he was happily running around in circles on the wrong part of the field. But he seems to enjoy being out there, as well as going to the playground afterwards. (We played “monster” in the bushes.)

Thursday

On Thursday I went to my day job, then we all watched Whose Line is it anyway after a salmon dinner.

Friday

Friday, IL5 had speech therapy. Then I spent the day preparing to camp. I cooked swordfish steak for the first time that evening, and it was quite delicious. Then M12, IL5, Aaron, and I left for our camping trip. It was a campground only 15 minutes from home, so we still had plenty of time to have a fire after the tent was set up. M12 burned some of his old math homework

Week’s Photos

Two bizarre instances of Hero coexisting with another cat. There was a third time, where Hero was on the bed with both Polyphemus and Sake. She doesn’t like other cats, and this bed is her territory.

Letters Written

• One letter Maine
• One letter Netherlands
• One letter Missouri

Reading to myself

• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett
• Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
• Nurk, by Ursula Vernon
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

Reading to IL5

• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team-Up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

• Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Maas

Media Completed

In this book from the witches arc of Discworld, the witches deal with some elves that are released by wannabe witches. Funny, as usual.

Games Played

We showed Malcolm flags from various countries and had him guess. He got most of them. He didn’t get Sri Lanka and Djibouti.