Hi everyone! This was a good week. IL learned to climb, as you can see above. He’ll push a toy up to a gate and try to get over. If they toy isn’t big enough, he’ll try another.

M went to OT for potential sensory issues with his eating problems, and they think they may be able to help.

D and I had a girl’s weekend because M and Aaron were at Cub Scout camp. We watched severbal movies and got her a mani-pedi.

D also had her first choir event Saturday: a sing-a-thon at Urban Growler Brewery. It went really well, and we’re really proud of her.

Summary: Crowley is a demon sent to earth to seed discord and demonic horror. Aziraphale is an angel meant to watch over earth and keep it’s occupants on the right track. Their bosses didn’t expect them to become the best of friends. But now, the Apocalypse is nigh, and they must work together to do their part in both eencouraging it as per their assignments, and secretly to stop it.

My Thoughts: I’ve read this book before, but after watching the miniseries I really wanted to read it again. It did not disappoint. This book is so funny – a perfect combination of Gaiman’s dark humor and Pratchett’s silly humor. The reading by Martin Jarvis was quite enjoyable.

Hi all! This week was a whirlwind seemingly resulting in nothing. Dad started his rehab for his claudication, which is apparently a cramping in the leg which occurs when the arteries going to the legs are a bit clogged. His cramps have been getting worse and worse, and he’s barely able to walk a couple of blocks without needing to rest. While dad was at rehab, I stayed with mom because dad was concerned about leaving her alone for a couple of hours 3 times a week.

Mom had her Watchman procedure, which is meant to reduce stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Most strokes originate in the left atrial appendage (a little pouch hanging off your left heart). There is a newish device which blocks the pouch off, thus reducing the chances of strokes. Sadly, they put mom under anesthesia, scoped out the pouch laproscopically, and found that her pouch was too small. She ended up spending the night in the hospital anyway, because she was too frail after the aborted procedure to leave. *sigh

There’s nothing new to report about the kids, though IL did take two independent steps last night, and then sit (instead of falling) down. Personally, I think he knows perfectly well how to walk and is just relishing the suspense.

This week I read about half of The Economist, and a month’s worth of the Foreign Affairs weekly Audible articles.

I am currently reading

Hopefully this week I will catch up on at least a few of my reviews. Upcoming are: Good Omens, Crank, The Earth My Butt and Other Big Round Things, Furiously Happy.

First of all, happy 81st birthday to my mom. We were out celebrating her birthday when I snapped this gem of her and IL.

This has been a pretty good week. D got her standardized test scores from 3rd grade back. She scored 95th percentile in reading and 92nd percentile in math. The more I see scores like that, the more I believe that she has dysgraphia. Why else would writing be so very difficult for her compared to her reading and math? And now that we know it’s not a fine motor skills issue, either, I am more determined to get her diagnosed.

M has generally been managing his depression well while on the happy lamp. So yay! Though he didn’t eat a thing for dinner tonight and complains that he didn’t eat over the weekend (at his biological mom’s) either. He says he no longer likes even McDonald’s! That’s so frustrating, since we frequently use McDonald’s as a reward. Our next step is occupational therapy to see if his pickiness is a sensory issue.

Despite his one unaided step, IL has not yet taken multiple steps. But he does walk quite well with a toy walker. It’s coming soon!

I had a lovely recharge weekend. I spent Saturday walking and reading. (And reading audiobooks while walking.) I finished:

Crash, by Ellen Hopkins

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

Both books are banned teen books, which I read in honor of Banned Book Week.

Today, I decided to mix it up a little. Aaron continued to watch all three kids while I listened to Furiously Happy and cleaned the whole house (sans basement). It felt even better than walking! We have both decided a full recharge weekend is not necessary, but we can take the second day to focus entirely on our own to-do list instead of juggling between who watches the baby and who does stuff (which can get ineffective since we never really get to rest that way. We’re always either rushing through to-do lists or watching the baby (and fending off the kids’ complaints of boredom). I always read when I was bored and waisn’t allowed to watch TV!

Hi Everyone!

This was a good week! IL took his first unsupported step (just one so far)! Plus M and D went to the climate strike Friday. After 1.5 hours on the bus each way, I expected both of them to droop, but they enjoyed themselves, learned about the importance of standing up for their rights, and learned more about climate change.

Aaron and I were going to top that off by doing a walking half marathon (pushing a stroller) on Saturday. We had been hoping to do it all year, but we had the kids this weekend, and couldn’t figure out logistics until today – only to find out that they don’t do same-day registration. 😭 I guess there’s always next year.

Aaron and I have agreed upon recharge weekends. I will take the last weekend of every month to do a Friday – Sunday readathon (there’s one hosted on Litsy called #24B4Monday ) and happily Dewey’s falls on my recharge weekend in October. In exchange, Aaron gets a recharge weekend on the 3rd weekend of each month in which he gets to play Minecraft to his heart’s content.

So I’m really looking forward to next weekend.

I’m currently finishing up Good Omens on audio, and making progress on The Gene: An Intimate History on hard copy.

Baby steps! I got one book read (Radium Girls). I’m losing weight VERY slowly, but surely. I’m eating a little better and started walking.

Last weekend, while I was having a meetup with fellow readers from LibraryThing, Aaron, D, and M painted M’s room bright red. (I did my part by keeping IL out from under feet.) I’m taking progression pictures, but will post them once the vinyl is in and the stuff is back in his room. Then we’ll start on D’s room.

Also last weekend, we had a murder mystery (steampunk time travel) party for my (and my friend’s) 40th birthdays. It was so much fun! Here’s a picture of me and Merry Monroe.

My Labor Day readathon was a success in that I got plenty read, but I was cleaning at the same time. 🤣😂 I was thinking of having a #grumpybabyreadathon today, since IL has a virus and just wants to be held. But he took a 4 hour nap! I got other things done (taking an axe to our budget). So it was a success anyway. And now IL is awake and perky, so reading probably isn’t going to happen unless it’s audio.

 

Summary: During WWII, many teenaged girls worked in watch dial painting shops, dipping their brushes into radium and pointing the brush with their lips. When they started presenting horrible side effects of the radium poisoning, such as necrosis of the jaw (to the point of the jaw falling out), cancer, and other horrible diseases, they realized that the firm they worked for had been lying about how dangerous radium was. They sued, they failed. They sued, they failed. They sued, they failed. As they died, the remaining girls sued and sued, until finally a few girls finally won a suit. This is a book about the injustice of the system – and the development of laws regarding work-related poison.

Thoughts: This book was fascinating in itself, though it took me a long time to finish. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had anticipated. The information was intriguing and I loved learning more about history. But I felt that the book lacked excitement as the suits dragged on and on and nothing seemed to happen.